Critical Cleric Arrested in Iran

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061008/ts_nm/iran_cleric_dc_2

Critical cleric arrested in Iran: reports

Sun Oct 8, 12:54 PM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Shi'ite Muslim cleric who has challenged
Iran's system of clerical rule was arrested on Sunday after his supporters clashed with police outside his house in the Iranian capital, Iranian news agencies reported.


Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Boroujerdi was detained with several supporters, Iran's student news agency ISNA quoted the deputy governor of Tehran, Abdollah Rowshan, as saying.

The Iranian authorities are wary of any challenge, particularly from top clerics, to the system of clerical rule that was established after the 1979 Islamic revolution by revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

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We believe that our nation is tired of political religion and they want to return to traditional religion," Boroujerdi told Iran's labor news agency ILNA on Saturday.

He said he had written to U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan,
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana,
Pope Benedict and other leaders asking them "to make efforts to spread traditional religion," ILNA reported.