Skip to main content

Iranian Opposition Leaders Call on Clerics, Launch New Charges





By VOA News
25 July 2009

Iranian reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi during a press conference after polls closed in Tehran, 12 June 2009
Iranian reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi (file photo)
Opposition leaders in Iran are calling on the country's top clerics to help end the crackdown that followed massive protests of Iran's June 12 elections.

Defeated presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, along with former president Mohammad Khatami, sent a letter to clerics in the holy city of Qom Saturday, comparing the crackdown to the violent methods employed by the former shah before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

A statement posted by Karroubi on his Internet site went even further, accusing Iranian security agents of using tactics more brutal than those he said were employed by the Israelis against the Palestinians.







Rights groups say hundreds of people were detained during the post-election crackdown. At least 20 people were reported killed during the protests.

One reformist Web site Saturday said one of the protesters in custody has died. He was said to be the son of an advisor to another defeated presidential candidate, Mohsen Rezaie.

Mousavi and Karroubi say the June 12 vote was rigged, but Iran's powerful Guardian Council has since upheld the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Human rights supporters gathered in about 80 cities around the world Saturday, echoing the calls for Iran's leadership to end the crackdown.

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi was expected to speak at one of the rallies in Amsterdam.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Iranian Clerics Protest Election Results

By VOA News 05 July 2009 A group of leading Iranian clerics has criticized the results of the country's disputed presidential election. In a statement released Sunday, clerics from the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom said Iran's official electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council, failed to adequately investigate claims of vote rigging by the opposition. The pro-reform group questioned whether the Council's validation is enough to legitimize the vote. Last week, the 12-member Council upheld the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I ranian reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi during a press conference after polls closed in Tehran, 12 June 2009 Defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has criticized the outcome. In a 24-page report posted to his Web site Saturday, Mr. Mousavi accuses supporters of Mr. Ahmadinejad of handing out cash to voters in the run-up to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Military chief promotes 35 generals

Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Djoko Santoso has promoted 35 generals, consisting of 16 army generals, 11 navy admirals and 8 air force marshals. “It is expected that this time promotion will further enhance and improve the military performance so that we could give out the best output,” he said on Friday. Among those generals who receive the promotion is Rear Adm. Gunadi who is now posted as inspector general at the Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Langgeng Sulistyono, who is now posted as Diponegoro Military Commander and Rear Marshal Agus Dwi Putranto, who is installed as Abdulrahman Saleh Air Force Base Commander.
Post a Comment
Read more

Chinese

Identifying someone in Indonesia as a member of the Chinese ( orang Tionghoa ) ethnic group is not an easy matter, because physical characteristics, language, name, geographical location, and life-style of Chinese Indonesians are not always distinct from those of the rest of the population. Census figures do not record Chinese as a special group, and there are no simple racial criteria for membership in this group. There are some people who are considered Chinese by themselves and others, despite generations of intermarriage with the local population, resulting in offspring who are less than one-quarter Chinese in ancestry. On the other hand, there are some people who by ancestry could be considered halfChinese or more, but who regard themselves as fully Indonesian. Furthermore, many people who identify themselves as Chinese Indonesians cannot read or write the Chinese language. Alth...
Post a Comment
Read more