UPDATE: Arbitrary Detentions in Iran Expand

(17 June 2009) Ebrahim Yazdi, General Secretary of Nehzat e Azadi, was arrested today at 15:00 Tehran time, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said, while he was in Pars Hospital in Tehran in the Intensive Care Unit. It was reported that his home was searched.

Saeed Laylaz, the prominent economist who challenges existing economic policy, was arrested on 17 June in his home.

Mohammadreza Jalaieepour, a student at Oxford University and an active member of the youth branch of Jebheh Mosharekat called Puyesh Mouj e Sevom (third motion wave), a leading reformist political front, was arrested on 17 June in Tehran Airport, as he was about to leave Iran.

Nehzat Azadi, or “Freedom Movement,” is one of the national political parties that urged all citizens to participate in the election in the national interest. Before the 12 June election, Motamedi Mehr, a member of the political office of this party and the Committee to Defend Free and Fair Elections, was arrested on 10 May 2009.

Mohammad Tavasoli, the director of the political office of the party, was arrested on 16 June. Other members of Nehzat Azadi in Tehran and other cities were arrested, as previously reported by the Campaign.