Iran Police Force Mousavi to Leave Memorial

tanyang2009

Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iranian police prevented opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi from going to a graveside memorial for victims of post-election unrest, witnesses said Thursday.

Mr. Mousavi, surrounded by hundreds of supporters, was trying to reach the graveside of Neda Agha Soltan, a young woman who was shot to death at an antigovernment rally last month.

Witnesses said hundreds of police surrounded Mr. Mousavi and forced him to leave Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on Tehran's southern outskirts. The police didn't forcibly break up hundreds of others who gathered for the memorial, some of them chanting Mr. Mousavi's name and "Death to the dictator."

Thursday is the end of the 40-day mourning period for Ms. Soltan, whose dying moments were caught on video that became one of the iconic images of the upheaval.

The opposition may also try to stage rallies along major roundabouts and squares in the capital Tehran at the same time as the memorial.

Authorities say some 20 protesters have been killed in the crackdown, although rights groups say the number is probably far higher. The opposition says Iranian authorities have pressured families of slain protesters not to mourn publicly out of fear the gatherings could spark the kind of demonstrations that followed the disputed vote.

Massive protests and deadly clashes erupted in the days and weeks after electoral authorities declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of last month's vote by a landslide. But Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and its allied Basij militia have adopted a zero-tolerance policy that have largely thwarted protests over the past month. Nevertheless, demonstrators have still turned out on the streets.

Mr. Mousavi and fellow pro-reform leader Mahdi Karroubi will hold the ceremony in Behesht-e Zahra -- the large cemetery on Tehran's southern outskirts where some slain protesters have been buried -- after authorities rejected their request to hold it at Tehran's main Mosalla mosque.

The two leaders sent a request Sunday to the Interior Ministry asking permission for the ceremony. They said the gathering would "be held without any speeches and will be limited to the reciting of the Quran and moments of silence" to mark the 40-day period since 10 people died, including Soltan, during the June 20 protests.

Interior Ministry official Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini was quoted by the state IRNA news agency as saying Wednesday the ministry hasn't issued "any permission for any gathering."

"So far, it's unprecedented that someone asks permission for a memorial service from the Interior Ministry," Mr. Meshkini said, adding sarcastically: "Unless the applicant has other particular political intentions."

The deaths of protesters during the 1979 Islamic Revolution fueled a 40-day cycle of mourning marches, and shootings of mourners, that contributed to the overthrow of the U.S.-backed dictator, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The election unrest has given rise to rare criticism of Iran's leadership from the country's top clerics and even conservative supporters who have complained about prison abuses, including reports of detainee deaths and the brutal beatings of protesters.

The government announced that first trials of detained opposition supporters will begin Saturday, with the prosecution of around 20 protesters. They also include some accused of sending images of the unrest to the media while top pro-reform politicians will be tried later for allegedly ordering riots. The opposition has said detainees were tortured to extract flse confessions for the courts.