TEHRAN (Reuters) – A hardline Iranian cleric called on Friday for the arrest of leaders of post-election unrest in what appeared to be a reference to defeated moderate presidential candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the powerful Guardian Council, did not name either man. But other hardliners have repeatedly accused them of fomenting post-election street protests in which at least 26 people were killed.
The June 12 vote has plunged the Islamic state into its biggest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution and has exposed deepening divisions in its ruling elite.
“(Post-vote) riots are our main issue today … Some people were arrested and some were not. Why weren’t the leaders behind the riots arrested? … Their arrest should be the first thing that the judiciary must do,” Jannati told Friday prayer worshippers. The sermon was broadcast live on state radio.
The opposition says the June 12 poll was rigged to secure the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — a charge denied by Iran‘s authorities, in… >>>
