In a nationally broadcast sermon today, Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami, a ranking member of the Assembly of Experts, the 85-member council of clerics who appoint Iran’s Supreme Leader, declared that those who have participated in the protests are “mohareb, an Islamic offense that means waging war against God.”  Taking the accusation even further, he charged that the opposition is “rioting in defiance of God’s will.” He stated that “Those arrested should be punished harshly while their leaders could face the death penalty as enemies of the Islamic Republic.”

According to Islamic law, also known as the sharia legal code, the punishment for mohareb is execution. In Iran this code has been in effect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, making this a creditable legal threat. He has thus asked the judiciary branch of Iran to “confront the leaders of the protests, leaders of the violations, and those who are supported by the United States and Israel strongly, and without mercy to provide a lesson for all.”

The increased threats have contributed to a slow down in the street protests, but despite their knowledge of the danger thousands of people all around the city of Tehran released green balloons into the sky at 1pm today in a coordinated effect to show their presence. It is said that many of the balloons carried tributes to Neda Agha Soltan, the woman who has become a symbol of the resistance due to the dramatic footage of her death by gunshot uploaded and spread on YouTube.

Opposition leader and runner up in the June 12 elections, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has become increasingly isolated as fear for his life grows. Despite his absence in the public eye, he has continued to propel what he calls “legal” protests, and threatens that “restrictions on the opposition could lead to more violence.”

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