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Leaked video renews accusations of 2009 election fraud

In a video leaked online, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the return of the Reformists during the 2009 elections was a "red line" for the organization.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran.

Iran's Revolutionary guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari speaks during a conference to mark the martyrs of terrorism in Tehran September 6, 2011. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY PROFILE) - RTR2QUXD
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammad Ali Jafari speaks during a conference to mark the martyrs of terrorism in Tehran, Sep. 6, 2011. — REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl

A video leaked online of the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard saying that the Reformists' return to power in the 2009 elections was a “red line” for them is proof of election fraud, some are saying.

Mohammad Nourizad, one of Iran’s most outspoken politician dissidents, uploaded to his Facebook page an edited video of the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Ali Jafari, discussing the 2009 elections and the subsequent crackdown on protests. The video has been shared over 4,000 times.

In the video, Jafari is seen sitting on a stage behind a large desk, addressing other commanders in an auditorium. Sitting front and center is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative to the Revolutionary Guard, Ali Saeedi. In an interview with BBC Persian, Nourizad said that the entire video is in his possession, but he did not know the date of the speech.

“The sensitivity of the [2009] presidential elections is clear for all of you,” Jafari says at the beginning of the approximately five-minute Facebook video. “The concern and worry that existed, and the red line that existed for the forces of the revolution, is again the return of those opposed to the revolution and the values of the revolution, that during the 2nd of Khordad found an opportunity and penetrated the government, for them to return to power once again.”

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