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Fintan
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Joined: 18 Jan 2006
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 Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:22 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Sunday 21st June 2009
Update 6:45PM Tehran Time::
| Quote: | --New analysis scoffs at the alleged Ahmadinejad 'victory'
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/publications/papers/view/-/id/755/
--Thousands of riot police are lining the streets of Tehran
and marches taking place, but no violence reported yet.
--1000 Protesters at Shahrzad Bl, Tehran, Police blocking passage
--Labour activists,Human rights org & some political & civil activists
in Kordestan have called for a public strike on Tuesday
--Army Helicopters again flying over Tehran... |
Update 7:10PM Tehran Time::
| Quote: | --Reports say that unlike previous days, most of the
unrest today is occurring in poorer southern Tehran
--Severe crackdown on Iranian journalists underwya
--Officials reportedly asking for a bounty to release bodies of dead.
--Reports of calls for a National Strike on Tuesday seem authentic.
--Former Iranian President Khatami calls for investigation of election
http://www.parlemannews.com/?n=1184
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:23 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Sunday 21st June 2009
Update 7:40PM Tehran Time::
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:24 am Post subject: |
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Update 8:30PM Tehran Time::
| Quote: | Repression stepped up yet again as Iran
becomes worlds biggest prison for journalists
21 June 2009
The Islamic Republic of Iran now ranks alongside China as the worlds biggest prison for journalists. The crackdown has been
intensified yet again following Supreme Leader Ali Khameneis endorsement of the result of the 12 June presidential election and the
oppositions decision to call another demonstration on 20 June.
Iran now has a total of 33 journalists and cyber-dissidents in its jails, while journalists who could not be located at their homes
have been summoned by telephone by Tehran prosecutor general Said Mortazavi.....
It has emerged that Mohammad Ghochani, the editor of Etemad Meli (a daily owned by Mehdi Karoubi, one of the opposition
presidential candidates), was arrested at 2 a.m. on 18 June. Intelligence ministry officials took him away to an unknown location,
probably the security wing of Tehrans Evin prison....
Reporters Without Borders has also learned that blogger and human rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari was arrested at her Tehran
home on 14 June (see her blog: http://azadiezan.blogspot.com).
Husband-and-wife journalists Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee and Jila Baniyaghoob were arrested at midnight of 20 June by intelligence
ministry officials in plain clothes who searched their home and then took them away to an as yet unknown location, probably the
security wing of Tehrans Evin prison.
A winner of the Courage in Journalism prize awarded by the International Womens Media Foundation, Baniyaghoob edits a news website
that focuses on womens rights, Canon Zeman Irani (http://irwomen.net). Her husband, Amoee, writes for various pro-reform
publications.
Reporters Without Borders has also been able to confirm that Ali Mazroui, the head of the Association of Iranian Journalists,
was arrested in the morning of 20 June......
Journalists and activists held in Evin prison are being put under a lot of pressure to make filmed confessions acknowledging
their participation in a velvet revolution. Reporters Without Borders has also received many allegations of torture.....
After being blocked since 11 June, the Iranian news website Entekhab (www.entekhabnews.com/) has now been closed down on the orders of
the Tehran prosecutor general.
At least 20 journalists had already been arrested since 12 June (see list below). Reporters Without Borders has not been able to
trace many others. Some may have found refuge but others may now be with those of their colleagues who had already been in jail for
some time. Even before the election, Iran was ranked as the Middle Easts biggest prison for journalists and cyber-dissidents.
Twenty-three journalists have been arrested in the week since the presidential election results :
14 June:
- Somayeh Tohidloo, who also keeps a blog (http://smto.ir)
- Ahmad Zeydabadi
- Kivan Samimi Behbani
- Abdolreza Tajik
- Mahssa Amrabad
- Behzad Basho, a cartoonist
- Khalil Mir Asharafi, a TV producer
- Karim Arghandeh, a blogger (http://www.futurama.ir/) and reporter for pro-reform newspapers Salam, Vaghieh and Afaghieh, who was
arrested at his Tehran home.
- Shiva Nazar Ahari (see her blog: http://azadiezan.blogspot.com).
15 June:
- Mohamad Atryanfar, the publisher of several newspapers including Hamshary, Shargh and Shahrvand Emrouz, who has reportedly been
taken to the security wing of Evin prison.
- Saeed Hajjarian, the former editor of the newspaper Sobh-e-Emrouz, who was arrested at his Tehran home on the night of 15 June
despite being badly handicapped.
- Mojtaba Pormohssen, who edits the newspaper Gylan Emroz and contributes to several other pro-reform newspapers and radio Zamaneh. He
was arrested in the northern city of Rashat.
16 June:
- Mohammad Ali Abtahi, also known as the Blogging Mullah, who was arrested at his Tehran home. His blog:
http://www.webneveshteha.com/.
- Hamideh Mahhozi, arrested in the southern city of Bushehr.
- Amanolah Shojai, who is also a blogger. Arrested in Bushehr.
- Hossin Shkohi, who works for the weekly Paygam Jonob. Arrested in Bushehr.
- Mashalah Hidarzadeh, arrested in Bushehr.
17 June:
- Saide Lylaz, a business reporter for the newspaper Sarmayeh, who had been very critical of Ahmadinejads policies. He was arrested
at his Tehran home.
- Rohollah Shassavar, a journalist based in the city of Mashad.
18 June:
- Mohammad Ghochani, the editor of Etemad Meli.
20 June:
- Jila Baniyaghoob, editor of website Canon Zeman Irani (http://irwomen.net),
- Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee,
- Ali Mazroui, the head of the Association of Iranian Journalists.
http://www.rsf.org/Repression-stepped-up-yet-again-as.html |
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:25 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Sunday 21st June 2009
Update 9:00PM Tehran Time::
| Quote: | Significant Clashes Taking Place Across Iran - Largely Unreported.
--Severe confilict in Nezam Abad, Sattarkhan, Amirabad & Tehran Pars
--Clashes around UN office in Tehran,
as 50,000 blocked by Police near Forsat Shirazi St.
--Candlelight parade in Hafte Tir Sq. attacked by anti-riot police
--People gathering in Gisha St, sitting on Street
--Sporadic clashes in Baharestan, Enqelab, Vanak and Vali-Asr Sq's
--Anti-Riots Police, Bassij, Hezbollah and Some Army Forces at Azadi St.
--About 10,000 ppl Siting on Street at Gisha St. No Police.
--A 23-yr-old woman shot last night near Azadi St. has died at Khomeini Hosp.
--Two more journalists Behzad Bashou, Seyyed Khalil Mir-Ashrafi arrested.
--Widespread clashes in the cities of Saqz, Marivan, Kermanshah, and
Sanandaj with sounds of gun fire heard. |
Update 9:15PM Tehran Time::
| Quote: | Cracks may be appearing, but I wouldn't
read too much into this news report yet.
If Rafsanjani is indeed swaying senior clerics
then the reported arrest of his daughter would
indicate the current regime is agressive and
the power struggle is ongoing:
Iranian clerics seek supreme leader alternative
Rafsanjani's family members arrested after deadly protests
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Religious leaders are considering an alternative to the supreme leader structure after at least 13 people were killed in the latest
unrest to shake Tehran and family members of Ayatollah Rafsanjani were arrested amid calls by former President Mohammad Khatami for
the release of all protesters.
