Decision 1388: Meet The Candidates

[frigidmagi]

twubs

Biggest repeat rumor seems to be that the Iranian Army (Revolutionary Guard maybe? They use the same gear?) are moving into Tehran. It's moving fast so I'm having trouble following...

Shots fired comfirmed... Again.

[frigidmagi]

Youtube has annouced they will not remove Iranian protest videos.

Youtube

Last Friday marked a long-anticipated Election Day in Iran to choose the next Iranian president. While the voting process itself ran smoothly, widespread violence has since broken out in protest of current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim to a decisive victory over challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi supporters, who believe Ahmadinejad rigged the election results, refuse to accept the verdict and have been openly protesting since Saturday.

Video clips that capture the chaos and rioting in the streets of Iran's capital, Tehran, have been streaming into YouTube for the past four days. Even though YouTube appears to be blocked in Iran -- the site is experiencing a small fraction of the traffic levels it normally receives from Iran (around 10%) -- we continue to see videos being uploaded to the site that document city streets crowded with angry demonstrators, violent clashes between protesters and state police, and visceral scenes of mass unrest.

In essence, YouTube has become a citizen-fueled news bureau of video reports filed straight from the streets of Tehran, unfiltered. Because the Iranian government is cracking down on local and international media coverage, these citizen-generated videos are providing an exclusive look at the developing violence. Here's a collection of some of those videos. (Please use your discretion before viewing, as some of them contain disturbing images.)



We've noticed some claims going around that YouTube has been engaging in acts of censorship and removing some of these videos from the site. Unless a video clearly violates our Community Guidelines, we will not take it down. In general, we do not allow graphic or gratuitous violence on YouTube. However, we make exceptions for videos that have educational, documentary, or scientific value. The limitations being placed on mainstream media reporting from within Iran make it even more important that citizens in Iran be able to use YouTube to capture their experiences for the world to see. Given the critical role these videos are playing in reporting this story to the world, we are doing our best to leave as many of them up as we can. YouTube is, at its core, a global forum for free expression.

Take note that if you see a video that is unavailable on the site, it may be because the user decided to remove the video him or herself.

We're following what's happening in Iran on the Citizentube blog (www.citizentube.com), so stay tuned for the latest.

Yours,
Olivia Ma
YouTube News & Politics

At this point given the government reaction, the backpedaling and so on... I submit that we have no reason not to assume that the election was tampered with on some level.

US State Department asks Twitter to stay up longer.

twitter

A short while from now, Twitter (Twitter) will go down for maintenance due to extraordinary circumstances: The #IranElection Controversy. Originally scheduled to perform maintenance last night, the work was moved to 2 PM PT today so that Iranians could tweet about the crisis.

With members of the media kicked out of Iranian cities, millions joining in on protests, and violence erupting all across the turmoiled state, Iranians have been turning to Twitter, YouTube (YouTube), Flickr (Flickr), and other social tools to get the word out about what’s happening on the ground.

Well, it looks like Twitter may have had someone pushing for it not to go down last night, during peak Iranian hours: the U.S. State Department

According to a CNN blog post, the U.S. government is connecting with Twitter and other major social media companies to make sure that the flow of information from Iran remains uninterrupted. While the Obama administration itself keeping out of the Iran controversy on official channels, it is making sure that information coming from people on the ground is getting through to the rest of the world.

The biggest revelation is that the State Department asked Twitter not to go down at its original time last night in order to allow Iranians to tweet out what’s happening in their cities. It also seems that U.S. officials are watching the chatter on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook (Facebook), and elsewhere to keep up-to-speed with the situation on the ground. Social media communication is even more important, since the U.S. has no embassy or official relationship with Iran.

If all of this is true, it demonstrates several things. First, the U.S. Government understands just how instrumental these web tools are to the #IranElection situation. Second, the U.S. government is actively using Twitter to monitor the situation on the ground in a way that even journalists can’t match. And third, that it really wants everyone to know what’s happening in Iran.

The U.S. may be keeping out of the politics of the Iran election crisis, but it’s clear that it has a deep and vested interest in the streaming information coming out of Iran. It could even be that Twitter would not have rescheduled their downtime if not for the State Department. The outcome of these protests will have a significant effect on world relations though, so its actions do not surprise us.

If you are looking to better track what’s going on in Iran, we suggest reading our in-depth article on the subject, HOW TO: Track Iran Election with Twitter and Social Media.

Softpower indeed.

[frigidmagi]

Robert Fisk reports Iranian special forces attempting to protect protesters.

ABC

The long-standing Middle East correspondent for The Independent, Robert Fisk, is defying the government crackdown on foreign media reporting in Iran.

As he explains, he has been travelling around the streets of Tehran all day and most of the night and things are far from quiet:

I've just been witnessing a confrontation, in dusk and into the night, between about 15,000 supporters of Ahmadinejad - supposedly the president of Iran - who are desperate to down the supporters of Mr Mousavi, who thinks he should be the president of Iran.

There were about 10,000 Mousavi men and women on the streets, with approximately 500 Iranian special forces, trying to keep them apart.

It was interesting that the special forces - who normally take the side of Ahmadinejad's Basij militia - were there with clubs and sticks in their camouflage trousers and their purity white shirts and on this occasion the Iranian military kept them away from Mousavi's men and women.

In fact at one point, Mousavi's supporters were shouting 'thank you, thank you' to the soldiers.

One woman went up to the special forces men, who normally are very brutal with Mr Mousavi's supporters, and said 'can you protect us from the Basij?' He said 'with God's help'.

It was quite extraordinary because it looked as if the military authorities in Tehran have either taken a decision not to go on supporting the very brutal militia - which is always associated with the presidency here - or individual soldiers have made up their own mind that they're tired of being associated with the kind of brutality that left seven dead yesterday - buried, by the way secretly by the police - and indeed the seven or eight students who were killed on the university campus 24 hours earlier.

Quite a lot of policeman are beginning to smile towards the demonstrators of Mr Mousavi, who are insisting there must be a new election because Mr Ahmadinejad wasn't really elected. Quite an extraordinary scene.

There were a lot of stones thrown and quite a lot of bitter fighting, hand-to-hand but at the end of the day the special forces did keep them apart.

I haven't ever seen the Iranian security authorities behaving fairly before and it's quite impressive.

Protests

Certainly the authorities were very struck by the enormous number of people who turned out for Sunday's march ... from the Square of Revolution to the Square of Freedom.

I walked alongside that march the whole way and was stunned to find one million people at the end, it must have been one million at least.

There were seven killed after that instant alone so we're having a lot of deaths, much more than we realise, in fact some people say there are more deaths than have been recorded.

There was 100 metres of no man's land between these thousands of people and I actually walked up and listened to a Basij guy urging his people on to attack the forces of the opposition, saying 'we fought and defended our country in the Iran-Iraq war and now we have to defend it again and we have to move forward'. You could actually just walk a few metres and talk to Mousavi's people.

Some of them came down and tried to embrace the Basij and indeed the leaders who support the man who indeed thinks he is the president. One man, in the Muslim tradition, tried to kiss him on both cheeks and the Basij man moved back irritably and angry, he didn't want to be touched by this man.

There was a great deal of anger on the part of Ahmadinejad's supporters.

Safe to report

No-one's told me not to drive around so I go and see wounded people and go and watch these confrontations and no-one seems to bother me.

I rather think an awful lot of journalists take it too seriously. If you get in a car and go out and see things, no-one's going to stop you, frankly.

I went to the earlier demonstration in the centre of the city, which was solely by Ahmadinejad's people, immensely boring, although I did notice one or two points where they were shouting 'death to the traitor'. They meant Mousavi.

You've got to realise that what's happening at the moment is that the actual authorities are losing control of what's happening on the streets and that's very dangerous and damaging to them.

It's interesting that the actual government newspapers reported at one point that Sunday's march was not provocative by the marchers. They carried a very powerful statement by the Chancellor of the Tehran University, condemning the police and Basij, who broke into university dormitories on Sunday night and killed seven students.

They've even carried reports of the seven dead after the march on Sunday ... almost as if, not to compromise but they're trying to get a little bit closer to the other side.

Election result

My suspicion is that [Ahmadinejad] might have actually won the election but more like 52 or 53 per cent. It's possible that Mousavi got closer to 38 per cent.

But I think the Islamic republic's regime here wanted to humiliate the opponent and so fiddle the figures, even if Ahmadinejad had won.

The problem with that is they're now going to claim they're going to need a recount. If the recount is to actually give Mousavi the presidency, someone is going to have to pay the price for such an extraordinary fraud of claiming Ahmadinejad won 30, 40, 50 per cent more than he should have done.

You've got to remember as well, on the election night, if the count was correct it meant that they would have had to have counted five million votes in two hours.

Next few days

Someone, presumably the supreme leader, who is constitutionally the leader of all Iran and the clerical leader, Ayatollah Khamanei, he's going to have to work out a way of stopping these constant street confrontations.

We've got another great demonstration by the opposition tomorrow evening in the centre of the city. I suspect what they're going to have to do is think whether they can have a system where they reintroduce a prime ministership, so the president has someone underneath him.

Maybe we'd have President Ahmadinejad and a Prime Minister Mousavi or maybe a joint presidency.

