National Council of Resistance of Iran President Massoud Rajavi strongly condemned the recent arrests, saying that the political objective behind them was to step up repression in a bid to consolidate the domination of mullahs' Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as presidential election approaches.

Mr. Ahmad Sadr, 84, Iran's first post-Revolution Justice Minister, is among those arrested. His daughter, Ms. Shahrzad Sadr, is a senior official and the former Secretary General of the People's Mojahedin's Organization of Iran.

Emphasizing that those arrested can in no way be accused of trying to overthrow the regime, Mr. Rajavi said: "The arrest of those who have always considered themselves to be 'non-governing loyalists' reaffirms the fact that the clerical regime in incapable of reform and that the only language those who have usurped the right of the Iranian people to sovereignty understand is that of armed resistance."
 

Khatami Warns About Escalation of Underground Anti-Government Activities, Reuters, April 9

TEHRAN - Iran's embattled president, Mohammad Khatami, appealed for moderation Monday after security forces arrested dozens of activists.

Khatami, facing a hardline crackdown in which many of his allies have been imprisoned, warned his opponents that extreme measures could drive opposition thoughts underground.

"With no freedom, thoughts will go underground and create a breeding ground for riot-mongers," he said.

Security forces raided the homes of liberal Islamists Saturday, arresting more than 40 figures associated with the banned Iran Freedom Movement. It was the second mass roundup of dissidents in less than a month.

The Revolutionary Court, which ordered the arrests, has accused the suspects of plotting to overthrow the Islamic system, linking them to the armed rebel group Mojahedin.

Khatami often complains about the hardline crackdown, but has been unable to stop the arrests and wholesale closure of reformist newspapers.

As he was speaking Monday, security forces raided and closed down the offices of a reformist group and arrested the staff at a cultural center run by the Iran Freedom Movement.

Ali Mobasheri, head of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, has threatened to haul more people into jail.

Some MPs have voiced concern about the detention of activists in a secret location run by the Revolutionary Guards, east of the capital Tehran, where prisoners are kept without access to lawyers or relatives.
 

23 Further Arrests In Connection With Recent Unrest, Agence France Presse, April 9

TEHRAN - The conservative-led judiciary announced Monday the arrest of 23 people in connection with violent protests last month in the southern city of Lamerd, IRNA news agency reported.

Last week, the judiciary said a total of 35 arrests had been made after days of clashes between security forces and residents, adding that a total of 80 arrests were expected to be made in connection with the unrest in March.

Demonstrators in Lamerd reportedly sacked government offices and burned portraits of the clerical regime's leadership in protest at plans to build a gas refining plant in nearby Mohr instead of in Lamerd as originally scheduled.

Lamerd and Mohr have been the scene of recurring tension between the population and authorities since late last year. In December violent clashes broke out after a modification in the administrative structure of the region.
 

A Guards Colonel Killed in Clash with People In Tehran, Iran Zamin News Agency, April 7

Revolutionary Guards Colonel Ahmad Fat'hi was killed in a clash with the people in Tehran's Mehr-e Villa district last week.

Fat'hi had been involved in the suppressive activities for the past 21 years and was much despised by the people in Mehr-e Villa.

In a separate development, State Security Forces agents mounted a brutal attack on peddlers and cigarette vendors in Governor's Office Square in the town of Bukan earlier this week and beat them up.

As scuffles broke out, young people joined forces with the peddlers and attacked the security forces. They threw home-made grenades and bombs toward the agents and injured some of them. The security forces were forced to flee.

A security forces captain was wounded severely in the clashes.

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