Iran protesters confessed after torture: Mousavi

Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said on Sunday that confessions made by protesters at a closed-door trial were made after they were put through "medieval-era torture," while Iranian MPs revealed they filed a judicial complaint against him.

"The scenes that we saw were a clumsy preparation for the launch of the 10th government," Mousavi said on his website Ghalamnews the day after 100 people were put on trial over post-election protests.

"They expect a court, which itself is fraudulent, to prove that there was no fraud committed in the election," said Mousavi, who was defeated by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election.

In the meantime, a group of Iranian MPs revealed they had filed a complaint to the judiciary against Mousavi over post-election violence, the Fars news agency reported on Sunday, quoting a lawmaker.

"We submitted this complaint against Mousavi's radical moves to the judiciary a few weeks ago," Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, a hardline member of parliament's judicial commission, told Fars.

"We expect it to be examined as soon as possible," he said, without specifying how many lawmakers had backed the action.

They expect a court, which itself is fraudulent, to prove that there was no fraud committed in the election

Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi

Khatami's denouncement

Just a hours before, Iran's reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami lashed out at the trial of 100 people accused of rioting after Ahmadinejad's re-election, putting him at loggerheads with hardliners who accuse him of "treason."

Around 100 people went on trial in a revolutionary court in Tehran on Saturday on various charges, including rioting, vandalism, having ties with counter-revolutionary groups and of planning to launch a "velvet revolution."

"As per my information, what was done yesterday is against the constitution, regular laws and rights of the citizens," Khatami's office quoted him as telling a group of political activists and lawmakers.

Khatami said the court had relied on "confessions taken under certain circumstances which are not valid."

As per my information, what was done yesterday is against the constitution, regular laws and rights of the citizens

Iranian former president Mohammad Khatami

"The most important problem with the trial procedure is that it was not held in an open session. The lawyers and the defendants were not informed of the contents of the cases ahead of the trial," Khatami said.

Khatami said he hoped such "harmful shows" do not make officials "forget to pursue the real crimes and offences" in jails where protesters who opposed Ahmadinejad's June election victory are held.

Around 2,000 protesters, reformists, political activists and journalists were initially detained by authorities in a crackdown to quell unrest after massive public protests over the June 12 vote.

Around 30 people were killed and hundreds wounded in the violence, which set off the worst crisis in the Islamic republic's 30-year-old existence.

The most important problem with the trial procedure is that it was not held in an open session. The lawyers and the defendants were not informed of the contents of the cases ahead of the trial

Khatami

In the meantime, Rezai called for the prosecution of security forces members who attacked vote protesters, the Mehr news agency reported.

"Recent incidents were created by two groups, the rioters and rogue elements and officials who trampled on the law," he wrote in a letter to judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi.

Rezai said "offenders" including those who "attacked Tehran university dorms, beat up detainees and hit protesters calmly demonstrating in the streets" should go on trial.

"As long as this second trial is not held justice will not be implemented, the Islamic republic will suffer further damage and the chain of errors will continue," warned Rezai, who headed the Revolutionary Guards for 16 years.

As long as this second trial is not held justice will not be implemented, the Islamic republic will suffer further damage and the chain of errors will continue

Defeated presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai