Iran's Khatami Calls Reformers' Confessions 'Lies'
By VOA News
26 August 2009
Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is dismissing the validity of confessions made by his allies at a trial of people arrested for post-election unrest.
Mr. Khatami on Wednesday called the confessions "invalid" and said they were lies.
During Tuesday's trial, a key member of Iran's pro-democracy movement apologized for "major mistakes" he made during the election.
The defendant, Saeed Hajjarian, is one of several reformists being tried on charges of masterminding unrest following the highly contested re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June.
At the trial, Iran's prosecution asked the judge to ban two reform parties, the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Mujahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization.
Also Tuesday, a parliamentary committee said it would investigate reports that people killed in the post-election violence were secretly buried in a mass grave in Tehran.
Iranian lawmakers have said at least 30 people were killed in the deadly crackdown on election protests.
Thousands of people were arrested. Many have been released, but rights group says the trials of the remaining detainees are a sham.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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