Hojjatoleslam Abbasali Alizadeh, Head of the Tehran Judiciary, is under arrest and ordered not to leave Tehran, refrain from all activities and not make any statement until further clarification of his case", the Iranian internet newspaper "Peykiran" reported Wednesday, adding that the Intelligence Ministry is in possession of "irrefutable documents" proving Hojjatoleslam Alizadeh’s collaboration with American and Israeli agents.

Mr. Alizadeh is the most powerful cleric at the leader-controlled Judiciary after Ayatollah Mahmood Hashemi-Shahrooodi. He is considered as the cleric behind most of the crackdowns on dissidents and the bundle closure of Iranian independent and pro-reform publications, numbering at more than eighty.

According to "Peykiran", all the information concerning Mr. Alizadeh’s contacts with the American and Israeli agents have been passed to Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic.

"Peykiran" did not say when Mr. Alizadeh had been detained and what type of material he had passed to foreign agents.

Informed sources said as both Mr. Alizadeh and Hashemi-Shahroodi had been appointed by Mr. Khameneh'i on recommendation from Ayatollah Va’ez Tabasi, the official representative of the leader in the north-eastern province of Khorasan and probably the most powerful cleric after the leader, Mr. Hashemi-Shahroodi’s days might have been numbered as well.

Nima Rashedan, an Iranian analyst, accuses the Iraqi-born Head of the Iranian Judiciary of "intelligence" with British spy networks, a close collaboration that dates from the time Mr. Hashemi-Shahroodi, alias Hashemi-Araqi, was the official spokesman for the Tehran-based Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI). ENDS ALIZADEH DETAINED 251202