Ahmadinejad painted Mousavi as part of a cabal that includes Hashemi Rafsanjani, an influential ayatollah and former president, and is dedicated to defeating him to secure vested interests. He named names, accusing several key political figures and their families of corruption and hinting at evidence showing Mousavi's alleged wrongdoings.
Mousavi was calm and quiet throughout much of the debate, but his body language showed contempt for the president. He rarely looked him in the eye except while delivering a searing, 12-minute final segment that sounded like a prosecutor's closing argument.
He took Ahmadinejad to task for harassing students, shuttering newspapers and banning books and accused him of cronyism for appointing an interior minister who had a fake university degree, the gambit that probably prompted Ahmadinejad to raise the issue of Mousavi's wife.
Mousavi likened Ahmadinejad's populist giveaways to the behavior of 19th century monarchs who used the public treasury to curry favor with the masses by tossing them a few coins.
"We should be trying to increase jobs and production," he said.
He argued several times that Ahmadinejad had put the country in danger and did not adhere to the laws, leafing through a thick packet of paper and citing example after example.
"I don't think you're a dictator," he said, "but your attitude will lead to dictatorship."
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daragahi@latimes.com
