In a nationally broadcast sermon at the main weekly Muslim prayers in Tehran, hardline cleric Ahmad Khatami said June 26 that any protester who used violence should face the death penalty. "Anyone who takes up arms against the people is a mohareb [against God] and Islam has prescribed the toughest punishment for such offenders," Khatami told worshipers at Tehran University. "I want the judiciary to...punish leading rioters firmly and without showing any mercy to teach everyone a lesson. They should be punished ruthlessly and savagely." Under Iran's Islamic law, punishment for those convicted as mohareb is execution.

Photo: Middle East Online