And in another new developement...
Yazdi orders judiciary to show no mercy to "rioters"
Friday, June 20, 2003 - ©2003 IranMania.com
TEHRAN, June 20 (AFP) - A top Iranian cleric Friday called on the Islamic republic's hardline judiciary to treat "rioters" arrested during nearly 10 nights of anti-regime protests as "enemies of Allah" -- a charge that carries the death penalty.
"I ask the head of judiciary and public prosecutors across Iran not to treat these people with compassion as they endangered the country's security. Islamic Sharia and our laws are explicit on what we should do with them," Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi said in a Friday prayers sermon.
"The judiciary should deal with these people as Moharebs (those who fight Allah) and not as Mokhalef (those who oppose Allah)," he added, urging the courts to handle the detainees "quickly, meticulously, seriously and ruthlessly".
The charge of being a Mohareb carries the death penalty in Iran. After student riots in 1999, one protestor was convicted of that charge and condemned to die, but that punishment was later reduced to 15 years imprisonment.
Ayatollah Yazdi is an ultra-conservative former head of Iran's judiciary -- a bastion of the religious right -- and currently is a prominent jurist sitting on both the Guardians Council and Expediency Council, Iran's two top political oversight bodies.
His comments follow more than a week of anti-regime protests in the capital and other Iranian cities, which have been marked by fierce clashes between demonstrators and hardline vigilantes loyal to the nearly 25-year-old clerical regime.
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp? NewsCode=16378&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
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