Opposition leader Moussavi accuses Ahmadinejad of misusing Islam

Sep 5, 2009, 12:20 GMT

Tehran - Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi has accused President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of misusing Islam, his website reported Saturday.

'Islam is frequently referred to but seldom followed,' Moussavi said in a statement carried by his website Kalame.

Moussavi is one of main opponents of Ahmadinejad, whom he has charged with fraud in the June 12 presidential election, and whose re-election he refuses to acknowledge.

'Islam is filtered and those parts (of Islam) which are not beneficiary are simply skipped,' Moussavi said.

Ahmadinejad last week called on on the judiciary to arrest initiators of recent post-election unrest in what was seen as a clear reference to Moussavi, former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and ex-presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.

Karroubi vowed to continue realizing people's legitimate rights, while Moussavi said protests and the 'Green path' - a reference to the colour of Moussavi's supporters - should go on.

'There was no way other than to continue the Green path for confronting called liars and fraudsters,' Moussavi said.

He accused Ahmadinejad and his supporters of 'performing the ugliest acts' under the pretext of religion, although one of the main aims of Muslim prophet Mohammed had been to 'gain perfection of ethical generosity.

'Acts such as killing, torturing prisoners are made, plus other acts which I am ashamed of even mentioning,' he added, an apparent reference to claims of prison rapes.

Karroubi said last month that some young women and men had been so brutally raped in jail that they suffered injuries to their genitals.

Although both government and parliament categorically denied the accusations, but Moussavi and Karroubi reaffirmed the charges.

The newly appointed head of the judiciary power, Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli-Larijani, has formed a special committee to investigate the rape charges.

Protests following the presidential election led to over 20 deaths having been officially acknowledged, whjile the opposition claims that their number was 72.

Of some 4,000 arrested, over 100 - including former reformist officials - are still in jail, and charged by the revolutionary court of planning to topple the Islamic system.

'The hearings are show trials with no legal and religiously legitimate basis,' Moussavi said.

He once again rejected charges by Ahmadinejad and his faction that the opposition seeks to topple the Islamic system.

'We want to maintain the Islamic republic and its system, we want social calm, we are against any violence and radicalism - but we also believe that these can only be made possible through respecting people's will and implementing the constitution,' Moussavi said.

One of the Moussavi's main complaints is the interior ministry rejection of peaceful demonstrations which are allowed under the Iranian constitution.

The Iranian government has reportedly even prohibited former president Khatami from holding his annual speech at a religious ceremony in the fasting month of Ramadan in fear of renewed unrests.

Ex-president Rafsanjani was also replaced as one of the Friday prayer leaders in Tehran - again, apparently in fear that his presence could lead to further unrest at the weekly ceremony at Tehran university.