British Embassy staff face Iran trial

Some of the British Embassy’s Iranian staff held in Tehran will be put on trial, ruling clerics said today.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati made the announcement in a prayer sermon. He said the staff “made confessions”.

Jannati did not say how many would be tried or on what charges. Earlier Iranian officials said all but one of the eight embassy personnel arrested on June 27 had been released, but European Union officials said they believed more than one was still being held.

Jannati is the head of the Guardian Council, a powerful body in Iran’s clerical rule, and is close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The announcement came a day after the European Union demanded Iran release the staff. Britain is pressing EU countries to pull their ambassadors out of Tehran in protest.

Jannati repeated claims the embassy was involved in stirring up dissent following the disputed presidential election.

“In these events, their embassy had a presence,” he said. “Some people were arrested. Well, inevitably, they will be put on trial.”

Jannati told the thousands of worshippers that the British “had designed a velvet revolution ... In March, they said (in their Foreign Ministry) that street riots were possible during June elections. These are signs ... revealed by themselves.”

He also said those involved in protests “need to repent and ask God to forgive them.”

Protests erupted in Tehran and other cities after official results showed a landslide victory for incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the election over his pro-reform rival Mir Hossein Mousavi.

The pro-reform camp said the results were fraudulent, but the protests were quashed in a tough crackdown.