Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested that Paris should consider a prisoner swap to secure the release of a French teaching assistant accused of spying in Iran. Clotilde Reiss is on bail and staying in France’s embassy in Tehran pending a verdict in her trial.
Posts Tagged ‘Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’
Iran braces for showdown
September 18th, 2009 |
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Iraqi police are deployed across Tehran as people take to the streets for a government-sponsored pro-Palestinian rally that will be addressed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The opposition has said it would also hold a protest on Friday, in defiance of warnings by the clerical
Virtual front line
August 6th, 2009 |
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By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley
At a recent demonstration in San Francisco, thousands of supporters chanted for freedom and democracy for Iran following the contested presidential election held in June.
More than 40 days have passed since the election result declared for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and not opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi, whom many believed had really won.
People have died and gone to jail for their part in protesting the outcome and trying to tell the world about their plight.
As Iranians rushed to the internet and social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to vent their anger and organise rallies and demonstrations, the government countered by blocking them.
At the forefront in helping them has been a concerned tech community that has battled to find ways around Iranian government filters and blocks.
Among them is a 25-year-old, self-confessed geek who found himself on stage at the San Francisco rally explaining his role in a story that has variously gripped the world.
For many, Austin Heap has become one of a band of accidental heroes fighting on the virtual front lines to help Iranians speak out.
"A simple thing"
Mr Austin’s role started out as a fairly simple one: compile a list of as many proxy servers for people so that they could get around the Iranian government’s efforts to silence them.
Mr Heap also put out a set of simple instructions on how to set up these proxies, which act as an intermediary between a computer user and the internet to bypass censorship.
In no time he became the main conduit of this list and was contacted by people all over the globe offering new proxy addresses.
Traffic to his site grew from a few dozen users a day to more than 100,000 in 24 hours.
"To me it seemed like such a simple thing to do," said Mr Heap from his downtown loft in the heart of San Francisco’s tech community.
"I have the technical skills and resources and I knew I could call on the world’s open source community for help to set up proxies. It seemed like it was something that wouldn’t take up much of my time but that could make a big difference for a lot of people.
"These are people who are just like me. Young, connected and Web 2.0 nerds. I couldn’t let them down," Mr Heap told BBC News.
Since then, the effort to keep Iran online has taken up all his free time and even eaten into his work time.
"I missed three weeks of work. No vacation. No Paris. I now work on this about 90 hours a week, from when I get up until I go to bed some days.
" It’s all about keeping these people online in one form or another. Giving them the power to be heard."
"A better place"
Today Mr Heap is not alone.
His main cyber activist cohort is 24 year old Daniel Colascione from Buffalo, New York, whom he met online and through the micro-blogging service Twitter.
"Daniel is phenomenal at understanding all those ones and zeros and bits and bytes like no one I know," said Mr Heap.
"As a matter of principal I had to do something to help. It was critically important for me, " explained Mr Colascione.
"We want to make the world a better place and make sure the people who died there didn’t die in vain."
Together the two 20-year-old somethings developed some anti-filtering software called Haystack. In lofty terms, Mr Heap said it "is designed to honestly uphold human rights via technology."
Less prosaically it is meant to help people inside Iran circumvent their own government’s filtering system.
"That means whenever someone inside the country gets a page saying ‘access denied’ when they try to use Twitter or Facebook, if they run Haystack Twitter is back, Facebook is back.
" It’s completely secure for the user so the government can’t snoop on them. We use many anonymising steps so that identities are masked and it is as safe as possible so people have a safe way to communicate with the world," explained Mr Heap.
National firewall
So just how effective have Mr Heap and others been in their efforts to get around the so called Iranian national firewall.
Arbor Networks monitors more than 70% of the world’s internet service providers, or ISP’s, along with many large businesses.
It has charted the flow of internet traffic in and out of Iran since the election and found that traffic is down an average of 30-40%.
"Throughout this period we have seen some severe filtering as the government consolidates its physical and virtual hold over its people," Arbor Network’s chief scientist Craig Labovitz told BBC News.
"It has been interesting watching those traffic manipulations and from our perspective it has looked as though Iran has struggled with the technology and the capacity to do the filtering. Folks are still finding their way around the filters."
Other software products similar to Haystack include FreeGate, which was devised to work around filtering efforts in China.
"Good versus evil"
Back in early June, before the election had taken place Mr Heap spent his spare time playing the online game World of Warcraft. He has admitted to knowing little about Iranian politics. Now all that has changed.