Iran's religious clerks in Qom and members of the Assembly of Experts, headed by former President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, are mulling the
formation of an alternative collective leadership to replace that of the supreme leader, sources in Qom told Al Arabiya on condition
of anonymity.
Five family members of Rafsanjani, one of Iran's most powerful men, were arrested Sunday, including his eldest daughter Faezeh
Hashemi....
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/21/76567.html |
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:27 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Sunday 21st June 2009
Update 11:00PM Tehran Time::
| Quote: | --Mousavi says that protesting Iran's election
"lies and fraud...is your (Iranian's) right."
He is allowed no direct contact with journalists, and almost all his
top echelon of campaign managers have been arrested.
He urged calm, and mourned those killed.
Can't believe they actually arrested Maziar Bahari!!
Tune in to an imminent audio to get more details on the
significance of this development.
| Quote: |  Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari was arrested without charge on Sunday
morning in Tehran, and has not been heard from since, the magazine announced Sunday. Mr. Bahari, a Canadian citizen, has been living
in and covering Iran for the past decade. His most recent article for Newsweek
examined opposition supporters concerns that pro-Ahmadinejad groups were staging violent incidents at their rallies to undermine
support for their movement. |
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:28 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Sunday 21st June 2009
Update 00:10AM Tehran Time::
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:29 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Sunday 21st June 2009
Update 00:50AM Tehran Time::
Update 01:50AM Tehran Time::
| Quote: | Accounts of Saturday's Events on the Streets in Tehran:
Tehran, 4.30 local time, Enghelab Street:
I meet with my students on Saturdays for a private class. We cook and eat together, then talk of philosophy. This time there is no
class. We only try to keep up our morale. We are very determined but scared. That is how I can describe most of the people who came
out to attend the demonstration today. After the Supreme Leaders fierce speech at the Friday prayers, we knew that today we would be
different. We feel so vulnerable, more than ever, but at the same time are aware of our power. No matter how strong it is
collectively, it will do little to protect us today. We could only take our bones and flesh to the streets and expose them to batons
and bullets. Two different feelings fight inside me without mixing with one another. To live or to just be alive, thats the question.
There is another student who would have her lunch with us, but is not coming to the demonstration. Shes too scared and while
pretending to be in control bursts into tears. She says she hates to see people suffer. We tell here we have suffered for years. She
says she doesnt want people to die. I tell her tens of thousands die each year on the roads in Iran, at least this time it would be
for a good cause. She says we are elites and can save ourselves for better times when we can be more useful. We reply there is no
difference between people when we are all in such a condition.
We finish the lunch and sit to read poems of Mirzadeh Eshgi. Thats what I suggest. He was a revolutionary anarchist at the time of
Constitutional Revolution 1906-11, killed for speaking out. It fits our situation. Poems play an important role here. Nothing
influences Iranians like poetry. And these days, everything is about influence and fear.
The poems we read are bitter, ironical and they make us laugh. When sorrow is more than you can tolerate, you burst into laughter.
Then we get going. Its a quarter to four. But the following hour proves funnier than we expected.
In the bus everybody is going to the same place. All the streets to Enghlab Square are blocked. Guards tell you where to go and where
not to go. They show us a small street that leads to Enghlab. I panic: Why have they left it open? Do they want us to go in and
surround us? Two demonstrations were taking place, one in Enghelab and the other in Azadi, respectively meaning, revolution and
freedom. I tell my students, Were recycling the names.
Enghlab is busy, very busy, but there is no demonstration. People show the V sign with their fingers but walk in silence. In front of
Tehran University, I see the students inside, clutching the rails of the gates, as if behind bars. They shout. But I cant hear them.
In front of the students on the sidewalk, on the other side of the bars, there are two rows of anti-riot police and a row of Basij
militia holding posters insulting the demonstrators of the previous days. One says, The trouble-makers pertain to MI6. An hour
later, when the street is no longer so crowded, I go to the guy holding the poster and ask him, What is MI6? Britains intelligent
service, he replies. Is it different from Scotland Yard? I ask. No, theyre the same thing. Oh, I see.
We walk up and down. Were a group of four. We find friends, but dont join them. We dont want to change the mood by changing our
companionship. Were enjoying ourselves.
Then comes the attraction of the day. Two water-spraying machines. Theyre huge, the size of a bus but taller, with fenced windows and
two water-guns on top of each. We burst into laughter. They dont know how to use them. They shoot second floor windows, anti-riot
police and the people, including girls in tight manteaus. Its more Zurich than Tehran. One machine is stuck. They dont know how to
drive it. Its a hot day, the sun is intolerably shiny and it feels good to become wet. Much of the time, the sprays are not powerful.
Its as if theyre watering grass. And it just does not fit the horror thats in the air, the aggression with which the people are hit
with batons. A beautiful day. It has been beautiful throughout the past week. You wonder whether nature is ironical.
They push the crowd back and forth, from here to there but soon realize people are on all sides. We hear bullets, but people dont
rush away. Theyre fake. Nobodys shot.
Then in a couple of minutes, the street is not crowded as before, the anti-riot police leave, and the students are gone. We dont
understand why. Deprived of communication, you never get the big picture. Maybe they have attacked the university from the back.
We hear in Azadi Square theres a huge crowd. So we get going. As we pass the fences, a student, his face covered, smiles bitterly,
Theyll storm the dormitory tonight.
We have to walk. We feel awful. Theres a demonstration somewhere and we cant get there. We wish we were in a crowd. Thats the only
way we feel better. We have joked for hours now, but we need to shout. Something is pressing from within.
Then at Towhid Square the scene changes drastically. The streets to Azadi are blocked. But this time, people dont change their path.
They fight for it. Theres a shower of stones. Tear gas. Fire. People jam the sidewalks. The battle scene is huge. We cannot see the
limits but it extends to nearby street. My student is keener to go forward than I am. Her mother could persuade her to stay home for
two days, but now allows her to go out on the most dangerous day. The people shout, Down with the dictator. The anti-riot police are
also throwing stones. People dont run back anymore. I grab a broken brick and throw. Im amazed. I never thought Id do it. I should
practice. It was a very bad shot. I grab another one, the size of a pomegranate and keep it with me, hiding it behind my back. My
feeling is a mixture of a university teacher and a hooligan.
If we want to go forward we need to pass through tear gas. So we ask a car to give us a lift. Then there is an attack. They cannot
tell enemy from other people although they want to show everything is fine and theyre only after trouble-makers. There is a woman who
is being beaten. Shes horrified and hysterical but not as much as the anti-riot police officer facing her. She shrieks, Where can I
go? You tell me go down the street and you beat me. Then you come up from the other side and beat me again. Where can I go? In sheer
desperation, the officer hits his helmet several times hard with his baton. Damn me! Damn me! What the hell do I know!
I ask myself, how much longer can these officers tolerate stress? How many among them would be willing to give their lives for
somebody like Ahmadinejhad?
