A top opposition leader has offered to stand trial over the deadly unrest that erupted across Iran after the 2009 presidential elections but on condition the proceedings are open, a reformist web site reported today.
       
Mahdi Karroubi's offer is the latest challenge to the government over the disputed balloting.
       
Hundreds of opposition supporters have been arrested and tried following the fierce crackdown that crushed weeks of protests. Authorities have not jailed top reformists, however, apparently fearing a new outbreak of unrest.
       
But last week, in an abrupt aboutface, Tehran's chief prosecutor said it was only a matter of time before opposition leaders would be put on trial over the rioting that followed the disputed 2009 presidential balloting.
       
Today, the Kaleme.com web site cited Karroubi as agreeing to take part in an open proceeding.
      
"I wholeheartedly would welcome a trial and have strong evidence to support my case," Karroubi said. "But I have a request: that the court be open if the authorities are honest."
        
Reformists say opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was the election's real victor and that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud.
       
Hard-line media and activists have been pushing to try opposition leaders in recent weeks, in a possible sign Iran's Islamic clerical leadership believes the opposition has been sufficiently suppressed so their arrests would not provoke a significant backlash.
       
But by demanding an open trial, Karroubi challenged the ruling establishment to take a step that could ignite a new wave of protests throughout the country.
        
The deadly protests that erupted after the June 2009 election faced Iran's clerical leadership with its severest challenge since it came to power in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in support of Mousavi, and some powerful clerics sided with the opposition.
        
But government forces harshly suppressed the protests and the opposition has not held a major demonstration since December 2009.
         
Iranian opposition figures say more than 80 demonstrators were killed in the turmoil.
        
The government, which puts the number of confirmed deaths at 30, accuses opposition leaders of being "stooges of the West" and of seeking to topple the ruling system.