IRANIAN authorities arrested reformist politician Mostafa Tajzadeh late yesterday for “conspiracy to act against the security of the country”, local media reported.

Tajzadeh also faces accusations of “publishing lies to disturb public opinion”, Mehr news agency said, adding that “his arrest warrant had been issued by judicial authorities”.

Tajzadeh, who last year made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency, was arrested in 2009 during protests disputing the re-election of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The reformist politician submitted his candidacy in May 2021, having long campaigned for democratic and “structural changes” in the Islamic republic.

He was convicted in 2010 on charges of harming national security and propaganda against the state before being released in 2016 after serving his sentence.

Thousands were detained during the 2009 demonstrations against Ahmadinejad’s re-election, which was contested by an opposition backing unsuccessful reformist candidates Mehdi Karoubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Since his release, Tajzadeh has often called on authorities to free Mousavi and Karoubi, who have been under house arrest for more than a decade over the protests.

Tajzadeh had served as deputy interior minister during the 1997-2005 tenure of reformist former president Mohammad Khatami. – AFP, July 9, 2022.