The driver tells us that he did not vote but he has come out to the streets to beat the Basijis. At each intersection he is guided by
officers in a different direction and after a while we realize we are back where we started. We see officers load people in a van used
for carrying frozen meat. Then a couple of minutes later, a new scene unfolds. We get out. Heres a true battleground. And this time
its huge. Columns of smoke rise to the sky. You can hardly see the asphalt. Only bricks and stones. Here people have the upper hand.
Three lanes, the middle one separated by opaque fences, under construction for the metro. The workers have climbed up the fences and
show the V sign. They start throwing stone and timber to the street to supply the armament. I tell myself, Look at the poor, the ones
Ahmadinejhad always speaks of. But the presidents name is no longer in fashion. This time the slogans address the leader, something
unheard of in the past three decades. Its a beautiful sunset, with rays of light penetrating evening clouds. We feel safe among
people moving back forth with the anti-riot police attacks.
Two Basiji motorcyles are burning. People have learnt how to do it fast. They lay the motorcycle on its side, spilling the gasoline
and lighting it on fire. We climb up a pedestrian bridge and watch. People shout from the bridge, Down with Khamenei and your aura
is gone for good. A Basiji is caught: He soon disappears under the crowd beating him. As if in a roman coliseum those on the bridge
shout, Beat him up! I shout with them before coming to my senses. What is with me? He staggers away as a group of ten people kick
and punch him.
At Gisha, theres a similar scene. Again the people have the whole crossing in their control and you can hear the uproar and horns.
Motorcycles are burning in smoke. But Im suddenly stunned. I see a red object, which later proves to be a man, about 50, his head
covered with blood, crouching, people passing him by as if he was a garbage can. Then comes a guy with a long stick who wants to beat
up the already beaten Basiji. People gather and stop him. Hes furious, Why should I not? They beat tiny girls! They beat everyone!
Bastard!
I shout at him, But were not beasts! Were not like them! Somebody takes the Basiji away as people curse him. I think, But the
bastard deserves it. To come out of your house in the morning, just to beat up people you dont even know. I dont recognize myself
and my feelings anymore.
You can get in any car to go back home. People trust one another now. The woman in the back seat sitting next to me says, Its no
longer about Mousavi or election results. We have suffered for thirty years. We didnt live a life. An old man next to her offers me
fresh bread. They tell jokes about the political figures and laugh out loud. They feel victorious. I had waited thirty years for
this. Now I feel relieved.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-277430
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Maryamo gereftan, rooznamaro bastan(Maryam has been arrested, the newspaper has been closed, there are guards everywhere, dont come
to work, there is no more work) screamed Hooman on the phone and he hung up. This was a rude awakening. The mobile phones were still
working so I called Jaleh and asked her if she was going to attend todays rally. mage dishab javabe mardomo be rahbar
nashnidi?.... (didnt you hear peoples reply to the leader? Didnt you go to the rooftop and didnt you scream Allah Akbar (God is
great)? asked Jaleh as if she knew all of the answers before hand and then in a sarcastic remark she said vasiatnamato benevis, saate
3:30 Daneshgaah Tehran, bia ghadam dar raahe be baazgasht bogzarim.. (write your will, 3:30pm in front of Tehran University, lets
step into the path of no return, no turning back, no turning back.
Black Army
I had lunch with Jaleh and Hooman in Farahzaad (North West of Tehran) and decided to park the car near Azadi square and take a taxi
back to Enghelaab square in order to be able to get out of the way in case there were a disturbance. As we reached Azadi avenue
(coming south from Yadegar Highway) we saw that the whole area looking like a big fort. hameye doostan jam-an (all of our friends
have gathered) murmured Hooman as he looked at the armed-to-the-teeth group of anti-riot Police, plain clothed militia, black
Sarallah force, Basij paramilitary forces and the Police. We parked the car to the north of the street near a highway exit. colt,
tofang, gase ashkavar, gase felfel, tofang loole kootah, mesle inke darim mirim mehmoonee bache ha( Hand guns, sharp shooter
riffles, short barrel riffles, tear gas, paint ball guns, pepper spray, boy we are going to a party)said Jaleh sarcastically. There
was no news from Maryam and the mobile phones went dead at 3:15 pm
Dogs of war
We started our march somewhere close to the Tehran University. Near the gates of the University the Dogs of war (including all of
the militia, police, guards, sarrallah, plain cloth paramilitary,..) pushed people to the south side of the street beating anyone near
the gate and we found out why as Hooman (who is about six feet tall) reported to us daneshjoo haa daran shoar midan, (the
university students are chanting behind the gate and the dogs are standing right outside the gate) he reported. We saw about 100
guards in black armors that looked like a full blown Japanese Samurai army facing the gates of Tehran University which was and is a
symbol of defiance (the picture of people demonstrating under the gates of Tehran University are printed on some money notes). By the
time we got to Enghelab square tension was mounting. People were walking in small groups of five without chanting and without showing
off any colors. But all that changed at 4:10pm right after we passed the Jamalzadeh avenue (west of enghelaab square towards Azadi
square) as the small groups of people slowly joined each other automatically.
Natarsim, Natarsim Maa hame ba ham hastim
4:20 pm
A short figured girl who was walking next to me reached in her purse took out a green wristband and then raised her hands up in the
air with a Victory sign. We all followed and the crowed automatically became a quiet and defiant freedom seeker band; be tarafe
azadi.. (towards Freedom) Hooman said aloud in a muffled bass voice. Azadi means freedom in Persian so towards Azadi can mean either
going towards Azadi square or going towards freedom. His voice was horse from nights of chanting Allah Akbar on the rooftops. The
guards had all things planned and they stopped us in front of the Dampezeshki University (Veterinary University). They actually
blocked us from the front, back and from the streets. So we pushed ourselves into the street and then the war started. The evil
guards charged towards us and scream replaced the victory signs. Jaleh, Hooman and I held each others hands as the wild dogs attacked
and the people scrambled and fell over each other. Within seconds they reached us and they were swiping people up their feet with
clubs, chains, and some innovative black rubber piece (that looked like a short water hose). We hid behind Hooman but he was hit on
the leg and fell on top of us, Jaleh was hit on her face and I fell on my right ankle. Screams and yells were everywhere and we were
at first very scared but it seems that the fear disappears after the first hit. People started chanting Natarsim, natarsim maa hame
ba ham hastim (we are not afraid cause we are united).
If you want blood, you got it
5:00 pm Tehran is officially a war zone
Our peaceful demonstration quickly turned into a riot. Charges by the guards and return favors of the people quickly got out of hand.
Jaleh, Hooman and I just joined the flow and we were attacked three times by the time we got to Navab avenue. Blood was everywhere.
Right after Navab avenue the guards started firing tear gas into the crowed and boy did that hurt. As all three of us escaped into a
small street choking from the gas the guards attacked us from behind and we all got hit on the back by many painful things. I looked
back and saw a young man fell on the ground, I screamed khodaaaaaaa (God), Hooman quickly ran towards him and the three of us
carried him to a corner. He was hit on the head and his eyes were rolled up and could not comprehend anything. Young people started
throwing stones back towards the guards and charged back towards them and this gave us a bit of time to take the young man to a corner
and try to help him.
