It had been some time since I was able to find good news regarding the Iranian Election/Iranian Revolution.  The government crackdown on media and Internet traffic was very successful, actually, I believe more than most would have expected.  So, the lack of information wasn’t all that surprising.  The latest story, however; is: Iran’s biggest group of clerics has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election to be illegitimate.

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

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

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

As the rest of the world has a loss of focus due to just living life, the challenges within Iran continue.  It’s also important to note the actions the Iranian Government is taking against journalists.

“The daily growth of anti-regime satellite channels and … websites needs serious measures to confront this phenomenon,” it quoted a circular issued by Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi as saying.

“Those who cooperate with such websites and television channels will face prosecution,” Hashemi-Shahroudi said.

For the first time in Iran, foreign-based satellite TV channels, particularly the BBC’s Persian TV, and blogs played a big part in providing news and comment about the election.

Also… a Newsweek reporter faces trial over election coverage:

Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari and a number of reformist leaders in Iran are to face trial accused of “acting against national security,” their lawyer Saleh Nikbakht told AFP on Saturday.

“Bahari is accused of acting against national security, and I still have not been able to meet him despite going to the prosecutor’s office several times,” Nikbakht said.

He is also representing a number of reformist leaders detained in the aftermath of the June 12 presidential election, and said that all of them face the same charge.

The attempt to cripple the press via “legal” means is the governments way of legitimizing their actions against the press and to show the world that they are in control in their country.  As sad as it may be, such actions may cause journalists and news organizations to think twice before they report what is really going on.

For several days now, I’ve posted updates regarding the events in Iran. I have a great amount of hesitation in posting this, however; if one really wants to know what is going on with the protests, one cannot look away simply because the truth is ugly, vile or disturbing.

That said, I give you a video of a young Irania protester by the name of Neda and the last seconds of her life.

This video is very disturbing.

If you have ANY hesitation, if you DO NOT want to see a graphic scene created – apparently – by the Basij, an Iranian paramilitary force, DO NOT watch (LAST WARNING) this video…

This young woman, Neda, is the face of the Iranian revolution.

UPDATE on 6/21/09: The LA Times is covering it now, and check out the action on Twitter about her and it appears the video is now being shown on CNN.

UPDATE #2 on 6/21/09: Here is the Wikipedia entry for her.

UPDATE #3 on 6/21/09: Apparently her name was Neda Agha Soltan (also going by Neda Soltani)

UPDATE #4 on 6/22/09: La Figa has an email from an individual apparently from one of the people who tried to help Neda (from Andrew Sullivan)> Not confirmed but worth a read.

At 19:05 June 20th
Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st.

A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart.

I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim’s chest, and she died in less than 2 minutes.

The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St.

The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me.

Please let the world know.

UPDATE #5 on 6/22/09: The “Guardian Council” is now admitting more than 100% of the vote was counted in a number of cities. Still does not help Neda at this point.

UPDATE #6 on 6/22/09: iReport has a picture of her grave, and it sounds like the government played the censorship card on this as well.

UPDATE #7 on 6/22/09: Neda’s fiance, Caspian Makan, spoke with BBC Persian about her Neda’s death. Good read. I find the following paragraphs to be sad:

On Monday afternoon, we had planned to hold a memorial service at the mosque.

But the authorities there and the paramilitary group, the Basij, wouldn’t allow it because they were worried it would attract unwanted attention and they didn’t want anymore trouble.

The authorities are aware that everybody in Iran and throughout the whole world knows about her story. So that’s why they didn’t want a memorial service. They were afraid that lots people could turn up at the event.

So as things stand now, we are not allowed to hold any gatherings to remember Neda.

Update #8 on 6/23/09: More from Caspian Makan, her fiance, saying Neda was caught up in the protest:

“She was near the area, a few streets away, from where the main protests were taking place, near the Amir Abad area. She was with her music teacher, sitting in a car and stuck in traffic,” it quoted him as saying. “She was feeling very tired and very hot. She got out of the car for just a few minutes.”

Update #9 on 6/23/09: Iran sent letters to mosques banning collective prayers for Neda.

Update #10 on 6/23/09: Now Caspian Makan, the reported boyfriend/fiance of Neda, is saying he asked her to not go to the protest:

“I tried to dissuade her from going out in the streets because I’d seen in my work as a journalist that, unfortunately, there are a lot of merciless behaviours,”

UPDATE #11 on 6/23/09: Jezebel has an outstanding wrap-up on the events surrounding Neda, including a bit I had not read before – the Iranian press is saying “incident was planned” by protesters.

On Friday, 6/19, Iran’s supreme leader flat out rejected vote fraud claims, reiterating President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the winner of the election. During his speech, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attempted to send a clear warning to protesters:

“I want to tell everyone these things must finish. These street actions are being done to put pressure on leaders but we will not bow in front of them,” he said.

“Those politicans who somehow have influence on people should be very careful about their behaviour if they act in an extremist manner.

“This extremism will reach a sensitive level which they will not be able to contain. They will be responsible for the blood, violence and chaos,” he added, warning that “terrorists who could assassinate the Basij (militia) or the police” might hide among the demonstrators.

The Ayatollah also made the statement:

The legal structure in this country does not allow vote-rigging

As I understand it he is right, as he is the ultimate individual who decides everything within the government. Why bother rigging the vote when he could simply put in anyone he wants.

Despite the call for the protests to stop supporters of Mousavi are expecting to hold another large rally. Supporters of Ahmadinejad expected to hold a counter-rally. I could see how such a situation would turn into a volatile mix – especially since the government said to expect violence.

Oh, and Khamenei has a message for Mousavi – either accept the disputed results of the recent elections or leave the country for exile. Nice huh?  Imagine what would have happened if that was said here.

The supreme leader is also claiming outside forces are to blame for the current situation:

“After street protests, some foreign powers … started to interfere in Iran’s state matters by questioning the result of the vote. They do not know the Iranian nation. I strongly condemn such interference,” Khamenei said.Is there really anything wrong with questioning authority, and is the simple act of questioning interference? No. Khamenei is trying to place the blame for the current situation elsewhere.

Finally, do you want a perspective that you haven’t read about up until this point? Do you want to know what it would be like to be a protester who was arrested? If so, you need to read what happened to a Canadian journalist who was arrested as a suspected protester. Really, you must read this.

You need to check out these picture from Iran.

Boston.com has a number of impresssive pictures, but this set of pictures from twitpic is VERY impressive.

Just to point out the “outside world” does not know exactly what is taking place in Iran, but it is very clear something is taking place.

6/22/ 09 Update:  Here is another set of pictures from Boston.com title A Troubled Week In Iran.  Some great stuff here.