Iran's conservative-dominated courts have summoned more than 60 members of the reformist-majority parliament close to President Mohammad Khatami, a senior parliamentary official was quoted as saying Tuesday.
"More than 60 MPs have been summoned by a variety of courts," Mohammad Kazemi, the reporter of parliament's judicial committee, told the daily Hambastegi, calling it "an unprecedented act".
The accusations against the 60, whom he did not identify, "are not clear", Kazemi added.
He condemned the recent sentencing of reformist deputy Mohammad Dadfar, from Bushehr, southern Iran, to seven months in jail for "insulting institutions of the regime".
Parliament speaker Mehdi Karubi last week announced the temporary suspension of Dadfar's sentence following talks with Iran's judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi. and prosecutor general Abdolnabi Namazi.
The sentencing of Dadfar sparked widespread outrage among reformist MPs, some of whom threatened to resign in protest against violation of parliamentary immunity.
The row over immunity, which the courts refuse to recognize, reflects the ongoing rivalry between conservative and reformist factions in Islamic Iran -- AFP
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