The End Of Dictador Islamic Republic (Election fraud)

[Rasputin]

Iran's government said Sunday that it had arrested the daughter and four relatives of a former president, charging them with helping incite the election protests in which the official state media says at least 17 people have died.
Faezeh Hashemi, the eldest daughter of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was later released with the other relatives, according to state media.

Rafsanjani is a powerful cleric who has been at odds with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The daughter has been an outspoken supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the main opponent in the disputed June 12 election, in which Ahmadinejad was declared the victor.

The arrests reflect a divided Iranian government, even as it tries to ratchet up the pressure on protesters, analysts said.

"It's clear there are deep, deep fissures with the ruling establishment," said Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran. He cited the arrest of Rafsanjani's daughter, as well as more criticism by Mousavi, who claims he won the election.

Mousavi, on his website, warned supporters of danger ahead, and said he would stand by the protesters "at all times." In letters posted Saturday and Sunday, Mousavi also said he would "never allow anybody's life to be endangered because of my actions" and called for pursuing election fraud claims through an independent board.

Tehran's streets were mostly quiet Sunday after the state media said 10 people died in Saturday's clashes. Cries of "God is great!" echoed again from rooftops after dark.

Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington, said the dwindling crowd of protesters could mean the government is having success with its violent efforts to intimidate critics and shut communications to the outside world.

"The regime has a lot of capability to suppress protests," Maloney said. "Unless really massive numbers come back out, they will be able to put this down."

State-run television showed Ahmadinejad meeting with clerics and telling them the election had demonstrated popular love for the Islamist regime. He also criticized President Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for speaking out on behalf of the protesters. "With that behavior, you will not be among Iran's friends," Ahmadinejad said.

Obama issued his most pointed criticism of Iran over the weekend, saying in a statement that "the Iranian government must understand that the world is watching." Obama added, "We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people."

Some Republicans in Congress urged Obama to be more forceful in criticizing the Iranian regime. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday that he appreciated Obama's weekend statement, "but he's been timid and passive more than I would like."

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said Obama has done a good job of walking "a delicate path." Dodd said "the worst thing we could do at this moment for these reformers" is to allow the Iranian government "to claim that this is a U.S.-led opposition."

Both senators appeared on ABC's This Week.

Fariborz Ghadar, who held a vice ministerial level post for the shah of Iran in the 1970s, said the protests expose the divisions within Iran's government. "Everybody is worried about their own position," he said.

The protesters may have more options than just marching. "We may see civil disobedience, in terms of strikes," Ghadar said.

Ghadar, founding director of the Center for Global Business Studies at Penn State, said major changes in Iran are not inevitable, but also not impossible. "I don't think the genie is out of the bottle," he said, "but the cork in the bottle is removed."

[Rasputin]

Ever since the first days of the Islamic Republic there have been two sovereignties in Iran, a divine and a popular. The concept of popular sovereignty, which is derived from the indivisible will of the Iranian nation, is inscribed in Article I of the constitution of the Islamic Republic. And the divine concept of sovereignty is derived from God's will, which, through the medium of Shi'ia institutions of an Imamate, is bestowed on the existing 'faqih' as the rightful ruler of the Shi'ite community, a perception which forms the foundation of the doctrine of the 'Velayat-i-Faqih'. Increasingly, the divine sovereignty has been less about religion than about political theology. As for the popular sovereignty, it has found its due place in the social work and political action of Iranian civil society. The presence of these two incompatible and conflicting conceptions of sovereignty, authority and legitimacy has always been a bone of contention in Iranian politics, often defining the ideological contours of political power struggle among the contending forces. The advocates of civil and democratic liberties in Iran have tried to give the popular conception its due place in the framework of Iranian social and political institutions.

The present crisis in Iran following the Iranian presidential elections is rooted in the popular quest for the democratisation of the state and society and the conservative reaction and opposition to it. Furthermore, there is another factor distinguishing the current political crisis from the previous instances of political factionalism and internal power struggle in Iran. This is a crisis over a deep-seated ideological structure inherited from the Iranian Revolution.

On the one hand, those like Moussavi and Karubi, who have been among the architects of the Islamic regime and the challengers for the presidency in Iran and who believed that the Islamic nomenclature allowed scope for reform and renewal, find themselves at the head of a pro-democracy and pro-reform movement that continues defying beyond the results of the presidential election the very essence of illiberalism and authoritarianism in Iran.

On the other hand, there is another and equally important factor which must be taken into consideration. Most of the demonstrators who have been questioning the entire legitimacy of Iran's electoral process in the past week are not, unlike their parents, revolutionaries. They belong to a new generation who did not experience the revolution of 1979 and want another Iran. Most of them were not around or were too young to remember the revolution, but they made up one-third of eligible voters in the Iranian presidential election. These youngsters are a reminder of the fact that a monolithic image of Iran does not reflect necessarily the mindset of 70 per cent of its population who are under the age of 30. After all, the young Iran's quest for democracy has presented serious challenges not only to the status of the doctrine of the 'Velayat-i-Faqih' and questions of its legitimacy, but also to the reform movement and its democratic authenticity.

Having said this, one needs also to add that Islamic Iran is more divided than at any time since 1979, a divide between traditionalists and modernists that has been deep in Iran since the Islamic Revolution. But in this election the divide has become deeper than ever before between the state and the nation. It also created a gap between those who believe that normal economic and political relations with the West are vital to Iran's future and those who disdain such relations as violations of the Islamic Revolution's ideals.

Clearly, the outcome of the ninth presidential elections, which led to Ahmadinejad's election, was already indicative of an internal crisis at the heart of the Islamic Republic's political framework exemplified by the conflict between popular sovereignty and authoritarian rule. The current conflicts between pro-reform and pro-Ahmadinejad groups after the re-election of the former president represent in fact a political struggle between the republican essence of Iran and its clerical oligarchy. The republican gesture pays attention almost exclusively to the legitimacy of the public space, but the clerical establishment refuses to grant any legitimacy to the judgment of the public space.

