The mothers and children of Narmak the lower-middle class district where Ahmadinejad famously has his residence have so far been spared violence, but theyve also not seen the victory celebrations that pro-Ahmadinejad newspapers and state broadcasters have claimed are taking place.
The Hosseinis, like many in their area, voted for Ahmadinejad after days of discussing their thoughts about the country and the candidates. They belong neither to the segment of the presidents voting bloc that was instructed to cast their votes for him, nor the underclass portion of the populace overjoyed by the presidents coarsest displays of populism.
However many ballots were coerced or falsified, there are a significant number of Iranians who cast their ballots for Ahmadinejad voluntarily and with a clear conscience. And they are now beginning to question their own judgment.
"Dont cause a scene," the bearded man in plain clothes firmly told the rest of the passengers in a subway car late on Monday evening.
Those within earshot, including your correspondent, knew he was an intelligence officer and that he was discouraging us all from mentioning the murders at Azadi Square that had just happened. We were very quick to comply, everyone directing their eyes to a corner, or the floor or a wall. Ever more Iranians are responding to their own government in a mood of fear and exhaustion.
But, one young man on the subway decided neither to cower, nor obey. You were there, he said gravely, looking at the intelligence officer. You were there; I saw you.
The officer stared back. We all have our opinions.
The young man boldly replied: It is a fact. You were there. I saw you.
It is clear that the young man had seen more than he wanted to. His were the eyes of someone who has lost a friend, a comrade: His pain gave him the strength to utter words that the entire country would probably share, a claim to self-respect that Iranians would like to make a steadfast reality. In the streets of Tehran, there is a desire to name simple facts and to call them such: facts like election ballots, facts like gun shots fired at innocent bystanders. The demonstrators are bound together by their desire for truth.
Your correspondent, too, wanted to say what he had just seen: A young man staggering in the darkness several blocks away from Freedom Square, his eyes wide, as though he'd seen a ghost. He raised his two bloody hands before me as testimony. Ten people, he intoned. They killed 10 people.
Iranian society has increasingly found a common enemy in the form of the Basij, the paramilitary group indiscriminate in the punishment it's meted out since the election, whether by baton, or as of Monday, by gun. The conflict between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi supporters is less grave than the one between the demonstrators and their torturers. When Mousavi demonstrators now enter someones car or building in order to escape a baton, no one asks how the other voted.
This will be where the mask comes off and Iran ceases to appear a "republic," Islamic or otherwise. Real republics don't have Fearless Leaders and they don't have Basij and they don't have Guardian Councils. They don't have to import Arab thugs to beat up on their people. With the masks off, Iran's the usual kind of tiresome dictatorship, which is why Hugo Chavez likes them so much.
I feel for the people of Iran. They're going to get slammed with the same kind of brown-shirted repression we saw over and over again in the 20th century, indeed from the time of Robespierre. But my feeling for the people of Iran is tempered by the knowledge that this is the system they brought upon themselves, culminating in the overthrow of the Shah in 1979. They turned out in the same kind of numbers, demanding to be ruled by their ayatollahs, who had all the answers. Now they're turning out and demanding to be ruled by... whatever Mousavi represents.
Someday perhaps they'll turn out in their numbers demanding their own individual liberty, demanding to be left alone to make their own decisions, to live their lives free from enforced religion, from enforced ideology. Maybe they'll demand a modicum of honesty from their politicians and a bit of discretion from their oligarchs.
Until then, they'll continue being repressed, beaten and exploited. Eventually they'll throw out their repressors, to replace them with new faces and the old slogans. I have no idea how many times that wheel will turn. I hope it's not many. I suspect it will be.
TEHRAN -- In his first public response to days of mass protests, Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sternly warned opposition supporters on Friday to stay off the streets and raised the prospect of violence if the defiant, vast demonstrations continued. Not a fan of real community organizers, is he?
He spoke somberly for more than an hour and a half at Friday Prayer to tens of thousands of people at Tehran University, with Mr. Ahmadinejad in attendance. His sermon was broadcast over loudspeakers to throngs in the adjoining streets, and the crowds erupted repeatedly in roars of support. Opposition supporters had spread the word among themselves not to attend.
"Street challenge is not acceptable," Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to a rendering by the BBC. "This questions the principles of election and democracy."Opposition leaders, he said, will be "responsible for bloodshed and chaos" if they do not stop further rallies. The IRGC doesn't kill people, opposition leaders kill people- not exactly a catchy slogan.
Ayatollah Khamenei blamed "media belonging to Zionists, evil media" Two days ago he blamed the Brits, then the US, now Zionists, next up Martians? He must be on Twitter intercepting their secret Zionist messages.
for seeking to show divisions between those who supported the Iranian state and those who did not, while, in fact, the election had shown Iranians to be united in their commitment to the Islamic revolutionary state.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/19/2009 11:50 ||
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By Soudeh in Tehran One of several first-hand accounts published in the Wall Street Journal
I have never seen such a huge number of diverse people protesting in Iran. People are really angry and refuse to be patient. Ahmadinejad's government challenged our honor. How can we trust anything when the government perpetrates such a big lie?
They don't have pity on anyone. Some of the police cannot speak Farsi. I saw one of them beating a man as he cursed in Arabic. People say they are from Hezbollah.
These men barge into homes and threaten people by calling their families. And they are savage against peaceful demonstrators.
Hospitals are full of people injured by the Military Guard, yet the Supreme Leader of Iran called us seditious. We just want the right to a real vote.
This is the first time an American president did not interfere with Iran's situation -- and it's a good thing. In the past, U.S. support for the protestors led the Iranian government to punish the people more, accusing them of being spies for or taking money from the U.S.
But I think Obama must hear the message of the protests: Ahmadinejad's government is a lie. Now click through and read the rest of it. Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2009 06:54 ||
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#2
This situation illustrates the importance of our Second Amendment. If the Iranian people had been armed, this would have been sorted out days ago.Our old CIA would have responded to this need.
#3
They don't have pity on anyone. Some of the police cannot speak Farsi. I saw one of them beating a man as he cursed in Arabic. People say they are from Hezbollah.
Or they could be...these guys.
Palestinian Hamas members are helping the Iranian authorities crush street protests in support of reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, two protesters told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
"The most important thing that I believe people outside of Iran should be aware of," the young man went on, "is the participation of Palestinian forces in these riots." Another protester, who spoke as he carried a kitchen knife in one hand and a stone in the other, also cited the presence of Hamas in Teheran.
On Monday, he said, "my brother had his ribs beaten in by those Palestinian animals. Taking our people's money is not enough, they are thirsty for our blood too."
It was ironic, this man said, that the victorious Ahmadinejad "tells us to pray for the young Palestinians, suffering at the hands of Israel." His hope, he added, was that Israel would "come to its senses" and ruthlessly deal with the Palestinians.
When asked if these militia fighters could have been mistaken for Lebanese Shi'ites, sent by Hizbullah, he rejected the idea. "Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing. They [Palestinian extremists] are out beating Iranians in the streets The more we gave this arrogant race, the more they want [But] we will not let them push us around in our own country."
Spreading sweetness and light wherever they roma...
#5
Iran has adopted Hamas and Hizbullah as the leading proxies of the Teheran regime. The opposition sources said Hamas agents, recruited in the Gaza Strip, Jordan and Lebanon, were used to attack Iranian dissidents and student protesters since 2001.
About 5,000 Hizbullah and Hamas fighters have been deployed to quell the anti-government protests, the sources said. They said Hizbullah and Hamas operatives, waving truncheons, were heard shouting in Arabic as they rushed groups of demonstrators.
Both Hamas and Hizbullah were said to have a permanent presence in Iran. The sources said IRGC has been training more than 500 Hamas and Hizbullah operatives a year and often pulled them out of courses to help in internal security.
IRGC was also said to have used Hizbullah tactics against the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora in 2008. At the time, Hizbullah employed groups of armed fighters in motorcycles to overrun political parties aligned with the pro-Western coalition of Siniora.
"It [Iran] must adopt the Hizbullah method of organizing large public demonstrations to confront the supporters of Mir Hussein Moussavi," Lebanese analyst Anis Nakash, a supporter of the Teheran regime, said.