"I am a huge election protection advocate and free speech advocate. My friends joke that 45 days ago I knew nothing about the election. I just wasn’t paying attention but now all I see is censorship and violence and that disturbs me.
"Today I still don’t know that much but I love programming and I know I can make a difference. I know it sounds hippy, but that is what techies do.
"Technology is about collaboration. Everything builds on everything else. And that is the beautiful part is that we are all in this together," said Mr Heap.
Mr Colascione agreed.
"There is a quote I am fond of and will mangle but "never doubt that a small group of common people can change the world."
"This project gives me a sense of significance. This is more important than anything I have ever done."
While both men say their primary focus is on Iran they hope the software they have devised can be used in other countries. They have their sights set on China next.
"It’s too cool to have an opportunity to help people," said Mr Heap.
"I love the power of the internet because we can chill behind our computer screen and not only do the right thing, but give people the uncensored internet back and let their voice be heard.
"We also get to take on a nutty government and I like that. I see this as a good versus evil issue," said Mr Heap.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
It is far from over
August 5th, 2009 |
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad still faces bitter and spreading opposition
THE incumbent president claims to have won a walloping 63% of the vote in the disputed presidential election of June 12th. He is still backed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic republic’s powerful supreme leader, its security forces, its state-run media and a parliament dominated by fellow conservatives. Yet, after his inauguration on Wednesday August 5th, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has little to savour as he settles in for a second four-year term. His position is far from secure. The crisis is still acute.
The problems faced by Mr Ahmadinejad were symbolically exposed at a confirmation ceremony held on Monday to launch his second term. In a pointed break with protocol, numerous top officials, including two former presidents, found themselves too busy to attend. So were several notable members of the family of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution of 1979 and the Islamic republic’s founding father, who by tradition are prominent at such events. And when Mr Ahmadinejad tried to repeat the unprecedented show of fealty he performed at the last such ceremony in 2005 by kissing Mr Khamenei’s hand, this time the supreme leader flinched, prompting a clumsy kiss of his shoulder instead. …
Iran poll critics shun ceremony
August 3rd, 2009 |
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is entering the week of his re-inauguration as Iran’s president amid allegations that election protesters were tortured.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is due to endorse him as winner of the 12 June vote in the next few hours, and he will be sworn in on Wednesday.
Election challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi accused the authorities of using torture to extract confessions.
About 100 reformists and activists were put on trial in Tehran on Saturday.
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD’S INAUGURAL WEEK- Monday: endorsed by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
- Wednesday: sworn in by parliament
Both Mr Mousavi and former President Mohammad Khatami denounced the hearings which continued on Sunday. The charges include conspiracy, rioting and vandalism.
They were among thousands of Iranians who rejected the official declaration that Mr Ahmadinejad had won the election.
Televised confessions have been broadcast, in which a former vice-president, among others, thanked his interrogator for showing him the error of his ways, the BBC’s Jon Leyne reports.
It looks more like an attempt to intimidate the opposition, than to present credible evidence, our Tehran correspondent says.
Some commentators, however, believe the trials are more likely just to fire up the anger of opposition supporters.
It is not clear exactly what opposition demonstrations are planned this week but the real challenge for Mr Ahmadinejad after his swearing-in may be whether he can assemble a credible team of ministers that will be endorsed by parliament, our correspondent says.
‘Trumped-up trials’
Mr Mousavi accused the authorities of forcing the detainees to confess to the crimes.
KEY DEFENDANTS- Mohammad Ali Abtahi (left): former vice-president, member of the Assembly of Combatant Clerics
- Mohsen Mirdamadi (centre): leader of the biggest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front
- Behzad Nabavi (right): member of the central council of the Organisation of the Mujahideen of the Islamic Revolution, former industry minister and former vice speaker of parliament
- Mohsen Aminzadeh: former deputy foreign minister, served under reformist president Mohammad Khatami, member of Islamic Iran Participation Front
"The teeth of the torturers and confession-extorters have reached to the bones of the people," he said.
"Witnessing such trumped-up trials, the only judgment that the conscience of humanity can make is the moral collapse and discredit of its directors."
Mohsen Rezai, the only conservative to have challenged Mr Ahmadinejad in the election, also criticised the trial, saying people who had attacked the protesters should also be put on trial.