At moments like this, it should not be forgotten that each time democracy is intimated, silenced and postponed for another day by a show of force in a country like Iran, it is a loss of credibility for those in charge and a crisis of legitimacy for the entire political system. Should street violence in Iran escalate, it also spells the possibility of an escalation of violence in the Middle East. This could also complicate international efforts to deal with Iran on issues such as the nuclear one, Iraq's future or Afghanistan.

The American president has made it clear at different occasions that he would like to engage Tehran in diplomacy. But the re-election of Ahmadinejad would add to the fears of the Israelis and Saudis regarding the security of their countries and their citizens living close to a hostile Iran. The US would have hoped for the victory of the reformists. These hopes have been belied and the US would have to make do with Ahmadinejad. It is true that the American president counted on Ahmadinejad's defeat to justify his administration's decision to punt on the nuclear issue. However, it is highly doubtful that the Iranian unrest would somehow blossom into a flame that burns away Ahmadinejad and his group.

But we should not forget that for the first time in its political history, Iran finds itself thrown into an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy. This is a turning point in Iran's domestic and foreign policies that the world cannot ignore. In short, letting the genie of democracy out of the bottle in Iran is like opening a Pandora's Box that the Iranian regime is clearly fearful it won't be able to close.

AUTHOR
The writer, former head of the Contemporary Philosophy Department of the Cultural Research Centre in Tehran, has written more than 20 books including Iran: Between Tradition and Modernity. This piece was first published in The Indian Express.

[Rasputin]

According to an article printed in the April 30th issue of “Iran”, a Tehran Persian daily forty-two days before the actual Iranian presidential election, the Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a speech to a large gathering of Iranian nurses, teachers and workers of the country warned about the smear campaign waged against the election. He said that “there are some unfair individuals among us…who are eager to be at the center of peoples’ attention, but ungratefully go against the nation, and by echoing the lies of our foe, they cast doubts on the soundness and legitimacy of the system of our elections.”

The warnings of Iran’s Supreme leader showed that the plans of the current social crisis, executed now by Mir Hossein Mousavi and other players such as U.S.-inspired loosely-knit networks of “Iran experts” in lock-step with the lieutenants of U.S. and British corporate media, and battalions of foot soldiers - monarchists, Mojahedin-Khalq terrorists and disenchanted pro-western Iranians - were conceived long before the recent presidential election.

The election of June 12, 2009 provided these well-financed and well-equipped strata with unprecedented opportunities to carry out the first stages of their “velvet revolution”. The crisis has de-stabilized the Islamic Republic of Iran by splitting the nation along class lines – the pro-Western landlord, capitalist and well-to-do middle classes on one hand and pro-Ahmadinejad poorer city dwellers, the working class at the lower economic end and a vast class of small farmers. A great number of supporters of defeated candidate Hossein Mousavi live predominately in the luxury houses (called villas) and apartments in northern Tehran, expensive high rises in Shiraz and Esfahan. A two-bedroom living space in Northern Tehran costs over $450,000, much higher than properties in the New York metropolitan area in the U.S.

Western Connection

The U.S. Congress, the European Parliament and corporate media of the countries across the Atlantic Ocean have magnified the voices of the key opposition figures, giving all sorts of backings and encouragement to remain on the street, violate the laws, challenge the security forces, burn and destroy public and private properties and ultimately undermine the power of the state. On Wednesday, June 17, Mohsen Makhmalbaaf, the spokesman of Mr. Mousavi overseas, was given carte-blanche access to the Tribune of the European Parliament to spread lies and half-truths, claiming fraud by the Interior Ministry in the Iranian election. It should come as no surprise these same representatives who have demonized Iran’s president and been the backer of the U.S. false accusations about Iran’s nuclear energy program gave a standing ovation to this faker. Moreover, Makhmallbaaf does not hide his close connections with the Monarchists (past Shah supporters), and followers of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah who was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The person closer to Mousavi, his wife Zahra Rahnavard, has had several opportunities to use BBC’s television and radio facilities to cry on the shoulders of her husband’s British backers. In the last week, the major U.S.-U.K. mass media, including CNN, NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times and Guardian and many radio broadcasts out of California that were funded during the Bush regime by the neo-con/Zionist organizations to saturate the Iranian elite with pro-capitalist propaganda could not be more delighted in their daily staple of demonizing Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and picture Iran on the verge of another revolution that could send the country along with its human and natural resources – oil, gas, uranium, cooper, silver, chromium, iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc and sulfur - back into the arms of the American empire. This is wishful thinking on their parts.

James Petras, puts the subject of interference clearly when he writes in this article: Iranian Elections: The ‘Stolen Elections’ Hoax, which appeared in Information Clearing House.

Almost the entire spectrum of Western opinion makers, including all the major electronic and print media, the major liberal, radical, libertarian and conservative web-sites, echoed the opposition’s claim of rampant election fraud. Neo-conservatives, libertarian conservatives and Trotskyites joined the Zionists in hailing the opposition protestors as the advance guard of a democratic revolution.

Organization of Iranian Elections

Let’s go back to examine the charges leveled by Hossein Mousavi against Iran’s Interior Ministry with regard to the presidential election results. In order to do so we need to demonstrate the structural framework within which the Iranian elections takes place. The framework consists of three independent groups: the first group assigned from the Interior Ministry manages the practical aspects of the election, including preparing the ballots, ballot boxes and providing information as to their whereabouts (voting stations). The second body of managers consists of the 12 members of the Guardian Council whose responsibility is to assure the soundness and fairness of the election, so that no manipulation or irregularities would take place. The Council also manages the announcement of the outcome of the votes. The third body is composed of observers made up of staff members from all the parties and individual candidates who watch to detect any mistakes or acts of manipulations. The groups have separate tasks, but work together to have a successful and fair election. In the process of gathering, recording, counting and reporting the votes if any violations occur, the observers have the responsibility of writing up the incident and gathering signatures of witnesses. This documentation is necessary for investigation and future correction if irregularities are found.

