Iran’s Top Female Politician Put on Trial

Iran’s most popular female politician went on trial in Revolutionary Court on Tuesday, a day after the prosecutor said he was seeking a possible death penalty for a co-defendant.

Jamileh Kadivar, the No. 2 vote-getter in this year’s parliamentary elections, faces charges of violating state security and insulting Islam for her part in a conference in Berlin in April on the future of Iran’s reform movement.

Also on trial with Kadivar--who was second only to President Mohammad Khatami’s brother in the polls--were student leader Ali Afshari and authors Mahmoud Dowlatabadi and Mohammad Ali Sepanlou.

“The conference was held with the aim of changing Iran’s system of religious government, insulting the sanctities and rejecting Islamic judgments,” acting prosecutor Ahmad Sharifi said at the court’s opening session.

Kadivar told the court that she had checked with the Foreign Ministry and the intelligence service before attending the conference, and that neither had warned her not to attend.

Seventeen people, including newspaper editors and lawyers, face trial in a case that has dealt a heavy blow to Iran’s reform movement.

On Monday, authorities said they would charge a translator at the German Embassy in Tehran with the religious crime of “waging war on God.” If convicted, Saeed Sadr could face the death penalty. In Berlin, the German Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador, a sign of diplomatic disapproval.

The Berlin conference was organized by the Heinrich Boell Foundation to assess Iran’s parliamentary elections.