Timeline of the 2009 Iranian election protests in Tehran and across the country of Iran. This day was the Day of Ashura, which marks the death of Imam Hussain and is an important day on the Shiite calendar. Police fired upon protesters and used tear gas. State TV reported that 15 people died this day, yet official reports from the Iranian government put the death toll at 8, making this the deadliest day of the protests since June. Among those killed was Seyed Ali Mousavi, the nephew of Mir-Hossein Mousavi. At least 300 people were arrested. BBC called the protests "the worst violence since last June's contested
2009 Mir-Hossein Mousavi presidential campaign been receiving discouraging messages from "the higher officials", a hint possibly at the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and/or the then President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Mousavi was considered as one of the possible candidates of the reformist alliance to run in the Iranian Presidential election, 2005. However he officially turned down the invitation of a number of parties in the reformist alliance on October 12, 2004, after a meeting with President Mohammad Khatami and the two other high-ranking members of the Association of Combatant Clerics, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohammad Mousavi-Khoiniha. Mousavi ran as an independent Principled Reformist candidate. Although he is