The sources said the use of motorcycles by Hizbullah, said to have been developed in 2006, was seen in IRGC and Basij operations against pro-Moussavi demonstrators in Teheran and other cities. They said motorcycles enabled anti-riot squads to move quickly from one area to another through the crowded alleys of Iranian cities while reducing their vulnerability to attack.
Hizbullah has also taught anti-riot tactics to the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip. The sources said Basij officers with Palestinian accents were seen shooting toward protesters. Other suspected Palestinians were said to have been ordered to beat demonstrators on university campuses.
"They [Hamas agents] are given jobs that Iranians won't do because they are either too ashamed to do this or scared they will be identified," another opposition source said.
The moderate Iranian leader who says that he was robbed of victory in last weeks presidential election faces a fateful choice today: support the regime or be cast out. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans Supreme Leader, has told Mir Hossein Mousavi to stand beside him as he uses Friday prayers at Tehran University to call for national unity. An army of Basiji Islamic volunteer militiamen is also expected to be bussed in to support the Supreme Leader.
The demand was made at a meeting this week with representatives of all three candidates who claim that the poll was rigged, and it puts Mr Mousavi on the spot. He has become the figurehead of a popular movement that is mounting huge demonstrations daily against the theft of last Fridays election by President Ahmadinejad, the ayatollahs protégé.
Mr Mousavi, 67, is a creature of the political Establishment a former revolutionary and prime minister who would like to liberalise Iranian politics but has never challenged the system in the way his followers are doing. It was unclear last night what he would do or even whether the protests would die away if he backed down. Yesterday tens of thousands of demonstrators packed into the Imam Khomeini Square in Tehran named after the founder of the Islamic Republic for another massive rally, this one to mourn protesters killed in Mondays clashes with pro-government militias.
Men, women and children from all backgrounds came dressed in black, with green wristbands, the colour of the Mousavi campaign, and staged a two-hour vigil. Some held banners bearing the names or pictures of the dead, and placards proclaiming My martyred brother, we will get back your vote or We have not had people killed to compromise and accept a doctored ballot box.
There was near silence until Mr Mousavi arrived with his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, and the throng broke into chants of Mousavi! We support you! With almost ecstatic fervour, the traditional lament for Shia Islams most important martyr, Ya Hussein! was answered by the defeated presidential candidates forenames Mir Hossein!
Mr Mousavi was accompanied by Mehdi Karoubi, another of the defeated candidates. He attempted to speak from the top of a car using a loudhailer, but few could hear him.
As the protesters departed just before dusk they left behind little shrines of black candles placed around photographs of the dead. It encourages us to follow their path, fighting for the vote, one woman said.
It was the sixth day of demonstrations and first to be held in the poorer south-central district, an apparent effort to dispel notions that the protesters are middle-class or pro-Western.
The Guardian Council, a body of 12 senior clerics whom the Supreme Leader has asked to investigate claims of electoral fraud, said it had received 646 complaints of irregularities. It has invited Mr Mousavi and the other two candidates challenging Mr Ahmadinejad Mr Karoubi and Mohsen Rezai to set out their grievances tomorrow and will decide on Sunday whether to order a recount. Nobody believes that it will. The Supreme Leader controls the council and is widely believed to have asked it to investigate as a way to play for time.
Mr Ahmadinejad defended the vote, telling a Cabinet meeting yesterday that the ideals of the Islamic Revolution were the winners.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Rat Boy (Ahmadinejad) took off to Russia shortly after the unprecedented public outcry against him and his terrorist thugs for stealing the 'election'.
Since the Kremlin has armed the Iranian dictatorship, supplies the nuclear fuel and nuclear technicians for Iran's offensive nuclear weapons quest, we should not be surprised if Putin informs Rat Boy that in order for him to retain dictatorial power, coupled with the ruling mullahs, he better pick a fight with an outside enemy, as in Israel, in order to attempt to somehow rally the Iranian public behind his dictatorship, instead of the ongoing enormous rejection of his repressive régime -- or -- as in Putin's Russia, continue bumping off the opposition leadership, coupled with Tehran's Islamic thugs committing acts of murder in order to totally terrorize the entire population into submitting. After all, that's how things are done in brutal totalitarian Stalinist & Islamic tyrannies.
