Iran Opposition Pledges to Defy Mourning Ban
New York Times / Robert F. Worth & Nazila Fathi
30-Jul-2009

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Opposition leaders pledged to go ahead with a contentious mourning ceremony on Thursday for those killed in unrest following Iran’s disputed presidential election on June 12, a Web site reported, a day after the authorities sent a mixed message of clemency and firmness.

Although the Interior Ministry has denied permission for a gathering, the opposition leaders Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi announced Wednesday that the ceremony would be held in the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery in Tehran. In a posting on Mr. Moussavi’s Web site on Thursday, the two leaders said they would proceed with the ceremony “to commemorate Neda Agha-Soltan and other victims of the unrest,” Reuters reported.

Ms. Agha-Soltan was shot to death in post-election violence, and amateur video footage showing her bleeding to death on a Tehran street rapidly became a global icon of resistance to the electoral v... >>>

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