Jaleh is a nurse so she started treating him, I held his head on my lap and Hooman held his legs high in order to get the blood
circulation back to his head. We did not care what was going on around us for a moment and just wanted to revive the young man who
seemed to be only 18 years old. esmet chieye? (What is your name?) I asked him trying to make him talk in order to find out if he
can concentrate. He sat up, shrugged us off and started to walk again. I yelled esmet chiye? (what is your name?); Omid (Omid is
a name and it also means hope) he said and marched on towards Azadi. None of us could keep up with Omid as we were all hit on the leg
and were limping. Also we could not see things clearly and our eyes were burning (because of the tear gas) badly so we lost sight of
Omid for a couple of minutes.
5:30 pm, the battle zone
Ely.., Hooman,.. bodoeen, Omid screamed Jaleh. The police and plain clothed militia had cornered Omid and were beating him.
We ran towards him and attacked the dogs. Hooman charged towards the guards in the street, opened his arms wide and with his operatic
bas voice screamed Bezan, Bezan,..(hit me, hit me), maadar gh.. bezan (mother xxx hit me). The guard raised the club but his hands
were shaking and then brought his club down. I arched over Omid as Jaleh was screaming bee gheirat (a man without virtue) and
people started chanting bee gheirat to the guards and the police. I felt the burning on my back as I tried to shield Omid, he was
crying man faghat mikhaam beram khooneh (I just wanna go home). They were hitting me hard, my hands, and my legs and suddenly there
was darkness as I felt a terrible pain on the back of my head and the sounds and vision blurred into oblivion.
Go west my dear
Time unknown
baba,kojaee, kojaeey ke bebini dokhtare azizeto mikoshan..(Daddy where are you? they are killing your dear little girl) was the
sound circling in the sea of darkness. Ely,Ely,..Ely Jaleh as whispering as she was spraying water on my face. We were in my car
speeding away from the war zone, cars, busses, trash cans and motorbikes were on fire, stones were flying in the sky. Tear gas
canisters were flying with a white trail behind them, gun shots were heard. I looked out of the car window and for the first time I
had tears in my eyes. maa gharar bood berim Azadi, pas kojaa mirim? (we were supposed to go to Azadi, freedom, where are we going?)
I muttered. felan har jaaee begheir az injaa.. (for now anywhere but here) Hooman turned back his head towards me, dried blood on
his right shoulder and with a glaze in his hazel eyes said again for now, of course..."
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:31 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Sunday 21st June 2009
Update 02:15AM Tehran Time::
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:33 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Monday 22nd June 2009
Update 11:00PM Tehran Time::
| Quote: |
Riot police attacked hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas and fired live bullets in the air to disperse a rally in central
Tehran Monday, carrying out a threat by the country's most powerful security force to crush any further opposition protests over the
disputed presidential election.
Witnesses said helicopters hovered overhead as about 200 protesters gathered at Haft-e-Tir Square. But hundreds of anti-riot police
quickly put an end to the demonstration and prevented any gathering, even small groups, at the scene.
At the subway station at Haft-e-Tir, the witnesses said police did not allow anyone to stand still, asking them to keep on walking and
separating people who were walked together. The witnesses asked not to be identified for fear of government reprisals.
Just before the clashes, an Iranian woman who lives in Tehran said there was a heavy police and security presence in another square in
central Tehran. She asked not to be identified because she was worried about government reprisals.
"There is a massive, massive, massive police presence," she told the Associated Press in Cairo by telephone. "Their presence was
really intimidating."
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I've been recording
a new Iran analysis, so
Live Blog was delayed...
Updates follow....
| Quote: | REGIME PROPAGANDA
State-run TV in Iran is showing demonstrations in other countries such as the US, however with some serious editing.
They are not broadcasting the majority of people standing and shouting in solidarity with people in Iran. Rather, they show images of
demonstrators who shout, Death to the Islamic Republic, while they hold pre-1979 flags of Iran which have come to symbolize the
monarchy. Even worse than the monarchists, they show rallies organized by the Peoples Mujahedeen of Iran now known as the National
Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI,MKO, MEK, or PMOI)which is on the State Departments list of foreign terrorist organizations as
they have attacked numerous Iranian embassies around the world.
State run TV goes on to make statements along the lines of, These are the organizations which are supporter the rioters and terrorists
that fill the streets of Tehran. |
| Quote: | --Mousavi has today had a meeting with several high rank clerics from Qom
--Eyewitnesses say riot police attacked hundreds of protesters with tear gas, and live bullets in the air to disperse a rally in
central Tehran, according to AP.
--State-Controled TV website has a warning:
Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps warns protestors of a decisive and revolutionary response should they continue to take to the
streets of the capital, Tehran.
"We warn the main elements behind the riots and their deceived supporters to halt their acts of sabotage and end their riots or be
prepared for a decisive and revolutionary confrontation with the Guards, Basij and other security and disciplinary forces," the IRGC
said in a Monday statement.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=98770§ionid=351020101
--Opposition candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi will hold a rally Thursday, 25 June to mourn and commemorate the
victims of post-election violence.
- Journalists say conditions worse than during Iraq-Iran war. The U.S.-funded Radio Farwa reports that over 180 Iranian journalists
signed a letter today protesting severe restrictions on their ability to publish. According to the report, the journalists say that
state agents now must approve a wide range of their content, and that the crackdown is worse than even during the long war between
Iraq and Iran. |
| Quote: | ~400 Dead So Far in Iran Regime Crackdown
Late on Sunday I requested an update on death
casualties from the French website http://Iran-Resist.org
They have credible statistics compiled from sources inside Iran.
As of Friday, their estimate was 250 deaths across Iran.
They just responded with the latest from their sources. They estimate
that another 150 have been killed on Saturday and Sunday in Iran.
That's consistent with my earlier estimates.
That brings the total deaths so far to approximately 400. |
| Quote: |  Caspian Makan, Neda Agha-Setan's fiancee,
has been interviewed by BBC Persia:
"Neda's goal was not Mousavi or Ahmadinejad, it was her country and was important for her to fight for this goal," the BBC narrator
says while introducing the segment. "She had said many times that if she had lost her life or been shot in the heart, which indeed
what happened, it was important for her to continue in this path. Considering her young age she has taught a lesson to us all."
About the day of the incident, Mr. Makan said: "When the clashes were occurring, Neda was far away from the demonstrations, she was in
one of the side alleys near Amir Abad. Thirsty and tired or being cooped up for about an hour in the car in heavy traffic with her
music instructor, she finally gets out of the car and, based on the pictures sent in by the people, armed forces in civilian clothes
and the Basiji targeted and shot her in the heart."
"It was over in a matter of minutes, the Shariati Hospital was nearby, the people around her tried to bring her to the emergency room
by car, but before that could even happen she died in her instructor's arms."
Mr. Makan added: "We got her body back finally yesterday with some diffculties. Of course, her body was not at the Tehran Coroner but
at a one outside of Tehran. The medical examiners wanted parts of her body, including a portion of her femoral bone but the chief
medical examiner would not say why and no explanations were ever given."
