The lawyer for a jailed Iranian journalist and other high profile human rights advocates has been arrested on Saturday in Tehran.
Colleagues close to lawyer Abdol Fateh Soltani say they do not know which service took him into custody. On Wednesday, Iranian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Soltani, who represents jailed journalist Akbar Ganji, as well as the family of slain Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi. Akbar Ganji remains in government custody at a Tehran hospital. His family says his health is rapidly deteriorating because he has been on a hunger strike for 50 days. Mr. Ganji, who has been in jail since 2001 for publishing articles implicating government officials in deaths of prominent dissidents, faces new legal problems. Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi says (to ISNA) recent comments Mr. Ganji has made about the government are criminal and have further complicated his legal situation.