Earlier Fars news agency reported that a group of Iranian MPs had filed a complaint against Mr Mousavi several weeks ago, calling for him to be put on trial for "directing recent riots".
Hardliner Mohammad Taghi Rahba said Mr Mousavi and Mr Khatami were the main culprits behind the unrest.
At Saturday’s trial, defendants in prison uniforms were seated flanked by guards. They included supporters of opposition leaders Mr Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and aides of Mr Khatami.
IRANIAN 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, alleging poll fraud
- Mass street protests saw at least 30 people killed and foreign media restricted
The semi-official Fars news agency reported that former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, former senior lawmaker Mohsen Mirdamadi and former Industry Minister Behzad Nabavi were among those on trial.
Foreign media, including the BBC, have been restricted in their coverage of Iran since the election protests turned into confrontations with the authorities in which at least 30 people were killed.
Opposition groups alleged widespread vote-rigging. Post-election protests saw the largest mass demonstrations in Iran since the 1979 revolution, which brought about the current Islamic system of government.
Are you in Iran What is your reaction to Mohammad Khatami’s comments Send your comments and experiences using the form below.
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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Will official backing help stabilise Iran?
August 3rd, 2009 |
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Iran’s Supreme Leader formally endorses Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as election winner. Will this bring stability?
US urges Iran to free prisoners
July 29th, 2009 |
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The US secretary of state has called on Iran to free political detainees following reports that many are being abused by the authorities.
Dozens were arrested during post-poll protests and 20 are due to face trial next week.
Hillary Clinton said she deplored reports that political prisoners were being mistreated.
She urged the government to release prisoners held for political reasons and to treat detainees properly.
"We believe that it is imperative for the Iranian authorities to release political prisoners, to treat them appropriately and humanely," Mrs Clinton said during a news conference in Washington.
Grave visits
She said reports of the continuing detention and abuse of political prisoners suggested that Iran’s political situation had yet to be resolved.
Her comments come as the country announced that it would release some of the prisoners accused of minor offences on Friday, amid growing outrage in Iran over their treatment.
Those who will stand trial face charges including bombings and attacking security forces.
Opposition leaders said they planned to visit the graves of slain protesters on Thursday, after permission was refused for a public memorial ceremony.
Correspondents say the visit could become the next flashpoint between the security forces and opposition protesters.
Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, both reformist candidates who say the June poll was rigged, are planning to mark the end of the 40-day mourning period for several protesters.
Among the graves they intend to visit is the burial site of Neda Agha-Soltan, a young women who became an icon of the opposition movement after video of her death was posted on the internet.
Allegations
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was re-elected in the election, has reportedly ordered that all prisoners not accused of serious offences be freed by 7 August.
On Tuesday, officials said about 140 people detained during the protests were released from Evin prison.
But about 200 others, accused of more serious crimes, remained in the prison.
Accounts have been emerging of mistreatment of people detained during the protests.
Hanif Mazroei, a reformist journalist and blogger, told BBC Persian that he had interviewed family members of people held at the facility.
Groups of 10-20 prisoners had been held in goods containers with no sanitation and little ventilation, and detainees were beaten daily, some until they were unconscious, the prisoners relatives told him.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Iran protesters ‘to face trial’
July 29th, 2009 |
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About 20 Iranians detained during protests over the disputed presidential election will face trial next week, Iran’s state news agency has said.
It said they faced charges including bombings, carrying weapons and attacking security forces.
But a considerable number of detainees will be freed by Friday, Iranian media quoted the state prosecutor as saying.
And a prominent opposition campaigner, Saeed Hajjarian, is due to be released on Wednesday, the judiciary said.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was re-elected in last month’s poll that the opposition says was rigged, has reportedly ordered that all prisoners not accused of serious offences be freed by 7 August.
On Tuesday, officials said about 140 people detained during the protests were released from Evin prison.
But about 200 others, accused of more serious crimes, remained in the prison.
Toll raised
Officials also announced on Tuesday that 30 people were killed in clashes between opposition supporters and security forces – up from a previously stated figure of about 20.
Opposition groups believe up to 100 people may have died, in the largest mass protests seen in Iran since the 1979 revolution which brought the current Islamic regime to power.
Officials also announced on Tuesday that 30 people were killed in clashes between opposition supporters and police – up from a previously stated figure of about 20.
Mr Hajjarian, who survived an assassination attempt in 2000, is a key member of a prominent reformist group and was an advisor to former reformist President, Mohammad Khatami.
