Rallies clash in central Tehran
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By Dominic Evans and Fredrik Dahl
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi urged supporters to stage protests or gather in mosques to mourn those killed after disputed elections that set off Iran's worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
(Editors' note: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.)
Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory against the reformist Mousavi sparked demonstrations and bloody street battles in Tehran which killed at least seven people on Monday while other protests flared up in cities across Iran.
"A number of our countrymen were wounded or martyred," Mousavi said in a statement on his website posted on Wednesday.
"I ask the people to express their solidarity with the families ... by coming together in mosques or taking part in peaceful demonstrations," said Mousavi, adding that he would also take part in the day of mourning planned for Thursday.
The bloodshed, mass protests over four days, arrests and a media crackdown focused world attention on the fifth-biggest oil exporter which is locked in a nuclear standoff with the West.
Discord within Iran's ruling system has never been so public. The Mousavi camp is backed by traditional establishment figures, such as former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, concerned about how Ahmadinejad's truculent foreign policy and populist economics are shaping Iran's future.
Further protests planned for Wednesday and Thursday are a direct challenge to the authorities who have kept a tight grip on dissent since the U.S.-backed shah was overthrown in 1979 after months of protest.
In a stark warning, Fars News Agency quoted Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli as saying "no permission has been issued for a gathering or rally in Haft-e Tir Square" on Wednesday.
State television has said the "main agents" behind the turmoil have been arrested with guns and explosives.
Tens of thousands of pro-Mousavi supporters defied authorities to rally in Tehran on Tuesday after the seven were killed in Monday's violence but international media were forbidden from leaving their offices to cover the event.
After Monday's deaths, Mousavi had urged followers to call off a planned rally in the same downtown area on Tuesday so the marchers headed north instead. Some sent messages to meet again on Wednesday for a rally at Tehran's central Haft-e Tir Square.
MORE ARRESTS, DEATH PENALTY
Security forces arrested a pro-reform activist and an editor on Wednesday while a provincial prosecutor warned that those causing unrest faced the death penalty. An official inquiry was launched into an attack on university students.
Mohammadreza Habibi, prosecutor-general in the province of Isfahan, said: "We warn the few ... controlled by foreigners who try to disrupt domestic security by inciting individuals to destroy and to commit arson that the Islamic penal code for such individuals waging war against God is execution." Continued...
Source: Reuters
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