Lockdown on journalists in Iran as Mousavi supporters rally
Mir Hossein Mousavi called off today's rally to avoid the "trap of planned clashes
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Tuesday, 16, Jun 2009 05:02
Foreign journalists are being confined to their offices in Iran as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi defy officials and the reformist opposition candidate himself to stage another mass rally in Tehran.
Mr Mousavi had earlier said he was postponing a planned rally in central Tehran to allow a rival rally by supporters of re-elected president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to take place.
A spokesman said the move had been taken to avoid the "trap of planned clashes".
But according to reports, supporters have gone ahead with a mass rally in northern Tehran, with thousands said to be in attendance.
Meanwhile, foreign media have been banned from covering any opposition rallies, deemed illegal by Iran's interior ministry, making verification of the latest rally claims problematic.
In some of the most sweeping and hastily-introduced restrictions of foreign journalists ever seen in Iran, reporters cannot leave their offices without permission.
The decision comes after eight people died attending a rally in Tehran yesterday in what has been described as the largest protest against the government in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
State radio said that seven people died after "thugs" attacked a military post at the end of what was said to be an overwhelmingly peaceful demonstration in Tehran yesterday, while one person died from gunshot wounds earlier.
Hundreds of thousands - some said more than a million - marched in support of reformist Mr Mousavi, who alleges widespread electoral fraud in Friday's presidential poll.
Results, described by Iran's powerful guardian council today as "provisional", gave incumbent Mr Ahmadinejad 62.63 per cent and Mr Mousavi just 33.75 per cent.
The former prime minister had been expected to win the poll outright after gaining considerable support among Iran's young, which make up two-thirds of the country's electorate.
Mr Ahmadinejad says Iran's elections are "the cleanest" in the world, but Mr Mousavi wants the results annulled.
"The election fraud was obvious, and I will pay any cost to realise the ideals of the Iranian nation," he told supporters in Tehran yesterday in his first public appearance since the results were announced at the weekend.
"You are not breaking glass. You are breaking tyranny."
Iran's top legislative body, the guardian council, has so far agreed to a partial recount.
Mr Ahmadinejad is currently out of the country attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Yekaterinburg.