2 imprisoned Iranian activists are hospitalized; 2 leaders join reformists

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Two prominent Iranian opposition activists have been hospitalized, one after being beaten by his jailers for refusing to attend trial, the other from a nine-day hunger strike, a reformist Web site reported Tuesday.

Iran’s top opposition leaders, meanwhile, announced they were joining a new grass-roots reformist movement to present a united front against the government.

The “Green Path of Hope,” a political movement created by opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi seeks to be a rallying point for the opposition to continue its campaign against the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ali Reza Beheshti, a top aide to Mousavi, said Tuesday that former president Mohammad Khatami and defeated reformist candidate Mahdi Karroubi were joining the movement to invigorate the opposition after a government crackdown crushed protests over the disputed June 12 presidential election.

Hundreds have been arrested since the election, and the opposition says some of them died in prison from beatings and other abuse.

Feizollah Arabsorkhi, a prominent member of a reformist political party, was severely beaten by his jailers at Evin prison when he wouldn’t attend his trial, the Iran Green Wave Camp Web site said Tuesday.

He was sent to Tehran’s Baghiatollah-al-Azam military hospital, which is controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, an elite military unit that led the crackdown against protesters.

Ahmad Zeidabadi, a journalist and former student leader, is also in poor health after being forced to break his hunger strike Monday, added the site. He stopped eating after his Aug. 8 court appearance.

Zeidabadi leads a group of reformists who were once members of Iran’s largest student organization, the Office for Fostering Unity.

The two activists are among more than 100 prominent opposition supporters on trial since Aug. 1 in Iran on accusations of plotting to overthrow the clerical leadership through the protests.