Moussavi: Protests continue until release of jailed protestors

Jul 22, 2009, 17:48 GMT

Tehran - Iran's opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi said Wednesday that protests against the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would continue until all jailed protestors were released.

'The election file will remain open and the legitimacy of the (Ahmadinejad) government will be questioned until the last jailed protestor is released,' Moussavi said in a meeting with journalists in Tehran.

More than a thousand people were arrested following the June 12 presidential election in protests against alleged fraud that led to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election.

More than a hundred people, including journalists and former government ministers and parliament deputies, are still in jail.

'It is a national necessity to keep the election issue alive, and nobody should forget how this government was formed,' Moussavi said in his speech carried by his website Ghalam.

He however warned his supporters not to move outside the legal framework and 'not allow anarchy to prevail in the country.'

'We have to use only legal means to bring the damages caused by current para-coup d'etat to a minimum,' the opposition leader said.

Since the election, Moussavi has emerged as leader of the Green Movement - Moussavi's symbolic colour for change - which is currently Iran's main opposition movement and most active part in the protest demonstrations.

Moussavi said he planned to turn the Green Movement into a political front for all opposition groups.

'We are working on a political charter to make all the potential of the Iranian constitution operational, and this new charter will be published within the next few days,' Moussavi said.

He gave no details but said that the new charter would increase the role of the people in political decisions, guarantee their will and secure national interests.

He said that implementing the new charter would not be easy in a political atmosphere 'which even has no tolerance for someone like Mr (Akbar) Hashemi (Rafsanjani).'

Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the country's president for eight years (1989-1997), head of the country's leading clergy body Experts' Assembly and one of the architects of the Islamic republic following the 1979 revolution, has unintentionally joined the Iranian opposition after Ahmadinejad accused him of corruption.

Rafsanjani's efforts during traditional Friday prayers last week to cool down tensions and seek a political reconciliation were interpreted by ultraconservative clergy circles and pro-Ahmadinejad factions as a move towards undermining the Islamic system.

'This intolerance (towards Rafsanjani) shows that militarization and a security approach were increasing in society,' Moussavi said.

He also rejected accusations by pro-government circles, particularly the country's state-run television network, that the Green Movement was linked to foreign elements.