Two prominent Iranian detainees, Mohammad-Ali Abtahi and Mohammad Atrianfar have dismissed claims that their confessions have been extracted under pressure.
Abtahi, a close aide to former president Mohammad Khatami, and Atrianfar -- a senior advisor to former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- told Iranian television on Sunday that allegations that drugs had induced their confessions are an insult to the intelligence of Iranians.
The two reformist figures pointed out that they were treated humanely while in detention.
Meanwhile, the two detainees once again rejected claims that the presidential election was rigged in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Abtahi also said that it's impossible to plagiarize eleven million votes -- the margin with which incumbent President Ahmadinejad was re-elected.
They further admitted that the post-election unrest was aimed at staging a velvet revolution in the Islamic Republic.
According to the country's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, "medieval torture" was used to force confessions in the Revolution Court.
The former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami also rejected the trial as a "show," saying the confessions are invalid and un-constitutional.
"What they called a trial... was against the constitution, regular laws and rights of the citizens," Khatami said.
The second hearing of the trial is scheduled for Thursday, one day after President Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in for his second term before Parliament.
[Iran Press TV Latest] With only days left until the inauguration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Germany says Chancellor Angela Merkel will not send a customary congratulatory letter to the Iranian official.
Speaking at a press conference in Berlin on Monday, Merkel's spokesman Klaus Vater said "in view of his controversial re-election, the chancellor won't be congratulating" the Iranian president.
After the presidential poll in June, Iran announced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the official victor having won almost two-thirds of the votes.
The opposition, however, maintains that the election was "fraudulent" and calls for the annulment of the vote.
Ever since the official announcement of the poll result, Iran has witnessed widespread protests as supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi take to the streets to protest Ahmadinejad's re-election.
At least 30 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured in the course of the protests.
Iranian authorities also announced that about 3,000 protestors were arrested most of whom have been released.
Commenting on the issue of prisoners, the German spokesman called on the Iranian government to release all the prisoners held since the start of the political turmoil over the contested result of the election in Iran.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Assembly of Expert member Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami has criticized the opposition for adopting a religious tone.
His remarks came after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, formally endorsed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term.
In his speech during the approval ceremony on Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei drew a parallel between those who wish to undermine Iran's ruling system in the guise of Islam and a group of 'hypocrites' who at the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) built a mosque to oppose the Islam prophet.
The 'hypocrites' went on to build a mosque that was criticized in the Holy Quran as the 'Mosque of Mischief,' and which was eventually destroyed on the orders of the Prophet (PBUH).
On the issue, Ayatollah Khatami, a Principlist supporter who has harshly criticized those who continue to challenge the outcome of the June 12 election, termed the opposition tactics used to continue the protests as "hypocrisy."
"Some people, with their conspiracies in the recent election, have recreated the circumstances of the 'Mosque of Mischief,' which is exemplified by their crying of 'God is Great' from their rooftops," said the cleric.
"God revealed a verse [from the Holy Quran] which said that this mosque has been built with the intention of harming Muslims and creating divisions and advocating infidelity... For this reason, the Prophet (PBUH) sent a group to destroy that mosque," he told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), in a reference to Chapter 9, verses 107-110 of the Holy Quran.
"The Mosque of Mischief is an example for using religion as an instrument."
In Iran's disputed presidential election, all three opposition candidates had impeccable religious and revolutionary credentials, with Mehdi Karroubi being a senior cleric, Mohsen Rezaei the war-time commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Mir-Hossein Mousavi being prime minister for 8 years during the war.
Supporters of Mousavi have adopted the color green, as in indicative of the family of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), from whom Mousavi is descended, and his supporters frequently should "Allah-u Akbar" (God is Great) from rooftops at night.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi describes as shocking, a German Foreign Ministry statement calling for the immediate release of political prisoners in Iran.
"[German Foreign Minister Frank Walter] Steinmeier's unusual call for the release of the agents behind the post-election unrest in the country is in stark contrast with all accepted legal standards, being a manifestation of a foreign official's outrageous meddling in the trend of proceedings against criminals in an independent country," Qashqavi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The spokesman dismissed as "baseless" Steinmeier's claims regarding the "lack of a transparent and fair trial" for the post-election detainees in the country.
