Iran opposition figures arrested after protests
The official death toll from the latest protests is the highest since June
A number of opposition figures have been arrested in Iran, a day after violent protests in the capital left at least eight people dead.
Those detained include senior aides to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
His nephew Seyed Ali Mousavi was among those killed in Sunday's violence, the worst since June's contested elections.
Family members say they are being prevented from holding his funeral because his body has been taken from the hospital where it was being kept.
His brother, Seyed Reza Mousavi, is quoted by the reformist website Parlemannews as saying: "Nobody accepts responsibility for taking away the body... We cannot have a funeral before we find the body."
Other opposition sources say the body has been taken by government agents in order to prevent his funeral becoming a rallying point for more protests.
Foreign media face severe restrictions in Iran and these reports cannot be verified.
RECENT UNREST IN IRAN
19 Dec: Influential dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri dies aged 87
21 Dec: Tens of thousands attend his funeral in Qom; reports of clashes between opposition supporters and security forces
22 Dec: Further confrontations reported in Qom
23 Dec: More clashes reported in city of Isfahan as memorial is held
24 Dec: Iran reportedly bans further memorial services for Montazeri except in his birthplace and Qom
26 Dec: Clashes reported in central and northern Tehran
27 Dec: At least eight dead following anti-government protests in Tehran; 300 reported arrested
An opposition website, Norooz, said police had fired teargas on Monday to disperse a group of Mousavi supporters who were demonstrating outside the hospital.
According to Mr Mousavi's website, Seyed Ali Mousavi was shot in the back as security forces fired on demonstrators in Tehran on Sunday.
BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne, reporting from London, says the government's immediate response to the latest confrontation has been to arrest senior opposition figures, as it did after protests against the disputed presidential elections in June.
The authorities are blaming troublemakers for the violence, our correspondent says, with the police denying that security forces are responsible for any deaths and suggesting that protesters may have shot each other.
Members of the opposition believe Seyed Ali Mousavi was deliberately targeted by the government in an attempt to intimidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
But, our correspondent adds, the government will be doing itself no favours if it has taken his body because this would outrage religious conservatives, as well as the opposition.
'Shameless act'
Among those reported arrested on Monday were opposition politician Ebrahim Yazdi, a foreign minister after the 1979 revolution and now leader of the Freedom Movement of Iran, and his nephew, Lily Tavasoli.
Ebrahim Yazdi, pictured in 2005, was also arrested in June this year
Mr Yazdi's son Khalil, who lives in the US, told the BBC's World Today programme he believed the Iranian authorities wanted to close down all opposition groups.
"It is a shameless and irresponsible act," he said.
"Any opposition now, they want to shut [it] down. We're going down a one-way street that's now going downhill."
The Parlemannews website reported that three aides to Mir Hossein Mousavi had been arrested.
It also named two aides to reformist former President Mohammad Khatami as being among those rounded up by the authorities.
Mousavi Tebrizi, a senior cleric from the holy city of Qom who is close to Mr Mousavi, is also reported to have been arrested.
The protests, which began after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election in June, have grown into the biggest challenge to the government since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Tear gas reports
Monday's arrests follow violent clashes which broke out on Sunday after opposition supporters took to the streets as the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura reached its climax.
In pictures: Tehran clashes
Police fired tear gas to disperse crowds of demonstrators in various parts of the city overnight, according to reports.
On Monday, state-owned English-language Press TV said eight people had died. Earlier, Persian state television had reported at least 15 people killed.
The official death toll for Sunday's confrontation is the highest since June.
Tehran's police chief, Azizollah Rajabzadeh, was among dozens of security force members injured in the clashes, officials said.
About 300 people were detained after the protests, police said on Sunday.
Unconfirmed reports said four people also died in protests in the north-western city of Tabriz and there were clashes in Isfahan and Najafabad in central Iran and Shiraz in the south.
Footage shows protesters appearing to taunt members of the Basij militia in Tehran - 27 December 2009
Moderate cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who came fourth in last June's election, criticised Iran's rulers for Sunday's violence, an opposition website reported.
The United States, France, Germany and Canada have all condemned the violence.
In a strongly-worded statement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised the "unacceptable actions of the security forces" and urged Tehran to respect civil rights.
Iranian security forces have been on alert since influential dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri died a week ago aged 87.
His funeral attracted tens of thousands of pro-reform supporters, many of whom shouted anti-government slogans.
Anger at last June's elections, won by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sparked mass protests in Tehran and other cities that led to thousands of arrests and some deaths.
Mr Mousavi and other opposition leaders have said the poll was rigged.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/8432297.stm
Tehran police 'in fatal clashes with protesters'
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Originally Posted by Babur
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