Skip to main content

Home/ Iranian Election Fallout/ Group items tagged Election

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Frank Gallagher

Hashemi Rafsanjani condemns Iranian regime's handling of post-election unrest | World n... - 0 views

  • Hardliners chanted "death to America" while opposition supporters countered with "death to Russia", referring to the Iranian government's ties to Moscow.
  •  
    Opposition supporters chanting 'Death to Russia' :-)
Frank Gallagher

Another Transcript of Rafsanjani's Speech - 0 views

  • This week, Imam Jafar Sadigh’s martyrdom’s celebration will be held. He spent his entire life either in prison or being censored.
  • The Islamic Revolution was the way of Mohammed. People should be brought into the system first, This is why Imam Khomeini was successful.
  • We were with Imam Khomeini, He always said that without the participation of the people the Islamic government would never be successful. The role that Imam gave the people was very high. (Story about Mohammed’s late life about how important people are)
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • When we were writing the new constitution, We asked the Imam for advice, He put a lot of emphasis on the role of the people. He also knew that people’s vote was the most important thing inside our country. Everything depended upon the people’s vote. People should directly elect the president, the parliament, the local council. It was all about the vote of the people. This is a theocracy, A theocratic republic.
  • We need to be able to sit down like brothers and sisters and talk about our differences. Unfortunately, The chance that was given to the Guardian Council of five days to get people together and regain their trust was not used.
  •  
    Less polished English, but perhaps thus closer to the original Persian!
Frank Gallagher

July 9: Updates on the Protests in Iran - The Lede Blog - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • There was no linking of the protests with any of Mousavi’s demands to work within the system or within a new political party - his name has seemed to separate from his corpus for the protesters. However, this was the most raucous 18th of Tir [9th of July] since the original one, so the regime may have been surprised its scare tactics did not completely work.
  • In one of the videos above it has been translated that people are chanting “Death to Mojtaba” Khamanei’s son, but the actual translation is more colorful. For the non-Farsi speakers they are actually chanting “MOJTABA, WE HOPE YOU DIE BEFORE YOU GET THE SUPREME LEADERSHIP” responding to reports that Khamanei is grooming his son to become the next supreme leader after he dies.
  • Hundreds of Republican Guards and Basij at Enqelab, Valiasar and Vanak. At Vanak soldiers every 5 feet around the roundabout. Lots of Basij motorcycle gangs (15-25 in each) swerving around the cars.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Hundreds of Basij have set up camp in Laleh park, which seems to be pretty close to the epicenter. Some fires still burning.
  • The phones are completely out.
  • squads of 25 police would run up the streets with batons beating people
  • Saw two undercover Basij, one was actually a late 40s businessman in a suit, whipped out a collapsible metal baton and started beating someone with a camera. He was beaten until the baton broke, another Basij came on motorcycle to help but crowds started surging and booed them away. Someone threw a water bottle but otherwise crowd is peaceful — keep chanting “Please Stop!” and chased the two Basij away.
  • “I did shoot at people myself. I am a military man I have to obey my orders. The crowd was attacking us like crazy people; throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. We had to protect ourselves; to show we were serious, and we did warn them, shouting several times, before opening fire. But they continued to attack. I don’t remember who I shot, I just tried to shoot at the people’s feet.
  • It’s come back several times, and I can see the faces of the people I was ordered to shoot. I’ve asked a very spiritual mullah to pray for me.
  • I did it for Islam but it wasn’t easy to kill people. We have to remember who they are though - they’re deceitful people who are against the Islamic Revolution. You can’t expect us to stay calm when they want to overthrow our regime.”
  •  
    Running description of the 18th Tir rememberence marches.
Frank Gallagher

All b ar one of Brirish Embassy Staff Freed - 0 views

  • Hossein Rassam,
  • Yadollah Javani, the head of political department of the elite Revolutionary Guards,
Frank Gallagher

In Iran, disparate, powerful forces ally against Ahmadinejad - Los Angeles Times - 0 views

