Coup Supporters Increase Pressure on Karubi

Rooz Online

Mehdi Karubi, secretary general of the Etemad Melli (“National Trust”) Party and the principal revealer of post June 12 presidential election crimes in Iran, has been the subject of threats and attacks from official and unofficial channels associated with coup supporters in the past two days, and Ahmad Jannati, secretary of the Guardian Council, called for his prosecution at the Friday Prayers sermon last week. The day before that, Mostafa Pourmohammadi and prior to that Mohseni-Ezhei had threatened Karubi to judicial proceedings. In response to all threats, Karubi has said, “The court can be a good place for me to reveal more details and present new documents.” Threats targeting Karubi, Mousavi and Khatami have intensified since the green movement’s supporters have announced plans to participate in the 13 Aban rallies, which is the day commemorating the seizure of the US embassy in 1979. Without directly naming Karubi, secretary of the powerful Guardian Council and one of Tehran’s Friday Prayer leaders, Ahmad Jannati threatened the leaders and supporters of the green movement during his Friday Prayer sermon, declaring, “We cannot treat protesters and those who demonstrated the worst enmity toward the regime and saddened the lovers of the Islamic republic all over the world with Islamic mercy.” Yesterday the former ninth administration interior minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who currently heads the State Audit Organization, voiced new accusations against Karubi at a press conference.

Pourmohammadi, who has been relatively quiet since the election coup, said yesterday in unexpected remarks, “What Karubi has done during this time is indefensible and an instance of undermining the regime and government institutions.” Nouri-Hamedani’s. Following a week of attacks against Karubi by clerics and military officers supporting Ahmadinejad, yesterday the text of ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani’s latest remarks were published, endorsing threats against Karubi and the government’s crackdown. Mehdi Karubi, who has so far issued short responses to these threats, immediately responded to ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani’s remarks. In his response to Nouri-Hamedani, Karubi restated his determination to continue protesting election results and the ensuing crackdown and violence. Prior to his statements directed at Nouri-Hamedani, Jannati and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Karubi had responded to Mohsen-Ezhei’s threats by saying, “This time, not only am I not worried about a trial, but I strongly welcome it, so that I can use the opportunity to discuss my concerns for the national and religious interests of the Iranian people and reveal the sources of those concerns.” It must be noted that following the remarks of an official in the Islamic Republic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) early last week calling for the prosecution of Mousavi and Karubi, a number of hardline Ahmadinejad supporters in the Majlis, the judiciary and the IRGC have called on the judiciary to confront Karubi.