Opposition leader ready for debate over election fraud

Mehdi Karroubi

Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi once more calls on the establishment to join him in a debate about the protests and his allegations of fraud in the 2009 elections.

In a video message posted on Sahamnews website, Karroubi recalled last year’s “tragic” and “catastrophic” events on Ashura Day and condemned the government for killing protesters and thus failing to respect the sanctity of the Shiite occasion.

Last December, during Shiite ceremonies of Ashura Day which is a day of mourning and processions, election protesters were pushed of bridges and run over by police and security cars.

While the authorities later accused protesters and the opposition of disrespecting the occasion, Karroubi maintained that those who abused and killed detainees in Kahrizak as well as pushed people of the bridges and ran them over are the ones whose “disrepute was revealed by God.”

Karroubi went on to say: “Our whole dispute is over the rigging of the elections. We say there was no election and the evidence of this is available. I announce here that I am a protester and willing to sit in debate in any city, mosque or university with anyone who claims that we are the cause of these killings and sedition.”

Mehdi Karroubi once more rejected all government contentions that the disputers of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory are backed by foreign elements.

He urged the establishment to desist from demonizing the opposition and insisted that all his actions are geared toward defending the rights of the people.