Iran editor accuses Mousavi of working for US

The editor of a conservative Iranian newspaper accused defeated election candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi Saturday of working for the Americans who had committed "terrible crimes" as the Islamic Republic continued its crackdown on dissident and warned several reformists would stand trial for "acting against national security."

In a commentary published in his Kayhan daily, Editor-in-Chief Hossein Shariatmadari suggested that Mousavi and his supporters in last month's disputed election had acted on the instructions of the United States and called for Mousavi to stand trial.

"Documents and undeniable evidence show that this mission was directed from the outside," Shariatmadari, who is close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote in a commentary.

"All they did and said was in line with the instructions announced by American officials in the past," he added.

He also singled out former President Mohammad Khatami, a leading reformist who backed Mousavi in the election campaign.

"An open court, in front of the people's eyes, must deal with the all the terrible crimes and clear betrayal committed by the main elements behind the recent unrest, including Mousavi and Khatami," Shariatmadari wrote.

"There were some reasons why the United States, Israel, the European Union, all anti-revolutionary groups ... supported Mousavi and his group and spent all their political and media forces to support this group," Shariatmadari wrote.

Another conservative 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.

The June 12 poll stirred the most striking display of internal unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution and strained ties with the West. At least 20 people died in post-election violence last month.

There were some reasons why the United States, Israel, the European Union, all anti-revolutionary groups ... supported Mousavi and his group and spent all their political and media forces to support this group

Hossein Shariatmadari

Acting against' the state

Meanwhile, Maziar Bahari -- a journalist for American magazine Newsweek -- and a number of reformist leaders in Iran are to face trial accused of "acting against national security," their lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said, a day after Iran announced it would try some of the British embassy staff it is holding.

"Bahari is accused of acting against national security, and I still have not been able to meet him despite going to the prosecutor's office several times," Nikbakht said.

He is also representing a number of reformist leaders detained in the aftermath of the June 12 presidential election and said that all of them face the same charge.

Nikbakht said he is also representing former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Amizadeh, ex-government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, former deputy economy minister Mohsen Safai-Farahani and former vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, all of whom served under Khatami.

Behzad Nabavi, former deputy speaker of parliament between 2000 and 2004 when it was reformist-controlled, is another of his clients.

"I was not able to see any of them, and Safai-Farahani and Nabavi have not been able to contact their families either," Nikbakht said.

He did not say when his clients would appear in court.

"Any kind of interview and confession by these people who are being held in prison is invalid under the law and the Iranian constitution," Nikbakht added.

On Wednesday the Newsweek repeated a call on Iran to release its correspondent immediately and rejected charges made against him.

Scores of journalists and reformist politicians were arrested following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election, which triggered the worst unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution as Iranians accuse the government of rigging the vote.

Bahari is accused of acting against national security, and I still have not been able to meet him despite going to the prosecutor's office several times

Newsweek journalists lawyer

Iranians not convinced

In related news, a senior pro-reform cleric said many Iranians remained unconvinced about Ahmadinejad's re-election because of voting "ambiguities" and warned the government could face problems.

Grand Ayatollah Yusof Saanei called on the authorities in an Internet statement not to violate people's rights, in an apparent reference to their handling of mass protests.

"I remind you that no instruction or command can be a permission or excuse to violate people's rights and this could be a great sin," he said in a statement posted on his website on Friday.

The authorities reject opposition charges of vote rigging, saying the election was the country's "healthiest" since the U.S.-backed shah was toppled in 1979.

They have portrayed the protests as the work of local subversives and foreign powers, especially Britain.

Saanei is an ally of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, Iran's most senior dissident cleric. Montazeri was an architect of the Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership and was under house arrest for some years.

I remind you that no instruction or command can be a permission or excuse to violate people's rights and this could be a great sin

Grand Ayatollah Yusof Saanei