World

Ahmadinejad's Top Press Adviser Arrested in Iran

For publishing material insulting to the country's supreme leader (maybe a cartoon also featuring the prophet of Islam? Probably not!)

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's top press adviser was taken into custody to begin serving a six-month jail sentence after being convicted of publishing material deemed insulting to the country's supreme leader.

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, who is also the head of the state-run IRNA news agency, is one of dozens of Ahmadinejad's allies detained since April 2011 in the fallout from a political feud between the president and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran's hardline political establishment slapped down Ahmadinejad and his supporters after the president briefly challenged an order from the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the choice of intelligence chief.