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POPSProtests Resume In Iran With The Government-Backed Quds Day Ceremony
11.57am: At least 10 protesters have been arrested, according to Reuters. "Supporters of Ahmadinejad are beating supporters of Mousavi near the Vali-ye Asr street. At least two protesters were injured," it quoted a witness as saying. 12.02pm: Al Jazeera's Alireza Ronaghi, reporting from Tehran, said the security forces were out in force, attempting to keep opposition demonstrators away from Tehran University where Ahmadinejad was speaking earlier. "I didn't expect the protests to be as big," he said Another video appears to confirm that thousands have been involved in the protests today. It also seems to show attempts to prevent filming taking place. 12.57pm: NBC has released more of its interview with Ahmadinejad. In the latest segment, he defended the detention of three Americans, who have been held for more than seven weeks. They "trampled the law, and in accordance with the laws, they need to be punished," he said. The full interview will be broadcast on Sunday.
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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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POPSRobert Baer: Don't Forget Mousavi's Bloody Past "They did not make war. They were simply victims of war, in the honorable attempt to keep the peace." - The Beirut Memorial On Line - Remembering the 299 servicemen, including 220 U.S. Marines who lost their lives in the Beirut barracks bombing.
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POPSWho Was Neda Agha-Soltan Face of a Revolution? Neda has not been the only person to die during the anti-government protests. Iranian state television has reported 10 deaths, while the radio has reported 19. Many believe the true total is much higher
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POPSShowdown as Mousavi Attends Friday Prayers In his sermon broadcast live on radio nationwide, Rafsanjani reprimanded the clerical leadership for not listening to the controversy over the election, which was declared a victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in results that Mousavi's supporters say were fraudulent. "Doubt has been created (about the election results)," Rafsanjani said. "There is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt." Rafsanjani couched his sermon in calls for unity in support of Iran's Islamic Republic. But his sermon was an unmistakable " if implicit " challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has declared Ahmadinejad's victory valid and demanded an end to questioning of the results. Rafsanjani said the people's voice must be considered. "We believe in the Islamic Republic ... they have to stand together," he said. "If 'Islamic' doesn't exist, we will go astray. And if 'republic' is not there,
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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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POPSFresh News From Iran - July 4-5 Confirmed reports indicate that protesters are quietly going through the city and writing anti-government slogans on city walls, using the storm to their advantage. 4. Recently, a lot of news has been circulating about IRG and military clashes over how to deal with protests. (the more reliable twitter sources have not been able to confirm anything in this regard.) 5. Mehdi Karoubi today stated that they will continue to fight even though it looks as if resistance will become more difficult. He mocked Ahmadinejad for ordering a probe into Neda Agha-Soltan’s death while many more people have been killed in the unrests. 7. Reliable sources have indicated that Mir Hossein Mousavi will be creating a new party in order to further their goals of nullifying the election. Among the many instances of fraud in the election that have been claimed by Mousavi is the alleged printing of 20 million extra votes by the government in order to fill boxes with votes for Ahmadinejad.
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POPSThe Madness of King Obama--US Trying To BLOCK Sanctions Against Iran !?!?! Sources are also predicting a pointed debate between the heads of the industrialized nations over an appropriate response to Iranian authorities' suppression of reformist demonstrations in Iran led by Mir Hossein Mousavi and other Iranian opposition leaders. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hinted in a newspaper interview earlier in the week that the G8 is due to decide on new financial sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Berlusconi disclosed that he had spoken with the heads of the G8 nations and has discussed such steps with them. According to the Italian prime minister, "the general leaning is toward sanctions." However, diplomatic sources in New York reported that American officials are working behind the scenes to prevent new sanctions from being imposed against Iran. U.S. officials claimed that a tough stance toward Iran could backfire, bringing about an opposite outcome to that desired by those who support such measures.
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POPSAl Franken Wins Election In Iran Senator John McCain responded to the allegations of CIA interference by stating, "This result has nothing to do with the CIA and everything to do with a dysfunctional federal bureaucracy. How an American comedian contesting a Senate seat ends up President of Iran speaks volumes to the inefficiency of the Federal government. Perhaps it's time to burn all of out institutions down and start from scratch again. Call it 'shock and awe' or something." McCain finished by saying, "Of course all this could have been avoided if the legislative branch had allowed us six months ago to nuke Iran."
