Former Iranian President Blasts Government: Via Reza Aslan at The Daily Beast.

Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani spoke at Friday Prayer and delivered pointed criticism of the handling of the Iranian election and the arrest of protesters. Demonstrators took to the streets. Reza Aslan says the revolution may not be over.

In the end, Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani did not disappoint. For a man who has made a career out of mediating from the middle and playing both sides, Rafsanjani delivered an unusually pointed criticism of the Iranian regime’s handling of the election crisis. He explicitly condemned the Guardian Council’s haphazard investigation into claims of election fraud and demanded the immediate release of all the protesters who had been arrested and detained by the Revolutionary Guard. “We do not need people in prison for [demonstrating],” Rafsanjani said. “Let’s allow them to return to their families.”
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