Let us for a moment assume that certain irregularities, violations of election law and manipulation, such as shortage of ballots, and denying some Mousavi observers access to the polling places had taken place, which led Mousavi to protest that there was wide-spread fraud in the election. The first question is why Mr. Mousavi, instead of calling demonstrations of his supporters “crying foul” for three consecutive days, did not present the Guardian Council with the violation reports and testimonies? In place of doing so as required by the well-known election procedures, he wrote a letter to the Association of Combatant Clerics (Jamaat-e-Ruhuniyat) Mobarez (Olama) in the City of Qom, complaining about the work of the Interior Ministry and even the Guardian Council and charging them with partiality. On the fourth day when he decided to present the Guardian Council with his letter of complaint, he still did not substantiate his charges.

[Rasputin]

Charges of “Wide-Spread Corruption”

Mousavi’s letter of complaint consists of seven paragraphs with seven claims:

1) the opening paragraph, which should have dealt with his essential claim of “wide-spread electoral fraud”, discusses the irrelevant issue of Ahmadinejad’s verbal attacks during their campaign debates against Haashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Assembly of Experts and Nategh Noori, a member of the Expediency Council, a group whose function consists of breaking stalemates between the Majlis (Parliament) and the Guardian Council. What relations are there between the charge of election fraud and the content of the first paragraph remains to be explained.

2) In the second paragraph, like the first, Mousavi complained that during the campaign debates Ahmadinejad questioned the authority of Ayatollah Khomeini and also harmed Iran’s national security by alleging that the Islamic Republic in the 1980’s had the policy of cutting off youth’s hair and tearing the necktie of those who dared to wear them. Once again, all these have nothing to do with election fraud.

3) The third paragraph, while complaining about the non-cooperative work method of not only the interior ministry, but also the office of the governors, he claims in some instances accreditation cards necessary to certify their observers at the polling places were not issued. But again, the rational way of going about resolving the issue would have been to attach witness-signed descriptions of the alleged violations to the letter handed to the Guardian Council.

4) In the fourth paragraph Mousavi states that the collection and counting of the entry votes was supposed to be done by hand and hence using computers to report the final results would be considered a violation. Perhaps Mousavi’s campaign directors were expecting to deliver the results using horses or carriages.

5) In the fifth paragraph Mousavi’s complaint is about shortages of ballot papers in some stations. He may not know that in the U.S., the most technologically developed country, there have been instances that the whole computer system has gone down for hours, until they are further repaired or substituted.

6) The claim in paragraph six is too general to be considered a description of a concrete violation.

7) In the seventh and last paragraph, his complaint is that during the electoral campaign Ahmadinejad had been given more time by the state television and radio stations. He further stated that Ahmadinejad in his pre-election campaign used the government facilities, such as cars and planes, to pay visits to cities and towns around the country. Perhaps he doesn’t know that the incumbent presidents and congressmen and women use the means of transportation made available to them while in office. Therefore, the use of such means by an incumbent president is not a violation and after all these issues raised in the letter doesn’t prove “wide-spread fraud” in the election.

Privatization of National Assets

The bitter truth is that the major cause of the differences among the upper echelon of Iran’s political leadership goes much beyond the dichotomies concerning the election results. One of the most crucial issues discussed much before and during the election campaign has been the problems with the economy of Iran and its critical components, such as high rates of unemployment and inflation, low levels of labor productivity, and handling the monetary and fiscal policies.

But among all these vital parts, privatization of the state’s industrial, financial, mining and infra-structural assets attract the most attention of the domestic and foreign owners of capital – this is the focal point where the political agents of social forces fight to the death. Privatization of the state assets is the greatest motive force for capturing the state power for use as a tool to shape Iran’s wealth distribution and concentration of capital in the hands of a few for decades to come.

While the working class, small shop keepers and family farmers are mainly concerned with the hazards and pain of unemployment, high prices of necessities of life such as food, shelter, means of transportation, health care services and educational expenses, the big landlords, owners of private banks, insurance companies and shareholders in the stock markets are busy purchasing the state-owned factories, railways and bank assets at fire-sale prices, an arrangement which had methodically been the fast track of becoming wealthy over-night at the expense of the entire nation.

While Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan college students aspire to gain employment opportunities, cultural and social freedoms, the big capitalist class is networking the strategy of how to use the vigor and vital energy of the intellectuals, artists, university professors, along with the entire middle class to capture the state power, not for its own sake, but as a bridge to the national wealth, whose thousands of factories are awaiting to be auctioned soon after the election. Mir Hossein Mousavi cannot wait to be in charge of giving these establishments away to the rich Iranians.

Therefore, while the upper middle and educated class dreams of widening its social space, the moneyed class is busy dreaming about the easy access to the wealth of the nation that it took the state a century or more to accumulate.

The experience of Russians after the collapse of the Soviet Socialist state and the immediate rise of a class of oligarchy that attained the status of billionaires is still fresh in our minds, the charges and counter-charges between the reformists, which in fact is a misnomer, and the Ahmadinejad administration has been centered around the depth and breadth, but more so, on the pace and the kind of economic sectors which would be up for grabs on the auction block. This current election and the ensuing upheaval is in essence more about who - the capitalist class or the workers - will get the lion’s share of the people’s assets.

[Rasputin]

http://www.radiofarda.com/content/F8_EBADI_PROSECUTION_KILLERS/1758570.html

[Rasputin]

عیسی سحرخیز بازداشت شد.

تلاش علی لاریجانی برای حضورمیرحسین موسوی در یک برنامه تلویزیونی: باید صدای معترضان شنیده شود.

گفته ميشود که اطلاعات تو این چند روز تعداد خیلی* زیادی موتور سیکلت سفارش داده موتور*های پر قدرت. برای بسیجی**ها و لباس شخصی**ها .

