Anonymous Iran

Ayatollah Faces Star Chamber Trial

2010-01-21T04:59:00.001-08:00

Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Khalaji, who is in Evin Prison for expressing his views, faces trial and possible execution in the Star Chamber. He has never held any government position, and before the 1979 revolution just over 20 years ago, he was close to Ayatollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Experts say that his arrest was arbitrary, and that it violates Article 34 of the Iran constitution. The criticisms that Ayatollah Khalaji expressed were very mild, saying that he disapproved of the violence against the protesters, but he never went so far as the late Ayatollah Montazeri.

Says Mehdi Khalaji, son of the prominent 62-year-old cleric:

“My father is an expert in Islamic and religious studies…My father has said that Islam does not allow for political prisoners; neither the Prophet nor Imam Ali ever put anyone in prison for expressing their opinions. My father believes that the regime must obtain people’s satisfaction and cannot rule with force. He does not belong to any groups, not even groups within the Seminary, no political or even religious organizations. He is not related to any groups or factions and he does not engage in political activities. The only reason he is in prison is because of his opinions.”

Since the elections six months ago, literally hundreds of journalists, political figures, bloggers, and womens’ rights activists have been arrested, as have thousands of protesters. They are detained in order to curtail the right to speak freely, which directly counters Iran’s laws which protect freedoms of expression and conscience. When a government breaks its own laws, it can not longer be considered a government, but is instead a form of tyranny.

Green Brief #25

2009-07-12T01:04:00.000-07:00

(This report has been compiled through reports by twitter users in Iran and aboard, as well as contacts inside and outside Iran. Media outlets have been credit where used. As reports coming from Iran cannot be fully authenticated, if the report confirms something, at best it confirms that several reliable twitter sources agreed upon it. If you want to follow my updates, my twitter account is @Iran_Translator)

Protests / Unrest

1.Delayed reports - just emerging - confirm that protests did indeed take place around the country on July 9th. We also have authentication of mass arrests during this time. Reports of black-outs during Ahmadinejad's speech are now being confirmed by mainstream media as well (this was confirmed on twitter three days ago).

2.Vast weekly protests and the heavy presence of Basiji's have had a negative impact on Iranian bazaars; they are finding it harder and harder to stay open. As a result, commerce is slowly coming to a standstill. Reports indicate that the opposition is in the midst of planning more strikes and protests. Today, about 150 protesters pelted eggs at the German Embassy in Tehran protesting against the death of an Egyptian woman in Germany at the hands of a right-wing extremist.

3.People in Tehran are continuing to honk their horns at the sight of Basijis - and chanting anti-government slogans while speeding away. Many people drive with their headlights on. Reports indicate that many Basijis are quitting their jobs and are being replaced by fresh recruits, many of them under 18. People travelling to Iran are being targeted at the airport upon entry and are being forced to divulge their Twitter and Facebook accounts so the government can monitor their online activity.

Opposition

4.In a letter to the Head of the Judiciary, Mahdi Karoubi – one of the candidates during the election and a key force behind the current protests – asked for the immediate release of all political prisoners as well as arrested protesters. In a letter addressed to Ayatollah Shahrodi, Karoubi claimed that, "People believed in the system, however, the system had been hijacked by a few." He accused Tehran's authorities of systematically eradicating opposition. He warned the government of "unimaginable consequences" if the current situation persisted.

5.Ayatollah Montazeri has released a Fatwa that is very supportive of protesters and their cause. In the Fatwa, Montazeri "condemned violence against protesters as un-Islamic." He's pleaded with the government to not play with the name of Shi'ism and Islam with their actions. He hinted that Khamenei's leadership is standing against Islam, human rationale and National interests – and that he was clearly in the wrong. Reports of Ayatollah Ustadi - Qom's temporary Friday Prayer's Imam - resigning his position and calling a strike could not be confirmed.

6.In an open letter released to the media, the women's wing of Mousavi's Participation Front have said that Iranian mothers were awaiting the release of their loved ones with teary eyes and aching hearts. They asked the government to immediately release all prisoners and to stop arresting people for using peaceful means to express their dissent.

