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'Hang them! Hang them!" the mob shouted while goose-stepping towards
the podium. Some beat their chests and others raised clenched fists.
"Allah is the greatest!" chanted the ta'Hang them! Hang them!" the mob shouted while goose-stepping towards the podium. Some beat their chests and others raised clenched fists. "Allah is the greatest!" chanted the turbaned clerics.

This was the scene Tuesday in the Islamic Majlis, Iran's ersatz parliament. Members raged against the "heads of sedition," calling for their execution. By this they meant three of the most prominent leaders of Iran's reformist Green Movement—former President Mohammad Khatami, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Mehdi Karroubi, a cleric and 2009 presidential candidate who chaired the Majilis just six years ago.

Sedition, or fitnah in Persian, is a Shariah term that describes action against the ruling Islamic authority. The regime uses it to justify its brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy movement triggered by the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009.

The "sedition" trio had called for a march in Tehran on Monday, ostensibly to mark "the end of despotism in Egypt." To do things legally, they applied for a permit, which the authorities refused. Meanwhile, the police blocked access to their homes and cut their