Iran's police
chief has warned opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi that officers will "decisively confront" any further unrest over a disputed presidential vote, Iranian newspapers reported on Sunday.
A letter to Mousavi from police chief Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam was carried by newspapers after unrest across Tehran on Saturday as demonstrators protesting against the official results of a June 12 election clashed with riot police. Iranian medical officials were quoted by Western media as saying that at least 19 people were killed in Saturday's clashes, but according to unofficial sources the death toll may have reached 150.
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| At least 19 dead in Iran clashes / Dudi Cohen |
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Reformist candidate Mousavi calls on country's highest legislative authority to annul election due to rampant evidence of tampering. Meanwhile thousands of his supporters clash with police in central Tehran, suicide bomber kills at least one at mausoleum of Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini |
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It was not clear when the letter was written.
"I announce that if the current situation continues the police, in line with preserving society's order and security, will decisively confront illegal activities," Ahmadi Moghaddam said, according to the Etemad-e Melli daily.
"After the announcement of the election results your supporters, in an illegal act, poured into the streets and by disrupting public order and security disrupted society's atmosphere," the letter said.
Ahmadi Moghaddam told Mousavi that "bandits are acting in the shadow of the illegal atmosphere created by you" but that police had not fired one shot at them. He said 400 police officers had been wounded in post-election unrest.
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The authorities have repeatedly said rallies by supporters of Mousavi, who says the election was rigged in favour of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and wants it annulled, were illegal.
On Saturday, Mousavi said the Islamic Republic must be purged of what he called lies and dishonesty, sending out a direct challenge to its conservative rulers.
Mousavi supporters in Tehran on Saturday (Photo: Reuters)
Meanwhile, Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani criticized the Guardian Council, Iran's top legislative body, which supervised the elections and was tasked with examining the allegations of irregularities.
According to Larijani, some of the Council's members sided with a certain candidate.
"A majority of people are of the opinion that the actual election results are different than what was officially announced," he told an Iranian network on Saturday.
"The opinion of this majority should be respected and a line should be drawn between them and rioters and miscreants," Larijani was quoted as saying by Khabaronline - a website affiliated with him.
He said he believed the Iranian people have lost their trust in the country's legal system.
"Although the Guardian Council is made up of religious individuals I wish certain members would not side with a certain presidential candidate," the parliament speaker said, adding "the Guardian Council should use every possible means to build trust and convince the protesters that their complaints will be thoroughly looked into."
In the 2005 presidential elections Larijani lost in the first round to Ahmadinejad and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
During his tenure as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Larijani repeatedly clashed with Ahmadinejad, who favored a more defiant stance in the face of the West's demand that Tehran curb its nuclear activities. Larijani was eventually replaced as chief negotiator by Saeed Jalili.
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