Government / International

7.Iranian Foreign Minister, Manuchehr Motaki, has stated that Iran is willing to discuss issues with the West, but claimed that the government was going to present a package of issues for discussion – rather than just one. This comes at a time when the European Union has now fully suspended visas to Iranian diplomats who wish to enter any EU member nation.

8.The spokesperson for Parliament's Imam's Way Faction declared that the government's legitimacy was "questionable" after what transpired post-election. Reports from Tehran indicate that many members within the Faction are thinking of not partaking in the "vote of confidence" that will be held in Parliament soon (the President selects a cabinet, and then a vote of confidence takes place). The spokesperson added that, "When a Cabinet Minister refuses to answer to the public, then it shouldn't expect to get a vote of confidence."

9.Tehran's Police Chief has declared a state of emergency in parts of Tehran. Iran's government removed the head of security of Zanjan Province - after reports surfaced that he may be sympathetic to the reform movement. A number of prominent citizens in Tabriz have written a letter to Khamenei declaring that, "people were not satisfied with the election and that they will continue to voice their opposition to Ahmadinejad's government."

10. One of Mousavi's offices, located inside the Presidential Palace, was evacuated by government orders. Mousavi used this office during the last twenty years after leaving the Prime Minister's Post. It was NOT his campaign headquarters. Meanwhile, the government is stepping up its media campaign of discrediting Mousavi's role in Iran's past. This comes at a time when a large number of Iranian clerics in Qom have reportedly threatened to leave Iran for Najaf, Iraq (Najaf is the holiest site in Shi'ism and Qom is a center of Shi'ite learning). They demanded the government to cease with their relentless pressure to side with them.

Arrested / Released / Killed

11. Reports from inside Evin Prison indicate that at least one prisoner has died under extreme torture. The prisoner is the son of a member of the group of Mourning Mothers and was reportedly named Sohrab A'rabi. Reports of torturous acts had been confirmed before, but recent details reveal more extreme forms such as:

oBinding and then beating prisoners with batons oForcing prisoners to lay on their wounded side – on hot asphalt oPouring scorching-hot water over prisoners' heads

12.Reports of more than a dozen prisoners crammed into a 9 x 9 foot cell are increasing. Other reports indicate that the prison is so overcrowded that prisoners are now being thrown into cells that are half-demolished. Prisoners are interrogated non-stop for more than 12 hours. Injured prisoners are not receiving any medical attention - many are said to be in very bad conditions.

13. Iran is now holding 36 journalists in prison. Reports indicate that despite the overcrowding, nearly 150 protesters arrested on July 9th in Tehran were moved to Evin Prison. We don't have confirmations to the number of people arrested, but without a place to go. The arrest of many people were confirmed today - among them: Abbas Mirza Abutalebi (a reformist politician), Majid Saidi and Towheed Begi (photojournalists), Kaveh Muzaffari (a journalist who been detained and released prior), Shamsuddin Esaie (a key aide of Mousavi), and Hengameh Shaheedi (a key member of Etemaade Melli Party).

14. On a positive note, Iranian courts postponed the court date for seven Baha'is detained in Tehran today. They are being prosecuted under Iran's strict religious laws because of their faith. Reports also indicate that Kambiz Noroozi, a journalist detained yesterday, was released. The families of several detainees have pleaded directly to influential clerics in Qom to help attain the release of their loved ones.

Media

15. In an unexpected move, ISNA – one of Iran's official news agencies – declared that recent unrests in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Province was provoked by US intervention in Chinese affairs. ISNA declared that China did all it could to quell an uprising fueled by foreign intervention.

Green Brief #24

2009-07-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons (CC). So use it freely and post it wherever you wish to.)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Friday, July 10 .

Protests / Unrest

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

1. There was a gathering of the families of those detained during the protests in Tehran today. Protesters stood in front of Kalantari 103 Pasdaran, 140 Baghe Faiz and Enghelab Square. Numbers cannot be confirmed, but the numbers were probably small.

