Two videos telling the story of what happened in Iran’s streets on Ashura day 1388, 27 December 2009. This is how the Iranian regime that calls itself Islamic treats its own citizens!
Warning for graphic content!
Part 1:
The picture of a girl at 7:23 is not from Iran.
Part 2:
30 December 2009
27 December 2009
Live reports from Iran 27 December
6 Day - The Day of Ashura
Today is the 10 day of Moharram, the day Imam Hossein and his followers were massacred by an army sent by Yazid I of the Ummawwid Dynasty in Karbala.
These blogs are following today's events live:
Also reporting:
YouTube channels:
High quality pictures:
Today is the 10 day of Moharram, the day Imam Hossein and his followers were massacred by an army sent by Yazid I of the Ummawwid Dynasty in Karbala.
These blogs are following today's events live:
- Josh Shahryar: Daily Nite Owl
- EnduringAmerica
- Street Journalist (English and farsi)
- Iran News Now
- The Hype: Dissected News for a Curious World
Also reporting:
YouTube channels:
- onlymehdi
- onlymehdii1
- peive17
- freedommessenger20
- madyariran
- iran09twitter
- TheBistoon
- l1ssnup Playlist Tehran 27 December 09
- UNITY4IRAN
High quality pictures:
- Madyar's Twitpic
- Revolutionary Road (Facebook)
- ismanews
26 December 2009
Live blogging from the streets of Iran
26 December (5 Day)
These blogs follow today's evets in Iran live:
(Will be updated during the day)
These blogs follow today's evets in Iran live:
- Josh Shahryar: Daily Nite Owl
- Iran News Now
- StreetJournalist
- EnduringAmerica - Videos
- Tehran Bureau
(Will be updated during the day)
19 December 2009
Iran acknowledges prisoners were beaten to death
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, The Associated Press, December 19, 2009
TEHRAN, Iran -- After months of denials, Iran acknowledged Saturday that at least three people detained in the country's postelection turmoil were beaten to death by their jailers.
The surprise announcement by the hard-line judiciary confirmed one of the opposition's most devastating and embarrassing claims against authorities and the elite Revolutionary Guard forces that led the crackdown after June's disputed presidential vote. […]
The judiciary also said it has charged 12 officials at Kahrizak prison - three of them with murder, but it did not identify them. The prison, on the southern outskirts of the capital, Tehran, was at the center of the opposition's claims that prisoners were tortured and raped in custody.
Full story in Washington Post.
TEHRAN, Iran -- After months of denials, Iran acknowledged Saturday that at least three people detained in the country's postelection turmoil were beaten to death by their jailers.
The surprise announcement by the hard-line judiciary confirmed one of the opposition's most devastating and embarrassing claims against authorities and the elite Revolutionary Guard forces that led the crackdown after June's disputed presidential vote. […]
The judiciary also said it has charged 12 officials at Kahrizak prison - three of them with murder, but it did not identify them. The prison, on the southern outskirts of the capital, Tehran, was at the center of the opposition's claims that prisoners were tortured and raped in custody.
Full story in Washington Post.
BBC: Exclusive interview with Mehdi Karoubi
Jon Leyne, BBC’s Tehran correspondent, sits down for an interview with Karroubi.
Article and video on BBC News
(Video is dubbend in English)
Some quotes:
Article and video on BBC News
(Video is dubbend in English)
Some quotes:
- “The Iranian government is being kept in power by force and will not last its four-year term.”
- "The government's response, the crackdown, has not calmed things down at all. In fact, it's just made the chanting louder. It's just increased the people's demands."
17 December 2009
People arrested on 16 Azar (7 Dec)
More names released according to HRA:
- Azad Uni student from Arak, Zahra Hosseni (Female, 28yrs) arrested at Valiasr is in Evin
- Atefeh Hashemi Moghadam (Female 26yrs) arrested at Enghelab is in Evin
- Shirin Rezaee (Female, 28yrs) arrested at Enghelab is in Evin
- Ali Abasi 30yrs, arrested at Vesal is in Evin
- Emad SoltaniNiya 23yrs, arrested is in Evin
- Benyamin Mazloumi 20yrs, arrested at Valiasr is in Evin
- Mahmoud Heydarzadeh 29yrs, arrested at Hafez is in Evin
- Morteza Mohajeri, 22yrs, arrested at Valiasr is in Evin
- Mehdi Sadeghi 31yrs, arrested around Sharif Uni is in Evin
- Amin Fatemi 20yrs, arrested at Valiasr is in Evin
- Mohamad Hasan Mohtashami Por 25yrs, arrested at Felestin is in Evin
- Alireza Javadi 30yrs, arrested at Enghelab is in Evin
- Ali Babaiyan 26yrs, is in Evin
- Naveed Eghbal Doost, 26yrs, arrested at Valiasr is in Evin
- Saeed Maleki 25yrs, arrested at Enghelab is in Evin
- Mohsen Mir Alavi 30yrs, arrested at Valiasr is in Evin
- Vahid ShahinFar 28yrs, arrested at Felestin is in Evin
- Jamal Nasiri Kohbanani 32yrs, whereabouts unknown
- Maziyar Ghanbarzadeh 26yrs, whereabouts unknown
A Basij Witness Tells His Story
- of election fraud, the following crackdown and sexual abuse
First published on Channel 4 News (UK)
His story confirms reports from victims and human rights groups, who say rape has been used all over Iran in the brutal months since the June election. Some quotes:
“In truth the orders didn’t come after the election. The orders for all that you witnessed came before the election. From three or four months before the election we had attended classes on ideological and political thought and crowd control.”
