Mehdi Khazali, the Iranian political prisoner who had ended his hunger strike following the announcement that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani has registered as a presidential candidate, has resumed his hunger strike.

The Neday-e Sabz Azadi website reports that Khazali is once again refusing food after the Guardian Council disqualified the moderate cleric Ayatollah Rafsanjani from running in the election.

Khazali and many other reformists, many of whom are in jail after the controversial election of 2009 when reformist candidates alleged the elections were rigged in favour of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have denounced the rejection of their chief candidate and claim the council is clearing the path for the election of a conservative candidate.

Khazali has been arrested on several occasions for his critical blogs about the government. He was last arrested at a gathering of writers ,and while all the people who were arrested with him have been released, he remains in jail.

Radio Zamaneh