Speaking to the Persian services of both BBC and RFI (Radio France Internationale), its French equivalent, Mr. Atri said during the 45 minutes that the thugs were beating to death him and his fellow comrades, agents of the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) present at the scene did noting to intervene.

Mr. Atri said he and his friends came under a sudden and very violent attack by thugs as, in the absence of the (independent) press they were distributing communiqué informing people about conferences and speeches the OCU usually organise during the mourning month of Moharram with the participation of some leading scholars.

He said the beating and verbal violence continued unabated even in the police station, where some of the policemen acknowledged privately that they had been directed no to intervene.

"Once presented to a judge the morning after, the attackers were immediately freed on bail, paid by some people who had come there with plenty of money and recommendations".

Observers said that coming right after the end of the (Iranian) New Year holiday and few months before the next presidential elections due in June; the new provocation is likely to add to people’s anger against the ruling conservatives.

Mr. Atri said he had identified some of the armed thugs who would not hesitate to boast to be "soldiers of the great leader" and that beating them was necessary to defend both the "beloved Master and the God given velayat", or the present Islamic system under the absolute rule of Mr. Khameneh’i.

Analysts said the beating of Mr. Atri is part of the project aimed at postponing the presidential elections and proclaim an emergency "crisis cabinet" to be led by the former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.

Mr. Ebrahim Sheikh, also a leading member of the OCU’s executive Committee was detained on order from the Islamic revolution court, accused of "moving the Organisation closer to the Islamist-nationalists and preparing the downfall of the regime".

Meanwhile, the Student’s Committee for the Defence of Political Prisoners, in a communiqué released Tuesday, announced the arrest of Mr. Khosro Kordpoor, a pro-reform activist.

The Committee, sponsored by the Association of Nationalist Iranian Students, said the arrest of Mr. Kordpoor in Bukan was in "connection" to the official ban imposed by the Judiciary on both the Religious-nationalists and the Iran Freedom Movement.

It was after that decision that Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Court had summoned Mr. Hassan Abdi, a correspondent with the reformist daily "Hambastegi" to appear in the court.

There was no explanation for the summon, but informed sources told Iran Press Service that Mr. Abdi was known for his activities as a Religious-nationalist activist.