Charges of Treason Against Mousavi and Khatami Grow Louder (AFP):
[A] group of Iranian MPs have filed a complaint to the judiciary against Mousavi over the post-election violence, the Fars news agency reported.
“Those who issued statements and directed recent riots should be accountable for the bloodshed and go on trial,” said Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, a hardline member of parliament’s judicial commission.
Rahbar said Mousavi and Khatami were the main culprits behind the unrest.
The rival declarations underscore the scale of the political infighting in Iran, which has also seen Ahmadinejad come under fire even from own hardline supporters and triggered warnings of further radicalisation.
“Evidence of Khatami and Mousavi’s treason unveiled,” thundered the headline in the hardline Kayhan newspaper.
Kayhan called for Khatami and Mousavi to be charged with “acting against God,” an offense that carries the death penalty.
Mousavi Says Sham Trial an Attempt to Validate Fraudulent Election (AFP):
“The scenes that we saw were a clumsy preparation for the launch of the 10th government,” Mousavi said on his website of Saturday’s trial, held just days before Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in on Wednesday.
“They expect a court, which itself is fraudulent, to prove that there was no fraud committed in the election,” said Mousavi, a former post-revolution premier who lost to Ahmadinejad in what he said was a rigged election.
“What are they trying to convince people of… by relying on reports from reporters nobody has heard of and relying on confessions which obviously bore the hallmarks medieval-era torture?”
Khatami Condemns “Show Trial” (LA Times):
In comments published today on his website, Khatami, onetime leader of the nation’s reformist movement, warned that the confessions aired during Saturday’s mass trial for those allegedly behind Iran’s weeks of unrest would backfire by further dividing the people from the establishment.
“Such confessions expressed under special circumstances lack any legal standing,” he said in a meeting late Saturday, according to the baran.org.ir, the website of a charity he oversees. “The regime and nation were insulted and what we heard in the show trial were repetitions of what we had already heard from special tribunes in violation of legal and religious norms.”
The trial opening aired on television as the nation braces for another possible outbreak of violence during events this week marking the launch of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s second term. Many prominent political figures, including Khatami, plan to boycott the ceremonies.
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who served as vice-president to Khatami during his presidency, was among those who appeared at the trial and read a confession recanting his previous allegation that Ahmadinejad’s June 12 election victory was a blatant fraud.
Former IRGC Commander Rezaei Calls for Trial of Security Forces (Press TV):
Back to topOne day after Iran opened a mass trial of more than 100 opposition figures, defeated presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei questions the fairness of the move, calling for a trial of the security forces who broke the law. […]
“Recent events which brought severe damage upon the nation and the Islamic Republic were caused by two groups; one group were rioters and the second group comprised of self-driven individuals and security forces who violated the law,” Rezaei said in a letter to Iran’s Judiciary Chief, Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, on Sunday.
Rezaei, who challenged Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election, argued that with two types of defendants, the authorities should move to hold two types of court proceedings.
“Otherwise justice and fairness will not be administered and it is even possible that insecurity does not come to an end and calm is not restored to the society,” Rezaei warned.
He said while Saturday’s trial only dealt with the first group of the accused, the question remains as to when the second trial is set to begin and why it was not held at the same time with the first court session.
Rezaei called on the country’s judiciary chief to put to trial “the security forces who attacked Tehran University’s dormitory and classes in Isfahan University”, “those responsible for battering the prisoners including Mohsen Ruholamini”, and “those responsible for assaulting peaceful protestors in the street”.