Tehran: Opposition heads today implicitly
called for demonstrations on the February 11 anniversary of
Iran's Islamic revolution, as the Revolutionary Guards warned
that any such protest will be crushed.
Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have
spearheaded protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
met on Saturday and invited supporters to demonstrate on the
anniversary day, Karroubi's website Sahamnews.org said.
The two leaders said Thursday's hangings of two
dissidents, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmani Pour,
for allegedly plotting to topple the Islamic regime after
Iran's election dispute broke out in June was an attempt to
keep people away from the February 11 demonstration.
"It seems that such a move is to scare people so they
do not take part in the demonstration of 22nd of Bahman
(February 11)," the website quoted the two as saying, an
indication of possible anti-government protests which could
occur during regime-sponsored annual marches.
The website said Mousavi and Karroubi agreed that the
executed pair appeared to have been arrested months before the
June 12 presidential election and had nothing to do with the
post-poll violence.
The two dissidents belonged to the monarchist group
Tondar (the Kingdom Assembly of Iran), according to Iranian
media reports.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, January 30, 2010, 19:31