Iranian Demonstrators Call for Execution of Opposition Leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mahdi Karroubi

Thousands of supporters of the Iranian regime took part in demonstrations across the country today, demanding the execution of the country's two main opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi.

The two ex-presidential candidates were placed under house arrest earlier this week after being accused of organizing Monday's anti-government protest in Tehran. Two men were killed during that demonstration -- the first sizable protest held in the city for months -- and protesters are now planning a second protest on Sunday.

During a prayer sermon in Tehran today, influential cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati criticized the anti-government rallies, dismissing them as "riots" that had nothing to do with solidarity with the people of Egypt and Tunisia.

Iranian Regime Supporters Want Opposition Leaders Executed

Vahid Salemi, AP

Pro-government Iranian demonstrators carry mocking photos of the opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, left and right, and Mahdi Karroubi during a rally after Friday prayers in Tehran.

"Everyone knows that this was false, a deceit and a trick," Jannati said, according to The Washington Post.

He also demanded that Mousavi, 68, and Karroubi, 73 -- both of whom lost to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the disputed 2009 election -- be permanently isolated from the rest of the world.

"The connection of the heads of sedition with the public must be cut," Jannati told thousands of worshippers, according to the Post. "The doors of their houses must be shut. Their interaction with the outside world must be limited. Their telephone and Internet must be cut. They must be imprisoned in their own houses."

But crowds of worshippers weren't satisfied and called for the opposition leaders to be put to death. One person in the crowd waved a placard showing Sane Jaleh, a 26-year-old drama student, who was shot during Monday's protest. The regime has said Jaleh was one of its supporters, a claim disputed by his friends.

Jannati told his followers that there was no need to execute Mousavi and Karroubi, as they had been placed under house arrest after Monday's demonstration.

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"I tell these sedition leaders, 'Your life is over,'" Jannati said, according to Radio Free Europe. "There are calls for these men to be executed. But they are already finished. They have already been executed. They have failed. Their reputation within society has been tarnished."

Following Friday prayers, demonstrators across the country took to the streets and called for the arrest and trial of Mousavi and Karroubi, Iran's state-run Press TV reported. Photos of a rally in the capital showed one group of loyalists waving a banner depicting the leaders of the opposition Green Movement with nooses around their necks.

But Jannati's call for Mousavi and Karroubi to remain under permanent house arrest suggests that the regime isn't willing to risk a trial yet. Such a move, the Post notes, could spark further protests.