TEHRAN: The armored car of one of Iran’s opposition leaders, Mehdi Karoubi, was hit by gunfire in the northern town of Ghazvin, his party’s website reported on Friday, but only the windows were damaged.
Karoubi was in town to attend a mourning ceremony for slain opposition protesters organized by reformist former MP Nasi Ghavami, Sahamnews.org said.
“Around 500 Basijis (members of the Basij militia) and residents of nearby villages surrounded the place where he was and attacked the building with stones, breaking windows,” it said.
After four hours, anti-riot police finally intervened to get Karoubi out of the building.
“As his car was pulling away, it was attacked and hit by gunfire.” There was no immediate word from the authorities on the incident. “While Karoubi was leaving Ghavami’s home plainclothes men attacked his car with eggs and bricks as well as fired two shots which hit the car,” Karoubi’s son Hossein was quoted as saying.
“One of the shots hit the windshield and the other hit the back window. Since the car was bulletproof, the glass cover of the back window was broken and the (front) windshield cracked.”
The website quoted Karoubi as saying there had been no return of fire by his guards. The incident took place on Thursday.
“My bodyguards did not return fire as, unlike the assailants, they would have been brought before the courts and faced prosecution,” Karoubi said.
The attackers chanted slogans in support of the government and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the website added.
“Our town is not a place for hypocrites,” they reportedly chanted using the government’s standard term of abuse for the outlawed rebel People’s Mujahedeen.
The conservative Rajanews.com website, which is close to the government, confirmed that Karoubi’s motorcade had come under attack by a stone-throwing crowd but made no mention of gunfire.
“Several thousand angry people surrounded the house where Karoubi was,” the website said.
“Anti-riot police tried several times to clear a way through the crowd to extricate Karoubi’s vehicle which finally left under a hail of stones, eggs and tomatoes. The enraged crowd chanted ‘Death to Karoubi, death to Mousavi and death to Khatami,’” it added.
A reformist former speaker of Parliament, Karoubi stood against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a June election along with moderate former Premier Mir Hossein Mousavi. Both men have charged that the vote was marred by massive fraud and have led a series of mass protests over the months since.
Former President Mohammad Khatami was a leading backer of Mousavi’s campaign.
Mousavi’s nephew was shot dead by an unidentified assailant during street clashes on Dec. 27. Hard-liners and authorities have called on the judiciary to punish opposition leaders for igniting tension in Iran.
