Influential Iranian cleric (Rafsanjani): Vote fallout a 'tangled mess'

Source: CNN International

After more than two weeks of silence amid Iran's violent election fallout, former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- a key Iranian cleric -- emerged Sunday to call out "suspicious sources" who are creating a rift between the public and the Islamic government.

He called the aftermath of the June 12 presidential election "a tangled mess, perpetrated by suspicious sources whose objectives are to create differences and separations between the people and the system and eroding the trust of the people in the Islamic system," the Iranian Labor News Agency reported Sunday.

Rafsanjani was speaking to a gathering of family members related to the victims of a June 28, 1981, explosion, in which 70 people were killed at a bombing at the Islamic Republic party headquarters. The explosion -- known as "Hafte Tir," referring to the date on the Iranian calendar -- killed several prominent Islamic revolutionaries, including Chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.

Rafsanjani is chairman of Iran's Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for appointing or removing the supreme leader. But despite the chaos that's plagued the Islamic republic for the past two weeks -- even resulting in the brief detention of his daughter -- he remained silent and largely unseen until Sunday's commemoration.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/28/iran.rafsanjani/index.html

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CNN video: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/28/iran.rafsanjani/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

How much has he been bribed or how many members of his family have been threatened?

I would opt for the "sending your family to swim with the fishes" option; although, I suppose bribery could certainly encompass more than money.

while i do not readily agree that bribery or strongarming is taking place in this situation, were it taking place i see no reason why bribery would be off the table as an option. never underestimate the greed of the wealthy.

"....even resulting in the brief detention of his daughter -- he remained silent and largely unseen until Sunday's commemoration."

Yes the detention was brief. How long do they need to detain a daughter to make their point known?