Iranian MPs Demand Execution of Opposition Leaders over Protests

Iranian demonstrators clash with Iranian riot-police during a demonstration in Tehran, Iran, 14 February 2010. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Members of Iran's parliament have denounced Monday's protests in Tehran and called for the execution of two opposition leaders for inciting the demonstrations.

On Tuesday, Iran's state-run Press TV reported that some 50 lawmakers marched through the parliament's main hall chanting "Death to [Mir Hossein] Mousavi, death to [Mehdi] Karroubi".

The MPs also named former President Mohammad Khatami in some of their death chants.

On Monday, thousands of Iranians gathered in Tehran to demonstrate in solidarity with Egyptian and Tunisian protesters, who recently toppled their own regimes, but their rally has resulted in clashes with the police.

The demonstrators were reportedly chanting "death to the dictator," referring to the country's controversial hard line President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad that the opposition believes was reelected through fraud in 2009.

According on one MP, two people were killed in the clashes. Dozens were reported detained and opposition leaders, including Mousavi and Karroubi, were places under house arrest.

In a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency, conservative parliamentarians claimed that the two should be tried.

"Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi are corrupts on earth and should be tried," they said, as cited by the BBC.

Although Iran's establishment supported the Egyptian and Tunisian protests, describing them as an "Islamic awakening" inspired by the Islamic Revolution, it said that the opposition rallies in Iran on Monday were a "political move".

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