Iran Cleric: Execute Election Protesters

Says Opponents Of Vote Results Are "At War With God"; Mousavi Seeks Approval For Rallies

(CBS/AP)  Last updated 12:18 p.m. ET.

Opposition supporters, faced with a senior cleric's demand that protest leaders be severely punished or even executed, enter the third week of their campaign against the election results in increasingly tight straits.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims he actually won the vote, says he will seek official permission for any future rallies, effectively ending his role in street protests.

The opposition may have little opportunity to keep momentum going within the limits of the law, and the international attention that appeared to bolster their morale could be waning. Also, Mousavi's Web site, his primary means for communicating with supporters, remained down on Saturday; an aide told the Associated Press Friday that the site had been hacked.

Mousavi said he would seek official permission for any future rallies, effectively ending his role in street protests organized by supporters who insist he won the election.

In one of the harshest statements from authorities since protests broke out after the June 12 election, Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami, a ranking cleric, said "Anyone who takes up arms to fight with the people, they are worthy of execution."

Those who disturbed the peace and destroyed public property were "at war with God" and should be "dealt with without mercy," he said Friday in a nationally televised sermon.

His call for merciless retribution for those who stirred up Iran's largest wave of dissent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution came as Mousavi slipped further from view.

"The problem is we have no one to lead us," a 30-year-old resident of Isfahan told AP on Saturday on condition of anonymity because he feared government reprisal. "We are waiting for a new message, but Mousavi does not want to continue, because after all he is part of the system."

"People are angry and afraid," he said. "They are afraid of the future and angry because they failed to achieve change with their ballots."

People continue to resist the government oppression, he said, although very few dare to defy the government on the streets due to massive police presence.

But they continue to shout from the rooftops at night in Tehran and Isfahan, he said. The shouting was particularly loud after ruling clerics accused protesters Friday of challenging and opposing God with their dissent.

Since the election, opposition protesters repeatedly have clashed with security forces who beat them with batons, fired tear gas and water cannons and arrested hundreds of people. At least 17 people have been killed, in addition to eight members of the pro-government Basij militia, officials have said.

The crackdown has pushed protesters off the streets, ending days of unprecedented demonstrations that saw hundreds of thousands of people demanding the election be canceled and held again.

Many supporters of Mousavi have been shouting "God is great!" from the roofs of their homes — a practice dating to the 1979 Islamic Revolution — to register discontent with the regime.

Members of the Basij have been raiding homes and beating residents in an attempt to stop the chanting, Human Rights Watch said Saturday. The group also said that authorities were seizing satellite dishes to prevent citizens from seeing news broadcast from overseas.

Iranian officials have blamed the BBC, Voice of America and other news channels for fomenting unrest on behalf of Western governments.

"While most of the world's attention is focused on the beatings in the streets of Iran during the day, the Basijis are carrying out brutal raids on people's apartments during the night," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the group's Middle East director. "Witnesses are telling us that the Basijis are trashing entire streets and even neighborhoods as well as individual homes trying to stop the nightly rooftop protest chants."

Amnesty International called the prospect of quick trials and capital punishment for some detainees "a very worrying development." It said Iran was the world's No. 2 executioner after China last year, with at least 346 known instances of people put to death. The group also called on the regime to release dozens of detained journalists it said faced possible torture.

As the protests dwindle amid intensifying official pressure, the opposition may suffer from a decline in international attention. The protests and violence dominated Western news broadcasts for nearly two weeks, with the reports substantially bolstered by videos gleaned from Internet sites and by commentary from social networking sites.

Such sites were a key pipeline for the opposition amid the tight restrictions on foreign media in the country.

But along with the diminished action on the streets in Iran, other stories have arisen to siphon away attention — especially the death of pop star Michael Jackson.

Television coverage of Iran's turmoil has fallen since Jackson's death Thursday; on the Twitter micro-blogging site, Iran remained among the most discussed topics, but fell below Jackson and comments about the movie "Transformers 2."


