Iran trials send message of no compromise

By William Maclean - Analysis

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran's ruling clergy want to silence a defiant protest movement by staging mass trials related to post-election unrest, but the move could backfire by deepening rifts in the clerical establishment and wider society.

An Iranian court charged a French woman, two Iranians working for the British and French embassies in Tehran and dozens of others on Saturday with spying and aiding a Western plot to overthrow the system of clerical rule.

It was the second mass trial aimed at uprooting the moderate opposition and ending protests that erupted after the disputed June 12 presidential election.

"The main purpose is to intimidate anyone who is thinking of protesting again," said Hazhir Teimourian, a British-based commentator on Iranian affairs.

Tens of thousand of Iranians rallied against the election result, defying Iran's ultimate authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who had endorsed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Last Saturday, Iran put on trial 100 reformists, including prominent politicians. The trial was denounced by reformers as an "invalid show" trial.

The second trial was another sign Iran's hardline leadership was not interested in reconciliation with the moderate opposition or repairing ties with the West, analysts said.

"This is not calculated to heal the divide," said Ali Ansari, an Iran expert at Britain's St. Andrews University. He added the trials would not be taken seriously by many Iranians.

The accused on Saturday included a French national, an Iranian working for the French embassy and an Iranian working for the British embassy. They are charged with spying and aiding a Western plot.

Iran has often arrested foreigners to pressure the West, particularly the United States and Britain. Tehran has always been worried about a Western plot to overthrow the clerical establishment.

Analysts said any gains the government might hope to accrue by playing on anti-Western sentiment would be lost because of the hasty manner in which the proceedings had been staged and a widespread belief that confessions had been made under duress.

Drewery Dyke, a researcher on Iran Amnesty International, said the trials were "another travesty of justice."

The political uncertainty has posed fresh challenges for Western powers which had hoped to engage the Islamic Republic in substantive talks on its nuclear programme, which they suspect has military purposes, not only civilian ones as Iran insists.

"A VERY BAD SITUATION"

Teimourian said the trials had fueled a "crisis of legitimacy" that would weaken the government and state institutions for a long time to come.