A hardline cleric seen as a mouthpiece of the Iranian regime today demanded that opposition demonstrators be punished âwithout mercyâ.
Even as Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami delivered his uncompromising message at Tehranâs Friday prayers, foreign ministers of the worldâs leading industrialised nations issued a statement deploring the regimeâs violent crackdown on the protestors and demanded it âstop immediatelyâ.
Mr Khatamiâs televised sermon came at the end of a week in which the regime has brutally suppressed all streets protests and rounded up hundreds of opponents for daring to question President Ahmadinejadâs re-election. It conveyed the unmistakable message that no dissent would be tolerated, and that the crackdown would, if anything, intensify. Distributed by Tubemogul.
