By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran JUNE 12 2009

If the last days of the Iranian presidential campaign are remembered for anything it
will be the colour green – adopted by supporters of Mir-Hossein Moussavi to identify
themselves as they took to the streets over the past 10 days.
The idea to adopt a colour – the first time it has been done in an Iranian election – to
unify the campaign, was begun in the north-eastern city of Mashhad by supporters of

Mr Moussavi, the main challenger to fundamentalist president Mahmoud Ahmadi-
Nejad.

Green highlights the Seyyed status of Mr Moussavi meaning he is a descendant of
Prophet Mohammad. It helped the creation of the “green wave” which is turning into
“green tsunami” in cities like Tehran, as the domestic press put it.
“We got the idea from other countries notably the US,” said Ruhollah Shahsavari, who
is had of a youth branch of Mr Moussavi’s headquarters in Mashhad. “We were
impressed that pacifists defeated warmongers in the US and decided we should do the
same in Iran by portraying Moussavi as a pacifist through a colour.”
White was suggested by colleagues in Tehran, he says, “but we didn’t accept because it
is too neutral”.

Green was also the colour of the Persian empire armies’ flags before Iran embraced
Islam 1,400 years ago, according to some historians. Then, Reza the eighth Imam of
Shias (765-818), revived the colour when he migrated to the city of Mashhad, where
he is buried now. Since then green has become a religious colour.
It is how Mr Shahsavari and his team proposed green to Mr Moussavi’s Tehran
headquarters. “The green wave started in Mashhad,” he proudly says.

Behzad Mortazavi, the head of Mr Moussavi’s campaign committee says that no one
individual should be credited with coming up with the idea. “The colour was first
tested in Mashhad in Mr Moussavi’s rally [in April] but there is no specific person as a
strategist and it was the fruit of a team work in Tehran,” he says.
The headquarters throughout the country then started encouraging green wrist bands,
flags, scarves and T-shirts in all rallies.
“We buy big rolls of green fabric which are very cheap and have a team on the roof of
our building who cut them into strips with hot needles and then distribute them
amongst supporters,” Mr Mortazavi says.
Moussavi opponents have likened the use of colour in campaign to the US-backed
“colourful revolutions” in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
A senior official in the elite Revolutionary Guards warned on Wednesday that any
such “velvet revolution“ would not be tolerated.

Mr Mortazavi insists the idea was not taken from the US campaign. “We have had no
idea about the use of colour in other countries and did not copy anyone.”