Keeping in mind North Korea, another one of Russia's Axis of Evil cohorts, has threaten to fire a nuclear missile at the Hawaiian Islands, maybe even right at Pearl Harbor, indicating the Putin dictatorship is once again using Russia's anti-Western proxies to stir up trouble in various parts of the world, so the Russians can make a military thrust elsewhere, as in a repeat attack against Georgia.
Whatever happens, we can not expect effective counter measures against the anti-American aggressors -- with the likes of Obama Inc in the White House.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/19/2009 4:27 Comments ||
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Good analysis. wish I could say you were wrong on any of your points.....
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead Friday prayers in Tehran in the presence of the Basij volunteer Islamic militia, the Mehr news agency said on Thursday.
"Alert Basijis... with their epic presence, will take part in Friday's prayers to be led by Ayatollah Khamenei," the agency quoted a statement issued by the militia.
The Basij, which has been at the forefront of the crackdown on protesters, also warned the defeated presidential candidates who have complained about the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that they must "explicitly dissociate themselves from the rioters".
Supporters of defeated challengers Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have said they will join the prayers, for the rare occasion they are being led by Khamenei.
The Basij called for all sides to "avoid provocative actions."
Continued on Page 47
On the street reporting, including one soldier who won't fire on his people.
Reporting from Tehran -- Neither side can drown out the other. Both so far are exercising a measure of restraint. But as authorities try to rein in Iran's most serious unrest since the Islamic Revolution, they face a diverse opposition united in its rejection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his policies.
After days of ignoring or dismissing the criticism, authorities appear to have recognized that they're unable to use their hold over electronic communications networks and state-controlled broadcasting to quell the protests over Friday's election. They have started implementing a softer approach in public. But they may not understand the depth of the problem they face.
"We had one vote and we gave it to Mousavi," said one placard at Wednesday's rally. "We have one life and we'll give it up for freedom."
The result Wednesday was the third mass protest rally in as many days, which witnesses said drew tens of thousands, and perhaps hundreds of thousands, onto the streets of Tehran.
And new protests are planned for today. Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who lost to Ahmadinejad in an election his green-clad supporters regard as fraudulent, has asked backers to go to local mosques to pay tribute to those killed in the protests. Within a culture steeped in the Shiite Muslim mystique of martyrdom, each death may motivate rather than discourage activists.
In a culture that reveres martyrdom, it isn't wise to create more martyrs ...
Whether or not Ahmadinejad won a majority of votes in the election, a large segment of the population rejects his vision and leadership. Critics complain that he is popular among only a limited swath of Iranians of a certain religious and social background, the pious lower-middle class who continue to treasure their rural roots.
His modest lifestyle appeals to many who are fed up with official corruption, and he has used the country's oil wealth to finance payments to the poor. But Iran is also suffering from high unemployment and inflation, and the president's opponents fear his foreign policy will lead to isolation from, if not open conflict with, the West.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Contrary to the sense of chaos and violence offered in unsourced Twitter feeds, Iranian protests have been largely peaceful
Abbas Barzegar
Since the Iranian government has barred foreign journalists from recording the massive rallies in Tehran in the last two days, news outlets in the world have instead been forced to rely almost exclusively on video feeds from mobile phones, YouTube, and Twitter.
The images have splashed across the screen with the intensity of a horror film. Most of these feeds are sent without confirmation of where the events took place, who is responsible for recording them or even when they occurred. Nonetheless, their gratuitous display by some of the largest and most respected news broadcasters has left the impression that Iran is either under nationwide martial law or experiencing a bloodbath under complete darkness.
But, had the authorities here allowed open coverage of the rallies in the last 48 hours, they would have done themselves a favour. Since the announcement of seven deaths two days ago every gathering here has increasingly taken a more peaceful tone. Likewise the initial overreaction by the security apparatus seems to have been corrected.
