A top aide of Iran's supreme leader called the country's main opposition figure a US agent and accused him of committing crimes against the nation in an editorial Saturday.
The editorial represents the first time that Mir Hossein Mousavi, who ran for president in Iran's June 12 elections, has been publicly called a US agent.
Weeks of demonstrations erupted in Iran after Mousavi lost to the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and authorities maintain that the protests were instigated by foreign elements.
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"It has to be asked whether the actions of (Mousavi and his supporters) are in response to instructions by American authorities," said Hossein Shariatmadari in an editorial appearing in the conservative daily Kayhan.
Shariatmadari, who holds no official position but is a close adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, added that Mousavi was trying to "escape punishment for murdering innocent people, holding riots, cooperating with foreigners and acting as America's fifth column inside the country."
He called for Mousavi and former reformist president Mohammad Khatami to be tried in court for "horrible crimes and treason."
The editorial added that there were "undeniable documents" proving Mousavi's foreign links.
When Iran's incumbent president was re-elected by a landslide, Mousavi and other opposition candidates cried foul sparking weeks of giant protests across the country that were eventually crushed.
Police say 20 "rioters" were killed during the violence as well as seven or eight members of the paramilitary Basij militia tasked with putting down the protests.
There have been no street protests since Sunday, but Mousavi has maintained his opposition to the results, issuing a defiant statement on Wednesday that he considered the government illegitimate and demanded political prisoners be released.
He has been laying low, however, and made no public appearances for days amid calls by many hard-liners for him to be prosecuted.
Meanwhile, the lawyer of a detained Iranian employee of the British embassy in Tehran says his client has been charged with "acting against national security."
Lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshi says his client is being held in Evin prison and will in all likelihood stand trial soon.
The lawyer on Saturday identified his client as Hossein Rassam, the embassy's chief political analyst, and said he had not yet been able to meet with him or see the text of the indictment.
In June Iran arrested
nine local members of the British embassy staff, saying they were involved in post-election unrest.
Iranian news agencies said all but one had since been released.
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