"Finally the family consented just so they could get her body back as soon as possible, since just this issue could have resulted in
delaying the reception of the body. We buried the body in a small area in the Zahra Cemetery in the late afternoon of 31 Khordad.
Also, they had brought in other people who had been killed in the protests so it seemed that the whole event was scheduled to be
such."
About payment for releasing the remains, Mr. Makan had this to say: "No specific amount has been paid at this time, although
hospitals, clinics, surgeons and medical examiners have been ordered by the Iranian security services, based on various orders, not
to list 'bullet wound' as the cause of death on the death certificate in order to prevent the families from filing international
complaints in the future. I haven't seen the release notice of Neda's remains yet, but I will obtain it from her father in the
coming days."
Mr. Makan regarding government ban of memorial service for Neda Agha Setan said: "We were going to hold her memorial Monday 1st of Tir
at 2:30 PM at a mosque at Sharyati street north of Seyed Khandan. But Basijis and mosque officials refused our request for her
memorial service so to avoid further public confrontation and instability. They knew that Neda was an died innocently, and people
in Iran and the international community are informed of that fact. So they decided to avoid a situation where a mass rally would take
place. In any way, we do not have permission for a memorial service for now."
However, many eye witnesses told BBC Persia that a large gathering took place with the intention of performing a memorial service at
Al Reza Mosque at Nilofar square in Tehran. But the security forces intervened by throwing people out of the mosque and intervening
with the service.
Mr. Makan also commented on fake pictures of videos claiming to be Neda at various sites:"I was looking at some sites including
'iReport'. There was a picture of a young woman with green signs from previous calm demonstrations and had claimed it was Neda before
being shot. These pictures have no relation to the event. It seems that Mr. Mousavi's supporters are trying to portray Neda as one of
his supporters. This is not so. Neda was incredibly close to me and she was never supportive of either two groups. Neda wanted freedom
and freedom for all."
BBC Farsi tried to contact Neda Agha-Sultan's other family members but was told by a close relative of hers that, for reasons of
their own, the Agha Sultan family could not grant an interview. |
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Last edited by Fintan on Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:39 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:34 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Monday 22nd June 2009
| Quote: | --Khamenei to deliver another address on Friday.
--Plans for full national strikes, probably starting with Petrochemical - prepare for this... Expect food shortage - transport
stoppage - money shortage in bank... Gov will respond with electric power cuts - prepare and have gas cylinders at home or gasoline
for light/cooking... People of Iran - THIS IS THE DAWN - This is the new begining - have hope and prepare.
--Report: 40 senior clerics want election results annulled. The intense infighting among Iran's clerical establishment appeared to
play out in new dramatic fashion on Monday. Via reader Art, the news site Peiknet reported that Ayatollah Rafsanjani has a letter
signed by 40 members of the powerful 86-member Assembly of Experts calling for the annulment of the recent presidential election
results.
The letter charges that the arrest of Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh on Sunday was a way to exert pressure on him, and that she was
followed and identified by the intelligence services during the rally. |
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:42 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Tuesday 23rd June 2009
Despite ALL the brutality and the serious risk
of beatings, imprisonment, torture, and death,
they're STILL in the streets!
Tehran is still buzzing with reformist energy, according to this
video apparently from today. These sure ARE brave people.
People in Tehran, in a gesture of defiance first used in the 1979 Islamic
revolution and now adopted by pro-reform protesters, again chanted
'Allahu Akbar' from their rooftops at nightfall on Monday:
A 19-year-old was shot in the head and killed during the demonstrations.
Iranian officials asked his parents to "pay an equivalent of $3,000 as
a 'bullet fee' -- a fee for the bullet used by security forces -- before
taking the body back!!!
Charging the family $3,000 for murdering their son is a direct
analogy to the "administrative charges" levied against victims
of State repression in Terry Gilliam's movie, Brazil.
| Quote: | Son's Death Has Iranian Family Asking Why
JUNE 23, 2009 - By FARNAZ FASSIHI - WSJ
TEHRANThe family, clad in black, stood at the curb of the road sobbing. A middle-aged mother slapped her cheeks, letting out
piercing wails. The father, a frail man who worked as a doorman at a clinic in central Tehran, wept quietly with his head bowed.
Minutes before, an ambulance had arrived from Tehran's morgue carrying the body of their only son, 19-year-old Kaveh Alipour.
On Saturday, amid the most violent clashes between security forces and protesters, Mr. Alipour was shot in the head as he stood at an
intersection in downtown Tehran. He was returning from acting class and a week shy of becoming a groom, his family said.
The details of his death remain unclear. He had been alone. Neighbors and relatives think that he got trapped in the crossfire. He
wasn't politically active and hadn't taken part in the turmoil that has rocked Iran for over a week, they said.
"He was a very polite, shy young man," said Mohamad, a neighbor who has known him since childhood.
When Mr. Alipour didn't return home that night, his parents began to worry. All day, they had heard gunshots ringing in the distance.
His father, Yousef, first called his fiancée and friends. No one had heard from him.
At the crack of dawn, his father began searching at police stations, then hospitals and then the morgue.
Upon learning of his son's death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a "bullet fee"a
fee for the bullet used by security forcesbefore taking the body back, relatives said.
Mr. Alipour told officials that his entire possessions wouldn't amount to $3,000, arguing they should waive the fee because he is a
veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. According to relatives, morgue officials finally agreed, but demanded that the family do no funeral or
burial in Tehran. Kaveh Alipour's body was quietly transported to the city of Rasht, where there is family.
Everyone in the neighborhood knows the Alipour family. In addition to their slain son, they have two daughters. Shopkeepers and
businesses pasted a photocopied picture of Mr. Alipour on their walls and windows. In the picture, the young man is shown wearing a
dark suit with gray stripes. His black hair is combed neatly to a side and he has a half-smile.
"He was so full of life. He had so many dreams," said Arsalan, a taxi driver who has known the family for 10 years. "What did he die
for?"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124571865270639351.html |
I've just got this in from contacts in Iran:
| Quote: | It's painful to watch what's happening. I don't want anything to do with what has been said this far, as I neither have the
strength nor the resilience to face all these unfathomable events. I only want to speak about what I have witnessed.
I am a medical student. There was chaos last night at the trauma section in one of our main hospitals. Although by
decree, all riot-related injuries were supposed to be sent to military hospitals, all other hospitals were filled to the rim. Last
night, nine people died at our hospital and another 28 had gunshot wounds. All hospital employees were crying till dawn.
They (government) removed the dead bodies on back of trucks, before we were even able to get their names or other information.
What can you even say to the people who don't even respect the dead. No one was allowed to speak to the wounded or get any information
from them.
This morning the faculty and the students protested by gathering at the lobby of the hospital where they were confronted by plain
cloths anti-riot militia, who in turn closed off the hospital and imprisoned the staff. The extent of injuries are so grave, that
despite being one of the most staffed emergency rooms, they've asked everyone to stay and help--I'm sure it will even be worst
tonight.
What can anyone say in face of all these atrocities? What can you say to the family of the 13 year old boy who died from gunshots and
whose dead body then disappeared?
