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Court Sentences Key Iranian Reformist To Jail
TEHRAN, March 4 (News Agencies) - Iran's conservative courts sentenced a key aide of reformist President Mohammad Khatami to jail and targeted another Sunday, in what one analyst called a dangerous escalation of factional tension just four months before presidential elections.
Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh, 44, who had been designated organizer of the June 8th presidential poll in the face of fierce opposition from conservatives, was ordered jailed for a year and slapped with a lengthy ban on political activities.
An administrative court in Tehran found him guilty of complicity in fraud in last year's parliamentary elections which gave reformists control of the legislature, which he also organized.
Tajzadeh, who strongly denied the charges and is free for 20 days pending an eventual appeal, told journalists he would make unspecified revelations about the case in the coming days.
"I think that everything that was said during the trial has helped to enlighten public opinion and encouraged people to vote massively in the presidential elections for the political line which they prefer," Tajzadeh added.
The state news agency IRNA said Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mussavi-Lari, a member of Iran's ruling Shiite clergy, had also been accused of "electoral fraud" and is expected to be summoned to a special clerical court soon.
Mussavi-Lari, a moderate cleric, is accused of "preventing a mission" by the conservative-run inspectorate general charged with investigating alleged cases of fraud during the February 2000 elections, IRNA said.
The minister had opposed a recount of votes in March after the elections, which saw conflict over the results, notably in Tehran, between the interior ministry and the conservative oversight body, the Guardians Council.
The administrative court Sunday also sentenced Tehran governor Ayatollahi Azarmi to 18 months in prison on similar charges of complicity in electoral fraud and a 45-month ban on holding public office and civil rights deprivation.
Since reformists swept to a landslide victory in the elections overseen by Tajzadeh the conservative-dominated courts have jailed journalists and other Khatami supporters, shut down newspapers and summoned reformist members of parliament on various pretexts.
The conservatives had also strongly opposed the choice of Tajzadeh to organize the June presidential elections, in which Khatami has not yet announced he will run for a second term, saying he could not be unbiased.
"It is the worst scenario imaginable, one more step in the growing tension between conservatives and reformists," political analyst Iraj Rashti said. "Tajzadeh's conviction even before the election campaign starts can only intensify the frustration and rancor of the reformists and their electors."
Rashti said for the moment the holding of the elections was not in doubt.
The deputy head of parliament's judicial commission, Ebrahim Amini, said all the evidence pointed to the case being brought with the aim of eliminating Tajzadeh as the official in charge of organizing the presidential elections, he charged.
"This [also] shows the judiciary is ignoring public opinion, and the people will definitely give an appropriate and strong answer to such measures with their votes in the presidential elections," Amini said, quoted by IRNA.
In a further move by the conservative-controlled judiciary, a judicial source said reformist member of parliament, Fatemeh Haqiqat-Joo, had also been summoned to the same court that tried Tajzadeh.
Haqiqat Joo is accused of lying in alleging violence in the recent arrest of a woman journalist, Fariba Davoudi-Mohadjer, on the orders of the hardline revolutionary tribunal.
Haqiqat-Joo, the fifth pro-reform deputy to be summoned to court since January, made her allegations in parliamentary session, which reformists say should make her immune from prosecution.
She told parliament that armed men had arrested Davoudi-Mohadjer in front of her house and assaulted her.
Three days later, the revolutionary court rejected the claims, saying Haqiqat-Joo would have to "take responsibility, because the tribunal plans to follow up on the matter."
Davoudi-Mohadjer was the third journalist to be arrested in less than a week. Nearly 20 have been sentenced to jail terms or are being detained pending trial over their writings and other activities.
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