Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Tehran Friday leader implied in his sermon that the reformist key leaders (Khatami, Mousavi, and Karroubi) should be arrested to end the election dispute and unrest. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati is the head of the powerful Guardian Council and a strong Ahmadinejad supporter who said the 12 June election was the “healthiest” election since 1979 revolution.
Press TV has more:
Back to top[Jannati said] opposition to the election results and incitement of the post-vote unrest amount to “tyranny” against “Islam, the establishment and the people” and that those responsible should be brought to justice. “Some were arrested (in the protests) and some were not. Why weren’t the leaders behind this uproar arrested?” Jannati told worshippers during a Friday sermon in Tehran, Fars News Agency reported. “Their arrest should be the first thing that the Judiciary should do.” […]
On Friday, Ayatollah Jannati said parallels could be drawn between the recent uproar and the CIA-backed coup in 1953 — when the then democratically-elected Iranian prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddeq, was deposed in a military coup d’etat. “They wanted to repeat that coup … not knowing that people were not political savvy then. [In 1953,] people did not take to the streets, and no one was martyred; thus 25 years of tyranny ruled them,” said the Principlist cleric. “But nowadays, people are well aware of the (political) situation.” Jannati also urged the newly-elected Judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani to prosecute the “riot leaders” as his first official act.
The call has been backed by other Principlist clerics and officials as well as ranking military officers with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, head of the IRGC political bureau, said last week that the prosecution of Mousavi would put an end to the country’s post-election turmoil. “The question is who were the main plotters and agents of this coup. What is the role of (former President Mohammad) Khatami, Mousavi and Karroubi?” General Javani had said in early August. “Today, no one is impartial. There are two currents; those who defend and support the revolution and the establishment, and those who are trying to topple it,” Gen. Javani said in early July.