TEHRAN Akbar Ganji, an investigative journalist currently held in prison for participation in the controversial Berlin Conference, has denied he was a member of an armed antirevolutionary clique whose leader, Mahdi Hashemi, was executed several years ago.

In a letter to former Tehran MP Mohammad-Javad Larijani, he denounced certain statements of the former MP made in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) accusing him of having been a member of the first Mafia group in Iran run by Hashemi which led to his imprisonment "several years ago."

"Firstly, I never met Mahdi Hashemi during his lifetime, let alone having had any relationship with him or having been a member of his Mafia group," part of Ganji's letter to Larijani, published in Persian daily Iran Sunday, read.

"Secondly, I was condemned by the Revolutionary Court to one year of imprisonment for calling the Kayhan, Sobh and Shalamcheh newspapers as well as the Ansar-e Hezbollah group fascists," Ganji explained in his letter.

He said the reason for his arrest and incarceration in Evin Prison is his participation in the Berlin Conference which has been condemned by court officials as a move against the country's national security.

"During my second court trial I did my best to tell the Judiciary that I participated in the conference because I intended to present an explicit and public defense of the Islamic system," he said.

"The judge and prosecutor, instead, charged 17 Iranian lecturers with acting against the country's security, arguing that had we not participated in the conference it would not have been convened," Ganji added.

He turned the table against Larijani, accusing the latter of clandestinely visiting British officials before the 1997 presidential elections to warn them of the dangers of a victory by reformers.

"Mr. Larijani clandestinely visited British authorities before the presidential elections in 1997 in order to brief them on the political divisions of the country and remind them of the dangers of a victory by reformers," Ganji said in his letter.

Ganji has been held in prison since April after returning from the Berlin Conference. The Tehran Justice Department is expected to announce its verdict on the case next week.

(IRNA)