The defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi made an appearance at a protest rally on Monday, while at least one person was reportedly fatally shot during protests in Tehran.
Hundreds of thousands attended the rally in the capital city to support Mousavi’s call for an annulment of the election results, a day after President Ahmadinejad’s victory speech. Similar protests were held across several other major cities in Iran, ignoring an interior ministry ban on public protests.
“I came to show my respect for all the [people’s] steadfastness and awareness,” Mousavi told the crowd.
“Many political groups had requested permits to hold a parade protesting the large-scale violations in the election. Since no permits were issued and I heard that people might show up, I came so that while inviting everyone to defend their right, I could invite them to stay calm.”
This was Mousavi’s first public appearance since the June 12 presidential election, amid growing reports that the election results were rigged.
Reportedly, gunshots were also heard during today’s protests and some plain clothes people were seen carrying guns. According to an AP reporter, at least one person was killed and several others were injured after gunshots were fired at people protesting in front of a Basij (voluntary militia) compound.
Early Monday morning some pro-Mousavi students in Tehran University were attacked in their residence by plain-cloth men carrying batons. The students were beaten and some were reportedly thrown out of the resident windows.
The speaker of Iran’s Legislature Ali Larijani has setup a committee to look into complains about the confrontation with people including the University incident, while implying that some people intend to make the government look bad.
“...there are occasional news of unpleasant events in some areas including the Tehran University and some people are providing advertising feed for foreign media, and also there have been reports sent to the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Legislature) about violent confrontation with people,” he said in a statement obtained through the semi-official ISNA news agency.
Iran’s supreme Leader Ali Khamenei met with Mousavi late on June 14 informing him that he has ordered a probe into how the election was handled. An announcement through the state media the following day confirmed the Guardian Council’s probe into the allegations of election irregularities. The Guardian Council is an influential 12-member council that also oversees elections.
The reversal, on the part of Khamenei and the Guardian Council, is seen by experts as a move made in reaction to the protests and the growing fear that the unrest amongst Mousavi supporters will grow and shake the stability of the current Iranian regime.
Many Mousavi supporters have been shouting “God is great” on their rooftops to show their objection to the alleged election fraud. This act was one of the non-violent means of protest against Iran’s monarchy regime used during the 1979 revolution.
A note on Mousavi’s website advises people to keep saying “God is great” until “the election issue is resolved” three times each night at 22, 23, and 24.
According to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the Obama administration is continuing to monitor the situation Iran, with as focus upon resolving pending issues with Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
“Obviously we continue to have concern about what we’ve seen. Obviously the Iranians are looking into this, as well. We continue to be heartened by the enthusiasm of young people in Iran,” Gibbs told reporters.
U.N.’s Ban Ki-moon has urged Iran’s government to respect the will of Iranian people and said that he will closely watch the probe into the election.
France, Germany, and Britain have also expressed concern about the allegations of election fraud and the violent confrontations after the election.
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