TEHRAN -- Hamid Baghaei, former vice president to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was arrested on Monday.

Judiciary spokesman Qolamhossein Mohseni Ejei announced the news during a press conference in Tehran, the Fars reported.
Ejei said that Baghaei had been summoned to the court a few hours earlier and was now under arrest.

He refused from giving any further details on the case.

A court in 2011 banned Baghaei, who is very close to Ahmadinejad, from working for the government for four years.

The former official was previously convicted of legal violations committed during the time he served as the head of the Organization for Cultural Heritage and Tourism.

SP/PA