Iran’s protesters go on trial

CAIRO – Iran announced yesterday that the first trials of post-election protesters will begin this weekend, as anger grew even among some government supporters over abuse of those detained in the more than 6-week-old crackdown.

Accounts emerged from released prisoners about beatings and brutality during their detention. One told of being crammed with 200 other protesters in a pitch-black cell as guards waded in, beating them. Another said he and other detainees were forced to lick toilet bowls.In recent days, there have been several deaths of young activists in prison – including the son of a prominent conservative. The announcement of trials is likely to anger the opposition, which says that detainees are being tortured into making false confessions to be used against them in court.Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is to lead a ceremony today for those who have died in the postelection crackdown – and the memorial could turn into a new confrontation between protesters and security forces. It is timed to coincide with the passing of 40 days since the death of Nada Agha Soltan, a young woman who was shot to death during a protest. Video of her dying moments made her an icon to the protest movement.Mousavi and fellow pro-reform leader Mahdi Karroubi will hold the ceremony in Behesht-e Zahra – the large cemetery on Tehran’s southern outskirts where some slain protesters have been buried – after authorities rejected his request to hold it at Tehran’s main Mosalla mosque, Karroubi’s Web site reported.Hundreds were arrested in the crackdown against protests by hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters, who claim that the June 12 presidential election was fraudulent and that Mousavi – not hard-line incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – was the victor. Among those detained were young protesters, but also senior pro-reform politicians and prominent rights activists.The state news agency IRNA said yesterday that indictments had been issued against ‘around 20’ detainees involved in ‘planning and carrying out sabotage’ and that trials will begin on Saturday. Among the defendants are some who had contact with the Mujahedeen-e Khalq – a dissident group of Iranian exiles – and members of the Bahai faith, who are often targeted by the Iranian government, IRNA said.They will face charges including connections to terrorist groups, planting bombs, carrying weapons and grenades, intentional attack on the police and Basij, attacking security and university facilities, ‘sending images to the media of the enemy’ … and damaging public property, IRNA said.The report said this was the ‘first phase’ of trials, and that in later phases the defendants would be ‘those who ordered the post election unrest,’ an apparent reference to opposition politicians.On Tuesday, 140 postelection detainees were released from Tehran’s Evin prison in an attempt by Iran’s leadership to try to ease the uproar over prisoners. At the same time, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the closure of Kahrizak prison, a facility on the capital’s southern edges where several detainees were reported to have died from abuse.But even some in the conservative camp that backs Khamenei and Ahmadinejad said that was not enough and that those behind the abuse should be punished.- Nampa-AP