This issue is not about cheating(election) anymore. This is not about stealing votes anymore. The issue is about a vast
injustice inflected on the people. They've put a baton in the hand of every 13-14 year old to smash the faces of "the bunches who are
less than dirt" (government is calling the people who are uprising dried-up torn and weeds)
This is what sickens me from dealing with these issues. And from those who shut their eyes and close their ears and claim the riots
are in opposition of the government and presidency!!
No!
The people's complaint is against the egregious injustices committed against the people. |
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:45 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Tuesday 23rd June 2009
Unbelievable video from Monday!
| Quote: | -- Washington Times freelance reporter arrested.
"The newspaper believes he is Greek-born freelance journalist Iason Athanasiadis, who had covered the election and violent aftermath
for the Times and disappeared a few days
ago." That makes at least 34 journalists arrested.
-- Clerical association releases aggressive statement.
Millions of informed and decent people who believe that their votes have been tampered with, and that their intellect has been
insulted, and for the defence of their rights and dignity have in a spontaneous manner come into the streets to express their pain and
sense of oppression. You (the regime) insult them, and have stolen thousands of them from the streets and from their homes and taken
them to unknown places. You have attacked the students and to these people who call out God is Great or Ya Hossein - you attack them
like Moghuls.
You dare to blame these attacks on the people themselves.
We strongly support Mr. Mousavi - especially against the accusations that all the unrest and damage is due to his actions. This damage
is the responsibility of those who turned our city into a barracks. They should be identified, arrested and charged.
-- Signs of the crackdown: Iranians on Twitter today:
"We are having difficulty getting updates to u as so many of our contacts been arrested - life here is v/v/dangerous now"
"Getting reliable news has become extremely difficult. Most of my sources have been arrested and I think about the few remaining ones
and am very worried."
- Mousavi under 24-hour watch
by security agents, secret police with him all the time. |
| Quote: | Reformist website, Rooyeh, has reported that Rafsanjani already had the support of nearly a majority of the Assembly of
Experts, a body that constitutionally has the power to remove Ayatollah Khamenei. The report also indicated that Rafsanjani's
lobbying efforts were continuing to bring more clerics over to his side. Rafsanjani's aim, the website added, is the establishment of
a leadership council, comprising of three or more top religious leaders, to replace the institution of supreme leader. Shortly
after it posted the report on Rafsanjani's efforts to establish a new collective leadership, government officials pulled the plug on
Rooyeh.
Meanwhile, the Al-Arabiya satellite television news channel reported that a "high-ranking" source in Qom confirmed that Rafsanjani
has garnered enough support to remove Ayatollah Khamenei, but an announcement is being delayed amid differences on what or who should
replace the supreme leader. Some top clerics reportedly want to maintain the post of supreme leader, albeit with someone other than
Ayatollah Khamenei occupying the post, while others support the collective leadership approach. |
| Quote: | --One twitterer says security forces have surrounded foreign embassies to prevent anyone from entering and seeking asylum or
medical treatment.
--Another reports of street battles in east and west Tehran, and that security forces have blocked avenues from downtown Tehran
to the north to prevent large gatherings.
--Again, people are crying "Allah-o Akbar" from their rooftops, and some are shouting "Death to Khamenei" and "Death to the
dictator".
--A twitterer hears gunfire in north Tehran and sees small fires in the streets.
--After 5 days of not being heard of a female student of Azad university of Bandarabbas , now it has been confirmed by security guards
that she has been killed. She was shot and taken away by security guards in front of the entrance of Bandarabbas Azad University on
June 18th
To avoid spreading this news and persuading it by Bandarabbas people, her body was buried secretly and without informing her
relatives. |
A Bazzar Win-Win Strategy
The new strategy is confirmed. On his Facebook page, Khatami's advises a strategy to protest the election pecefully.
| Quote: | A very effective strategy: a WIN-WIN strategy:
In the name of God
We will not waste our energy, but act efficiently. We have conveyed our words to the coup-makers to the world in the streets. Now we
need to change our strategy.
From this Tuesday, at 9 every morning we will all go to the bazaar in our towns all over the country.
If they prevent us, the bazaar will close. If they do not, there will be such congestion that the business will get interrupted and
the bazaar will close. If they disconnect the telephone lines, again all activities will get interrupted and the bazaar will close. As
much as possible, we will shut down the whole town and go to the bazaar to shut it down.
Take everyone with you. Bring the children, too without any slogans-without green signs-without sit-ins; pretending to go shopping but
not buying anything. We will only think of shutting down the bazaar, but do not leave any traces, not even a victory sign by our
hands. NOT AT ALL.
We will only think of victory. Bring the children, all the towns of Iran, without slogans, without slogans, without slogans, quietly,
quietly, quietly, without greens, without sit-ins, without fighting. If anyone starts quarrels or shouts, we will not join because we
pretend to be going shopping.
There is no need to fear, and everyone will come. No fights, no bloodshed, no slogans, no sit-ins. If they prevent us, we simply
return because we mean to shut down the bazaar, not to assemble. If they shoot tear gas, the bazaar will close. We will act smartly
and will not engage in any sort of fights although if any fighting happens the bazaar will close due to insecurity. But we will not
engage in any fights, and calmly and solely think of victory. With the congestion the bazaar will shut down, or no one will be there.
Under any circumstances we will win.
Dear Mr. Mousavi: We do not need your martyrdom and self-sacrifice; we need your leadership until we reach our goals. Until 9am
Tuesday, the 3rd day of the martyrdom of June 20th martyrs, we will have enough time to inform everyone. Inform friends by any means:
through websites, foreign media.
From Tuesday towards bazaar. Send this message to friends and the addresses below so that it gets widespread all over our dear Iran.
This strategy is effective and there is no need to fear, and will bring millions of Iranians into the scene without any bloodshed.
Rest assured this strategy is so effective that the enemy will soon start denying and making rumors, and will start struggling. Do not
believe them because this program will continue. Do not listen to rumors and inform everyone by whatever means possible.
Wishing for success
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=94226163070&id=1243757199&ref=mf |
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:49 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Wednesday 24th June 2009
| Quote: | --A new opposition rally is reportedly scheduled for the
square outside Irans Parliament at 4 p.m. today Wednesday
However, other accounts say the opposition is hoping to stage another demonstration today by keeping its location secret until the
last moment.
This place looks like theres martial law. Every metre theres an agent with a stick in his hand, one Tehran resident said
yesterday. |
Videos from yesterday in Tehran:
| Quote: | Tehran police claim they have raided the headquarters of the "post-election unrest" on Tehran's Haft-e-Tir Square.
"The plotters have been arrested and are currently under investigation," state-funded Press TV said. New York-based Human Rights Watch
claimed that a "notoriously abusive Iranian prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi," has been put in charge of investigating the detained
reformists.
He has been implicated in past cases of "torture,
illegal detention, and coercion of false confessions" it says. |
| Quote: | Iran football players 'banned' after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad protest
24 Jun 2009
The Iranian football players who wore green wristbands to protest against the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have reportedly been
banned from the team for life.
[url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5620334/Iran-football-players-banned-after-Mahmoud-Ahmadinejad-protest.
html]Source[/url] |
| Quote: | --Demonstrations taking place in Tehran. Protesters are at six locations:
Baharestan Square, Enghelab Square, Vanak Square, Vali-asr Square, Tajrish Square and Sadeghieh Square.