All this is what people talk about but it means changing the constitution, it means having a referendum. They didn't believe that the opposition could be so strong and would keep on going.

[The protest] is absolutely not against the Islamic republic or the Islamic revolution.

It's clearly an Islamic protest against specifically the personality, the manner, the language of Ahmadinejad. They absolutely despise him but they do not hate or dislike the Islamic republic that they live in.

[The Minx]

...

...

All this is what people talk about but it means changing the constitution, it means having a referendum. They didn't believe that the opposition could be so strong and would keep on going.

[The protest] is absolutely not against the Islamic republic or the Islamic revolution.

It's clearly an Islamic protest against specifically the personality, the manner, the language of Ahmadinejad. They absolutely despise him but they do not hate or dislike the Islamic republic that they live in.

OK, this bit is important, and a point I think many people in the West seem to miss. These protests are often being characterized as reformers versus conservatives, which is technically true. But it would be more true to say, "conservatives versus ultra-conservatives" or something like that. The protesters are (still?) not calling for an end to the Islamic aspect of their republic. At least not the great majority of them, and not publically.

On that note:

Would an Iran with Moussavi at the helm look different?

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- He's been labeled by many as the "reformist," a man who can take Iran beyond the truculent anti-Western rhetoric of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

So, when Iran's government announced over the weekend that Mir Hossein Moussavi had lost in his bid to become the country's next president, young Iranians took to the streets by the thousands alleging ballot fraud.

Thousands of others around the globe championed the cause on social-networking Web sites and agreed to wear green on Monday in solidarity with Moussavi's supporters.

But what is often lost in the outrage is whether Iran would look different under a Moussavi presidency.

Though the 67-year old is credited for successfully navigating the Iranian economy as prime minister during a bloody eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s, he also was a hard-liner whom the Economist described as a "firm radical."

He, like most Iranians in power, does not believe in the existence of Israel. He defended the taking of hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran in 1979, which led to the break in ties between the countries.

He was part of a regime that regularly executed dissidents and backed the fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie.

And as late as April, he opposed suspending the country's nuclear-enrichment program but said it would not be diverted to weapons use.

"I wouldn't go as far as (call it) a 'Velvet Revolution,'" Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said of the phrase many are using to describe the rallies in Iran.

"At the end of the day, Moussavi has been more involved and been there from the very beginning of the revolution in a way that Ahmadinejad never was," Parsi told "CNN Newsroom" on Sunday. "Moussavi was one of the founders of the revolution."

Moussavi was named prime minister in 1980. A year earlier, Iran had become an Islamic republic after the ruling monarchy was overthrown and Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was forced into exile.

The same year, a group of students in support of the Islamic revolution took 52 Americans hostage and held them for 444 days.

In an interview with The New York Times in 1981, Moussavi defended the hostage-taking as the beginning of "second stage of our revolution."

"It was after this that we rediscovered our true Islamic identity," he said.

The incident, Moussavi added, ended the "problem of pro-American circles and their following in Iran.

"After this, we felt the sense that we could look Western policy in the eye and analyze it the way they had been evaluating us for many years."

In 1988, author Salman Rushdie released his fourth novel, 'The Satanic Verses,' which Iran said insulted Islam. The country's supreme leader called for the death of Rushdie. And Moussavi, in a radio broadcast, said the order would be carried out.

Moussavi told the Financial Times in April that he would not halt Iran's uranium enrichment program if he were president. "No one in Iran would accept suspension," he said.

Since his stint as prime minister, Moussavi has been absent from politics. For the past 10 years, his official job has been to head the state-owned Art Center. He is a painter.

The long "20 years of silence," as the Iranian media dubbed it, is working to Moussavi's advantage.

Of Iran's population of 70 million, almost 60 percent are younger than 28 -- too young to have lived through the 1979 revolution. To them, Moussavi represents a sea change from Ahmadinejad.

While the president calls the Holocaust a myth, Moussavi has condemned the killing of Jews.

While Ahmadinejad has unleashed the morality police to ensure that women cover their hair in public, Moussavi has pledged his support for women's rights.

Most importantly, the youth are unhappy about the faltering economy under Ahmadinejad, with the unemployment rate topping 30 percent by some accounts. They are hungry for anyone who represents change, analysts have said.

"We have really an interesting moment of historic irony here," Afshin Molavi, a fellow at the New America Foundation, said on the CNN talk show Fareed Zakaria GPS.

"Moussavi is a child of the revolution. Moussavi was never a real reformer, either, when he was prime minister.

"And now he's being faced with the question: Should he unleash the young people out onto the streets who supported him -- thus threatening the very system that he fought for?"

Shahriar Etimani, an Iranian-American who was part of a demonstration Sunday in Washington, D.C., to protest the election results, said he realizes Moussavi is part of the establishment, but he remains hopeful.

"The cynical part of me says that these guys have 30 years' of experience of survival. So this will be another blip on the radar?" he said. "The hopeful part of me says that, 'You know what? There needs to be a catalyst and we don't know where that catalyst comes from. We don't know where that tipping point will come from.'"

And yet:

Commentary: Iran's hardliners are the real losers

(CNN) -- With an apparent political coup in Iran by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters over the weekend, the ruling mullahs have dispensed with all democratic pretense and joined the ranks of traditional dictators in the Middle East.

The hardliners in Tehran, led by the Revolutionary Guards and ultraconservatives, have won the first round against reformist conservatives but at an extravagant cost: loss of public support.

Widespread accusations of fraud and manipulation are calling into question the very legitimacy and authority of the mullahs' Islamic-based regime. The electoral crisis has exposed a deepening divide between female and young voters, who represent about 70 percent of the population, and a radical conservative ruling elite out of touch with the hopes, fears and aspirations of young Iranians.

The consensus in Iran, particularly among young voters, is that the election was stolen from reformist candidate, Mir Hossein Moussavi, and that the outcome did not reflect the electorate's genuine will.

After the Interior Ministry announced the final election results showing a nearly 2-to-1 landslide for Ahmadinejad (62.63 to 33.75 percent), thousands of young protesters took to the streets and clashed with police and set trash bins and tires ablaze. Shock and disbelief turned to anger and rage.

What poured gasoline on a simmering fire among the youth was a belief of widespread fraud. "It's like taking 10 million votes away from Moussavi and giving them to Ahmadinejad," said Tehran-based analyst Saeed Leilaz. That is equivalent to more than 30 million votes in the American electorate.

"Death to the dictatorship" and "down with the dictator" shouted the demonstrators while being clubbed by police and anti-riot squads. For the first time, young Iranians showed defiance against their tormentors and overcame their fear. Many young men reportedly roamed Tehran streets looking for a fight with the police.

The ruling mullahs face an unprecedentedly serious crisis at home. While it does not threaten their existence, the crisis risks undermining their ability to govern effectively and pursue a successful foreign policy.

In his first response to the results of the election, Moussavi nailed it on the head. "I won't surrender to this manipulation," he wrote on his Web site. "The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardize the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny."

Moussavi's warning to the mullahs that stealing the election would weaken the very foundation of their regime and ultimately bring about its collapse carries weight because he has been part of the political inner circle of the Islamic Republic, not an outsider.

Moussavi is a former prime minister admired for the way he managed the country's economy during the prolonged and bloody Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, a conflict which cost Iran over $500 billion.

He worked closely with Ali Khamenei, then Iran's president and today supreme leader, and clashed with him over political authority and powers. Moussavi is a member of Iran's Expediency Council, which mediates between the parliament and the non-elected Guardian Council led by Ayatollah Khamenei.

Initially, many reformists were skeptical about Moussavi's reform credentials and feared that he was too conservative for their taste.

Throughout the presidential campaign, Moussavi labored hard to portray his proposals on social policy and foreign affairs as an extension of the Islamic system in order to disarm conservative critics, even denying that he is a mainstream reformist candidate in the hope of winning the support of reformers and moderate conservatives.

Indeed, as the presidential campaign progressed, Moussavi won the backing not only of an important conservative segment of the electorate but also the formidable youth constituency. His charismatic wife, Zahra Rahnavard, electrified the female vote and won the hearts and minds of women voters who flooded their campaign rallies.

In the past two weeks, Moussavi's campaign gained momentum. There was increasing evidence that the tide was turning and that women and young voters would tip the balance of power his way, if they turned out to vote in large numbers.

Some important facts: There are 46 million eligible voters in Iran, half of whom are women. In 1997, more than 60 percent of the votes that brought moderate Mohammad Khatami to power were cast by women, and in 2000, women voters were instrumental in giving reformists a sweeping majority in the Parliament. Promising greater individual freedoms to youths was instrumental in the two landslide victories by Khatami in 1997 and 2001.

Surely, if the turnout was 85 percent as the Interior Ministry said, Moussavi should have done much better than the mere 33.8 percent he supposedly received. According to many independent media reports from all over Iran, women and young voters turned out in record numbers, especially in cities where Moussavi is very popular. That should have given Moussavi a comfortable lead over the incumbent.

Multiple irregularities were reported, including the fact that Moussavi supposedly lost the vote in his home province. There is an alarming discrepancy between the final results and the voting patterns of the Iranian electorate over more than a decade. Lack of transparency in the vote count has reinforced Iranians' suspicion. The weight of evidence is at odds with the final outcome given by the Interior Ministry.

