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POPSMohammed Ali Abtahi: Gegen Missbrauch der Religion durch die Politik Die Beweggründe seines nicht ungefährlichen Einsatzes für Toleranz und religiöse Offenheit erklärt Mohammed Abtahi so: "Es ist eine Verpflichtung für die intellektuelle Elite im Iran die religiöse Toleranz heute mehr denn je zu vertreten und zu vermitteln, vor allem gegenüber den jungen Leuten im Land. Ihnen müssen wir zeigen, dass es Gott in jeder Religion gibt, dass Sehnsucht nach Gerechtigkeit in jeder Religion ein zentrales Thema ist und dass alle Religionen Wege zu Gott suchen."
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POPSMass Trial of Iranian Protesters Deepens Nation's Divides
possibly more, in prison. Among the defendants are several prominent reformist opposition activists including former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, former vice speaker of parliament Behzad Nabavi, former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh and leader of the biggest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Mohsen Mirdamadi. Pictures from the courtroom showed a thin-looking Mr. Abtahi and a grim Mr. Mirdamadi, both in prison uniforms, sitting in the front row. More than a hundred defendants could be seen sitting in the packed courtroom, many of them handcuffed but without prison uniforms. State media didn't provide further details about the trial, and there was no information on when it would end or when a verdict would be expected. Iran's former reformist President Mohammad Khatami criticized the country's first trial of activists and protesters following the disputed presidential election as a sham.
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POPSProtest Movement in Iran: Fighting the Arrogance of Power Deutsche Originalfassung: Protestbewegung im Iran - Gegen die Arroganz der Macht (de.qantara.de) Im Iran spricht niemand mehr von Wahlbetrug. Längst drehen sich die Debatten um die Ignoranz des Regimes gegenüber der Bevölkerung und die Geringschätzung ihres Denkvermögens.
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POPSWhy Are These People In Prison?! UPDATE Pedestrian The sidewalks of Tehran in all their glory … Ebrahim Yazdi was arrested while at the HOSPITAL. If this election was completely fair and transparent, WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE IN PRISON? Sadly, I don’t have the names of the NUMEROUS STUDENTS who were arrested. They remain the most nameless, innocent victims of this charade.
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POPSMoussavi to Appear in Public in Tehran He has also called on authorities to release hundreds of people detained in the turbulent aftermath of the election, including leading reformists, journalists and rights lawyers. Rafsanjani will lead the prayers after two months of absence. Some of his relatives, including his daughter Faezeh, were arrested briefly for taking part in pro-Mousavi rallies. State media say at least 20 people were killed as protesters clashed with riot police and members of the Basij militia, but some rights activists believe the figure is higher. The authorities and Mousavi blame each other for the bloodshed. Hardliners have called for Mousavi to be put on trial. Iran has accused Britain and the United States, which have criticised a crackdown on opposition protests, of interfering in its internal affairs. London and Washington reject the charge.
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POPSThe Green Brief #21 (July 07) . . . Rafsanjani himself has so far not supported this statement and where he stands is still unknown at this time. 6. There are partially-confirmed reports that Mousavi met with one, mourning protester’s family on Monday night. The protester’s father told Mousavi that his son was not very political, yet had taken a great deal of interest in Mr. Mousavi’s message. He also claimed that his son was not violent. Mousavi told the grieving family that the blood of the innocent never goes in vain. 7. After US Vice President Joe Biden’s statement yesterday, that suggested the US would not interfere if Israel were to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, Saudi Arabia was reported as offering Israel its airspace for any future attacks on Iran. However, Saudi Arabia today denied that it had made such comments. In the meantime, US President Obama has vehemently denied that Biden’s statements implied that the US had given Israel “a green light” to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.
