Iran's Mousavi ready to die for reform

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said on Friday that he was ready to sacrifice his life in his campaign to have the disputed June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad overturned.
“I am not unwilling to become a martyr like those who made that sacrifice after the election for their rightful national and religious demands,” Mousavi said in his first statement on his Kaleme.org website since deadly clashes on Sunday.
“My blood is no redder than theirs,” he added.
Mousavi’s nephew, Ali, was among at least eight people who died during Sunday’s opposition protests during Shiite Muslim rituals for Ashura.
The opposition head’s website carried a call from “political prisoners” in Tehran’s Evin jail for the public to hold a memorial on Sunday to mourn those who died during the protests.
Opposition website Rahesabz reported new protests in central Tehran on Thursday and sporadic clashes with security forces a day after the regime brought hundreds of thousands of its own supporters onto the streets of major cities in a massive show of strength.
Mousavi called on Ahmadinejad’s government to halt its crackdown against his supporters, which saw hundreds of people arrested during the demonstrations.
He urged the government “to take responsibility for the problems it has created in the country... release political prisoners... and recognise people’s right to lawful assembly.”
“I say openly that until there is an acknowledgement of the existence of a serious crisis in the country, there will be no possibility of resolving the problems and issues,” he said.
The former prime minister rejected demands from hardliners for him to renounce his accusations of fraud in the June election in which he was Ahmadinejad’s main challenger.
“I clearly and explicitly say that the order to execute, kill or jail (former parliament speaker and pro-reform presidential candidate Mehdi) Karroubi, Mousavi and people like us will not solve anything.
“Supposedly you calmed things down through your arrests, violence, threats and closure of newspapers and other media. What appreciation does that show for the change in public opinion about the Islamic republic?”