--Hundreds of people, many from the families of those arrested have gathered outside Revolution Court.
--There are also reports of clashes and teargas being fired on Bahareston Square.
--Reports that a girl has been shot in Baharestan Square.
--Cell network down in Baharestan & nearby areas.
--More than 10,000 Bassij Milittias in position in Central Tehran,
including Baharestan Sq.
--25 journalist were arrested last night. |
Listen and Weep.
Today in Tehran. Primeval Savagery.
Yes, you heard right when she said that they were
using AXES as weapons to hack students to death.
There are independent accounts confirming this elsewhere.
| Quote: | Unimaginable Horror In Tehran Today
By Steve Schippert on June 24, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Iran has executed its Tiananmen Square. Baharestan Square has become synonymous with barbarity, cruelty, massacre and
inhumanity.
An Iranian blogger (whose URL I will not publish) live blogging from Baharestan Square in central Tehran today captures but brief
glimpses of the unimaginable horror that took place today. Bus loads of protesters were stopped and unloaded from their buses by
"black-clad police" and literally herded. When the massing was sufficient, as the barely controllably distraught Tehran caller to CNN
described first hand, hundreds of the regime's Basij thugs poured out of an adjoining mosque and commenced a massacre with axes,
clubs, guns and gas.
From the live blogger's eyewitness account:
>More than 10.000 Bassij Milittias get position in Central Tehran, including Baharestan Sq.
>Army Helycopters flying over Baharestan and Vali Asr Sq.
>The streets, squares and around BAHARESTAN (Approx. South-eastern of Tehran) is swarming with military forces, civilian forces, the
security motorists
>The croud have moved to the south of baharestan, the situation is bad, the shooting has started
>In Baharestan Sq. in the Police shooting, A girl is shot and the police is not allowing to let them help
>In Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping people like meat - blood everywhere - like butcher
This is the Iranian regime, wading into its own unarmed people and axing them to death, bludgeoning women (seen as the greatest
threat to the regime) and throwing them to their deaths from pedestrian bridges. The same Iranian regime whose embassy officials
are invited to American embassies around the world to celebrate on July 4th, of all things, a successful revolution.
This frantic phone call from a Tehran woman will break your heart as you consider our standard response has been "that there are sets
of international norms and principles about violence" and that "the international community is watching." Part of yesterday's response
by President Obama in a press conference included "that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy (of the
Iranian regime) and prosperity for the Iranian people. We hope they take it." The Iranian theocratic regime clearly is not interested.
There should not be - nor should have ever been - invitations to the ruthless Iranian regime's international ambassadors to celebrate
anything with us, anywhere, unless it is an invitation to a tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity.
To my intelligent friends who have been arguing the logic of our president's near silence on the issue of Iran - and not without merit
on certain points - you can disengage from me now. I will entertain none of it any longer.
This is an axe wound, just one, doled out by the regime's thug basiji animals on Saturday, June 20, 2009.
View Unblurred Disturbing Image:
http://breakfornews.com/bfn5/iran67.jpg
This was a brutal murder of an assuredly unarmed protester of the up-close-and-personal variety. An act, and one not isolated,
which requires the presence of inhumane malice and aggression and the absence of humanity. The traits required for massacres upon the
unarmed. There is no nuance, no logical approach, no deft explanation that covers near silence and inadequate, tepid condemnation of
the meekest sort. To decline any mention of possible repercussions on the regime for these acts "because we don't know how this is
going to turn out" is moral cowardice of the highest order. Look at the picture above and listen to the frantic woman calling in to
CNN again. They seem to "know how this is going to turn out."
There is a way to condemn a regime axing its citizens in the streets of Tehran and other cities across Iran without "making this about
the US."
You, and our president, are intelligent men and women and lacking no gifts of speech and prose. Find what's missing. Each of you
frustrate and sadden me. Argue your eloquent points elsewhere. My ears are deaf as of now.
http://threatswatch.org/rapidrecon/2009/06/unimaginable-horror-in-tehran/ |
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:50 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Wednesday 24th June 2009
| Quote: | -- The Butcher" to oversee prosecutions of protesters.
The Iranian regime has appointed one of its most feared prosecutors to interrogate reformists arrested during demonstrations,
prompting fears of a brutal crackdown against dissent.
Relatives of several detained protesters have confirmed that the interrogation of prisoners is now being headed by Saaed Mortazavi, a
figure known in Iran as "the butcher of the press". He gained notoriety for his role in the death of a Canadian-Iranian
photographer who was tortured, beaten and raped during her detention in 2003.
"The leading role of Saeed Mortazavi in the crackdown in Tehran should set off alarm bells for anyone familiar with his record," said
Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch. |
This account indicates that Iranian authorities are using enforcers
from outside Tehran to deliver the crackdown. This was the same
tactic as used by the Chinese Communist Party to crackdown on
the protesters in Tiananmen Square: they drafted in army units from
the peripheral areas and told them that counter-revolutionaries were
trying to overthrow the State:
| Quote: | Newspaper Roozonline has an interview (in Persian) with one of the
young plainclothes militiamen who have been beating protesters.
The man is paid 2m rial per day, which would be about £1220 for ten
days of work. A hefty fee, even by UK standards. A reader writes:
"You can imagine what that kind of money means to a villager from
Khorasan".
The Guardian's Robert Tait sends this synopsis:
The man, who has come from a small town in the eastern province of Khorasan and has never been in Tehran before, says he is being paid
2m rial (£122) to assault protestors with a heavy wooden stave. He says the money is the main incentive as it will enable him to get
married and may even enable him to afford more than one wife.
Leadership of the volunteers has been provided by a man known only as "Hajji", who has instructed his men to "beat the
counter-revolutionaries so hard that they won't be able to stand up".
The volunteers, most of them from far-flung provinces such as Khuzestan, Arak and Mazandaran, are being kept in hostel accommodation,
reportedly in east Tehran. Other volunteers, he says, have been brought from Lebanon, where the Iranian regime has strong allies in
the Hezbollah movement.
They are said to be more highly-paid than their Iranian counterparts and are put up in hotels. The last piece of information seems to
confirm the suspicion of many Iranians that foreign security personnel are being used to suppress the demonstrators. For all his talk
of the legal process, this interview provides a key insight into where Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, believes the
true source of his legitimacy rests. |
| Quote: | --Rallies are expanding in many other cities of Iran, and street demonstrations have not been diminished in Tabriz,
Isfahan, Kermanshah and other cities. Although the size of the demonstrations is smaller, they are more violent and forceful.
--Opposition candidate and pro-tem Mousavi ally Mehdi Karroubi has
cancelled a memorial demonstration that had been planned for tomorrow.
--Ardeshir Amir Arjemand, Mousavi's legal adviser, reported arrested.
--An opposition rally is planned for tomorrow at 4:30pm, from the Vali-Asr
intersection to Enghelab Square in Tehran.
