Opposition rallies in Tehran, mourns deaths
Hürriyet Daily News with wires
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Supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi rallied in the streets of Tehran again Thursday over the disputed presidential election, answering the opposition leader's call to turn out dressed in black to mourn demonstrators killed in clashes, a witness said.
The protest by opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in open defiance of the country's supreme leader, who has urged the nation to unite behind the Islamic state. It came a day after tens of thousands marched silently down a main street of the capital, brandishing posters of Mousavi and waving V-for-victory signs, amateur video showed. Some covered their mouths with masks and they marched in southern Tehran chanting "Peace be upon (Prophet) Mohammed and his family," according to an account by Agence France-Presse. Meanwhile, Mousavi also attended the rally in line with the news stated on his Web site.
International news organizations have been banned from covering the protests over last Friday's election, which the government declared Ahmadinejad won by a landslide. Mousavi and his supporters claim the election was rigged and he was the true winner.
On Monday, hundreds of thousands turned out in a huge procession that recalled the scale of protests during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Seven demonstrators were killed that day by pro-regime militia in the first confirmed deaths during the unrest.
Guards neutrality questioned
The street protests have presented one of the gravest threats to Iran's complex blend of democracy and religious authority since the system emerged out of the Islamic revolution. But the chances of bringing down the Islamic system appear remote, according to an account by The Associated Press. The ruling clerics still command deep public support and are defended by Iran's most powerful military force - the Revolutionary Guard - as well as a vast network of militias.
But Mousavi's opposition movement has forced the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, into the center of the escalating crisis, questioning his role as the final authority on all critical issues. Iran's main electoral authority has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities. The re-count would be overseen by the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to Khamenei. Mousavi alleges the Guardian Council is not neutral and has already indicated it supports Ahmadinejad. The Council's spokesman, Abbasali Khadkhodaei, said Thursday they received a total of 646 complaints from the three candidates who ran against Ahmadinejad in the June 12 vote.
Meanwhile, the Etemad Melli (National Confidence) party of defeated reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi has applied for permission to hold a new protest rally on Saturday.
For the moment, protesters have focused on the results of the balloting rather than challenging the Islamic system of government. But a shift in anger toward Iran's non-elected theocracy would sharply change the stakes. Instead of a clash over the June 12 election results, it would become a showdown over the foundation of Iran's system of rule.
In a sign of cracks emerging within the Iranian elite, a number of influential clerics have spoken out about the election results and the subsequent crackdowns. The top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, hailed the mass turnout in the election but stayed silent on the disputed results. "We congratulate the excited, epic-making and alert presence of 85 percent of the revolutionary people in the June 12 election, which was a display of the Islamic republic's greatness and dignity throughout the world," it said in a statement.
On Thursday, Mousavi's Web site said that both Mousavi and former reformist President Mohammad Khatami sent a joint letter to Iran's head of judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, asking him to take measures to stop violence against protesters and help to release detained demonstrators.
The Iranian government has directly accused the United States of meddling in the deepening crisis. "Despite wide coverage of unrest, foreign media have not been able to provide any evidence on a single violation in the election process," state radio said Thursday.