"According to our investigations, existing evidence as well as the confessions of the suspects, those arrested were aiming to topple the system through infiltration and creating gap and disputes among state’s officials as well as infringing on the lofty status of the leadership and other legal institutes", the Islamic revolution court said in a statement released Saturday by the official news agency IRNA.

The statement echoed declarations made a day earlier at the Friday prier by Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, former Judiciary Chief and a close friend of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the lamed leader of the Islamic Republic

In his Friday sermon, Mr. Yazdi, a powerful orator, fully endorsed the arrests and backed the action of the Judiciary that he stressed on its independence.

Observing that almost at the same time, Tehran Radio, in an unusual strong commentary, attacked the reformists for their criticism of the Judiciary on the arrests, saying that the detainees were "conspiring against the security of the State", observers said the conservatives, led by Mr. Khameneh'i, are determined to eliminate both the Islamist-nationalists and the IFM.

In its commentary, Tehran Radio said the objections formulated by the reformists against the Judiciary have no "legal ground", as, once the trial opens, "everyone would realise the depth of the conspiracy".

The statement from the Islamic revolution tribunal, the commentary by Tehran Radio and other conservatives-controlled press, the strong speech delivered by Mr. Yazdi condemning the detainees before being tried are clear proof that the lamed conservatives are in the process of write another "Berlin Conference" scenario.

The Conference, organised last April in Berlin by the Heinrich Boel Institute and sponsored by the German government to debate the future of reforms in Iran, gave pretext to Ayatollah Khameneh'i to order an unprecedented crackdown on thte vibrant Iranian pro-reform and independent press and the reform process, by shutting more than 30 publications and arresting a dozen of leading journalists plus all the personalities who had participated at the Berlin meeting.

Mr. Yazdi is one of the six clerics, all appointed by the leader, sitting at the 12-members Guardian Council.

Many of those arrested, among them leaders of dissident political formations, scholars, intellectuals and journalists members either of the IFM or affiliated to the Islamist-nationalists had been already reported found guilty on charges of subversive actions as well as co-operating with illegal and anti-revolutionary groups.

Iranian observers unanimously said that the arrest of the nationalist-religious and IFM members took place on orders from Mr. Khamenehe'i, as both IFM and the reformist clerics opposes his position as the "guide" of the nation, or "vali" and rejects the concept of "velayat faqih", or the guardianship of a cleric over the people consider as minor.

The personalities were arrested in two raids just before and after the Iranian New Year starting on 21 March, with some 16 of them being released afterward on heavy bails.

"The so-called religious-nationalist suspects have confessed to collaborating with dissident exiled groups including the (Marxist-Leninist) People's Fada’ian, the so-called National Resistance Council (MKO’s political arm) as well as royalists", the court said, adding they had been already found guilty of terrorist actions and inciting riots.

According to the statement released by IRNA, one of the arrested had met a "head" (sic) from the office of the first Iranian president Abolhasan Banisadr, who fled the country to France, in Paris and receiving orders for subversive plans. Three other suspects had been collaborating with the terrorist Iraq-based Mujahedeen Khalq Organisation which seeks to overthrow the Islamic regime.

"One of the suspects has confessed to having contacts with a foreign embassy in Tehran and holding meetings with its officials on a variety of subjects including Iran's elections and future parliamentary plans", it said, adding that another suspect has held a meeting with several members of the People's Fada’ian group in the sidelines of a controversial Berlin Conference and has discussed the future of reforms in Iran, the court added.

According to tapes and other documents seized from the suspects, they were also considering armed struggle and small-scale assassinations as a tactic, the court added.

"They were trying to weaken people's beliefs in Islam and their trust in the spiritual leaders of the Islamic Revolution", the statement further said.

Commenting the statement for the Persian service of RFI (Radio France Internationale), Mr. Ne’mat Ahmadi, a lawyer for some of the detainees said he does not understand the meaning of letters from the Judiciary Chief, the Head of the Tehran Justice Department, the Islamic revolution tribunals disclosing details concerning the detainees that must be kept secret until the start of the trial?

"If the detainees have been engaged in anti-State activities, intelligence with foreigners, collaborating with outlawed groups, planning to topple the regime, as revealed by the statements and in other declarations, and if the authorities are in possession of documents and evidences, such as tapes and films, why then not start the trial, why producing statements instead?" he asked.