2. It has not been confirmed that Basijis attacked the dorms of the Polytechnic University yesterday. The presence of Rafsanjani’s family was also partially confirmed. Still no word of whether Mousavi joined mourners later in the evening like he said he would.

3. Police in Nicosia, Cyprus clashes with Iranian protesters in front of the Iranian Embassy. People were seen being dragged and reports indicate that several were arrested and held for several hours. Whether this was from July 09 cannot be confirmed at this point. Here’s a video related to the incident: Revolutionary Road...: Shame on Cyprus police!

Government / International

Image via Wikipedia

4. Ayatollah Hashim Hashim-Zadeh Hareesi – a member of the Assembly of Experts – said today that people had started to distrust the system. He explained that whatever had happened after the election had caused people to become suspicious and that the government needed to take strides to restore people’s trust otherwise, distrust could result in further more severe problems.

5. Tehran's Interim Fridays Prayers Leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani asked the Majlis of Iran to take measures in solving some short-comings that are present in the current electoral law. According to Ayatollah Emami Kashani, the unrest that followed the recent election was a result of those short-comings.

6. The Guardian Council’s spokesperson, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaie said today that the Guardian Council was currently going over the entire election. According to him, the Council will soon release a detailed report about the election. The Council has already affirmed the impartiality and accuracy of the election which leaves little room for further investigation into charges of fraud.

7. The French Ambassador in Tehran met with Clotilde Reiss, the detained Frenchwoman who’s currently being held in Iran on charges of espionage. According to the ambassador, Ms. Reiss looked in good mental health. It is not clear as of yet when she will be released.

8. Iran’s government today summoned the German ambassador and questioned him about the death of an Egyptian woman in Germany at the hands of racist extremists. Iranian TV continues to show her death and accuse the West of acting against Muslims in Europe.

9. The G7 nations + Russia have given Iran till September to restart negotiations on its controversial nuclear program. It was unclear what Iran’s rejection of this offer would entail. The statement came during a meeting in l’Aquila, Italy where the group was meeting to go over the world-wide economic downturn.

10. A U.S. panel has demanded that Baha'is facing trial in Iran be released immediately. Baha'is are a religious minority in Iran who believe in a universal religion and are fervent supporters of world peace. They are openly persecuted because of the country’s strict religious laws.

11. The Canadian also summoned the Iranian ambassador in Ottawa and demanded the immediate release of Canadian-Iranian journalist Mazyar Bahari. Bahari has been detained for a while now and the government is trying to keep a lid on Bahari’s whereabouts. She works for Newsweek.

Arrests / Releases / Deaths

12. Iranian-American Scholar, Kian Tajbakhsh has been arrested according to reliable sources. Majid Durri has also been rearrested. There are also reports that security forces arrested several students during their raid at Amir Kabir University’s dorm. Their fate remains unknown.

13. The only person released today was Kambiz Noroozi, yet his arrest cannot be fully confirmed. Family members of several political prisoners – including those of Mirdamadi and Hajjarian - met with Ayatollah Mousavi Aradabeli today. Ayatollah Ardabeli consoled the families and discussed the issue with them. He later said that this is an important issue and needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.

14. Reports have now surfaced that people detained during yesterday’s protests have been moved to Evin Prison. The prison is reportedly so full that people are kept in the corridors. Sources have confirmed that people are being viciously tortured and detainees are underfed. Many are facing solitary confinement.

Media

15. Fars News has reported that the government has discovered a recording studio belonging to the BBC at Mousavi’s campaign headquarters. Iranian media continues to beat the drum of an Egyptian woman’s death in Germany and protests yesterday were for the most part, ignored.

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. Thank you very much everyone for helping out Anonymous with donations so they could keep the servers up and running and clear the cost. Very grateful for that!

B. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

C: If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context, please request for sub-editorship at #iran.aic - WebIRC - AnonNet - Check out the website for the project at: Iran Map | Iran Map or email me at dbosca@gmail.com.