Human Rights Watch had called for his release on Tuesday, saying his life was in danger as his health had deteriorated during harsh treatment in the prison.
The opposition groups, led by presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, were planning a memorial event on Thursday to mark the end of the 40-day mourning period for a number of protesters killed during the protests.
But the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday that the interior ministry had refused permission.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Kahrizak Prison, Holding Iranian Protesters, Ordered Closed After Abuses
July 28th, 2009 |
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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran on Tuesday released 140 people detained in Iran’s postelection turmoil and the supreme leader ordered the closure of a prison where human rights groups say jailed protesters were killed, in a nod by authorities to all…
Divided leaders
July 27th, 2009 |
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By Jon Leyne
BBC News
With the row over Iran’s disputed election still bitterly dividing the country, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now in a new dispute with fellow conservatives.
It is an argument every bit as heated as the election row, and potentially even more damaging to the president.
Just over a month after the election, Mr Ahmadinejad provoked fury amongst his fellow conservatives by promoting one of his vice-presidents, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, to the post of first vice-president.
The job would make him the president’s second in command, the man who would take over if Mr Ahmadinejad was run over by a Tehran bus.
As Mr Ahmadinejad must have known it would, the appointment infuriated conservatives.
Mr Mashaie had already angered the establishment by suggesting that Iran was friends with the Israeli people, even though he shared the Islamic Republic’s hatred of the state of Israel.
For days Mr Ahmadinejad rode the storm, ignoring behind-the-scenes hints that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was not happy with the appointment.
Then, finally, a letter from Mr Khamenei was broadcast on state TV, calling for Mr Mashaie to go.
The president had to succumb. But the row is now having more lasting damage.
On Sunday it was announced that Mr Ahmadinejad had sacked his intelligence minister, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie, after what sounds like a heated argument in a cabinet meeting over Mr Mashaie’s appointment.
At one point it was reported that four ministers had left the government. That was denied.
Later, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi, announced he had resigned.
It was said that Mr Ahmadinejad had not accepted that resignation, but as of Monday the situation remained unresolved.
Mr Saffar-Harrandi said the row over Mr Mashaie had weakened the government, and that is one of the more polite comments from within the conservative camp.
The conservative newspaper Tehran Emrouz described it as a "chaotic" day for the government.
Determined to provoke
Another conservative paper, Khabar, published the headline: "Dismissal – the consequence of objecting to Ahmadinejad".
MP Ali Motahari called on Mr Ahmadinejad to "control his nerves" and accused him of intentionally bringing tension to the country.
But Mr Ahmadinejad seems determined to provoke even those who should be his allies.
He immediately appointed Mr Mashaie as his chief of staff and one of his closest aides.
There is also a new job also for Ali Kordan, the former interior minister who was impeached by parliament after falsely claiming to possess a doctorate from an institution he quaintly called the "London Oxford University".
The president has made him an inspector responsible for ministries and the government.
Mr Ahmadinejad’s behaviour may seem counter-productive, but it is completely in character.
When in a corner he likes to come out fighting. Compromise is not a word in his vocabulary.
But the reasons behind the row itself are harder to pin down.
In one version, Mr Mashaie is disliked by conservatives for his relative "moderation" in saying Iran was friends with the Israeli people.
Another analysis has it that conservatives are worried about Mr Mashaie’s links with the controversial sect the Hojjatieh, members of which believe in the imminent return of the so-called hidden imam, the Mahdi, in an apocalyptic scenario.
Certainly Mr Mashaie has been seen as a very powerful influence on Mr Ahmadinejad.
The argument may also indicate unease amongst conservatives over the disputed election itself.
Revolutionary Guards
There are many in Iran who see Mr Ahmadinejad’s re-election as a coup d’etat, in which the real winners were the Revolutionary Guards.
That worries even some dedicated supporters of the Islamic Revolution.
Guidance minister Mr Saffar-Harandi, for example, is not someone who could, by any stretch of the imagination, be called a moderate.
Mr Ahmadinejad has managed to alienate many fellow conservatives, figures like Ali Larijani, who now holds the powerful position of speaker of parliament.
The parliament, or Majlis, could be the next scene of confrontation.
Soon Mr Ahmadinejad is expected to be sworn in for his second term in office. The planned date keeps changing, indicating possible arguments behind the scenes.