  • Rafsanjani has created a multimillion-dollar electronic network under the aegis of the Expediency Council to set off alarm bells in case of suspicions of fraud, said one person close to his camp, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He's also dispatching members of his Kargozaran political party to monitor polling stations and the election desk at the Interior Ministry. He convened a regular series of meetings to alert journalists and activists to the possibility of cheating after Ahmadinejad purged longtime employees from the section of the ministry that monitors fraud about two months ago. "He has access to the intelligence systems of the government, and he can put pressure on the establishment," said Kaviani, who has attended the meetings. "The most important thing for him is to get rid of Ahmadinejad, no matter the cost, and he thinks that if there's no cheating Ahmadinejad won't win. All the efforts are to prevent Ahmadinejad to get 51%."
  • To help Mousavi further, Rafsanjani has thrown open the doors of the 300 branches of Azad University throughout the provinces to his supporters, allowing them to deliver speeches and organize inside their halls; they are often barred from using government facilities by local officials loyal to Ahmadinejad.
  •  
    Interesting details on Rafsanjani's efforts to prevent electoral fraud, potential backroom deals with Khamenei, and logistical support to the Musavi campaign.
Frank Gallagher

Judiciary to Monitor Iran Elections - 0 views

  •  
    Pour Mohammedi used to be an Ahmadinejad ally, now he's one of the President's biggest critics.
Frank Gallagher

Inside the Iranian Crackdown - WSJ.com - 0 views

  • "It wasn't about elections anymore," says Mr. Moradani, a short, skinny man with pitch-black hair and a beard. "I was defending my country and our revolution and Islam. Everything was at risk."
  • They collected rocks, tiles and bricks from construction sites and spilled oil on the roads, an attempt to sideline the Basij's motorcycles. When a Basij rider would go down, the young men would beat him, according to the student. Women stood back, screaming "Death to the Dictator" and stoking bonfires in the street. Older supporters remained indoors, throwing ashtrays, vases and other household items from their balconies and windows onto the Basij motorcycle riders below.
  • He says he hopes one day to follow in his father's footsteps and join the Revolutionary Guard. He has taken the Guard's rigorous entrance exam twice, passing the ideology and the written portions both times. But he failed the final hurdle: an intense interview that lasts six to eight hours. Applicants must discuss why they are loyal to the regime and the Supreme Leader. He intends to try again.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • At the height of the street battles, in Sadaat Abad, a middle-class neighborhood in east Tehran, young men and women organized themselves into an unofficial militia to fight the Basij, with a "commander" taking responsibility for each street. Every afternoon, they would meet to prepare for the evening's expected battle, according to a 25-year-old student who was involved with the group.
  • Mr. Moradani remembers field trips to war monuments, Shiite shrines and so-called martyrs' cemeteries, where those who died in the Iran-Iraq war are buried. He received his first military training before he turned 14, learning how to handle a gun and fight from trenches, he says. When he was 14, the Basij forces piled Mr. Moradani and 100 other youths into buses and took them around the dormitories of Tehran University. At the time -- 10 years ago this week -- students had been orchestrating large, antigovernment protests. The demonstrations were among the most significant since the 1979 founding of the Islamic Republic. Basij commanders ordered the teenagers to beat up student organizers, Mr. Moradani says. They did. In 2003, when student uprisings erupted again, he rushed to help quash them.
  • A few hours after Mr. Khamenei's sermon, Mr. Moradani got a call at home. The local Basij headquarters was holding an emergency meeting. About four hundred members showed up. A top Basij commander briefed them on the riots and their responsibilities going forward. He called protesters "havoc makers" and accused them of having ties to Western countries aiming to sow chaos in Iran. The commander said the protests were no longer a matter of election unrest, but had become a serious, national-security threat.
  • Mr. Moradani lined up with his comrades to receive an official letter of deployment, signed and bearing the seal of the Revolutionary Guard. He was given new equipment: a camouflage vest to wear over his clothes, a plastic baton, handcuffs and a hand-held radio. Depending on rank, some members received shields and hard hats, and others were given chains and tear gas, according to Messrs. Gholami and Moradani. Mr. Moradani says no one in his division carried knives or guns.
  • A surgeon at Pars Hospital in central Tehran, where many of the fallen were taken, confirmed casualties on both sides. He said the hospital had operated on three young people from the opposition who were shot in the head and abdomen by security forces. He also treated scores who were badly beaten or stabbed, he said. Among them were Basij and government supporters, he said -- including Basij members who had acid thrown on their faces.
  •  
    Interesting article includes interview with a Basiji, description of the nighttime riots, and confirmation of the 'cnaged terms of engagement' after Khamenei's sermon.
Frank Gallagher

