THE OBSERVER: Reformist leader attacked by influential editor and embassy worker's lawyer predicts imminent trial
The stakes over Iran's disputed presidential election were raised dramatically yesterday, after a powerful regime hardliner denounced Mir Hossein Mousavi, the candidate officially declared to have lost, as an American agent and demanded that he undergo a public trial.
Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of the influential Kayhan newspaper, said Mousavi had committed "terrible crimes", including "murdering innocent people, holding riots, co-operating with foreigners and acting as America's fifth column", in pursuing his claims that last month's re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged.
The accusations - in a newspaper editorial - were the most ferocious yet from regime insiders and may serve notice that preparations are under way to arrest Mousavi and his main allies. Several hundred known reformists and pro-Mousavi supporters have already been detained since the election. The editorial also singled out the reformist former president, Mohammad Khatami, who last week compared Ahmadinejad's re-election to a coup.
"An open court, in front of the people's eyes, must deal with the all the terrible crimes and clear betrayal committed by the main elements behind the recent unrest, including Mousavi and Khatami," Shariatmadari wrote. "Documents and undeniable evidence show that this mission was directed from the outside. All they did and said was in line with the instructions announced by American officials in the past."
The editorial carried added weight given Shariatmadari's position as confidant to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has declared the election result legitimate and called for protests to end. Shariatmadari has been called "the aggressive public face" of Khamenei, who appointed him to his current position.
His outburst fits with the regime's strategy of depicting the demonstrations against Ahmadinejad's re-election as orchestrated by foreign governments, including Britain. It came a day after a Khamenei ally, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the Guardian Council, said at Friday prayers that Iranian employees of the British embassy in Tehran would be tried after they had "confessed" to helping to organise the protests. >>> Robert Tait | Sunday, July 05, 2009
