DUBAI: Iranian authorities arrested prominent  journalist Isa Saharkhiz on Monday for “insulting the Supreme Leader  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and propaganda against the regime”, his family  said on social media. A post on Saharkhiz’s Facebook page reporting his  detention included what it said was a picture of a search warrant for  his home. An Iranian journalist who knows Saharkhiz told Reuters the  page was under the control of a family member. Saharkhiz’s son, Mehdi,  also announced the arrest on Twitter and said his father had started a  hunger strike.

The reports could not be immediately confirmed. The  journalist, who previously served as deputy minister of culture, spent  four years in jail from 2009 to 2013 on charges of insulting Iranian  leaders and harming national security. He was held in solitary  confinement on several occasions and also went on hunger strike several  times to protest against what he said was a lack of attention to his  particular medical needs, which include a heart condition. — Reuters