http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=124668&d=18&m=7&y=2009&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Saturday 18 July 2009 (25 Rajab 1430)
Violence flares anew in Tehran
Agencies
TEHRAN: In apparent defiance of Iran's supreme leader, former President
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared the Islamic Republic in crisis after a
disputed election, and tens of thousands of protesters used Friday prayers to
stage the biggest show of dissent for weeks.
Clashes erupted in central Tehran between police and followers of
opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who still contests official results that
showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected by a wide margin.
"Police fired tear gas and beat supporters of Mousavi in Keshavarz Boulevard,"
a witness said, adding that protesters were carrying hundreds of green banners
- Mousavi's campaign color - and chanting "Ahmadinejad, resign, resign."
One witness said policemen smashed the windows of several cars whose
drivers were sounding their horns, a tactic adopted by protesters.
In his sermon broadcast live on radio nationwide, Rafsanjani said many
Iranians had doubts about the official result of the June 12 vote.
"I hope with this sermon we can pass through this period of hardships
that can be called a crisis," said the influential politician, leading prayers
for the first time since the poll.
Rafsanjani did not go as far as Mousavi and reformist candidate Mehdi
Karoubi in denouncing the conduct of the vote, but his remarks still posed a
clear challenge to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has upheld the
election result and accused foreign powers of fomenting the unrest.
Some religious leaders also support Ahmadinejad, but others, including
Grand Ayatollahs Yusof Saanei and Hossein Ali Montazeri, have criticized the
authorities.
Rafsanjani, who heads the Assembly of Experts - a powerful body that can
in theory dismiss the supreme leader - attacked the way authorities had handled
the poll and its aftermath. "When people are not in the scene and their votes
are not there, that government is not Islamic," he said, referring to
opposition charges of vote-rigging. "Today is a bitter day."
Rafsanjani also demanded the immediate release of people detained in the
unrest and called for press curbs to be relaxed. Some of his own relatives,
including his daughter Faezeh, were arrested briefly for joining pro-Mousavi
rallies.
Karoubi came under attack from men in plainclothes on his way to the
prayers, according to his son Hossein and Fars news agency.
Among those arrested was leading lawyer and women's rights campaigner
Shadi Sadr. "Shadi called me from an unknown location and said she was arrested
by plainclothes officials who forcefully got her into a car," Hossein Nilchian,
her husband, said.
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