Ahmadinejad Lashes Out Again At Obama

Iran's hardline president lashed out anew at the United States and President Barack Obama on Saturday, accusing him of interference and suggesting that Washington's stance on Iran's postelection turmoil could imperil Obama's aim of improving relations.

"We are surprised at Mr. Obama," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in remarks to judiciary officials broadcast on state television. "Didn't he say that he was after change? Why did he interfere?"

"They keep saying that they want to hold talks with Iran ... but is this the correct way? Definitely, they have made a mistake," Ahmadinejad said.

President Obama was strongly criticized at home and by many abroad, for his initial measured response to opposition allegations that Ahmadinejad was re-elected by fraud in the June 12 balloting and to the harsh crackdown on protesters.

But on Friday, he hailed the demonstrators in Iran and condemned the violence against them.

"Their bravery in the face of brutality is a testament to their enduring pursuit of justice," Mr. Obama said. "The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous. In spite of the government's efforts to keep the world from bearing witness to that violence, we see it and we condemn it."

In a separate show of defiance of international opinion, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi was quoted by the official news agency IRNA as accusing the Group of Eight countries — including the United States — of "intervening and hasty remarks." G-8 foreign ministers on Friday called for an end to the violence in Iran and urged the authorities to find a peaceful solution.

The Foreign Ministry also summoned Sweden's ambassador to protest a break-in by demonstrators at Iran's embassy on Friday, IRNA reported.

[democracy1]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

[mjlewis6]

Don't forget Texas is a leading execution state ranking right in there with both Iran and China. Another legacy of the Bush years that former Lt. Governor Rick Perry has continued despite the national acclaim for a moratorium against the death penalty inspired by the work of the Innocense Project and the exonerations in Illinois by DNA testing that has removed so many from death row there, prompting a moratorium pending review that took over two years.

But Texas ploughs right on.....mercy is an unknown quality to the Republican Party leaders who once heavily politicked on Benevolent Conservatism...and the lack of leadership is more one of stubbornness rather than innate wisdom to make such benevolent decisions.

My how history repeats itself. Hitler chose to eliminate a group of people to get his way......now Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad chose to do the same, while the rest of the world are to say nothing for that would be meddling in Iran's affairs.....Hitler's Germany.....wished the world would not meddle then also....and Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say the Holicaust did not happen....yet they are trying to create their own....

[r9119111]

by stevex47 June 27, 2009 8:46 PM PDT
Maybe bush wasn't too far off when he labeled Iran's govt, and North Korea's govt. as evil?

If you open your eyes, we had our own little Axis of Evil and we did nothing about it except to vote for change. Remember, if you opposed them you were unpatriotic. They wore their lapel pins like swastikas.

[texbelle123]

Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami, a ranking cleric, said "Anyone who takes up arms to fight with the people, they are worthy of execution."

I may not be completely informed about the beliefs of Islam, but I seriously doubt that Allah thinks that killing his believers is the way to inspire faith.

[rocketjl]

Would you call the 12-member Guardian Council 'Murdering Mullas' or just plain killers??????

[hungry1968-15]

by ereHsdadhgaB-2010 June 28, 2009 4:52 AM PDT
"Iran Cleric: Execute Election Protesters"
************************************************

HMMMM, this guy should join the DEMOCRATIC Party. American neoLibs are so radical that they wanna kill everyone who doesnt worship their god Obambam from Kenya. Retarded neoLibs also love freedom of speech but only when they are the ones who's speaking.






Aren't you the same asssclown that said that the US and Israel should nuke Iran, because ALL Iranians are hateful and evil radicals, seeking to destroy the US and Israel?

Don't you hate when reality slaps you in the face?

[mahdeealoo]

My heart goes out to all of the "protestors" who are just trying to make a wrong right. At least in their opinion. And the "authorities" want to execute them for speaking up? Such a pity.

[hungry1968-15]

by ereHsdadhgaB-2010 June 28, 2009 4:11 AM PDT
These religious nuts are so radicals that they remind me the retarded liberals in America, these Iranian extremists have so much hate in their heart that they should join the American DEMOCRATIC Party.






