US president Barack Obama today criticised Iran for its harsh treatment of anti-government protesters and called on governments throughout the Middle East to avoid crackdowns on pro-democracy supporters.
“The world is changing,” he said in a message directed at autocratic rulers across the region.
“You have a young, vibrant generation within the Middle East that is looking for greater opportunity.... You’ve got to get out ahead of change; you can’t be behind the curve.”
Mr Obama was asked at a White House news conference about the mood of change sweeping the Middle East in sympathy with the opposition victory in Egypt.
“It’s ironic that the Iranian regime is pretending to celebrate what happened in Egypt,” Mr Obama said.
“They acted in direct contrast to what happened in Egypt” by using force against demonstrators.
He said that with advances in freedom of communication through smart phones and Twitter, it is more true than ever that governments must recognise that they must act with the consent of the people.
“Governments in that region are starting to understand this and my hope is that they can operate in a way that is responsive to this hunger for change, but always do so in a way that doesn’t lead to violence.”
Hard-line Iranian MPs today called for the country’s opposition leaders to face trial and be put to death, a day after clashes between opposition protesters and security forces left one person dead and dozens injured. Tens of thousands of people turned out for the opposition rally Monday in solidarity with Egypt’s popular revolt.
Iranian lawmakers urged judiciary today to hand out death penalties to opposition leaders for fomenting unrest in the Islamic state after a rally in which one person was killed and dozens were wounded, state media said.
Clashes broke out between security forces and protesters when thousands of opposition supporters rallied in sympathy for popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia yesterday, reviving mass protests that shook Iran after a presidential vote in 2009.
"(Opposition leaders) Mehdi Karroubi and Mirhossein Mousavi are corrupts on earth and should be tried," the official IRNA news agency quoted lawmakers as saying in a statement.
The loose term "Corrupt on Earth", a charge which has been levelled at political dissidents in the past, carries the death penalty in the Islamic Iran.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said: "Those who created public disorder on Monday will be confronted firmly and immediately."
Iranian authorities have repeatedly accused opposition leaders of being part of a Western plot to overthrow the Islamic system. The claim has been denied by Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi.
At least 20 pro-reform activists were arrested before the protests, opposition websites reported.
State television described protesters as "Hypocrites, monarchists, thugs and seditionists". A senior police official said dozens of protesters had been arrested and at least nine policemen were wounded by "hypocrites".
"We have information...that America, Britain ad Israel guided the opposition leaders who called for the rally," said deputy police chief Ahmadreza Radan, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Reuters