Tehran - The Iranian authorities yesterday announced the arrest of 12 members of a fundamentalist group for plotting to assassinate prominent leaders of the Islamic Republic, including the influential former president, Mr Akbar HashemiRafsanjani.
"Members of the group were preparing a list of people to assassinate, including a number of Iranian figures," the state news agency IRNA quoted Mr Mohammad Niazi, a prosecutor for the Tehran military court.
Meanwhile, Tehran's popular former mayor, Mr Gholamhossein Karbaschi, began serving a two-year sentence for corruption despite last-ditch efforts by his moderate supporters to stop him going to jail.