Rights group fears crackdown after Khamenei speech

LONDON (Reuters) - A human rights group said on Friday Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared to have given the green light for a crackdown on street protests that it feared could cause many deaths.

Khamenei issued a strong warning on Friday to leaders of mass protests against last week's disputed presidential election that they would be responsible for any bloodshed.

"We are extremely disturbed at statements made by Ayatollah Khamenei which seem to give the green light to security forces to violently handle protesters exercising their right to demonstrate and express their views," Amnesty International's Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said in a statement.

Amnesty said his speech "indicates the authorities' readiness to launch violent crackdowns if people continue to protest which may cause a widespread loss of life."

It said that, instead of warning security forces, including the volunteer Basij militia, to act with restraint and in accordance with the law, Khamenei had said that if people continued to take to the streets, the consequences would lie with them.

"For a head of state to put the onus of security on peaceful demonstrators and not on the security forces is a gross dereliction of duty and a license for abuse," said Hassiba Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program.

Supporters of runner-up Mirhossein Mousavi have held six days of protests since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the election.

State media have reported seven or eight people killed in the protests. Scores of reformists have been arrested and authorities have cracked down on foreign and domestic media.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)