Perhaps an eyewitness recap of the last few days of street violence can help give readers a non-Twitter view of Tehran.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Congrats, dumbass. You're in Tehran, where everybody's holding their breath in a massive Mexican standoff. All the blood and gore seems to be coming from the provinces, where the non-Persian minorities are getting curbstomped like usual, away from the media & international attention.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/19/2009 9:43 Comments ||
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#2
Besides being a shill, he's wrong about how much better it would have been for the ayatollahs if the media could have reported. You'd still see the same scenes - if it bleeds it ledes. (not a typo)
Posted by: Phavith Prince of the Munchkins5585 ||
06/19/2009 12:11 Comments ||
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In which Rantburg cites, with approval, a post from HuffPo ...
by Shirin Ebadi
On Monday, June 15, more than 1 million people marched in the streets of Tehran to support Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi -- two defeated presidential candidates -- and to object to the results of last week's election. Their destination was Azadi Square (Freedom Square) which, at the time of the Islamic Revolution 30 years ago, had been the gathering spot for revolutionaries. Mir Hossein Moussavi climbed on top of a minibus and spoke to the people through a loudspeaker. He told them to continue their objections but refrain from aggressive behavior, in order not to give security forces an excuse to resort to violence.
Peaceful demonstrations ended, and while people were slowly dispersing to go home, suddenly, from the rooftop of a building belonging to Basij (the volunteer people's militia), shots were fired on the people. Another group started firing from another direction. Based on reports, there are seven killed and around 30 wounded and hospitalized thus far.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009 00:00 ||
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"I Have a Dream"
The best solution for establishing peace in Iran consists of:
1. The unconditional release of every individual arrested and imprisoned for having objected to the results of the elections. Retroactive to 1979
2. Ordering the cessation of Basij andBastasd police violence toward protestors.
3. Declaring the election void. (And running Dinner Jacket over with a camel)
4. Ordering new elections under the auspices of international organizations. (Yeah bring back Coffee Anin)
5. Paying compensation to the injured (physically and civily) and to the families of those who have been killed. ((Since 1979)) (All expense paid relocation to the destination of your choice - any Iranian should qualify)
Calm could perhaps be brought back to the Iranian society (the three people that remain in the country) if these conditions are met. Otherwise, there is a great possibility of increased violence in Iran
#2
I would point out that both candidates hate America and want to wipe Israel off the map. While it's nice to watch from the cheap seats I don't care which team wins and hope both would lose.
#3
Dinnerjacket probably considers Ms Ebami one of the least important people in Iran. She has very little influence inside the country but a lot of influence among liberals in the US and EU.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/19/2009 13:05 Comments ||
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Hat tip niacINsight, an excellent blog with up to the minute news on all things Iran.
Riot police had driven off anti-government demonstrators and the sting of tear gas in the air was fading yesterday when the heavy-set man in a camouflage uniform grabbed me, shouting in Farsi, and pushed me into a throng of riot police.
They shouted while I waved my hand and said "Canadian" to no effect. Before I knew what was happening, I was whisked away on a motorcycle to the Interior Ministry headquarters, and taken to a large basement room.
Inside a concrete room to my left, I could see more than 50 others being made to stand in uncomfortable positions - on their toes with their hands pressed behind their heads. Some were covered in blood, and police with batons patrolled the rows, tapping some detainees on the shoulders with their sticks.
There was no screaming, just the sound of boots pacing on the concrete floor.
For a few terrifying hours yesterday, I was mistaken for an anti-government protester, giving me a glimpse into how the hundreds arrested over the weekend are being treated by authorities in a system where dissidents are known to "disappear" and not be seen again for months.
It all started when a few hundred supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi rallied yesterday to protest against the defeat of their candidate.
Men and women shouted slogans, waved flags and called for an end to the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Just like the day before, when election results were first released showing a bigger-than-expected victory for Mr. Ahmadinejad, police dressed in jet-black riot gear charged the crowd with batons, fired tear gas and struck whomever straggled behind.
Plainclothes officers hand-picked whomever they could, throwing them in vans and on black motorcycles to be driven off to unknown places.
I was walking by a checkpoint and an officer grabbed me and forced me onto a motorcycle. As soon as we stopped, I was grabbed from the bike by another officer and slapped across the head. Seven officers ran up to join in the slapping, and one punched me in the head. A large officer, about 6 foot 4 and dressed in camouflage, grabbed me by the neck, pinching my jugular but not my windpipe. His leather gloves cut through my skin and I was pinned against a van, my arm bent high behind my back.
I was then thrown onto a second motorcycle with one police officer in front of me and another behind, slapping me more and cursing during the quick ride around the corner.