--Khamenei's speech last Friday was the biggest mistake of his career. It may be the end of his political career. It is certainly the
end of his career as spiritual leader." -- Abbas Milani
--Seventy members of an organisations of Islamic university professors
were arrested today after a meeting with Mir Hossein Mousavi, according
to website Kalemeh.ir, which is affiliated with the Mousavi camp.
--Unconfirmed reports say university professors who during the campaign
signed petitions supporting Mousavi have been detained.
(This reported below also) |
| Quote: | Lalezar Sq is same as Baharestan
--Military plain clothes have entered the crowd with high speed on bikes, they are beating people with cable and batons, almost
everyone in the crowd is injured, there is blood everywhere!
>They have ordered the general hospitals not to confirm the shot guns or baton injuries by Revolutionary Guards & basij militia!
>Gunshots Heard From Aazadi St.
>Political prisoners and jurnalists were taken to critical condition in 209 Evin,
--Washington Times's journalist was arrested! -UNCONFIRMED
--In center of Tehran militia and plain clothes and motorcylist are all over the city, in almost in every street. Medical centres are
full of todays's injured people.
--Mir Hossein Mousavi had a meeting today with the Islamic Association
of University Teachers. After the meeting all 70 people present were
arrested
(Reported above also)
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Fintan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:54 am Post subject: |
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Live Blog : Thursday 25th June 2009
| Quote: | Iran arrests 70 professors after meeting with opposition leader
--Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the government would not give in to pressure over the disputed presidential
election, in effect closing the door to compromise with the opposition.
--Dissident website says their whereabouts are unknown.
--Broadcast outlets intensify attacks on the West.
By Ramin Mostaghim, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
2:25 AM PDT, June 25, 2009
Reporting from Tehran -- Authorities arrested 70 university professors after a meeting with an opposition leader, a dissident
website announced today as state-controlled broadcast outlets intensified a media blitz against the West.
Iran's supreme leader vowed Wednesday that he would neither reconsider vote results nor bow to public pressure over the disputed
reelection of his ally, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who ran and lost against Ahmadinejad in the marred vote and emerged as the
opposition figurehead, along with his backer Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, were meeting with lawmakers in an effort to quell
the unrest, an official told an Iranian news agency
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ultimate political and military authority, decried "lawlessness" after demonstrators took to the
streets to dispute Ahmadinejad's reelection in a June 12 vote that they and many independent analysts say was suspiciously out of sync
with previous voting patterns and Iran's demographics.
"Once lawlessness becomes a norm, things will be complicated and the interests of people will be undermined," Khamenei said after a
meeting with lawmakers, according to state television.
"Everyone should respect the law," he said. "Even in the case of the recent incidents, I have been, still am and will continue to be
insisting on the implementation of the law. . . . Certainly, neither the system nor the people will yield to pressure under any
circumstances."
Using batons, tear gas and large contingents of uniformed and plainclothes security forces, Iranian authorities for now appear to have
beaten back their greatest domestic challenge in 30 years as a dispute over the election sharply divided both society and the
political establishment into two camps: supporters of Ahmadinejad and those backing Mousavi.
His website, Kalameh.ir, reported today that 70 members of the Islamic Society of University Professors were arrested after they
met with the former prime minister Wednesday afternoon. Their whereabouts are unknown, the report said.
Ala'eddin Boroujerdi, head of parliament's committee on national security and foreign policy, told the Fars news agency today that
lawmakers had met with Rafsanjani and Mousavi a day earlier.
"The lawmakers asked Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani to help solve the problems and he vowed support and we hope that we would witness
practical measures to be taken to end the current situation soon," the report quoted Boroujerdi as saying. "During the meeting, the
governing board of the committee explained their expectations from Mr. Mousavi and he voiced his interest to help in solving the
issues."
Pro-government Basiji militiamen have put down a series of large-scale demonstrations over the last week. On Wednesday afternoon, riot
police and militiamen used clubs and tear gas near parliament at Baharestan Square to disperse protesters who numbered either several
hundred or more than a thousand, according to different witnesses. Security officials fired into the air to frighten the crowd,
witnesses said.
Police officers continued to guard key intersections as plainclothes militiamen on motorcycles patrolled streets. Mousavi's wife,
scholar Zahra Rahnavard, who broke with tradition in Iran's male-dominated political society to campaign for her husband, likened the
situation in the country to "martial law" on one of his websites.
Khamenei's comments were widely viewed as an attempt to keep lawmakers in line and prevent them from defecting to the opposition camp.
Many of them are pragmatic conservatives opposed to Ahmadinejad's messianic brand of politics and critical of his handling of the
economy. Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani recently voiced criticism of the government's response to the crisis, acknowledging in a
televised appearance that many Iranians believe Ahmadinejad's election to be fraudulent.
The Guardian Council, the country's constitutional watchdog, said it would conclude its probe of fraud allegations by Monday.
But a crackdown on dissident journalists, activists and those close to Mousavi continued. The intelligence division of the Tehran
police announced a raid on a building in the city center used as a "headquarters" for the opposition. A source said the building was
Mousavi's newspaper, where 25 journalists were arrested Monday.
"After scrutinizing the building, which was the campaign office of a presidential candidate, it was discovered that the organization
of illegal gatherings, the promotion of unrest and efforts to undermine the country's security were carried out from the building,"
said a statement issued by the police, according to the website of Iran's state-owned Press TV.
With relative quiet on the streets, state broadcasting has begun flooding airwaves with allegations that the unrest was the work of
Western antagonists, especially Britain.
State television scoffed at statements President Obama made Tuesday condemning the violence against protesters but maintaining that
the United States did not wish to interfere in Iranian affairs.
"The president of America once again supported the agitators inside Iran last night," a news announcer said. "Of course, the president
of America says that these remarks are not tantamount to meddling in internal Iranian affairs. But in conjunction with the Americans,
the Israelis are also pursuing the objective of agitation."
In one indication of the tension between Washington and Tehran, the White House said Wednesday that it has rescinded invitations to
Iranian diplomats worldwide to attend Fourth of July celebrations in various U.S. embassies. Robert Gibbs, the White House press
secretary, said no Iranian diplomat had responded to the offer, extended last month.....
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-arrests26-2009jun26,0,5415539.story |
Just out on the Iranian State TV Website
This article looks very like a subtle official
nod in the direction of a compromise....
Or playing for time? We shall see.
| Quote: | Rafsanjani, Mousavi vow support to end unrest'
Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:06:13 GMT
Alaeddin Boroujerdi Head of Iran's Expediency Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will support efforts to end the post-election
tension in the country, an Iranian lawmaker says.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Head of Iran's Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy told Fars news agency that the
committee's governing board has held a meeting with Rafsanjani and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's main rival in
the elections on Wednesday.
Boroujerdi termed the parliamentary delegation's talks with Rafsanjani as "constructive".
"The lawmakers asked Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani to help solve the problems and he vowed support and we hope that we would witness
practical measures to be taken to end the current situation soon," he added.
Boroujerdi also noted that the lawmakers have discussed the post-election developments with Mousavi.
"During the meeting, the governing board of the committee explained their expectations from Mr. Mousavi and he voiced his interest
to help in solving the issues."
Boroujerdi stated that the talks between Mousavi and Iranian lawmakers will continue.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=98986§ionid=351020101 |
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