http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/200962212658772171.html
Monday, June 22, 2009
06:40 Mecca time, 03:40 GMT
Iran's Mousavi urges more protests
Thousands have defied an ultimatum from Iran's supreme leader
for an end to protests [AFP]
The politician at the centre of Iran's opposition movement has called on
his supporters to continue their protests over the country's disputed
presidential election in the face of a growing security crackdown.
In a statement released on Sunday, Mir Hossein Mousavi said that people
had the right to protest against "lies and fraud", but urged them to show
restraint as they take to the streets.
Mousavi's statement, published on the website of his Kalameh newspaper
and on sites run by supporters, came as police imposed a virtual lockdown on
the streets of Tehran amid reports of fresh clashes in the north of the city.
State media has said between 10 and 13 people were killed in protests on
Saturday against the government, but independent confirmation is difficult
because the government has imposed severe restrictions on foreign journalists.
In depth
The latest on Iran's post-election unrest
Send us your videos and pictures from Iran
In the latest crackdowns on reporters a BBC correspondent has been
expelled from the country, the Dubai-based TV network Al-Arabiya has been
suspended and at least two local journalists for US magazines have been
arrested.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's conservative incumbent president, was
declared the winner of the June 12 presidential election with a landslide
victory, but Mousavi and another challenger have complained that the vote was
rigged.
On Sunday, reports emerged of police attacking a vigil by about 100
people outside the offices of the United Nations in Tehran.
The incident was the first violence since Saturday, when several people
were killed in clashes between protesters and police around Revolution Square
and Azadi Square in the centre of the Iranian capital.
In his statement, Mousavi said he would stand by the protesters "at all
times" but also called on his supporters to exercise "self-restraint".
Five members of Rafsanjani's family were arrested after Saturday's
protests [EPA]
"The revolution is your legacy. To protest against lies and fraud is your
right. Be hopeful that you will get your right and do not allow others who want
to provoke your anger . to prevail."
Underscoring the escalating political crisis, the government said it had
arrested the daughter and four other relatives of Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former
president and one of the country's most powerful ayatollahs.
Four were later released, but Faezeh Hashemi, Rafsanjani's eldest
daughter who was accused of taking part in an illegal opposition protest,
remained in detention, state-owned Press TV reported on Sunday night.
The arrests are being seen by many as a sign of a growing backstage
struggle among the clerics who wield ultimate power in Iran, and a warning to
Rafsanjani against aligning with the opposition.
Rafsanjani heads two very powerful groups in Iran: the Assembly of
Experts, which can elect and dismiss the supreme leader, and the Expediency
Council, a body that arbitrates disputes between parliament and the unelected
Guardian Council.
'Terrorist groups'
Iranian state TV reports on Sunday blamed rioters and "terrorist groups"
for the previous day's violence, saying two petrol stations and a mosque had
been set alight, and a military outpost attacked.
About 3,000 opposition protesters had tried on Saturday to enter the
area, undaunted by a warning from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme
leader, not to continue demonstrations against Ahmadinejad's re-election.
Iranian authorities blamed "terrorists" and rioters for clashes
[Reuters]
Security forces responded with live rounds, batons and tear gas, while
protesters fought back with stones and set fires in the streets.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a spokesman for Mousavi, defended the actions of the
protesters.
"These people are in the streets to say 'We don't want atomic bombs, we
want democracy'," he told Al Jazeera from Paris.
Witnesses said that dozens of people were hospitalised after being beaten
by police and the pro-government Basiji militia.
The New-York based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said
that scores of injured demonstrators had been arrested as they sought medical
treatment.
It said doctors in Tehran's hospitals had been ordered to report injuries
to the authorities, and that some seriously wounded protesters had sought
refuge at foreign embassies in a bid to evade arrest.
"The arrest of citizens seeking care for wounds suffered at the hands of
security forces when they attempted to exercise rights guaranteed under their
own constitution and international law is deplorable," Hadi Ghaemi, the
spokesman for the campaign, said.
Reports on community-driven websites such as Twitter claimed that a
number of protesters were killed by police.
One video uploaded to YouTube on Saturday purportedly showed a teenage
girl - referred to as Neda on social-networking sites - dying on the street
after being shot by police.
British blamed
Mousavi has called on his supporters to protest against "lies and
dishonesty" [Reuters]
As the clashes took place, local news agencies said that a suspected
suicide bomber had blown himself up outside the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution in 1979, injuring at least two
people.
Government-run television said members of the exiled Mujahedeen-e-Khalq
(MEK)opposition group were arrested in connection with Saturday's unrest.
The report claimed they were acting under British influence.
Al Jazeera was unable to verify the authenticity of the video or other
reports of violence due to an official ban on independent reporting in the
capital.
State broadcaster IRINN said 100 people were injured in Saturday's
violence.
Human rights group Amnesty International cautioned that it was
"perilously hard" to verify the casualty figures with the government
increasingly clamping down on the flow of information.
"The climate of fear has cast a shadow over the whole situation," Drewery
Dyke, Amnesty's chief Iran researcher, said.
"In the 10 years I've been following this country, I've never felt more
at sea than I do now. It's just cut off."
Scholars critical
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who was key figure in the Islamic
revolution in 1979 but is now under house arrest after falling out with the
current religious leadership, criticised the crackdown and called for three
days of mourning for the dead.
"Resisting people's demand is religiously prohibited," he said in a
statement on his website.
Mohammad Khatami, a former president, also spoke out, criticising the
decision to allow the Guardian Council, the country's top legislative body, to
rule on the legitimacy of the vote.
"Referring the dispute to a body which has not been impartial regarding
the vote, is not a solution," he said in a statement reported on the Mehr news
agency.
The Guardian Council has offered a partial recount of ballots in order to
appease protesters, but Makhmalbaf told Al Jazeera: "We want [a] revote, not
[a] recount."
"We ask all people around the world not to confirm Ahmadinejad as our
president," he said.
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