When we stopped, an officer grabbed me, pinned my arm behind my back and led me into the bowels of the Interior Ministry headquarters - where so many Iranian dissidents "disappear."
We went down several flights of dark concrete stairs to a large basement room, where I was grabbed by the shirt and pinned against the wall, as more questions were shouted at me in Farsi - and as I caught glimpses of the others being treated far worse. I was separated from the protesters, and officers gathered around me, attracted by the spectacle of a foreigner.
Some pushed me, and I was worried I would be held and beaten for days. But two of the officers fended the others off. They took my camera to see whether I had photographed the riots, but I had already erased the images. I was questioned in broken English for about 20 minutes - sometimes held against the wall, sometimes allowed to stand while officers smiled and chatted.
A man then came downstairs and led me back up the dark staircase to the front of the building where a friendly, English-speaking officer photocopied my passport and press credentials.
"There has been a terrible misunderstanding," I was told. "There is a bad situation in Tehran, and sometimes the officers get confused," he said with a smile, while a plainclothes officer offered me water and tea.
In an almost surreal gesture, they introduced me to the riot police officer standing nearby, who shook my hand and said, "You are my friend," and, "Canada is good."
The officer told me I was free to go, and I was allowed to walk out of the Interior Ministry building with nothing more than bleeding welts on my neck and a swollen arm.
My journalist credentials and Canadian passport got me out of the Interior Ministry building, but dozens of others remained in that basement.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Israeli envoy has sparred with head of UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, over what Tel Aviv calls 'bias' over a probe into Syria's atomic program.
Israeli ambassador Israel Michaeli on Thursday made his accusation against ElBaradei at a meeting of the IAEA's 35-member board.
Michaeli called on ElBaradei to stay away from political bias in dealing with Syria's nuclear dossier.
"Israel has responded timely and in good faith to the question addressed to it regarding the possible origin of the uranium particles, traced in the site of the nuclear reactor in Dair Alzour," Michaeli said.
"Therefore the repeated calls by the director general on Israel to cooperate with this investigation are redundant."
The head of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for his part, described the Israeli envoy's statement as "totally distorted."
"We work here in an organization that is an organization of international law. We apply international law, not selectively, but across the board," ElBaradei said.
"When Israel took it upon itself to destroy a facility, what was claimed to be a nuclear facility, without giving the agency the opportunity to verify that ... this was not only making it almost impossible for us to establish the facts, but it was a clear violation of international law," he stressed.
ElBaradei also referred to Tel Aviv's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and said, "Israel is not even a member of the regime to tell us what tools are available to us. We would appreciate it if you could stop preaching to us how we can do our jobs."
"You cannot sit on the fence, making use of the system, without being accountable," he added.
ElBaradei also snubbed the accusation of bias.
"To say that I am biased, I will not dignify that with a response. I will leave it to the board, who can decide whether we are doing our work with the required impartiality and professionalism," the head of UN nuclear watchdog said.
The IAEA has announced in the past that satellite pictures taken before the Israeli bombardment of the site of the nuclear reactor in Dair Alzour showed premises similar to that of a reactor. This is while Damascus declines to elaborate on the satellite pictures.
The UN nuclear watchdog has long been investigating US intelligence reports suggesting that Damascus had nearly constructed a nuclear reactor through cooperation between Syrian and North Korean nuclear scientists.
Syria says its atomic procurement efforts are of civilian nature and related to water purification, the steel industry and shielding material for radiation therapy centers.
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Defeated reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi submitted a petition to the supreme leader to call for an investigation into elections results that the defeated candidates said showed 646 violations that saw incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win by a landslide.
As Mousavi called for the formation of an unbiased committee whose mission would be to probe violations that took place before and during the election process the Islamic Republic's top legislative body, Guardians Council, agreed to meet election candidates on Saturday to discuss complaints.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, said he was asking the Guardians Council, a 12-member body made up of jurists and clerics, to examine the complaints of irregularities. But Mousavi's petition set a list of demands that the committee being formed should adhere to and called for non biased members of country's top governing bodies to be part of the committee.
Mousavi also laid out a list of issues he would like investigated including but not limited to the interference of the authorities in the elections, the abuse of power, the number of voters and vote buying.
