| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Iran puts reformists and Khatami aides on trial | |
| 2009-08-27 | |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Iran put several leading reformers in the dock on Tuesday, official media reported, in its fourth mass trial of people accused of fomenting unrest after June's disputed presidential election. Iran has already staged mass trials of around 140 people on offences linked to the massive demonstrations and street violence that followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hotly-disputed victory in the June election. The court proceedings, which opposition leaders denounced as "show trials," have angered the international community and heightened political tensions as Iran battles its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Attempt to uproot opposition
Those tried in a Revolutionary Court on Tuesday included several aides to former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, former Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh, former Deputy Foreign Minister Mohsen Aminzadeh, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh and Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh, news agencies said. Saaed Hajjarian, a former deputy intelligence minister turned architect of Iran's reform movement, was also among the accused, the official IRNA news agency said. Hajjarian was disabled after an assassination attempt in 2000. "In the fourth court session, the elements and plotters of the recent riots and disturbances in Iran will be put on trial and some of them are expected to present their defiance," IRNA said. Analysts regard the trials as an attempt by the authorities to uproot the moderate opposition and put an end to the street protests that erupted after the poll. Most of the former officials held their positions during the 1997-2005 presidency of Khatami, who backed moderate opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the election against the incumbent, hardliner Ahmadinejad. Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, who came second and fourth in the election respectively, say the vote was rigged to secure the re-election of Ahmadinejad. The authorities deny the charge, saying it was the "healthiest" vote the country has had in the past three decades. French teaching assistant Clotilde Reiss and two Iranians working for the British and French embassies in Tehran were among those tried on Aug. 8. Unconstitutional trials Khatami said the trials violated Iran's constitution and Mousavi said confessions by some of the accused were made under duress. Others tried on Tuesday included former Economy Minister Mohsen Safaie-Farahani, former mines and industries minister Behzad Nabavi, business newspaper editor Saeed Laylaz and journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi, media reported. Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform politicians, journalists, activists and lawyers, have been detained since the presidential election. Many of them are still in jail. Iran accuses the West, particularly the United States and Britain, of inciting the unrest, in which at least 30 people were killed. They deny the charge. Hardliners have called for Mousavi and Karoubi to also be arrested. About 4,000 people were initially detained over the protests and hundreds are still behind bars, amid opposition allegations that some have been killed, raped and abused in custody. | |
| Posted by:Fred |