DTN News: Cracks In Iranian Leadership Showing

DTN News: Cracks In Iranian Leadership Showing *Reform Movement Aims to Weaken an Already Nervous and Divided Regime in Wake of Disputed Election

*Source: DTN News / CBS By Elizabeth Palmer (NSI News Source Info) NEW YORK, USA - August 4, 2009: (CBS) Hoping to lift the curtain on a new political chapter, Iran's supreme leader today endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second presidential term - but cracks in the leadership are showing, reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad kisses Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after receiving a certificate declaring him as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran from Khamenei in Tehran August 3, 2009. Iran's supreme leader formally approved the second term presidency of Ahmadinejad on Monday after a disputed election that leading reformists say was rigged to ensure the incumbent's victory.

Several prominent clergy boycotted the ceremony and the supreme leader avoided Ahmadinejad's move to kiss his hand, as is customary - leading to an awkward peck on the shoulder instead.

Over the weekend the regime staged another unconvincing show - a mass trial of about 100 prominent reformists, arrested after the disputed election in June - including Mohammed Ali Abtahi, a cleric and former vice president whom CBS News first spoke to in 2005 about his liberal blogging.

On Saturday, Abtahi appeared gaunt and agitated after six weeks in jail. He's just one of thousands arrested during post-election riots and protests - including students, lawyers and peaceful demonstrators.

Human rights groups agree more than 300 remain in detention. At least 30 are dead - like 19-year-old student protestor Sohrab Aarabi. The fate of an American scholar Kian Tajbaksh - and many others - remains unknown. "My heart goes out to everybody," said Princeton academic Haleh Esfandiari.

Esfandiari - who spent three months in a Tehran jail in 2007 - knows what those detained are facing. "I was alone in the cell 24 hours a day by myself - lights on all the time," Esfandiari said. "I was allowed out one or two hours a day."

But all the repression and arrests haven't crushed Iran's reform movement, which is planning more protests in the days to come - aiming to weaken an already nervous and divided regime.