TEHRAN: Iran has arrested five people over the publication of caricatures deemed insulting to Islam that sparked tensions at a prestigious Tehran university, an official said on Wednesday.

“Five individuals who played a role in the publication of these articles were arrested and an inquiry has been opened,” said justice ministry spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi, according to the ISNA agency. Reports said that on Monday student members of the Basij vigilante militia staged a protest at the university against the caricatures, which appeared in four reformist student papers.

However, members of the reformist student movement that run the papers denied any involvement, saying the images were put into papers bearing their insignia by unknown individuals as a “plot” to discredit them. Both sides on Tuesday then staged sit-in protests to denounce the insults made against Islam in the papers, in an apparent show of unity. Jamshidi did not say whether the individuals arrested were students and did not give their names. No details have been released over the nature of the caricatures.—AFP