TEHRAN (Agencies)
Iran on Monday resumed the mass trial of those arrested during the post election demonstrations amid protests by prominent reformist clerics who opposed the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi and Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri -- once tipped to succeed Islamic republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- both spoke out as six protesters went on trial.
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Unnamed defendants " Prior to the election, we were talking about issues like fraud and were also advocating massively against the officials of the regime. We also staged a rebellion against the regime the election was just a pretext to hit at the symbol of the regime the supreme leader " Defendant quoted by Fars news agency The official IRNA news agency said those in the dock included student leader Abdollah Momeni, but later reported that the judge ordered media not to name the defendants.
Fars news agency then reported remarks made by an accused it referred to only as A.M., a former student activist.
"I consider myself to be involved in the events that followed the election," Fars said A.M. told the court.
"Prior to the election, we were talking about issues like fraud and were also advocating massively against the officials of the regime. We also staged a rebellion against the regime... the election was just a pretext to hit at the symbol of the regime, the (supreme) leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Fars also said A.M. had apologized and asked to be pardoned.
Around 140 protesters have already been put on trial for opposing Ahmadinejad's re-election in the June 12 poll, which the opposition alleges was massively rigged. |
Iran warned the opposition that it will tolerate no further protests The defendants include leading reformist politicians, activists and employees of the British and French embassies.
The opposition has denounced the proceedings as a "show trial."
Post-election unrest killed 36 people, according to Iranian officials, while opposition groups say 72 people died, some in police custody.
Monday's trial comes after the authorities freed Alireza Beheshti, a close aide to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a prominent lawyer and member of Nobel prize-winner Shirin Ebadi’s rights group.
Media reports said Beheshti was released on Saturday night and Dadkhah, a founder of the Human Rights Defenders Center headed by Ebadi, was freed on Sunday after posting bail of five billion rials ($500,000).
Dadkhah was arrested in early July amid a crackdown on critics of Ahmadinejad and opposition supporters. |
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Leave people to judge Mehdi Karroubi (C) refuses to recognise the re-election of Ahmadinejad Defeated reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi has charged that several protesters were raped in custody, but the judiciary on Saturday rejected the allegations as baseless and called for legal action against him.
On Monday Karroubi said on his website that he will leave it to the people to judge for themselves and Al Arabiya reported that Iran's general prosecutor had accused Karroubi of defaming the regime.
"The real court is the people -- they have to go to the people and see who the people will convict," he said. |
" The people are saying that if this oppression is against Islam, then how come the marjas, the guardians of religion are not taking a stand against the wrongdoings " Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri Leading dissident cleric Montazeri on his website urged fellow clergy to end their silence over the post-election crackdown.
He said their Islamic faith required top Shiite clerics or marjas to speak out against the mass trials of protesters and alleged beatings of detainees.
"The people are saying that if this oppression... is against Islam, then how come the marjas, the guardians of religion... are not taking a stand against the wrongdoings?" Montazeri asked.
He said the regime was "exploiting the silence of the clergy."
"So do you think it is worthy to keep silent when it comes to preserving the religion, Islam and people's reputation?," said Montazeri. |
