Iran cleric calls for arrest of opposition leaders

TEHRAN - A powerful Iranian cleric called on Friday for the arrest of opposition leaders, accusing them of seeking to topple the Islamic republic after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Desire to topple (the regime) would have led to the greatest tyranny ... They incited riots. Some have been arrested ... Why were the leaders not arrested,” asked Ahmad Jannati, head of the powerful Guardians Council, said at Friday prayers in Tehran.

“Everyone knows that they are the origins of the plot and corruption, but they are linked with some (powerful people),” he said in a sermon broadcast live on state radio.

“This (arrest of leaders) is the first thing that must be done.”

Defeated presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, the main challenger to President Ahmadinejad, called for a new election after the June 12 poll, whose results they said were massively rigged.

The two also said they do not consider Ahmadinejad’s administration a legitimate one.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest and, in the ensuing violence, about 30 people were killed, hundreds wounded and several thousand arrested.

Iran has put on trial around 140 people in mass hearings over the unrest, including British and French embassy staff and a French woman university teaching assistant. It has also accused foreign governments of plotting to destabilize the country.