Luciole Press Blog: Articles: "Iran opposition leader vows to stand by protesters" and "Iran on the brink: Leadership begins to split in wake of bloody riots"
Articles: "Iran opposition leader vows to stand by protesters" and "Iran on the brink: Leadership begins to split in wake of bloody riots"
Worldwide demonstration : A protester makes a victory sign with his fingers painted in red and green, the colours of the Iranian flag, during a rally in Paris to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. Iranian security personnel form up on a street in Tehran in this undated photo uploaded onto Twitter June 21, 2009. Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi urged his supporters on Sunday to continue their protests over a disputed presidential election, in a direct challenge to the leadership of the Islamic Republic.
REUTERS/Twitter (IRAN POLITICS ELECTIONS CONFLICT IMAGES OF THE DAY)
Iran opposition leader vows to stand by protesters
By NASSER KARIMI and JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Writers 1 hr 12 mins ago
TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has vowed he will stand by the protesters whose week of defiance has deeply shaken the country, but says he won't allow their lives to be put in peril and says the security forces that bloodied them are their comrades.
The statements by Mousavi, posted on Web sites of his allies during the weekend, underline the by dangers and strategic dilemma facing the throngs who rose up last week to protest disputed election results that showed his hardline opponent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, overwhelmingly winning a second term.
The landslide official results provoked an extraordinary outburst of huge street demonstrations — and a brutal response from police and the feared militia called the Basij. At least 10 protesters were killed on Saturday and the official death toll from the week of demonstrations stands at 17.
Iranian police said in a Monday statement that 457 people were arrested on Saturday. It did not say how many had been arrested during the rest of the week or how many remained iin custody.
Searing images posted online — including gruesome video purporting to show the fatal shooting of a teenage girl — hinted the true casualty toll may be higher. Journalists for foreign media have been put under tight restrictions and assessing the extent of the protests and violence is difficult.
Tehran's streets were mostly quiet on Sunday, but cries of "God is great" and "Death to the dictator" echoed again from rooftops after dark, a sign of seething anger at the government crackdown.
The government intensified a crackdown on independent media — expelling a BBC correspondent, suspending the Dubai-based network Al-Arabiya and detaining at least two local journalists for U.S. magazines.
English-language state television said an exile group known as the People's Mujahedeen had a hand in the street violence and broadcast what it said were confessions of British-controlled agents in an indication that the government was ready to crack down even harder.
That leaves the opposition scrambling for a way to maintain the momentum of the protests that have riveted while not bringing new bloodshed.
Mousavi warned supporters of danger ahead, and said he would stand by the protesters "at all times." But in the Web site letters, he said he would "never allow anybody's life to be endangered because of my actions" and called for pursuing fraud claims through an independent board.
The former prime minister, a longtime loyalist of the Islamic government, also called the Basij and military "our brothers" and "protectors of our revolution and regime." He may be trying to constrain his followers' demands before they pose a mortal threat to Iran's system of limited democracy constrained by Shiite clerics, who have ultimate authority.
His chances of success within the system would be far higher if he has backers among those clerics.
In the clearest sign yet of a splintering among the ayatollahs, state media announced the arrests Sunday of relatives of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani including his daughter Faezeh, a 46-year-old reformist politician vilified by hard-liners for her open support of Mousavi.
Rafsanjani's relatives, who state media said were held for their own protection, were released after a few hours.
Rafsanjani heads the cleric-run Assembly of Experts, which can remove the supreme leader, the country's most powerful figure. He also chairs the Expediency Council, a body that arbitrates disputes between parliament and the unelected Guardian Council.
Rafsanjani and his family have been accused of corruption by Ahmadinejad. And the 75-year-old ayatollah was conspicuously absent Friday from an address by the country's supreme leader calling for national unity and siding with the president.
That fueled speculation that Rafsanjani, who has made no public comment since the election, may be working behind the scenes and favoring Mousavi.
Ahmadinejad appeared to be courting his own clerical support. State television showed him meeting with mullahs at the presidential palace and telling them the election had demonstrated popular love for the regime.
He criticized British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama, who on Saturday urged Iranian authorities to halt "all violent and unjust actions against its own people."
"With that behavior you will not be among Iran's friends," Ahmadinejad said, in a potentially ominous sign for Obama's recent efforts to warm relations with Iran.
An injured protester stands on a street in Tehran yesterday
Iran on the brink: Leadership begins to split in wake of bloody riots as BBC man is told to leave the country
21st June 2009
An eerie calm settled over the streets of Tehran Sunday as state media reported at least 10 more deaths in post-election unrest.
Authorities also arrested the daughter and four other relatives of ex-President Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of Iran's most powerful men. Elsewhere, the BBC's Tehran correspondent was told to leave the country.
The reports brought the official death toll for a week of bloody confrontations to at least 17. State television said 10 were killed and 100 injured in clashes on Saturday between demonstrators and black-clad police wielding truncheons, tear gas and water cannons.
Iranian demonstrators pass a burning police motorbike during a demonstration in Tehran
Police and members of Iran's Basij militia took up positions on Sunday afternoon on major streets and squares, including the site of Saturday's clashes, but there was no immediate word on whether protesters were gathering.
Iran's regime continued to impose a blackout on the country's most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
But fresh images and allegations of brutality emerged as Iranians at home and abroad sought to shed light on a week of astonishing resistance to hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The New-York based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said scores of injured demonstrators who had sought medical treatment after Saturday's clashes were arrested by security forces at hospitals in the capital.
It said doctors had been ordered to report protest-related injuries to the authorities, and that some seriously injured 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,' said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesman for the campaign, denouncing the alleged arrests as 'a sign of profound disrespect by the state for the well-being of its own people.'
