2009 Mir-Hossein Mousavi presidential campaign and Abdolhamid Diyalameh [Ph.D. holder and an MP] went to their lengths to remove Mousavi and Rahnavard from the political structure of the government but both were suspiciously martyred. After 20 years of absence from the political scene of Iran, on March 9, 2009 he announced his candidacy in the 2009 Iranian Presidential election. Mousavi refused to run for President in the 1997 Presidential election, which caused the reformists to turn to Mohammad Khatami, who won a landslide victory. Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, explained in an interview that the reason for her husband not running in the 1997 election had
2009 Iranian presidential election protests 2009 Iranian presidential election protests Protests against the 2009 Iranian presidential election results () (a disputed victory by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad), in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, occurred in major cities nationwide from 2009 into early 2010. The protests were titled Iranian Green Movement ( "Jonbesh-e Sabz") by its proponents, reflecting Mousavi's campaign theme, and Persian Awakening, Persian Spring or Green Revolution, reflecting the "Persian identity" of Iranians and the so-called "colour revolution" theme. Protests began the night of 12 June 2009, following the announcement that incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won nearly 63% of the