Huffington Post: Iranian Cleric: More Opposition Should Be Executed A powerful hard-line Iranian cleric on Friday called for the execution of more opposition activists to silence anti-government protests, praising the hanging a day earlier of two men caught up in the leadership’s postelection crackdown. Speaking in a Friday prayer sermon, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said the wave of street demonstrations sparked by the disputed June presidential election would not have lasted until now if protesters had been executed early on.

“Whatever we suffered was because of our weakness. How many did the judiciary execute on July 9?” he said, referring to one of the particularly large protest days. “We showed weakness, so then we had Ashoura,” he said, referring to a major protest on Dec. 27. “If you show weakness now, the future will be worse … There is no room for Islamic mercy.” IND: Such chest-thumping only reveals the degree to which the regime has become unnerved by the depth and consistency of the Iranian people’s resolve to be free. Conversely, it also highlights why the reformists’ offers of compromise would more than likely backfire. Iran’s judiciary is stepping up death sentences as the leadership intensifies its campaign to eliminate the challenge from the pro-reform opposition movement. Authorities announced Thursday that nine people accused of involvement in protests have been sentenced to death – including five who allegedly had a role in the Dec. 27 protests, which saw a particularly violent clampdown.

LA Times: Hard-line cleric likens protesters to defiant ‘Jews,’ urges ‘quick executions’ A high-ranking cleric close to both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared to give religious sanction to the killing of opposition supporters in a fiery Friday prayer sermon.  Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the same hard-line body of jurists and clerics that ratified Ahmadinejad’s disputed June 12 reelection, today likened the opposition to Jewish tribes who defied the prophet Mohammad.  “The prophet Muhammad signed non-aggression pacts with three Jewish tribes,” he told government supporters gathered at Tehran University for Friday prayers.

“The Jews failed to meet their commitments, and God ordered their massacre.” IND:  If the Iranian people’s human rights is not highly valued by some in the administration, then comments like these will not be easily dismissed.  The next time when some so-called Iran analysts urge engaging this regime, I hope the administration officials would remember these comments. The octogenarian cleric added that Imam Ali, Mohammad’s cousin and son-in-law, “ordered 70 unfaithful Jews murdered” despite his reputation as a kind and compassionate man. “When it comes to suppressing the enemy, divine compassion and leniency have no meaning,” he said.

In an extraordinary interview with English-language Al Jazeera International (throughout the clip above), Rahmanipour’s father said he refused to accept condolences over his son’s death, only congratulations, as his son had died a martyr for the cause of Iranian democracy, according to reporter Dorsa Jabbari.  IND:  This is a very interesting video.  Make sure to watch it.