TEHRAN (Reuters) – An editor seen as close to Iran’s leadership said yesterday opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi should go on trial and a lawyer said other reformists had already been accused of acting against national security.
Mousavi and his supporters in last month’s disputed presidential election had acted on the instructions of the United States in protesting against the results, said Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of the hardline Kayhan daily.
“An open court, in front of the people’s eyes, must deal with all the terrible crimes and clear betrayal committed by the main elements behind the recent unrest, including Mousavi and (former President Mohammad) Khatami,” he wrote in a commentary.
Another hardline newspaper, Javan, said 100 members of parliament had signed a letter to the judiciary calling for the leaders of “post-election riots” to face trial, pointing to Mousavi and fellow defeated moderate Mehdi Karoubi.
The authorities have portrayed mass pro-Mousavi protests, which erupted after official results of the June 12 vote showed hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected by a landslide, as the work of local subversives and foreign powers. Reformers have dismissed such accusations. At least 20 people died in post-election violence last month. “All they did and said was in line with the instructions announced by American officials in the past,” Shariatmadari, who is close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote.
Ahmadinejad, in a speech in Tehran to mark Mines and Industry Day yesterday, said Western powers were whipping up controversy over the Iranian election to divert attention from their economic problems.
“The countries suffering from the financial crisis have tried hard to divert the world public opinion from this huge crisis, for instance they created the swine flu issue or they have tried to make something else from our election,” he said.
Security forces quelled the protests, but Mousavi and his allies, who say the election was rigged in favour of the anti-Western incumbent, have refused to back down. Hardliners within the administration are clearly determined to stop them. Lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said he was representing prominent figures including former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh and former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh.
They held their positions under Khatami, who was in office in 1997-2005 and backed moderate candidates in the June vote.
“I am the lawyer of about 12 journalists and political activists who were detained recently … their general charge is acting against national security,” Nikbakht told Reuters.
Karoubi’s Etemad-e Melli website said yesterday he had visited families of some of the many people detained after the election, including Abtahi, who was part of his campaign and was arrested on June 16.