Guardian - Mass arrests and campus raids as regime hits back - 0 views

  • hundreds of activists, journalists and intellectuals
  • Four pro-reform newspapers have been closed down,
  • With the exception of Yazdi, the arrests appeared to bypass political leaders and focus on their lieutenants.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Tavassali
  • Nabavi
  • Atrianfar
  • The organisation said security service agents have moved into newspaper offices where they have been vetting articles and censoring content.
  • concerted campaign to link the protests with foreign intervention
  • The wave of detentions has spread beyond the capital to include provincial cities. At least 100 civic figures are understood to have been arrested in Tabriz, where Mousavi has strong support.
  • In Shiraz, in the south of the country, Amnesty cited reports said that a hundred students had been detained after security forces used teargas to storm the university library.
  • members of the Tahkim-e Vahdat, an influential students organisation supporting the other reformist candidate Mehdi Karoubi, had been "systematically targeted".
  • Jalaeipour
  • Soltani
  • Abtahi
  •  
    Covers arrests made 12th-17th June.
Frank Gallagher

Khamenei's backing for ahmaninejad - 0 views

  • He said, "I know the country's condition is better than all these gentlemen.  I know much of what they say about the condition of the country and economy is contrary to reality.  They are mistaken."
  • Mousavi also criticized the imbalanced competition ahead of the election, noting, "These elections are held under peculiar circumstances.  Thirty provincial and six national television channels cover the president's provincial visits, which are used for campaigning purposes. 
  • Last September, as the Ahmadinejad presidency entered its last year, Khamenei told Ahmadinejad and members of his cabinet, "Work as if you plan to work for another five years; imagine that this one year plus four more years are under your management.  Look at things, work, plan and act as if that is the case."
  •  
    Good quotes... note on TV support and provincial trips
Frank Gallagher

Eyewitness Account of the Shooting near thje June 15th March - 0 views

  •  
    She says that some people set light to a Basij building, and that the Basijis shot them with live rounds.
Frank Gallagher

Analysis: Iran election statistics muddy waters further | World news | guardian.co.uk - 0 views

  • The Iranian website Balatarin posted an email said to be from an internet inspector in charge of six polling stations. It alleged that software had been rigged to register ineligible votes, including ones cast by children, dead people or by the same individual several times.
    • Frank Gallagher
       
      Consistent with the ballot rigging methods know to have been used in the past.
Frank Gallagher

RSF - Detailed roundup of censorship since June 12th - 0 views

  • Four interior ministry officials have been arrested for given results that were different from those announced by Ahmadinejad’s allies.
    • Frank Gallagher
       
      Not sure where that information came from
  • Four of the leading pro-reform newspapers have been closed or prevented from criticising the official election results
  • A member of a TV crew working for the Italian station RAI and a Reuters reporter were beaten by police in the capital. A BBC TV crew was threatened by police at one point, but demonstrators chased the police away. The correspondents of the German TV stations ARD and ZDF were forbidden to leave their hotel on 13 June.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • wo Dutch TV journalists working for Nederland 2 were arrested and expelled. Reporter Yolanda Alvarez of the Spanish television station TVE was deported together with her crew today.
    • Frank Gallagher
       
