Iran's Khatami to run for office

Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami has ended months of speculation by announcing that he will run in June's presidential election.

Mr Khatami was president of Iran from 1997-2005 and was succeeded by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative.

Calls had been mounting for Mr Khatami to put forward his name

"I will seriously take part as a candidate for the election," he told a meeting of a pro-reform group.

In January, a close aide to Mr Ahmadinejad said the incumbent would, as expected, stand for re-election.

Mr Khatami, the most liberal president since the revolution, should have a good chance of unseating Mr Ahmadinejad, arguably the most conservative leader in that time, says the BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran.

However, he will face tough opposition from hardliners in the clergy and military, our correspondent adds.

Mr Khatami urged a free election, saying the fate of the Islamic Revolution was at stake.

"Is it possible to remain indifferent toward the revolution's fate and shy away from running in the elections?" he asked at a news conference in Tehran.

"I consider this as a right to run in this stage. This candidacy doesn't deprive others and the path is open. What should be stressed is that the elections must be held freely."

'Desire for change'

It should prove an intriguing contest in June, our correspondent says.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been a controversial figure

In this 30th anniversary year of the revolution, it will give Iranians a stark choice over the future of the Islamic Republic.

One other obstacle for Mr Khatami, Jon Leyne adds, is that his old supporters were disillusioned by his failure to push through more changes when he was in power.

Therefore, the challenge will be persuading them to go out and vote.

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a close aide of Mr Khatami, warned that the results of elections in Iran were always of "serious concern" - an apparent reference to vote-rigging.

"But if the voter participation is high, we can easily win the election," he told AFP news agency.

UN hails Iraq election results

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has made a surprise visit to Iraq to congratulate voters there on the outcome of nationwide local elections.

After talks with political leaders in Baghdad, Mr Ban said the vote showed how far Iraq had come.

However, he said there was still a long way to go before Iraqis could claim to have "genuine freedom and security".

The UN chief said progress had been made but there was further to go

Allies of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki swept to victory in Baghdad and key provinces in last Saturday's poll.

The United Nations played a key role in organising the elections - seen as a test of stability before a general election, due later this year.

The BBC's Jim Muir, in Baghdad, says that like everyone else, the UN is relieved that both the polling day itself and the announcement of the results passed off with virtually no violence at all.

Celebratory mood

Election commission preliminary results announced on Thursday showed Mr Maliki's State of Law coalition had made spectacular gains in southern Shia areas.

PM Maliki's coalition won by huge margins in Baghdad and Basra

The coalition won 38% of votes in Baghdad and 37% in Iraq's second city Basra - curbing the previous dominance of rival Shia parties.

Meanwhile, the once-dominant Sunni Arabs regained political power in other parts of the country - having boycotted the 2005 election.

There were fears of violence in the mainly Sunni flashpoint province of al-Anbar, where tribal leaders had threatened to take up arms over the result.

In the event, they came in just half a percentage point behind another Sunni party to which they are allied.

Mr Ban was expected to hold talks with Mr Maliki as well as Iraqi President Jalal Talabani while in Baghdad.

He will "reiterate the UN's commitment to the country", and "above all congratulate the Iraqi people on the success of largely violence-free elections", UN spokesman Said Arikat told the AFP news agency.

The election was an extraordinary achievement in a country that has been wracked by violence for the last nearly six years, our correspondent says.

Healthy and peaceful political competition, and change through the ballot box, have become the name of the game, he adds.

Just over half of Iraqis voted in Saturday's election, lower than some had predicted.

Final results are not expected to be known for weeks.

Gaza activist detained in Egypt

A German-Egyptian activist has been detained north of Cairo during a rally in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

Philip Rizk has been an outspoken activist on Palestinian issues and lived in Gaza for two years.

He previously worked on aid projects with Canon Andrew White, special envoy to the Middle East for the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Eyewitnesses said he was bundled into a white van with no licence plates, which then sped off.

The German embassy has been informed of his detention and is trying to locate him.

His family say they have been tipped off that he is now being held by Egyptian secret police at an undisclosed location.

Over the weekend a delegation of lawyers and activists filed charges with the public prosecutor's office, relating to his kidnapping by three state security officers.

Mr Rizk writes a popular blog, "Tabula Gaza", and has just completed a short documentary about non-violent protest against Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip.

It is not known why he would be of special interest, though in past weeks a number of bloggers and activists from the Muslim Brotherhood - who campaigned for the re-opening of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza - have been formally charged with "forming a criminal group belonging to Hamas".

One of those arrested was Gamal Abdel Salam, who heads the Egyptian Doctors' Syndicate Relief Committee, which organised a number of convoys to the Gaza Strip.