Always Nice When Serving Government Officials Call for Executing Protesters

More seriously now. In Iran there’s something called an Assembly of Experts, a clerical body charged with electing the Supreme Leader and ensuring that he holds true to the finest Islamic traditions. One such expert, Ahmed Khatami, has a few suggestions for how the regime ought to treat the protesters who today plan on releasing balloons in memory of the martyr, Neda Agha Soltan. Reuters:

…the judiciary should charge the leading “rioters” as being “mohareb” or one who wages war against God.

“They should be punished ruthlessly and savagely,” he said. Under Iran’s Islamic law, punishment for people convicted as mohareb is execution.

Khatami added, presumably for good measure, that the judiciary ought to “punish” the protesters “without showing any mercy to teach everyone a lesson.” He says that the protesters are “rioters” who have murdered the militiamen of the Basij, and public safety can’t tolerate a balloon-based assault. I’m sure he’s really talking about the “judiciary” here, and not other means of government control empowered to show no mercy.

The Guardian Council, which is in charge of the recount rejected by opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi, issued a statement through its spokesman today that “the election was the healthiest since the revolution.” That’s where Khatami’s government-based religious injunction for executions comes into play.

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