Iranian parliament members seek death penalty for opposition leaders

A group of conservative Iranian members of parliament are calling for the trial and execution of two senior opposition leaders in response to the anti-government riots that struck the streets of central Tehran yesterday and resulted in the deaths of at least two people and the arrest of dozens.

At least fifty MPs were shown on state TV marching through the parliament’s main corridors chanting ‘Death to Mousavi’ and “Death to Karroubi” – in reference to Mir Hossein Mousavi (a former Prime Minister) and Mehdi Karroubi (a reformist cleric and former speaker of parliament).

Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi are corrupts on earth and should be tried, said a statement attributed to the conservative parliamentarians.

The odd-sounding charge corrupt on earth has been directed at political dissidents before and is punishable by death penalty in Iran.

Mousavi and Karroubi are currently under house arrest – both men had disputed the legality of 2009 elections which brought President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad back to power and prompted the largest protests in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Ahmad Reza Radan, Deputy Commander of the Iranian police, blamed the opposition leaders for the protests.

In one spot of the town in the western part of Tehran, about 150 people rallied and set some rubbish bins on fire, he said. They were confronted by police and security forces and some of them were arrested. Unfortunately, some police and security personnel were shot by them and nine security forces men and some other people were wounded in this incident.