Iran parliament session suspended amid shouting matches

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian parliament session descended into chaos Sunday as several hard-line lawmakers disrupted a speech by a moderate colleague criticizing the long-term house arrest of two opposition leaders.

Parliamentarian Ali Motahari was speaking out in an open session on the detention orders against Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi. The pair have been held under house arrest without charges since 2011 over their role in the widespread protests that followed the 2009 presidential elections.

"Continuation of the house arrest without judicial verdict is a violation of the constitution. I consider it harmful (to the country)," Motahari told the house.

Several hard-line lawmakers then walked to the podium shouting, "death to seditionists" and "death to hypocrites," and prevented Motahari from continuing his speech. Parliamentary security ordered journalists out of the chamber and vice-speaker Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard adjourned the session; it was resumed 25 minutes later.

Before adjourning, Aboutorabi-Fard publicly criticized Motahari for his comments.

"Continuation of your speech doesn't serve (the country's) interests," he said. "Maximum Islamic mercy has been applied to these individuals. If it was not due to the will of the (ruling) system to show mercy, the case definitely would have been different."

Motahari and other reformists have called on the judiciary to either free the opposition leaders or put them on trial. Iran's judicial officials have said several times in the past that they would take legal action against Mousavi and Karroubi, but they have yet to be charged with a crime.

Mousavi and Karroubi ran against former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2009 election. Reformers disputed Ahmadinejad's victory and called it fraudulent. Several weeks of demonstrations were eventually suppressed by a harsh crackdown.