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Iran
Memorial ceremony called off amid clampdown
Article published on the 2009-06-25 Latest update 2009-06-25 16:00 TU
A shrine to Neda, a young woman killed in Iranian protests, in San Diego 24 June 2009
(Credit: Reuters)
A mourning ceremony for protesters killed in Iran's post-election demonstrations was called off on Thursday. The political opposition had planned to hold country-wide memorial rallies, but the authorities have clamped down. Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist parliamentary speaker who came a distant fourth in the presidential election on 12 June, cancelled the mourning ceremony as he was unable to find a site but plans to hold it next week, according to his party website.
Meanwhile, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned US President Barack Obama not to meddle in what he termed domestic affairs in light of the current political crisis that is being fought on the streets of Tehran.
"I hope you (Obama) will avoid interfering in Iran's affairs," said Ahmadinejad, who was quoted in Fars news agency.
On Wednesday, a large force of riot police and Islamist Basij militiamen stopped a crowd of several hundred people trying to assemble outside parliament, according to a witness. Another witness reported seeing police charge at passers-by, who dispersed into nearby streets, with some reports of shots being heard.
The Iranian authorities have stepped up the pressure on the opposition. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has stressed that he would not back down over the disputed vote and security forces have moved swiftly to stop public protests. Iran's interior ministry has banned all gatherings by opposition groups, which have staged sometimes massive protests in Tehran at what they say were rigged results of the election that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.
The authorities have also intensified a crackdown on opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi with the arrest of 25 staff at his newspaper and vitriolic attacks from the hardline press. Mousavi, has urged supporters to continue protesting but to show restraint to avoid bloodshed.
Meanwhile, a leading dissident cleric has issued a blunt warning to Iran's leaders, saying that continued suppression of opposition protests would destabilise the government. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, once tipped as a possible successor to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, called instead for an "impartial" committee to be set up to resolve the crisis. "If Iranians cannot talk about their legitimate rights at peaceful gatherings and are instead suppressed, complexities will build up which could possibly uproot the foundations of the government, no matter how powerful," he said in a statement.
In the latest backlash against the West, Iran's interior minister took aim at the United States, saying rioters were being funded by the CIA and the exiled opposition group the People's Mujahedeen. The authorities have expelled the BBC correspondent in Tehran and arrested two foreign reporters working for the US media. Many hundreds of protesters, prominent reformists and journalists have been rounded up by the authorities.
US President Barack Obama, who has called for dialogue with Iran after three decades of severed ties, said on Tuesday there were "significant questions about the legitimacy" of the poll but insisted Washington was not interfering.
