Rival sides criticize Iran's opposition trial

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – A conservative who ran in Iran's disputed election and a former president allied with the opposition criticized the government's prosecution of opposition supporters, saying those who killed protesters must be brought to justice.

Conservatives have increasingly joined reformists in criticizing the government's response to the unrest that followed the June 12 election as allegations have surfaced of violent abuse against opposition supporters detained by authorities.

Mohsen Rezaei, who was the only conservative challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the election, sent a letter to the head of Iran's judiciary demanding the government put people on trial who attacked opposition supporters and tortured detainees. He said the trial must include those responsible for the death of the son of one of his top aides.

"Otherwise, justice will not be realized and it is possible that unrest will not end," said Rezaei, according to a report posted on his Web site Sunday, a day after Iran began its first trial against activists and protesters following the election.

While Rezaei focused on the need for a parallel trial for those who attacked protesters and detainees, former President Mohammad Khatami criticized the current proceeding as a sham that would further erode confidence in the ruling Islamic establishment.

Khatami said he hoped the "show" trial of more than 100 people, including his former vice president, that started Saturday would not "lead to ignorance of the real crimes" carried out by authorities following the election.

At least 30 people were killed in the unrest that followed the election as hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets to protest Ahmadinejad's victory, according to Iran's parliament. Human rights groups believe the number is likely far greater, and at least one person, Mohsen Rouhalamini, has died in detention.

Mohsen is the son of Rezaei's top aide, Abdolhossein Rouhalamini. He was arrested during a July 9 protest and taken to a hospital two weeks later where he died within hours. Reformist Web sites said his jaw was broken when his father received his body.

Hundreds of family members of detainees, including those on trial, gathered in front of the judiciary Sunday to express concern about their relatives, a reformist Web site reported. It said the protest ended peacefully after three hours.

The government's mass trial is part of its efforts to choke off the protest movement by targeting key supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the opposition leader who claims he was the true election winner. The defendants include some of the most prominent reformist politicians, including Khatami's former vice president, Mohammad Ali Abtahi.

The government used Saturday's hearing to press its claims that the opposition was a tool of foreign countries seeking to topple the Iranian government.

State media quoted Abtahi and others as confessing to working together to foment unrest. But rights groups have said such confessions are often obtained under duress in Iran.

"Relying on claimed confessions expressed in this specific situation has no credit," said Khatami, according to a report posted on his Web site, Baran, late Saturday.

The former president, who held office from 1997 to 2005 and is Mousavi's close ally, criticized the court for not allowing defendants' lawyers access to the courtroom or the case files.

"As far as I have learned, what happened in the trial was contrary to the constitution and law, as well as citizens' rights," said Khatami.

A closed trial of 10 of the suspects continued Sunday, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. None of the prominent defendants was present, it said.

State TV announced Sunday that it would broadcast the trial live if the judge agreed. The comments came in response to calls by hard-liners for such a move.

Instead of a show trial, Khatami said the public expected the government to "confront the problems and tragedies that happened in some detention centers and apparently led to murder."

Rezaei said failure to bring those people to justice would prevent peace and "damage the Islamic system."

The growing criticism comes only days before Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in to a second term. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is scheduled to officially endorse the president on Monday in accordance with the constitution.

Khamenei, who has the final say over all state matters, has supported Ahmadinejad in the election dispute. But the growing criticism about how the government has handled the crisis has compounded the biggest challenge the cleric-led system has faced since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The turmoil has complicated President Barack Obama's efforts to step up diplomatic engagement with Iran to reduce tension over the country's nuclear program. The relationship became even trickier Saturday as Iranian state TV confirmed it has detained three Americans who crossed the border from northern Iraq.

Kurdish officials from the self-ruled region in northern Iraq said the three — two men and a woman — were tourists who had mistakenly crossed into Iranian territory Friday while hiking in a mountainous area near the resort town of Ahmed Awaa.

"This case will be reviewed based on its natural trend," Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted the head of the parliament's foreign policy committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, as saying Sunday.