Iranian reformist trials to reopen

Mr Ganji's supporters say he is being made a scapegoat

By Jim Muir in Tehran

One of Iran's leading investigative journalists Akbar Ganji is due to appear before a revolutionary court in Tehran again on Thursday.

Mr Ganji is one of 17 prominent Iranian reformists facing a range of charges arising out of a controversial conference held in Berlin in April to discuss Iran's political future.

The accused include leading lawyers, journalists, writers and intellectuals.

Like the others appearing in a series of trials, Mr Ganji is accused of undermining national security and making propaganda against the Islamic regime by attending the meeting.

Conservative backlash

At the first hearing Akbar Ganji stormed into court, loudly claiming that he had been beaten in jail.

Hard-liners fiercely oppose Iran's reformist press

One of Iran's toughest campaigning journalists, Akbar Ganji has long been a thorn in the flesh of the conservative establishment.

He believes that is the real reason he is on trial and says the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

Also on trial is one of the conference organisers, Khalil Rostamkhani. He has been accused of "making war against God", and at one point seemed certain to face the death penalty.

Hassan Yousefi-Eshkevari, a liberal cleric who attended the Berlin meeting also faced a possible death sentence for apostasy.

His case has already been judged by a special clerical court behind closed doors. The verdict has been kept secret, but the signs are that it involves prison rather than death.

Price of democracy

His family are philosophical. "If we want to get democracy and have a democratic country, of course we should pay the price, " says his son Ruhollah Eshkevari.

Many reformist papers have been shut down

The Berlin conference caused a political storm in Tehran when it was disrupted by hardcore opponents of the Islamic regime.

They heckled, danced, sang and even stripped. Hard-liners at home deemed the more moderate reformists who attended the conference, guilty by association.

But many reformists, like veteran liberal politician Izzatollah Sahabi believe the prosecutions by the hard-line judiciary have a wider purpose.

Wider purpose

Mr Sahabi is also on trial, and says the prosecutions are an attempt "to stop the reformist movement in Iran, to separate the reformists from the people, and then condemn them".

The accused also include the most popular woman in the country, Jamileh Kadivar. She was the top female vote-winner in the February general elections in which reformists swept the board.

However, the reformists believe the hard-liners' tactics will backfire, and the prosecutions are serving only to increase their popularity among the general public.