Violent street protests against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reformers detained

By Gideon Swift | Published: June 14, 2009

Iran detained more than 100 reformers including the brother of a former president, a leading reformer said on Sunday, after violent street protests in Tehran against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Supporters of defeated moderate candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, who has dismissed Ahmadinejad’s election victory to a second term as a "dangerous charade," gathered in the center of the capital again on Sunday and chanted his name.

The world’s fifth biggest oil exporter saw the most widespread protests on Saturday since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, and residents in five other cities said people had taken to the streets to support Mousavi.

Hard-liner Ahmadinejad was planning celebrations in the capital later on Sunday. His unexpectedly overwhelming victory and its violent aftermath raised fresh questions about the direction of Iranian policies at a time when U.S. President Barack Obama wants to improve relations with Iran.

Iranian and Western analysts said Ahmadinejad’s victory would disappoint Western powers aiming to convince Iran to halt a nuclear program they suspect is aimed at making bombs. Obama had urged Iran’s leadership "to unclench its fist."