You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Khatami denounces show trials
2009-08-03
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."

" 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
"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.

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.
Posted by:Fred

00:00