Blogger Mahdi Khazali arrested ‘violently’

 

GVF — Security forces have arrested dissident Iranian blogger, publisher and physician Mahdi Khazali, according to reports.

Khazali, the son of the hard-line member of the Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Abolghasem Khazali, was arrested by security forces on Monday.

Khazali’s wife described his arrest as “violent.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Persian service, she said her husband had been arrested right after leaving his workplace and was then taken to Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. “I don’t know how long these men had been ambushing him, but the moment he exited his office, they [the security forces] attacked him and injured his arm, teeth and other areas of his body,” she explained.

According to Khazali’s wife, the security forces presented an expired judicial summons while making the arrest.

Khazali, best known for the anti-government views he regularly published on his weblog, has been imprisoned a number of times in the past two years. His most recent arrest came in July 2011 when he was held in Evin for 27 days.

In strike contrast to his son’s critical views, Ayatollah Khazali is seen as a staunch supporter of Iran’s ruling elite, especially the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He has so far openly distanced himself from his son’s positions.

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