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Iran protester killed in clashes with police, say witnesses – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Foreign media in Tehran were again prohibited from covering Sunday’s protests, making it impossible to verify the reports by the opposition websites and witnesses.

By News Agencies

Opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi had used their websitels to issue for nationwide rallies to commemorate two people killed in protests last week and show “decisive support to the pro-reform movement and its leaders”.

	People in Tehran take part in the funeral of Sanee Zhaleh, a student who was shot dead during an opposition rally, February 16, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

Mousavi’s website “Kaleme” reported that there had been gatherings of opposition supporters in various parts of Tehran.

The demonstrator was hit by shotgun fire in the Haft Tir square in central Tehran and died almost instantly, the websites said, as police used tear gas on the crowds in the capital.

A senior government official denied the report. Foreign media in Tehran were again prohibited from covering Sunday’s protests, making it impossible to verify the reports by the opposition websites and witnesses.

The official IRNA news agency said Iran’s police chief had confirmed that security forces were out in numbers in Tehran but denied that there had been any significant incidents.

The daughter of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was briefly detained for “chanting provocative slogans” while taking part in a rally, IRNA reported.

The semi-official Fars news agency later said she had been released after saying that she was “out shopping for clothes”.

The former president, who remains a powerful figure as head of Iran’s Expediency Council, supported Mousavi in the disputed 2009 presidential election, won by Ahmadinejad.

The authorities, seeking to avoid a revival of the mass anti-government rallies that erupted after the 2009 vote, had warned on Saturday that any illegal gatherings by the opposition would be confronted.

Two people were killed and dozens arrested on Monday when thousands of opposition supporters in Tehran and other cities took to the streets in sympathy with uprisings that toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.

On Sunday, the Kaleme website said that “a large number of riot police, security forces, members of the Basij militia and plainclothes forces can be seen in Tehran’s streets”.

Karoubi’s website Sahamnews said security forces were out in large numbers in other cities including Isfahan and Shiraz.

The Fars agency said “seditionists” had unsuccessfully tried to gather in the holy Shi’ite city of Mashhad in northeast Iran.
Foreign media were not provided with the required permits to cover protests from the streets.

The accreditations of text and visual journalists working for foreign media including Agence France-Presse, Al Jazeera and the New York Times were revoked after they covered Monday’s anti-government protests without permits.

Iran’s police chief was quoted by IRNA as saying there had been no significant incidents on Sunday. “Despite the efforts of enemies who wanted to foment tension in Iran, nothing happened in the country,” Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam said.

But Mousavi’s website said there had been “sporadic gatherings”. “Generally they are silent but sometimes the crowd chants ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is Great) and ‘Death to the Dictator’,” it said.Mousavi and Karoubi, who both ran against Ahmadinejad in
2009, have been placed under house arrest since calling for Monday’s rally. Hardliners have urged the judiciary to hand down death penalties to opposition leaders.

In response, Karoubi urged the judiciary to put him on public trial, Sahamnews reported on Saturday.

The opposition leaders said Monday’s rally, the first big show of opposition on the streets since December 2009, showed
Iran’s pro-democracy movement was still alive.

Iran’s hardline rulers have repeatedly accused opposition leaders of being part of a Western plot to overthrow the Islamic system. Mousavi and Karoubi deny the claim.

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