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Two prominent Iranian film makers asked European countries on Tuesday not to acknowledge the results of last Friday's presidential elections, claiming a letter written on Saturday proves the results were fabricated. At a gathering of Green Party members of the European Parliament, Marjane Satrapi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf presented a letter which, they claim, was a confidential note sent by Iran's Interior Minister to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Makhmalbaf is reportedly a known acquaintance of opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi. There has been no verification of it contents.
According to the letter, the results are as follows:
Mir-Hossein Moussavi: 19,075,623; Mehdi Karoubi 13,387,104; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 5,698,417; Muhsen Rezai: 3,754,218 Void: 38,716
Critics of those numbers say that even despite his poor economic performance, the figures given for incumbent President Ahmadinejad are too low. According to a translation of the text by the American network CBS, the letter attributes the results announced on Saturday as "per your [Khamenei's] given discretion to have Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remain as president."
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