Revolutie Iran #13

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Op zaterdag 4 juli 2009 19:51 schreef AlexanderDeGrote het volgende:
Maar ook dit (uit meerdere bronnen):
[..]

http://twitter.com/oxfordgirl

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The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.

A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult — if not impossible.

“This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”

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Op zaterdag 4 juli 2009 18:58 schreef HiZ het volgende:
Ja ik had het ook gelezen. En ik zat me af te vragen hoe lang Rafsanjani nog dacht te kunnen afwachten. Als hij niets blijft doen, dan komen ze straks niet zijn dochter maar hemzelf halen. En dan is het voorbij voor hem.

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Iran clerics declare election invalid and condemn crackdown

Martin Fletcher

Iran’s biggest group of clerics has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election to be illegitimate and condemned the subsequent crackdown.

The statement by the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom is an act of defiance against the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has made clear he will tolerate no further challenges to Mr Ahmadinejad’s “victory” over Mir Hossein Mousavi.

“It’s a clerical mutiny,” said one Iranian analyst. “This is the first time ever you have all these big clerics openly challenging the leader’s decision.” Another, in Tehran, said: “We are seeing the birth of a new political front.”

Professor Ali Ansari, head of Iranian Studies at St Andrews University, said: “It’s highly significant. It shows this is nowhere near resolved.”

The association’s statement also shows how deeply the political establishment is divided, and the extent to which the Supreme Leader now derives his power from military might, not moral authority. It makes it much harder for the regime to arrest Mr Mousavi and other opposition leaders.

At the weekend a top aide to Mr Khamenei demanded that Mr Mousavi and other opponents be tried for “terrible crimes”, and the elite Revolutionary Guards accused them of “trying to overthrow the Islamic establishment”.

In other developments, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that he expected the eighth of the nine British Embassy employees arrested ten days ago to be released soon but a lawyer representing the ninth — a political analyst named Hossein Rossam — said he would be charged with threatening national security.

Mr Miliband expressed “cold anger” at the way the nine had been treated.

The regime freed Iason Athanasiadis, an Anglo-Greek journalist arrested on June 19. However, a lawyer for Maziar Bahari, a Canadian-Iranian journalist working for Newsweek, said he faced charges of “instigating riots and acting against national security”. The Association of Researchers and Teachers is based in Qom, the clerical nerve centre of Iran, and includes many leading ayatollahs with impeccable revolutionary credentials and big personal followings.

The association did not support a candidate in the election, but has now lined up firmly behind Mr Mousavi. In a rebuke to the regime it declared on its website: “Candidates’ complaints and strong evidence of vote-rigging were ignored . . . Peaceful protests by Iranians were violently oppressed . . . Dozens of Iranians were killed and hundreds were illegally arrested . . . The outcome is invalid.”

It called on other clerics to speak out, demanded the release of all those arrested in the past three weeks, and directly challenged the authority of the Guardian Council, a body of 12 senior clerics that has openly backed Mr Ahmadinejad and his patron, Mr Khamenei. “How can one accept the legitimacy of the election just because the Guardian Council says so?,” it asked.

On Wednesday, a day after the Guardian Council said that the election result was final, Mr Mousavi talked of forming a new political grouping to fight an illegitimate government.

With the popular former president Mohammad Khatami and Medhi Karoubi, another defeated candidate, challenging the Government’s legitimacy, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, another former president, pointedly meeting the families of those killed in street demonstrations, that coalition is beginning to take shape.

“The fact that anyone dares to condemn the election when people were calling for Mousavi and Karoubi’s heads is remarkable,” said the analyst in Tehran. “It shows there is depth to Mousavi’s support. They have not been bullied into silence, there are factions forming and this is not over.”

Mr Mousavi issued a 25-page paper detailing election abuses ranging from the printing of 14 million extra ballot papers to bribes to ballot boxes containing not a single vote for him even in his hometown.

Mr Miliband expressed fury at Mr Rossam’s detention. The charge that he had helped incite the protests had “absolutely no basis”. Mr Rossam, 44, was “an honourable, patriotic Iranian, who has been working in a completely open and transparent way for the UK”.

The European Union’s member states have protested to Iran and will consider tougher measures if Mr Rossam is not released this week. British officials are also hoping for a strong statement from Wednesday’s G8 summit.

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Op maandag 6 juli 2009 13:02 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:
Ik heb de serie even voor een week gemist.
Maar er zijn geen protesten meer alleen in de top blijft het onrustig

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Tehran to be shut down for 24 hrs (48 4 industries) due to severe air pollution: http://bit.ly/NUNKy19 minutes ago from TweetDeck

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Breaking News: The speaker of the Guardian Council may step down, citing academic interests. #iranelectionabout 2 hours ago from web

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Tehrani on how ppl feel now: Graffitti showing up on walls. Allahu Akbars still going. People will strike back, just waiting for the chanceabout 21 hours ago from web

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#nir contact, regarding 18 Tir rally "This might prompt Experts to call upon the Forces & declare State of Emergency."about 3 hours ago from web

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Op maandag 6 juli 2009 17:53 schreef AlexanderDeGrote het volgende:

Breaking News: The speaker of the Guardian Council may step down, citing academic interests. #iranelectionabout 2 hours ago from web

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De Franse president Nicolas Sarkozy heeft vandaag vrijlating "op zeer korte termijn" geėist van een in Iran opgepakte Franse docente. De 23-jarige Clotilde Reiss werd 1 juli op de luchthaven van Teheran wegens spionage gearresteerd. Sarkozy noemde de aanklachten tegen de Franēaise "pure fantasie", berichtte de Franse radiozender Europe1.

