Dozens Charged in Western Plot

An Iranian court has charged dozens—including a French woman and two Iranians working at British and French embassies in Tehran—with spying and assisting in a Western plot to destroy the country's system of government. Saturday's charges are part of the second mass trial in a week aimed at snuffing out the opposition to the country's disputed presidential election. And on Saturday a top judiciary official admitted that some of the detained protesters have been tortured in prison since the election. The prosecutor general said that "mistakes" had caused "painful accidents which cannot be defended, and those who were involved should be punished." Britain has called the charges against its embassy workers "outrageous." France described them as "baseless." The most recent indictment accuses the U.S. and Britain of "providing financial help to Iran's opposition." While Western leaders have chosen not to congratulate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his election, which many see as illegitimate, the Iranian president has said he doesn't care: "No one in Iran is waiting for your messages."