Before Moussavi formally appealed the election result, supreme leader Khamenei closed the door for any possible compromise. In a message on state TV, he urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, calling the result a "divine assessment." Yet the Guardian Council, not Khamenei, is the authority that either ratifies or annuls the results.

It is refreshing that Khamenei has finally ordered an investigation into allegations of ballot fraud. It is a good start. A more reassuring intiative would be for the Guardian Council to order a full recount with the presence of independent observers. That would go a long way to putting to rest Iranians' concerns.

In the meantime, trying to divert attention from the mess at home, Khamenei and Ahmadinejad have blamed external "enemies" and "foreign media" for instigating a "full-fledged fight against our people." The truth is that the crisis is internal and has nothing to do with foreign media or the West.

The Obama administration has done the right thing by keeping a low profile and not actively interfering in Iran's unfolding domestic crisis. Unlike his predecessor, Obama has defused the minefield of relations between Washington and Tehran, shifting the focus of Iranians to their own society.

But the disputed result shows that the ultraconservative mullahs are not only out of touch with a plurality of their citizens but also with reality. Their conduct reflects a deeper crisis of self-confidence and fear of the future.

Has the Islamic revolution run out of ideological steam?

If the mullahs fear Moussavi, a loyalist, they must be scared of their shadows and uncertain about their authority and power. That speaks volumes about where the Islamic Republic is and where it is heading.

The mullahs are swimming against the dominant current of Iranian society. In the next four years, Iran will likely be engulfed in social and political turmoil unless the electoral crisis is resolved in a transparent manner.

So I guess we'll have to wait and see how many real changes arise because of all this (assuming the protesters gain something out of all this).

[General Havoc]

I still stand by my assertion that this will blow over, but... well... I've been wrong before...

Here's to hoping.

[frigidmagi]

Iran under Moussavi will likely be more liberal and open to talking to the West. Note more liberal does not mean it will become more western. If he fulfills his campaign promises (and at this point if he doesn't he's looking at another riot in the street) you'll see a massive increase of women participation in the government (he's promised to have women in his cabinet), a reigning in of the religious police and an increase in general freedoms.

This won't end the Islamic republic but it's worth pursuing.

[frigidmagi]

CNN

Iran's supreme leader on Friday rejected opposition claims that last week's presidential elections were rigged, describing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's win as "definitive" and calling for an end to days of protest.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his first address since the June 12 presidential elections.

In his first speech since the June 12 election outcome sparked the country's worst unrest in 30 years, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the vote accurately reflected the will of the people and accused "enemies of Islam" of stoking anger.

The "Islamic establishment would never manipulate votes and commit treason. The legal structure in this country does not allow vote-rigging," Khamenei said, in his first address since the elections.

He told a large crowd at Tehran University that the "historic" 85 percent turnout of more than 40 million people meant the vote was too large to have been manipulated.

"There is a difference of 11 million votes. How can vote-rigging happen?" he added.

Ahmadinejad claimed victory with more than 62 percent of the votes, surprising many experts who had predicted a stronger showing from main opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi.

The Ayatollah's speech was likely to come under heavy scrutiny in Iran, amid expectations that, despite conciliatory comments, his strong endorsement of Ahmadinejad will do little to appease Moussavi's emboldened supporters. Read about Iran's power structure »

Moussavi's allegations of ballot fraud and calls for a fresh vote have rallied thousands on the streets of Tehran and other cities, in scenes not witnesses in country since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 toppled its monarchy.

The unrest prompted Iran to place restrictions on foreign media, limiting their reports on six days of street protests, police arrests and some outbreaks of violence that have left at least eight people dead.Video Watch militia crackdown »

Khamenei described the dispute over the election outcome as a disagreement within Iran's establishment, accusing "foreign enemies" and "Zionists" -- including the United States, Britain and Israel -- of fomenting violence.

Expressing support for Ahmadinejad, he accused rival election candidates of insulting the president in the run-up to the vote.

"They swore and called the president superstitious and called him names, which is embarrassing. They forgot about morality and law," he said.

Khamenei, who has authorized a partial vote recount, said proper legal channels should be used for any challenge to the election outcome. He called for an end to street protests, warning that perpetrators of violence would face punishment.

On Thursday, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Iran's capital for the sixth day in a row. Some estimates put the total number of participants in the hundreds of thousands. See where protests have taken place »

Moussavi spoke through a bullhorn from atop a building to the throngs of marchers who snaked through the city, in what was described as a peaceful protest.

He spoke hours after the Iranian government agreed to meet with candidates for crisis talks to discuss complaints stemming from the election.

With restrictions on reporting the unrest, much of the news, video and images emerging from Iran have come via social networking sites, often bypassing authorities' attempts to block applications such as Facebook and Twitter.

CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour said it was uncertain whether Moussavi and his supporters would heed Khamenei's call to end their demonstrations.
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"That's the all important question: Whether or not the leaders of the opposition -- Mir Hossein Moussavi -- will call on these people to stop their protests is unclear," she said.

"Whether they will end and whether the people on th the streets will listen -- because the protests have been spontaneous -- it will be intersting to see after this call from the supreme leader, from whom all power in Iran flows

Well I wouldn't call this good news. Khamenei has pretty much committed himself and I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar he'll use force to keep things as he likes. That means whatever leash was on the Basji milita and the revolutionary guard will be slipped soon I'm thinking.

[Cynical Cat]

The problem with shooting protesters is that you make martyrs out of them (especially given Shia's love of martyrdom) and that's what happened back in '79 when the Shah lost his grip on power. That's one of the reasons the violence has been restrained so far. Most Iranians alive today were born after the revolution, but you can bet their leaders remember.

[LadyTevar]

Shooting the mourners in a Mourning march only gets more people joining the marching. The Shah kept the soldiers shooting, until the soldiers decided they weren't going to do that anymore.

I don't think it will come to that, at least if the Allatoyallahs are smart.

[SirNitram]

Mourn the shot protesters en masse, the crackdown kills mourners.

Mourn the shot mourners en masse, the crackdown kills mourners.

Repeat. A recursive loop that eventually breaks the will of the people cracking down to shoot peaceful mourners, leading to the collapse of the government.

It happened before. Too many remember it. But will they remember, is the question.

[General Havoc]

Well with Khameini's address today, I think we're reached the crux of the matter. The protesters are condemned as hooligans and the government will not back down, not amend the election, and not address any of the concerns that the protesters are raising. Further protest will be met with crackdowns.

Honestly... I gotta say I don't see this going any further.

[frigidmagi]

Tehranbureau

[quote]As I described in a previous article, Mir Hossein Mousavi, the main reformist candidate, wrote a letter to important clerics, asking them to declare their opinion about the results of Iran’s presidential election of June 12.

A very important development in this respect has been a response to that letter from Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the most important and senior ayatollah living in Iran. He was one of the leaders of the 1979 Revolution, and a strong critic of the hard-liners. He has issued a statement rejecting the results of the presidential elections of June 12, and has warned the nation that they should not provide any excuse to those who intend to create an atmosphere of fear and repression in the country by setting fire on people’s property and creating chaos. The following is a translation of that statement begins by saying,

“Over the last several days I have been witnessing the glowing presence and the lively and sacrificial efforts of my dear and dignified sisters and brothers, old and young, in the campaign for the 10th presidential elections. Our youth also demonstrated their presence in the political scene with hope and good spirit, in order to achieve their rightful demands. They waited patiently night and day. This was an excellent occasion for the government’s officials to take advantage of and establish religious, emotional and nationalistic bonds with our youth and the rest of our people.

“Unfortunately, however, this opportunity was wasted in the worst possible way. Such election results were declared that no wise person in their right mind can believe; results based on credible evidence and witnesses has been altered extensively, and after strong protests by the people against such acts — the same people who have carried the heavy weight and burden of the Revolution during eight years of war and resisted the tanks of the imperial government [of the Shah] and those of the enemy [Iraq] — they attacked the children of the same people and nation right in front of the domestic and foreign reporters, and used astonishing violence against defenseless men and women and the dear [university] students, injuring and arresting them. And, now, they are trying to purge activists, intellectuals, and political opponents by arresting a large number of them, some of whom have even held high positions in the government of the Islamic Republic.â€

[Cynical Cat]

We know which way their positioned now, but that might change; especially if senior clerics continue to come out in support of the demonstrators or the regime continues to damage it's legitimacy.

This was a really bone headed move from whoever decided to steal the election. Not only was in ballot stuffing too blatant to fool anyone, it was unnecessary. The candidates were vetted and approved before they could run. None of these guys are radicals or revolutionaries. They're all establishment figures running for an office that has limited power. They blocked and neutered the last liberal leaning president and they could do so again. The whole system is designed to limit the power of publicly elected officials so they could lose elections and continue on.

Its good to know that gross incompetence isn't a trait limited to western politicians.

[The Minx]

Link

The protesters are not listening to Supreme Leader's words, and now the security forces are using water cannons and tear gas in an attempt to control the situation. Maussavi is claiming that he's ready for "martyrdom", so there's no way he's backing down now.

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- The main opposition candidate in Iran, Mir Hossein Moussavi, was said to be ready for "martyrdom" Saturday as thousands of protesters clashed with police in protests that defied warnings from Iran's supreme leaders.