Afterwards he must name his new cabinet to be approved by parliament. The present row shows that Mr Ahmadinejad is not likely to propose compromise candidates, and parliament is unlikely to give his nominees an easy ride.
Deadlock over the appointments could even lead to Ayatollah Khamenei being obliged to introduce some form of emergency powers, which would only further weaken his position.
Indeed, according to a strict reading of the constitution, the government would need a vote of confidence from the Majlis even to continue in office if the latest departures mean that more than half its members have been changed during Mr Ahmadinejad’s first term.
Parliament has already shown it can cause big trouble for the president.
According to one member, 200 MPs – a majority – have written to Mr Ahmadinejad asking him to "correct his behaviour so that he follows the leader’s opinion seriously".
Parliament has also set up a committee to look into the condition of detainees arrested in the post-election crackdown.
As much as Mr Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei try to assert their power, it becomes clearer that they have become prisoners of their own constituency, right-wing conservatives.
Already there are whispers about possibly impeaching the president.
The key of course would be the position of the supreme leader, who would have to authorise such a move.
Equally damaging
Either keeping or ditching Mr Ahmadinejad could be almost equally damaging to Mr Khamenei.
All of this must be deeply satisfying for the opposition, as it continues its campaign to have the presidential election result overturned.
But reports continue to emerge of brutal treatment handed out to some of the many opposition supporters still held in prison. Two more detainees are reported to have died, 24-year-old Amir Javadifar and Hossein Akbari, aged 20.
Iran is approaching the Arbayeen or 40th day ceremonies to mark the deaths of those killed in the violence that followed the election. In Shia Islam it is a major date, often the spark for huge protests.
Thursday will be the anniversary of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young Iranian woman who has become a symbol of the protest movement.
By all accounts, opposition supporters are as angry and motivated as they were on the day after the election. Now they face a government divided to its very core.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Iran judge urges arrests decision
July 27th, 2009 |
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The head of Iran’s judiciary has ordered a decision within a week on the fate of prisoners arrested after disputed elections, Iranian media say.
A spokesman for the judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, also said some prisoners should be freed, the Mehr news agency reported.
The spokesman, Ali Reza Jamshidi, said about 300 people remained behind bars.
Meanwhile, an opposition leader has called for people to attend a ceremony for victims of post-election violence.
Mir Hossein Mousavi, a defeated candidate who has accused the authorities of electoral fraud, made the appeal on his website.
‘Catastrophe’
Mr Mousavi and another moderate, defeated candidate, Mehdi Karoubi, said on Sunday they had applied for a permit to hold the commemoration on Thursday at Tehran’s "Grand Mosala", a site of prayer that can hold tens of thousands of people.
"The pro-reform path will continue," Mr Mousavi said in his statement.
"The killings and arrests are a catastrophe, people will not forgive those behind such crimes."
Mr Mousavi said Thursday’s ceremony would be used only for mourning and the recital of the Koran, saying no speech was planned.
"The establishment should respect the constitution and let us to gather to commemorate our killed loved ones," he said.
In the 12 June election, Mr Mousavi was the main challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was declared to have won a comfortable victory.
Thursday marks the 40th day after the start of post-election demonstrations in which at least 20 people were killed and hundreds arrested.
Ayatollah Shahrudi ordered that "those prisoners who have not committed serious enough crimes to keep them in jail should be freed," his spokesman said.
Mr Mousavi said he was sure the judiciary was not being informed about many arrests.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Fears grow over fate of Iran prisoners
July 26th, 2009 |
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• Two inmates die from meningitis in Evin prison
• Former detainees speak of harassment and torture
Fears are mounting over the safety of hundreds of political inmates in Iran’s most notorious prison following the deaths of two prisoners detained in the recent post-election unrest.
Mohsen Rouholamini and Amir Javadifar died in Tehran’s Evin prison after being arrested at a demonstration this month. Rouholamini, the son of a prominent Iranian scientist close to the country’s political elite, died from meningitis after injuries believed to have been inflicted by his jailers went untreated.
The deaths prompted fears of a meningitis outbreak in Evin and other overcrowded detention centres where opposition figures, journalists and students are kept following last month’s disputed election. News of the deaths coincided with reports of injuries to other detainees.
One inmate, Isa Saharkhiz, a prominent reformist journalist and commentator, is reported to have suffered broken ribs after being tortured under interrogation.
