Protests, boycott mark ceremony for Iran leader

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A confirmation ceremony yesterday meant to showcase the unity of the Islamic Republic of Iran's leadership instead highlighted its divisions, sparking clashes in the streets between demonstrators and security forces that stretched into the night.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, endorsed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term seven weeks after the disputed reelection that continues to roil the nation.

Dozens of officials, dignitaries, and clergy boycotted the ceremony, including Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, considered one of the most powerful people in the country.

Hours later, fighting erupted in several Tehran districts between security forces and supporters of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi chanting, "Death to the dictator." Drivers stopped their cars in the middle of highways and in central squares, leaning on their horns in gestures of protest.

As the clock struck 10 p.m., residents climbed to their rooftops or stuck their heads out of windows and roared, "God is great," in what has become a nightly expression of opposition to Ahmadinejad's rule.

Khamenei, in a speech largely praising Ahmadinejad, acknowledged the divisions but pointedly warned both a burgeoning protest movement and the politicians that have rallied around it that their efforts were futile and had grave consequences.

"The enemies must know that the protests, which are caricature of the pre-revolutionary ones, cannot undermine the system," he said. "We should be vigilant, as even when we are in our best situation enemies can plot against us [and] the conspiracies of enemies must be heeded by officials and people."

Khamenei's confirmation of Ahmadinejad and the defiance among the protesters set the stage for confrontations between security officials and demonstrators tomorrow, when Parliament is set to swear in Ahmadinejad.

Iran watchers noted differences between yesterday's ceremony and the one at the beginning of Ahmadinejad's first term. At the start of his first term, Khamenei affectionately embraced the president and allowed him to kiss his hand. This time, they encountered each other awkwardly, with Ahmadinejad eventually leaning forward and kissing the supreme leader on the shoulder.

Unlike in 2005, viewers were not told when the ceremony would start, and it was not broadcast live, perhaps to avoid highlighting the number of no-shows, who included opposition leader Mousavi, a former prime minister; two former presidents; the head of a religious foundation; two former speakers of Parliament; a former national security adviser; and numerous clergy and lawmakers.

Ahmadinejad limps toward his next term as a hugely polarizing figure: backed by the Islamic system but scorned by millions of opponents who claim the vote was rigged. Khamenei appeared to signal that he is willing to stand by Ahmadinejad but that the political climate requires new sensitivities to public opinion.

In Iran, regular elections are held for president and Parliament, but Khamenei has the final decision on all matters of state. In recent years, however, Ahmadinejad and allied hard-liners in the Revolutionary Guard and security forces have begun to nudge out the clergy who dominated political life in the first two decades after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Yesterday, hundreds and possibly thousands of protesters gathered in various locations around Tehran in silent marches against Ahmadinejad, prompting plainclothes Basiji militiamen to attack demonstrators with clubs and tear gas, according to witnesses and confirmed amateur video posted on YouTube.

The wife of a prominent pro-reform Iranian politician said yesterday that her husband was forced into confessing that he helped fuel postelection riots and that he appeared drugged days before the trial.

The claim by Fahimeh Mousavinejad came as opposition groups contended the government prosecution of about 100 activists for leading protests of the disputed June election was a propaganda show.

Mousavingejad's husband, former Vice President Mohammad Abtahi, looked gaunt and disheveled when he confessed in a televised broadcast at the opening of the mass trial Saturday.

Abtahi, a cleric who was vice president from 2001 to 2004 under then-President Mohammad Khatami, has been one of the main leaders of Iran's reform movement.

He was arrested soon after the June 12 vote, which sparked mass protests when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner despite claims of fraud.

Abtahi was held in secret locations and banned from contact with family or lawyers for weeks.

His wife said she was under pressure from authorities not to talk about her husband's trial but had decided to speak out anyway.

- Associated Press

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