Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for the Guardian Council – the legal body required to ratify the election result – to inquire into possible election fraud following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad election victory on June 12, the Times Online reports.
Oddly enough, it was Khamenei who congratulated Ahmadeinjad while both he and Mir Hossein Mousavi were claiming victory. The call for investigation will progress tomorrow.
The request comes amid reports of a leaked interior ministry file that shows Ahmadinejad finished third in the election with just 5.7 million votes. Mousavi, according to the report placed on countless blogs and news sites, finished first with 19.7 million votes and reformist Mehdi Karoubi finished respectively second with 13.7 million.
For the past three days Iranian citizens have been parading down streets protesting the results of the June 12 election and the victory it brought for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Millions of Iranians, both home and abroad, are convinced the election was fixed. Some believe the result was set before the election took place.
Why? Well, the results were announced after 30 minutes or so. Odd, since more than 40 million votes were cast. The ballots, by the way, were hand counted. The turnaround on that seems quite suspicious.
Many voters and international media personalities say they were skeptical before the vote even took place. I’d say there was some foreshadowing, for example the lax rules on political rallying for a liberal opposition candidate before the election.
Some in Iran may have thought the allowance of public support and rallies for Mousavi signaled the end of an oppressive government and the start of a government of the people, for the people and by the people.
But that was of course not the outcome of what seemed like the end of Ahmadinejad. He supposedly won the election, according to tallies released by the government, by more than 13 million votes, carrying regions with strong Mousavi support bases, such as Mousavi’s hometown.
And now, with the looming prospect of four more years under the oppressive Ahmadinejad, the people are fighting back. Not since the 1979 Iranian Revolution to overthrow the monarchy has such a public distaste for the ruling class taken place. But people are inspired and angry, both in Iran and outside.
Millions are following along on twitter, thousands are attending protests and rallies in their hometowns.
But the Iranian government isn’t happy about it, either. Reports have surfaced that some candidates were put under house arrest and some students were shot and killed at a rally Monday. Police open fired at citizens during a protest in Tehran on Monday as well, as supporters rallied despite government order prohibiting such demonstration. At least one person was killed.
In the video below you see men carrying a man who has been shot, possibly dead.
Secret police are trying to arrest protesters, an attempt greeted by contempt and violence by young Iranians. Some riot police were beaten bloody by protesters. But some police, as you’ll see in the video below around 2:47, are being helped by citizens. Possibly united by there lack of free expression and voice, the police simply doing their job.
A particularly gripping photo, seen here, shows a protester helping a riot policeman after he was beaten.
Mousavi appeared at a rally and spoke to his supporters today. Obama ensured Iranians today that the “world is inspired” by their actions. He also said it is up to Iranians to decide their leaders, signaling their will be no intervention from the United States. Many believe, as a democratic model and world power, the U.S. should intervene.
Protests will continue until something happens. Hopefully soon to minimize more possible deaths.
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