ايرنا - روزنامه "اخبار الخلیج" چاپ بحرین به اتهام توهین به رییس جمهوری اسلامی ایران تا اطلاع بعدی تعطیل شد.
روزنامه مذکور که قدیمی ترین روزنامه بحرین محسوب می شود پس از انتشار مطلب توهین امیز " خود به دلیل نقض قوانین مطبوعاتی توقیف شد.
کارکنان این روزنامه گفتند، این اقدام پس از آن صورت گرفت که روزنامه یادشده روز یکشنبه مقاله یی را درمورد ایران چاپ کرده بود که در آن "سمیرا رجب" یک عضو زن شورای مشورتی بحرین به احمدی نژاد اهانت کرده بود.
وی همچنین در این مقاله نسبت به مسایل داخلی ایران به ویژه انتخابات موضع گیری کرده بود.

[Rasputin]

بنا بر اخبار رسیده در ساعات پایانی یکشنبه شب 31/03/88 ماموران امنیتی به منزل آقای محمد باقر علوی مراجعه و پس از بازرسی منزل ایشان را دستگیر و به همراه خود برده اند.
همچنین در ساعت 12:30 روز دوشنبه یکم تیر ماموران امنیتی به دفتر کار آقای فخرالدین حکیمی مراجعه و پس از بازرسی محل، ایشان را نیز پس از دستگیری به همراه خود برده اند. متاسفانه از نوع اتهام ، نحوه ابلاغ و محل بازداشت دو عضو یاد شده اطلاعی در دست نمی باشد.
تعداد اعضای کماکان در بازداشت نهضت آزادی ایران تا کنون به 16 نفر رسیده است.

[Rasputin]

سخنگوي وزارت امور خارجه گفت: هم اکنون کميسيون امنيت ملي و سياست خارجي مجلس شوراي اسلامي با حضور وزير امور خارجه در حال بررسي ابعاد مختلف دخالت هاي کشورهاي غربي در ايران در سه حوزه سياسي و رسمي، اطلاعاتي، امنيتي و رسانه اي است.
به گزارش مهر حسن قشقاوي روز دوشنبه در نشست هفتگي خود با خبرنگاران افزود: کميسيون امنيت ملي و سياست خارجي مجلس امروز با برگزاري جلسه اي با حضور متکي و معاونان وزارت امور خارجه به بررسي ابعاد مختلف دخالت هاي کشورهاي غربي قبل، در هنگام و بعد از انتخابات در سه حوزه سياسي و رسمي، اطلاعاتي و امنيتي و رسانه اي پرداخته است.
وي با بيان اين که بنده نيز تا دقايقي پيش در اين جلسه در مجلس حضور داشته ام يادآور شد که اين جلسه هم اکنون در کميسيون امنيت ملي و سياست خارجي مجلس ادامه دارد.
سخنگوي وزارت خارجه ادامه داد: وزير امور خارجه در اين جلسه مستندات خود را در زمينه دخالت اين کشورها به اعضاي اين کميسيون ارايه داده و آنها در حال بررسي ابعاد مختلف اين دخالت ها هستند.
يکي از خبرنگاران درمورد صحت اخراج برخي از سفيران کشورهاي اروپايي از ايران به دليل دخالت در امور داخلي کشور سوال کرد که قشقاوي پاسخ داد: اين موضوع نيز هم اينک در کميسيون امنيت ملي و سياست خارجي مجلس در حال بررسي است و تا قبل از تصميم نهايي نمي توان در مورد آن اظهار نظر کرد.

[Rasputin]

دوستی از داخل صدا و سيما: ما 2 دسته هستيم و تحت فشاريم اگر اینجا را بگيريد پيروزی آسانتر است.

تعداد زيادي از سربازان وظيفه*ي نيروي انتظامي که حاضر به برخورد با تظاهرکنندگان نشده*اند از تهران به شهرستان*ها گريخته*اند. به گزارش چريک*آنلاين، اين سربازان که قرار بود به مقابله با مردم معترض بپردازند با افزايش کشتار مردم از سوي لباس شخصي*ها در روز شنبه 30 خرداد از محل...

[Rasputin]

