TEHRAN (Al Arabiya, Agencies

Iran’s Basij forces and members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards surrounded the home of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi on Friday to prevent him from joining an annual government-sponsored Palestinian solidarity rally, his website said.

Fellow opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi condemned the attack on Karroubi's home and accused Iranian authorities of exploiting the Qods day rally and other national and religious ceremonies to crack down on reformists and spread governmnet "propaganda."

At last year's Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally in Tehran, supporters of Karroubi and Mousavi staged demonstrations against hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government.

"As of 8:00 am (0330 GMT) today, Basijis (militiamen) and Sepahi (Guards) gathered in front of Karroubi's home and started reciting mourning prayers which are usually recited on the day of Ashura (a Shiite religious commemoration)," the samahnews.org website said.

"The aim of these people is to prevent him from participating in the Quds Day rally."

The fresh siege of Karroubi's home came after members of the Basij, a militia loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene, "savagely assailed" Karoubi's home on Wednesday night and broke down his door on Thursday, the website Saham News said


"These individuals, who seemed to enjoy police support and protection ... broke Karoubi's windows, spread dye over his house and tore down the building's surveillance cameras," the website said.

"The attackers opened fire and threw Molotov cocktails at the building," it added. "Mr. Karroubi's chief bodyguard was badly beaten up and had to be taken to hospital."

The website said that the assault on Karroubi's house, which began shortly before midnight (19:30 GMT) on Thursday, only ended when special forces arrived on the scene.

The website said on Wednesday that the militiamen had been gathering in front of Karroubi's home since Sunday to prevent him from taking part in Friday's Palestinian solidarity rally.

Ever since the 1979 revolution, Iran has organized pro-Palestinian marches each year on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

But last year the opposition used such government-sponsored rallies to organize protests against Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election that June.

Both Karroubi and Mousavi have remained steadfast in rejecting the official results of the election which they say were massively rigged.

Their opposition to Ahmadinejad has deeply divided Iran's ruling clergy.

Opposition websites say the two men have been attacked by hardliners at a number of public rallies over the past 15 months and that Karroubi has been harassed on other occasions.

Original link: http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/09/03/118362.html