Security forces made "a very large show of force" in midtown and southeastern Tehran, using tear gas and clubs to beat back protesters as clashes erupted during the unrest.

This comes as demonstrators emerged on city streets to protest last week's elections in defiance of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Friday pronouncement that protests must end.

Meanwhile, the Facebook page of Iran's top opposition leader quoted the politician Saturday as saying he is preparing to die.

Moussavi, who has led a protest against the government for the June 12 election, said he is preparing himself for "martyrdom."

The authenticity of the message could not immediately be established.

In Tehran, police fired guns in the air, and Iran's Press TV also reported the use of water cannons to disperse protesters.

Uniformed and plainclothes police were deployed around Revolution Square, the site of a major planned demonstration, and traffic was being turned away on a major thoroughfare leading to the square, a witness said.

The forces confronted demonstrators who tried to avoid the thoroughfare and take side streets toward the square. Clashes erupted as forces used clubs to beat back protesters.

Periodically, groups of armed police would fire rifles into the air to disperse protesters along the side streets near Revolution Square.

Cell phone service was brought down after 5:30 p.m. in the area, witnesses said.

Police told protesters they had no permit to protest.

Police also said Saturday that 400 security forces had been injured during the week's heavy demonstrations, and that public property had been damaged, Press TV reported.

Three camouflaged men with shields were seen pushing a man in the opposite direction. The number of people on the streets and the traffic appears less than normal, but daily life is going on.

A few thousand people who attempted to enter the site of a major planned demonstration in Tehran were blocked by heavily armed police, a witness said.

Another witness said he was walking through a central square when he saw about 200 men with the Basiji militia, a security force that takes orders from the Iranian government. With some wearing government-issued helmets and shields, their presence was a hint of an ominous security presence.

Elsewhere, another witness said hundreds of protesters were walking a mile from Revolution Square when some militia men dropped two tear gas canisters among the crowd to apparently dissuade them from gathering.

Some of the crowd turned back to regroup.

Armed police were seen in two of the Tehran squares where major demonstrations were to be held Saturday, a journalist there said.

Two rallies had been scheduled to begin about 4 p.m. (7:30 a.m. ET) Saturday to protest a disputed presidential election, despite stern admonishments from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on Friday warned that protest organizers would be held responsible if the demonstrations led to bloodshed.

Khamenei also declared the election a "definitive victory" for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and rejected allegations of vote-rigging .

Two people were killed and eight people were injured in a blast at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in southern Tehran, Press TV reported .

One of the dead was the attacker, the station said.

Khomeini was the father of the Islamic Revolution that swept the shah of Iran from power in 1979. He is regarded as the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. CNN could not independently confirm reports of a blast or who or what may have caused it. News coverage in Iran has been limited by government restrictions on international journalists.

One scheduled rally was sponsored by supporters of Moussavi and Mehdi Karrubi, another of the three candidates who ran against Ahmadinejad in elections June 12. iReport.com: Share images from Iran

"Often these protests can take on a life of their own, and if the leaders call off the protest, that does not mean the people will not come out on the streets and there will not be a resulting crackdown," said Reva Bhalla, an analyst with Stratfor, a global intelligence firm.

Many who said they planned to attend the rallies wrote to one another on the social networking site Twitter early Saturday. Some wondered whether there would be violence at the protests.

"Let the Qu'ran shield you. It's a mortal sin to kill anyone holding the Qu'ran. BRING your Qu'ran to protest!!!" one person wrote on Twitter. "We will try 2 keep this rally peaceful/silent as usual at every cost. Cant give them excuse 2 use force. Hope they wont," another said.

CNN is not using the posters' names for safety reasons. Both said they were in Iran, but CNN could not verify that.

The supreme leader called on those who don't believe the election results to use legal avenues, such as requesting a recounting of ballots in their presence.

Meanwhile, the Iranian government said Saturday it was ready to randomly recount up to 10 percent of "ballot boxes."

The Guardian Council, which supervises the country's elections, invited three candidates -- Moussavi, Karrubi and Mohsen Rezaie -- to its meeting Saturday, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Two of them, Moussavi and Karrubi, failed to show up. After Khamenei's speech Saturday, Amnesty International said his message "indicates the authorities' readiness to launch violent crackdowns if people continue to protest, which may cause a widespread loss of life."

A top U.N. human rights official also said she was concerned about reports of excessive force and arrests at the protests. "The legal basis of the arrests that have been taking place, especially those of human rights defenders and political activists, is not clear," said Navi Pillay, high commissioner for human rights.

The government has maintained that the post-election death toll stands at seven. Amnesty International said on Friday that reports suggest up to 15 people have died.

An activist told CNN that the death toll had climbed to 32, with 12 of those victims in Tehran. Because of the Iranian government's restrictions on news gathering, CNN could not independently verify the reports.

[frigidmagi]

Two of them, Moussavi and Karrubi, failed to show up.

If they didn't even bother to show, I'm thinking it means they feel they can't get justice through the system. I'm also thinking they've both decided they can get it outside the system.

[frigidmagi]

These aren't protests anymore, they're uprisings.

the streets are burning and they're throwing rocks.

Huffingtonpost blog, graphic videos

You couldn't imagin what I saw tonight, I walked down many streets(Vali asr, keshavars, amir abad, Fatemi, Shademan, Satarkhan, Khosro), and I was injured by tears gas, but the main thing : The big killer group, called "Basij", weared our special military service group -"Sepah"- dresses and they were all armed , I saw by myself one of them had only around 15 years old!!!! and he had the shot order! I saw a girl injured by gon shot (in Amir abad St.)! and there weren't enough ambulances . I walked through Shademan St. they start shooting , a young boy in front of my eyes murdered , and 3 other people were injured , there were also a big fight between people and Basij at Tohid Sq. 7 people was murdered there, I walked from my company to my home , It was taken 4 hours and I couldn't be able to make a video , cause I was in the middle of war!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just got home...haven't read you're blog yet but if there's a lot of stories about violence I'm sure they're all true. I don't know where to start, I'd taken my camera but had the sence to take out the memory card this came in hany as I was serched twice (by Basij) before getting stuck in the middle of hell. If I'd been caught with pictures it would mean jail time and a possible a charge of spying (as I'm a Canadian citizen). Eventually I dropped of the camera at the house of a friend without being able to take any pictures as it would make me a definate target...The chants of death to Khamenei are true...I witnessed peoples fear of the Basij dissapear, an 80 year old chadori woman with rocks in her hands calling for the exacution of khamenei and all Basij...A group of Basij were surrounded and forced in to a building, the front was blocked with garbage and set on fire, They (basij) opened fire on the crowd with what I assume were blanks, the crowed disspersed for a moment the came back with a fury...thats when the molotov cocktails came out. When I moved on the building was on fire...an hour later when I passed by again there wasn't much of a building left. There was full blown war...there was a young man who had taken all of a basij's things including their teargas rifle. We were finnaly able to get out on the back of motorcycle...the ride home took 25 minutes,for 15 minutes of it we were passing intermitently though Basij and protesters fires placed to displace the teargas... might I add the 3 hours that we walked through fire we didn't see one shop or car that had been damaged by protesters...however I just recieved word for the one who was kind enough to keep my camera and other belongings that the Basij had gone into her street and destoryed cars...thats all I can get out for now hope some of it may be useful...I'm pissed I was unable to get pictures.

Fire, it's always fire...

[frigidmagi]

BBC

Iranian police have used water cannon, batons, tear gas and live rounds to break up protests over the presidential election, witnesses in Tehran say.

A BBC reporter said he saw one man shot and others injured amid running fights.

Defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi repeated calls for the election to be annulled on the grounds it was rigged.

US President Barack Obama urged Iran's government "to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people", saying the "world is watching".


TEHRAN EYEWITNESS
BBC CORRESPONDENT

Security forces were everywhere in central Tehran in the late afternoon and early evening.

As I spent a couple of hours driving around in heavy traffic I could see thousands of men, some uniformed members of the military riot squads, some units of revolutionary guard, and everywhere basijis - militiamen who look like street toughs.

The security men were deployed on every street corner, in long lines down the sides of the roads, and in all the main squares.

The basijis wore riot helmets and carried big clubs. It was designed to intimidate, and while I was there, it was working.
BBC eyewitness: Heavy security

The country's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei had warned protesters on Friday not to continue their rallies, but they openly defied his words.

President Obama said the US stood by all who sought to exercise their right to free speech and assembly.

He added: "If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion."

It was unclear if Iranian political leaders had backed their supporters continuing to march.

In a letter to the electoral body, the Guardian Council, Mr Mousavi, who had not made a public comment for two days, reiterated his calls for the election to be declared void.

He alleged the vote, held on 12 June, was rigged months previously.

Official results of the presidential poll gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a resounding 63% of votes, compared to 34% for Mr Mousavi, his nearest rival.

In other developments:

* Thousands of police, militia and secret policemen blocked access to Enghelab and Azadi squares, and protesters were throwing stones in surrounding streets
* A BBC correspondent saw one man shot in a crowd and another with injuries from a razor-wielding secret policeman
* About 3,000 protesters were reportedly gathered at Enghelab Square, according to Associated Press news agency. They chanted "Death to the dictator" and "Death to dictatorship"
* One witness told Reuters news agency that protesters loyal to defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi set fire to a building in southern Tehran used by backers of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
* A column of black smoke is hanging over the city centre, our correspondent says
* Two Iranian news agencies reported that the suicide bomber died and two people were injured in the bombing at the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 revolution.


