Iranian Army Kills Opposition Leader Mousavi’s Nephew
Dec 27, 2009 3 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
TEHRAN: Iranian security forces yesterday shot dead a nephew of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi during fierce clashes with anti-government protesters. Five people were killed in central Tehran after riot police opened fire on demonstrators.
Seyed Ali Mousavi, the 35-year-old nephew of Mousavi, was shot near his heart during clashes at Enghelab square “and was martyred after he was taken to Ebnesina hospital”, reformist website Parlemannews said.
The clashes, which followed sporadic skirmishes on Saturday, marked the bloodiest showdown between protesters and security forces since the height of unrest in June which broke out after disputed presidential elections.
Iranian state television reported that several people were killed in clashes in Tehran, which came as tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets in defiance of official warnings of a harsh crackdown on any demonstrations coinciding with Ashoora.
Security forces tried but failed to disperse protesters on a central Tehran street with tear gas, charges by baton-wielding officers and warning shots fired into the air. They then opened fire directly at protesters, killing at least three people, said witnesses. A fourth protester was shot dead on a nearby street.
Video footage showed an enraged crowd carrying away one of the casualties chanting, “I’ll kill, I’ll kill the one who killed my brother.” Witnesses said one victim was an elderly man who had a gunshot wound to the forehead. He was carried away by opposition supporters with blood covering his face.
Demonstrators fought back furiously, hurling stones and setting their motorcycles, cars and vans ablaze.
Police had blocked streets leading to the centre of the capital to try to prevent thousands of people from joining the protest. Still, many opposition supporters managed to break the security wall. They tried to cut off roads with burning barricades that filled the sky with billowing black smoke.
More than two dozen opposition supporters were injured, some of them seriously, with limbs broken from beatings. There were also violent confrontations in three other major cities: Isfahan and Najafabad in central Iran and Shiraz in the south.
