Disputed Letter Reports Victory by Mousavi

Among the propaganda coming from all sides in the Iranian election dispute, one letter stands out: a note from the interior minister to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, giving the "true" result of last Friday's vote. The letter acknowledges the Supreme Leader's "order" for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to win but shows Mir Hossein Mousavi winning, with a total that would have set up a runoff against fellow reformer Mehdi Karroubi. Real or fake, the document is circulating widely, the Independent reports.

Thousands of copies of the letter have circulated in Tehran, and in the European Parliament yesterday the Iranian filmmaker Marjane Satrapi flashed it as evidence of fraud. It seems unlikely that Karroubi would have done so well or that Ahmadinejad would have placed a distant third, but the letter has electrified the opposition, strengthening its claim that Mousavi was robbed of victory.
(More Iran stories.)