Protesters on the streets of Tehran, 20 June 2009

In pictures: Tehran unrest
Q&A: Blocked protests
Reporters' log: Iran's upheaval
Your reports of protests

See map of central Tehran

Some reports could not be independently confirmed. Foreign news organisations - including the BBC - have been subjected to strict controls which prevent reporters from leaving their offices.

A BBC correspondent in Tehran says his impression is that the police have broken up large crowds into smaller groups to prevent them assembling.

Confusing signals

Early on Saturday, the wife of Mr Mousavi and an aide to another rival candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, said the rally would go ahead, although this was later contradicted by his party.

Speaking on state TV, deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan warned police would "certainly fight against any form of illegal gathering and protest". He also said protest organisers would be arrested.

The result triggered almost daily street protests - a challenge to ruling authorities unprecedented since the Islamic revolution of 1979.

Mr Mousavi had been expected, along with fellow challengers Mr Karroubi and Mohsen Rezai, to discuss more than 600 objections they had filed complaining about the poll at a meeting of the Guardian Council, which certifies elections, on Saturday.

But neither Mr Mousavi nor Mr Karroubi attended the meeting - which suggests, our correspondent says, they have abandoned their legal challenge to the election results.

State TV quoted the Guardian Council as saying it was "ready" to recount a randomly selected 10% of ballot boxes.

It had previously offered a partial recount of disputed ballots from the election, rather than the full re-run of the election demanded by protesters.

[The Minx]

Now they're shouting "death to Khameini"

Link

In this video posted to Youtube, a city bus burns as people in crowds shout, 'Death to Khamenei' in Tehran.

Also from CNN:

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's election authority has rejected claims of voting irregularities by a defeated presidential candidate, while acknowledging that the number of ballots cast in dozens of cities exceeded the number of eligible voters there, state-run TV reported Monday.

Iran's Guardian Council -- which approves all candidates running for office and verifies election results -- said candidate Mohsen Rezaie alleged irregularities in 170 cities, and that excessive ballots were found in 50 cities, according to government-funded Press TV.

Council spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei said voting in those locations did not noticeably affect the outcome of the election, adding that the council will continue to investigate complaints that are filed through "legal channels," Press TV said. The council declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of the June 12 election.

Rezaie had reported some irregularities and called for a recount of some ballots, while opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi and candidate Mehdi Karrubi have rejected the election as fraudulent and demanded a new one.

Earlier Sunday, thousands of riot police and militia lined Tehran's streets as the public rift among Iranian leaders appeared to be widening.

The country's foreign minister disputed allegations of ballot irregularities in Iran's disputed presidential election, and the parliamentary speaker implied the nation's election authorities had sided with one candidate.

Amateur video showed large crowds marching down a major Tehran thoroughfare shouting, "Don't be afraid, we're together!" and "Death to dictator!" The person who shot the video said it was taken Sunday, but CNN could not immediately verify that the protest had taken place.

Eyewitnesses reported a protest also took place at southern Tehran's Azad University, where final exams were postponed after about 200 students refused to take them.

Thousands of riot police and members of the Basij militia lined the streets of the city, according to eyewitnesses. Security personnel surrounded the headquarters of the country's state television and radio. Many shops were closed, and shopkeepers whose stores were open said they planned to close early Sunday. However, no tanks were seen on the city's streets. Traffic was light.

A statement purportedly from Moussavi on Sunday called on Iranians to "exercise self control" during protests in Tehran, while still supporting their right to demonstrate against the government and the results of the disputed June 12 presidential election.

"The country belongs to you. The revolution and the system is your heritage," the statement attributed to Moussavi said in a statement posted on his Web site. "Protesting against lies and cheating is your right. Be hopeful about regaining your rights. Do not allow anyone who tries to make you lose hope and frighten you make you lose your temper."

The authenticity of the message could not be verified; it was posted in Farsi and translated by CNN.

The message came a day after hospital sources said 19 people were killed in clashes between anti-government protesters and police. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll as high as 150.

"The sad news of the martyrdom of another group who protested the results of the elections has caused our society astonishment and our people mourn them," said the statement attributed to Moussavi. "Firing on people, militarization of the city's atmosphere, threats, agitations and show of force are all the illegitimate children of law breaking and we are facing all of that. It is a wonder that the perpetrators accuse others of breaking the law for expressing their opinions."

Police have not been given permission to use firearms in confronting protesters, Tehran Police Chief Azizollah Rajabpour told Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency. Police have not used firearms on the public, he said. Allegations to the contrary are false and "spread by those who want to muddy the waters," the agency reported.

News coverage in Iran has been limited by government restrictions on international journalists. On Sunday, the BBC said Iran had expelled Jon Leyne, the British network's permanent correspondent in Tehran. And Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based Arab satellite network, said its Tehran bureau was ordered closed.

Press TV confirmed 13 fatalities Saturday, saying the deaths resulted from police clashes with "terrorist groups" in Tehran. But the station did not say whether all the deaths took place Saturday or spanned the length of the weeklong protests. iReport.com: Share images from Iran

Videos posted on social networking Web sites depicted tense scenes and chaos Saturday, and one graphic video that captured the death of a young woman became the iconic symbol of a brutal day. But like most of the information coming out of Tehran, it is impossible to verify her name -- Neda -- or the circumstances of her apparent death.

Press TV also reported Sunday that five relatives of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were arrested for allegedly "inciting and encouraging rioters" in Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square on Saturday, the Web site reported.

Faezeh Rafsanjani, the former president's daughter, was released Sunday, and the four others were released earlier in the day, Press TV reported on its Web site. The woman's brother said she was arrested while taking part in a protest.

The elder Rafsanjani is chairman of the Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for appointing or removing the supreme leader. He is a supporter of Moussavi, while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remained staunch in his defense of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A spokesman for the Guardian Council told state television that Wednesday is the last day it can recount the votes disputed by candidates.

Meanwhile, prominent figures, many of whom were part of Iran's Islamic revolution 30 years ago, issued conflicting statements, a sign that Iran's leadership was far from unified.

The foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said Sunday an investigation into claims of fraud in the election will be announced by week's end.

But speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, he called the possibility of irregularities almost nonexistent.

"The possibility of organized and comprehensive disruption and irregularities in this election is almost close to zero given the composition of the people who are holding the election," Mottaki said.

On the other hand, Iran's influential parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, implicated the same people -- the Guardian Council -- of siding with one candidate.

"Although the Guardian Council is made up of religious individuals, I wish certain members would not side with a certain presidential candidate," Larijani told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting on Saturday, without naming whom he meant.

The comments were reported on Press TV and on another news Web site, Khabaronline, Sunday.

Larijani's statement was in direct contrast to that of Khamenei, who in a sermon Friday declared the elections a "definitive victory" for Ahmadinejad and rejected charges of vote rigging.

"A majority of people are of an opinion separate" from that of a minority, Larijani said.

While Larijani and Ahmadinejad have had a tense relationship in the past, Larijani is seen as being aligned with Khamenei. For him to directly contradict the leader's statement amounts to another example of the growing disagreement among ruling conservatives.

Meanwhile, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, in an open letter posted on his Web site, said, "the presence of the people is one of the achievements of the revolution and must be respected."

"Sensational and insulting propaganda against the people, who have always acted independently, and insinuating that their healthy movement is directed by foreigners is itself a sign of the implementation of faulty policies which will widen the gap between the people and the government," Khatami wrote.

The election and the subsequent clashes in Iran were the subject of protests in some U.S. cities Sunday.

In Washington, roughly 400 Iranian-Americans gathered in front of the Iranian Interests Section on Sunday to protest the disputed election.

The protesters, dressed in the colors of the Iranian flag, waved signs and chanted slogans such as, "Down with the dictator," "Democracy for Iran," and "Where's my vote?" Some carried signs with images of injured and bleeding Iranian protesters.

Protests also were held in Los Angeles and New York.

This is an update of the headline article. In any case, isn't it odd to say "no, there were no irregularities, but yea there were more ballots cast than people in several cities".

[frigidmagi]

4 articles for ya today...

NYT

[quote]his has become the city of whispers. Many of the people I spoke to when I arrived last week are in prison. Stabbings and shootings punctuate the night. Fear rushes down alleys and dead ends. Still the whispering continues.

“Tomorrow, Vanak Square.â€

[frigidmagi]

CNN

A defiant and chaotic protest sprouted in and around a public square Monday despite a warning by Iran's Revolutionary Guard against the kind of street demonstrations that have roiled Iran for more than a week, witnesses said.
Security forces patrol the streets of Tehran streets on Monday.

Thousands of Iranians congregated and passed through Haft-e Tir Square, but riot police and the pro-government Basij militia confronted them as they smacked their batons against their shin guards, making loud cracking sounds that seemed like gunshots, the witnesses said.

Most stores around the square were closed as the unrest reverberated, with some guarding against damage by erecting steel fences on their windows.

Helicopters hovered overhead as the security forces wielded batons and used a spray to push the crowd out of the square. After that, police chased down demonstrators in nearby alleys and streets, with protesters and lawmen playing cat and mouse over several tension-filled hours until the crowd began to thin out around dusk.

