Iran Arrests Dissidents; Challenger Calls for Fatwa

Iran arrested more than 100 opposition members as clashes between anti-government protesters and police continued today, the New York Times reports. Opposition candidates Mir Hussein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi called for yesterday’s disputed election, which saw incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win easily, to be overturned. Mousavi backers called for a march tomorrow, asking "mullahs to give fatwas that Ahmadinejad is not our president," Reuters and ABC News report.

“The elections should not be allowed and the results have no legitimacy or social standing,” Karroubi said. A moderate clerical organization also warned that “the republican aspect of the regime will be damaged and people will lose confidence in the system.” Ahmadinejad is dismissing the criticism and hinted that Mousavi could be punished—“He ran a red light, and he got a traffic ticket,” he said of his rival.
(More Iranian election stories.)