“We had received orders a matter of months before that there is jurisprudence, that there is the jurisprudence of the Imam Zaman, (the 13th Imam, who is expected to return like a Messiah) whose incarnation is Ayatollah Khamenei, and that he had announced that for the advancement and development of Islam and the development of the revolution no-one could be more effective than Mr. Ahmadinejad. Therefore the order came that Mr Khamenei has him in mind, that Mr Khamenei has Mr Ahmadinejad in mind for the presidency and so he must be announced as the winner. “It’s he who is best suited to this revolution, order and Velayat Faqih (Iranian system of Islamic jurisdiction)”
“For us who were responsible for the ballot boxes the order was this: that Aqa’s [Khamenei's] wish is for Ahmadinejad to win. For illiterate people and those not able to complete their ballots, you must do so for them and complete them accordingly (for Ahmadinejad), no matter who their vote was intended for. Same with blank votes.”
“When the voting was over, the boxes were opened, but not all of them. A few were opened and counted, then we received another order to send the boxes to the main centre.”
“Because a reaction was expected, we had been ordered from before the election for all security forces to be ready for the following day.[…] The command was that we were to prevent any gathering of people to take shape.”
“Any hint of protest was to be firmly supressed. […] In our view, it was not a protest against the issue but a protest against Ayatollah Khamenei himself.”
We had orders “to attack everyone without restraint or mercy regardless of age. It was made clear, there was to be no difference between child or adult, men and women. Proper attack, without warning, or any discussion.”
“In the clashes, anyone who was wounded would be arrested. If they couldn’t catch them they’d get someone else. They would arrest anyone they could. It made no difference who it was. Wounded, not wounded. If they were activists, all the better. Young children, young adults. The treatment of them – the mode of attack and length of attack on them left me in shock.”
“The command was to arrest as many 12-18 year olds as possible and bring them back. This group caused the most trouble so the idea was not to give them any opportunity to congregate. Many were arrested. Again, several locations had been prepared to take them and keep them there.”
“They had some containers ready. They had arrested some youngsters and were asking them their age and were separating them accordingly. Over 18s went into to one container and the under 18s into the several other containers. The number of children under the age of 18 was greater. They filled three or four containers of some 25 people in each.
“Then we heard noise from the yard. […] The sound of screams and pleading and crying. We didn’t understand what was going on. […] I couldn’t believe that they would want to do such a thing: to rape.”
“It’s as if it’s replaying in front of me. The faces, the screams are with me every moment. […] They were pleading, they were crying, they wanted help, but my brother is a more senior authority than me. We went to see what was happening.”
“We asked what all the noise was about. They said “Nothing, this is Fath ol Moin (aid to victory). We said: ‘What do you mean, what are you doing? Who’s in there?’ […] ‘What’s happening, why are they crying?’
“My relative was furious and very frustrated. He was very angry. When we got there he said: ‘What is this? Sexual abuse is a serious crime. Who gave this order? Who authorised this? Haji calmly replied with a smile: ‘This is Fath Al Moin. It’s a worthy deed. There’s nothing wrong with it. Why are you complaining?’
“My relative said again: ‘Is there anything more filthy than this, more ugly than this? With children, these are children, they haven’t done anything. They’re from our own home town.’
“The pain and the shame in front of people and before God. […] We really saw ourselves as upstanding and separate from others. We really believed that what we did was correct, that we were serving the people, that we were serving God and that our mission was nothing but worshipping God.”
“Now I’m left with my conscience punishing me for what I did. I hope that God and people forgive me.”
Part 1:
Part 2:
Full English text on Channel 4 News
Also on the blog StreetJournalist
First published on Channel 4 News (UK)
His story confirms reports from victims and human rights groups, who say rape has been used all over Iran in the brutal months since the June election. Some quotes:
“In truth the orders didn’t come after the election. The orders for all that you witnessed came before the election. From three or four months before the election we had attended classes on ideological and political thought and crowd control.”