De Iraanse autoriteiten beschuldigen Reiss van deelname aan de protesten tegen de omstreden verkiezingen van 12 juni. Ook zou ze foto's van de demonstraties, die ze had gemaakt met haar mobiele telefoon, hebben gestuurd naar een vriend in Teheran. Reiss gaf sinds vijf maanden Franse les op de universiteit van Isfahan.

Frankrijk riep de Iraanse ambassadeur gisteren in Parijs op het matje.
fok.nl

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WASHINGTON - De Verenigde Staten hebben Israėl geen toestemming gegeven de nucleaire installaties van Iran aan te vallen.

Dat zei de Amerikaanse president Barack Obama dinsdag tegen CNN.

De president voegde eraan toe dat Washington andere landen niet kan dicteren wat hun belangen op het gebied van veiligheid zijn.

Wat Obama betreft wordt de onenigheid met Iran over de nucleaire ambities van het land via de diplomatieke weg opgelost.

Biden

In het weekeinde zei vicepresident Joe Biden in een interview met de Amerikaanse omroep ABC dat de VS Israėl niet in de weg zullen staan, als de regering van premier Benjamin Netanyahu besluit tot een aanval op Iran.

Als de regering van Istraėl besluit tot een nieuwe richting in het Iranbeleid, heeft ze het het soevereine recht dat te doen, aldus Biden
nu.nl

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Iran 'security state' lambasted

Iranian opposition leaders have criticised what they describe as the "security state" imposed in the country after the controversial June elections.

They also called for the release of people detained during mass protests that followed the vote.

Runner-up Mir Hossein Mousavi's website said the call was backed by fellow defeated candidate Mehdi Karoubi and former President Mohammad Khatami.

The vote was won by hardline incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Although many opposition figures have accused the state of rigging the result, Iran's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has given his seal of approval.

“ If the people had not been lied to or disrespected, the situation would have never turned to a national crisis ”
Ghalamnews report

On Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei issued a sharp warning to Western nations not to meddle in Iran's internal affairs, saying relations would suffer if they did.

More than 1,000 opposition supporters and prominent reformists were reportedly arrested in the aftermath of the election, and three weeks later it is possible hundreds remain in prison.

'Extraordinary peace'

The strongly worded statement on the Ghalamnews website followed a meeting between the three opposition and reformist figures, as well as a number of supporters.

It conveyed their harsh criticism of "attacks against innocent people, dormitories, and houses... and some shocking brutalities carried out by plainclothes forces supported by security forces".

IRAN UNREST
# 12 June Presidential election saw incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected with 63% of vote
# Main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi called for result to be annulled on grounds of electoral fraud
# Street protests saw at least 17 people killed and foreign media restricted
#

It also referred to the deaths of protesters "whose only crime was to object to the election fraud... at spontaneous several-million-strong demonstrations held in extraordinary peace and order".

"If their rights had been slightly respected or if the people had not been lied to or disrespected, the situation would have never turned to a national crisis," the Ghalamnews statement says.

Mr Karoubi, Mr Mousavi and Mr Khatami go on to underline the importance of ending the "super-security state" and call for the immediate release of protesters who had not committed any crime.

If the current situation is allowed to continue, the statement says, it would lead to increased radicalisation of politics.

Along with the other arrests, the authorities are holding a local employee from the British Embassy, who has been charged with "acting against national security".

Correspondents say, Iran's clerical leadership is showing a steely determination to keep control amid the controversy, and urging people to unity in the face of western enemies.

In another sign of this toughness, late on Sunday the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, under direct control of the supreme leader, acknowledged that his elite force had played a key role in putting an end to street protests.

Gen Mohammad Ali Jafari said the RG's intervention had given "new life" to the Islamic Revolution and "strengthened its pillars".
BBC

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It was Ahmadinejad's first national speech since the supreme leader declared the election results valid despite outcry from the other candidates and weeks of street protests claiming that the results were fraudulent.

"This is a new beginning for Iran ... we have entered a new era," the president said, explaining that the 85 percent turnout and overwhelming win had given his government a new legitimacy.

"It was the most clean and free election in the world," he said, adding that during the re-count "no fault was discovered. The whole nation understood this."

"This election has doubled the dignity of the Iranian nation," he said.

During the half hour speech, Iranians in many parts of the capital Tehran could be heard shouting from their rooftops, "death to the dictator" and "God is great" — actions that have become a symbol of defiance since the elections.

