**The trial has begun in Iran of a number of senior opposition figures following June’s disputed presidential election.**The defendants, who include former ministers in the 1997-2005 Khatami government, are accused of conspiring with foreign powers to organise unrest.
Two leading economists are also on trial, Saeed Leylaz and Kian Tajbaksh.
It is the fourth such trial since the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative, sparked pro-reform street protests.
BBC Teheran correspondent Jon Leyne - who was expelled after the elections - says the trial looks like a public denunciation of President Mohammed Khatami’s time in power, with the government trying to frighten the opposition into silence.
Hardliners are currently also pressing for the arrest of the two leading opposition candidates in the election, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Opposition groups alleged widespread vote-rigging in the June election.
Post-election protests saw the largest mass demonstrations in Iran since the 1979 revolution, which brought about the current Islamic system of government.