Iran protests reignite as top cleric calls for freedom

Iranian pro-opposition protesters clashed with police Friday on the streets of Tehran in the first major rally since the end of last-month's post-election tensions.

Iranian police detained at least 15 people and used tear gas and batons to disperse opposition supporters outside Tehran University, a witness said.

Witnesses also said that a big crowd of Iran's opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi's supporters rallied in central Tehran after the Friday prayers sermon, a witness said."

"They are wearing green wristbands and carrying Mousavi's pictures while showing the victory sign," the witness said. Green was Mousavi's symbolic color for the presidential vote.

Near the university gates, police fired tear gas at Mousavi supporters as they headed for the prayers, witnesses said. They spoke on condition of anonymity fearing government retaliation.

The planned rallies erupted following a sermon given by opposition's top backer in the clerical leadership, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Rafsanjani said on Friday a "large group of Iranians" had doubts about last month's disputed presidential election and that something should be done about the situation.

Rafsanjani also called for the release of protesters and others detained after the June poll.

"In the current situation it is not necessary for us to have a number of people in prisons ... we should allow them to return to their families," he said during a Friday prayer sermon.

"We are all members of a family. I hope with this sermon we can pass through this period of hardships that can be called a crisis," he said.

The influential cleric also called for media freedom in the framework of the law. Rights activists say many journalists are among those held after the June 12 election, which sparked mass opposition protests, and that many pro-reform websites have been closed down.

The opposition is seeking to show their movement remains vibrant even after the crackdown put down huge anti-government protests that erupted after Iran's disputed June 12 presidential election.

Tens of thousands - mostly pro-opposition but also some government backers - packed the prayer hall and shouted competing slogans. Hard-liners made traditional chants of death to America, while opposition supporters countered with death to Russia - a reference to government's ties to Moscow. Many pro-reform worshippers wore green headbands or wristbands or had green prayer rugs - the opposition movement's color.

In the front row of the worshippers was opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, attending for the first time since the election. Mousavi claims he won the election and that results showing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory were fraudulent. He insists Ahmadinejad's government will be illegitimate.

However, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has backed Ahmadinejad. Hard-liners in the clerical leadership have since been demanding the public fall in line behind Khamenei, hoping to put behind them the biggest challenge to their rule in 30 years.

Two pro-reform Web sites reported that a prominent women's rights activist, Shadi Sadr, was beaten by plainclothes militiamen and taken away as she headed toward Tehran University. Sadr was forcible pushed into a car and taken to an unknown location, Mousavi's Web site www.mowjcamp.com and a women's activists site www.meydaan.com said.

The opposition has been looking for a way to keep their momentum after the crackdown against protests. In the past two weeks, they have been able to hold one day of rallies - on July 9, when thousands marched in the streets, confronting police weilding batons and firing tear gas.

At least 20 people have been killed in the crackdown, according to police, though rights groups fear the number could be several times that amount. Hundreds remain in prison, many of them held in secret locations, including some of the top political leaders of the reform movement.