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

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Green Brief #23

2009-07-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

Image by .faramarz via Flickr

4. Protesters chanted “Mir Hossein, Ya Hossein!” and “Death to the Dictator.” Strangely enough, some slogans were directed at Mojtaba Khamenei – the son of Ayatollah Khamenei. Mojtaba Khamenei has allegedly taken control of the Basiji and is heavily involved in the government’s attempt at brutally suppressing the protests. “Mojtaba Bemiri, Rahbari Ro Nabini” – Mojtaba may you die and never become the leader – was heard being chanted in many neighborhoods (I personally viewed some authentic videos).

5. Estimating how many people actually gathered in Tehran is almost impossible. What can be safely asserted, from eyewitness accounts and examination of videos, is that the numbers were more than 35,000 - that's including all the protesters and some pedestrians who joined them. Again, this number is only an estimate. All over the country, the number of protesters was reported to be slightly more than twice as much. On a side note, there were confirmed reports of people protesting in front of the Chinese Embassy in Tehran.

6. The police and the Basiji did not back away today. Clashes were reported in Tehran at Valiasr Square, Enghelab Square, Vanak Square, Karegar Shomali Street, Tehran University, and other parts of the city. Police shot at people in Azadi and Enghelab squares. People were seen being hit by bullets and falling to the ground. So far, at least one fatality has been confirmed in today’s scuffles.

7. Tear gas was used at Vanak Square, Enghelab Square, Tehran University and in other areas. Tear gas was most heavily used in front of Tehran University where hundreds of protesters had gathered. Protesters were shot at with rubber bullets as well. Tear gas was hurled at buses – an attempt to stop protesters from getting to and from other protest sites.

8. We have confirmed reports that plainclothesmen attacked dorms inside of Amir Kabir University. Partially confirmed reports also indicate attacks on Polytechnic University’s. Unconfirmed reports suggest security forces shot at people from helicopters. Heavy clashes were reported on Tajrish and Shariati Streets as well.

9. Fires were ablaze around the city. The metro station at Mirdamad was set on fire. Basijis were seen breaking window shops and attacking people indiscriminately. There were reports of people going on the offense and retaliating against the Basiji - in an attempt to stop them from damaging property and arresting other protesters.

10. Mousavi was supposed to join mourning families at a mosque today in Tehran. So far, no reports of his presence have emerged. Rafsanjani’s daughter was also expected to join the protests – no confirmation of her attendance has been obtained.

11. As previously mentioned, only one death can be confirmed at this point. Videos of people brutally beaten have been circulating on the internet – most of them confirmed. Today’s protests have seen an increase number of women heartlessly beaten. As the security forces chased crowds, women were often the ones falling behind, and thus, were mercilessly beaten with batons (Personally saw the video of woman with a broken leg being carried away by other protesters).

12. At the end of the day in Tehran, people took to the roofs again and started chanting ‘Allah o Akbar’ and ‘Death to the Dictator’. There were reports of Basijis shooting at people on rooftops in some parts of Tehran. Only partial confirmation could be obtained for this.

13. Apart from Tehran, large protests were fully confirmed in Ahvaz, Mashhad, Rasht, Isfahan, Tabriz, Sari, Hamadan, Babol, Kerman, Dezfol and Shiraz. Reports from Shiraz indicate that the protest there was probably the largest. Isfahan was a close second in terms of the number of people on the streets.

14. Reports of clashes in Isfahan where protests took place from 6 PM – 10 PM are confirmed. Tear gas was heavily used. In Dezfol, about two thousand people took to streets and reports of clashes are confirmed. Partially confirmed reports in Mashhad show that clerics had yet again joined the protesters.

Opposition

Image via Wikipedia

15. Iranian Nobel peace laureate, Shirin Ebadi, wrote an open letter to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that has been published online. Ebadi request the removal of a ban placed on the operation of the Defenders for Human Rights Center – which she chairs -, and an end to the security and political pressures on civil, political and human rights activists by governmental bodies and officials in his administration.

