Reaction to the crisis has been instantaneous. A fatwah has been issued by one of the grand ayatollahs, Ayatollah Sane'ei, declaring what has been done by Ahmadinejad and his backers as 'haram' (forbidden by God) prohibiting anyone from cooperating with the 'government' of Ahmadinejad. Sane'ei's house was immediately surrounded by the regime's security forces.

Clear evidence is emerging of massive irregularities in the election. Whole-scale swapping of ballot boxes has been reported in all major cities. This was hardly a surprise. Prior to the election, the regime clearly stated that it would never allow a reformist government to come to power and it wasted no time in declaring Ahmadinejad the outright winner, despite the 'landslide for change' declared to Mousavi himself and widely reported in the international media.

Protesters in Iran are arguing that the regime has violently interfered with the electoral process. The alleged 65% of the poll that Ahmadinejad claims flies in the face of reports from all independent observers and journalists from across the globe covering this historic election from Iran.

The evidence on the polling day was that millions voted for Mir Hossein Mousavi, with exit polls showing him to be the winner by around the same percentage of votes as Ahmadinejad is claiming.

Hossein Mousavi, under house arrest, insists that he will not accept the result and declares what has happened to be 'a charade'. The confirmation of the rigged result by Iran's Supreme Religious Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei shows exactly what he, and the military-security infrastructure controlled by him, is prepared to do to prevent the wishes of millions of Iranians being recognised.

This election and its aftermath clearly mark a turning point in the way the regime deals with its opponents and demonstrates that even the so called insider critics are no longer tolerated and will not be allowed to have any political influence over the direction of events in the country.

As this goes to print the names of the arrested former ministers, politicians and journalists included, are coming through.

The international community should not dismiss this as yet another disputed election but recognise it for the illegal seizure of power that it is and campaign for the voice of the Iranian people to be heard and respected and for Iran to become open to greater democracy and change just as those who voted hoped!