Iran opposition leaders demand time on TV

MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi

Iran opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi called on the national television to give them time on air in order to back up the allegations concerning fraud in the elections.

Tagheer website, National Trust Party’s information headquarters reported that the two opposition leaders met on Saturday at Mr. Karroubi’s residence to discuss the post-election events.

MirHosein Mousavi referred to the imminence of November 4th, the anniversary of the occupation of US the embassy in Iran in 1979 by a group of university students. He claimed: “Those who created a legend on that day are now in prison and this is the bitter irony of today’s events.”

Saeed Hajjarian, who many regard as the architect of the reform movement in Iran, was also one of the university students involved in the overtaking of the US embassy in 1979. He was imprisoned following the June presidential election in Iran this year and in the mass trials was shown recanting on all his reformist ideas. His confessions along with those of several other prominent reform figures are said to be coerced.

MirHosein Mousavi called the court proceedings of these reform figures as “show trials” and warned the authorities that they will observe the negative effects of these actions in the society.

Iran’s former prime minister also accused “certain positions of power” in the Islamic Republic of “abusing public assets” and questioned the purchase of Telecom stocks and the source of $8 billion purchase price that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps paid for this majority block of the Telecommunications Company of Iran.

The Revolutionary Guards have been spreading their economic control of the country in a series of financial moves which have alarmed the opposition as well as several government bodies.

Mr. Mousavi accused Seda va Sima, Iran’s state television of trying to tarnish the image of protesters: “It is three or four months that they have been spreading lies about me and Mr. Karroubi and our supporters in Seda va Sima and in all other media outlets. Shouldn’t we be given a chance to defend ourselves?”

Mr. Mousavi condemned the spread of lies through the media: “Look at how many times they have changed their announcements on the number of people killed following the elections? Then they say we are lying about fraud in the election.”

Mehdi Karroubi also echoed MirHosein Mousavi’s criticism of the government saying: “If there was no fraud in the elections then why are they facing all these protests? If you are telling the truth, in exchange for all those hours of denying the fraud and pressuring innocent prisoners into confessions on national television, give us time on television to present our reasons and evidence too.”

MirHosein Mousavi has also called for a televised meeting with representatives from both sides in order to broadcast a fair account of the election events.