Iran's Mousavi: Election protests people's right

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said Thursday he was determined to continue fighting against "major" presidential election rigging despite pressure to stop, his website reported.

Mousavi, who says he won the June 12 election, said the nation had the right to protest over the vote.

"I am pressured to abandon my demand for the vote annulment ... a major rigging has happened ... I am prepared to prove that those behind the rigging are responsible for the bloodshed ... Continuation of legal and calm protests will guarantee achieving our goals," he said.

"I insist on the nation's constitutional right to protest against the election result and its aftermath ... I strongly criticize the closure of the Kalameh-ye Sabz daily and arrest of those who worked there...The illegal confrontation with the media opens the way for foreign interference," he said in a statement.

Mousavi was the managing-director of the Kalameh-ye Sabz daily, which was closed earlier this week.

"Such illegal behaviors (closure of the newspaper) unfortunately will lead society to get information from foreign media," said Mousavi.

About 20 people have died in demonstrations following the disputed election. Police and militia have flooded Tehran's streets since Saturday, quelling the most widespread anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The unrest has exposed unprecedented rifts within Iran's clerical establishment, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who normally stays above the political fray, siding strongly with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mousavi supporters said they would release thousands of balloons Friday imprinted with the message "Neda you will always remain in our hearts" -- a reference to the young woman killed last week who has become an icon of the protests.

But analysts say the battle has now moved off the street into a protracted behind-the-scenes struggle between powerful establishment figures, including former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Ahmadinejad and Khamenei.