http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/2009122774411253544.html
Sunday, December 27, 2009
21:20 Mecca time, 18:20 GMT
'Mousavi nephew' among Iran dead
Security forces had warned the opposition against using
Ashoura as an occasion to stage rallies [AFP]
The nephew of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is reportedly
among at least four people killed in continuing clashes between police and
protesters.
An aide to the leader said on Sunday that Seyyed Ali Mousavi died after
being shot by the police, but the claim could not be independently verified as
foreign news organisations are barred by the authorities from covering street
unrest.
Iranian state television, however, confirmed that four people were
killed in clashes.
Ahmad Reza Radan, Iran's deputy police chief, also said that 300
protesters had been arrested following the violence.
But opposition websites said at least four protesters had been killed in
the capital Tehran while another four died in a violent crackdown on opposition
protests in the northwestern city of Tabriz.
"During clashes between security forces and protesters ... at least four
protesters were killed in Tabriz and many others wounded," the Jaras website
said.
It earlier said that four protesters had died in Tehran and protesters
chanted angry slogans seeking revenge.
"We will kill those who killed our brothers," it quoted demonstrators as
chanting.
Pictures linked on the Twitter microblogging site appeared to show a man
with a wound to his head being carried away by opposition protesters.
Ashoura protests
The clashes came as the country's Shia Muslims marked Ashoura, a
religious event commemorating the 7th century death of Prophet Muhammad's
grandson.
in depth
Video: Deadly clashes rock Iran
Timeline: Iran after the election
Amateur video footage posted on the internet, said to be from the
protest, showed protesters running away from riot police or Basij militias on
motorbikes.
Al Jazeera's Mohammad Hassan al-Bahrani, reporting from Tehran, said the
police had arrested a number of protesters.
"Hundreds of supporters of the Iranian opposition, mainly of reformist
forces, have protested and chanted slogans supporting [Grand Ayatollah Hossein
Ali] Montazeri and Mir Hossein Moussavi," he said.
"The police had earlier threatened to face any unlicensed gatherings, and
this is what really happened on Saturday and Sunday."
The opposition had urged people to gather in central Tehran on Sunday
morning in defiance of warnings of a harsh crackdown on any protests during
Ashoura.
There were also unconfirmed reports of fierce clashes in the city of
Isfahan and Najafabad.
Ghanbar Naderi, a journalist with the Iran Daily, an official government
newspaper, criticised the protesters for choosing the day of Ashoura to stage
demonstrations.
"This is the wrong place and the wrong time for the reformist camps to
ask their supporters to get to the streets because this is a very important
religious day for the whole of the nation," he told Al Jazeera.
"If they are going to challenge the system now, they have no place among
the ordinary citizens. People want to mark and commemorate the martyrdom of
Imam Hussein and not their support of any political group or faction."
Difficult day
Sadegh Zibakalam, a professor at the University of Tehran, told Al
Jazeera that the sheer number of people gathering in the street for religious
commemorations would make it difficult for the police to keep control.
"It's very difficult for the police to prevent the crowds today because
Ashoura is the most important day in Shia religion. Hundreds and thousands and
millions of people come out in the street towards noon.
"It will be very difficult for the police to distinguish between genuine
mourners and those who want to use the procession to register their protest
against the government."
The latest protests came after violence broke out on Saturday when a
speech by Mohammed Khatami, the former president, was cancelled.
Widespread protests have been held in Iran following the disputed
presidential election on June 12.
Protests against the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad triggered deadly
clashes between protesters, security forces and government-backed militia.
Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Kharroubi have said the
election was rigged.
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