 | | | A man shows a banner with photos of Iran's victims during "Global Day of Action" in Berlin |
TEHRAN (Al Arabiya, Agencies) Thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday in countries across the world to protest Iran's post-election rights crackdown amid reports that a protester had died in prison.
Meanwhile Iran's opposition urged senior clerics to help secure the release of people arrested following June's disputed presidential election.
A reformist website said the son of an adviser to defeated conservative candidate Mohsen Rezaie had been killed in a Tehran prison after being detained in post-election unrest.  | Global Day of Action Demonstrators march to the United Nations in a show of solidarity with Iranian people Meanwhile, demonstrators gathered in more than 110 cities around the world for a "Global Day of Action" dedicated to drawing attention to Iran's political prisoners.
They demanded that Iran's government free all detainees arrested during postelection protests and called on the United Nations to investigate rights abuses.
The organizing group United For Iran is backed by some of the world's leading non-governmental organizations like Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders, and Human Rights Watch. The group is also supported by prominent figures such as Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Shirin Ebadi and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. |
Global Day of Action protesters in Amsterdam Ebadi le more the 1,000 people in Amsterdam in chanting: "We want to live in peace. Long live peace."
In London, where more than a thousand gathered outside the Iranian embassy, organizers also spoke of supporting Iranians protesting against Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.
Chanting "Freedom ...Now," hundreds of demonstrators marched in New York demanding the release of all political prisoners and democracy in Iran.
In a park in Tokyo's busy Shibuya district, demonstrators carried a placard declaring: "Ahmadinejad is not Iran's president."
In Paris, a rally of some 600 people, mostly Iranians, denounced the "electoral coup d'etat" in Iran. Many wore green in support of Mousavi who was Ahmadinejad's closest rival. |
" It is wrong to link pro-reform detainees to foreign countries " Opposition statement In Melbourne, one of the five Australian cities where protests took place, about 50 members of the Iranian community waved their homeland's flag and banners reading "Stop Torture" and "Iran election was a fraud."
Demonstrations also took place in Berlin, Copenhagen, Vienna and Geneva, where protesters gathered outside the United Nations' European headquarters.
In Vienna, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran urged companies such as Siemens and Nokia which do business in Iran to put pressure on Tehran. | | Detainees tortured " The intelligence network has turned into the most unclear and terrifying tool to suppress people ... detainees are being kept in illegal detention centers and are under mental torture. Physically they are threatened harshly " Mehdi Karoubi In a flurry of announcements on websites, critics of the election condemned the tactics employed since the vote by the authorities, who have banned street protests by those who say the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged.
"The only way out of this situation is ... to immediately release detainees," Ghalamnews quoted a joint statement issued by moderate defeated candidates and former President Mohammad Khatami as saying.
"We are very worried about their physical and mental health ... this imposed state security should end ... It is wrong to link pro-reform detainees to foreign countries," it said.
Tehran has accused western powers of fuelling post-election unrest, charges they deny, adding to tensions over Iran's nuclear program which the West suspects is a cover for building atomic weapons. Iran says its program is peaceful. |
Protesters in Paris hold placards bearing images of Iranian icon Neda Agha Soltan Moderate defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karoubi said in a letter to Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei that those detained since the election had been subjected to "mental torture" and treated harshly, his website reported.
"The head of the executive body is not elected by the people's vote. The new government is illegitimate," he said in his letter.
"The intelligence network has turned into the most unclear and terrifying tool to suppress people ... detainees are being kept in illegal detention centers and are under mental torture. Physically they are threatened harshly," the letter added.
"Think of a way out of the current crisis, otherwise it will be difficult for you to manage Ramadan and other religious and national days," he added, referring to holidays when people gather and hold rallies.
The authorities say most of those held have been freed, but since most foreign media are banned from reporting in Iran such information can not be independently varified. | | Killed in Evin prison " His family was told that Mohsen would be released soon. But the authorities informed the family on Thursday night about his death " Mosharekat website The reformist Mosharekat website said on Saturday that Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of a senior adviser to Rezaie, had been killed in Tehran's Evin prison.
"His family was told that Mohsen would be released soon. But the authorities informed the family on Thursday night about his death," the website said.
Ruholamini had been arrested in post-election protests on July 9 and held in Evin, the website said. It did not say how he had been killed or when.
Iranian official media have said at least 20 people died in violence after the poll.
Moderate defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and the authorities blame each other for the bloodshed. Riot police and religious Basij militia eventually suppressed June's protests, but leading moderates have remained defiant, calling the new government "illegitimate." |
| |
|
_3740_4374.jpg)
