BEIRUT, August 3, 2009 (MENASSAT) – The Ayatollah's formal backing of Ahmadinejad occurred two days before Wednesday's official presidential inauguration. Prominent opposition figures and senior figures, including two former presidents chose to boycott Monday's ceremony according to state-run Iranian media.

Leading opposition figure Mir Hussein Mousavi and another defeated reformist presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, did not show up. The two former Iranian presidents, Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, also snubbed the event.

"Iranian people have voted in favor of a fight against arrogance, to confront destitution and spread justice," Al-Alam TV quoted Khamenei as saying.

Iran's Press TV reported that attendees of the ceremony included heads of the three branches of the government, a representative from Iran's Guardian Council, the top legislative body, and a number of members of Parliament and foreign ambassadors.

The president must receive the approval of the supreme leader, according to article 110 of  the Iranian Constitution. Assuming Ahmadinejad is sworn in as President on Wednesday, he will then have two weeks to introduce a cabinet to lawmakers for their approval.

Incidents in the past weeks, however, suggest that it could become a real challenge for Ahmadinejad to get a credible government endorsed by Parliament.

In his first attempt, Ahmadinejad promoted his close ally, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, who attracted anger from the authorities on a previous occasion when he said that Iran was friends with the Israeli people.

Ahmadinejad's deputy pick was met with anger from conservative figures and resulted in the resignation of the Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Mohammad-Hassan Saffar-Harandi.

Iran's June 12 presidential election saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected with two-thirds of the vote (63 percent). His main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi said the elections had been fraudulent and called for the results to be annulled. Massive street protests were staged by opposition supporters following the elections, resulting in at least 30 people killed and heavy restrictions on mass media.

Mass-trials, "confessions", and torture tales

Coinciding with the ceremony and Wednesday's planned swearing-in of Ahmadinejad as president, Saturday saw the opening of a mass-trial in Tehran against around 100 reformists and opposition activists suspected by the Iranian authorities of playing a role in orchestrating the uprising. Ahmadinejad's adversaries face a myriad of charges ranging from vandalism and rioting to treason and terror.  Iranian state-run media was allegedly the only news outlet allowed to cover the proceedings.

The aforementioned charges reportedly carry a maximum prison of 10 years, but the defendants could apparently receive the death sentence if they are judged to have been "battling Allah." Those on trial include Mohammad Abtahi, a high-ranking cleric and former vice president in Khatami's administration.

According to a report from the Christian Science Monitor (CSM), the accused- some placed in shackles in the court room- were not granted access to defense counsel. 

The prosecutor presented an alleged conspiracy involving Western media outlets and governments and reformist Iranian politicians to falsely allege poll fraud in an attempt to destabilize the country. As evidence to this claim, the prosecutor spoke of the confessions made by some of the accused, reported CSM.

Several of these so-called "confessions" have in recent weeks been aired in Iranian media, in which a former vice-president, among others, thanked his interrogator for "showing him the error of his ways."

Detained Iranian-Canadian Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari said in his testimony that Western media outlets had been spreading false information about poll fraud before the elections were held, according to local Iranian media.

Mousavi, meanwhile, has denounced the trials and accused the Iranian authorities of coercing the detainees into confessing to the crimes through "medieval" torture practices.

"The teeth of the torturers and confession-extorters have reached to the bones of the people. Witnessing such trumped-up trials, the only judgment that the conscience of humanity can make is the moral collapse and discredit of its directors," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Mousavi referred to the confessors as "broken men who would have confessed to anything there were told to."

Ex- President Khatami also criticized the trial and referred to it as a “show". He said the confessions made by some of the defendants were "invalid" and "unconstitutional." But some of his confessors themselves have dismissed claims that the they were forced into confession and ill-treated while in detainment.

Abtahi and Mohammad Atrianfar, a senior advisor to former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, told Iranian TV on Sunday that allegations that they'd been drugged to confess was "an insult to the intelligence of Iranians."

Neither Mousavi nor other top opposition leaders have been arrested as of yet. But recent press statements from hardliners imply that this might be next.

"Today’s confession has opened the way to dealing with the leaders of the unrest,” said lawmaker Hamid Resaee, according to IRNA, the state news agency. “There is no longer any reason to tolerate or compromise.”

Cleric Elias Naderan, another hardliner, was quoted as saying, “Those within the inner circle who managed the unrest must be put on trial. We shouldn’t chase after weak, second-class figures with no influence.”

In what appears to be an attempt by the establishment to give a final blow to the opposition, the next hearing in the mass-trial is scheduled for Thursday, one day after Ahmadinejad will be sworn in as President.