Khamenei Endorses Ahmadinejad’s Re-election; Opposition Boycotts

Despite widespread dispute over Iran’s presidential poll still prevailing, country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has endorsed the second-term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an official ceremony held in Tehran, which was boycotted by opposition leaders.

Opposition leaders shunned the official ceremony maintaining their stand that Ahmadinejad’s re-election is fraudulent.

Now Ahmadinejad will be administered oath of office by parliament on August 5. The president has two weeks from that date to unveil his new Cabinet.

It should be noted that a mass trials of over 100 demonstrator who protested June 12 elections were consequently arrested by security forces began on Saturday.

Mohammad Khatami, former Iranian president, who now leads one of the largest reform parties in the country, on Sunday described the mass trial as unconstitutional.

Khatami called the judicial proceedings a “show” trial, and he lashed out at the court’s tactics Sunday. He said prosecutors are relying on confessions that were illegally obtained.

Defeated presidential candidate and one-time prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi says the detainees were tortured into confessing.

Iranian prosecutors are charging the detainees with organizing massive demonstrations and plotting to overthrow the government of Iran.

Among the accused are several high-ranking politicians, including former Vice President Mohammed Ali Abtahi who served with Khatami, the former vice speaker of parliament, Behzad Nabavi, and one-time government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh.