Decision 1388: Meet The Candidates

[frigidmagi]

Annd CNN picks on it.

A photo showing Iranian clerics prominently participating in an anti-government protest speaks volumes about the new face of Iran's opposition movement.
Clerics in robes and turbans join rallies to protest the disputed presidential election results in Iran.

Clerics in robes and turbans join rallies to protest the disputed presidential election results in Iran.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image
more photos »

In a blatant act of defiance, a group of Mullahs took to the streets of Tehran, to protest election results that returned incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

Whether these clerics voted for Ahmadinejad or one of the opposition candidates is unknown. What is important here, is the decision to march against the will of Iran's supreme leader who called the results final and declared demonstrations illegal.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mullahs rule supreme. They are the country's conservative clerics; the guardians of the Islamic revolution and its ideologies. They're loyal only to God and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iranian opposition supporters took to the streets in protest of their candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi's loss in the June 12 presidential elections.

They alleged the elections were rigged. Moussavi asked to annul the results and hold new vote. Ayatollah Khamenei rejected the proposal, backed Ahmadinejad and called on people not to demonstrate or else face the consequences.
Don't Miss

* Complete coverage of Iran fallout
* Women stand up in defiance
* Iran election won't be nullified, council rules
* Shah's son calls crisis 'moment of truth'
* Analysis: Why is Iran so upset with Britain?

When the protests began, Iranian students for the most part, especially women were visible and in the lead. Video Watch clerics join the protests »

Their numbers dwindled over time. Some blame police and militia crackdown and intimidation.

Social networks swelled with amateur video showing protesters beaten or shot at. Their screams of pain and even death were caught on tape by fellow protesters using mainly cell phone cameras.

Throughout all that, some clerics of the Islamic Republic have spoken up against the stifling of people's right to voice their opinion and in support of new elections.

On his Web site, Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri described government efforts to crackdown on the protests as threatening the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic because it was no longer representing all the people.

Moussavi ally and former president Mohammad Khatami also said in a statement that to "protest in a civil manner... is the definite right of the people and all must respect that."

The graphic pictures out of Iran in the past week have shown time and again, making statements is one thing and taking to the streets is another.
advertisement

Iranian opposition at the leadership level and in the streets now has new faces, made up of those who had opposing ideologies before the election.

One symbol of that has become a nightly tradition in Iran. Secular or religious, Iranians go to their rooftops every night.. and shout out "Allahu Akbar" -- God is great -- and "down with the dictator."

What CNN fails to mention is that there has also been a strike called as well as informal gathers where folks have been instructed to wear plain clothes (no black or green) and show up in numbers to simply clog up places and shut them down.

Iranian state TV has admitted to 30% absences in the workplaces across the country. It's likely higher.

[Batman]

This is the point where Iran either finally joins the 21st century for keeps or else is forced to remain in the 14th for the time being once more.

[The Minx]

This is the point where Iran either finally joins the 21st century for keeps or else is forced to remain in the 14th for the time being once more.

Unfortunately, it seems that it is going to be the latter.

Also, new update on the "recount":


Link

Report: Partial recount shows Iran's election valid

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's electoral oversight group, the Guardian Council, announced Monday it has confirmed the findings of the June 12 elections that gave incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad an overwhelming victory, state-run Press TV reported.

After lead opposition candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi and his supporters rejected the official results as rigged and hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets nationwide, the Guardian Council set up a committee to do a recount of about 10 percent of the votes cast.

Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli was told of the conclusion Monday in a letter from the head of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, according to Press TV.

Earlier Monday, state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that none of the presidential candidates had filed complaints as the deadline to do so expired.

The Guardian Council last week extended the deadline for filing complaints after two candidates -- Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi -- questioned the legitimacy of the June 12 vote count.

Separately, the council -- a body of judges and religious scholars that oversees elections -- ordered a "partial recount of 10 percent of random ballot boxes across the country," Press TV reported Monday.

"The order has been made following the hesitation of representatives of ... Moussavi and an ineffective joint meeting between certain members of the special committee of the Guardian Council and Moussavi," the office of the council's spokesman said.

Moussavi rejected the offer of a partial recount and refused to appoint a representative to the committee, according to Press TV. CNN could not immediately reach Moussavi for comment.

The third presidential candidate, Mohsen Rezaie, maintains that his representatives will not be present for the partial recount, unless there is equal representation from Moussavi and Karrubi's camps, according to Iranian media reports.

Rezaie at first rejected the election results and filed a complaint, but later withdrew that complaint.

There have been two weeks of sometimes violent protests following the announcement of official election results. At least 17 protesters have been killed, according to official statistics, and the actual number may be higher.

Ayatollah Qorban-Ali Dorri-Najafabadi, Iran's prosecutor general said Monday that the country's judiciary was making utmost efforts to identify those behind the latest riots, Press TV reported.

"Definitely, those who attacked people with cold weapons and guns were not the Iranians, and the judiciary is making utmost efforts to identify those behind the country's post-election turmoil," Dorri-Najafabadi said.

"Few people held illegal rallies and disturbed people's peace and security in an inappropriate act. They will definitely be identified with the cooperation of people and the judiciary."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the disputed election by a margin of two-to-one over Moussavi, his nearest rival, according to official results. Moussavi and Karroubi said the results were rigged and have called for the vote to be annulled.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called for an end to street demonstrations Sunday after about 5,000 people shuffled in silence down Tehran's Shariati Street to the Ghoba mosque.

Iran has restricted international news organizations -- including CNN -- from reporting inside the Islamic republic. Its intelligence minister, Gholam-Hosein Mohseni Ejei, blamed Western powers for stirring up protests Sunday.

The same guys who counted the votes the last time are the ones responsible for the recount.

[Batman]

And are as likely to be believed as they were first go. I think Iran's public has had it.

[frigidmagi]

Influential Iranian cleric: Vote fallout a 'tangled mess'

After more than two weeks of silence amid Iran's violent election fallout, former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- a key Iranian cleric -- emerged Sunday to call out "suspicious sources" who are creating a rift between the public and the Islamic government.
Ex-President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, shown here voting in Iran on June 12, says trust has been eroded.

Ex-President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, shown here voting in Iran on June 12, says trust has been eroded.

He called the aftermath of the June 12 presidential election "a tangled mess, perpetrated by suspicious sources whose objectives are to create differences and separations between the people and the system and eroding the trust of the people in the Islamic system," the Iranian Labor News Agency reported Sunday.

Rafsanjani was speaking to a gathering of family members related to the victims of a June 28, 1981, explosion, in which 70 people were killed at a bombing at the Islamic Republic party headquarters. The explosion -- known as "Hafte Tir," referring to the date on the Iranian calendar -- killed several prominent Islamic revolutionaries, including Chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.

Rafsanjani is chairman of Iran's Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for appointing or removing the supreme leader. But despite the chaos that's plagued the Islamic republic for the past two weeks -- even resulting in the brief detention of his daughter -- he remained silent and largely unseen until Sunday's commemoration.


The last time the world saw Iran's assembled leadership was June 19, when at Friday prayers Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed the victory of hardline incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the hotly contested June 12 election. But Rafsanjani -- who supported opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi, a reformist and Ahmadinejad's chief rival -- was missing among the group of Islamic powerbrokers.

On Sunday, referring to Khamenei's backing of an extension granted by Iran's election authority to address voting complaints, Rafsanjani said the decision is "valuable in order to gain the trust and conviction of the people in the electoral process, effectively, and I hope those involved in this matter can precisely observe fairness and justice and in cooperation with the candidates so that complaints can be addressed completely."

He added, "Wrong actions must not renew hate and differences between the people and all of us must, with cooperation and with one heart, move forward, in order to eliminate obstacles and difficulties."

Rafsanjani is a very influential figure in Khamenei's circle, but he's made "a real break with the supreme leader in this case," Hooman Majd, an Iranian-American author, told CNN Saturday.

"Whether the leadership will come together again and say we have to solve all of these problems internally rather than have them be public for the sake and security of the government and the system is a question that is an open question," Majd added.

How big of a dog is Rafsanjani? It was his testimony that got Khamenei into the big chair.

Still maybe I'm missing something because his remarks seem like he's blaming outsiders not the government for this to me.

[Cynical Cat]

Yes, he is. To put things in perspective, every guy allowed to run for president was an establishment figure. When the election got stolen, the majority of the establishment lined up behind it. This leaves Rafsanjani and others in the position of turning against the establishment they've been a part of for thirty years or accept that the coup has been successful and fall into line and retain what power and influence they can.

Rafsanjani, who still has a lot of power within the system and whose family is loaded, clearly decided to do the latter. I expect the same things from the rest of the candidates.

This, of course, means that the reformers and the voters will be sold out by their leaders and could very well start looking for leaders and solutions outside the system. The conservative faction has gambled with the survival and the legitimacy of the regime in order stay in power. We'll continue to see the fall out from this.

By the way, the traditional mourning period is forty days, which was significant in the fall of the Shah. This isn't over yet.