Judiciary: Prosecute Karoubi; Sadegh Larijani: I Agree

A day after ayatollah Khamenei likened election protesters to the Khavarej [dissenters in the early history of Islam], a three-member judiciary panel in charge of investigating post-election events announced Mehdi Karoubi’s evidence of prison rape to the fake and accused the former Majlis speaker of misleading public opinion. 

The judiciary’s three-member panel’s report was released yesterday at 15:03 while the hard-line Kayhan daily had already published parts of the report in its Saturday morning issue, which was posted on the Internet Friday night.  The closure of the offices of Karoubi and the E’temad Melli (National Trust) Party, and confiscation of his documents, coupled with calls from several Friday Prayer leaders for Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Karoubi’s arrests, many analysts believe that the possibility of confronting Karoubi and Mousavi, who continue to protest the June 12 election results, has increased. 

Meanwhile, what has concerned the public more is the manner of the judiciary’s treatment of the individuals who were subjected to rape and sexual abuse in prison.  Dismissing their complaints, the judiciary’s panel accused these individuals of publishing lies and misleading public opinion. 

Karoubi’s Evidence Announced to have been Fabricated

Claiming that Karoubi’s allegations were false, the three-member panel wrote, “The panel reached the conclusion that there is no evidence proving the rape of individuals who Karoubi claimed had been raped. These allegations are unsubstantiated and documents submitted are totally fabricated and aimed at misleading public opinion.”

Ali Khalafi, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ezhei and Ebrahim Raeisi are the three members of the judiciary’s panel which published this report. 

Karoubi: I Won’t Allow them to Auction Off the Country

The judiciary’s report was published while, a day before, after meeting with the three-member panel, Karoubi wrote an open letter to the head of the judiciary, announcing that he continues to hold he is forcefully holding his ground and will not allow a group of nouveau riche to auction off the country.

Karoubi wrote, “Do not allow armed and paramilitary forces to contemplate an intervention into law, as they have done politics and medicine, and from conquering yet another mountain after they did the presidential election, creating an even worse situation that the current one.”

Calls for Karoubi and Mousavi’s Prosecution

Simultaneous with the publication of Karoubi’s letter, and a day before the judiciary’s three-member panel released its report, the Friday Prayer leaders of Isfahan and Shiraz called for the arrest of Mousavi and punishment of Karoubi. 

Asadollah Imani, Friday Prayer leader of Shiraz, addressed Karoubi, “If these allegations were true, why did you not discuss them with the authorities, and instead shared them with the whole world?  If they were true, why have you not proven them?”

Hard-line Kahyan daily raised the same accusations in its front-page headline today, which read, “Karoubi’s Allegations Proven Lies.”