      As I understand it, journalists are being harassed, and their Iranian cameramen arrested. Cameras and tapes have also been confisacated (John Simpson - Tehran).
  • Eleven Iranian journalists have been arrested since 12 Jun
  • There is no word of about 10 other journalists who have either been arrested or gone into hiding.
  • The security services have moved into the offices of newspapers where they are reading articles and censoring content.
Frank Gallagher

Mehdi Khalaji - Pre-Election Artcile on possibilities for fraud - 0 views

  •  
    Excellent Detail
Frank Gallagher

A Reporter at Large: Fugitives: The New Yorker - 0 views

  • Foreign capital is fleeing to Dubai, and Tehran’s stock market has fallen by twenty per cent since May. Curiously, Ayatollah Khamenei issued an edict in October that gave sweeping new powers to Rafsanjani, who runs a government body known as the Expediency Council—a move widely seen as an effort to rein in Ahmadinejad. The new President, in other words, may be too hard-line for even the Supreme Leader.
    • Frank Gallagher
       
      Khamenei gives power to Expediency Council. Chera?
  •  
    Interesting article on reformist activists after the last election. Some good insights into the 2005 Ahmadinejad campaign.
mehrreporter

Iranian Lawmaker: Straw can visit only to apologize - 0 views

  •  
    The Spokesman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy has said that Jack Straw is welcome to Iran only if he is going to apologize to Iranians.
Frank Gallagher

Good sources on Iranian politics? - 10 views

Iran Politics Election Psephology IranJune12

started by Frank Gallagher on 28 Apr 09 no follow-up yet
Frank Gallagher

Rafa and Khamenei Talking to Senior Clerics - 1 views

  • After delivering his landmark sermon last Friday, Rafsanjani left for the city of Mashhad to consult with senior clerics there, particularly ayatollah Vaeze Tabasi (the head of the memorial of the Shiite’s eight saint in that city) and other clerics such as Safi Golpaygani and Makarem Shirazi (both of whom are on a visit to the city) about the post election crises that has erupted in Iran. Among those who came to welcome Rafsanjani in Mashhad were Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh, the governor of Khorasan province, ayatollah Elm-alhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, seyed Ahmad Alavi, the deputy of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Ghods
  • It should be noted that in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s latest trip to <st1:place w:st="on">Mashhad</st1:place> recently, senior cleric Vaez Tabasi notably refrained from welcoming him.
  • In a related news, reformist website Moje Azadi (Wave of Freedom) wrote that ayatollah Khamenei plans to meet with a number of senior clerics in Qom (including ayatollah Javadi Amoli and ayatollah Amini, both Friday prayer leaders of Qom). It is said that he will be talking about his support of Ahmadinejad and discussing options for a political solution to resolve the current crises, among other topics.
Frank Gallagher

Clash Between ahmadinejad and Principlalists over Cabinet - 0 views

  • With the reappointment of Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, Hashemi Samareh and Masoud Zaribafan to several key posts in the new administration, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued with his insistence on using close friends in the tenth administration.
  • hmadinejad also appointed Samareh Hashemi as his senior advisr and Masoud Zaribafan to head the Martyrs Foundation.  Previously, he had appointed Akbar Salehi to head the Atomic Energy Agency following Gholamreza Aghazadeh’s resignation. 
  • Ahmadinejad is appointing his friends to serve at posts that do not require confirmation by the Majlis.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • In another appointment, Baghaei was appointed to head the tenth administration’s Cultural Heritage Organization.  Also, it was announced that Parviz Davoudi will serve as the president’s advisor.  Mehrdad Bazrpash, who has been with Ahamdinejad since his time as Tehran’s mayor, was promoted from presidential advisor to vice president and head of the National Youth Organization.
  • Within hours of the appointment Principalist lawmakers in the Majlis reacted to it.  Ali Motahari said that Ahmadinejad had not made the correct decision given the opinions of Ayatollah Khamenei, grand ayatollahs and the elite. 
‹ Previous 21 - 40 of 70 Next › Last »
Showing 20 items per page