از تهران خبر می*رسد که در ادامه اعتراض*های مسالمت*آمیز به نتایج اعلام شده اتنخابات ریاست جمهوری ۲۲ خرداد، شهروندان تهرانی معترض امروز قرار است از ساعت ۵ تا ۶ بعدازظهر چراغ ماشین*های خود را روشن کنند.
پس از آنکه درخواست مجمع روحانیون مبارز برای برگزاری راهپیمایی مسالمت*آمیز روز شنبه ۳۰ خرداد، حدفاصل میدان*های انقلاب و آزادی، با مخالفت مسئولان دولتی روبه*رو شد و تجمع خودجوش مردمی روز شنبه در این منطقه با دخالت گسترده نیروهای امنیتی، نظامی و لباس*شخصی*ها به خشونت گرایید، خبرهای رسیده از تهران حاکی است که شهروندان تهرانی روش*های دیگری را برای بیان مسالمت*آمیز اعتراض*های خود انتخاب کرده*آند.
از جمله شب گذشته سایت خبری کلمه، یکی از دو وب*سایت اصلی اطلاع*رسانی میرحسین موسوی اعلام کرد که شهروندان تهرانی، دوشنبه اول تیرماه، از ساعت ۵ تا ۶ بعد از ظهر و «به نشانه اعتراض و همدردی» با قربانیان خشونت*های روز شنبه، چراغ*های اتومبیل*های خود را روشن خواهند گذاشت.
این اعتراض به دعوت میرحسین موسوی صورت نمی*گیرد اما وب سایت کلمه از این موضوع به عنوان «شیوه جدید اعتراض در پی ممانعت بی*سابقه و برخورد شدید نیروهای نظامی و شبه نظامی با مردم» یاد کرده است.
بر اساس اعلام تلویزیون دولتی ایران، در حوادث روز شنبه دست کم ۱۰ نفر جان باخته*اند و پلیس می*گوید که نزدیک به ۵۰۰ نفر را در این روز بازداشت کرده است.
با این حال شبکه خبری سی ان ان به نقل از منابع بیمارستانی، تعداد قربانیان خشونت*های روز شنبه را ۱۹ نفر ذکر کرده و اضافه می*کند که بر اساس گزارش*های غیر رسمی تا ۱۵۰ نفر در این خشونت*ها جان خود را از دست داده*اند.
از شامگاه شنبه تصاویر و ویدئوهایی که از خشونت*های روز شنبه علیه مردم معترض در وب*سایت*های منتشر شده است، از شبکه*های خبری مختلف پخش می*شوند و یکی از این تصاویر مربوط به دختری به نام نداست که در خیابان امیرآباد شمالی به ضرب گلوله جان باخته است.
گزارش*های غیررسمی، حاکی از آن است که روز گذشته پیکر ندا به شرط انجام سریع و پنهانی مراسم تدفین در اختیار خانواده*اش قرار گرفته و به مساجد تهران تأکید شده است که ازبرگزاری مراسم یادبود برای او خودداری کنند.
هنوز منبع خبری مستقلی این گزارش*ها را که بیشتر به وسیله شهروندان روزنامه*نگار در شبکه*های اجتماعی در اینترنت منتشر شده، تأیید نکرده است.
در همین حال خبرگزاری رویترز از تهران گزارش می*دهد که حامیان جوان میرحسین موسوی، نامزد اصلاح*طلب انتخابات ۲۲ خرداد، از مردم خواسته*اند که در روز دوشنبه به یاد کشته*شدگان روز شنبه شمع*های سیاه به همراه روبان*های سبز با خود داشته باشند.
گزارش رویتز که مستند به خبری در وب*سایت حامیان جوان آقای موسوی است، اضافه کرده است که این گروه از حامیان آقای موسوی از مردم خواسته*اند که با هدف بزرگداشت قربانیان روز شنبه، از ساعت ۵ بعد از ظهر امروز به مدت دو ساعت چراغ*های خودروهای خود را روشن نگه دارند.
این گزارش*ها در حالی است که آقای موسوی روز گذشته با انتشار بیانیه*ای ضمن اعتراض به برخوردهای خشونت*آمیز روز شنبه از هواداران خود خواسته*است که با خویشتنداری به اعتراض*های خود ادامه دهد.
آقاى موسوى در بيانيه روز يكشنبه خود آورده است: «تيراندازى به مردم، پادگانى شدن فضاى شهر، ارعاب، تحريک و قدرت نمايى همگى فرزندان نامشروع قانون*گريزى شديدى است كه در معرض آن قرار داريم و عجبا كه بانيان چنين شرايطى ديگران را به اين خطا متهم مى كنند.»
وی همچنین خطاب به حامیانش گفته است که: «در اعتراضات خود همچنان به پرهيز از خشونت پايبند بمانيد و چون پدران و مادرانى دل شكسته با رفتارهاى نامتعارف فرزندانتان در قواى امنيتى برخورد كنيد.»
تجمع اعتراضی روز شنبه مردم تهران، پس از آن انجام شد که آیت*الله خامنه*ای رهبر جمهوری اسلامی، در خطبه*های نماز جمعه خود، راهپیمایی**ها و تجمعات مسالمت*آمیز معترضان را به «زورآزمایی خیابانی» تشبیه کرد و ضمن درخواست پایان دادن به تظاهرات خيابانى، تهديد كرد كه مسئول خونريزى*هاى احتمالى با رهبران جنبش اعتراضى به نتايج انتخابات است.
به دنبال این اظهارات بود که شمار گسترده*ای از نیروهای نظامی و امنیتی، با استقرار در خیابان*های تهران، به برخورد با اجتماعات خیابانی پرداختند.
حضور گسترده نیروهای امنیتی در خیابان*های تهران همچنان ادامه دارد و سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی نیز روز دوشنبه در بیانیه*ای تهدید کرده است که با اجتماعات اعتراضی آینده مقابله خواهد کرد.

[Rasputin]

امروز سه شنبه، ایران در اعتراض به کودتا و کشتار مردم و برخوردهای اخیر نیروهای نظامی با مردم در اعتصاب است.

* مصطفی قوانلو قاجار، روزنامه نگار بازداشت شد.

* حمزه غالبی رئیس ستاد جوانان میرحسین موسوی در اصفهان و همچنین رضا همایی امروز بازداشت شدند.

* مهرداد بال*افکن، بهرام بهرامیان،محمود ابراهیمی و مجید سعیدی از فعالان سیاسی اصفهان امروز آزاد شدند.

* امید محدث از روزنامه نگاران روزنامه کلمه سبز در صفحه فیس بوک خود خبر داد :
لباس شخصی ها به محل روزنامه کلمه حمله کرده اند …انها گفته اند به حکم تخریب اموال و دستگیری تمام اعضای این روزنامه را دارند … بسیاری از اعضای این روزنامه هم اکنون در ساختمان این روزنامه محبوس هستند …. لباس شخصی منتظرند تا در اهنی این روزنامه به هر شکلی باز شود تا به انجا حمله کنند و هم چنین :
قرار بود روزنامه کلمه سبز از فردا شروع مجدد به کار داشته باشه که این عده به محل این روزنامه در ساعت 20 حمله می کنند .نگهبانان روزنامه درهای اهنی این روزنامه را می ببنند …لباس شخصی عنوان کرده اند که : بالاخره شما بیرون می ایید ، انوقت ما کارمان را انجام می دهیم … افراد بسیاری درساختمان این روزنامه در میدان هفت تیر زندانی شده اند … لباس شخصی ها به باتوم و گاز اشک اور مجهز هستند.
این اخبار ساعت 8 شب به وقت تهران (دوشنبه) روی صفحه فیس بوک امید محدث قرار گرفت.

