I. INTRODUCTION On June 12, 2009, Iran held a presidential election that many believed would be a close race between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent, and Mir Hossein Mousavi, a reformist and former prime minister. (1) The result, however, was a landslide for Ahmadinejad that was quickly dismissed as a fraud by both the Iranian opposition and members of the Western media. (2) Enraged, opposition supporters took to the streets in what has been described as the "biggest antigovernment protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution." (3) As these initial protests subsided and the Guardian Council refused to annul the results, Mousavi called on his supporters to continue "legal" protests. (4) Heeding his words, the opposition staged new protests in August, (5) September, (6) November, (7) December, (8) and February. (9)