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POPSIran Opposition Finds New Ways to Protest Khamenei ordered Iran election fraud, says ex-president VIENNA,AUSTRIA Jul 07 2009 Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is personally behind the alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election, former Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr claimed in Vienna late on Monday. "The regime is edging closer to the abyss and is holding on to power solely by means of violence and terror," said Banisadr, who was Iran's first elected president following the 1979 Islamic revolution. The regime wanted to keep the population in a permanent state of uncertainty and fear and so systematic terror was institutionally organised and controlled by the regime and Khamenei, he added. "They don't want Iranians to be able to even think about protests in their own homes." Intellectuals and students were the main targets since they were regarded as the driving force behind the resistance, Banisadr continued. "Reformers and liberal pragmatists are to be wiped out."
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POPSMAJOR MULLAH GROUP CALLS ELECTION ILLEGITIMATE at Stanford University. “Remember they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.” The announcement came on a day when Mr. Moussavi released documents detailing a campaign of fraud by the current president’s supporters, and as a close associate of the supreme leader called Mr. Moussavi and former President Mohammad Khatami “foreign agents,” saying they should be treated as criminals. The specific charges of fraud included the printing of millions of extra ballots before the vote. Since the election, the bulk of the clerical establishment in the holy city of Qum, an important religious and political center of power, has remained largely silent, leaving many to wonder when, or if, the nation’s most senior religious leaders would jump into the controversy that has posed the most significant challenge to the country’s leadership since the Islamic Revolution. With its statement Saturday, the association of clerics " formed under the leadership of
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POPSNewsweek Reporter Faces Iran Trial: Lawyer "Any kind of interview and confession by these people who are being held in prison is invalid under the law and the Iranian constitution," Nikbakht added. Less than a week ago, the Fars news agency reported an "interview" with Bahari, in which he said that he had filed "unreal and biased reports from Iran which were driven by greed." On Wednesday Newsweek repeated a call on Iran to release its correspondent immediately and rejected charges made against him. The US news weekly said that Bahari has been detained in Iran since June 21 without access to a lawyer. It quoted an Iranian state news agency as saying that Bahari "has said he participated in a Western media effort to promote irresponsible reporting in Iran." Scores of journalists and reformist politicians were arrested following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election, which triggered mass protests in Iran and charges of voter fraud.
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POPSThe exploitation of Islam It just seems anyone can try to excuse or explain or justify horrible actions by tossing G-d in there. People express their opions and it is a war against G-d? Kiss whatever hope people had for Iran good-bye. Was Neda, a warrior against G-d? I don't think so.
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POPSA Hardline Cleric Calls For Iran 'Rioters' To Be Executed Mr Mousavi's supporters plan to release thousands of balloons later today with the message: "Neda you will always remain in our hearts", in memory of Neda Agha Soltan, the young woman killed last week who has become an icon of the demonstrations. Iranian state television said eight Basij militiamen were killed by "rioters" during the protests. State media previously said 20 people were killed in the marches. Mr Khatami said Neda was killed by the rioters themselves for propaganda purposes. "By watching the film, any wise person can understand that rioters killed her," he said. Britain's Times newspaper quoted Dr Arash Hejazi, an Iranian who appeared on internet videos helping Neda, as echoing opposition charges the 26-year-old music student was killed by a government militiaman. "She was just a person in the street who was against the injustice going on in her country, and for that she was murdered," he said.
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POPSOpposition Leader Expected to Attend Protest Outside Iran's Parliament Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is expected to attend at a rally Wednesday amid an intensifying government crackdown on protesters following the country's disputed presidential election. http://www.facebook.com/mousavi?ref=ts%2F Iran has ordered journalists for international news agencies to stay in their offices, barring them from reporting on the streets. Mousavi says he was the true winner of the election. Iran's electoral commission declared Ahmadinejad the winner by a landslide, ignoring Mousavi's claims of widespread and systematic vote fraud. Mousavi has been out of sight in recent days, but a short message posted on his Web site asserted that "all the reports of violations in the elections will be published soon." State TV reported that Ahmadinejad would be sworn in sometime between July 26 and Aug. 19.