[Rasputin]

The destiny of Iran is in the hands of Iranians. This statement may sound obvious to some and to others sound disconnected from reality. If we have learnt anything from the recent protests/uprising is that Iranians have the capability to unite, the question is are we capable of taking the next steps?

We have a choice: we can sit back and allow the current regime to take Iran down its disastrously misguided path; we can wait for change to develop once the Obama Administration starts negotiating with the regime; or we can take matters into our own hands.

It is easy to feel totally powerless and impotent given the enormous task at hand but given the outpouring of support shown by the expatriate community around the world a spark of hope has been lit. Given that the mask has been ripped off the regime's face, and Iranians in Iran have shown they have the will power to stand up to the regime, the conditions are ripe for change.

If the expatriate community can unite it can become a very powerful force, far stronger than the American and Israeli military forces that some mistakenly think is the only option for change. Once the expatriate community unites it can then empower Iranians in Iran.

It is estimated that the total wealth of the expatriate community is above $600,000,000,000. If one percent of this can be directed towards bringing about freedom and democracy in Iran we would be a power strong enough to take on the totalitarian regime in Iran.

The first step is to organize and unite those that are willing to work for freedom and democracy in Iran. At the moment many have been using email forwarding lists that they have used to pass on the latest news about Iran to those recipients that they trust. These lists can take the next step and form into online communities that can communicate, plan, and organize. A world wide network of these communities can then be formed and an online expatriate "government in exile" can be elected.

Once this "government in exile" is formed an agenda would be decided on and the task of bringing about freedom and democracy could begin.

Below are some ideas to consider for action

Boycott, lobby, protest, sue, any companies that are providing the Iranian authorities with software or equipment that is being used to control, monitor, or spy on Iranians. Demand that they provide information on how their products can be disabled, by-passed, or made ineffective.

Smuggle into Iran millions of satellite devices capable of sending and receiving broadband and thereby by-pass the telecommunication system in Iran. Include instruction and wiring diagrams so that Iranians can make their own version on the cheap. If whisky, cigarettes, and drugs can be smuggled into Iran so can these devices.

Lobby for the positioning of satellites above Iran so that television signals can not be jammed and broadband easily picked up. If necessary provide private funding for this if no governments will cooperate.

Smuggle into Iran radio transmission equipment so that Iranians can set up low powered FM stations capable of reaching a 20 kilometer radius. Include instruction on how to operate, broadcast, and program for these citizen operated FM stations.

Smuggle into Iran digital radios capable of receiving satellite signals, similar to Sirius Radio. Include instructions on how to build these in Iran.

Lobby and sue governments so that they are forced to reveal content of bank accounts belonging to Iranians in the regime, and demand that these accounts be frozen. Create an online data base of Iranians within the regime and include their mug shots and any family members fronting for them.

Create Web sites that provide information on the implementation of democracy. Make sure this information is presented in very simple Persian so that anybody able to read and write in Iran can understand it. All information would be formatted for easy printing into pamphlets.

Information would include

A. The difference between a democratically run government and a totalitarian system.

B. Procedures on how to run meetings, take votes, and arrive at decisions.

C. Clearly explain how citizens can set up election systems that allow voting for mayors, judges, governors, police chiefs, school superintendents, local councils, village managers, and a sane and competent president.

D. Provide clear instructions on voting procedures, the monitoring of voting, and the counting of results.

E. Provide instructions on how to organize strikes, and other civil disobedience actions.

One essential task towards dismantling this unjust totalitarian regime is the education of the members of the Revolutionary Guard and the Basij. At the moment they are totally under the control of the regime's hardliners. But this does not mean they are unreachable. After all they are fellow Iranians and have the capacity to think for themselves, even if they have been tricked/persuaded to not to do this. Almost every Iranian knows a member of the Revolutionary Guard or has somebody in the family that is a member. The members of the Revolutionary Guard and Basij do not live on another planet. They know how much meat costs. They know what rents are. They know how difficult it is to find a job. They know they are granted special privileges and without these bribes they would find it difficult to survive. And surely they must know they are being manipulated. The question they must be asked to answer is: Are they willing to kill fellow Iranians so that a totalitarian regime can remain in power? And if so, how many Iranians are they willing to kill? And are they willing and able to kill another Iranian because that Iranian wants to live in freedom and not under an oppressive regime that violates his or her human rights? And finally, do they truly believe they are doing God's work by killing fellow Iranians?

Another important sector of the Iranian population that needs to be reached and educated is the working class and rural residents. Unfortunately this sector only has the state controlled media providing information to them and what is taking place online or via satellite television is not reaching them. Even though many smaller cities now have Internet café's the online community is too small to have any impact. Maybe digital radio would be an effective method of reaching this sector though the cost of satellite receivers is low enough that many are now purchasing dishes on the black market. Affordable DVD and VCD players are now in a majority of households in Iran so these avenues should also be utilized. The workers and rural population are the backbone of the country, without them the regime can not stand.

Iran has arrived at a juncture where its future direction must be self-determined. Top down decision making has failed and will continue to fail, even if the one at the top is supposedly the representative of God. Using force and oppression to rule Iran has worked in the past but now that Iranian eyes have opened these uncivilized methods are useless. Iranians are now ready to take possession of Iran. Iranians like to say, "Iran saahab naadareh" (Iran does not have an owner), but they can no longer say this because now Iranians are the owners of Iran, or will be soon.

[Rasputin]

As long as Iran is governed by a minority of hard liners that oppose democracy and use violence to suppress the justifiable demands of the Iranian majority a state of totalitarianism exists in Iran which in turn places Iran's national security in jeopardy.

Creating enemies that are militarily superior through support of non-Iranian organizations outside of Iran's borders threatens the development and peaceful existence of Iran.

Creating an inhospitable social environment that has caused a massive brain drain over the past decades thereby leaving behind a hollow core within our nation is a direct threat to Iran's long-term national security.

