Tehran - An Iranian opposition cleric said violence and detainments could not solve the current crisis triggered by alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election, the Iranian website Etemad Melli reported Saturday. "You (government) cannot change the place of accuser and accused by violence, detainments and propaganda through state television," Mehdi Karroubi, the head of the moderate Etemad Melli party, said.
In a letter to Ayatollah Mahmooud Hashemi-Shahroudi, the head of the judiciary, Karroubi said opposition supporters, who could have acted as a powerful force for bringing about national unity and economic prosperity, are now a marginalized group after the recent crackdowns.
Karroubi was one of the four presidential candidates in the June 12 election. He had hoped to reach a second round of balloting, but surprisingly gained less than 1 per cent of the votes, despite 85 per cent turnout.
"Twenty-five per cent of the people who came to the polls this time had never voted before (in protest) but according to the gentlemen (government), this group just came so that the current government would not change," the moderate cleric commented sarcastically.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government have said the huge turnout shows approval for the current administration.
The government has condemned any protests from the outside world.
"If it is a family matter, then why are the demonstrators not treated like family members," Karroubi said.
"Firing on demonstrators, making mass arrests and detaining innocent people are de facto imposing a coup d'etat on the country," he added.
According to official statistics, twenty demonstrators and eight pro-Ahmadinejad militia were killed during the unrest. Hundreds more were injured.
Police said that more than 1,000 people, including former officials, were arrested. Of those, two-thirds have been released while the rest could face trials on charges of having offended national security.
Karroubi further blamed the government and the state-run television for tarring the peaceful demonstrators as rioters and agents of foreign countries.
Karroubi called on the judiciary chief to order the immediate release of all political prisoners and allow them to return to their families.
