TEHRAN: Iran has arrested more than 180 people in recent days, including journalists, students and human rights campaigners, following anti-government protests late last month, a banned opposition website said today.

Rahesabz named 92 people rounded up, including 10 aides to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, 17 journalists working mostly for reformist media and members of the outlawed Bahai faith.

Another 94 unnamed students have also been arrested, mostly in the holy city of Mashhad, the website said.

On December 27, eight people were killed after clashes erupted between security forces and opposition supporters staging fresh protests during the Shiite mourning period of Ashura.

Security forces arrested hundreds of people during the protests, at least 300 of whom are still being held in Tehran, police say.

And government supporters staged counter-demonstrations calling for opposition leaders to be punished.

Rahesabz was one of 60 organisations Iran banned citizens from having contact with, state media reported on Monday. The BBC, Human Rights Watch and US-funded broadcasters are some of the others.

The opposition website said 12 Bahais have been arrested, among them the former secretary of Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi’s human rights group. Ebadi’s sister was also detained shortly after the opposition’s Sunday protest.

Dissidents from Iran’s Freedom Movement, an outlawed but tolerated group, as well as their relatives and dozens of human rights and student activists, have also been taken into custody, according to Wednesday’s report.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the US and Israel of staging the latest anti-government protests.