Conservatives protest Iran's Karroubi

TEHRAN, March 15 (UPI) -- A small group of hard-line supporters, during demonstrations in front of his home, called for Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi to face justice.

Karroubi along with former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi formed an opposition movement in the wake of disputed June elections that gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term in office.

Iran's Fars News Agency reported during the weekend that demonstrators chanted "Death to Karroubi" and painted offensive slogans on his home. One demonstrator carried a placard accusing the reformist leader of being an agent of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

Karroubi was allegedly attacked by supporters of Ahmadinejad during an October rally.

Karroubi claimed in August that a number of prisoners locked up in the wake of post-election violence in June were raped or otherwise abused in prison. Karroubi in a letter to influential Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani claimed detainees told him that a number of female prisoners were "savagely" raped in prison.

The demonstrators said during the weekend that Karroubi and Mousavi should be put on trial for their actions against the state, the report from Fars added.