“We had received orders a matter of months before that there is jurisprudence, that there is the jurisprudence of the Imam Zaman, (the 13th Imam, who is expected to return like a Messiah) whose incarnation is Ayatollah Khamenei, and that he had announced that for the advancement and development of Islam and the development of the revolution no-one could be more effective than Mr. Ahmadinejad. Therefore the order came that Mr Khamenei has him in mind, that Mr Khamenei has Mr Ahmadinejad in mind for the presidency and so he must be announced as the winner. “It’s he who is best suited to this revolution, order and Velayat Faqih (Iranian system of Islamic jurisdiction)”
“For us who were responsible for the ballot boxes the order was this: that Aqa’s [Khamenei's] wish is for Ahmadinejad to win. For illiterate people and those not able to complete their ballots, you must do so for them and complete them accordingly (for Ahmadinejad), no matter who their vote was intended for. Same with blank votes.”
“When the voting was over, the boxes were opened, but not all of them. A few were opened and counted, then we received another order to send the boxes to the main centre.”
“Because a reaction was expected, we had been ordered from before the election for all security forces to be ready for the following day.[…] The command was that we were to prevent any gathering of people to take shape.”
“Any hint of protest was to be firmly supressed. […] In our view, it was not a protest against the issue but a protest against Ayatollah Khamenei himself.”
We had orders “to attack everyone without restraint or mercy regardless of age. It was made clear, there was to be no difference between child or adult, men and women. Proper attack, without warning, or any discussion.”
“In the clashes, anyone who was wounded would be arrested. If they couldn’t catch them they’d get someone else. They would arrest anyone they could. It made no difference who it was. Wounded, not wounded. If they were activists, all the better. Young children, young adults. The treatment of them – the mode of attack and length of attack on them left me in shock.”
“The command was to arrest as many 12-18 year olds as possible and bring them back. This group caused the most trouble so the idea was not to give them any opportunity to congregate. Many were arrested. Again, several locations had been prepared to take them and keep them there.”
“They had some containers ready. They had arrested some youngsters and were asking them their age and were separating them accordingly. Over 18s went into to one container and the under 18s into the several other containers. The number of children under the age of 18 was greater. They filled three or four containers of some 25 people in each.
“Then we heard noise from the yard. […] The sound of screams and pleading and crying. We didn’t understand what was going on. […] I couldn’t believe that they would want to do such a thing: to rape.”
“It’s as if it’s replaying in front of me. The faces, the screams are with me every moment. […] They were pleading, they were crying, they wanted help, but my brother is a more senior authority than me. We went to see what was happening.”
“We asked what all the noise was about. They said “Nothing, this is Fath ol Moin (aid to victory). We said: ‘What do you mean, what are you doing? Who’s in there?’ […] ‘What’s happening, why are they crying?’
“My relative was furious and very frustrated. He was very angry. When we got there he said: ‘What is this? Sexual abuse is a serious crime. Who gave this order? Who authorised this? Haji calmly replied with a smile: ‘This is Fath Al Moin. It’s a worthy deed. There’s nothing wrong with it. Why are you complaining?’
“My relative said again: ‘Is there anything more filthy than this, more ugly than this? With children, these are children, they haven’t done anything. They’re from our own home town.’
“The pain and the shame in front of people and before God. […] We really saw ourselves as upstanding and separate from others. We really believed that what we did was correct, that we were serving the people, that we were serving God and that our mission was nothing but worshipping God.”
“Now I’m left with my conscience punishing me for what I did. I hope that God and people forgive me.”
Part 1:
Part 2:
Full English text on Channel 4 News
Also on the blog StreetJournalist
16 December 2009
Amanpour: update on Iran
CNN, 10 December 2009
CNN's Christiane Amanpour looks at the international community's relations with Iran following continued student protests. Her guests are:
Link to CNN video
Wall Street Journal: Iranian Crackdown Goes Global, by Farnaz Fassihi (14 Dec 09)
CNN's Christiane Amanpour looks at the international community's relations with Iran following continued student protests. Her guests are:
- Farnaz Fassihi, from Wall Street Journal, who recently published an investigation about the global monitoring and harassment of Iranians abroad by Iran authorities.
- John Limbert, Dep. Assistant Sec. for Near East and former US hostage.
