Iranian Hardliner Calls Opposition Leader US Agent

An Iranian female worshipper holds a poster of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a Friday prayer ceremony, at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

(AP)

About a dozen prominent reformist leaders have been detained since protests began after the election, lawyer Saleh Nikbakht, who represents a number of them, told the AP. He said they had been charged with "agitating against the ruling system and acting against national security."

Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari, a dual Iranian-Canadian citizen, also in custody, faces the same charge, the lawyer said.

Police say more than a thousand people have been detained in total and 20 "rioters" killed during the violence. Eight members of the paramilitary Basij militia tasked with putting down the protests have also been killed.

There have been no street protests since Sunday, but Mousavi has maintained his opposition to the results, issuing a defiant statement against the government Wednesday, saying "A majority of the people — including me — do not accept its political legitimacy."

Iran's ruling clerics have called the elections "pure" and "healthy" following the supreme leader's declaration that the results would stand.

Only one of the top clerics in the religious center of Qom, however, has congratulated Ahmadinejad on his re-election. Other Qom clerics have even openly supported Mousavi, condemned the government's tactics against demonstrators and expressed doubts about the election results.

"A large portion of the people have not been convinced over the ambiguities in the election. ... Due to the lack of public support, the government may face legal and civil problems and a lack of competency," Grand Ayatollah Youssef Saanei said in a statement on his Web site Friday.

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