[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran arrested a cleric close to late dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and warned opposition supporters against using text and email messages to organize rallies, opposition media and ISNA news agency reported Friday. Mid-ranking cleric "Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Taghi Khalaji was arrested at his home in the city of Qom on Tuesday," Norooznews said. "The cause of his arrest is not known yet but he had on several occasions backed protests against election results" which saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned for a second term amid allegations of massive fraud.
Meanwhile, Iran's police chief has warned opposition supporters against using text and email message to stage anti-government protests, ISNA news agency reported. "These people should know where they are sending the SMS and email as these systems are under control. They should not think using proxies will prevent their identification," Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam said. "If these people continue, their (data) records will be examined and those who organize or issue appeals have committed a worse crime than those who come to the streets," he warned.
Iran's cyber-savvy young opposition supporters have used the Internet effectively since unrest erupted in Iran after the disputed June 12 presidential election to organize demonstrations and spread news and pictures.