By VOA News
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.
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Mir Hossein Mousavi
paid a visit to Qom prior to the June elections to consult with the
grand ayatollahs
Ayatollah Golpayegani
Ayatollah Javadi Amoli
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi
Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili
Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani
Ayatollah Sanei |
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.
... Payvand News - 07/26/09 ... --
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