Sunday Morning in Iran, A Letter from Mousavi's Office

I’ve received what purports to be a statement from Mousavi’s Office in Tehran.  Like everyone else covering the revolution, I get a lot of material that can’t be authenticated, and one must always take such material with a healthy dose of skepticism.  That said, the person who sent this to me is undoubtedly in touch with the Mousavi people on the ground, that much is certain.  His information has been proven reliable throughout this period.  So while the following open letter carefully puts distance between the author(s) and Mousavi himself, I am quite sure that at a minimum it accurately reflects the state of mind of the Mousavi people.

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So here you go:

From  the Office of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi

To the President of the USA, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama:

Dear Mr. President,

In the name of  the Iranian people, we want you to know that when you recently made the statement “Achmadinejad or Mousavi? Two of a kind,” we consider this as a grave and deep insult, not just to Mr. Mousavi but especially against the judgment of the Iranian people, against our moral conviction and intelligence, especially those of the young generation that comprises a population of 31 million.

It is a specially grave insult for those who are now fighting for democracy and freedom, and an unwarranted gift and even praise for Mr. Khamenei, whose security forces are now killing peaceful Iranians in the streets of every major city in the country.

Your statement misled the people of the world.  It was no doubt inspired by your hope for dialogue with this regime, but you cannot possibly believe in promises from a regime that lies to its own people and then kills them when they demand the promises be kept.

By such statements, your administration and you discourage the Iranian people, who believe and trust in the values of democracy and freedom.  We are pleased to see that you have condemned the regime’s murderous violence, and we look forward to stronger support for the rightful struggle of the Iranian people against the actions of a regime that is your enemy as well as ours.

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UPDATE:  From Mousavi’s speech on Sunday:

The great participation in this election was, in the first degree, indebted to the efforts for creating hope and trust among the people, to obtain a befitting response to the existing administrative crises and the widespread social dissatisfaction, whose accumulation can target the bedrock of the Revolution and the Regime. If this good faith and trust coming from the people is not answered by protecting their votes, or the people can not react in a civil and peaceful way to defend their rights, there will be dangerous pathways ahead, responsibility for which lies with those who can’t stand peaceful behaviors.

If the high volume of cheating and vote manipulation, that has put a fire to the foundations of people’s trust, is itself introduced as the proof and evidence of the lack of fraud, the republicanism of the regime will be slaughtered and the idea of incompatibility of Islam and republicanism would be practically proven.

UPDATE II:  Mousavi has called for a general strike on Tuesday.  Meanwhile, the regime is now rounding up Rafsanjani family members.  As Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi tells us:

Tabnak Website from Iran reports: Five members of the Rafsanjani family arrested. It is said that his daughter Faezeh who is very outspoken and has been very active in politics for more than two decades has also been arrested. Reportedy Faezeh, her daughter,Hossein Marashi (cousin of Mrs. Rafsanjani nee Effat Marashi), Marashi’s daughter and Marashi’s sister-in-law have been taken into custody as well

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Update III:  From Judith Klinghoffer, the unions are joining the revolution.

Update IV:  From the Guardian’s excellent blog:

More evidence of tensions among the ayatollahs. Hossein Ali Montazeri, an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership, said: “Resisting people’s demand is religiously prohibited.” Montazeri, who has been under house arrest for some years, called for three days of national mourning for those killed, in a statement on his website.

This is to be expected, and it’s a tribute to the courage of Montazeri.  There’s a reason he’s been under house arrest, after all.

UPDATE V:  To show you what’s happening in Iran, today the security forces invaded the central election headquarters in Tehran and arrested everybody there.  No doubt because they don’t want any witnesses to the “election circus.”  Normally the staff is about 80, but today, Sunday, only 26 had made it to the office.  All of which reminds me of a great exchange on Twitter.  Somebody had announced an upcoming general strike, and another person replied saying “all you have 2 do is announce a demonstration and Basij will shut down all of Tehran 4 us.”

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