Latest Channel 4 News:
Row over Malaysian state's coins
'Four shot at abandoned mine shaft'
Rain fails to stop Moscow wildfires
Cancer blow for identical twins
Need for Afghan progress 'signs'

Timeline: Iran's election protests

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 18 September 2009

Riots broke out when presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi claimed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory at Iran's 13 June general election was a "charade".

Tehran protests (Credit: Reuters)

13 June

Incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins election with nearly 63 per cent of vote, authorities say. Reformist challenger Mirhossein Mousavi has 34 per cent. Mousavi calls result a "dangerous charade". Thousands of   protesters clash with police.

14 June

Mousavi asks Guardian Council to annul election.

15 June

Seven killed during march by Mousavi supporters in Tehran, state media says. Protests break out in other cities.

16 June

Thousands of pro-Mousavi demonstrators march in northern Tehran. Authorities ban foreign journalists from leaving their offices to cover street protests.

17 June

Ahmadinejad defends legitimacy of the vote in a cabinet meeting saying it "posed a great challenge to the West's democracy", Mehr news agency reports.

18 June

Thousands of Mousavi's backers rally in Tehran to mourn those killed in the mass protests.

19 June

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says protest leaders will be responsible for any bloodshed if rallies continue over the election, which he says Ahmadinejad won fairly by 11m votes.

20 June

Riot police are deployed to disperse groups of several hundred Iranians who gathered across Tehran. A suicide bomber blows himself up near the shrine of Iran's revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran, Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency reports.

22 June

Revolutionary Guards say they will "firmly confront in a revolutionary way rioters and those who violate the law". Police break up a protest in Tehran.

23 June

Guardian Council again rules out annulment of the poll, saying there have been no major polling irregularities. Riot police and Basij militia in Tehran ward off mass protests. American President Barack Obama says the United States is "appalled and outraged" by Iran's crackdown. Britain expels two Iranian diplomats after two of its own are expelled from Iran.

26 June

The Guardian Council found no major violations in the vote, which it described as the "healthiest" since 1979. Cleric Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts, calls for the execution of leading "rioters".

28 June

Authorities detain several local British embassy staff for involvement in the unrest. Britain calls the arrests "harassment and intimidation" and demands their release.

1 July

A semi-official Iranian news agency says one of three local British embassy staff still in detention had a "remarkable role" in the post-election unrest.

5 July

A pro-reform Iranian clerical group says the outcome of the presidential vote was "invalid", even though Supreme Leader Khamenei has upheld the result.

17 July

Clashes erupt between police and reformist protesters for the first time in weeks in Tehran after former President Rafsanjani declares Iran in crisis.

20 July

Reformist former president Mohammad Khatami calls for a referendum on the legitimacy of the government.

30 July

Clashes erupt after hundreds of Mousavi supporters gather to mourn Neda Agha-Soltan at Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery but police force Mousavi to leave. Hundreds of police fire teargas to disperse protesters from nearby streets.

1 Aug

Trials begin of prominent moderates, charged with trying to overthrow the clerical establishment.

3 Aug

Supreme Leader Khamenei formally approves the second term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

5 Aug

Ahmadinejad sworn in by parliament in a ceremony boycotted by reformist leaders and marred by street protests.

8 Aug

A French woman and an Iranian who works for the British Embassy in Tehran confessed at a mass trial to playing a role in unrest that Iran says was a Western attempt to overthrow the clerical leadership.

21 Aug

After an Esteghlal Foolad FF football match, some more anti-government protests break out.

22 Aug

Reports of large anti-government protests near Evin Prison.

26 Aug

Khamenei says he does not believe that groups protesting against the presidential election results have foreign backing.

4 Sep

For the first time in two decades, Hassan Khomeini announced that a traditional religious event that was planned to be held in Ayatollah Khomeini's cemetery was cancelled.

13 Sep

Demonstrations in Qom after Yousef Sanei's speech.

18 Sep

Pro and anti-government demonstrations expected in Iran.

Send this article by email

More on this story

Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.


Watch the Latest Channel 4 News

Watch Channel 4 News when you want

Latest International politics news

More News blogs

View RSS feed

Living with the Taliban

Taliban on the Afghan frontline

A rare film of Taliban fighters on the Afghan frontline.

Pakistan appeal

image

Actor Art Malik on why he is fronting the DEC's flood appeal.

Tackling Taliban IEDs

image

Bomb disposal soldiers on lonely walk to defuse bombs.

Snowmail




Channel 4 © 2010. Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.