Iran leader approves Ahmadinejad presidency

          
          Iran leader approves Alunadinejad presidency I Reuters http://www.reuters.coni/article/topNews/id1JSTRE572OST2009O8O3?p...
          Iran leader approves Ahmadinejad ____
          presidency
          Mon Aug 3, 2009 9:05am EDT
          Email Print Share Reprinta I Single Page [ -] Text [ +]
          By Parisa Hafezi
          TEHRAN (Reuters) - Supreme Leader
          Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed
          the second term presidency of Mahmoud
          Ahmadinejad on Monday after a disputed
          election that plunged Iran into its worst
          crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
          The results, which leading reformists and
          00 i of 5 Full Size moderate defeated candidates Mirhossein
          Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi said were
          rigged to ensure victory for the hardline
          Ahmadinejad, led to violent protests and deep schisms within Iran's
          clerical and political elite.
          Leading opposition figures and two former presidents, Akbar Hashemi
          Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, who backed Mousavi in the vote,
          were not at the ceremony although they had attended such events in the
          past, Iranian media reported.
          “The official ceremony was held and Supreme Leader (Ayatollah All
          Khamenei) approved MrAhmadinejad's presidency, al-Alam state
          television said. taxes
          Ahmadinejad will be sworn in by parliament on Wednesday.
          He then faces the hard task of forming a cabinet that will be acceptable to
          the mostly conservative parliament, which may object if he names only
          members of his inner circle. Parliament has in the past rejected some of
          Ahmadinejad's cabinet choices.
          Mousavi and Karoubi say the next government will be illegitimate.
          Khamenei has endorsed the June 12 election result and demanded an end
          to the protests at which more than 20 people have been killed.
          Iranian officials deny any fraud in the election, in which Ahmadinejad was
          declared to have won 63 percent of 40 million votes cast, against 34
          percent for Mousavi.
          Part of Iran's influential Shi'ite clerical establishment has also signaled
          misgivings over the aftermath of the poll, which has touched off the
          country's worst internal upheaval since the 1979 revolution.
          ROUGH RIDE
          Without Khamenei's support, any cabinet list could get a very rough ride
          as many lawmakers have been critical of Ahmadinejad since the vote.
          The power struggle can only hamper the leadership's ability to tackle the
          Islamic Republic's economic problems, as well as the struggle over its
          nuclear program, which Iran says is only peaceful, but which the West
          suspects is aimed at bomb-making.
          In an apparent effort to deter street protests, Iran on Saturday put 100
          protesters, including several senior moderate figures, on trial. They face a
          range of charges, including acting against national security, which is
          punishable by death.
          Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform
          politicians, journalists and lawyers, have been detained since the election.
          The mass trial of reformists has no precedent in revolutionary Iran's
          30-year history. The trial resumes on Thursday.
          Leading reformers, including Khatami, have rejected what they say is a
          show trial and said some defendants had made confessions under duress.
          Many of the defendants have spent weeks in jail without access to
          lawyers, Mousavi said on Sunday. He said the trial was “an awkward
          preparation” for the start of Ahmadinejad's new term.
          Even some hardliners have criticized the trial and the official portrayal of
          the protesters as people determined to overthrow Iran's system of
          govern ment.
          Some defendants, including Khatami's vice-president Mohammad Ali
          Abtahi, told the court that they were wrong to have said the vote was
          fraudulent.
          (Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
          © Thomaon Reuters 2009 All righta reserved
          Slideshow
          A selection of our beat
          photos from the paat 24
          hours. Slideshow
          I !JiIIF t,J 1
          ‘ !eiIhs i 'Js.
          URWENCY FOREC4ST EUR'USD J •ctsI
          4•t
          POUND
          Ø:ii
          FREE
          PRACTICE ACCOUNT
          Zeic!!!
          MOST POPULAR ON REUTERS
          Arliclea video
          1. Pentagon eyes accelerated
          “bunker buster” bomb
          2. Obama officials eye more jobless aid, weigh
          3. The price of U.S. recession is paid in jobs
          4. Nissan unveils zero-emission hatchback “Lea?'
          5. UPDATE 2-Venezuela begins shutdown of 34
          radio stations
          a. MOVES- Dank of America, Citigroup,
          Hammerson
          7. Iran leader approves Ahmadinejad presidency
          5. Q-'-A: What is plague and what are its various
          forms?
          a. Gunman kills 2 at Tel Aviv club for gay youths
          10. Pentagon eyes accelerated “bunker buster”
          bomb
          Moat PopularArtcles RSS Feed
          2 of 3
          SHARE: Delicious 0199 Mlxx Yahoo! Facebook
          ‘03 11:16 . i