TEHRAN: Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi is ready to be tried over unrest that followed the June 2009 disputed presidential poll but wants the trial open to the public, his website reported on Monday. His remarks came after Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jaffari Dolatabadi threatened Friday to file criminal charges against opposition leaders such as Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi for their ‘seditionist' role in the violence that erupted in the wake of the election. “I completely welcome such a trial. I am ready for the court to be held in any form,” Karroubi said in an open letter signed Saturday and posted on his website Sahamnews.org on Monday. “But I have a request that the proceedings be open to the public so that the people, who own the country, can listen to both sides and then make their own judgement,” the website quoted him as writing in the letter. Tehran and other Iranian cities were gripped by violent street protests in the aftermath of the June 2009 election, which officially returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mousavi, Karroubi and their supporters maintain that the poll was rigged in Ahmadinejad's favour. In his letter, Karroubi also wrote that he had “strong reasons” for the stance he has adopted since the vote. Dolatabadi has previously warned that it was just a matter of time until opposition leaders would be held legally responsible for the widespread rioting after the election. Dozens of people died in clashes during the protests in Tehran, while a harsh crackdown by authorities on anti-Ahmadinejad demonstrators led to thousands of arrests, with several protesters sentenced to long jail terms. Opposition websites claim that the two leaders who lost to Ahmadinejad in the election have been subjected to intimidation by pro-government militiamen since the disputed poll.
