Former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who was jailed in the postelection crackdown, has been attacked by unknown assailants.The hard-line Fars news agency reported that “suspicious” individuals attacked the car carrying Abtahi in Shahr-e Rey, south of Tehran.
According to Fars, Abtahi was on his way to a memorial ceremony for a senior cleric, Ayatollah Mirza Javad Aqa-Tehrani, when the attack happened. Fars says police forces prevented the assailants from assaulting Abtahi.
But Abtahi wrote on his Facebook page that after he left the ceremony, plainclothes agents attacked him with cables and knives, broke his car windows, and threw tear gas into his car.
He says he “miraculously” managed to leave the area in spite of the damage to his car and the effects of the tear gas. He said the attack was “very savage,” and no one helped him fend off the attackers, who seemed to be “fearless and confident.”
