Moussavi Urges Prosecution in Vote Fraud and Abuses

The New York Times

TEHRAN — A leading figure in Iran’s opposition issued a defiant statement on Tuesday demanding prosecution of those he accused of fraud in the disputed presidential election and of human rights abuses against opposition demonstrators over the past year.

The leader, Mir Hussein Moussavi, called for the “just prosecution of the leaders and the agents of election fraud, torture and killings” but urged his supporters to avoid confrontation as the streets of Tehran were once again marked by a heavy police presence aimed at deflecting any protests associated with the one-year anniversary of the election of June 12.

“The killings of June 15 and 20 and Ashura will never be erased from the memory of the people," Mr. Moussavi wrote in the statement published on his Kaleme Web site, referring to several particularly bloody protests last year.

However, on a day marked once again by the conspicuous presence of government security forces throughout central and northern Tehran, he called on supporters of Iran’s opposition Green Movement to avoid confrontation.

"The Green Movement is a civil movement which rejects aggression in every area,” he wrote. “This movement believes that the people will always be the victims of aggression and holds that dialogue, peaceful resistance and nonaggression are the only inviolable solutions.”

Squads of Basij militiamen, wearing camouflage waistcoats over civilian clothing, patrolled the length of Enghelab Street, a central Tehran thoroughfare, riding in pairs on motorbikes, armed with batons and pepper spray. On June 15 last year, the street was the scene of a “silent” protest by hundreds of thousands against the disputed election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The anniversary of last year’s presidential election on Saturday passed with only sporadic anti-government protests, quickly suppressed by amassed government security forces. On Sunday, Tehran’s police chief, Hossein Sajednia, stated that "no special issues" had arisen, but confirmed the arrest of 91 “suspect individuals.”

Significant opposition action was restricted to students at Tehran and Sharif universities who continued protests on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, according to opposition Web sites. In one video published on YouTube, students behind the gates of Tehran University were shown holding placards and chanting while being filmed from outside by plain-clothed intelligence agents for identification purposes.