- Shirin Neshat, filmmaker and artist
Link to CNN video
Wall Street Journal: Iranian Crackdown Goes Global, by Farnaz Fassihi (14 Dec 09)
13 December 2009
Desperately looking for a change
A Twitter activist on the reformist movement in Iran (7 Dec)
Source
We shouldn’t forget that ordinary people have been scared with all rights to speak up their minds in over 30 years. They need some time and encouraging examples to defeat that and it is exactly what’s happening in Iran since the Election. Iranian people have once again refunded their so long lost self-confidence. People have desperately looked for a change during the last 28-30 years and any attempt for more freedom has been crushed. After the serial arrests/executions of the political opposition at the end of the 70s and the 80s no opposition worth mentioning has excited inside Iran. The reformist movement gave people some hope of improvement and involved the student activists and the students have supported it since the start. It has been the safest way, NOT the fastest, but again the safest way to implement changes and ideas for the students (and the people) since NOTHING else has been allowed. The reformist movement in Iran is very complex and includes so many ideas and interests, for its survival it can’t deny the “Valihe Faghih” but it has been pushing the limits since the death of Khomeini. The Students are women rights movement, human rights activists, socialist and etc… Students are probably the most radical supporters of the Reformist movement and have paid a high price for that. Elderly people who experienced the 1979 Revolution and the Iran – Iraq war are more cynical, most of them didn’t even want to vote in the last three presidential elections, but each election younger has tried to involve them. The reformist movement has helped to regroup and reorganize a solid opposition at the grassroots level in Iran which has grown day by day despite the crackdowns, arrests and many disappointments.
Something has been in the air in Iran for the last couple of years and having AN as president has only intensified it. The majority of the people united determined to get rid of AN this summer and dared to hope for a better Iran and The rigged election pulled the trigger.
I can’t speak for everyone but now after 5 months fight with the coup I am certain that the majority of the people lead by the students want to have secularism Iran. The majority of the people have desired a secular democracy in Iran for a long time, but now they (Greens) know that they can achieve it and the way to do it has been through reformist and will be for some more time and anything else would be stopped quite easily & violently by the coup-maker even more violent than now. You can just hear it through the chants and slogans in every protests that things are changing in Iran. Each slogan includes a powerful message to the Coup and to the world but mainly to other people in Iran. Don’t be afraid we can do this.. Velayate Faghih’s time is over. We passed the redline June 2009. No return, no surrender. We must just keep fighting patiently until the day... The victory will be ours soon …
/Mani
(I have made some small corrections in the text)
Source
We shouldn’t forget that ordinary people have been scared with all rights to speak up their minds in over 30 years. They need some time and encouraging examples to defeat that and it is exactly what’s happening in Iran since the Election. Iranian people have once again refunded their so long lost self-confidence. People have desperately looked for a change during the last 28-30 years and any attempt for more freedom has been crushed. After the serial arrests/executions of the political opposition at the end of the 70s and the 80s no opposition worth mentioning has excited inside Iran. The reformist movement gave people some hope of improvement and involved the student activists and the students have supported it since the start. It has been the safest way, NOT the fastest, but again the safest way to implement changes and ideas for the students (and the people) since NOTHING else has been allowed. The reformist movement in Iran is very complex and includes so many ideas and interests, for its survival it can’t deny the “Valihe Faghih” but it has been pushing the limits since the death of Khomeini. The Students are women rights movement, human rights activists, socialist and etc… Students are probably the most radical supporters of the Reformist movement and have paid a high price for that. Elderly people who experienced the 1979 Revolution and the Iran – Iraq war are more cynical, most of them didn’t even want to vote in the last three presidential elections, but each election younger has tried to involve them. The reformist movement has helped to regroup and reorganize a solid opposition at the grassroots level in Iran which has grown day by day despite the crackdowns, arrests and many disappointments.
Something has been in the air in Iran for the last couple of years and having AN as president has only intensified it. The majority of the people united determined to get rid of AN this summer and dared to hope for a better Iran and The rigged election pulled the trigger.
I can’t speak for everyone but now after 5 months fight with the coup I am certain that the majority of the people lead by the students want to have secularism Iran. The majority of the people have desired a secular democracy in Iran for a long time, but now they (Greens) know that they can achieve it and the way to do it has been through reformist and will be for some more time and anything else would be stopped quite easily & violently by the coup-maker even more violent than now. You can just hear it through the chants and slogans in every protests that things are changing in Iran. Each slogan includes a powerful message to the Coup and to the world but mainly to other people in Iran. Don’t be afraid we can do this.. Velayate Faghih’s time is over. We passed the redline June 2009. No return, no surrender. We must just keep fighting patiently until the day... The victory will be ours soon …
/Mani
(I have made some small corrections in the text)
7 December 2009
Live blogging from the Streets of Iran
16 Azar, 7 December
Follow these blogs for live updates from today’s protests in Iran:
Street Journalist
Enduring America
Iran News Now
Iranian.com (farsi)
Homylafayette
-also following:
http://livingdocuments.wordpress.com/
France24international
Follow these blogs for live updates from today’s protests in Iran:
Street Journalist
Enduring America
Iran News Now
Iranian.com (farsi)
Homylafayette
-also following:
http://livingdocuments.wordpress.com/
France24international
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