Iran political prisoners end hunger strike

A top Iranian reformist from a banned political party who had been jailed for anti-regime propaganda was released on Monday, an opposition website said."Ali Shakouri-rad, one of the prisoners of the post-election events, was released from jail," Kaleme.com, the website of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, reported.Shakouri-rad, a leader of the banned Islamic Iran Participation Front and former lawmaker, was jailed on December 9 for "propagating against the regime and spreading lies," according to the Tehran prosecutor's office.

A group of 17 Iranian political prisoners, including journalists and student activists, have been on hunger strike for a week demanding better treatment, opposition websites reported on Monday."So far five of the hunger strikers have been taken to hospital and the condition of the others is worsening," reported Kaleme.com, the website of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Iran has released 30 so-called "mournful mothers" who were arrested for protesting the death or disappearance of their children in post-election unrest, an opposition website reported Thursday.The authorities also released an aide to former reformist president Mohammad Khatami, as well as a brother-in-law of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, according to Kaleme.org."All of the 30 mournful mothers were released from detention on Tuesday. They were kept in Evin prison or in a police station for 72 hours," the website reported. It gave no further details.

Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi urged the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to halt its crackdown on his supporters to enable a way out of the "crisis," his website reported on Friday.In his first statement posted on his Kaleme.org website since deadly clashes last week, Mousavi demanded that the government "take responsibilty for the problems it has created in the country... release political prisoners... and recognise people's right to lawful assembly".

Iran's main opposition leader and defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has repeated his call for a new election, after unrest this month saw clashes between police and protesters, a reformist website reported on Saturday."The Green Path condemns violence... though we may suffer losses... we want political prisoners to be freed, we want guarantees for a clean (new) election, we seek freedom of expression and the press," he was quoted as saying.

Celebrated Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has been jailed since March, has gone on a hunger strike to protest against the conditions of his detention, an opposition website reported on Tuesday."In a brief phone call from Evin prison he announced his hunger strike," the director's wife, Tahereh Saeedi told Rahesabz website, which champions the anti-government cause of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Iranian police on Monday blocked access to the house of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and cut his telephone lines to prevent him attending a rally in support of Arab revolts, his website said."Security forces have sent police vans and vehicles to the alley where the house of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard is located" in Tehran, Kaleme.com reported."From today the police have blocked the alley where their house is located...There is no possibility of coming and going" to the house, it said.

Iran has arrested a top reformist from a banned political party which backed opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in last year's presidential election, the ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday.Ali Shakouri-rat, a leader of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, was "arrested yesterday (Tuesday) night for security reasons," the news agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying.Shakouri-rat is known for his outspoken criticism of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.