TEHRAN — Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi on Tuesday called for those who "committed fraud" in last year's presidential poll to be prosecuted, as he vowed to keep the anti-government movement alive.
"A fair trial of those who committed the election fraud, tortured and killed protesters must be held," Mousavi said, in a statement to mark the anniversary of the June 12, 2009 election.
Mousavi, along with the opposition's other key leader Mehdi Karroubi, has steadfastly rejected the re-election of their rival President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in what they said was the result of a "fraudulent" election.
In the statement released on his website Kaleme.com, Mousavi, who was once a pillar of the Islamic regime but has turned into a bitter critic, announced a "new charter" of policy aims for the opposition movement.
He called for an "end to the involvement of police and military forces in politics, the independence of the judiciary, and prosecution of those in plainclothes," referring to Islamist vigilantes.
Soon after the election dispute erupted, Iranian authorities used hardline Basij militia and security forces, including the Revolutionary Guards, to crush opposition protests against Ahmadinejad.
Dozens of people were killed and hundreds wounded in clashes, while thousands were arrested in the crackdown.
Mousavi urged authorities to release political prisoners and lift restrictions on political parties, and social movements.
He criticised the siege of Karroubi on Sunday by pro-regime supporters at the house of Grand Ayatollah Yousef Sanaie in the holy city of Qom, central Iran.
Iranian hardliners surrounded Karroubi for several hours when he called upon Sanaie, an opposition sympathiser, and even attacked the ayatollah's office.
Intelligence agents also reportedly closed the office of late Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who was also a strong supporter of the opposition before his death in December.
"Attacking people, university students, offices of Grand Ayatollah Sanaie and Montazeri, and insulting Mr Karroubi show the level of crisis among the attackers," Mousavi said.
"Those who ordered and executed the attack on sources of emulation will only help destroy the legitimacy of the regime," he said, referring to the Shiite religious leaders.
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