Despite the growing pressure, opposition members seem determined to keep challenging the hard-liners.

September 8, 2009 • 11:24+11:0009

Despite the growing pressure, opposition members seem determined to keep challenging the hard-liners.

greens 2 Concern has grown that key figures who are seen as the leaders of the opposition movement could be arrested. They include former President Mohammad Khatami, presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi, and the head of the Assembly of Experts, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

This concern has grown following recent comments by the head of the powerful Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari.

Jafari said on September 2 that senior reformist figures encouraged the massive street protests following the June 12 presidential vote and tried to undermine the authority of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate of power in the Islamic republic.

Former President Khatami, who is one of the figures named by Jafari, hit back on September 6, accusing the hard-liners of taking a “fascist” approach. He said the hard-liners destroyed “the biggest opportunity” that has come along for Iran and the Islamic establishment in the June 12 vote.

Mir Hossein Mousavi issued a new statement explaining how he envisions the future and the role that the “Green Path of Hope,” the movement that he is founding, can play in it. The strongly worded statement accuses hardliners of distorting Islam, violating the Constitution, destroying morality in society, and forgetting the ideals of the 1979 Revolution, the most important of which was political freedom for all.

Mehdi Karroubi will not relent in his quest for justice over the abuses and rapes of detainees.

One of the strongest criticisms has come from a lawmaker, Hossein Hashemian, the head of the Imam faction in the Iranian parliament, who said on September 6 that Jafari has become too proud of his military rank.

Hashemian said Jafari should be prosecuted for his comments, which he said go against the views of the founder of the Islamic republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Hashemian said Khomeini was against the interference of the military in politics.

Hashemian said Jafari has labeled figures who have held top posts in the Islamic establishment and served the system for the past 30 years as potential foes of the Islamic state.

Hashemian told the website “Parlemannews” that Jafari’s comments could be interpreted as an attempt to destroy Khomeini’s legacy. He added that Jafari, as a military figure, didn’t have the right to interfere in politics.

Two reformist political parties, the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Militant Clerics Association, have also blasted Jafari over his comments and said that he should be charged.The Militant Clerics Association said it had decided to file a legal compliant against Jafari for spreading lies and leveling accusations against some of its members.

The Participation Front, some of whose key members are on trial over the postelection unrest, said that Jafari’s comments could open room for more action against reformist leaders. The party said that Jafari’s comments and his access to forced confessions by reformists could be a confirmation of the Revolutionary Guard’s role in the June vote and reformists’ allegations that a coup has taken place.

The party says the judiciary should prove its independence by bringing one of its own to court — for the first time.

Also, opposition members are also planning to protest on September 18 during the annual “Quds Day,” when state-organized anti-Israel demonstrations usually take place. Millions of Iranians are anticpated to participate.