Tens of thousands of Iranians, wearing black and carrying candles, marched in Tehran today to mourn those killed in mass protests against a presidential election they and defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi say was rigged.
Foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
Chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest), they massed in downtown Imam Khomeini Square, responding to Mr Mousavi's call for people to gather in mosques or at peaceful rallies to show solidarity with the victims and their families.
Days of public fury over the disputed election led Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, to invite Mousavi and the two other candidates beaten by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to discuss their complaints on Saturday.
The election has provoked Iran's biggest and most violent demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic revolution, rocking the world's fifth biggest oil exporter which is also caught up in a dispute with the West over its nuclear programme.
Iranian state media has reported seven or eight people killed in protests since the election results were published on June 13. Scores of reformists have been arrested across the country and authorities have cracked down on both foreign and domestic media.
Demonstrators held photographs of those killed, some showing bloodied faces, apparently taken after they died.
"Our martyred brothers we will take back your votes," read one placard. "Why did you kill our brothers?" said another.
Mr Mousavi, a moderate who advocates better ties with the West, addressed people in the crowd with a loudspeaker. He wore a black shirt and suit, witnesses said.
Other banners told protesters to stay home tomorrow, when Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is due to lead prayers in Tehran, but to gather again the next day in the capital.
Security agents detained opposition politician Ebrahim Yazdi while he was in hospital, an ally of his said. Mr Yazdi heads the banned Freedom Movement and was foreign minister in Iran's first government after the revolution.
A spokesman for the Guardian Council said it had begun "careful examination" of 646 complaints submitted after the June 12 vote. Objections include a shortage of ballot papers, pressure on voters to support a particular candidate, and the barring of candidates' representatives from polling stations.
Mr Ahmadinejad was declared winner with nearly 63 percent of the vote against 34 percent for his closest rival, Mr Mousavi.
Mr Mousavi wants the vote annulled and held again. The council has said it is ready only to recount disputed ballot boxes.
Mr Mousavi and fellow-candidates Mehdi Karoubi and Mohsen Rezaie could raise their objections at an extraordinary Guardian Council meeting on Saturday, said spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai.
Ahmadinejad defended the legitimacy of the vote, telling a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that it had "posed a great challenge to the West's democracy," Mehr news agency reported.
"The ideals of the Islamic Revolution were the winners of the election," Ahmadinejad said, adding that 25 million of 40 million voters had approved the way he was running the country.
The authorities reject charges that they rigged the vote. Many tens of thousands of Iranians have braved riot police and religious militia to show their anger on the streets, ignoring Khamenei's call for national unity.
"The friendly atmosphere that existed prior to the election should not turn into an atmosphere of confrontation and enmity afterwards, since both groups of voters believe in the Islamic system," Mr Khamenei was quoted as saying in Kayhan newspaper.
Mr Ahmadinejad supporters are expected to show their strength when Khamenei leads Friday prayers at Tehran University.
The semi-official Fars news agency said two children of conservative former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who backs Mousavi, had been barred from leaving Iran.
Mr Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh addressed Mousavi supporters on Tuesday. Hardline students called for her and her brother, Mehdi, to be arrested.
Iran's Intelligence Ministry said it had uncovered a foreign-linked terrorist plot to plant bombs in mosques and other crowded places in Tehran during the election.
State broadcaster IRIB quoted a ministry statement as saying several terrorist groups had been discovered, adding they were linked to Iran's foreign enemies, including Israel.
Hamid Najafi, editor-in-chief of Kayhan International, an English-language conservative Iranian daily, said the Guardian Council investigation of the vote would calm unrest but the overall result would not change because "there isn't a millionth chance of doing any fraud."
Iran has denounced foreign criticism of the election, although US President Barack Obama's administration has muted its comments to keep the door open for possible dialogue.
Reuters