TEHRAN, Feb 5: A former Iranian prosecutor linked to the deaths of anti-government protesters was arrested on Tuesday as a public showdown between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his political rival, Ali Larijani, gathered pace.

Tensions burst into the open on Sunday when parliament dismissed Mr Ahmadinejad’s labour minister for hiring the prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, and the president tried to protect the minister by taking the floor to hurl corruption allegations at the family of Mr Larijani, the parliamentary speaker.

President Ahmadinejad is fighting to remain relevant as his second and last term in office draws to a close. With parliament and Mr Larijani, a possible candidate in June’s presidential election, becoming more assertive, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for unity to little avail.

“The Tehran prosecutor announced on Monday night that Saeed Mortazavi has been arrested,” read a one-line statement from the prosecutor’s office, giving no reason for the arrest.

Mr Mortazavi has reportedly played a central role in stamping out dissent since Mr Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election in 2009, and has been described by Human Rights Watch as a “serial human rights abuser”.

Before leaving Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport for Cairo, President Ahmadinejad struck a defiant tone, and said he would investigate the case on his return. “The judiciary is not a special family organisation,” he told reporters, according to the state news agency IRNA. The head of Iran’s judiciary is Sadeq Larijani, the speaker’s brother. “I don’t know how it has happened that one person has committed an infraction, and another person is arrested,” President Ahmadinejad said. “Instead of going after the violator, they go after the person who has announced the violation, and this is very ugly.”

Mr Mortazavi was arrested as he was leaving his office on Monday, and taken to Evin prison, Fars news agency said. He had been suspended from his post over the alleged deaths by torture of three protesters in custody after the 2009 election.—Reuters