PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s “moral enforcer”, who led a crackdown on women failing to adhere to Iran’s strict Islamic dress codes, has been arrested in a Tehran brothel, it was reported last week.

Brigadier General Ali Reza Zarei, 53, the Tehran police chief and a confidant of the president, was said to have been with six prostitutes when he was detained by members of his own force two weeks ago.

He has been removed from his post and put on bail, according to the Iranian Farda website. The site is understood to be close to Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, the former police chief who is now mayor of Tehran and is expected to challenge Ahmadinejad for the presidency next year.

There has been no mention of the case in the official Iranian media but a spokesman for the justice department admitted last week that an unnamed senior official had been arrested.

The Shahab news site, which is also linked to opponents of Ahmadinejad, said it was believed that up to 60 hours of videotape featuring the general and the prostitutes had been confiscated by his officers.

Zarei - who was in charge of the programme for the “moralisation” of women - now faces possible prosecution.

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