Iran MPs file complaint against opposition leader

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi (L) meets with pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi in Tehran October 12, 2009.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - More than 100 lawmakers filed a complaint with Iran's general prosecutor on Tuesday against opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi for "harming the image of the system," Fars news agency reported.

Any legal action against Mousavi, who vowed on Sunday to keep up his reformist efforts, could revive street protests which have calmed since the immediate aftermath of the June 12 presidential election that the opposition says was rigged.

"Mousavi's statements and activities have severely harmed the image of the Islamic system ... therefore lawmakers ... handed over the complaint to the general prosecutor," Fars quoted hardline lawmaker Hamid Rasaie as saying.

Mousavi came second in the election which moderates say was fixed to secure the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an accusation Iranian authorities deny. The poll created Iran's worst internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The opposition says more than 70 people were killed in post-election violence. Officials say the death toll was half that and that members of the security forces were among the victims.

"We were hoping that Mousavi would abandon his activities that were in line with Iran's enemies. But he did not give up, forcing us to file the complaint," Rasaie said.

The authorities portrayed the street protests as a foreign-backed bid to undermine Iran's clerical establishment.

Iran's hardline government may use a bombing incident in southeastern Iran on Sunday that killed 42 people, including 15 Guards members, as an excuse to further clamp down on moderates, analysts say.

U.S.-IRANIAN SCHOLAR

Rights groups say thousands were arrested after the vote. More than 100 people, including former senior officials, journalists, lawyers and activists, still remain in jail. Three have so far been sentenced to death.

A court has sentenced Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh, detained after the vote, to more than 12 years in jail, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday. Tajbakhsh has 20 days to appeal the verdict.

The verdict looked certain to anger the United States, which is seeking to engage Iran in direct talks to resolve a long-running row over its disputed nuclear ambitions.

Tajbakhsh and dozens of reformists have faced a series of mass trials. He was accused of espionage and acting against national security.

In the past few days, two leading moderates and two journalists also have been sentenced to jail for fomenting tension in the country, the reformist Mowjcamp website reported.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Robin Pomeroy)