Incompetent governance and dangerous foreign policy positions have caused unemployment and inflation, poor utilization of natural resources, crippling sanctions harmful to the banking and trade sector, all of which are directly damaging Iran's national security.

When the leaders of the dominant religion of a country have disagreements regarding the fundamental interpretation of the religion, especially its relationship with the state, the national security of a nation is insecure and at risk. This insecurity and risk is increased when these interpretations influence the foreign policy of the nation and create tensions with nearby neighbors. When religious interpretations founded on superstitions deform our foreign policy and provoke military retaliation the national security of Iran is under an unacceptable threat.

The national security of our nation is our top priority without which our cultural, religious, educational, and industrial development can not progress.

A small minority that rule through totalitarianism and superstition must not be allowed to place the rest of the nation at risk. No matter how deep this superstition runs and how convinced its followers --- to the point of being brainwashed to commit suicide --- the rest of the populations has the duty of removing them from power if the national security of the nation is threatened.

Those Iranians that have the good fortune of living in free countries have a duty to assist those that want the removal of these misguided totalitarians.

Iranians are Iranian first, not Muslims first, then Iranians.

Once the nation is free and governed democratically every Iranians will be free to believe what they want instead of being forced to believe a warped interpretation of Islam.

The freedom of expression, assembly, belief, and press are fundamental rights of every Iranian and vital for national security. Without these freedoms we have seen that the security of the nation is at risk. These freedoms can only be protected and advanced under a democracy.

Totalitarianism not only violates the human rights of every Iranian but also is a national security threat.

Totalitarians must not be allowed to provoke a war so as to consolidate their power and increase their stranglehold over the country.

Totalitarian actions are not only acts of treason but also counter to the will of God. Only under freedom can human beings find God. Using force, fear, and oppression to lead others to God is proof that those doing the leading are on the wrong path.

Using force, oppression, violence, and propaganda in the name of God is the ultimate sin and a crime against humanity.

Under these totalitarian conditions the regime's pursuit of nuclear energy that is not 100% transparent, and which creates serious doubts, is a direct threat to Iran's national security and must be halted. Only after democracy has been implemented should this activity be resumed and only after a careful cost benefit analysis has been conducted that favorably compares it to other alternative energy generating technologies.

Iran's future is in our hands. Come together. Unite. Organize. Get up. Stand up. Educate. And peacefully create change and bring about freedom and democracy. You have the power. We have the power. Freedom and democracy will bring all of us closer to the Truth, not totalitarian superstition.

What you can do now

Forward the above to those on your email list, assuming you agree with it.

What is meant by "Iran's totalitarian regime" is identified in Mohammad Sahimi's article. Forwarding Sahimi's article is recommended so that a clear understanding is gained of what the Iranian people are up against.

Organize a weekly meeting between friends and contacts in your geographic vicinity. Educate, share information, plan letter writing campaign, and fundraise.

Learn to do basic video editing on your computer. Download videos from YouTube (and elsewhere) and reduce them to less than 10MB and email them to your contacts in Iran. At the moment YouTube is blocked in Iran.

Educate your fellow Iranians on how democracy works and how this will benefit all Iranians.

Practice democratic principles at work, and also at home. If we do not succeed then at least let us make sure our children will.

I'm sure you have many good ideas of your won to contribute to this list. Feel free to do so in the comment section but please refrain from the usual personal irrelevant squabbles that only create static.

This message will be left unsigned because I live in Iran. My name is not important. What is important is that we work together to create a future for Iran that is a good future.

Zendebad Iran! Zendebad Iran-eh Azad!

Zendebad Iran-eh Azad va Mardom-eh Shoja-ash!

Allah-ho Akbar!

Ay Khoda ba Azadi pay-daatt khaham kard!

Zendebad Iran!

[Rasputin]

To All Humanity:

My freedom is yours.

You won't be free unless you help me to get my freedom. Don't remain silent while in the dark of night you hear screams of mothers for the lives of their kids. Don't cover your ears when you hear the cries of the children for their mothers and fathers who have been shot by hooligans. They're trying to silence them and me and take away the thirst for freedom when they are done with us they will look for you.

Yes, my friend, my freedom is your freedom. Therefore, I beg you, to please post on this site any media that can show injustices to freedom fighters. – Jabi, on Facebook

For the Iranian people everything begins on June 12, 2009, with their 10th presidential election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution: the challenge was between the outgoing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the opposition’s leader, Hossein Moussavi. Their decision today is largely whether to keep hard-line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power for four more years, or to replace him with a reformist more open to loosening the country's Islamic restrictions and improving ties with the United States. Another candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, is more closely associated with the core causes of the Iranian reformist movement, including the freeing of political prisoners and women’s rights, but, as a former prime minister in the 1980s, Mr. Moussavi is given great credit for having managed Iran’s economy effectively during the war with Iraq.

We are hearing reports from Iran that text-messaging has been blocked all over the country. Independent observers are not allowed to be present at the voting. Results are expected to come in early on Saturday in Tehran. Mr. Moussavi’s supporters say they remain concerned about the possibility of fraud, but a determined campaign, led by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a two-term former president and one of Iran’s richest and most powerful men, has kept that issue in the public eye. In an extraordinary public letter on Tuesday, Mr. Rafsanjani urged Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, to prevent any fraud, and on Thursday he met with the ayatollah for three hours. “If the system cannot or does not want to confront such ugly and sin-infected phenomena as insults, lies, and false allegations made in that debate, how can we consider ourselves followers of the sacred Islamic system?” Mr. Rafsanjani wrote.

On June 13th, the Interior Ministry, controlled by Ahmadinejad, announces that he has been elected in the first round with 62.6 percent of the vote, compared with less than 34 percent for Moussavi. Turnout is an extraordinary record: 86 percent of the 46.2 million eligible voters. But the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports that, according to the Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, officials from Iran’s Interior Ministry would have contacted Mr. Moussavi after the polls closed on Friday night, saying that he would have won the election, and asking him not to make any announcement.

