Former MP Arrested After Criticizing Judiciary Spokesperson

Ali Shakouri Rad, a member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, was arrested on Tuesday 12 October 2010. He had gone to the Revolutionary Court for the second time to provide explanations to officials, according to his family, but never returned home. Tehran’s Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi announced Shakouri Rad’s arrest on “security charges.” However, some believe Shakouri Rad, a former Member of Parliament from Tehran, was arrested due to publication of an article in his personal blog about Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei. Ejei, who is presently Prosecutor General and the Judiciary’s Spokesperson, was Minister of Intelligence during last year’s election and oversaw subsequent arrests of political activists.

According to the Kalame website, Shakouri Rad wrote an article called “Judicial Scandal, Contradictions and New Lies,” in which he asked Mohseni Ejei to leave the Judiciary. He pointed to remarks made by Ejei about the dissolution of two reformist political parties, the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Islamic Revolution Mojahedin Organization. In recent days, Ejei’s announcement of the dissolution had provided grounds for conflicts between the Judiciary and government opposition.