Around one hundred leading Iranian reformists have gone on trial, accused of trying to topple the clerical establishment by orchestrating mass protests after the disputed presidential election.

The mass trial opened four days before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is inaugurated for his second term in parliament. The leading opposition party called it a "laughable show".

The defendants include former ministers, a former vice-president and lawmakers arrested after the street protests that erupted in June after Ahmadinejad was declared to have won an overwhelming victory over former prime minister Mirhossein Mousavi.

The authorities rejected opposition accusations of vote-rigging and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has endorsed Ahmadinejad's re-election.

State television coverage of the courtroom showed many young defendants, some handcuffed, and former vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh and former MP Mohsen Mirdamadi in prison uniforms.

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