Six Mousavi supporters reportedly hanged in Iran

Jerusalem, July 1 (ANI): Six supporters of defeated Iran's presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi have reportedly been hanged after the authorities warned the opposition that they would tolerate no further protests over the disputed June 12 presidential elections.

Speaking after Iran's Guardian Council upheld the election victory of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sources in Iran said in a telephone interview that the hangings took place in the holy city of Mashhad on Monday.

There was no independent confirmation of the report, The Jerusalem Post reports.

The sources also reported that a prominent cleric gave a speech to opposition protesters in Teheran earlier this week in which he publicly acknowledged that the very act of speaking at the gathering could cost him his life.

"Ayatollah Hadi Gafouri said that the Imam (Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) never wanted current supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to succeed him. He even went to say that the Islamic republic died the day the Imam did," one source said.

Other criticisms from senior clerics over the regime's handling of the elections and subsequent protests included a report from a Persian news agency, which on Tuesday quoted a senior cleric from the city of Esfahan, Ayatollah Seyyed Jalaleddin Taheri-Esfahani, defending Mousavi against the regime's criticisms.

On Monday, witnesses said thousands of policemen and Basij militiamen carrying batons were deployed in Tehran's main squares to prevent any recurrence of the opposition protests.

Women police, better known as the Sisters of Zeynab, are also now out in force, the witnesses said.

"Some people are still going out into the streets, but there is despair and sadness. Now we are told that (pro-Mousavi) green bands are illegal, which is ironic because it symbolizes the colour of Islam," said one source. (ANI)