UK Embassy Staff Will Face Trial in Iran

Four still held as UK decries 'harassment'

(NEWSER) - Four of the nine staff members arrested at the British embassy in Tehran are still "being interrogated," reports the BBC, for what Iranian media described as collusion with the protests. The Iranian regime has condemned Britain throughout the crisis for meddling in the country's affairs. More»

(NEWSER) - As his adversaries faced a mass court hearing condemned as a show trial, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was formally endorsed today for a second term as president of Iran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei conducted the ceremony, which Mir Hossein Mousavi and other opposition figures boycotted. The endorsement came after state television screened courtroom confessions by two prominent reformists, who said they had "changed" since their arrest. They added that they had not been tortured, as supporters alleged. More»

Khatami accuses government of murdering protesters

(AP) - The reformist former president of Iran blasted the country's extraordinary mass trial of activists and protesters as a sham that would undermine the country's ruling regime, reports the AP. Mohammad Khatami, president from 1997 to 2005, said he hoped the "show trial" would not "lead to ignorance of the real crimes" carried out by authorities following the June 12 vote, including alleged abuse and murder of detainees. More»

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urges high turnout

(AP) - Iran's supreme leader urged Iranians to vote in large numbers as the country holds parliamentary elections today, saying a high turnout would send a strong message to the enemies of the nation amid the nuclear standoff with the West. The balloting for the 290-member parliament is the first major voting since the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009 and the mass protests and crackdowns that followed. More»

February 11 will test regime, international community

(NEWSER) - Feb. 11, the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, promises to bring tests for all parties with a hand in the nation's fate, writes Gerald Seib. Big marches traditionally herald the anniversary, and members of the opposition movement that has bloomed since last June's election will undoubtedly come out in big numbers. That's the test for Mahmoud "Ahmadinejad and his government, which will have to decide how hard to bring down their iron fist." More»