'The government of Iran should be ashamed of itself. Right now, in front of the whole world, it is showing its violent actions,' he said.
State-run Press TV reported that Rafsanjani's eldest daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, and four other family members were arrested late Saturday. It did not identify the other four. (Editor's note: it is reported that they have since been released)
Last week, state television showed images of Hashemi, 46, speaking to hundreds of supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
After her appearance, hard-line students gathered outside the Tehran prosecutor's office and accused her of treason, state radio reported.
Rafsanjani, 75, has made no secret of his distaste for Ahmadinejad, whose re-election victory in the vote on June 12 was disputed by Mousavi. Ahmadinejad has accused Rafsanjani and his family of corruption.
A demonstrator lies unconscious in the street as a friend tries to assist
A man holds out a hand stained with what is believed to be blood during protests by supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi
The influential Rafsanjani now heads two very powerful groups. The most important one is the Assembly of Experts, made up of senior clerics who can elect and dismiss the supreme leader.
The second is the Expediency Council, a body that arbitrates disputes between parliament and the unelected Guardian Council, which can block legislation.
His daughter's arrest came as something of a surprise: Just Friday, Khamenei had praised Rafsanjani as one of the architects of the revolution and an effective political figure for many years. Khamenei acknowledged, however, that the two have 'many differences of opinion.'
Thousands of supporters of Mousavi, who claims he won the election, squared off Saturday against security forces in a dramatic show of defiance of Khamenei.
Underscoring how the protesters have become emboldened despite the regime's repeated and ominous warnings, witnesses said some shouted 'Death to Khamenei!' at Saturday's demonstrations - another sign of once unthinkable challenges to the virtually limitless authority of the country's most powerful figure.
Determined rebels improvise a blockade. Thousands of pro-government militia toured the streets on motorcycles looking for protesters
Sunday's state media reports also said rioters set two gas stations on fire and attacked a military post in clashes Saturday. They quoted the deputy police chief claiming officers did not use live ammunition to dispel the crowds.
Iran has also acknowledged the deaths of seven protesters in clashes on Monday.
State media also reported a suicide bombing at the shrine of the Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on Saturday killed the attacker and injured five other people.
There was some confusion about the death toll. English-language Press TV, which is broadcast only outside the country, put the toll at 13 and labeled those who died 'terrorists.' There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
Amnesty International cautioned that it was 'perilously hard' to verify the casualty tolls.
'The climate of fear has cast a shadow over the whole situation,' said Amnesty's chief Iran researcher, Drewery Dyke.
Supporters of Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi fight running battles with Iranian Basiji forces. A man is questioned by riot police
'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.'
Iran has imposed strict controls on foreign media covering the unrest, saying correspondents cannot go out into the streets to report.
Reporters Without Borders said 20 journalists were arrested over the past week. The BBC said its Tehran-based correspondent, Jon Leyne, had been asked to leave the country.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki held a news conference where he rebuked Britain, France and Germany for raising questions about reports of voting irregularities in hardline Ahmadinejad's re-election - a proclaimed victory which has touched off Iran's most serious internal conflict since the revolution.
Mottaki accused France of taking 'treacherous and unjust approaches.' But he saved his most pointed criticism for Britain, raising a litany of historical grievances and accusing the country of flying intelligence agents into Iran before the election to interfere with the vote. The election, he insisted, was a 'very transparent competition.'
Supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi protest on a street in Tehran
An image taken from amateur video posted online shows supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossien Mousavi setting fire to a barricade
That drew an indignant response from British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who 'categorically' denied his country was meddling. 'This can only damage Iran's standing in the eyes of the world,' Miliband said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, urged Iran anew to conduct a complete and transparent recount, and Italy called on the regime to find a peaceful end to the dispute.
In Washington on Saturday, President Barack Obama urged Iranian authorities to halt 'all violent and unjust actions against its own people.' He said the United States 'stands by all who seek to exercise' the universal rights to assembly and free speech.
Obama has offered to open talks with Iran to ease a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze, but the upheaval could complicate any attempts at outreach.
Israeli President Shimon Peres applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters Sunday, saying the young should 'raise their voice for freedom' - an explicit message of support from a country that sees itself as most endangered by the hard-line government in Tehran.
A woman, Neda, who was allegedly shot and killed collapses on the ground during clashes with security forces in Iran
A protester adjusts a mask for a fellow demonstrator during a march on a street in Tehran, while another man shows off his battered face
Saturday's unrest came a day after Khamenei sternly warned Mousavi and his backers to all off demonstrations or risk being held responsible for 'bloodshed, violence and rioting.' Delivering a sermon at Friday prayers attended by tens of thousands, Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad, calling the result 'an absolute victory' that reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end their street protests.
Mousavi did not directly reply to the ultimatum.
His camp, meanwhile, denied reports that he had proclaimed himself ready for martyrdom on Saturday.
'Mousavi has never said this,' his close ally, Qorban Behzadiannejad, told the AP. Mousavi's Web site also said statements that Mousavi was preparing for death were inaccurate.
Iranian security personnel gather during a march yesterday
A police commander sharpened the message Saturday. Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said more than a week of unrest and marches had become 'exhausting, bothersome and intolerable.' He threatened a more 'serious confrontation' if protesters return.
On Sunday, former reformist president Mohammad Khatami called for the formation of a board to decide the outcome of the disputed election, and urged the release of detained activists and an end to the violence in the streets.
The government has blocked Web sites such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites used by Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence. Text messaging has not been working in Iran since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down.
But that won't stifle the opposition networks, said Sami Al Faraj, president of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies.
'They can resort to whispering ... they can do it the old-fashioned way,' he said.
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