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As the opening of trial against Iranian opposition figures and protesters escalates feud, Mir-Hossein Mousavi says "medieval torture" was used to force confessions in the court.

In his first response to the airing of the mass trial, Mousavi said in a statement issued Sunday that the proceedings was "forced, un-Islamic and a sham."

Dismissing the veracity of the "admissions" that allegedly link the opposition to foreign powers with the aim of toppling the ruling system, Mousavi said he could not find anything worthwhile in the confessions.

“Instead, I heard deep cries describing their painful fate over these past 50 days. Crushed human beings who would have confessed to any other thing they were told to.”

He praised the detainees, saying that, if they had not resisted for 50 days, then "this show would have been put on weeks ago."

Mousavi lost his presidential bid as incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad emerged as the winner when the official results were announced.

Ahmadinejad won nearly two-thirds of the votes in the June 12 ballot. Mousavi, however, dismisses the results as a "sleight of hand".

The authorities have defended the fidelity of the vote count and have arrested over a thousand people involved in massive protests staged by Mousavi supporters.

In his statement, Mousavi dismissed the validity of the court hearings.

"From a court that is fraudulent from top to bottom, the authorities expect to prove the absence of fraud in the election," he said.

He also defended the characters and backgrounds of the accused saying that their records show great service to the country and the system.

"People sympathize with their own sons whose faces they saw after 50 days."

His remarks came after former President Mohammad Khatami rejected the trial as a “show,” saying the confessions are invalid and un-constitutional.

"Such show trials will directly harm the system and will further damage public trust," said the former president.

Mousavi, meanwhile, asked the detainees to "keep heart and know that the people understand your circumstances, and they know that saving your lives is more important than all else."

"It will not be long before the people witness the prosecution of the perpetrators of these outrages and learn the identities of the interrogators and torturers who have violated their lives dignity in such way."

In conclusion, Mousavi quotes Ch. 16, verse 61 of the Holy Quran where Divine punishment for the wrongdoers is promised, even after a respite.

Among the accused are those who were active in Mousavi's camp as well as aides to another reformist presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi. They were rounded up shortly after June 12 election.

The second hearing of the trial is scheduled for Thursday, one day after President Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in for his second term before Parliament.