Iranians want release of scholar
Wednesday, March 3, 1999
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranian journalists and students urged President
Mohammad Khatami to press for the release of a reformist religious scholar,
saying Wednesday that his detention was a blow to freedom of expression.
The Association of Islamic Students demanded that Khatami abolish the
Special Clerical Court that detained Mohsen Kadivar on Saturday for questioning.
The court, a conservative-led body that reports only to supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, operates independently from Iran's judicial system.
``Students and free-thinking people expect the honorable president
to abolish this illegal body as soon as possible,'' a statement by the
student movement said.
Kadivar, who has backed reforms, was detained by the court on charges
of ``confusing public opinion'' in interviews with the press and in his
lectures, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
``No reason can be traced'' for Kadivar's arrest, said a letter by
managing directors of Iran's major daily newspapers. Kadivar, a university
lecturer, is a ``sincere and hard working'' promoter of religious beliefs,
IRNA quoted the letter as saying.
It said his arrest was ``a blow to the realm of freedom of expression
and the press.''
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