TEHRAN, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has been ousted as head of the country's Academy of Arts, Iranian media reported.
Neither the semi-official Fars news agency nor the official Islamic Republic News Agency gave a reason for Mousavi's firing.
Mousavi, a former prime minister, had served as president of the academy since 1999, IRNA said. He lost to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran's disputed June presidential election, an outcome that sparked violent and at times deadly protests among tens of thousands of students.
The academy, affiliated with the president's office, was established in 1998 to "safeguard the Islamic national heritage and art" and "promote the Islamic culture to confront the threats of the invading culture," its Web site says.
IRNA said Tuesday night the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution appointed Ali Moalem Damghani to replace Mousavi as the new head of the academy.
A day after massive student protests two weeks ago, Iran's chief prosecutor, Gholam Hossein Mohsen, had threatened to arrest Mousavi. The Times of London reported at the time that dozens of plainclothes government agents on motorbikes, almost certainly members of the hard-line Basij militia, had surrounded Mousavi's Tehran offices.
