Iran’s former president Ahmadinejad arrested for inciting unrest – report

Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been arrested for inciting unrest against the regime, reports say.

Full details of his arrest are unclear but Al Quds Al Arabi newspaper reported that Iranian authorities were seeking to place Mr Ahmadinejad under house arrest, with approval from Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The move follows Mr Ahmadinejad’s visit to Bushehr city late last month, where he expressed sympathy for the thousands of protesters who thronged the streets of Tehran and other cities for seven days.

“Some of the current leaders live detached from the problems and concerns of the people, and do not know anything about the reality of society,” he said. “Iran suffers from mismanagement and not lack of economic resources.”

More than a week of unrest has left 22 people dead and more than 1,000 arrested, Iranian officials say.

The protests spread to more than 80 cities and towns as thousands of young and working-class Iranians expressed their anger at corruption, unemployment and the widening gap between rich and poor.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said yesterday that the country’s people and security forces had quashed the protests, as parliament and security officials met to discuss the boldest challenge to the clerical establishment since 2009.

Residents in various cities confirmed the protests had subsided after the government sent Revolutionary Guard forces to several provinces.

“Iran’s revolutionary people along with tens of thousands of Basij forces, police and the intelligence ministry have broken down the chain,” the Guard said.

Iran has also banned the teaching of English in primary schools.

“This is because the assumption is that, in primary education, the groundwork for the Iranian culture of the students is laid,” Mehdi Navid-Adham, head of the high education council, said on Saturday.

Children in Iran usually start learning English around the ages of 12 to 14, but some primary schools start English classes at a younger age.

While there was no mention of the announcement being linked to the anti-regime protests, the Revolutionary Guard has blamed “foreign enemies” for the unrest.

As Iranian legislators met behind closed doors yesterday to discuss last week’s protests, more pro-regime rallies were held in several cities.