Thousands mourn Iranians killed in protests

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader will address the nation on Friday for the first time since a disputed election result triggered the biggest protests the Islamic Republic has seen.

(Editors' note: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.)

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged Iranians to unite behind hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but supporters of defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi have so far ignored the call, holding huge rallies in defiance of an official ban.

Khamenei's speech at Friday prayers in the Iranian capital follows a sixth day of protests by Mousavi supporters. On Thursday, tens of thousands, wearing black and carrying candles, marched to mourn those killed in earlier mass rallies.

The largest and most widespread demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic revolution have rocked the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, which is also caught up in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program.

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 and authorities have cracked down on both foreign and domestic media.

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi said about 500 people had been arrested in the last week, and called for their unconditional release. She said Iran should hold new elections under the supervision of the United Nations.

Mousavi, a moderate who advocates better ties with the West, has also called for the election to be annulled, saying pledges by the country's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, to recount some disputed ballot boxes did not go far enough.