Iranian journalist and former political prisoner Emaddedin Baghi says that in the wake of the 2009 Iranian election, 100 armed supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were arrested.
Baghi quotes the leader of the Motalefeh party, saying: “In one of the post-election demonstrations, the Ministry of Intelligence arrested a group of 100 people between Azadi and Enghelab streets. The group was carrying arms and walkie talkies and was planning on mingling in the crowds and killing people with no regard to their political alliances.”
Baghi says two members of this group, who were arrested and transferred to Ward 240 of Evin Prison, “in their own words were supporters and officials of the non-reformist candidate’s campaign headquarters and could have been examples of the armed group that was planning to kill demonstrators as described by the head of Motalefeh.”
Baghi adds that the group was headquartered in a hotel on Azadi Street, where their suspicious actions led hotel staff to call the Ministry of Intelligence. Baghi writes: “They first thought they were members of the Mojahedin (People’s Mojahedin of Iran), but when they were arrested and their identities revealed, since they felt the exposure of this news was to their disadvantage, they censored the news.”
The post-election protests against alleged fraud in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2009 re-election victory led to scores of deaths and the arrest of thousands of protesters. MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the reformist candidates who challenged Ahmadinejad’s presidency, have been under house arrest since February 2011.