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POPSAftermath of Iran Elections Iran 'disqualifies' EU from talks Britain has denied allegations of involvement in the Iranian riots The EU is no longer qualified to take part in talks on Iran's nuclear programme, Iran's military chief says. Maj-Gen Hassan Firouzabadi, Iran's chief of staff, accused the EU of "interference" in riots which followed June's disputed presidential elections. EU states, meanwhile, are considering withdrawing their ambassadors from Iran in a growing diplomatic row. Britain proposed the step after Iran detained nine of its embassy staff last week. Eight have since been released. The BBC's European affairs correspondent Oana Lungescu says senior officials from EU capitals will discuss the request in Stockholm on Thursday. But diplomats say that Germany and Italy - Iran's biggest trading partners in the EU - oppose it, arguing that channels of dialogue with Iran should be kept open.
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POPSBeheshti’s Ghost The mosque was crowded and hot; a restless buzz filled the air. Young girls in green headscarves and chador-clad women with green wristbands were murmuring Mir Hossein Mousavi’s name. He was rumored to be on his way to make a speech here. The service started at 6 p.m. I perched myself on a ledge on the balcony corner next to the window, overlooking the podium in the men’s section below. A muezzin launched into a long prayer, followed with a eulogy in praise of Beheshti. It was getting hotter by the moment as more people pressed in. A woman next to me whispered, “Is Mousavi really coming?” I smiled reassuringly at her, though by now " an hour had passed " I began to suspect the shadowy opposition leader was a no-show. The muezzin droned on. I was getting fed up and ready to leave. Thankfully, just then it came " a roar of cheering from outside."
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POPS Ahmadinejad Threatens Obama He said Western leaders who made "insulting and irrelevant comments will be put on a fair trial" by Iran at international gatherings. … Ahmadinejad also vowed to take a tougher approach toward alleged meddling by the West during his second four-year term, which the government has said will begin this summer. "Without a doubt, Iran's new government will have a more decisive and firmer approach toward the West," Ahmadinejad said. "This time the Iranian nation's reply will be harsh and more decisive," to make the West regret its "meddlesome stance," he said. Comments: (1) This over-the-top bellicosity reminds me why I originally endorsed Ahmadinejad to win the June 12 elections and serve another four years as president of Iran. His aggressive comments might even awake an Obama to the inutility of nice words and gestures toward Tehran.
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POPS Iran Uprising Live-Blogging 27 June, 2009 Jose Aznar, who was voted out of office in 2004, writes in today's Wall Street Journal: President Obama has said he refuses to "meddle" in Iran's internal affairs, but this is a poor excuse for passivity. If the international community is not able to stop, or at least set limits on, the repressive violence of the Islamic regime, the protesters will end up as so many have in the past -- in exile, in prison, or in the cemetery. And with them, all hope for change will be gone. Delayed public displays of indignation may be good for internal political consumption. But the consequences of Western inaction have already materialized. Watching videos of innocent Iranians being brutalized, it's hard to defend silence. More recently, it based a collection office in Los Angeles to take advantage of the Iranian expatriate community there. None of it, however, is a substitute for having CIA staff actually on the ground, says former CIA official Bob Baer.
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POPSBBC Caught In Mass Public Deception With Iran Propaganda Whatever your views on the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad and the accuracy of the Iranian election results, the fact that the Anglo-American establishment and its media organs are exploiting and fanning the flames of chaos in Iran to provoke further instability is unquestionable.
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POPSMousavi, Celebrated in Iranian Protests, Was the Butcher of Beirut Mousavi does have credibility issues when it comes to our dealings with Iran. There are those in government agencies that do remember how they had Mousavi as a member of the opposition. He's older and maybe more mellower. Certainly represents a section of Iran's society that appeal to moderate Americans.
