TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Sixteen opposition protestors charged with offences connected with Iran’s disputed June presidential re-election of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadeinejad, went on trial on Saturday, a court website said.

Five of the defendants were charged with “moharebeh” (waging war against God) while the remainder were accused of public order and national security offences, the court said.

All of the accused on Saturday were arrested after eight people were killed in clashes between opposition supporters and security forces on Ashura, the holy Shi’ite day of ritual mourning, that fell on Dec. 27. The date coincided with the seventh day of mourning for leading dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri.

The semi-official Isna news agency quoted the deputy Tehran prosecutor as saying that of the 16, one was a member of the outlawed Baha’i faith, one was a communist and some of the rest belonged to the counterrevolutionary group Mojahedin Khalq Organization.

On Saturday semi-official Fars news agency reported an additional 150 people had been detained over the Ashura unrest, taking the total number of opposition protestors arrested in the aftermath of the Dec. 27 protest to more than 450, according to officials.

The widespread protests that followed almost immediately after the election plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

On Thursday Iran hanged two men convicted of moharebeh over the unrest.

Fars also said security forces had obtained films and photographs from the 150 people detained which will help the identification of and arrests of “a large number of additional rioters.”