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In his speech Tuesday, president criticized his election rivals and accused them of working with Iran's enemies.

"Unfortunately, some people inside Iran collaborated with them. They repeated the remarks made by certain Western countries," Ahmadinejad said, as he accused the West of interfering in the country's politics.

"The result of their childish acts of interference in Iran's internal affairs is that the Iranian nation and government will enter the global stage several times more powerful," he said

Despite the regime's rhetoric, a number of top clerics have continued to question the election — a rare defiance of the supreme leader from the ranks of the religious establishment.

This week, a party close to one of the most politically powerful clerics — former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani — issued a statement rejecting Ahmadinejad's victory. It was one of the strongest hints yet on the powerful cleric's stance. He is the head of two major clerical ruling bodies and is a bitter enemy of Ahmadinejad, but has kept his distance from the postelection turmoil.

"Due to the unhealthy trend of the election, widespread irregularities and the support extended by a majority of Guardian Council members to a specific candidate, the result of this election is not acceptable," the Kargozaran party said in its statement, published on Mousavi's Web site.

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RT @atlatl2 Aren't Ahmadi's speech and Jackson's funeral happening at the same time? Was that intentional? #iranelectionabout 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

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Ahmadinejad about to appear on TV. Take down the grid. #iranelectionabout 4 hours ago from web

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Tehran will be in Forced Holiday tomorrow Again, in fear of General Strike and Demonstrations! #iranelectionabout 2 hours ago from web

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Black Out: Khomini Shahr, Shahin Shar, Folad Shahr,Kashan.., #iranelection #iranabout 2 hours ago from web

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It is More than 45 mins, People Still chanting on the roofs all over the city: Death To the Dictator! #iranelectionabout 3 hours ago from web

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By JASON REZAIAN in Dubai | 5 July 2009

[TEHRAN BUREAU] The many tools implemented by the Islamic Republic to sedate its populous are the same ones now being used as detours around restrictions of public assembly. I’ve often wondered, over the years, how Iran gets anything done with its endless series of public holidays honoring the births and deaths — mostly deaths — of important figures of its history, both ancient and modern.

Public art in Iran, the naming of streets and squares, and its political discourse are all wrapped up in a package laden with heavy doses of mourning. Ironic, as Iranians are notoriously lovers of all things living and lively.

What has become a dominant part of the social landscape is finally being co-opted by the people of Iran. Mourning rituals, once thought of as arcane practices of the second class, are now being used to mobilize the masses.

Over the past month and a half many of these moments have felt historically convenient. Perhaps it’s just that Iran has so many flashpoint dates in its old Islamic, as well as revolutionary history book. Regardless, these anniversaries keep popping up.

The next one, and perhaps most pivotal to the current movement, happens to fall on Thursday of this week: the 18th of Tir (or 9th of July.)

On that day in 1999 students protesting the closing of the reformist newspaper Salaam were attacked in their dormitories in Tehan and Tabriz. Six days of protests ensued, which began with several hundred students and blossomed into thousands of people from all walks of life supporting the demonstrations. They were the biggest display of anti-regime sentiment in the Islamic Republic’s then twenty-year history, and they were put down by the regime with a mandate by the threatened leadership to stop the unrest “at any cost.” Sounds familiar.

The difference between then and now is that ten years of small victories and heavy setbacks for reformers have left them disillusioned, but also hardened and more fearless. I have been in Iran on the 18th of Tir several times over the past eight years, and have seen firsthand that security is always heightened that day. The regime knows that in its love for anniversaries, they’ve created a volatile beast that may need taming. It’s interesting to note that I’ve also twice witnessed the same security increases on the anniversary of September 11.

Through the events of the past month it’s become very clear that deep cracks within the establishment exist, and they are now visible to everyone. A group of influential clerics in Qom have gone so far as to use the imagery of loss and mourning to begin to compare the recent death of protestors to those killed in the revolution and the war with Iraq. In a statement issued on the 4th of July, they asked to save “the dignity that was earned with the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs.” While such comparisons may seem early to some observers, the authors of the letter fully understand their intentions in making such a bold proclamation.

So far it’s unclear how this 18th of Tir will be marked. I’ve heard from friends still in Tehran that “something big” is in the works, but no one has any details yet. This is partially because they don’t want to broadcast their hand to the security forces, who will undoubtedly be prepared to defeat the crowds. Perhaps more troubling though is that, as with the original 18th of Tir protestors, so many of the current movement’s leadership has been detained or otherwise silenced.

Mass emails have begun to circulate, and I know of Iranians abroad planning to return to Tehran to participate in the protests. This is a marked difference from anti-regime protests of the past, many feebly fueled by calls from disreputable satellite channels beamed in from Los Angeles by self interested, self-proclaimed exiles.

No, this is something else entirely, and it will help separate those with the genuine goal of constructing an Iran that simultaneously respects its ancient past but also its goals for the future, from those callous opportunists who differ little no matter on which continent they perch.

Kudos to Marjane Satrapi for perfectly encapsulating what many have wanted to say for the past 30 years, but few have had the conviction or eloquence to do so.

“Once you leave your homeland, you can live anywhere. But I refuse to only die in Iran. I will one day live in Iran… or else my life will have had no meaning.”

Now the question is how many people making these pronouncements from abroad are ready to follow through, by making the simple gesture of returning to Iran.

The protests in Iran of the past month have become an issue of global importance to Iranians and non-Iranians alike. Thursday may prove very telling as to whether future generations will look back on the 18th of Tir as a day of celebration or just another in the long list of mourning.

Copyright © 2009 Tehran Bureau

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Khamenei's son takes control of Iran's anti-protest militia

• Mojtaba Khamenei's move dismays clerics and Revolutionary Guard generals
• Tehran doctor says death toll much higher than official figure

The son of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has taken control of the militia being used to crush the protest movement, according to a senior Iranian source.

The source, a politician with strong connections to the security apparatus, said that the leading role being played by Mojtaba Khamenei had dismayed many of the country's senior clerics, conservative politicians and Revolutionary Guard generals.

But these conservatives are reluctant to challenge the Khameneis openly out of fear that any conflict would destabilise the Islamic Republic and weaken Iran in the region. Instead they will use their positions in the organs of state to make it hard for the supreme leader and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to govern.

"This game has not finished. The game has only just started," the source said, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his own position in Iran.

He said Mojtaba had played a leading role in orchestrating Ahmadinejad's disputed election victory on 12 June and had led the backlash against protests through direct control of street militias, known as basiji.

The official death toll from that backlash is less than 20 but, according to a Tehran doctor who has given his account to the Guardian, the actual number is much higher – 38 in the first week at his hospital alone. He said the basiji covered up the deaths and pressured doctors not to talk.

"Mojtaba is the commander of this coup d'etat. The basiji are operating on Mojtaba's orders, but his name is always hidden in all of this. The government never mentions him," the Iranian politician said. "Everyone is angry about this. The maraji [Iran's most senior ayatollahs] and the clerics are angry, the conservatives are very angry and strongly critical of Mojtaba. This situation cannot continue with so many people on the top against it."

Very little is known about Mojtaba Khamenei. He is the supreme leader's second son, reportedly being groomed to succeed his father. Such a dynastic succession would be very hard under present circumstances as the leader is supposed to be chosen by a clerical assembly of experts on the basis of the candidate's religious standing. Mojtaba wears clerical robes but by no means has the theological status to rise to the top job. A major upheaval in the clerical establishment would be required to arrange it.

Within Iran, Mojtaba is widely believed to control huge financial assets. There are claims on Iranian dissident websites that the current anti-British campaign in Tehran is motivated in part by Britain's announcement on 18 June that it had frozen nearly £1bn in Iranian assets, in accordance with UN and EU sanctions. The frozen funds included a lot of Mojtaba's money, it is claimed.

Mojtaba's name does not appear on the Treasury's list of targets of those sanctions, but one British official said the supreme leader's son may operate through state-run enterprises that are listed. "I'd be amazed if some of the money wasn't his," the official said.

The Iranian politician who spoke to the Guardian said the supreme leader had long been leaking support among the religious hierarchy on which his powerbase was once built and had now virtually lost it altogether. Among the roughly 20 maraji ("sources of emulation", from whose ranks the supreme leader is supposed to be chosen), he said Khamenei could only rely on the support of a handful.

He said that an axis of lay conservatives in important positions would also try to hinder Ahmadinejad's efforts to wield power. That axis includes Ali Larijani, the parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Tehran mayor, and Mohsen Rezai, one of the defeated presidential candidates and the secretary of the expediency council, which mediates disputes between the clerical and lay state institutions. They would be supported by the opposition's most powerful backer behind the scenes, former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the expediency council and the assembly of experts.

The Iranian source also claimed there were splits in another pillar of the Islamic Republic, the Revolutionary Guard. The overall commander, General Ali Jafari, and the Tehran province commander, General Ali Fazli, were opposed to Mojtaba's power grab.

He said the hardline statements issued in the Revolutionary Guard's name, threatening a "decisive confrontation" with protesters, were the work of the political and public relations departments, which are under the direct control of Ahmadinejad, and did not represent a united position. That is a controversial claim. Most analyses have presented the Revolutionary Guard as monolithic and entirely behind the regime.

For revolutionary stalwarts uneasy over the direction of the regime, open rebellion was unthinkable, the politician said. "For them, the red line is the stability of the country," he said. "They will continue softly."

He said this hidden internecine struggle would last a considerable period and the outcome was far from clear. The only certainty was that the Khameneis and Ahmadinejad had not yet won. "They control things on the surface," he said. "But Iranians are not sheep."

* guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

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Iran election protests: Iranians set Thursday as day of protest in more than 200 cities and towns

Ramin Mostaghim and Borzou Daragahi, Tribune Newspapers
July 9, 2009

TEHRAN - -- There are no formal organizers. But in cities across Iran, thousands of people are planning to silently march Thursday in forbidden demonstrations.

The protesters intend to show their discontent over the re-election last month of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and mark the 10th anniversary of a violent confrontation between students and security forces.

According to one circular passed around online, demonstrations are planned in more than 200 Iranian cities and towns, though opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has called for an end to public protests.

Tehran police chief Gen. Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam vowed Wednesday that his forces would confront any demonstration.
But many in Iran say they will go ahead with the demonstrations anyway.

"A virtual campaign is in full force, and nobody is able to keep it in check," said one announcement, advising protesters to carry no weapon heavier than a rose.

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No Mobile Network at Centrlal Tehran. #iranelectionabout 1 hour ago from web

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People Gathering at Vanak Sq. #iranelectionabout 1 hour ago from web

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Enghelab Sq is not completely closed but Police standing everywheree try to find key protesters among crowd...#iranelectionabout 1 hour ago from web

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Army Unit (IRG) Positioned infront of Interior Ministry. #iranelectionabout 1 hour ago from web

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Guards moving toward Jmalzadeh Cr. and Police replaced at Enghlab Sq. #iranelectionabout 1 hour ago from web

18 Tir 1388, Tehran, Bolvare Keshavarz (part 1)

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Violent clashes erupted today in downtown Tehran between more than a thousand determined young men and women chanting, "Death to the dictator" and "God is great" and security forces wielding truncheons.


The screams of a woman being beaten could be heard from nearby buildings, a witness said. Business owners could be seen hustling protesters into their buildings to shield them from plainclothes officers and anti-riot police who fired tear gas canisters.

Passing drivers and motorcyclists honked their horns and flashed the "V" sign in support of the clumps of demonstrators. At least one trash bin was set afire, a witness said, sending a plume of black smoke rising as dusk approached.

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Op donderdag 9 juli 2009 18:45 schreef Disana het volgende:
Bedankt voor de updates. Ik kende omidhabibinia nog niet trouwens.

Moedig dat ze de straat op zijn gegaan.

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Op donderdag 9 juli 2009 22:44 schreef Hukkie het volgende:
Toch welk frappant dat je hier over helemaal nie s in de media hoort of leest.

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Op vrijdag 10 juli 2009 00:46 schreef Disana het volgende:

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Er was een nieuwsflits in het NOS Journaal van 8 uur, met beelden van rennende mensen. Er werd gezegd dat er met traangas werd gegooid.

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Call for Tomorrow Demonstatrtion at 17.00, Vali Asr Sq. #iranelectionabout 2 hours ago from web

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Two friends was with my injured friend arrested hospital, he got shot in the shoulder and may transfer to a military Hospital.#iranelectionabout 3 hours ago from web

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Ghaemi: many basijis in this week's #iranelection violence were under 18, many more than in previous protestsabout 5 hours ago from txt

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security source: #irenelection protesters did cause nationwide blackouts by deliberately spiking energy use during AN's July 6 TV speechabout 7 hours ago from web

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I will have to try get 100% gd source for Khamenei illness. No good speculating on rumours. #iranelection13 minutes ago from TweetDeck

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Khamenei ill & his son 2 take power? If tru, my sources no confirmation, then no wonder Grand Ayats welcome ppl turning on gov #iranelection15 minutes ago from TweetDeck

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Iraanse inflatie naar 22,5 procent

Uitgegeven: 12 juli 2009 09:53
Laatst gewijzigd: 12 juli 2009 10:29

TEHERAN - De inflatie in Iran is weer iets afgenomen tot een percentage van 22,5 procent. Dit berichtte zondag de krant Sarmayeh op gezag van maandelijks gepubliceerde cijfers van de centrale bank.

De voorafgaande maand stond het percentage nog op 23,6 procent. In september was het 29 procent.

De geldontwaarding is een van de grootste problemen van Iran.

Voor de nog steeds omstreden presidentsverkiezingen van 12 juni hamerden economen en rivalen van president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad erop dat de regering vier jaar lang onverantwoordelijk met geld heeft gesmeten. Ahmadinejad zou zo de motor van de hoge inflatie zijn.

Begrotingstekort

Ondanks de hoge olieprijzen is het Iraanse begrotingstekort groter dan ooit. De president heeft bovendien ook geput uit een reservefonds dat een voorganger voor magere jaren oprichtte.

De voornaamste oppositieleider, Mir Hossein Mousavi, stelde voor de verkiezingen onder meer dat er niet alleen geld is verkwist, maar ook spoorloos is verdwenen onder Ahmadinejad regering.