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POPSClerics Join Iran's Anti-Government Protests Iranian opposition at the leadership level and in the streets now has new faces, made up of those who had opposing ideologies before the election. One symbol of that has become a nightly tradition in Iran. Secular or religious, Iranians go to their rooftops every night.. and shout out "Allahu Akbar" -- God is great -- and "down with the dictator."
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POPSTamim Ansary on the future of the Iranian regime Ansary believes that what he calls the "Khomeinist" regime has made such serious tactical mistakes in trying to control dissent that it is probably doomed at this point. Khamenei, in failing even to maintain the appearance of fairness and impartiality, has insulted the intelligence of the people and sacrificed his own legitimacy. Interestingly, Ansary remarks that only intervention from the West -- on behalf of the protesters, that is -- is likely to save the old guard at this point, by restoring their moral authority as the guardians of Iranian nationalism.
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POPSHow to get 25,663 twitter followers in 4 days Dupe the lame chatter box loons into believing you differ ideologically from the fascist dictatorship, when in reality you do not. Oh well, here's hoping that the movement in Iran is more than about a disputed election between two similar-minded terrorists.
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POPSIranian Demonstrators Ignore Threats June 19, 2009 Raye Man Kojast? Where Is My Vote? Aftermath of Iran Elections Friday, June 19, 2009 Reformist Blog: 'Destiny-Making' Protest March To Go On in Tehran 20 Jun 09 The destiny-making march will take place at 1600 on Saturday in the company of Messrs Karrubi, Musavi and Khatami from Revolution Square towards Azadi . We call on all the supporters of reform and change to have an overwhelming presence so that their cries are a protest at cheating and lying and backing for it at the highest levels of the system. May the massive crowd make all officials, who do not attach the slightest value to the people's votes, tremble. http://campaign88.persianblog.ir/
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POPS The 1979 Playbook And these things tend to get a little bit out of control, they often result in even more violence by the security forces and even more deaths, which then requires another mourning rally which is even larger, which then requires more violence from the government, and this just becomes an ongoing snowball that can’t be stopped. That’s how the Shah was removed from power, was these mourning ceremonies. And so Mousavi very smartly calling for an official " not a rally " but an official day of mourning tomorrow. I think we’re going to see crowds that we haven’t even begun to see yet, and then follow that, on Friday, which is sort of the Muslim sabbath, the day of prayer, which is a traditionally a day of gathering anyway. This is just beginning, Rachel, this is just the beginning.
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POPS Sending Iran's Regrets ~ Michael J. Totten The United States isn't going to abandon a long-standing ally just because terrorists, Jew-hating dictatorships, and a minority of disgruntled American radicals find it distasteful. Even if the vote goes his way and Obama wins the election, Jackson will still have to keep hope alive, as will the Iranians. Withdrawing all U.S. forces from the Middle East likewise is not going to happen. Obama may want to bug out of Iraq as quickly as humanly possible, but there isn't even a small chance that he'll shut down American military bases in Turkey, Kuwait, and Qatar. Iran's preconditions are unacceptable. Whatever preconditions Obama would have, if he had any, would almost certainly be unacceptable from the point of view of the Islamic Repubic. The interests of the U.S. and Iran are diametrically opposite, and they have been since 1979. Obama may not understand this, but at least Tehran does.
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POPSA Plan to End the Crisis With Iran Just so nobody can say I only criticize Bush, I offer here a plan to immediately end the crisis with Iran. Ahmadinejad is an aggressive, anti-Western president who is isolating Iran, much to the chagrin of the Iranians. The economy is weak, and it is getting harder for people to make a living, which is causing unrest. On the other hand, his predecessor Khatami was a progressive, who wanted relations with the west, and had a good record on the economy. I suggest that we use these factors in to our advantage in the following plan: (see comments bellow.)
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