Iranian Show Trial Proceeds With Reformers Confessing

The Iranian regime continues with the show trials of those it claims formented violence in the wake of the botched elections that were given a rubber stamp of approval by Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

They've even managed to get some reformers to admit to formenting violence:

The courtroom statement by Saeed Hajjarian — who is considered one of the reform movement's top architects and who was shot in the head in a 2000 assassination attempt — was the latest dramatic confession in the month-old trial that the opposition has compared to Josef Stalin's "show trials" of opponents in the Soviet Union.

More than 100 defendants are on trial, accused of trying to overthrow Iran's clerical leadership in a "velvet revolution" by fomenting huge protests over the disputed June 12 presidential election, which the opposition says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud.

Also among the defendants who appeared Tuesday was Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American academic. The prosecutor read out charges against him including espionage, contact with foreign elements and acting against national security.

Speaking before the court, Tajbakhsh appeared to try to speak broadly about foreign interference in Iran, saying "undeniably this was a goal of the U.S. and European countries to bring change inside Iran" and that "the root cause of the riots are found outside the borders."

The root causes for the violence was the fact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the election and sent his thugs, the Basiji, to crush the opposition. Khamenei gave his approval to Ahmadinejad and the election results were made official, even if many Iranians don't think Ahmadinejad won.

No full recount will take place because Khamenei already declared the winner.

The opposition has been harassed by the regime ever since.