TEHRAN AND BEIRUT — The white-turbaned cleric is an unlikely enemy of the Iranian state. He was a confidant of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and served seven years as speaker of parliament.
But at 72, in the wake of Iran's disputed presidential election, Mehdi Karroubi has become the fiery heart of a protest movement that has shaken the republic's foundations.
"I feel I am obliged to defend the rights of people," Karroubi said Monday during a rare interview with a Western news organization at his sparse north Tehran office. "I want it to be remembered in the future by coming generations that somebody someday from the clerical establishment stood up for his stances and principles to defend the people."
On Tuesday, authorities stormed his party's headquarters in west Tehran. They seized documents, computers and photographs and arrested Mohammad Davari, editor of his website, a party spokesman said. They also arrested Ali-Reza Beheshti, the top aide to Karroubi's ally Mir-Hossein Mousavi, reformist websites reported.
Karroubi's popular daily newspaper was shut down weeks ago. Hard-line commanders of the Revolutionary Guard and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have repeatedly called for his arrest.
But Karroubi has continued to defy authorities, calling for opposition supporters to join in street rallies Sept. 18 during Quds Day celebrations, an annual march in support of Palestinians and against Israel.
Karroubi, along with Mousavi, lost to Ahmadinejad in a June 12 presidential election marred by opposition claims of widespread vote fraud. He has been an outspoken critic of the ensuing crackdown on dissent. He shattered taboos by collecting and publicizing explosive allegations that prison guards raped detained protesters.
In the interview with The Times, he offered a rare inside view of a nascent Iranian protest movement, which remains under heavy surveillance by security forces.
"Political changes can come in two forms," he said. "The change we are calling for is change within the system and constitution, the observation of citizenship rights."
He was not specific about the opposition's strategy, but sketched out goals for the coming months: loosened news media restrictions, freedom of assembly, an end to trials of opposition figures and revised laws to prevent the hard-line Guardian Council from having the final say on elections.
