#1
The next step in the evolution of a revolution. Military take over security. This is actually a good thing here. Now the regular guy that was fence sitting on the issues in Iran has to choose a side.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/06/2009 11:04 Comments ||
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#2
The core of the criminal regime in Iran finally shows its teeth.
[Khaleej Times] Iran's ex-president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said on Saturday that there was no power struggle in Iran following the crisis triggered by alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election, ISNA news agency reported. "The election scene was a competition within the system and should not be considered by some as a power struggle or crack in the system," Rafsanjani was quoted by ISNA as saying in his first reaction to the post-election turmoil.
Rafsanjani, who backed opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi in the presidential election, was accused by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, both before and after the election, of corruption.
Due to the open support of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for Ahmadinejad, there had been press reports and speculation that the influential Rafsanjani might start a power struggle against both the president and the leadership.
"These kind of interpretations are de facto an insult against the Iranian people ... We have to maintain the long-term interests of the establishment," Rafsanjani said.
The former president and current head of the Experts Assembly an influential clergy body - however made the reconciliatory remarks in a meeting with families of officials who were arrested and detained since the outbreak of the protests against President Ahmadinejad's re-election.
Besides the arrests of hundreds of dissidents, journalists and protestors, a number of former officials have also been detained by Iranian security, including cabinet members of former president Mohammad Khatami as well former parliament deputies.
Visiting the families of the detainees was a clear sign of Rafsanjani's sympathy and support for the opposition. The cleric has also refrained so far from acknowledging the re-election of Ahmadinejad whose internal and external policies Rafsanjani strongly opposes.
"Unfortunately after the elections, some problems were caused for some people which left a bitter taste and I don't think that anybody is happy about the status quo," Rafsanjani said referring to the deaths of at least 20 protestors and eight pro-Ahmadinejad militia in addition to the arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of critics.
The moderate cleric however said he hoped that the crisis would be settled and the prisoners freed through wisdom and goodwill.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2009 00:00 ||
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[Mail and Globe] Iran's hardline rulers are set to punish reformists linked to the boldest anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution, despite the damage this might inflict on the system's legitimacy and relations with the West.
Now that security forces have quelled the street turmoil that erupted after a disputed June 12 presidential election, the leadership is preparing to put on trial some of the hundreds of political activists and opinion-makers detained since the vote.
Hints abound that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, shocked by the furore over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in a vote critics say was rigged, is striking back.
The editor of hardline Kayhan daily urged on Saturday that losing candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and reformist ex-President Mohammad Khatami be tried for their "terrible crimes".
On Friday, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the Guardian Council that certified the election, said British embassy local staffers accused of inciting unrest had confessed and would face trial. They include the mission's chief political analyst.
The hardline Javan newspaper said 100 lawmakers had asked the judiciary to prosecute the leaders of "post-election riots", citing Mousavi and another defeated candidate, Mehdi Karoubi.
Further stifling of dissent risks discrediting "republican" institutions that have in the past cloaked Iran's clerical rulers with a degree of popular legitimacy, analysts said.
"Once the attempt to steal the elections didn't go as planned, Ahmadinejad opted for the politics of elimination," said Trita Parsi, president of the Washington-based National Iranian American Council. "That too will fail, I believe.
"The violence and brutality shown by the government will not be forgotten. It came at the expense of whatever legitimacy the government had left," he said. "Khamenei and Ahmadinejad can only rule by force now. Their reliance on the security apparatus is greater now than ever before."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I wasn't aware that this government needed legitimacy. They have the guns and Allah's Will and a healthy lust for power on their side. They need more to force a brutal clamp down on any dissent? I don't get it.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/06/2009 8:42 Comments ||
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#2
only an idiot or an america hater would have given this govt legitimacy before the election
and some idiots and america haters are still fans of the govt
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/06/2009 21:12 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani arrives in Doha to hold talks with Qatari officials on the realms of mutual interest including regional issues.
Larijani, heading an Iranian delegation, arrived in Qatar on Sunday and was received by Emir of Qatar Sheik Hamed Bin Khalifa Al-Thani at al-Bahr palace.
The two-day visit comes at the invitation of his Qatari counterpart, Mohamed Mubarak Al-Khuleifi.
Before his departure, Larijani told reporters that the visit was originally scheduled for an earlier date but was postponed due to Iran's presidential election.
Regional issues including the developments in Palestine and Lebanon will be high on the agenda of the talks, Larijani added.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2009 00:00 ||
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[11137 views]
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David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that he expected the eighth of the nine British Embassy employees arrested ten days ago to be released soon but a lawyer representing the ninth -- a political analyst named Hossein Rossam -- said he would be charged with threatening national security. Mr Miliband expressed "cold anger" at the way the nine had been treated.
That and a pound note will get you tea in Trafalgar Square ...
The regime freed Iason Athanasiadis, an Anglo-Greek journalist arrested on June 19. However, a lawyer for Maziar Bahari, a Canadian-Iranian journalist working for Newsweek, said he faced charges of "instigating riots and acting against national security".
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Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
That would be a pound coin.
/pedantic intervention
Irans biggest group of clerics has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads re-election to be illegitimate and condemned the subsequent crackdown. The statement by the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom is an act of defiance against the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has made clear he will tolerate no further challenges to Mr Ahmadinejads victory over Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Its a clerical mutiny, said one Iranian analyst. This is the first time ever you have all these big clerics openly challenging the leaders decision. Another, in Tehran, said: We are seeing the birth of a new political front.
This is a pretty big deal; it makes clear that Khamenei and Short Round are now nothing more than a bunch of thugs with guns. So much for the islamic part of the Islamic republic.
Professor Ali Ansari, head of Iranian Studies at St Andrews University, said: Its highly significant. It shows this is nowhere near resolved.
The Association of Researchers and Teachers is based in Qom, the clerical nerve centre of Iran, and includes many leading ayatollahs with impeccable revolutionary credentials and big personal followings. The association did not support a candidate in the election, but has now lined up firmly behind Mr Mousavi. In a rebuke to the regime it declared on its website: Candidates complaints and strong evidence of vote-rigging were ignored . . . Peaceful protests by Iranians were violently oppressed . . . Dozens of Iranians were killed and hundreds were illegally arrested . . . The outcome is invalid.
It called on other clerics to speak out, demanded the release of all those arrested in the past three weeks, and directly challenged the authority of the Guardian Council, a body of 12 senior clerics that has openly backed Mr Ahmadinejad and his patron, Mr Khamenei. How can one accept the legitimacy of the election just because the Guardian Council says so?, it asked.
The associations statement also shows how deeply the political establishment is divided, and the extent to which the Supreme Leader now derives his power from military might, not moral authority. It makes it much harder for the regime to arrest Mr Mousavi and other opposition leaders.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Khamenei and Short Round are now nothing more than a bunch of thugs with guns
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani arrives in Doha to hold talks with Qatari officials on the realms of mutual interest including regional issues. 
David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that he expected the eighth of the nine British Embassy employees arrested ten days ago to be released soon but a lawyer representing the ninth -- a political analyst named Hossein Rossam -- said he would be charged with threatening national security. Mr Miliband expressed "cold anger" at the way the nine had been treated.