There were isolated face-offs and quarrels that broke out between demonstrators and the riot police and the Basij militia -- a volunteer paramilitary force that takes orders from the Revolutionary Guard, a military unit under the direct control of Iran's supreme leader.

But remarkably, there were no reports of serious injuries, even though there were at least eight arrests, witnesses said.

"Thirty years after the revolution, this is what we get," one man said dejectedly, watching the noisy and chaotic scene as he remembered the birth and the promise of Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979.

The location was the spot where a vigil was to be held in memory of Neda, a young woman who became a symbol for the opposition after her death was caught on camera. While Internet postings on Twitter, Facebook, and an Iranian opposition leader's Web site had mentioned a possible rally, it was unclear whether people who were at the square were there for a vigil.

Some people were clad in black, a symbol of mourning, but placards and banners about Neda and candles have not been seen. However, security forces and demonstrators happened to appear at the square at the time the vigil was to be held. Video Watch how women are on front line of protests »

Demonstrators had brushed off a warning from the Revolutionary Guard on Monday that people who "disturb the peace and stand up to security forces" would be met with a strong response.

The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the Revolutionary Guard as saying "the guardians of the Islamic revolution and the courageous Basiji together with the security forces following the orders of the supreme leader and following him unquestioningly...

It said the authorities "are determined to act strongly to return peace and tranquility to society ... and to clean the country of these plotters and hooligans."

Iran's Revolutionary Guard is directly under the control of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and enforces the government's Islamic codes and morality. With more than 200,000 members, it is tasked with overseeing the country's crucial interests, including guarding its oil fields and missile arsenals.

All of this comes as the regime's lawmakers called for a review of ties with Britain amid concerns over so-called Western "meddling" in the country's daily unrest.

The government-funded Press TV reported that Iranian lawmakers were calling for a review of the country's ties with Britain because of its "interference in Iran's recent post-election unrest."

Britain's Foreign Office announced Monday it is withdrawing the family members of its embassy staff from Iran until the situation there improves.

News coverage in Iran has been limited by government restrictions on international journalists. On Sunday, the BBC said Iran had expelled Jon Leyne, the British network's permanent correspondent in Tehran. And Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based Arab satellite network, said its Tehran bureau was ordered closed.

At least 19 people were killed in clashes in Tehran on Saturday as Iranians took to the streets to protest the results of the June 12 presidential election, according to hospital sources.

Iranian-funded Press TV confirmed 13 fatalities, while unconfirmed reports put the number as high as 150. Tehran's prosecutor general's office said it has launched an investigation into the killings.

The station also said police arrested 457 people Saturday who vandalized property. Photo See images of the clashes Saturday »

A statement purportedly from opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi on Sunday called on Iranians to "exercise self control" during protests in Tehran while still supporting their right to demonstrate against the government and the results of the election. Video Watch Iran's former crown prince call election a "fraud" »

The authenticity of the message could not be verified; it was posted in Farsi and translated by CNN.
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Iran's Guardian Council declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of election with 62.63 percent of the vote. Moussavi, his closest rival, received 33.75 percent, surprising many experts who expected him to win.

A spokesman for the Guardian Council told state television that Wednesday is the last day it can recount the votes disputed by candidates.

[frigidmagi]

Article about Neda, the women who's death via gunshot was caught on video, turning her into the central martyr of the protests/uprising.

LAT

Reporting from Tehran -- The first word came from abroad. An aunt in the United States called her Saturday in a panic. "Don't go out into the streets, Golshad," she told her. "They're killing people."

The relative proceeded to describe a video, airing on exile television channels that are jammed in Iran, in which a young woman is shown bleeding to death as her companion calls out, "Neda! Neda!"

A dark premonition swept over Golshad, who asked that her real name not be published. She began calling the cellphone and home number of her friend Neda Agha-Soltan who had gone to the chaotic demonstration with a group of friends, but Neda didn't answer.

At midnight, as the city continued to smolder, Golshad drove to the Agha-Soltan residence in the eastern Tehran Pars section of the capital.

As she heard the cries and wails and praising of God reverberating from the house, she crumpled, knowing that her worst fears were true.

"Neda! Neda!" the 25-year-old cried out. "What will I do?"

Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, was shot dead Saturday evening near the scene of clashes between pro-government militias and demonstrators who allege rampant vote-count fraud in the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The jittery cellphone video footage of her bleeding on the street has turned "Neda" into an international symbol of the protest movement that ignited in the aftermath of the June 12 voting. To those who knew and loved Neda, she was far more than an icon. She was a daughter, sister and friend, a music and travel lover, a beautiful young woman in the prime of her life.

"She was a person full of joy," said her music teacher and close friend Hamid Panahi, who was among the mourners at her family home on Sunday, awaiting word of her burial. "She was a beam of light. I'm so sorry. I was so hopeful for this woman."

Security forces urged Neda's friends and family not to hold memorial services for her at a mosque and asked them not to speak publicly about her, associates of the family said. Authorities even asked the family to take down the black mourning banners in front of their house, aware of the potent symbol she has become.

But some insisted on speaking out anyway, hoping to make sure the world would not forget her.Neda Agha-Soltan was born in Tehran, they said, to a father who worked for the government and a mother who was a housewife. They were a family of modest means, part of the country's emerging middle class who built their lives in rapidly developing neighborhoods on the eastern and western outskirts of the city.

Like many in her neighborhood, Neda was loyal to the country's Islamic roots and traditional values, friends say, but also curious about the outside world, which is easily accessed through satellite television, the Internet and occasional trips abroad.

The second of three children, she studied Islamic philosophy at a branch of Tehran's Azad University, until deciding to pursue a career in the tourism industry. She took private classes to become a tour guide, including Turkish language courses, friends said, hoping to some day lead groups of Iranians on trips abroad.

Travel was her passion, and with her friends she saved up enough money for package tours to Dubai, Turkey and Thailand. Two months ago, on a trip to Turkey, she relaxed along the beaches of Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast.

She loved music, especially Persian pop, and was taking piano classes, according to Panahi, who is in his 50s, and other friends. She was also an accomplished singer, they said.

But she was never an activist, they added, and she began attending the mass protests only because of a personal sense of outrage over the election results.

Her parents and others told her it would be dangerous to go to Saturday's march, said Golshad. On Friday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned in his weekly prayer sermon that demonstrators would be responsible for any violence that broke out. Even Golshad stayed away. At 3:30 the two friends spoke.

"I told her, 'Neda, don't go,' " she recalled, heaving with sobs.

But she was as stubborn as she was honest, Golshad said, and she ended up going anyway.

"She said, 'Don't worry. It's just one bullet and its over.' "

"She couldn't stand the injustice of it all," Panahi said. "All she wanted was the proper vote of the people to be counted."

Her friends say Panahi, Neda and two others were stuck in traffic on Karegar Street, east of Tehran's Azadi Square, on their way to the demonstration sometime after 6:30 p.m. After stepping out of the car to get some fresh air and crane their necks over the jumble of cars, Panahi heard a crack from the distance. Within a blink of the eye, he realized Neda had collapsed to the ground.

"We were stuck in traffic and we got out and stood to watch, and without her throwing a rock or anything they shot her," he said. "It was just one bullet."

Blood poured out of the right side of her chest and began bubbling out of her mouth and nose as her lungs filled up.

"I'm burning, I'm burning!" he recalled her saying, her final words.

Those nearby gathered around. A doctor tried to help, Panahi said, telling him to put his palm over the wound and apply pressure. A driver coming from the other direction urged the crowd to put her into his car. A frantic search for a hospital followed. They took a wrong turn down a dead end and switched her limp body to another car.

Along the way, protesters and ordinary people screamed at other drivers to clear a route in the snarled traffic.

The medical staff made a heroic effort to rush her to the operating room, but it was too late. She was dead by the time they arrived at the emergency room of Shariati Hospital, Panahi said.

"This is a crime that's not in support of the government," he said. "This is a crime against humanity."

Iranian authorities have strenuously denied that police were using lethal force to quell the protest. During tours of the riot scene before, during and after the worst of the melee, there were no signs of security officials using guns to quash the protest, which is considered illegal.

The prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into the killing of "several people" in Saturday's violence and arrested one "armed terrorist," the website of Iran's Press TV broadcaster announced. At least 13 people were killed in Saturday's rioting.

"Policemen are not authorized to use weapons against people," said Tehran Police Chief Azizollah Rajabzadeh, according to Press TV. "They are trained to only use antiriot tools to keep the people out of harm's way."

The government has suggested loyalists to the exiled, outlawed opposition group Mujahedin Khalq Organization may bear responsibility for the killings. But family members and friends suspect that zealous pro-government paramilitaries, the Basijis or the group Ansar-e-Hezbollah, might have been responsible. Panahi said witnesses at the scene said the shooter was not a police officer but among a group of plainclothes security officials or militiamen lurking in the area.

On Sunday at the Agha-Soltan residence, friends and relatives came in droves, weeping and bent over, clutching one another. A steady murmur of sobs and wails emanated from the apartment.

Mascara streamed down cheeks of the women, some in sweeping black chadors and others in shapely designer mini-coats and sunglasses.

