Iran’s former president, Mohammad Khatami, has called for a referendum on the legitimacy of the government.

His intervention challenges the country’s supreme leader who supports the outcome of June’s disputed presidential election. It comes following last Fridays violence in central Tehran after another former president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, declared that the Islamic Republic is in crisis. Khatami’s decision to echo Rafsanjani shows an unwillingness of the reformist camp to go quietly despite the security crackdown and the arrests of hundreds of people. Human rights groups claim senior pro-reform politicians, journalists, activists and lawyers have been taken into custody since the poll.More about: Iran

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