Mousavi Calls for More Iran Protests as 10 Killed

Mousavi Calls for More Iran Protests as 10 Killed

June 21 (Bloomberg) -- At least 10 people were killed during clashes with Iranian police and defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi called for further demonstrations in defiance of Iran’s supreme leader.

If Iranians “are not able to defend their rights in a civil, peaceful reaction, there will be dangerous ways ahead,” Mousavi, who claims officials rigged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s June 12 re-election, said in a statement on his Web site.

Ten people were killed yesterday and more than 100 injured in rioting, state television reported today, quoting deputy chief of police Ahmadreza Radan. He said security forces did not use firearms and “terrorist groups” among the protesters were responsible for the casualties. CNN television, citing staff at a Tehran hospital, said 19 people were killed.

In a sign of widening divisions within the regime, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said a majority of Iranians contest the official results of the election, state-run Press TV reported on its Web site today, citing comments he made yesterday on Channel 2.

Iran’s Security Council and police yesterday warned Mousavi against holding rallies. The day before, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of the Persian Gulf nation of 73 million, ordered a halt to the demonstrations.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have opposed Ahmadinejad’s re-election in the largest demonstrations since the Islamic Revolution that ousted the shah in 1979. The protests and split within the ruling elite mark an unprecedented challenge to the authority of Khamenei, the successor of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic Revolution. Read more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aouxH5.pYY1w

Election clashes erupt in Iran

Election clashes erupt in Iran
(02:21) Report Reuters Video

Jun. 13 - In Tehran thousands of Mousavi supporters protest over the election result.
Hayley Platt reports.

Ahmadinejad unleashes new tirade against rivals

Ahmadinejad unleashes new tirade against rivals

Wednesday 10 June 2009
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has lashed out at rival candidates in an increasingly testy campaign ahead of presidential elections on Friday. Former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi, a reformist, is seen as Ahmadinejad's main challenger.
http://www.france24.com/en/20090610-iran-presidential-election-rafsanjani-slams-ahmedinejad-slur-campaign-mousavi

Iran's unfinished revolution

Friday 03 April 2009
(Source France24)
Iranians flocked en masse to celebrate thirty years since the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah's regime. But unlike their elders, some young Iranians seized on the occasion to go for a hike, taking their hookah pipe with them.
Iran. The name invokes countless images of a country that is stubborn, Islamic, revolutionary, isolated; but also proud, educated, modern and dynamic. The true face of modern-day Iran eludes most Westerners. FRANCE 24's Sophie Claudet and Alexandra Renard report from a country of a thousand and one contradictions.
Thirty years ago, in February 1979, in the full glare of the world's media, the Ayatolla Khomeini flew back from exile in France, and overthrew Iran's Western-backed Shah.
Iran's shift from monarchic to religious leadership was sudden, violent, and irrevocable. And this year's anniversary celebrations for the revolution have been intense.
Like every year, tens of thousands of Iranians gathered to commemorate the anniversary by singing revolutionary songs. Businesses and schools are shut, and many families make it a day out.
The father of the revolution, the Ayatollah Khomeini, is still celebrated as a hero, and the popular slogans “Down with Israel, down with the USA” are still on the crowd’s lips, even while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that "the Iranian nation is ready for talks [with Washington], based on mutual respect."
People who have gathered to celebrate the revolution’s anniversary seem less concerned with their president’s current diplomatic efforts, than with honouring the past.
http://www.france24.com/en/20090403-iran-unfinished-islamic-revolution-youth-reporters-anniversary-30-years