Top Iran cleric says West not behind rioting

       Iran's supreme leader said on Wednesday he did not believe the leaders of opposition protests that erupted after the country's June presidential vote were agents of foreigners.
       Iranian officials have previously portrayed the protests as a foreign-backed bid to topple the clerical establishment.
       They have accused Western powers,particularly the United States and Britain, of fomenting the unrest, a charge denied by Washington and London.
       "I do not accuse the leaders of recent events as being the agents of foreigners,including America and Britain, because it has not been proven to me," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with university students."But there is no doubt that this movement, whether its leaders know or not, was planned in advance." Some hardliners have repeatedly called for the arrest of opposition leaders who say the vote was rigged to secure the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Former president Mohammad Khatami said trial confessions by moderates accused of fomenting the unrest were made under "extraordinary conditions"and invalid, an Iranian news agency reported.
       At Tuesday's trial, the fourth since the June polls, senior reformer and Khatami ally Saeed Hajjarian was reported as saying he had "made major mistakes during the election by presenting incorrect analyses".
       "I apologise to the Iranian nation for those mistakes." A prosecutor demanded maximum punishment for Mr Hajjarian who is accused of acting against national security, a crime which can carry the death sentence.
       "These confessions are invalid and have been obtained under extraordinary conditions, such claims are sheer lies and false," Mr Khatami, who backed the main moderate candidate in the election, was quoted as saying.
       Also in the dock on Tuesday were several other moderate figures, including former deputy interior minister Mostafa Tajzadeh and former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh - both of whom held their positions under Mr Khatami.
       All were charged with fomenting street protests. Some confessed to "mistakes". Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh was also accused of acting against national security and espionage at Tuesday's trial.
       Mr Tajbakhsh told the court Mr Khatami had met billionaire financier George Soros in New York, Iranian media reported, but Mr Khatami said this was also a "lie".
       Analysts see the mass trials as an
       attempt to uproot the moderate opposition and put an end to opposition protests.
       Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform politicians,journalists and activists, have been detained since the election. Many are still in jail.
       Moderate politicians and influential former president Akbar Rafsanjani, a rival of Mr Ahmadinejad, have called for the detainees' immediate release.
       One of those in the dock in Tuesday's trial accused Mr Rafsanjani's son of encouraging moderates to allege that the poll was rigged.
       In a TV debate before the election,Mr Ahmadinejad accused Mr Rafsanjani's family of corruption. The official Irna news agency said on Wednesday Mr Rafsanjani's family had issued a complaint to the judiciary against Mr Ahmadinejad, but it did not give details.
       Mehdi Karoubi, one of the defeated candidates, has also angered hardliners by claiming some imprisoned protesters were raped and abused in jail,a charge officials have rejected as "baseless". But a parliamentary committee set up to investigate the cases of detainees said it would be ready to consider any evidence submitted by the proreform cleric.