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Protesters being tortured’
Iran’s pro-reform former president Mohammad Khatami slammed the trial of 100 activists detained during the post-election unrest as a "stage show", his website reported on Sunday.
Iran’s pro-reform former president Mohammad Khatami slammed the trial of 100 activists detained during the post-election unrest as a "stage show", his website reported on Sunday.
He accused the authorities of using "medieval torture" to extract confessions from protesters on trial over the wave of post-election unrest.
Former president Mohammad Khatami also said yesterday's mass trial of 100 protesters and prominent reformists was against the constitution, putting him at loggerheads with hardliners who openly accused him and Mousavi of “treason.”
Another 10 people were brought before a revolutionary court on Sunday on charges relating to the massive street protests that erupted after hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's bitterly disputed election victory in June.
As the factional feuding escalated, the powerful hardline wing in Iran took aim at both opposition leaders, accusing them of trying to lead a “velvet revolution” and lodging a judicial complaint against Mousavi.
“The scenes that we saw were a clumsy preparation for the launch of the 10th government,” Mousavi said on yesterday’s trial, held just days before Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in on Wednesday.
Prominent activists and former officials who were in office during Khatami's eight-year presidency - including former vice president Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh and former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh - were among the accused appearing in the courtroom.
