Iran blocks access to opposition leader''s house: website

Tehran, Feb 14 (AFP) Iranian police today blocked accessto the house of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and cuthis telephone lines to prevent him attending a rally insupport of Arab revolts, his website said.

"Security forces have sent police vans and vehicles tothe alley where the house of Mr Mir Hossein Mousavi and hiswife Zahra Rahnavard is located" in Tehran, Kaleme.comreported.

"From today the police have blocked the alley where theirhouse is located...There is no possibility of coming andgoing" to the house, it said.

The report said all telephone lines at the house,including the mobile phone connections of Mousavi and hiswife, have been severed.

Kaleme.com said the latest "illegal and restrictivemeasures and pressures were adopted to prevent Mousavi fromtaking part in a rally in support of the people of Tunisia andEgypt."

Mousavi and fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi hadsought permission from Iran''s interior ministry to hold arally today to express their solidarity with uprisings inTunisia and Egypt.

Iran has backed the Arab uprisings but the interiorministry refused to permit the opposition rally as officialsbelieve it is a ploy to stage fresh anti-governmentdemonstrations as seen in 2009 after the disputed re-electionof President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Despite the ministry''s refusal, several groups claimingto be linked to the opposition movement have said they willstage a rally later Monday to support Arab uprisings.

Karroubi himself has been under a de facto house arrestfor almost a week with his family and relatives barred fromvisiting him. (AFP)