With the world now watching, the news is full of information on the events of Iran. Here are a number of new bits to fill you in:
Mohammad Sagha, a Chicago blogger, is in Tehran visiting his family for the summer, he has some interesting reports about what is going on that the Western press is not showing. Here is a great comment that, I think, shows something about the mentality of Iranians within the country:
This morning’s Tehran Times, an english publication inside Iran, had this following headline: “Candidates and followers are different from rioters: Larijani.” Larijani is the current speaker of Iran’s parliament, or Majles. This isn’t the first time a high official has made such a statement, but I think it is extremely important to reiterate; it shows that people look at opposition inside Iran as legitimate as long as they aren’t violent and there are powerful elements inside Iran which are serious about compromise and recognizing dissent.
In the end, if the government starts the violence, how should the opposition react? Kind of a catch 22.
Nico Pitney, of the Huffington Post, has a GREAT live blogging archive of events.
The BBC asks… where did all the votes come from?
Another good article by the BBC that breaks down the three potential areas where the “extra” votes could have come from, assuming they are legit votes.
1) Voter turn out
Result – reported turnout figures are problematic.
2) So where did the new votes come from?
Result – in order to get to the total declared of 765,000 votes from the provinces 44% of former reformist voters would have had to have voted for President Ahmadinejad. Unlikely according to the report.
3) Do rural voters support Ahmadinejad?
Result – his increase in support for Ahmadinejad amongst rural and ethnic minority voters is out of step with previous trends, extremely large in scale, and central to the question of how the credibility of Ahmadinejad’s victory has been perceived within Iran.
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, said….
“Germany stands on the side of those people in Iran who want to exercise their right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. I strongly urge the Iranian leaders
- to allow peaceful demonstrations;
- not to use force against demonstrators;
- to release political prisoners;
- to allow free reporting by the media; and
- to recount the votes cast in the presidential election.
What is true for the rest of the world is also true for the Iran: general human and civil rights must be fully respected!”
Seems to be a lot more than what President Obama is willing to say.
China wants Ahmadinejad election recognized
China is throwing thoughts about the Iranian election into the mix:
Last Thursday, an editorial in the state-owned English-language China Daily called on the international community “to leave Irans internal problems to the Iranian people and accept their verdict.
“Attempts to push the so-called color revolution toward chaos will prove very dangerous,” the editorial continued. Opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi “refuses to accept defeat. Win and loss are two sides of an election coin. Some candidates are less inclined to accept defeat.”
China Daily pointed to a pre-election poll that showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead by a 2 to 1 margin.
You think Tiananmen Square may be haunting some members of the Chinese government? Maybe it’s the fact that if a revolution could break out in Iran, it could also happen in China. Oh, and the “pre-election poll” the China Daily pointed to is very, very suspect. According to the BB,C 1,731 people contacted and well over half either refused to participate (42.2%) or did not indicate a preferred candidate (15.6%).
UPDATE #1: The IBTimes is reporting Revolutionary Guards commander defies Khamenei’s orders to use force on protestors
General Ali Fazli, who was recently appointed as a commander of the Revolutionary Guards in the province of Tehran, is reported to have been arrested after he refused to carry out orders from the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to use force on people protesting the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
If recent events are any indication of what may happen to Ali Fazli, you know it won’t be good.
UPDATE #2 0n 6/24/09: Iranian footballers who wore green armbands to support protesters forced to retire
Four footballers who wore green armbands in solidarity with Iranian protesters have been forced to retire from the national team.
Their gesture in a recent World Cup match in Seoul attracted worldwide attention last week.
But the authorities have now taken revenge revenge by imposing life bans on Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka’abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32. According to the paper, they have been ‘retired’ from the sport.
Related posts: