Mir Hossein Moussavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi is considered "an unlikely leader of the protest movement". As prime minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989 he presided over a cultural revolution in which Iranian universities were violently purged of influences other than Islam.
Many scientists fled the country to avoid death or imprisonment. But Mousavi, although a conservative, is now part of a broad coalition of political and ethnic forces - ethnic Iranians make up just half of the population of Iran - who want greater democracy and openness to the world.
The protesters in Iran and many leading clerics now look to the
presidential election challenger, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, to unite the
country, which has been divided by strong indications of electoral
fraud and violent clamp-down on peaceful protesters.
JULY 1 2009 STATEMENT
Mir Hossein Mousavi has released
statement to Iranians on July 1 2009 in which he offers reconciliation and no retribution for crimes committed against the nation and the citizens during the more than two weeks of violent silencing of the opposition:
Several characters and groups have come to me and asked me to forgive
what happened in the past. Perhaps they do not realize that I let go
off my own personal rights from the beginning. But the issue of the
elections was not and is not a personal matter. I cannot let go of or
compromise people’s rights which have been violated. The issue is our
regime’s republicanism and even its Islamic character. If we do not
stand up, there will be no guarantee that what happened in recent
elections will not happen in the future.
Mir Hossein Mousavi also announces a special team to re-establish the fundamental principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran:
A group of elite are going to come together and create a legal
organization to safeguard the dishonored rights and votes of the people
by publishing the documents and proofs of fraud and referring to
judicial courts. They will regularly announce the results to the
people. I will also join this group. This group will demand the
enforcement of the constitutional articles that have been violated and
in addition, it will pursue the following:
* Stop security and military involvement in electoral issues and return the country to its normal political environment
* Revise the electoral laws in order to eliminate the possibility of
widespread fraud and guarantee the neutrality of the overseeing agencies
* Observance of article 27 of the constitution regarding freedom of assembly
* Freedom of the media
* Reactivate independent news websites
* Ban illegal government intervention in communication channels such as
Internet, text messaging, and prevent the disconnection of phones and
eavesdropping on people’s conversations
* Stop biased treatments, accusations, lies and insults on the state media
* Have independent TV channels inside and outside the country
* Issue permits for social, political, cultural and economic gatherings
* Release of all political prisoners, annulment of all forged security cases
