They were handing out the photocopies by the thousand under the plane trees in the centre of the boulevard, single sheets of paper grabbed by the opposition supporters who are now wearing black for the 15 Iranians who have been killed in Tehran - who knows how many more in the rest of the country? - since the election results gave Mahmoud Ahmadinejad more than 24 million votes and a return to the presidency. But for the tens of thousands marking their fifth day of protests yesterday - and for their election campaign hero, Mirhossein Mousavi, who officially picked up just 13 million votes - those photocopies were irradiated. For the photocopy appeared to be a genuine but confidential letter from the Iranian minister of interior, Sadeq Mahsuli, to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, written on Saturday 13 June, the day after the elections, and giving both Mr Mousavi and his ally, Mehdi Karroubi, big majorities in the final results. In a highly sophisticated society like Iran, forgery is as efficient as anywhere in the West and there are reasons for both distrusting and believing this document. But it divides the final vote between Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi in such a way that it would have forced a second run-off vote - scarcely something Mousavi's camp would have wanted. Headed "For the Attention of the Supreme Leader" it notes "your concerns for the 10th presidential elections" and "and your orders for Mr Ahmadinejad to be elected president", and continues "for your information only, I am telling you the actual results". Mr Mousavi has 19,075,623, Mr Karroubi 13,387,104, and Mr Ahmadinejad a mere 5,698,417.
They were handing out the photocopies by the thousand under the plane trees in the centre of the boulevard, single sheets of paper grabbed by the opposition supporters who are now wearing black for the 15 Iranians who have been killed in Tehran - who knows how many more in the rest of the country? - since the election results gave Mahmoud Ahmadinejad more than 24 million votes and a return to the presidency. But for the tens of thousands marking their fifth day of protests yesterday - and for their election campaign hero, Mirhossein Mousavi, who officially picked up just 13 million votes - those photocopies were irradiated.
For the photocopy appeared to be a genuine but confidential letter from the Iranian minister of interior, Sadeq Mahsuli, to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, written on Saturday 13 June, the day after the elections, and giving both Mr Mousavi and his ally, Mehdi Karroubi, big majorities in the final results. In a highly sophisticated society like Iran, forgery is as efficient as anywhere in the West and there are reasons for both distrusting and believing this document. But it divides the final vote between Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi in such a way that it would have forced a second run-off vote - scarcely something Mousavi's camp would have wanted.
Headed "For the Attention of the Supreme Leader" it notes "your concerns for the 10th presidential elections" and "and your orders for Mr Ahmadinejad to be elected president", and continues "for your information only, I am telling you the actual results". Mr Mousavi has 19,075,623, Mr Karroubi 13,387,104, and Mr Ahmadinejad a mere 5,698,417.
In defiance of an official ban, defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi has called for a day of mourning on Thursday to remember protesters who were killed in clashes with the authorities. Iran braced for mass demonstrations in the capital of Tehran on Thursday following opposition candidate Mirhossein Mousavi's call for a day of mourning to commemorate the people killed during protests for a new presidential election. In a posting on his website on Wednesday, Mousavi called on his supporters to dress in black in a show of respect for the seven people killed during clashes between opposition supporters and the pro-government Basij militia on Monday.
Iran braced for mass demonstrations in the capital of Tehran on Thursday following opposition candidate Mirhossein Mousavi's call for a day of mourning to commemorate the people killed during protests for a new presidential election.
In a posting on his website on Wednesday, Mousavi called on his supporters to dress in black in a show of respect for the seven people killed during clashes between opposition supporters and the pro-government Basij militia on Monday.
TEHRAN -- Days after it was urged to investigate the outcome of last week's disputed presidential election, Iran's authoritative Guardian Council said on Thursday that it had invited the three candidates challenging the official results to a meeting to discuss their grievances, state media reported.But protesters said they would continue their mass campaign on the streets demanding that the authorities annul the vote. Mir Hussein Moussavi, the main opposition candidate, urged his followers to make Thursday a day of protests and mourning for those killed in earlier demonstrations attended by hundreds of thousands of people.Iranians posting on Twitter, the internet messaging service, called on demonstrators to gather in Tehran's Imam Khomeini square at 4 p.m. local time. "All wear BLACK -- we pray together," one Twitter posting said.
But protesters said they would continue their mass campaign on the streets demanding that the authorities annul the vote. Mir Hussein Moussavi, the main opposition candidate, urged his followers to make Thursday a day of protests and mourning for those killed in earlier demonstrations attended by hundreds of thousands of people.
Iranians posting on Twitter, the internet messaging service, called on demonstrators to gather in Tehran's Imam Khomeini square at 4 p.m. local time. "All wear BLACK -- we pray together," one Twitter posting said.
As many of the people who count the votes are aligned with the opposition it is plausible that numbers would leak, likely via Rafsanjani.
The letter linked? Hard to say. Possibly an attempt to discredit the numbers themselves which may be real, or to pre-empt the release of other numbers. These numbers have gone around a bit but there's also another set of more plausible numbers that showed Mosuavi with around 57% and Ahmedinijad with I believe 37% or around there.
Observers inside the country and abroad are watching closely for signs of what to expect from Iranian authorities as supporters of moderate candidate Mir Hossein Musavi continue their vigils, rallies, and public criticism of the presidential election process, the results of which they say were stolen.The supreme leader described those alleging flaws in the June 12 election as "enemies."He went on to acknowledge that all four candidates -- incumbent conservative President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Musavi, moderate cleric Mehdi Karrubi, and former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Council commander Mohsen Rezai -- are "part of the establishment" but said he did not necessarily accept all of their "views and comments."
