Moussavi 6/20/09

The latest from Iran – Saturday June 20, 2009 4:27 pm:

Moussavi’s open letter to the people of Iran. Released tonight at 9:21pm. It states that he stands with the people to protect the original aims of the revolution to reach human rights and democracy. He states that what they got instead was fraud, injustice, torture and lies. He states why he will not stand down and why all the security forces of Iran are brothers and sisters that should support the nation. He says the body charged with investigating the elections is not a neutral body. He calls on authorities to pull the security forces and Basij out of the streets and allow the people’s voices to be heard peacefully. The full letter in Farsi can be found here.

4:13 pm: According to Moussavi’s Facebook page, the police are pouring acid on the demonstrators.

link: niacINsight

The Accidental Leader

Mir Hussein Moussavi has become the public face of the movement, the man the protesters consider the true winner of the disputed presidential election. But he is in some ways an accidental leader, a moderate figure anointed at the last minute to represent a popular upwelling against the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is far from being a liberal in the Western sense, and it is not yet clear how far he will be willing to go in defending the broad democratic hopes he has come to embody.

link: An Insider Turned Agitator Is the Face of Iran’s Opposition - NYTimes.com