According to BBC Persian, Mir Hossein Mousavi in addressing his opponents in Iran stated: “the Iranian public has been given life once again so that it could defend itself and it cannot be shut down by arrests and fraudulent cases.” Mousavi went on to say that those who are opponents of the demonstrators are facing “an awakening of the nation”.
Upon visiting the families of the detainees, Mousavi indicated; “a government that is created in the air of mistrust will be a fragile government and since it does not have the support and accountability of the people it will credit false forces that are not in the interest of the people and the state.”
With regards to the government’s claim that the demonstrators are motivated by foreign interests, Mousavi stated that “who believes that these people are co-operating with foreigners and are betraying their nation. Isn’t this the biggest insult to our citizens? Isn’t this an insult to 40 million voters, to our students, professionals, clerics and all those who are working for their country? I urge you to end this game and release the children of this nation to the nation”.
In assessing the poor national media coverage of the recent events in Iran, Mousavi argued; “we want our people to rely less on foreign media and to do so we need our media to report on the events that are taking place.” He further criticized the poor treatment of the media in Iran, by exemplifying his newspaper ‘kalame sabz’ and the recent shut down that it has faced. “How can you claim that there is freedom of the press when our reporters have been arrested and the doors of our offices have been shut down for the past 3 weeks.”
July 20, 2009