Jim Sciutto: Former President of Iran Demands Release of Political Prisoners

ABC's Senior Foreign Correspondent Jim Sciutto covered the recent Iranian election protests from the streets of Tehran: Incredible scenes today at Friday prayers at Tehran University. Delivering the sermon before thousands of worshippers, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, perhaps the opposition’s most powerful backer, used strong language, saying the debate over the election should be re-opened. He demanded that the government show sympathy for the opposition and defuse what he called a crisis. “We must bring back the trust of the people,” he said. “We must join those who have incurred great losses and lessen their pain.”   Rafsanjani also demanded that political prisoners be released. Human rights groups estimate that thousands of opposition supporters and leaders have been arrested. Today, Amnesty International said Shadi Sadr, a prominent lawyer and activist, joined their ranks, beaten and arrested as she tried to attend the Friday prayers. Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi was sitting in the front row, his first public appearance in weeks, while eyewitnesses told ABC News thousands of Moussavi supporters rallied outside. Police responded with violence. “The security forces are using the same old brutality,” one eyewitness said. “I was beaten. My mother was beaten.” After prayers, many protesters marched toward Evin prison, where many dissidents are imprisoned.
This is significant. Iranians had been on pins and needles to see what Rafsanjani would say. Some right-wing newspapers indicated – and some opposition supporters worried – that Rafsanjani would capitulate but he didn’t. This is the clearest sign recently that the conflict is far from over inside the Iranian leadership. Other hard-liners, such as former candidate Mohsen Rezaei, have also refused to pronounce the dispute over. (Rezaei is known as an opportunist who likes to bend with the political winds so the fact that he’s hedging his bets is another sign the opposition isn’t a spent force.) And to see thousands of supporters in the streets – even bigger than the crowds on July 9 anniversary of the 1999 student uprising – shows the street protests are far from over either.