Nice try dingbat.

But EVERYONE knows that the conservatives are the religious nutjobs in America - not the liberals.

[r9119111]

Home World TEHRAN, June 27, 2009
Iran Cleric: Execute Election Protesters
Says Opponents Of Vote Results Are "At War With God"; Mousavi Seeks Approval For Rallies


Our GOP could use a man like this. This human being is misrepresenting God. I have a message for all zealous dogmatic religious leaders everywhere. People with this man's approach are not supporting God, they are playing God.

[ajjaxtheleast]

Prefering the sidelines to Lock-step Heaven some
want the truth about our involvement in the Iran
election(s).,,,then make a judgement,

If you dont like a country, Break the law and invade it
or as with Saudi Arabia pretend that it IS a country
that you like and "get along" with it.

But this stuff of the CIA sneaking around in other
countries aranging protests and plotting overthrows
of governments WILL sometimes have blowbacks,,,

So you'll just have to live with it,,,,Or, like now,,
register your kneejerk sourgrapes threatening to bomb
the country that doesn't roll over and fall on it's
knees before the greatest, in some respects,
country on earth.

[searingtruth]

"Truth is defined by the weakest of us who must suffer through it."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[lami987]

Religions that worship Allah/God are mneaner than heck. Look at that jerk from Iran. He is supposed to be gentle and forgiving but he is neither.

[stevex47]

Maybe bush wasn't too far off when he labeled Iran's govt, and North Korea's govt. as evil?

[taxchurches]

We've been aware of the dangers of our dependence on foreign oil for AT LEAST 30 years. Why haven't we done anything about it? If we cared enough to develop alternatives, then we would no longer be empowering lunatics in these Middle Eastern and Persian toilets. Yeah, yeah, alternative fuels aren't as efficient, blah blah blah. That's why I said "develop." R&D. And I don't CARE how much it inconveniences us. Getting up in the night with a crying baby is an inconvenience. Waiting in line behind an old woman at the grocery store who has 157 items and it writing a check without her reading glasses is an inconvenience. Life is full of inconveniences. Too bad. Live with it. Or die without it. "Give me convenience or give me death" is the motto of idiots. The primitives in these countries are not a threat to anything buy their own people and our ability to drive to the mailbox because we're too lazy to walk. And if we develop the technology, we can sell it all over the world and make America a viable country again and put the economy through the roof. If we render the Sharia law-loving OPEC nations obsolete and effectively bankrupt, we essentially destroy them. Empty the pockets of the fanatics in power, and then you'll see real democracy there, and promote the purpose of world peace.

[StrategyWatch_dot_org]

Fully agreed. Once new technologies supercede oil, we won't need to be concerned over various middle-east theocracies that much. They will become just like some sad cases of a oppressive regimes in South America or Africa, unfortunate but strategically irrelevant to us.

[bigsk8fan]

these clerics are as bad as the shah?

[hockeymom441]

how is US's president's commenting on a sad situation "intervening?"

[gorgeousm]

GLOBAL PUSH TO PHASE OUT AND ELIMINATE RELIGION URGENTLY NEEDED


With extreme urgency, it is requested that we press our lawmakers, our writers, our professors/educators, doctors, celebrities, business leaders, and others, to demand that religion and the teaching of religion - especially to young child/victims - be prohibited.

With the advent of nuclear weapons and other devices of mass destruction
reaching the masses, and/or being acquired by rogue nation-states such as Iran and other Islamofascist entities...

...time is shorter than we think.

It's a matter of survival!

[StrategyWatch_dot_org]

What about North Korea, is that caused by religion? What about the old USSR empire? Entirely atheistic societies, but no less aggressive than many of the religion-based "rogue" states.

Religion in of itself has little to do with it.

[stevex47]

Obviously almond nutjob and the supreme leader are liars. They lie about the election results.

What punishment do they get for that?

They sure give Islam a bad name.

[jeff-fla]

Just another fine example of mixing religion and government. People are unhappy with the government and are protesting. The government is telling them they are at war with god. The two have to be separate.