It Isn’t Over In Iran
The ABC has a new opposition statement – Ahmadinejad paid for votes: Mousavi
The main Iranian Opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi has issued a new 25-page report detailing alleged fraud and irregularities in last month’s presidential election.
The report has been prepared by the Committee for the Protection of Votes, which is run by Mr Mousavi’s campaign office.
It accuses President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of abusing state machinery during the campaign and handing out cash to secure the votes of working-class Iranians.
The report says both the Interior Ministry, responsible for organising the election, and the Guardians Council, the official electoral watchdog, were biased towards Mr Ahmadinejad.
And some of those claims are backed up and expanded on by an important association of clerics in Qom, as noted by the BBC: Iran clerics defy election ruling
A group of clerics in Iran has called Iran’s presidential vote invalid, contradicting official results.
The pro-reform group’s statement pits it against the top legislative body, which last week formally endorsed the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
On Saturday, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that post-election events had caused bitterness.
Britain said one of two UK embassy employees detained for “inciting protests” would be released.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in the aftermath of the poll to protest at what they alleged was a fraudulent election.
The protests died down after the authorities deployed lethal force, killing at least 20 demonstrators. More than 1,000 were arrested.
This is not going to end quickly, and it seems to be growing among groups who have real power in Iran. I get the feeling that what Khamenei and Ahmadinejad did was so blatant that many who once felt secure are no longer comfortable that they are secure. There is also continuing resentment among some grand ayatollahs that Khamenei was given the title without earning it in the normal fashion, and without the credentials to justify it.
