Tehran - Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi says the political era of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was like that of Joseph Stalin in the former Soviet Union.
“The propaganda used by the government supporters in this era can be compared to that of the Stalin era in the Soviet Union or the Nicolae Ceausescu era in Romania,” Moussavi said.
He was referring to what the opposition calls harsh suppression of the opposition movement during the past 18 months.
Moussavi, a former prime minister in the 1980’s, former Parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and ex-presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani lead the opposition to Ahmadinejad.
The quartet has accused the government of fraud in the June 2009 presidential vote and not yet acknowledged Ahmadinejad's re-election.
The opposition has lost its initial popular support from the post-election period, however, and remained rather silent in 2010.
But with parliamentary elections ahead in 2012, the opposition must start considering whether to contest the election.
The judiciary and some government circles proclaimed in recent days that some of the “riot leaders” should face trial for having undermined the country's Islamic system following the presidential election.
Moussavi said while addressing the judiciary and government: “Forget about us opposition leaders, but just stick to the constitution and release all political prisoners, allow press freedom and arrange free elections.”
Several former officials, journalists, students and lawyers have been sentenced to long jail terms for their roles in the post- election protests. The opposition demands the release of all these dissidents and wants a ban on its press activities lifted. - Sapa-dpa