Following the heaviest unrest in Teheran for years sparked by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidential election victory, Mir Hossein Mousavi, the main election challenger who had earlier rejected the results as fraudulent, was put under house arrest, his campaign leaders told the LA Times correspondent in Teheran on Sunday.
A Mousavi supporter burns an Ahmadinejad poster as others throw stones at security forces in Teheran.
Photo: AP
Some reports said Mousavi had been detained en route to see Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In addition, more than 100 reformists - including Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami - were arrested on Saturday night, leading reformist Mohammad Ali Abtahi told Reuters on Sunday.
"They were taken from their homes last night," former vice president Abtahi was quoted as saying.
On Saturday, three protesters were reportedly killed by police in the capital following official Iranian claims that Ahmadinejad's had won Friday's presidential elections by a landslide, but many sections of central Teheran appeared calmer after midnight, with no signs of open clashes. However, the mood remained tense. Large groups of riot police patrolled the streets, moving along drivers who had been honking their horns in apparent protest.
Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president and head of the Expediency Council - Iran's top political arbitration body, resigned from his office, reportedly in protest over the results.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shows his identification card after casting his ballot in Teheran, Iran, Friday.
Photo: AP
Mousavi's supporters clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tires throughout Saturday.
By nightfall, cell phone service appeared to have been cut in Teheran, as helmeted police on foot and others on buzzing motorcycles chased bands of protesters. Officers beat protesters with swift blows from their truncheons and kicks with their boots. Some of the demonstrators grouped together to charge back at police, hurling stones.
Plumes of dark smoke streaked over the city. Protesters also torched an empty bus, engulfing it in flames on a Teheran street.
Ahmadinejad, in a nationally televised victory speech, accused the foreign media of coverage that harms the Iranian people and promised "a bright and glorious future" for Iran.
Several hundred demonstrators - many wearing the trademark green colors of pro-reform candidate Mousavi's campaign - chanted "the government lied to the people" and gathered near the Interior Ministry, as the final results were announced.
It gave 62.6 percent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75% to Mousavi, a former prime minister who has become the hero of a youth-driven movement seeking greater liberties and a gentler face for Iran abroad. Turnout was a record 85 percent of the 46.2 million eligible voters.
Sara Hasani, a young Iranian who led Mousavi's green campaign in her local neighborhood, alleged that "they [the government] robbed us of Mousavi's victory."
It was "simply not possible" that Ahmadinejad had won, she said.
"They cannot give us hope and take it away from the people. It appears Ahmadinejad has successfully manipulated the campaign scene better than we thought. Our votes are meaningless. It's a cruel joke," she said.
But Khamenei closed the door on any chance he could use his limitless powers to intervene in the disputes. In a message on state TV, he urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, calling the result a "divine assessment."
But Mousavi rejected the result as rigged and urged his supporters to resist a government of "lies and dictatorship."
"I'm warning that I won't surrender to this manipulation," said a statement on Mousavi's Web site. "The outcome of what we've seen from the performance of officials ... is nothing but shaking the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran's sacred system and governance of lies and dictatorship."
Mousavi warned "people won't respect those who take power through fraud."
Mousavi appealed directly to Khamenei to intervene and stop what he said were violations of the law. Khamenei, who is not elected, holds ultimate political authority in Iran and controls all major policy decisions.
Mousavi's campaign headquarters urged people to show restraint.
An apparently skeptical Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the US hopes the outcome of the election reflects the "genuine will and desire" of the Iranian people.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the US administration is paying close attention to reports of alleged election irregularities.
The clashes in central Teheran were the more serious disturbances in the capital since student-led protests in 1999. They showed the potential for the showdown to spill over into further violence and challenges to the Islamic establishment.
The demonstrations began Saturday morning shortly before the government announced the final results. Protesters set fire to tires outside the Interior Ministry and anti-riot police fought back with clubs and smashed cars.
An Associated Press photographer saw a plainclothes security official beating a woman with his truncheon. Italian state TV RAI said one of its crews was caught in the clashes in front of Mousavi's headquarters. Their Iranian interpreter was beaten with clubs by riot police and officers confiscated the cameraman's tapes, the station said.
On another main street of Tehran, some 300 young people blocked the avenue by forming a human chain and chanted "Ahmadi, shame on you. Leave the government alone."
There were also protests in the southern city of Ahvaz in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, where Mousavi supporters shouted, "Mousavi, take our votes back!" witnesses said.
It was not clear how many Iranians were even aware of Mousavi's claims of fraud. Communications disruptions began in the later hours of voting Friday, suggesting an information clampdown. State television and radio only broadcast the Interior Ministry's vote count and not Mousavi's midnight news conference.
After night fell, Teheran's cell phone network appeared to be down. When users tried to call cell phones, a message appeared on their phones saying "error in connection."
