Mr Mousavi who has lodged a formal complaint over what he says was a rigged election, vowed to continue with his campaign with peaceful rallies, in a statement issued on his website. -- PHOTO: AP
TEHERAN - DEFEATED candidate Mirhossein Mousavi urged supporters to stage peaceful protests or gather in mosques to mourn those killed after a disputed presidential poll set off Iran's worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory against the reformist Mousavi sparked demonstrations and bloody street battles in Teheran which killed at least seven people on Monday while other protests flared up in cities across Iran.
SECURITY forces arrested a pro-reform activist and an editor on Wednesday while a provincial prosecutor warned that those causing unrest faced the death penalty. An official inquiry was launched into an attack on university students.
Tens of thousands of pro-Mousavi supporters defied authorities to rally in Teheran on Tuesday after the seven were killed in Monday's violence but international media were forbidden from leaving their offices to cover the event.
'A number of our countrymen were wounded or martyred,' Mr Mousavi said, calling a day of mourning for Thursday.
'I ask the people to express their solidarity with the families ... by coming together in mosques or taking part in peaceful demonstrations,' Mr Mousavi said on his website.
Bloodshed, mass protests, arrests and a media crackdown have focused world attention on the fifth-biggest oil exporter which is locked in a nuclear row with the West. Mr Mousavi's statement did not refer to a protest called for Wednesday.
The political earthquake set off by Friday's vote prompted President Barack Obama, who had urged the Iranian leadership to 'unclench its fist', to say the upheaval showed that 'Iranian people are not convinced with the legitimacy of the election'.
Major Western nations have questioned the result's fairness.
Discord within Iran's ruling system has never been so public. The Mousavi camp is backed by traditional establishment figures, such as former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, concerned about how Mr Ahmadinejad's truculent foreign policy and populist economics are shaping Iran's future.
Further protests planned for Wednesday and Thursday are a direct challenge to the authorities who have kept a tight grip on dissent since the US-backed shah was overthrown in 1979 after months of protest.
In a stark warning, Fars News Agency quoted Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli as saying 'no permission has been issued for a gathering or rally in Haft-e Tir Square' on Wednesday.
State television has said the 'main agents' behind the turmoil have been arrested with guns and explosives. -- REUTERS
