TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani lost his position as head of an important state clerical body yesterday, a move which tightens the hardliners’ grip on power.
The defeat for one of the great survivors of Iranian politics since the 1979 Islamic revolution highlighted how even establishment opponents of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are being isolated and sidelined.
It follows reports by relatives of reformist opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, denied by the government, that they have been placed in detention at a secret location to stop them orchestrating pro-reform protests inspired by uprisings in the Arab world.