Campaigners are also concerned for the safety of Kian Tajbakhsh, an American-Iranian scholar said to be under pressure to confess involvement in an alleged western plot to orchestrate the protests following Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election.
Prisoners recently released from Evin have described enduring countless beatings and being herded into tiny cells without air conditioning, where stifling temperatures regularly soar above 40C.
“I was beaten by batons and slapped thousands of times,” said one, who spent two weeks in the prison’s Section 209, reserved for political prisoners. “I can’t remember how many times I have been beaten and slapped while they were forcing me to confess whatever they wanted,” he told the Guardian.
Another prisoner, who spent three weeks in a block normally used for ordinary criminals, said: “I still have the screams and shouts of the prisoners in my ears, the prisoners whose legs and arms were broken under warders’ attacks.” Both did not wish their names to be published.
One recently released man was said to have become mentally ill.
“He is not like before, he is very weak,” his girlfriend said. “He was harassed, insulted and tortured. The warders pushed him from stairs while his hands were bound together. He was forced to crawl on the ground like a worm.”
Iran’s already divided political establishment has been shocked by Rouholamani’s death, disclosed days after his family was told he would be released. His father, Abdol Hossein Rouholamani, is a former head of one of Iran’s leading research bodies, the Pasteur Institution, and adviser to the defeated conservative candidate, Mohsen Rezai. Rouholamani, 25, was arrested on 9 July during a demonstration commemorating the 10th anniversary of a 1999 pro-reformist student uprising at Tehran University, where his older brother had once headed the basij, the hardline pro-government militia used to quell the recent protests.
Javadifar, a student, is thought to have suffered a broken nose and arm while being arrested at the same event.
A blog in the name of a high-ranking revolutionary guard member, Hossein Alaie, quoted Rouholamani’s father as saying his son’s jaw had been broken and that he had been denied medical treatment.
“I found out that after torturing him, they had not attended to his wounds and his temperature sky-rocketed and he was diagnosed with meningitis,” the blog quoted the father as saying.
Rouholamani bowed to political pressure to play down his son’s death by today cancelling a public memorial scheduled for the headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB. An eyewitness said security forces dispersed large numbers of people who turned up for the event.
The head of the parliamentary investigations committee, Hamid Reza Katouzian, called Rouhoulamini’s death “very ugly” and added: “Those who have turned society into a security state and deployed military measures should be held accountable.”
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Iran accused of ‘Zionist’ tactics
July 25th, 2009 |
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One of the defeated moderate candidates in Iran’s presidential election, Mehdi Karroubi, has accused security forces of using harsher methods than Israel.
"The behaviour of Iran’s security agents is worse than those of the Zionist in occupied Palestine," a statement on his website said.
Hundreds have been arrested following protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election last month.
Activists around the world demonstrated against the crackdown on Saturday.
Mr Karroubi and other moderate candidates say the 12 June election was marred by massive fraud.
Iran’s top election body, the Council of Guardians, has said the poll was free and fair. Officials results gave Mr Ahmadinejad more than 62% of the vote.
‘In the gutter’
Days of streets protests against the election results were violently suppressed, drawing international condemnation.
A letter to Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei posted on Mr Karroubi’s website says that "women were attacked with clubs and beaten and thrown in the gutters" during the protests.
"This is more painful in comparison to crimes committed by the Zionists against the oppressed people of Palestine… The Zionist aggressors have some reservations when it comes to confronting women."
Meanwhile activists have taken part in a "global day of action" on Iran.
Protests supported by leading groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International were held in many cities – including Sydney, Seoul, Geneva London, Brussels, Berlin, Dublin.
The demonstrators urged the Tehran authorities to free those arrested. Many held pictures of people they say remain in jail.
Some placards showed Neda Agha Soltan, the 27-year-old woman whose death was captured on a video that was posted on the Internet.
In Amsterdam, Iranian Nobel Peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi called on the international community to reject the outcome of the election.
In Bishkek, the capital of the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, nine human rights activists marching towards the Iranian embassy were detained and fined for illegally protesting.
Two days ago Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev won a second presidential term in an election criticised by foreign monitors.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Global Demonstration In Solidarity With Iranians
July 24th, 2009 |
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Tomorrow, people around the word will demonstrate their solidarity with the protestors in Iran by gathering in cities around the world for an international day of action.
