Mohammad Ali Abtahi, one of dozens of leading moderates detained after the disputed poll on charges of trying to topple the clerical establishment, would be the most senior reformer to be jailed so far after the vote more than five months ago. Abtahi, a cleric who was vice president for parliament and legal affairs during Mohammad Khatami’s 1997-2005 presidency, was officially informed about his sentence on Saturday, Jahan-e Eqtesad daily said. Other newspapers also carried the report.They cited his daughter Fatemeh Abtahi as saying security agents searched Abtahi’s Tehran home in his presence, after which he was taken to a court where he was told about the verdict and then returned to jail. Iran’s judiciary said last week that five people have been sentenced to death and 81 have received jail terms of up to 15 years in connection with protests and violence after the vote, but it did not give names. The sentences can be appealed.
The moderate opposition says the poll was rigged to secure the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The authorities reject the charge and have portrayed huge opposition protests that erupted after the election as foreign-backed.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who endorsed Ahmadinejad’s election victory, has said it was a crime to question the vote. The UN General Assembly’s human rights committee last week condemned Iran for its crackdown on opposition protesters. Tehran’s UN ambassador sharply criticised the resolution. Abtahi was a top adviser to pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who finished fourth in the June 12 election. The pro-reform Kaleme web site said his lawyer would seek his release on bail.