De president werd met bijna 63 procent van de stemmen herkozen. De oppositie claimt verkiezingsfraude.
© ANP (via nu.nl)

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Sohran Arabi, 19, died in Evin after arrest at #iranelection protest. Parents to collect his body, his mom is part of "Mothers for Peace"about 12 hours ago from web

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Sohrab becomes the symbol of martyrs of notorious Evin prison. #iranelection #nedaabout 3 hours ago from TweetDeck

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Mousavi's office shut down w/ warrant. http://parlemannews.com/?n=... #iranelectionabout 1 hour ago from web

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Mousavi's office in presidential complex evacuted by officals, Mousavi used the office for about 20 years after Prime Minster. #iranelectionabout 10 hours ago from web

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 13:47 schreef AlexanderDeGrote het volgende:
Een nieuw slachtoffer uit Evin:

https://www.ina-newsagency.com/News-Details.aspx?newsId=24925&back=1
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http://twitter.com/laraabcnews
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http://twitter.com/iranriggedelect

Mousavi's kantoor opgerold:
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http://twitter.com/iranbaan
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http://twitter.com/omidhabibinia

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 13:52 schreef Disana het volgende:

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Nergens staat hoe hij aan zijn eind is gekomen. Kan niet anders dan dat hij gemarteld is.

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 14:04 schreef AlexanderDeGrote het volgende:

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Dat of gebrek aan medische zorg. Wat in feite hetzelfde is.

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Op zondag 5 juli 2009 22:36 schreef Mutant01 het volgende:
Net op CNN: groep geestelijken die ook menen dat er gekloot is met de uitslag.

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 14:07 schreef Disana het volgende:

[..]

Je hebt gelijk, dat lijkt me ook waarschijnlijker: aangevallen op straat en in de cel aan zijn lot overgelaten.

Intens triest dat een land zo met haar kinderen omgaat.

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Accused of spying: journalist Iason Athanasiadis tells of his time in Iranian jail
For 18 days, journalist Iason Athanasiadis was held in Iran's feared Evin prison, accused of spying for Britain. Now for the first time he can tell his story.

The slap across my jaw from behind me made my ears sting red with anger and embarrassment. I was being punished for daring to glance around the room where I was being questioned - accused of being a spy for Britain.

A few days earlier I had been brought, blindfolded, to the heart of Evin Prison, to begin what my captors believed would be the simple process of establishing my guilt. I was told to sit down, and keep facing the bare wall in front of me, before my blindfold was removed.

On a sheet of official notepaper I was to scribble answers to my interrogator's questions. What had I been doing in the days since the disputed Iranian election? Who were my contacts? Who had I interviewed and what had they told me?

When he stepped outside to talk to intelligence ministry colleagues, I briefly craned my neck to see whether the interrogation suite was equipped with a camera. It was a mistake: quick as a flash the official was back, and I was being punished for my disobedience.

My face still smarting, I whirled round to confront him. It was a visceral reaction and the only time in a week of almost daily interrogations that I stared straight into the face of one of my captors. What I saw was not reassuring. A scruffy white-flecked beard, a contemptuous mouth curling to reveal a flash of gold fillings, and eyes fixed at me in white anger.

"Didn't I tell you never to turn around?" he snapped. "Now turn away from me."

My first interrogator was like that. Sometimes his carefully cultivated voice oozed false sympathy. Occasionally, his solicitousness appeared downright sarcastic. When I refused to reveal the names of my Iranian contacts, he assured me that they need not fear. "They are fellow Iranian citizens like myself, Mr Iason," he purred. "Why would I ever hurt my own flesh and blood?"

At other times he flew into blind rages, prodding me aggressively in the back while making a point - perhaps about the perfidy of supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the presidential candidate who is still disputing the outcome of the election.

He may have been angry because one of his female relatives had been struck by a stone during the rioting. Or perhaps he was simply angry because I represented the West.

"You think you're treated so badly," he snapped at me, "but what is our treatment in London or Heathrow? Every time in that airport it is four or five hours interrogation for us."

In fact my background is more complex. Born in Greece to historian parents who met at Oxford University - my father English, my mother Greek - my childhood was spent surrounded by the paraphernalia of the East. I am a citizen of both Greece and Britain, but have spent little time in the UK.

At university I studied Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, then worked in Egypt, Syria and Yemen as a journalist - before moving to Iran in 2004, to study for an MA.

I was there in 2005 when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad swept from nowhere to win the presidency, and I returned to Tehran last month as an accredited journalist to watch him apparently sweep the 2009 election again.

Tehran was a city on edge on election day, and in the days that followed smoke and teargas mingled with cloud from the unseasonally stormy weather. But the following Wednesday I had to leave, with just hours to spare on my seven day visa. Just past passport control came the moment that every reporter dreads. "Please follow me," said a man wearing a brown shirt and jacket. "You won't be travelling tonight."

Two of his colleagues quickly appeared. One flashed me a threatening grin as he shook my hand; the other just regarded me with contempt. "Where are we going?" I demanded. They had no arrest warrant. "For a long talk," the first man crooned.

Disappearing into the clutches of the intelligence ministry was not a desirable prospect. I had to get word out of my arrest. I dropped on to the floor, hung on tight to my camera and laptop bags and began shouting that I was a Greek journalist being placed under arrest.

My guards' violent response - putting me into a neck hold while they hauled me off, punching all the way - produced screams of pain which resounded around the terminal, but at least my detention had been noticed.

