News

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian defense lawyer voiced concern on Wednesday about two leading reformers detained shortly after last month's disputed election, saying he did not know where being held and who was holding them. Lawyer Saleh Nikbakht says he represents several pro-reform activists who were detained after the June 12 presidential vote, including Mostafa Tajzadeh and Behzad Nabavi, both allies of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi. "We know nothing about their whereabouts and which body has arrested them," Nikbakht told Reuters. "The families ... have not been able yet to meet with them and expressed their concerns over the conditions of the two." Tajzadeh is a former deputy interior minister who held the post under former President Mohammad Khatami, who was in office in 1997-2005. He is also a member of leading pro-reform parties. Nabavi was mines and industries minister in the 1980s, when Mousavi was prime minister, and a member of Mousavi's campaign in last month's election. Both men were seized in the days after the vote, which stirred the most striking display of internal unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Mousavi says it was rigged in favor of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who rejects the charge. Rights groups say hundreds of people, including activists, journalists, academics and lawyers, were arrested during the election's turbulent aftermath. Nikbakht said he also had not been able to meet another client, Maziar Baha... >>>