Word: rafsanjani
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Within the building, Ahmadinejad began his controversial second term, one that many political insiders do not expect him to finish. In a blatant slight, visible to all from the televised proceedings, few reformist lawmakers and no opposition leaders - including former Presidents Mohammad Khatami and Ayatullah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - attended the open session of parliament. Several remaining reformists walked out when Ahmadinejad began his address, according to news reports. (Read a story about the prospects for a weakened Ahmadinejad...
...Hossein Mousavi, the leading opposition candidate. Khamenei's red lines have been ignored by the opposition, and his own legitimacy has been questioned as never before, whether by street protesters breaking a taboo by shouting slogans against him, or by key regime figures like former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani openly rebuking his partisan interventions as an abuse of his office. Even Ahmadinejad himself has lately taken steps that flagrantly challenge Khamenei's authority...
That was evident from Abtahi's recitation. Clutching a white piece of paper, Abtahi said, "After the election [reformist former President Mohammed] Khatami and [Hashemi] Rafsanjani had sworn to have each other's back, and I don't understand the point of it, knowing the difference [in votes between Ahmadinejad and Mir-Hossein Mousavi] was 11 million ... Hashemi [Rafsanjani] wanted to take revenge on Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader." Abtahi's voice lowered when he mentioned Rafsanjani, who is believed to be the most powerful backer of the opposition and its protests. (See the top 10 symbols of protest...
Mousavi, Khatami and, most significantly, Rafsanjani, possess extensive revolutionary credentials, having served under the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. They cannot be easily arrested. In the eyes of the ruling hard-liners, then, the road to the triumvirate must go through the Tehran courtroom. (See behind-the-scenes pictures of Mir-Hossein Mousavi...
Already on that Sunday, there were signs on the streets of Tehran that a harsh public campaign against Rafsanjani, Khatami and Mousavi was being orchestrated. Stacks of copies of the ultraconservative newspaper Kayhan blasted the headline "Evidence of Mousavi's Betrayal of Iran Exposed!" The newspaper, a favored mouthpiece for Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, went on to call for the trial of Khatami and Mousavi for "acting against God," a crime punishable under Shari'a law by death. An expanding witch hunt would be reminiscent of a massive purge of dissidents in 1988, when thousands of leftist political prisoners...