Iran’s Rafsanjani ousted as head of state body

TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani lost his position as head of an important  state clerical body yesterday, a move which tightens the  hardliners’ grip on power.

The defeat for one of the great survivors of Iranian  politics since the 1979 Islamic revolution highlighted how even  establishment opponents of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are being isolated and sidelined.

It follows reports by relatives of reformist opposition  leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, denied by the  government, that they have been placed in detention at a secret  location to stop them orchestrating pro-reform protests inspired by uprisings in the Arab world.