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POPSIran Crisis: Live 6/24/2006 Salon has a powerful article, with disturbing images, about a 17-year-old student who it says was horrifically beaten by the police in Tehran. The torture of a 17-year-old in Iran A teenager's story, with graphic photos, of abuse at the hands of Iran's religious paramilitaries, the Basij 12.15pm: A group called Human Rights Activists Iran has more details (including photos) of the students arrested since the election. 12.20pm: The Iranian authorities and their lackeys in the state-controlled media are trying to launch a counter-offensive on the Neda phenomenon, writes Robert Tait. Javan, another pro-regime paper, http://english.farsnews.net/ blamed an even more unlikely source - my friend and recently expelled BBC correspondent Jon Leyne. It claims that Leyne hired "thugs" to shoot her so he could then make a documentary film. Meanwhile, the government has forbidden hospitals from releasing deaths certificates that give shooting as the cause of death.
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POPSLive-Tweeting The Revolution: Day 12 Head of National Security committee had a meeting w/ Rafsanjani, Mousavi, Rezaee today They send emails using addresses of detained journalists & political/HR activists 2 their colleagues. B careful Note that State TV has used the term "Bloody" for Bahar.Sq. clashes, (could also be an attempt at intimidation) More than 10 family members of detainess arrested in front of Rev. Court, Security forces crack down Protest. Gibbs: "Given the events of the past many days, those invitations will no longer be extended," Iran state media: Tehran mayor Qalibaf has asked officials to legalize rallies all shops was closed - nowhere to go - they follow ppls with helicopters - smoke and fire is everywhere Clashes at Sadeghie SQ continuing for more than 5 hrs. source, hearing from Iran: people are hoarding the injured in their homes because they’re afraid of going to hospitals
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POPSIgnorance is Strength The "hero" of the American media, is a bloody terrorist, a.k.a. the Butcher of Beirut. I thought the US was supposed to pretend to be fighting terrorists, not supporting them? Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time.
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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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POPSSilence Is Not Neutrality Obama needs to support freedom in Iran The regime has always blamed Great Britain, the United States, Bahais, Zionists, and/or Jews for every ill that befalls the country. When the leadership claims God's mantle, it is hard to accept accountability for the failure of leadership; it is far easier to find straw men to blame. Don't underestimate the Iranian people, however. The protestors are no longer supporting former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi; they are chanting "Death to the Dictator" . They are opposing the Islamic Republic. While conspiracy theories loom large in Iranian culture " indeed, Iranians poke fun at their conspiratorial nature in often-humorous ways " the Iranian people can separate the wheat from the chaff. Those inclined to believe Kayhan, the Islamic Republic News Agency, or the Fars News Agency will do so no matter what we do. Those disinclined will not swallow regime propaganda simple mindedly.
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POPSMir Hossein Mousavi میر حسین موسوی Is On Facebook "We want to vote again!" We want to have the rights to our future. I think that every Iranian in Iran is a commander, a force. Every Iranian outside of iran is a representative of the people in Iran, a reporter. Every Iranian who gets killed in the streets is a martyr. They are also all media, filming with their cell phones and uploading the content onto Youtube. We need to take these videos from Youtube and send out the links- send them to the reporters. You can help the reporters who may not be able to find all the videos amongst the many being uploaded. We need to work collectively to spread the information coming out from Iran. We need to continue. Friday night, at sunset, light a candle. Think about and respect the deaths of the brave. The Iranian people are planning to do the same outside their houses, on their roofs, chanting: "Allah o Akbar. They will be chanting "Allah o Akbar" to not prove their religion, but to voice the intolerable pressures put on them by the government.
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POPSMousavi Accuses Obama of 'Misleading the World' So here you go: From the Office of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi To the President of the USA, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama: Dear Mr. President, In the name of the Iranian people, we want you to know that when you recently made the statement “Achmadinejad or Mousavi? Two of a kind,” we consider this as a grave and deep insult, not just to Mr. Mousavi but especially against the judgment of the Iranian people, against our moral conviction and intelligence, especially those of the young generation that comprises a population of 31 million. It is a specially grave insult for those who are now fighting for democracy and freedom, and an unwarranted gift and even praise for Mr. Khamenei . . . . . .
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