June 15, 2009

Moussavi appears at Iran protest rally

Posted: 12:02 PM ET

American Morning - amFIX
Filed under: amFIX

Defeated reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi (C) raises his arms as he appears at an opposition demonstrate in Tehran on June 15, 2009, for the first time since an election that has divided the nation. Getty Images

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) – Iran's defeated main opposition leader appeared at a rally Monday, the first time he has been seen in public since last week's elections which he says were rigged to give hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad overwhelming victory.
Iranian opposition supporters protest in Tehran on Monday.

Reformist Mir Hossein Moussavi, whose claims of fraud in Friday's vote have fueled three days of unrest and prompted authorities to launch a probe, spoke to supporters in Tehran's Freedom Square using a loudspeaker, and clasped his hands over his head as the crowd cheered.

Wearing a striped shirt and smiling, he appeared confident, despite official election results showing that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad convincingly won Friday's election.

Hundreds of thousands of people turned out for the demonstration, said Amir Mehdi Kazemi, a reporter for the Iranian government-backed station.

CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour saw a pair of four-wheel drive vehicles - believed to be transporting Moussavi to the rally –pass at high speed to join the march, one with security officials hanging off the car and the other with a camera.

Crowds shouted "Moussavi! Moussavi!" as they passed.

There was little or no chanting of political slogans among the marchers, with demonstrators quieting anyone who tried to shout, Amanpour said, because the Interior Ministry has banned political demonstrations.

Keep reading this story »

Watch: Moussavi emerges at rally
Related: Would Moussavi make a difference?

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Joe Booker

June 16th, 2009 7:32 am ET

The most important thing to understand is that Iran has a Themocracy not a Democracy.

Their Ayatollah Khamenei is afraid that he might become the object of rebellion and a government by the people and for the people will be established, with a complete separation of church and state. I happen to know of a government that can be a great roll model.

Joe

Terik Ororke

June 16th, 2009 12:45 pm ET

I do not see much difference in having a so called Supreme Leader in Iran versus a king and his nobles who in the name of religion make laws and control peoples' lives. So why all this fuss about who is president in Iran since it really does not make all that difference until the Iranian people have a real revolution and have separation of church and state?

Cedric Javan

June 19th, 2009 7:33 pm ET

I want to encourage all bloggers who will be heard and all Iranians to consider shifting the nature of the protest to WORK STOPPAGE. I believe the demographics of the groundswell against the election results and the regime would be most effective in a work stoppage in Iran. I also beleive this would be the least directly confrontational path to both Islamic law and the regime in power. If all who protest would STOP WORK the country would quickly grind to a halt, without giving hard liners a chance for physical confrontation.

My prayers and support to those who risk their lives for truth and productive international discourse.

Paul

June 22nd, 2009 8:37 am ET

It is very difficult to conceive that the Republican representatives and senators are so occupied with their efforts to discredit the Present Obama lead administration that they feel the American People are willing to repeat the mistakes made by previous administrations on the Korean and Viet Nam wars, the Iranian Revolution and the war in Iraq, or that we are so interested in jump starting our economy that we are interested in becoming involved in another war that we should keep our hands off of. Yes we all support Democracy and Capitalism but not at the expense of our children’s lives in a region of the world that is still very cautious of any American and western involvement. There are so many other ways to help without breaking our own ideologies and risking American lives. Point in mind the Monroe Doctrine.

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July 14th, 2009 8:51 am ET

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