I was driven straight to Evin Prison, the bźte noire of liberal Iranian dissidents. Its current guests include pro-Mousavi politicians, intellectuals, activists and a growing number of journalists. But I was the first non-Iranian journalist taken there in living memory. In arresting me, the Iranians had broken through a psychological barrier. Soon afterwards they would pick up a 23 year old French teacher, also accusing her of espionage.

Old Mercedes buses trundled through the metal gates, carrying tired and bloodied protesters who had been beaten and then arrested. But I was not destined for their overcrowded cells. Instead, I was blindfolded before being taken into a windowless building: Evin's notorious Section 209, the part of the prison wholly controlled by the Intelligence Ministry.

My questioning over the next three weeks was haphazard: my interrogators seemed puzzled by me and my grasp of Farsi, and wholly ignorant of my activities during the three years I had lived, with official blessing, in Iran. Gradually their questions became less specific and more philosophical - and, as the violence against me ceased, time became my greatest enemy.

In a cell which remained brightly lit 24 hours a day, I was allowed no reading material, no radio and no other kind of distraction - except a well-thumbed copy of the Koran.

Inside it I discovered an aphorism written in Arabic: "Shackled in chains without guilt; except a tendency towards the fields of jihad." On the wall, the same hand had written: "I seek recourse in Allah from idiots and stupidity."

Eventually, as my interrogators conceded that perhaps I was not, after all, a spy, I was moved to one of Evin's prisoner processing centres. Rows of blindfolded men sat cross-legged in corridors, some facing the wall, as officials dashed in and out of offices or pulled prisoners out for questioning.

I saw men in the communal showers, heard the hubbub of voices from interrogation rooms and noted the doorways of officials' carpeted rooms, a jumble of slippers and sandals. Intelligence officers pored over surveillance photos from the demonstrations, trying to identify repeat offenders.

Then, late on July 5, the door of my cell clicked open. Three jailers stood there. "It's over," one of them said.

Exhilarated, I kissed all three before being led, blindfolded again, past rows of my fellow inmates' cell and through the administrative section - to be handed back my clothes, my telephone and my laptop.

In the police station at the gate of Evin crowds of rioters, criminals and over-perfumed prostitutes swathed in chadors waited. I was photographed, fingerprinted and taken into a car. My guard for the trip to the airport was the portly man who had manhandled me on the night of my arrest. He flashed me a reconciliatory smile.

The streets to the airport were gridlocked with traffic and all protest appeared to have died down.

I was met by the Greek ambassador, Nikos Garilidis, whose intervention helped speed my release. But the moment he left, the atmosphere changed - and I found myself arrested again.

Before the officials could take my telephone this time, I called Mr Garilidis, who was furious. I had to spend a further night in a jail cell at the airport, followed by more negotiations next day - until I was finally safely on board an Iran Air flight to Dubai.

As I accepted a plastic-wrapped rose from a headscarfed stewardess, I wondered if I would ever dare to return to Tehran. That was what my interrogators had asked me, too - but my ambivalent answer had disappointed them.

"You shouldn't be so negative about your experience," the senior interrogator said.

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 15:51 schreef Zith het volgende:
"You shouldn't be so negative about your experience," the senior interrogator said.

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 15:54 schreef HiZ het volgende:

[..]

Tja, maar wat gebeurt er nu? Naast de gebrekkige nieuwsvoorziening heb ik nu toch ook niet het idee dat er nog veel gebeurt. Behalve dan dat de dictatuur de touwtjes aantrek en waarschijnlijk binnenkort er koppen gaan rollen in het 'hervormingskamp'.

quote:

Breaking News: Ayatl. Rafsanjani will lead Fri Prayers on Jul 17. Green movement is planning 2 attend. #iranelection13 minutes ago from TweetDeck

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Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s Fatwa

Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s Fatwa: an Unfair Supreme Leader is Illegitimate

By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 12 July 2009

[TEHRAN BUREAU] In a very important development, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the most senior cleric living in Iran, and one of the top two* marja’ taghlid (source of emulation) in Shiite Islam, issued a series of Fatwas, calling the Supreme Leader illegitimate and saying that he was working with the government against religion. Montazeri has called on people to take action against this injustice, even if they have to pay a heavy price for it.

Ayatollah Motazeri, who has long been one of the most outspoken critics of Iran’s hard-liners, issued the Fatwas in response to a letter that Dr. Mohsen Kadivar, a progressive cleric and a former student of his, wrote asking for answers to several pointed questions. (Dr. Kadivar was jailed a few years ago for his outspoken criticism of the hard-liners and now lives in the United States.)

The letter congratulates the Grand Ayatollah on the occasion of last week’s anniversary of the birth of Imam Ali, the Shiites’ first Imam, and a cousin and a son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad. The letter says that the anniversary has fallen at a time when peaceful protests against rigged elections have been met by injustice by the government, which has resulted in tens of deaths, hundreds of injured, and thousands of arrests — all carried out in the name of Islam and Shiism by those who use Imam Ali’s name but take the path of his enemies instead.

The letters continues,

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 22:47 schreef speknek het volgende:
Eh, wauw. Zou dit echt waar zijn?

