Iranian Opposition Leader: 'Roots of Dictatorship' Remain in Iran
VOA News 02 February 2010
Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has sharply criticized Iran's conservative leadership, accusing it of failing to live up to the goals of the nation's Islamic Revolution.
In comments published Tuesday on his Web site (kaleme.com), Mousavi says the "roots of despotism and dictatorship" remain from Iran's pre-revolutionary monarchist system.
He says the current government's crackdown against opposition activists and independent media has led him to believe that the 1979 Islamic Revolution has not achieved its goals.
A senior Iranian judiciary official said Tuesday Iran will "soon" execute nine more dissidents convicted of involvement in protests against Iran's disputed presidential election last June.
The official, Ebrahim Raisi, is quoted by the Fars News agency as saying the nine dissidents and two others who were executed last week were linked to anti-revolutionary groups.
Iranian authorities said opposition activists Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour were hanged last week. Their executions were the first of Iranian dissidents since protests erupted over last June's disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Human rights groups say the two dissidents were arrested before the June election and do not appear to be connected to the protests. But Iran said the men confessed to planning assassinations and bombings for the pro-monarchist Kingdom Assembly of Iran.
The disputed June election plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran's opposition accuses President Ahmadinejad of rigging the vote to win re-election and has been staging anti-government protests for more than six months.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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