On Sunday, the German Foreign Minister issued a statement on his website, voicing serious concern about the trial of 100 people charged with fomenting unrest after June presidential elections.
"The Iranian government is called on to release the political prisoners and respect international standards for the protection of the civil and political rights of its citizens to which it has agreed," Steinmeier said in the statement.
[Iran Press TV Latest] As certain political figures join opposition in rejecting the disputed election results, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution strongly backs the president for a second term, but urges him to heed the views of his "critics."
In a step leading up to his inauguration in Parliament, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Monday threw his weight behind President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday, describing him as "courageous, astute and hardworking."
The Leader added that his endorsement and the people's vote remains in place only until President Ahmadinejad stays "on the right path."
The endorsement decrees are normally read by the previous president -- even for the second term of the new president in office.
However, the ceremony took place in the absent of defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, along with powerful cleric and official Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and former President Mohammad Khatami.
There were also no representatives present from the family of the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The development against a backdrop of political trials comes as Ahmadinejad's much-disputed re-election in June was met with an outpouring of anger demonstrated in mass protests across the country, with demonstrators dubbing the poll as rigged.
At least 30 people were killed and thousands, including prominent Reformists and journalists, were rounded up in the course of the protests staged by supporters of the opposition who dismiss the official election result as "fraudulent" and call for its annulment.
With leading opposition figures Mousavi, Khatami and Karroubi refusing to acknowledge Ahmadinejad's presidency, the incumbent's re-election provoked bickering in the country's political circles.
Among the opposing voices was Hashemi-Rafsanjani who at the Friday prayers at Tehran University on July 17 hit out at the government for its mishandling of the controversy over the election.
Rafsanjani, who heads both the top political arbitration body and the clerical body, suggested that failing to listen to the voice of those who are dissatisfied with the election result had disrupted the national unity and shattered the nation's trust in the establishment.
"Doubt has been created," he said. "There are two currents; one has no doubt and is moving ahead. And the other is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt."
On the issue, Ayatollah Khamenei said in the aftermath of the election, "the majority of people and political figures" acted responsibly.
The Leader, however, added that "some elites" had failed to do so in accordance with their responsibilities.
"Those who talk of the nation's distrust do so either out of spite or out of negligence."
Giving his views on the social side-takings which have taken place following the vote, Ayatollah Khamenei broke down the nation into three groups; a large portion who support the president, "the angry, wounded opposition" and "critics who have no enmity with the establishment and the president."
The Leader cautioned President Ahmadinejad that the angry crowd would continue their opposition and challenge his government during his next 4 years in office.
Ayatollah Khamenei, meanwhile, insisted that the views of the critics "should be given much reflection."
The president, who enjoyed windfall oil revenues in his first term, has been severely criticized over mismanaging the economy and stoking inflation.
The Leader also called for full support of those who underwent sufferings in the aftermath of the June 12 presidential election, adding that those who brought about the sufferings should be "identified and taken to task."
[Iran Press TV Latest] Hours after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution formally approved the second-term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, clashes erupt between security forces and protestors in Tehran.
According to a Press TV correspondent, riot police were deployed in the capital on Monday after about 2,000 protestors opposed the formal endorsement of President Ahmadinejad following the June 12 election. The police clashed with supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi between the two squares of Valiasr and Vanak and used tear gas to disperse the protestors, the Press TV correspondent added. Leading opposition figure Karroubi reportedly took part in Monday's demonstrations in a central street in Tehran.
According to witnesses, the police presence was strong and the security forces prevented protestors from gathering together. Car drivers stuck in traffic joined the street marchers by honking their horns as they feared arrests for stepping out of their cars, Ayandenews reported.
Monday's protests in Tehran came as part of a series of opposition demonstrations that swept across the country after the disputed poll. In protests on Thursday, thousands of mourners gathered in Tehran's main cemetery, Behesht-e-Zahra, and around the Grand Mosalla to commemorate those killed in the country's post-election unrest. Tehran's police commander later announced that at least 50 protestors were arrested on the mourning day.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Hours after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution formally approved the second-term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, clashes erupt between security forces and protestors in Tehran. 
