Iran leader Rafsanjani rallies opposition

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By Barbara Slavin

Iran's political opposition mounted a massive new show of strength Friday that included a tough speech by one of Iran's most influential figures, deepening divisions within the regime's elite and demonstrating that the crisis gripping the nation for the past five weeks is far from over.

Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, addressing a Friday prayers gathering in Tehran for the first time since the disputed June 12 presidential elections, harshly criticized the government for ignoring complaints about suspected electoral fraud.

He said the Islamic Republic was behaving in a manner that was neither Islamic nor respectful of citizens' rights, and he called for the release of political prisoners and a restoration of free speech.

"Where people are not present or their vote is not considered, that government is not Islamic," Mr. Rafsanjani said, according to a translation by the Associated Press.

"Doubt has been created [about the election results]," he said. "There is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt."

Since the inception of the Islamic government, Mr. Rafsanjani has been among its most powerful members. A close ally of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 revolution, Mr. Rafsanjani has held a series of influential posts. He was speaker of the parliament in the 1980s, president from 1989 to 1997, and currently heads both the Expediency Council - a body charged with resolving disputes among government institutions - and the Assembly of Experts - a group of 86 Shi'ite Muslim clerics that is supposed to oversee the office of the supreme leader of Iran.

Although Mr. Rafsanjani called for unity in support of the country's system of government, tens of thousands of those present at the sermon and outside the grounds of Tehran University chanted slogans demanding "freedom" and criticizing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Police used tear gas on the crowd and arrested dozens, eyewitnesses told The Washington Times.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who asserts that he won the presidential election, was among the worshippers for the first time since the disputed vote. Many in the audience wore green headbands or wristbands or had green prayer rugs, the AP reported.