Meanwhile Iran's Intelligence Ministry said it had uncovered a foreign-linked terrorist plot to plant bombs in mosques and other crowded places in Tehran during the June 12 presidential election. State broadcaster IRIB quoted a ministry statement as saying several terrorist groups had been discovered, adding they were linked to Iran's foreign enemies, including Israel. "Members of one of the uncovered networks were planning to plant bombs on election day at various crowded Tehran spots, including Ershad and Al-Nabi mosques," the statement said, referring to two prominent mosques in the capital. It said this plot was uncovered on election day.
646 violations
Meanwhile a Guardians Council spokesman, Abbasali Khadkhodai, told state television that one candidate had cited 390 violations, a second 160 and the third 96. He did not identify the candidate making each number of violations. The three defeated candidates include Mousavi, reformist former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and the conservative former head of the elite Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezai. Official results gave Ahmadinejad outright victory in the election without the need for any second round run-off.
Without revealing his identity, Khadkhodai said one of the candidates had cited 390 violations of which 51 cases were of ballot paper shortages or of delays in delivering them to the polling stations.
" We congratulate the excited, epic-making and alert presence of 85 percent of the revolutionary people in the June 12 election, which was a display of the Islamic republic's greatness and dignity throughout the world "
Clerical body says with no mention of protests
Also on Thursday, Iran's top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, hailed the mass turnout in the June 12 presidential election but stayed silent on the disputed results. "We congratulate the excited, epic-making and alert presence of 85 percent of the revolutionary people in the June 12 election, which was a display of the Islamic republic's greatness and dignity throughout the world," it said in a statement read out on state television.
The 86-strong body is headed by influential cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was the target of mudslinging during the campaign by Ahmadinejad.
The Assembly of Experts blamed the "enemy" for creating "unrest and riots," which have been labeled as the worst show of government disapproval since the 1979 revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed Shah.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Defeated reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's supporters marched for a national day of mourning for those killed in post-election clashes in a bid to keep up pressure on the authorities to repeat the vote in the country's biggest crisis since the 1979 revolution.
Witnesses said Imam Khomeini Square was packed with people dressed in black and holding candles, a day after Mousavi called on his supporters to gather in mosques or at peaceful rallies to show solidarity with the victims and their families.
"Where are our brothers?" read one banner in the crowd. "Why did you kill our brothers?" read another.
Iran's English-language state television has reported eight people killed in protests since official results from Friday's poll showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected.
State media said seven people were killed in an opposition protest in Tehran against what Mousavi says was a rigged election last week in favor of hard line incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iran arrested two top elderly dissidents in a massive crackdown, a press report said on Thursday. Ebrahim Yazdi and Mohammad Tavasoli, veteran revolutionaries and leaders of Iran's Liberation Movement were arrested on Wednesday, the Etemad Melli newspaper reported.
Unofficial reports said Yazdi had been detained at a hospital emergency unit.
On his website, Mousavi called on Iranians to stage peaceful demonstrations or gather in mosques on Thursday following a "silent" protest rally held Wednesday by tens of thousands of supporters.
Iranian state television broadcast brief footage of the rally while foreign media, banned from reporting on the protests, relied on videos sent by users directly or via YouTube videos.
Grappling with the biggest wave of public anger in three decades of Islamic rule, Iranian authorities lashed out at enemy "plots," hauling in foreign ambassadors and rounding up scores of reformists.
The Islamic Republic accused foreign media of being a "mouthpiece for rioters" and threatened legal action against websites that publish material that "creates tensions" and issued a new warning to the foreign media, already facing tight restrictions on their work.
The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said a dozen Iranian journalists and bloggers have been arrested and many others have gone into hiding.
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06/19/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
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The moderate Iranian leader who says that he was robbed of victory in last weeks presidential election faces a fateful choice today: support the regime or be cast out. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans Supreme Leader, has told Mir Hossein Mousavi to stand beside him as he uses Friday prayers at Tehran University to call for national unity. An army of Basiji Islamic volunteer militiamen is also expected to be bussed in to support the Supreme Leader.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Defeated reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi submitted a petition to the supreme leader to call for an investigation into elections results that the defeated candidates said showed 646 violations that saw incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win by a landslide. 
