TEHRAN: Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reportedlyarrested in Shiraz for inciting unrest and more demonstrations followingstatements he made earlier in Bushehr, Arab media reported.
Iranian Authorities are now seeking to place Ahmadinejad under house arrestwith approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Al-Quds Al-Arabinewspaper added, citing “reliable sources in Tehran”.
During a visit to Bushehr city late December, Ahmadinejad had said thatIran suffered from “mismanagement” and that current President HassanRouhani and his government “believe that they own the land and that thepeople are an ignorant society,” the newspaper reported.
“Some of the current leaders live detached from the problems and concernsof the people, and do not know anything about the reality of society,” hewas reported to have said.
Iran’s fifth head of the judicial system, Amole Larijani, had accusedAhmadinejad of inciting more protests, the same accusation directed atprominent cleric and politician Mehdi Karroubi and former prime ministerMir Hossein Mousavi which also lead to their house arrest.
In a videotaped statement, Ahmadinejad spoke about Larijani sarcasticallysaying, “I have no children spying for the West, I have no brothers who areactively smuggling goods, and I do not steal land to raise my cattle.”
The protests currently sweeping Iran are being considered the largestchallenge to the Iranian regime since the Green Movement uprising in 2009after the re-election of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Protests that have rocked Iran have reached the eleventh consecutive day onSunday. Activists protested last Friday under the slogan “The Friday ofAnger for our Martyrs” referring to the protesters killed by Iraniansecurity forces, according to the opposition.
According to the government, the official number of deaths since theuprising is 22. However, opposition announced that the toll has reached 50on Friday.
This article originally appeared on Al-Arabiya Englishlink>.