By Aresu Eqbali

January 19, 2010

Source: Agence France Presse (AFP)

TEHRAN — More than 40 people have been arrested on the basis of tip-offs after police circulated photographs of demonstrators at a December rally which turned deadly, a police website reported on Tuesday.

But the reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami defended the protesters and condemned the new wave of arrests of government critics launched after the bloody protests during the Shiite mourning rituals of Ashura on December 27.

In a rare measure police publicised photographs of the protesters encouraging people to help with their arrest.

“After the publication of pictures of Ashura day rioters on the police website and in the police special edition … more than 40 elements of sedition were identified and arrested with the cooperation of noble Iranians,” the website said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose disputed June re-election has triggered a string of protests over the past seven months, has accused Iran’s archfoes the United States and Israel of organising the Ashura demonstration.

The special edition of a police publication, which came out on January 13, ran photographs taken on the Ashura day of anti-government demonstrators.

The eight-page publication appealed for the general public to come forward with “information and documents regarding the photographs,” providing a phone number for informants.

It ran close-up shots of men and women on the capital’s streets, with the faces of wanted participants in the rally circled in red. Some of the pictures show a police car being attacked and stone-throwers.

Eight people were killed as clashes erupted between security forces and opposition supporters on the day.

Despite the roundup, Khatami, a key figure in the opposition camp which has infuriated hardliners with its street protests, defended the protesters.

Khatami, who was meeting with a group of released post-vote detainees, slammed those in power who “commit violence with complete immunity” against demonstrators.

Iranian authorities say several hundred people were rounded up on the Ashura day, without giving a precise figure. A small number of them have since gone on trial, according to newspaper reports.

Khatami also accused Iran’s leadership of lying to the people.

“Many lies have been told these days and many promises have been made but people see those in charge of their affairs have not done much,” the former president said.

“So people realise that many of the protesters are not ill-intentioned and their protest is reasonable,” he said in comments carried by his Baran Organisation’s website.

Ahmadinejad’s opponents have accused the hardliner of trying to cover up his failures, especially in managing the economy, while the opposition has rejected his re-election as massively rigged.