THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's regime arrested leading reformist politicians yesterday as thousands defied an official ban by staging another march against the outcome of last week's presidential election.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, appeared on state television to urge "unity" and calm. But another demonstration against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election filled central Tehran on the fifth day of protests, with a river of people stretching through the city to Vali Asr Square.
Earlier, the security forces carried out a series of arrests, detaining Mohammed Atrianfar, a leading reformist politician and a close ally of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who remains one the regime's most powerful figures. Saeed Laylaz, an economist who gives frequent interviews to Western journalists and had predicted bloodshed in the wake of the election, was also arrested.
Reformists fear the regime is trying to weaken protests by silencing their leading voices and Mr Atrianfar's arrest signals that people with powerful connections are not immune. The intelligence ministry said 26 alleged "masterminds" of the post-election unrest had been detained yesterday alone.
Members of the pro-regime Basij militia have also conducted overnight raids on university dormitories, with several students reported to have been killed.
But Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the opposition's leading candidate in last week's election, urged his supporters to gather again today (THURS) and mourn those who have been killed. He asked for a "peaceful rally" against the "shameful fraud" of last week's election.
This openly defies Ayatollah Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in Iran. On Sunday, the Supreme Leader met Mr Mousavi and urged him to refrain from calling any more protests while the Council of Guardians, a committee of hardline clerics, investigated his claims of vote rigging.
But in a blunt letter to the Supreme National Security Council, released on his website, Mr Mousavi also accused pro-regime militias of "savage acts and killing of people who only want to get their rights".
They had attacked peaceful demonstrators with "batons, chains, iron bars or sometimes firearms," said Mr Mousavi, adding that "plainclothes forces" had been responsible for "this evil phenomenon". >>> By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor | Wednesday, June 17, 2009
