While the second day of the trial of protesters arrested in post-election turmoil in Iran might not have provided the same shock level as the day one of the trial, it still had its share of extremely interesting confessions. Though in today’s hearing no one accused high-level reformist leaders of conspiring against the Islamic Republic, there were still plenty of confessions regarding the role of foreign powers in stoking post-election turmoil. Below is a list of confessions heard in today’s hearing:
1. The United States is planning a regime change in Iran.
The Deputy Prosecutor-General of Tehran’s public and revolutionary courts revealed that “the US administration sought to stage a plot named ‘Exchange Project’ in Iran after its agents were arrested by Iranian security forces.” The indictment charged that after western countries studied Iran’s internal, regional and international conditions, “the project for the soft overthrow of the Islamic Republic – or as they call it Public Diplomacy – was placed on the West’s agenda.” As reported in the Fars News Agency, “according to the indictment, training reporters for collecting information, creating and uploading websites to train agents about their roles during the election in Iran, dispatching artists and professionals in a bid to form the required cadres to hold sensitive posts in future, and helping non-governmental organization (NGO’s) were among the West’s measures for putting into effect its soft overthrow project in Iran.”
2. There were plots to detonate bombs in Iran.
Mohammad Reza Zamani, one of the protesters arrested after the election and a member of the ‘Council of Kingdom’ (a group that is categorized by the Iranian government as “anti-Iranian terrorist group”) confessed that “the Council of Kingdom of Iran sent us some formulas for making weak and powerful bombs and wanted us to deliver them to our liaisons in Iran so that they can foment unrest by detonating them.” He also admitted to his involvement in a bloody bomb blast at a religious center in the southern city of Shiraz in April 2008, which claimed 14 lives and wounded 200.
3. U.S. Intelligence played a role in the post-election strife.
Mohammad Reza Zamani also revealed American involvement in the post-election riots. He stated, “We received funds from the US and the office of the Council of Kingdom to continue our work and to make a living.” He confessed that the U.S. intelligence agencies made up the plots to infiltrate the election campaign. Zamani stated during his trial that “Infiltrating into the parties that aimed to participate in the election as well as infiltrating into the universities and union guilds were some of the plots that we were due to perform for the US forces and the Council of Kingdom.”
4. MEK’s role in the post-election unrest reaffirmed.
Once again protesters confessed to receiving trainings in the MEK’s Camp Ashraf in Iraq to create havoc in Iran. Abdul-Hosseini, a detainee, stated “I went there (the camp) after crossing Iran-Iraq border at Qashr-e Shirin illegally and I was trained by a person named Siyavash in a bid to stage operations in Tehran.” He admitted that he had been trained to spark unrests in peaceful demonstrations, take photographs of any empty polling station and send them to MKE headquarters and raise pictures of MKE leaders at Iranian universities.
5. Foreign spies recruited agents to bring Iran into turmoil.
Reza Rafeiee Foroushani, another detainee, admitted to spying for foreign intelligence services. Foroushani confessed “I worked for the United Arab Emirates’ intelligence service for 2 years and received 5,000 Dirhams each month.” According to the Fars News Agency, the UAE has close cooperation with the intelligence agencies of the United States and Britain.
He also stated that he was a correspondent of the Time Magazine in Iran, and “was tasked with establishing contacts with Iranian officials and also attending President’s (Ahmadinejad) press conferences to ask some special questions.” He also admitted to taking photographs of the riots and sending them to foreign websites or uploaded them on Facebook.
6. French national admits to her crimes.
Clotilde Reiss, a French national who was detained after the election unrest, confessed to her crime during the trial. She stated “I shouldn’t have participated in the illegal demonstration and shouldn’t have sent the pictures, I am regretful.” She went on to apologize for her behavior to the Iranian people.
According to the Fars News Agency, 100 culprits put to trail are categorized in three groups, namely the “plotters, intriguers, and planners of the riots”, “the antagonists and those affiliated to foreign services”, and “the opportunists, hooligans, and hoodlums who set ablaze, or destroyed private and public properties, and those that have had hands in disturbing public security.”
A top judiciary official, Qorbanali Dori-Najafabadi, has acknowledged that some detainees arrested after post-election protests were tortured in Iranian prisons. According to the New York Times, the prosecutor general, Dori-Najafabadi, said “mistakes” had led to a few “painful accidents which cannot be defended, and those who were involved should be punished.”
Photo taken from the Fars News Agency.
