An aide to defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi says that the post-election rioters are "not supporters of, or linked to Mousavi or his camp."

Mahmoud Rabi'ee, Mousavi's campaign adviser in the Golestan Province, denounced the recent unrest which led to vandalism, arson and clashes with the riot police throughout Iran.

Mousavi, who according to the Interior Ministry has lost to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad even in the East-Azerbaijan province where he hails from, cried foul and described the election as a 'charade' - an allegation denied by the president and his interior minister, who was in charge of holding the election.

"We are supporting Mousavi to continue the path of [the late leader of the Islamic Revolution] Imam Khomeini and those who lost their lives and made sacrifices for the Islamic Republic," Rabi'ee said on Wednesday.

"We have objections to the election results, but we show our objections by the means of silence," he added.

The election results, which marked a landslide victory for the incumbent president, caused mass rallies by hundreds of thousands of Mousavi's supporters.

On occasions the rallies turned violent and resulted in casualties. Eight people have so far been confirmed dead in the ensuing clashes between the police and the protesters. Many others have been injured in the unrest.

Rabi'ee added that a number of 'miscreants' are attempting to de-fame Mousavi and his supporters "by conducting acts of vandalism in our name."

The Mousavi camp seeks to pursue its complaints regarding 'electoral irregularities' through legal means and has pleaded the authorities to provide for the peaceful proceeding of the reported 'violations'.