Tehran adds 25 more to mass trial

IRAN expanded its mass trial of opposition supporters yesterday, adding 25 more defendants – including a Jewish teenager – who are accused of involvement in unrest over the disputed presidential election.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attempted to paint those who took to the streets after the June election to protest his disputed victory as agents of foreign enemies seeking to topple the Islamic system.

The president pushed ahead with preparations for his next term yesterday by announcing that he will nominate three women to join his new cabinet, a move that could produce the first female ministers in the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The announcement appears to be an attempt by Ahmadinejad to enlist the support of Iranian women as he fends off criticism from the opposition that his re-election was fraudulent. The appointments seem unlikely to appease reformists, however, since both women he named yesterday are fellow hard-liners.

The prosecutor opened yesterday’s trial with a general indictment of all 25 defendants, accusing them of plotting the post-election turmoil years ahead of time, said the state news agency.

During the trial, authorities played a film showing attacks on public property, cars and a mosque by protesters.

Earlier this month Iran held two other court sessions for more than 100 reformist politicians and activists accused of attempting to overthrow Iran’s Islamic system during massive protests that erupted after the June 12 vote.

The opposition has called the trial a sham.

Ahmadinejad has repeatedly accused the US of fuelling the post-election unrest, despite President Obama’s denial and his attempts to step up diplomatic engagement with Iran to defuse tension over the country’s nuclear programme.

One of the people who went on trial yesterday belongs to Iran’s tiny Jewish community.

Yaghoghil Shaolian, 19, was quoted as saying he wasn’t an activist and didn’t even vote, but just got carried away and threw some stones at a bank branch in central Tehran, resulting in his arrest.

Iran’s sole Jewish parliamentarian, Siamak Mereh Sedq, confirmed the detention of Shaolian and his Jewish identity to The Associated Press. He said Shaolian’s detention was not related to his religion.