The men's eyes were sore and bloodshot. Two helped a distraught young man walk along the hallway, one of her two brothers, someone said.

"She died full of love," Golshad said.

The relatives and friends piled into minivans for the hour-long trek to Tehran's Beshesht Zahra cemetery, where she was buried. Her loved ones were outraged by the authorities' order not to eulogize her, to loudly sing her praises and mourn her loss. But they were too afraid and distraught to speak out, except for Panahi, who said he had nothing more to lose.

"They know me," he said. "They know where I am. They can come and get me whenever they want. My time has gone. We have to think about the young people."

Neda, he said, was smart and loving. She had a mischievous streak, gentling teasing her friends and causing them to laugh. She was passionate about life and meant no one any harm, they said. In the election unrest, friends found in her an unexpected daring, a willingness to take risks for her beliefs.

"For pursuing her goals, she didn't use rocks or clubs," said Panahi. "She wanted to show with her presence that, 'I'm here. I also voted. And my vote wasn't counted.' It was a very peaceful act of protest, without any violence."

As to the person or persons responsible for her death, they will not be forgiven, he said. "When they kill an innocent child, this is not justice. This is not religion. In no way is this acceptable," he said. "And I'm certain that the one who shot her will not get a pass from God."

I think one of the great victories for the Chinese government during Tienanmen square was it ability to keep anonymous the protesters, specifically the young man who blocked the tanks. By doing so they kept the movement from developing a face.

Salon Article by an Iranian.

Salon

Saturday afternoon in Tehran. I come out of the internet cafe and the first thing I see is the row of green and white police trucks lined up perpendicular to the square. In the square itself is an impressive sight: row after row of cops in riot gear. The four roads that lead in and out are marked at their corners by uniformed police wearing dark green. In the stone and grass plaza at the center of the square, a place where just a week ago Mousavi supporters had nightly gathered to chant and cheer, there are police in Robocop riot gear standing, waiting, looking, watching the perimeter of the traffic circle.

"Az enqelab mirisim be azadi!" "From Revolution we'll get to Freedom!" A kid in the internet cafe had, minutes earlier, made a clever pun, referring to today's march from Revolution Square to Freedom Square. Saturday afternoon was to be a repeat of last Monday's massed millions but after the most recent Friday Prayers and the Supreme Leader's injunctions, the march had been called into doubt. Around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, there came word that another warning not to come had just been issued, that the regime's "patience" had run out. The kid was putting on a strong, defiant face.

Standing outside, looking at this show of force, the kid's bravura seems silly. So does mine. Power is about force and place. In Tehran it is quickly becoming about who can stand where and when.

Spooked, I walk away from the square and make my way home using an alternate route.

Back at my apartment, I realize that, like an idiot, I have left an opposition newspaper with notes scribbled all over it -- in English, source material for these dispatches -- in the internet cafe. I return to retrieve it, taking back alleys.

I call a few folks along the way. Cell phones for some reason are working, perhaps so that people can tell each other not to go to the march. That is more or less the message I received from my friends. It's becoming less and less worth it, they're saying, only the fully committed to seeing this thing through will show and their numbers will no doubt be dwindling.

I reach the café. The paper is still there. I grab it and set out for hom. I stiffen my spine, walk right into the circle, the newspaper curled up into my hand. I make a point of walking past a row of the officers waiting at one corner of the plaza. I need to do this. Some are bored, others are keeping themselves busy with stupid things. They help each other strap and tighten their helmets, one taps his fingers against the top of his plastic shield. I see that one or two of the guys have on fashionable glasses, vestiges of their other life.

As I pass, I look them in the eye. Iranians in general stare. This habit isn't antagonistic. Fixed eye-contact is a normal thing, part curiosity and partly a way to size up the person walking towards them. A friend observes that Iranians have been lied to so much the only device left to them for ascertaining Truth is the zaher, or appearance. As with the ancient Greeks, the assumption is that the external reveals true character.

The cops look back at me with little interest.

I receive a very different response from the young basijis coming up the road. They show up after the police, in beige camo trucks traveling in convoy. Today, under daylight, they emerge from whatever hole it is they hide in, wearing uniforms to go with their oversized helmets. Think "Spaceballs." In the back of each transport truck a large red flag is flapping.

When I fix my eyes on them, the look is deadly, menacing.

Basijis. The lesser cousin of the police, they are the more serious of the two. For the cops it's a job, and so far at least their hearts don't seem to be into it. For these basijis, it's their reason to be. They bring an enthusiasm to their "work" that only an ardent hobbyist can. As a member of my family notes, this is their good time. They don't screw, they don't drink or smoke pot (bet you didn't know that went on in Iran). What else are they going to do with all of that energy? For 360 days of the year basijis don't do shit, but for the past week ...

Ke chi bishe? What's the point? It feels so unnecessary. Every rally has been peaceful, folks have really done their best, truly taken great care not to antagonize. They deserved better than this. Delam vaghan misooze. My heart aches...
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And I am feeling isolated, and losing my nerve. I figure it's all over, I give up.

The Shit Hits the Fan

Saturday evening, not yet sunset. The little guy is cracking himself up silly. "Moo ... ! Moo ... ! Akharesh shod ... Mousavi!" I sit in the front of the shared taxi ride. The small boy wraps his hands around my headrest and repeats the chant. "Moo ... ! Moo ... ! Akharesh shod ... Mousavi!" Moo ...! Moo ...!" He's saying, "At the end it became Mousavi!" His mom sitting in the back, her voice barely above a whisper, tells him, "Na azizam, aqasare agha ye Mousavi na shod." No dear, at the end it did not

The three of us, the adults in the car, grouse about everything that was happening. Ba zoor hamichi ra mikhand. Yemosh havoon. They want everything by force. Animals.

We are on Sattar Khan Street, heading south towards Tohid Square, or Unity Square. Tohid, formerly known as Kennedy, was once an up-and-coming neighborhood, a fashionable enclave for young and newly-married couples to make their first move outside of their parents' home. Duplex-style housing from the mid and late 1970s still lines the street, the bottom floors of many now converted into offices and small shops. The area around Tohid is where the first fast food joints opened up, some of the original pahtoghs, or hangouts. Though no longer unique in Tehran, on Thursday nights certain stretches and bends of Satter Khan above Tohid are full of cars filled with families. Tehran has elements of the American small town. For want of better options, diversions consist of cruising and hanging out at burger and ice cream joints late into the night.

The traffic is horrific. No one is moving. Cars stop, engines turn off, people get out to see what is happening. There is dark smoke ahead. We can see at least two helicopters circling above. I see families gathered on the rooftops. Everyone is looking south toward the square. What has happened?

On the other side of the street comes a pack of protesters chanting. I didn't expect this. I was wrong. It is not over: "Marq bar diktator! Marq bar diktator!" Unable to move, the vehicles have effectively become the fixed seats of a street theater. With nowhere to go, drivers and their passengers get out. They stand up on the edge of their doors to take pictures with their mobile phones.

One of the marchers points across at us, her face screwed up in anger and frustration: "Hemayat, hemayat, Iraniane BIGHEIRAT!" Help, help, Iranians WITHOUT honor!

What's going on ahead? Why aren't we moving? Motorists coming back the other way tell us that Tohid is on fire, they've burned Cinema Bahman. They tell us to turn back, turn back. Our taxi driver, a young man sporting a beard ("I just grew it out so that they won't mess with me!"), pulls a classic Tehran move and wheels the old Iranian-made Paykon 180 degrees. He cuts into an alley. Maybe we can get to Tohid this way. He's not the only one with this idea and as he pulls the car down toward the square we get stuck again. This time it's worse.

It's not looking good. Cars are backing up and we're off the main road. Our driver gives up. "Sharmandam, I am deeply sorry, but I've got to go back home. Please, forget the fare, I'm so sorry." The mom and her son get out, she tries to take his hand but he rushes forward between the cars, then stops. Karate stance.

Shit. I get out. Ahead I see a group of basijis. They are lined up against a wall, awaiting their orders. I notice that one holds a lead pipe at his side. The pipe is the length of his leg.

I decide to try to walk to Tohid. Can anyone help me? I ask the crowd for directions. I want to go to Vali Asr. "Go that way, but I don't think that you'll make it. Tohid is a mess, they say that they burned a 13-year-old girl." I keep cutting south. Cars that have come off of the main road and into the warren of this neighborhood remain stuck, not moving. I weave my way through the grid, leaning into windows, asking here and there how things are from where they've come. Agha, in var shoolooq e? Sir, is it safe? The answer is always, "Yes." I begin to worry. I don't know this neighborhood, I don't have anyone to take me in just in case, and it's getting close to sunset. I have to laugh. It's like a disaster and zombie movie all rolled up in one.

I continue to cut south toward Tohid. The black smoke coming from Satter Khan and the square grows thicker, continues to climb into the pale evening light. The neighborhood that I am in is faring no better. At a corner I see an incredible sight, two street battles raging perpendicular to each other. I stand at their juncture. In one direction, at least three fiery heaps stretch out straight down the middle of the street, there is smoke everywhere, and beyond the haze a crowd of men marches toward a line of armed and waiting basijis. At the top of the street is the burned and tinny carcass of a motorcycle, a basiji mount, its rider nowhere to be found.

To my left, at the end of the street, another group of young men face off against the paramilitaries. They show no fear, the chants come faster and faster.