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 22:50 schreef SeLang het volgende:
Als dit waar is...

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 22:58 schreef MoltiSanti het volgende:

[..]

WTSHTF

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 22:59 schreef Hukkie het volgende:

[..]

Hmm, ben redelijk thuis in internet termen, maar WTSHTF ken ik nog niet?

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 23:06 schreef AlexanderDeGrote het volgende:

[..]

When The Shit Hits The Fan?

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Op zondag 12 juli 2009 14:04 schreef AlexanderDeGrote het volgende:

[..]

Dat of gebrek aan medische zorg. Wat in feite hetzelfde is.

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(12 July 2009) Iranian authorities have informed the family of Sohrab Aarabi, 19, that he died of gunshot wounds to his heart, 26 days after he disappeared during a demonstration on 15 June, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported today.

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U.S. worried about American scholar detained in Iran

Reuters
Monday, July 13, 2009 4:31 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States called on Iran on Monday to release U.S. citizen Kian Tajbakhsh and said it was "deeply concerned" about the scholar, who was detained in Tehran last week and has previously been accused of spying.

Tajbakhsh, an Iranian American who holds a doctorate in urban planning from Columbia University, was arrested by Iranian authorities in May 2007, charged with spying and then released after more than four months in Tehran's Evin prison.

It was not clear why Tajbakhsh was detained last week.

Iran has sought to crush demonstrations after its disputed June 12 presidential election, which defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi says was rigged in favor of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iranian authorities have accused foreigners of fomenting the demonstrations.

In 2007, Tajbakhsh was one of several Iranian Americans who were jailed by Iran and became pawns in the strained relations between Tehran and Washington. Iran does not recognize dual nationality.

The United States, which cut diplomatic ties with Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, accuses Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is to generate electricity so it can export more oil and gas.

"We're deeply concerned (about) reports that an Iranian-American scholar has been unjustly detained in Iran," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

"We have urged the Iranian authorities to immediately release Kian Tajbakhsh, as well as return the passports of all Americans being kept in Iran on groundless charges, he added, citing Iranian American graduate student Esha Momeni.

Momeni visited Tehran to research a master's thesis on the women's rights movement in Iran and was arrested on October 15 on a traffic violation. According to Kelly, she has been barred from leaving the country since her release from prison in November.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

quote:

Young Election Protester Buried in Tehran
By Robert Mackey
This image of Sohrab Aarabi, a 19-year-old protester who was buried on Monday, was uploaded to TwitPic with the caption: “We will never forget you.”

Iran’s opposition movement consecrated another martyr on Monday, with the funeral of a 19-year-old named Sohrab Aarabi, whose family just discovered on Saturday that he had died last month of a gunshot wound to the heart. Mr. Aarabi had been missing since the huge opposition rally in Tehran on June 15, which was followed by clashes between opposition protesters and Basij militia members during which several people were shot and killed.

On Monday, bloggers posted tributes to Mr. Aarbai online. This video recounts the story of his disappearance and shows his mother asking for information about him outside the gates of Evin prison before his death was announced and then crying inconsolably over his body during his funeral:

Bloggers using Twitter added the tag #Sorhab to many of their updates on the post-election turmoil, alongside the tag #Neda, indicating that he has become, like Neda Agha-Soltan, a martyr.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based group, explained that news of Mr. Aarabi’s death was apparently withheld from his family until a sensitive anniversary had passed:

Mr. Aarabi’s mother, Parvin Fahimi, a member of the Mothers for Peace organization, tried repeatedly to get information about his situation, taking his photograph to prisons, courts and other addresses. Finally, on 11 July, after the protests commemorating the “18 Tir” student demonstrations in 1999, the family was summoned by the Revolutionary Court and referred to the Investigatory Bureau (Agahi), and asked to identify Sohrab from among several photographs of corpses. According to family members interviewed by the Campaign, his body had arrived at the coroner’s office on 19 June, five days after his disappearance.

A spokesman for the human-rights group, Hadi Ghaemi, demanded an investigation into the death and the delay in notifying the family, asking: “If Sohrab was shot on the street on 15 June, why was it recorded by the coroner only on 19 June?”
Sohrab Aarabi on his 19th birthday.

On the evening of Monday, June 15, when Mr. Aarabi went missing, members of the Basij militia were filmed shooting into a crowd of protesters during clashes near Tehran’s Azadi Square. Within hours, graphic video of wounded and dead protesters being carried from the scene appeared online.

As my colleague Robert Worth wrote in The New York Times on Monday “The reports of Mr. Arabi’s death renewed widespread claims that the number of protesters killed during the unrest was much higher than the official government figure of 20.”

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran emphasized that the treatment of Mr. Aarabi’s family has heightened those fears:

The lack of transparency and calculated delay in releasing the information about Aarabi’s unexplained death only raises anxieties about scores of others who are among the disappeared as well as those who have been held in incommunicado detention, with no contact to family members or lawyers, many for almost a month. An additional approximately 190 persons were arrested following the most recent demonstrations on 9 July.

nytimes.com