THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's opposition movement has called for a third major public rally in Tehran as pressure builds on the Islamic regime over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's fiercely-contested re-election.
Grappling with the biggest wave of public anger since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has lashed out at enemy "plots," hauling in foreign ambassadors, rounding up scores of reformists and clamping down on the media.
World governments voiced increasing alarm about the situation in Iran, but US President Barack Obama, while raising "deep concerns" over the election, said Washington would not interfere in the affairs of the country.
Supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has accused the regime of vote-rigging, said they have called another rally in Tehran this afternoon, despite a ban on such gatherings.
Reformists also reported that another two prominent academics and journalists had been arrested by the authorities. Hamid Reza Jalaipour, a sociologist and Mousavi campaigner, and Saeed Laylaz, a political and economist analyst, were both arrested at home[d].
Iran's most powerful military force has also warned online media of a crackdown over their coverage of the country's election crisis.
The Revolutionary Guards, an elite body answering to the supreme leader, says Iranian websites and bloggers must remove any materials that "create tension" or face legal action. >>> | Wednesday, June 17, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Mousavi Issues Direct Challenge with Rally Call over 'Shameful Fraud' in Iran
Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi issued a direct challenge to the country’s clerical regime today, calling for a mass rally to protest against the "shameful fraud" that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected by a landslide.
Mr Mousavi's appeal to supporters, issued via his website, flew in the face of a declaration last night by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, that the former prime minister should pursue his objectives through the electoral system and not on the streets.
It also came despite a demand from the powerful Revolutionary Guard that websites and bloggers should remove any materials that "create tension". >>> Phillipe Naughton | Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Mir Hossein Mousavi’s Website (میرحسین موسوی خامنه) >>>
YOUTUBE: Protest Against ‘Fake’ Elections (June 13, 2009)
