Thaindian News

Tehran, Aug 2 (DPA) 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 Sunday.
The first session of trials of about 100 demonstrators, political activists and journalists began Saturday in Tehran. A variety of charges had been filed against defendants.

All stand accused of acting against national security by pushing for a “Velvet Revolution”, a reference to the bloodless revolt that forced the collapse of the Communist regime in then Czechoslovakia in 1989.

“Saturday’s trial was a stage show and the confessions are not valid … such a show would harm the establishment and the public trust,” Khatami was quoted as saying by his website khatami.ir.

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.

The June 12 presidential vote led to the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Defeated moderate candidates Mir- Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karrubi accused the authorities of rigging the election, prompting tens of thousands of their supporters to protest in Tehran and other major cities.

Moussavi, in an interview posted on his website, Ghalam News, said: “People are seeking freedom and justice, and their movement has no relation with abroad.”

It was the first time since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution that dozens of former officials and prominent activists have been put on trial together for acting against national security.

At least 20 people were killed during the protests, and over 1,000 political activists and journalists were arrested. Many were subsequently released, but about 250 reportedly remain in detention.