Iran's Election Uprising: Rafsanjani sends them out again
source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-prayer18-2009jul18,0,6890660.story
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Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is a former President of Iran, and is considered a "reformer" because he would like to be polite enough to the US to get sanctions lifted, liberalize economic rules, and then be an authoritarian. This makes him one of the most liberal leading politicians in Iran. Of course, he is first and foremost a politician, so he may swing to whatever faction has coattails, and the democracy movement has them.
Being an Ayatollah (which is kinda like being a federal judge: except that their legal system is Islamic law, so more like a religious/legal expert), he gave an influential speech today at Tehran University where he argued (according to al Jazeera) media censorship must end, and political prisoners must be released, and that everyone lost with this election.
Of course, giving such a speech at a University means students are going to go nuts, and this is carefully choreographed political theater. Braveheart-esque cries of "Freedom!" during the speech quickly turned into "Death to the dictator!" on the streets. And just as naturally, Basij hopped on their bikes with their chains and pipes to go give the college kids a beat down as police shot tear gas and whipped out their handy batons to give more beat downs. No word yet on how many died and were arrested.
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cabinettags
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I've read a number of articles today and spent some time watching the posts on Twitter. The Sea of Green was alive again in Tehran. Estimates put the numbers at 1 million on the street. More than 100 arrested. At least 1 death. And the body of a protester that's been in custody for 2 weeks was found today. She'd been raped repeatedly and her body was burned. I also read a number of elated posts that pointed out today was the very first time that men and women keeled in prayer side by side.
Link below are several pages of still photos from Friday's prayer.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fhashemi/This is the link for "The Green Brief", published 7-17 This blog does a good job of describing events. Among other things, apparently the charred body was found of a missing female protester. She'd been raped repeatedly.
http://iran.whyweprotest.net/green-brief/15529-green-brief-31-july-17-a.htmlOnly for those with a strong stomach:
http://darafsh7.blogspot.com/ - 2 years ago
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cabinettags
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Bags
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@Panzer_Tanzler , I don't think the number on the streets right now is a question of "wanting it enough" - it's a question of who has the guns and who is issuing the orders. So far, no military commanders are switching sides to support the democracy movement, so they don't have the firepower to do anything violently.
But they did get the attention of the politicians, so you can bet there is motion behind the scenes right now. Rafsanjani is no rank amateur politician - he wouldn't waste his reputation on this if he didn't think he could make something of it.
- 2 years ago
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Panzer_Tanzler
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Give it up. They had their chance. They clearly didn't want a reformist enough.
- 2 years ago
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Panzer_Tanzler
