TEHRAN – Deputy Majlis Speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar has criticized certain hard-line principlists for trying to eliminate all those who voted for Mir-Hossein Mousavi in the 2009 presidential elections. 

In an exclusive interview with the Mehr News Agency, he also rejected extremists’ claim that Bahonar intended to endorse Mousavi during election campaigns, saying he did not wish for the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and voted for Mohsen Rezaii.  

Elsewhere in his remarks, he said when the establishment did not see it in the national interest to arrest Mousavi and Mahid Karroubi, hard-line MPs said if lawmakers chant slogans against the “leaders of sedition,” the establishment will be forced to issue arrest warrants against them.  

“Their calls for execution of Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi pressured Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani into saying in an interview that he is in favor of arresting the leaders of sedition, but high-ranking officials of the establishment were opposed to their arrest,” he explained.