Iran students detained on anti-revolution charges

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Two Iranian university students have been detained on charges of having contacts with "counter-revolutionary" groups outside the Islamic Republic, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

IRNA gave no details on the accusations against the two students who it named as Bahareh Hedayat, a woman, and Mohammad-Taghi Hashemi, a male student.

"Two university students were detained on charges of having contacts with illegal, counterrevolutionary groups outside the country," IRNA quoted a source at Tehran's revolutionary court as saying.

"The detention of these two individuals has nothing to do with their university student activities," the source added.

Western diplomats and human rights groups say Iran has launched a new crackdown on dissenting voices over the past year, possibly in response to increased Western pressure on Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme.

They say pro-reform students, women's rights activists and labour figures are among those targeted.

Iran rejects charges it violates human rights and accuses the West of hypocrisy and double standards.

It has in the past warned of a U.S.-backed "velvet revolution" using intellectuals and others to bring about "regime change" in the country.

The United States cut diplomatic ties with Iran shortly after its 1979 Islamic Revolution and Washington is now spearheading a drive to isolate Tehran over a nuclear programme the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. Tehran denies this.

(Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Sami Aboudi)