Tehran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing increasing criticism for his virulent personal attacks on rivals and acting as both "plaintiff and judge" in legal cases, media reported today.

He has drastically upped the stake ahead of March parliamentary elections by accusing opponents of being "traitors" for not supporting the government's confrontational stance in the nuclear crisis. "The general climate of the country has been overwhelmed by propaganda against individuals," complained an angry editorial in the hardline Jomhouri Eslami newspaper, close to Iran's clerical Establishment.

"A lawful country does not deserve an individual, in any position to become plaintiff, judge and executor." Ahmadinejad has also complained of opponents intervening on behalf of a "nuclear spy" -- former nuclear negotiator Hossein Moussavian, who was briefly detained in May on national security-related accusations.

Moussavian in an ally of Ahmadinejad's great rival, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and works for a research centre run by former top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani. Rowhani -- himself a leading Rafsanjani lieutenant -- also lashed out at Ahmadinejad's comments and his replacing of officials from other political factions with loyalists.

"One cannot eliminate one's rivals. One cannot characterise one's rivals as enemies. One cannot lead the country with just three or ten people," newspapers quoted Rowhani as saying. He also had harsh words to say about the Moussavian case.

Source : PTI