I turn back. This is not going to work. I need to get back home.

Back on Satter Khan, now heading north, it only gets worse. It's really an unbelievable scene. Every 50 to 100 meters there is a confrontation or a fire, people are chanting, they are defiant. And in between there are the cars, in both directions just sitting there, not moving, engines off. Everyone is out and watching. This has become an accidental march. Everyone, without planning to, has taken the side of protest.

What are they going to do with all of these people? What's going to happen when the cops pour in? I wonder. These people can't move. At bus stops I see citizens sitting on the benches and railings, either waiting for the bus or hanging around until the commotion passes. One old lady is peeling oranges and sharing with her husband and the others seeking refuge inside of the shelter. Car horns up and down the road are honking, nearly in unison, "doot-doot-de-doot-doot, doot-doot-de-doot-doot." There is no letup.

Near Patrice Lumumba Street I stop to get something to drink. I've got several kilometers to go yet. Bottled water is out at all of the stores and kiosks. All that is left is Rani, a juice drink (with real but unnervingly way-too-big fruit chunks inside), and Delster, Iranian non-alcoholic beer. It's quite a sight, people kicking back a few brews, watchin' a riot, no worries at all ...

A pedestrian asks me what is happening further down the road, using the alliterative phrasing that Iranians are so fond of: "Bezan bezan hast?" "Na, bekosh bekosh." Is it hitting hitting going on? No, comes the answer from a man standing next to me, it's killing killing.

Across from a police substation, officers stand poised with their plastic shields in front of them, facing north. Rocks are being thrown at them, one by one, then two by two. The officers stand their ground. I am on the other side of the street, watching. Two young men turn the corner and walk toward me. They are both eating chocolate-glazed donuts. I tell them, "Bi khial, Wow, you two are really taking it easy!" One of them answers, "Come on man, gotta take care of the stomach first."

The rocks now start to rain in by the dozen and the police run. They rush to their motorcycles and hop on, flying south. Protesters pour down the street, a full assault. One of the officers awkwardly throws rocks back at his tormentors. Unable to get off a good shot he wheels toward us and throws in our direction and I, the Donut Brothers, and about 20 other people run away, around the corner.

This is a glimpse of what is to come. The decision to prevent people from marching calmly and peacefully through the squares and main boulevards has thrown the action into the kuches and mahals of Tehran. It's gone into the neighborhoods, the alleys and corners of where people permanently live, not the public squares and intersections that they occasionally pass through.

You have to understand the importance of the "kuche" or alley if you want to understand Tehran, especially now. Sar e kuche, too ye kuche, boro kuche -- the beginning and end of everyday life happens in a kuche, the alley.

"Alley" as it is used here isn't the same as what we might imagine in the U.S., the dark and dangerous spaces of a big city where bad things might happen. Back in the day, Tehran neighborhoods consisted primarily of single-family homes, many with a hayat, or yard, with a central hoz, or fountain (the film "Children of Heaven" is a good depiction of what I'm talking about). The buildings were close to each other and the kuche served as the shared ground between entrances. You had to walk down an alley to get home and the odds were that you would run into your neighbor along the way. Likewise, the alley provided a crude form of security. If someone had no business being there or was up to no good it would be immediately known.

Neighbors knew who belonged there. Neighborhoods were populated by men with colorful names: Behrooz Sibili (Moustache Behrooz), Ali Hezar Dawshi (Ali 10 Cents), Mahmad Damagh (Mahmad Nose), Jangir Khiki (Fat Jangir). Neighbors simultaneously spied on and looked after each other. A patriarchal code of honor, with all of its blessings and vices, held sway, and woe onto the young man who wandered into the neighborhood. Hava ye ham digar ra dashtand. While this code has dimmed considerably because of shifts in demographic and housing patterns -- more and more people live away from their families in apartment towers -- the familiarity remains. Tehran, despite its size, remains an intimate big city, the reason being that the base of social life outside of the family remains the kuche. Even if they don't personally know their neighbor nor care to, residents of a block will come to each other's aid when threatened from without (read Asef Bayat's important book "Street Politics" to see what I'm talking about).

The geography of Tehran's urban life is going to play a big role in the coming days and months. Every time the police manage to squeeze down on protesters on the main road, the kids run sideways and backward into the crisscrossing alleys. It will be different now ...

The walk home is many kilometers. Under a bridge a crowd is chanting. Half of a car is on fire and a host of people have gathered to watch. A fire truck shows up, the crowd hoots and whistles. They rush over and surround the truck. Do they want it to leave? Before I can figure it out the truck abandons the street.

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It takes me two hours to get home. Along the way there is wonderment. Life goes on. I smell freshly sliced cucumber. A young boy sits on a storefront stoop and sees about the business of eating folded flatbread with feta and cucumber. Kids on bikes race each other. Three boys walk past me on the sidewalk with ping-pong paddles; they are coming back from the park (Tehran's parks, like those of Paris, come equipped with ping pong tables). Satter Khan Park is filled with families and couples on blankets eating seeds and sharing tea. Many are enjoying traditional ice cream, Akbar Mashti made with pistachio and cardamom. There is a guy selling fish, a guy selling meat. Old men stand outside their fruit stand. The car wash under Satter Khan Bridge continues its business. A father and his daughter come plodding down the sidewalk, three grocery sacks hangs between them, cucumber, tomatoes, watermelons.

I finally make it to where I need to be. I spot a man selling DVDs. Iranians are notorious film buffs and before this ruckus began if you were to see a crowd gathered on the street in Tehran odds were they were buying up the latest Hollywood film, frequently while the picture was still in the theaters. I flip through the pile of plastic sleeves and choose "Night at the Museum, Part Two" and "Frost/Nixon." How's business in all of this haye hoo, I ask the man? Eh, it's not bad, what can I say? Don't you want to buy more, he asks me. No, this'll do.

That night, with reports coming in of the newly dead and wounded, they sang "Allah Akbar" with renewed verve. "ALLAH u AKBAR!!!! ALLAH u AKBAR!!!!" The calls had never been louder. We sit in the kitchen and listen. A girl's voice leads. Tonight she is without restraint. She doesn't wait for the response. Voices heave, swinging back and forth, call and response.

Natarsin! Natarsin! Ma hame ba ham hastim! Don't be scared! Don't be scared! We are all in this together.

Something tells me, this isn't ending anytime soon.

[frigidmagi]

Revolutionary Guards commander defies Khamenei's orders to use force on protestors

A commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has been arrested for refusing to obey Iran's Supreme Leader, according to reports from the Balatarin website.

General Ali Fazli, who was recently appointed as a commander of the Revolutionary Guards in the province of Tehran, is reported to have been arrested after he refused to carry out orders from the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to use force on people protesting the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

For full coverage of the Iranian election protests click here

Fazli, a veteran of the devastating Iran-Iraq war is also believed to have been sacked and taken to an unknown location.

The Revolutionary Guards is a separate body to the mainstream armed forces in Iran and is seen as one of the main and most powerful bodies responsible for protecting the Islamic theocratic regime.

Earlier today the Revolutionary Guards issued a warning on its website threatening to come down hard on Iranians who continue protesting against what many in the country see as rigged elections.

[Charon]

More than a week and the protests are only getting stronger. Yeah this is going to be a hell of a thing.

[frigidmagi]

National strike called for Tuesday in Iran

It is now after midnight in Iran - officially Tuesday - and Breaking Tweets can now verify that a national strike has indeed been called for on this day in Iran.

Numerous reliable Twitterers in Iran are now confirming this news. Many are saying that Mir Hossein Mousavi himself called for the strike, however the official Twitter and Facebook pages for Mousavi do not yet mention it. It is possible he communicated this through other means.

Even so, there is a clear organization for this general strike, first rumored several days ago. Trusted Iranian Twitterers said confirmation of the strike would not come until the last possible moment so that it catches the government off guard, and confirmation is now surfacing.

There is a call for all workers, government and non-government, not to show up to work and for Iranians to do no business on Tuesday. Many have called for bazaars to shut down. Some are calling for the strike to last longer than Tuesday to further disrupt the nation’s economy and cripple the current government.

The question is how many will participate and how effective the strike will be, as SMS, cell phone networks, and many Web sites remain offline in various parts of Iran. Mass protests the last few days have undoubtedly been disrupted and there has been confusion due to the lack of communication channels. It is also uncertain how widespread this movement will be outside of Tehran.

[frigidmagi]

On June 22nd the Organization of Combatant Clergy released the following 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.

Senior clergy across the country have told us that they have been put under severe pressure (by the state) to stand up against the millions of people. Until now, they have resisted. We thank them.

For the return of people’s trust and confidence we ask for the formation of a committee of neutral people, experts, and those familiar with the law who can investigate and address the complaints made by the candidates in the elections. May they issue a fair judgment… and help return our country to harmony.

There are photos circulating around the net showing men in cleric robes marching with protesters.

Note: In the 1200s the Mongols launched a campaign of military conquest and destruction into the heart land of the Islamic world, it led to the taking and pillaging of Baghdad, regarded at the time by Muslims as the heart of the civilized world. For these guys to say that the Iranian government is acting like a bunch of mongols is roughly comparable to being a Nazi by a serious person in the West (no Code Pink doesn't count).