TENS OF thousands of supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi took to the streets of Tehran and other cities for a sixth consecutive day yesterday, as a government crackdown on opposition figures continued.
The demonstrators converged on Imam Khomeini Square in central Tehran, according to eyewitnesses.
Chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest), they massed in the downtown square, responding to Mr Mousavi’s call for people to gather in mosques or at peaceful rallies to show solidarity with the victims and their families.
Foreign journalists have been banned from attending such events.
Last night’s rally came as the Guardian Council, a legislative body comprising senior clerics, announced it was investigating a total of 646 complaints of irregularities in the conduct of last Friday’s election which returned incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to power.
The council said it had invited Mr Mousavi and the two other candidates who had run against Mr Ahmadinejad to air their grievances and allegations of widespread vote-rigging at a meeting tomorrow.
Mr Mousavi himself appeared at yesterday’s rally, joining black-clad supporters carrying candles as a sign of mourning for those killed in clashes following the protests which first erupted on Saturday.
It was a further act of defiance from the former prime minister. Pro-government militia had warned the defeated candidates to distance themselves from what they described as “rioters”.
In the latest round-up of opposition figures, Ebrahim Yazdi and Mohammad Tavasoli, veterans of the 1979 revolution and leaders of Iran’s Liberation Movement, were arrested yesterday.
Mr Mousavi and reformist former president Mohammad Khatami, who was succeeded by Mr Ahmadinejad in 2005, issued a joint letter calling on the authorities to release those arrested, now thought to number at least 200, and to cease the violent crackdown on what they said was “completely civil behaviour” by the protesters.
“We ask you to take all the necessary measures to put an end to today’s worrying situation, to stop the violent actions against people and to free those arrested,” the letter, published on Mr Mousavi’s website, stated. The Combatant Clerics’ Association, led by Mr Khatami, has applied for permission to organise a demonstration tomorrow in which he and Mr Mousavi will participate.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is due to lead the main Friday prayer in Tehran today, and his address will be carefully scrutinised for clues as to the mood within the regime, and the decisions it may take in the coming days to address the growing unrest.
State media reported that the three defeated candidates had confirmed they will also attend.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who initially welcomed last Friday’s election as fair, and Mr Ahmadinejad’s declared victory as a “divine intervention,” has called on those alleging fraud to pursue their claims through official channels.
A partial recount has already begun in districts where manipulation of votes is believed to have taken place.
Mr Mousavi and his followers, however, refuse to back down on their demands for a rerun of the ballot.
Another defeated candidate, the reformist Mehdi Karroubi, yesterday declared that he did not recognise Mr Ahmadinejad as president, and he accused the government of committing “treason”.
“I consider Friday’s election as illegitimate and don’t accept the results announced,” Mr Karroubi said in a statement posted on his party’s website.
A number of influential clerics have also spoken out about the election results and the subsequent crackdowns.