Top Iranian Figures Call For The Arrest And Punishment Of Opposition Leaders, Including Mir Hossein Mousavi

The Washington Post reports that in Iran "Revolutionary Guard generals, top politicians and senior clerics have called for the arrest and punishment of opposition leaders, including defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, Iranian state media reported Sunday, while the national police chief acknowledged that protesters had been mistreated while in custody. The calls for arrests come as part of a crackdown against opposition activists who continue to dispute June’s presidential vote, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially won in a landslide but which Mousavi and his supporters say was stolen.
In recent weeks, the government has staged mass trials in which activists have given controversial confessions, admitting involvement in elaborate, internationally backed plots to bring what prosecutors call 'a nonmilitary velvet revolution' to the Islamic republic. Opposition leaders have charged that the confessions are coerced and have vowed to continue the protests that have deeply unsettled Iran in recent weeks. 'In order to end this mayhem, they need to arrest, try and punish these political figures,' Gen. Yadollah Javani, head of the political office of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, advised the judicial system Sunday, according to state news agency IRNA. 'These individuals should be prosecuted, punished and tried as traitors.' He singled out Mousavi, fellow defeated candidate Mehdi Karroubi and former president Mohammad Khatami. The Revolutionary Guard is a force that plays a highly influential role in politics." Tweet