Iran's ex-president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani on Sunday defied criticism from the country's leading clergy, continuing to insist on the release of all political prisoners, according to dpa. "My standpoint is the same as I mentioned in the Friday prayers (on July 17)," Rafsanjani said in a meeting with university professors in Tehran. In his Friday prayer sermon, Rafsanjani had said that the country was in a crisis and demanded the immediate release of all political detainees as the first step our of the crisis. The conservative clergy decried his remarks as an effort to undermine the Islamic system in Iran, in line with the country's opposition headed by Mir-Hossein Moussavi. According to Fars news agency Sunday, 65 out of the total 88 cleric members of the Experts Assembly, the leading clergy body in Iran, called Rafsanjani to clarify his loyalty to the establishment.
