Mousavi calls day of mourning, more Tehran protests

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Iranians marched in quiet defiance Wednesday in protest against moderate Mirhossein Mousavi's election defeat, ahead of a day of mourning he has called for those killed in clashes.

(EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.)

In a fifth successive day of protests, Mousavi supporters demonstrated in central Tehran against the official victory of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Friday's vote, which has caused the worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

At least seven people were killed in street battles in Tehran Monday, according to state media. Other protests have flared up in cities elsewhere in Iran.

"A number of our countrymen were wounded or martyred," Mousavi said, calling Thursday's day of mourning.

"I ask the people to express their solidarity with the families ... by coming together in mosques or taking part in peaceful demonstrations," Mousavi said on his website.

Bloodshed, mass protests, arrests and a media crackdown have focussed attention on the world's fifth-biggest oil exporter which is locked in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program.

After Mousavi's web message, his supporters poured into Tehran's Haft-e Tir Square, ignoring an Interior Ministry warning, witnesses said. They were mostly dressed in black with wristbands and headbands in Mousavi's green campaign colours.

Most of the protesters, some holding pictures of Mousavi as well as green balloons, were silent and making victory signs. One young woman held a picture of one of those killed during post-election violence.

Asked if she was afraid of reprisals, another woman who gave her age as 25, said: "Why should we be? We are many and they cannot resist our demands."

The mass protests are a direct challenge to the authorities who have kept a tight grip on dissent since the U.S.-backed shah was overthrown in 1979 after months of protest.

The political earthquake set off by Friday's vote prompted U.S. President Barack Obama, who had urged the Iranian leadership to "unclench its fist," to say the upheaval showed "Iranian people are not convinced with the legitimacy of the election."

Major Western countries have questioned the result's fairness.

Discord within Iran's ruling system has never been so public. The Mousavi camp is backed by traditional establishment figures, such as former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, concerned about how Ahmadinejad's truculent foreign policy and populist economics are shaping Iran's future.

State television has said the "main agents" behind the turmoil have been arrested along with guns and explosives.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead Friday prayers and is expected to repeat his appeal for calm.

He has already urged people to back Ahmadinejad but, despite Khamenei's calls for national unity, Mousavi supporters have continued to pour on to the streets.

ARRESTS, DEATH PENALTY

Security forces arrested a pro-reform activist and an editor Wednesday, while a provincial prosecutor said those causing unrest faced the death penalty. An official inquiry was launched into an attack on university students.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman urged the Iranian government Wednesday to respect free speech and to put an end to restrictions on news coverage. International media are forbidden from leaving their offices to report.

After Monday's deaths, Mousavi asked followers to call off a rally Tuesday but it went ahead in a different location.

Tuesday's gathering was addressed by Faezeh Rafsanjani, daughter of the former president who backed Mousavi. Her public support was another sign of high-level rifts. Hardline students called for her to be arrested for incitement.

Among his supporters, Mousavi attracted many Iranians who believed Ahmadinejad had mishandled the economy, curbed social freedoms and alienated Iran from the outside world.

Mousavi's camp said he would seek detente with the West and enhance the role of women -- a pledge reinforced by the high profile role his wife took on the campaign trail.

Pro-Mousavi protests have been reported in the cities of Rasht, Orumiyeh, Zanjan, Zahedan, Tabriz and Mashhad.

In Seoul, several Iranian soccer players wore green wristbands early in a match against South Korea in what seemed to be a show of support for Mousavi. Fans waved banners at the stadium reading: "Free Iran." The score was 1-1.

Mohammadreza Habibi, prosecutor-general in Isfahan province, said: "We warn the few ... controlled by foreigners who try to disrupt domestic security by inciting individuals to destroy and to commit arson that the Islamic penal code for such individuals waging war against God is execution."

A reformist source said Saeed Laylaz, editor of the business daily Sarmayeh, and activist Mohammadreza Jalaiepour were both arrested Wednesday.

"I condemn widespread arrests of children of the revolution and (the arrests) will motivate people more to continue and expand protests," Mousavi said.

After Iran's influential speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani, condemned violence at Tehran University, the Interior Ministry ordered an investigation into the attack which students blamed on the Islamic Basij militia and police.

One student activist who declined to be identified told Reuters Tuesday four students were killed during the violence. Tehran University denied anyone had been killed.

Khamenei, who has favoured Ahmadinejad, has called for calm, allowing some ballot boxes to be recounted. Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, ruled out reformists' demands for the annulment of the vote.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said: "We do not want to intervene directly and we are not doing that. But indignation, the need to support democrats, the need to support reformists -- that, we affirm loud and clear."

Violent scenes of police beating Mousavi supporters taken on mobile phones were broadcast in the West.

The Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. interests, Wednesday to protest against "interventionist" U.S. statements on Iran's election.

Washington denied it was interfering in Iran's election process.

Obama told CNBC there appeared to be little difference in policy between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi. "Either way we are going to be dealing with an Iranian regime that has historically been hostile to the United States," he said.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl, Dominic Evans and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)