Mousavi says threats will not stop him

TEHRAN - Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi said on Thursday that threats would not stop him from securing the rights of the Iranian people.

"I won't refrain from securing the rights of the Iranian people... because of personal interests and the fear of threats," he said in a statement on his newspaper website, Kalemeh.

Mousavi said earlier that he had come under pressure to withdraw his complaint over the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which he has branded a "shameful fraud" and demanded a new vote.

The ex-premier said he was ready to show how those who violated the election process "stood beside the main instigators of the recent riots and shed people?s blood on the ground."

Mousavi also reiterated his call for supporters to continue protests but in a way which would not "create tension."

"The main strategy which will guarantee your objectives will be to continue with the protests within the framework of law and by observing the principles of the Islamic revolution," he said in a statement addressed to the people of Iran.