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Aide to Former Iranian President Khatami Denies Travel Ban

   VOA News 09 March 2010

   A  lawyer  for  Iran's  former President Mohammad Khatami is denying a
   report  that the reformist politician has been barred from leaving the
   country.
   Mahmoud  Alizadeh  Tabatabai  says  the report by Iran's semi-official
   Fars  news  agency  is false.  He says a travel ban usually requires a
   judicial  decision,  and  that  no such decision has been made for Mr.
   Khatami.
   Fars  quotes  unidentified sources as saying the government has barred
   the  former  president  from  leaving  Iran.   It says Mr. Khatami had
   recent intentions of leaving the country.
   Mr. Khatami was a key supporter of defeated presidential candidate Mir
   Hossein  Mousavi,  who  led  protests after the June 2009 presidential
   election which he claimed was rigged.
   The  Iranian  government  crushed  the  protests  in  a crackdown that
   resulted in mass arrests.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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