WORLD BRIEFING

Conservative rivals handed a new snub to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appointing the man he fired from the post of intelligence minister as the country’s state prosecutor.

The appointment of Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei was made by the head of the judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, who is the brother of parliament speaker Ali Larijani. The brothers are emerging as rivals of the hard-line president within Iran’s conservative camp.

The wrangling among conservatives comes as the pro-reform opposition has stepped up its campaign against Ahmadinejad, who it says won the June 12 presidential election by fraud. The opposition, led by Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who claims to be the election’s rightful winner, says Ahmadinejad’s government is illegitimate.