Pressure is mounting for top Iranian opposition leaders, Mir-Hussein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi on Thursday, as calls for arrests and executions continue from hard-line officials in Iran.
Iranian state prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei called for the arrests of Mousavi and Karroubi if they do not denounce public opposition protests in Iran. Their statements are the harshest and most direct yet from Iranian government officials.
Ejehei said the opposition leaders could be charged for “supporting apostates.”
Many of the opposition protesters have been charged with “defying God,” a crime punishable by death in Iran under the current regime.
Public protests by opposition forces hit a violent climax on Sunday with the deaths of eight people including Mousavi’s nephew, and the arrests of several hundred.
One Iranian Web site threatened opposition leaders with suicide execution squads if the government’s judiciary does not initiate some measure of punishment.
Location of Opposition Leaders
On Thursday Karroubi’s son disputed news that Iran’s official news agency, the IRNA, published the previous day, that Mousavi and Karoubi had fled the capital city of Tehran.
“Unfortunately, the government news agency is spreading false news like the government itself,” said Taghi Karroubi in a report to the Associated Press.
Iranian state prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei called for the arrests of Mousavi and Karroubi if they do not denounce public opposition protests in Iran. Their statements are the harshest and most direct yet from Iranian government officials.
Ejehei said the opposition leaders could be charged for “supporting apostates.”
Many of the opposition protesters have been charged with “defying God,” a crime punishable by death in Iran under the current regime.
Public protests by opposition forces hit a violent climax on Sunday with the deaths of eight people including Mousavi’s nephew, and the arrests of several hundred.
One Iranian Web site threatened opposition leaders with suicide execution squads if the government’s judiciary does not initiate some measure of punishment.
Location of Opposition Leaders
On Thursday Karroubi’s son disputed news that Iran’s official news agency, the IRNA, published the previous day, that Mousavi and Karoubi had fled the capital city of Tehran.
“Unfortunately, the government news agency is spreading false news like the government itself,” said Taghi Karroubi in a report to the Associated Press.
