Azernews.Az

TEHRAN – Iranian security forces raided the homes of opposition leader Mehdi Karrubi and members of his family, arresting one of his sons late Monday in a new crackdown on dissent, the politician’s party said, Bloomberg reported.

Ali Karrubi was detained late yesterday along with his wife, Nafiseh Panahi, according to the party’s website, Sahamnews.org. She was released overnight, and his whereabouts are still unclear, it said. The opposition figure’s elder son, Hossein Karrubi, wasn’t in when security forces arrived at his house to arrest him, the party said. Ali Karrubi was also arrested last year, at an anti-government rally in February.

The home of Mehdi Karrubi and his wife was raided yesterday, though they weren’t arrested, according to the website. They were held in separate rooms while officers changed the locks of the house and seized documents and books, Sahamnews said.

The crackdown is a latest attempt by the government to curb domestic dissent, which was revived as turmoil spread from the Arab world to the Persian Gulf. Two people were reported to have been killed in clashes at a Feb. 14 rally called by opposition leaders in solidarity with protesters who brought down Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. There were further clashes on Feb. 20 at a march to honor the dead demonstrators.

The judiciary will take steps to halt efforts by "the leaders of the sedition to publicize their statements," the judiciary’s head, Sadegh Larijani, said on Feb. 17, referring to Karrubi and another opposition leader, Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Anti-government protests are "treachery" that cannot be tolerated, Larijani said.

Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, have been under house arrest since Feb. 14, Mousavi’s website, Kaleme.com, said Feb. 18.

Karrubi and Mousavi were defeated in the June 2009 election by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They turned into leading opposition figures as a protest movement emerged to claim Ahmadinejad’s victory was the result of vote-rigging. The protests have widened to include broader criticism of the political system and its policies.