Iran hardliners accuse opposition of ‘treason’

TEHRAN – Iranian hardliners accused opposition leaders of treason yesterday as defeated presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi said the authorities used ‘medieval torture’ to force confessions from protesters on trial over the election unrest.

Former president Mohammad Khatami also said Saturday’s mass trial of 100 protesters and prominent reformists was against the constitution, putting him at loggerheads with hardliners in an escalating feud between rival factions.The powerful hardline wing took aim at both opposition leaders, accusing them of trying to lead a ‘velvet revolution’ after the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and lodging a judicial complaint against Mousavi.And another 10 people were brought before a revolutionary court on Sunday on charges relating to the massive street protests that erupted after Ahmadinejad was returned to power in what the opposition said was a rigged vote.’Evidence of Khatami and Mousavi’s treason unveiled,’ thundered the headline in the hardline Kayhan newspaper.’The plot leaders are corrupt people whose unforgiveable crimes include killing innocent people and cooperating with foreign enemies,’ it said.’If the main instigators of unrest who are known are not confronted, they will continue conspiring.’A group of hardline MPs stepped up the pressure on the opposition, filing a complaint against Mousavi to the judiciary, the Fars news agency said.’Those who issued statements and directed recent riots should be accountable for the bloodshed and go on trial,’ said Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, a hardline member of parliament’s judicial commission.But Mousavi remained defiant and said confessions at Saturday’s trial were extracted by torture.’The scenes that we saw were a clumsy preparation for the launch of the 10th government,’ Mousavi said on his website about the trial, held just days before Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in on Wednesday.’They expect a court, which itself is fraudulent, to prove that there was no fraud committed in the election,’ said Mousavi, a former post-revolution premier who lost to Ahmadinejad.’What are they trying to convince people of… (by) relying on confessions which obviously bore the hallmarks of medieval-era torture?’His comments came after some reformists, including a prominent Khatami aide, made a dramatic climbdown at the trial, saying Ahmadinejad’s victory was clean and that they had been pushed into demonstrating against the results.Khatami also denounced the trial, the first since Ahmadinejad’s re-election set off the worst crisis in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic and exposing deep differences among the ruling elite.’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, who served two terms as president before being succeeded by Ahmadinejad in 2005, said the court had relied on ‘confessions taken under certain circumstances which are not valid.’The Tehran court dismissed the opposition attacks, saying that securing a ‘confession is one way of proving a crime and no legal expert has ever cast doubt on that.’The 100 face charges including rioting, vandalism, having ties with counter-revolutionary groups and plotting a ‘velvet revolution.’They face a maximum jail term of five years if convicted, unless they are charged with being a ‘mohareb’ or enemy of God, which can carry the death penalty. – Nampa-AFP