Moussavi voices concern over more arrests of Iranian dissidents

Mir-Hossein MoussaviTehran  - Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi voiced concern Wednesday over more arrests of opposition activists, the opposition website Kaleme reported.

The judiciary Tuesday ordered the closing down of three opposition party including two of the Etemad Melli party led by moderate cleric Mehdi Karroubi, and the confiscation of party documents.

The judiciary reportedly also ordered the arrest of four dissidents, including Ali-Reza Beheshti and Morteza Alviri, the two senior advisers of Moussavi and Karroubi.

"There are dangerous days ahead and arresting and jailing people like Beheshti is a sign of harsher confrontations (by the government against the opposition)," Moussavi said in a statement.

The former premier called on his supporters not to be provoked and to remain calm. "With these actions (arrests) they (government) are just damaging and destroying themselves," Moussavi said.

Karroubi recently accused authorities of raping detainees in Iranian prisons and the arrested Alviri was one of the members of a special commission investigating the physical and sexual abuse cases.

Karroubi and Moussavi both refused to acknowledge President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, accusing him of vote fraud.

The new arrest wave came after Ahmadinejad on Monday called on legal actions against the leaders of the protests against the results of June's elections. Those protests led to unrest, the death of more than 20 demonstrators and mass arrests.

Meanwhile, local opposition groups have called on their supporters to avail themselves of the annual anti-Israeli rally for protesting against the government.

Police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam however warned the opposition not to misuse the Quds (Jerusalem) rally on September 17 for internal protests.

Hundreds of thousands usually attend the state-organized rally held on the last Friday of the fasting month Ramadan in support of the Palestinian nation and against Israeli occupation.

The opposition is led by the quartet of Moussavi, Karroubi and two ex-presidents, Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.(dpa)