TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's judiciary on Tuesday ordered the arrest of the director of a leading reformist newspaper over an article attacking President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his remarks on the Shiites' "hidden imam."

Mohammad Javad Haghshenas, director of Etemad Melli newspaper, has been issued with an order for arrest and investigation on charges of spreading lies and publishing "an insulting piece", a spokesman for Tehran public and revolutionary courts told the ISNA student agency.