Mass Trial of Iranian Protesters Deepens Nation’s Divides
Istanbul, Turkey - The Iranian regime expanded its efforts to crush the reformist opposition on Saturday with the opening of a mass trial in which the accused are charged with crimes from treason to terrorism. Only state-owned media were allowed to cover the proceedings.
More than 100 defendants – many of them prominent figures and some of them shackled – were denied access to defense counsel as they listened to the array of accusations against them, which also included claims they incited riots and sought to overthrow the Islamic Republic. The trial continued on Sunday, though with only 10 of the accused in court.
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Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched in days of street protests after the election, denouncing official results that declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner. Iran’s opposition maintains Mr. Ahmadinejad stole the vote from opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi by engaging in massive fraud, but its demonstrations have been ruthlessly suppressed leaving hundreds, Read more at online.wsj.com
possibly more, in prison.
Among the defendants are several prominent reformist opposition activists including former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, former vice speaker of parliament Behzad Nabavi, former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh and leader of the biggest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Mohsen Mirdamadi.
Pictures from the courtroom showed a thin-looking Mr. Abtahi and a grim Mr. Mirdamadi, both in prison uniforms, sitting in the front row. More than a hundred defendants could be seen sitting in the packed courtroom, many of them handcuffed but without prison uniforms.
State media didn’t provide further details about the trial, and there was no information on when it would end or when a verdict would be expected.
Iran’s former reformist President Mohammad Khatami criticized the country’s first trial of activists and protesters following the disputed presidential election as a sham. A report posted late Saturday on Mr. Khatami’s Web site quoted him as saying the “show” trial will further damage public confidence in the ruling Islamic establishment. He said he hopes the trial “will not lead to ignorance of the real crimes.”