As vote-rigging often leaves traces in the results, let'shave a look at some interesting items:

* After a legal and controlled investigation, Iran’s senior panel of election monitors says that, in 50 cities, the number of votes cast exceeded the actual number of voters;

* Even if candidates usually win in their home districts, especially where their ethnicity should help them, Moussavi, an Azeri, lost in Azerbaijan and Karrubi won only 5 percent into his native district, with a 10th part of his 2005 votes;

* With paper ballots, a speed count is suspicious, but for this election the Interior Ministry declared victory for Ahmadinejad only two hours after polls have been closed and results were immediately authorized.

The disbelief on the part of the international community is shared by many Iranian citizens. And while the defeated candidate launches a legal appeal, what ensued on the streets of Tehran,is the largest public demonstrations in the Islamic republic’s 30-year history. There are now hundreds of thousands of people protesting in the centre of Tehran. Security forces — who vastly outnumbered the small group of demonstrators — beat the protesters gathered on Tehran's Baharestan Square with batons and fired tear gas canisters and rounds of ammunition into the air.

All three Ahmadinejad's challengers in the election have made public allegations of fraud after results showed the president winning by a 2-to-1 margin, so, on June 16th, the Guardian Council, made up of clerics and experts in Islamic law and closely allied to Mr. Khamenei, having the apparent authority to nullify an election, is called to certify the results. Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders, a media rights group, is urging nations not to recognize the results of Iran's presidential election, citing censorship and a crackdown on journalists.

Some days later, the Guardian Council announces – in a rare acknowledgment – that there have been voting irregularities in 50 districts, including local vote counts that exceeded the number of eligible voters, but that, however, these discrepancies are not widespread enough to affect the result.

The Guardian Council warned that some material on the web is ''creating tension'' and must be removed to avoid ''legal consequences.” After confining foreign journalists to their hotels, bloggers are the new target of the regime. The Guardians of the Revolution consider the web as a threat and to keep images and stories on events in the country from being published on the Internet, the regime has threatened those who use social networks to spread information. Blogs and social networks have been and are crucial for the Iranian opposition to let the world know what is happening. Facebook and YouTube have been playing an important role in this too, with the former hosting longer manifestos and idea exchanges, and the latter hosting grainy film of protests and police attacks captured on cell phone cameras. But for "front line" news bulletins, Twitter has emerged as the preferred mode of clandestine communication.

Meanwhile, a few days later Ahmadinejad visits Russia – which has long-time political and economic ties with Iran, where it is building a nuclear power site at Bushehr. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow declares he respects the election result: disputes about the vote "should be settled in strict compliance with Iran's Constitution and law" and are "exclusively an internal matter."

In New York, UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon urges an "immediate stop to the arrests, threats and use of force."

On June 19th, the U.S. House of Representatives passes 405 to 1 the following bipartisan resolution, introduced by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.6) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Cal.2, to support Iranian dissidents and

(1) expresses its support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law;

(2) condemns the ongoing violence against demonstrators by the Government of Iran and pro-government militias, as well as the ongoing government suppression of independent electronic communication through interference with the Internet and cell phones; and

(3) affirms the universality of individual rights and the importance of democratic and fair elections

Lastly and most importantly, the resolution expresses Americans’ unqualified support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties and the rule of law.

America is freedom and in this cause the American people will not be silent. There is no intention here to pick sides in the Iranian election, but to simply stand by those who stand up for freedom.

Monday June 22nd will go down on history for Neda Agha Soltan’s death, whose video circulated worldwide, with her proud wonderful eyes. What we have seen through her last glance is a powerful desire on the part of the Iranian people to be free.

Caspian Makan, her boyfriend, said the 26-year-old woman had not been deterred by the risk of joining protests. She was a philosophy student and loved poetry: Iran's Rumi and America's Robert Frost were her favorites.

He told an Associated Press reporter during a telephone call that "she only ever said to want one thing: democracy and freedom for the people of Iran." Iran state radio blamed civilians’ murder like Soltan’s on "saboteurs" – not the pro-regime Basij militiamen who have been beating the protesters. To verify reports on demonstrations, clashes and casualties is quite impossible: Iran has ordered reporters to stay in their offices, barring them from reporting on the streets. Reporters Without Borders put at 34 the figure of reporters detained since the protests began. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said 13 are still in custody. State radio reported today that Iranian authorities arrested at least 457 people after post-election clashes that left 10 people dead, as the nation's clerical leaders battled to contain the worst crisis since the Islamic revolution.
Perhaps do detaining journalists for reporting news and commentary indicate the government has something to hide?

[Rasputin]

Only on June 23rd, eventually, in response to critical comments from Sen. John McCain of Arizona and other Republicans, President Obama condemns the Iranian government for its crackdown against election protesters and accuses Iran’s leaders of fabricating charges against the United States. If only he would have read the new nationwide public opinion survey of Iran conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow – The Center for Public Opinion (“TFT”), the New America Foundation, and KA Europe SPRL (“KA”), he would know that Iran has been deprived of the benefits of globalization such as the import of new ideas, technologies and practices. Inside their houses, the lifestyle of Iranians suggests that they are following almost every contemporary trend, from fashion to the use of technology, above all in Teheran, but, as a student wrote on Facebook, Iranians don't want to have to worry about too many rules: “We want the rest of the world to be open to us too. Ahmadinejad doesn't think bigger than Iran, he thinks that Iranians will be happy if he gives us a bag of potatoes. But we want more."

More than 70 percent of Iranians also favor Iran providing full inspections and a guarantee not to develop or possess nuclear weapons in return for outside aid and investment. In another consistent trend over the past two years, 77 percent of Iranians back normal relations and trade with the United States. Sixty-eight percent also favor Iran working with the United States to help resolve the Iraq war, while 60 percent back unconditional negotiations with the U.S. The Iranian people have proven that they desire a free, democratic society and due to social sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube the world can no longer ignore them.