Details about the event are listed at United4Iran.com and Amnesty Int…
US pessimistic on Iran overtures
July 23rd, 2009 |
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The US secretary of state has said Washington is still willing to engage with Iran but that political turmoil there means a response is unlikely.
Hillary Clinton told the BBC the US was waiting for Iran to respond but that Tehran "does not have any capacity to make that kind of decision right now".
Barack Obama has made verbal overtures towards Iran, but last week Mrs Clinton warned its time to respond was limited.
The US accuses Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.
"We haven’t had any response," Mrs Clinton told the BBC’s state department correspondent Kim Ghattas.
"We’ve certainly reached out and made it clear that’s what we’d be willing to do, even now, despite our absolute condemnation of what they’ve done in the [12 June presidential] election and since but I don’t think they have any capacity to make that kind of decision right now."
The Iranian opposition has accused President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of rigging the outcome of the poll, which saw Mr Ahmadinejad returned to office.
Days of streets protests against the results were violently suppressed, drawing widespread condemnation from around the world.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Arrests at new Iranian protests
July 21st, 2009 |
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Iranian riot police are reported to have arrested a number of pro-reform protesters in Tehran after demonstrations turned violent.
Police clashed with hundreds of people marching despite a ban on public gatherings since the disputed election in June, Reuters news agency said.
The re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked widespread protests and allegations of vote-rigging.
Defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi has continued to contest the result.
Mr Mousavi has issued statements opposing the election result, saying detention of protesters would not end opposition.
A reformist former prime minister of Iran, he has received backing from several senior figures within the Iranian establishment.
Among them are two former presidents, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami.
On Monday Mr Khatami called for a referendum on the legitimacy of the government.
Mr Khatami, quoted on Iranian websites, said millions of Iranians had lost faith in the electoral process.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Khamenei warns of Iranian ‘collapse’
July 20th, 2009 |
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Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, warned today that continuing divisions would lead to the collapse of the country’s ruling elite, after a former president called for a referendum on the government’s legitimacy.
The referendum call from Mohammad Khatami appeared to be part of an opposition strategy to keep Khamenei and allied hardliners on the defensive over last month’s disputed elections.
It coincided with a demand from Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading opposition candidate in those elections, for the release of opposition supporters detained for protesting against the official results, which gave a landslide victory to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Another former president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, gave a speech at Friday prayers in which he said the Islamic Republic was in crisis and the government had lost the trust of millions of Iranians.
Khamenei, whose previously unquestioned authority is now under daily challenge, hit back furiously. “The elite should be watchful, since they have been faced with a big test. Failing the test will cause their collapse,” the supreme leader said, in a speech to mark a religious holiday, attended by government officials including Ahmadinejad, who sat on the stage behind him.
Khatami’s call for a referendum represented a new tactic by the opposition, in its efforts to maintain the momentum of a protest movement harshly suppressed on the streets by pro-government militias.
“I state openly that reliance upon the people’s vote and the staging of a legal referendum is the only way for the system to emerge from the current crisis,” said Khatami, a reformist cleric who was president from 1997 to 2005. “People must be asked whether they are happy with the situation that has taken shape.”
In remarks quoted on reformist Iranian websites, he suggested a referendum be overseen by an “impartial” body, such as the Expediency Discernment Council, which is chaired by Rafsanjani and is supposed to mediate disputes between clerical and lay organs of state.
Khatami’s political organisation, the Association of Combatant Clerics, issued a statement on its website saying that a referendum should not be overseen by “bodies and centres that manipulated” the 12 June vote, a reference to the Guardian Council, a body that oversees elections and endorsed the official election result.
It is highly unlikely that either Khamenei or the Guardian Council would agree to such a referendum. It appeared to designed principally to open a new avenue of attack on the conservative establishment.
Mousavi also raised his own rallying cry to supporters at a meeting with the families of post-election detainees.
“You are facing something new: an awakened nation, a nation that has been born again and is here to defend its achievements,” the former prime minister said. “Arrests … won’t put an end to this problem. End this game as soon as possible and return to the nation its [arrested] sons.”Mousavi ridiculed the accusation repeatedly made by Khamenei and his allies that the protests were the product of foreign orchestration.
“Who believes that [the protesters] would conspire with foreigners and sell the interests of their own country? Has our country become so mean and degraded that you attribute the huge protest movement of the nation to foreigners? Isn’t this an insult to our nation?” Mousavi said.
