TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iranian hardliners hit back at  former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani yesterday for  criticising the conduct of last month’s election and its  aftermath, highlighting deepening establishment divisions.

An editor seen as close to Iran’s top authority said  Rafsanjani was backing “law-breakers”, a reference to opposition  protesters, and a senior cleric accused him of creating rifts in  the Islamic Republic and hinted he should face legal action.

In apparent defiance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali  Khamenei, Rafsanjani said in a sermon on Friday that many  Iranians had doubts about the official result of the June 12  vote, which showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won.

Leading Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since  the election, the powerful cleric also declared that Iran was in  crisis after the poll, which opposition leader Mirhossein  Mousavi says was rigged in the hardline incumbent’s favour.

Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, an Ahmadinejad ally and a member  of Iran’s top legislative body, rejected Rafsanjani’s remarks.

“Who planted the seeds of doubt in the election in the minds  of people? … Isn’t this sowing discord?” Yazdi told a news  conference, according to the official IRNA news agency.

He added, according to Fars News Agency: “Those who planted  doubt in society and those who irrigated it to make it sprout  out of the soil and pour into the streets to violate people’s  lives and property … should be dealt with legally.”

The election stirred the most striking display of internal  unrest in Iran, the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter, since  the 1979 revolution and exposed deep rifts in its ruling elite.

At least 20 people died in post-election violence. Mousavi  and the authorities blame each other for the bloodshed. Riot  police and religious Basij militia eventually suppressed the  street demonstrations, but Mousavi has remained defiant.

Post-election events have also further strained ties between  Iran and the West, already at odds over Tehran’s nuclear  programme. Western powers criticised the crackdown. Iran accused  them of meddling.

Rafsanjani’s robust stance appeared to set him on collision  course with Khamenei, who has openly backed Ahmadinejad in a  departure from the supreme leader’s accepted role as a lofty  clerical arbiter above the political fray.

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters used the Friday  prayers led by Rafsanjani, a moderate who backed Mousavi in the  election, to stage the biggest show of dissent in weeks.

Clashes erupted near the university between police and  followers of Mousavi, who came second and still contests the  official election results.