Amid the uncompromising rhetoric on both sides, the government appeared to make a small concessionary gesture, allowing detainees to call their families from prison for the first time.
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Mousavi urges Iran to release protesters
July 20th, 2009 |
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Opposition leader renews challenge to supreme leader’s authority as ex-president Khatami calls for referendum
Iran’s opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has called for the immediate release of protesters who have been detained since last month’s disputed presidential election.
In a renewed challenge to Iran’s supreme leader, Mousavi, who claims he was robbed of victory in the election, also ridiculed claims that those arrested in the crackdown had foreign backing.
“Who believes these people, many of them prominent figures, would work with the foreigners to endanger their country’s interests? … They should be immediately released,” he said during a meeting today with detainees’ families, according to a reformist website.
Mousavi’s remarks directly contradicted the latest pronouncements from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, who said that “foreign enemies” supported the unrest by broadcasting “procedures for rioting” through their media. Khamenei also urged politicians to desist from actions that could spark further unrest similar to the mass demonstrations that erupted after the election.
Disturbing security is “the biggest vice”, he said.
Mousavi was not the only reformist figure to challenge Khamenei’s authority. Iran‘s former president, Mohammad Khatami, called for a referendum on the legitimacy of the government to end the country’s post-election crisis.
In a proposal reported by reformist websites, Khatami also said Iranians had lost their faith in the ruling political system. Although Khatami’s call for a referendum is unlikely to be adopted, it represents yet another test for the supreme leader, who has declared the results of the 12 June vote – in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner – as final. Khatami served as president from 1997 to 2005 but his attempts for reform were thwarted by Iran’s hardliners.
As political infighting continued, Iran released on bail the last British embassy worker it had arrested after last month’s mass demonstrations. Hossein Rassam has been charged with harming national security for alleged involvement in the protests, his lawyer said. Nine staff were originally detained after the re-election of Ahmadinejad and the street protests that followed.
Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad is coming under pressure from his own hardline supporters for appointing Iran’s first vice-president who once provoked a furore by saying Iranians were friends of Israelis. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, whose daughter is married to Ahmadinejad’s son, angered hardliners in 2008 when he said Iranians were “friends of all people in the world, even Israelis”.
Mashaei was serving as vice-president in charge of tourism and cultural heritage at the time. Iran has 12 vice-presidents but the first vice-president is the most important because he leads cabinet meetings in the absence of the president.
Hossein Shariatmadari, an aide to the supreme leader and editor of the hardline Kayhan newspaper, said that Mashaei’s appointment caused “a wave of surprise mixed with regret and concern” among Ahmadinejad supporters.
“Many of the closest individuals to the president strongly oppose the appointment,” he added.
Ahmadinejad remained defiant, saying Mashaei’s comments on Israel had been “misrepresented”.
The row over Mashaei seemed to have ended last year after Khamenei, who backs Ahmadinejad, said in September the remarks “are not right but the dispute should end”.
The criticism was a reminder that Ahmadinejad faces pressure not just from the opposition but also from within his own camp. Before the 12 June vote, Ahmadinejad was often criticised for his handling of the economy by his supporters.
The cracks in Iran’s political establishment were highlighted last Friday when one of Iran’s most powerful clerics, former president Akbar Rafsanjani, criticised the government’s response to the election dispute.
Rafsanjani, speaking publicly for the first time since the election, condemned the government’s violent crackdown against protesters and demanded the release of those detained. Instead of suppression, he said the government should work to address the concerns Iranians have over the legitimacy of the vote.
The sermon was a direct challenge to Khamenei and his hardline supporters, who have called on opposition supporters to drop their claims of vote fraud. They have accused the US and other foreign countries of fomenting the unrest, a charge they have denied.
The Iranian army has arrested 36 officers who planned to attend last week’s Friday prayer sermon in their military uniforms as an act of political defiance, according to Farsi-language websites.
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Iran bails UK embassy employee
July 19th, 2009 |
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Iran has released on bail the last of the British embassy employees arrested in Tehran in connection with last month’s election protests.
He was one of nine local embassy staff originally held, and has been charged with inciting the unrest over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election.
The man – the embassy’s chief political analyst – is due to stand trial.
Britain has denied Tehran’s accusations that embassy staff had been involved in instigating mass demonstrations.
Opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi says the vote was rigged in favour of Mr Ahmadinejad.
The president and Iran’s main election body, the Council of Guardians, have rejected the charge. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.