Government / International

16. Reports coming from Tehran suggest that senior Ayatollahs that have supported the government are increasingly becoming disillusioned about Khamenei’s leadership because of his son’s heavy involvement in the post-election events. Partially confirmed reports from Tehran suggest that the head of the Judiciary has halted all death sentences until further notice.

17. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear installations. Iran's ambassador to Iraq said Thursday that five Iranian diplomats held by US forces in Iraq for more than two years had been handed over to the Iraqi government.

18. The European High Court has affirmed the ban against Iran’s National Bank in Europe. The court decided that Iran’s government was acting against international laws by continuing to work on its nuclear program, thus, the earlier decision by the EU to ban the bank should continue to take effect.

Image by Kamyar Dadgar via Flickr

19. At least 30 people were arrested from in front of Tehran University; several others from Valiasr Square. Several protesters were seen being beaten and dragged away. Security forces were said to have used ambulances to move arrestees away so people would let them pass through.

20. There are reports that some young Iranians had their passports confiscated at the airport immigration before entering Iranian soil. Mehsa Amrabadi was finally able to call her family after three weeks of being in detention. She is several months pregnant and her husband has been arrested too. She’s being held at Evin Prison. Sayeed Laylaz was also able to call his family, after being in detention for several days now.

20. Abbas Hakimzadeh, another reformist politician, and Kaveh Muzaffari, a reporter, were both released today. It has been reported the UN’s human rights body has requested the Iranian government to let them enter the country and investigate human rights violations after the election.

Media / Communications

21. In Tehran, the Telephone Directory Service was out, SMS was cut off again, cell phones weren’t working in several parts of the city and even land-lines were also cut off in some parts. Most Iranian televisions ignored protests almost completely. Some later showed limited footage. Press TV again claimed that the UK was unquestionably behind the unrest in Iran.

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. Anonymous has been faithfully running this forum for the past three weeks besides their regular website. The amount of traffic and the extra content has added to their costs of running their servers. If you want to help monetarily, you can check out their donation page at: General Expense - Why We Protest

B. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

C: If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context, please request for sub-editorship at #iran.aic - WebIRC - AnonNet - Check out the website for the project at: Iran Map | Iran Map or email me at dbosca@gmail.com.

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor: آنلاين Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here:

Gonzo Times � Torrents List (82 videos)

Green Brief #22

2009-07-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

Image by eshare via Flickr

5. IIPF (Islamic Iranian Participation Front) – a reformist political party with close ties to Mohammad Khatami – released a new statement on Iranian websites asking for the immediate release of all political detainees and non-political detainees. The statement slams the government’s brutality and violence and called the election, “a coup against democracy in Iran.” They asked the government to reduce the presence of security forces in Tehran because it was, “starting to look like an army brigade.”

6. It has been reported that Hashemi Rafsanjani has yet again decided to NOT lead Friday Prayers. It is speculated that the rationale behind his decision has to do with wanting to remain neutral until the issues regarding the election are resolved. Two days ago, his political party declared the election invalid. Rafsanjani himself has not made it clear whether he supports that statement or not.

Government / International / Clergy

7. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is continuously canceling trips abroad and inside Iran. So far, he has cancelled his trips to Libya and Egypt (to attend the meeting of Non-Aligned Nations). He cancelled his trip to Mashhad and now there’s news that he has cancelled his trip to Shiraz as well. Heads of States from around the world have also cancelled trips to Iran – among them, The Sultan of Oman and the President of Ukraine. Recent reports from inside his faction divulge that he will not be traveling abroad until the situation in Iran is “completely calm.”

8. International media is reporting that Mojtaba Khamenei – the son of Ayatollah Khamenei – has taken direct control of Iran’s militia group (Basij) in order to suppress the Sea of Green. They also report that officials within other security forces, along with the powerful clergy, are not happy with the situation. However, solid confirmations from our Iranian sources have yet to be confirmed.

9. The spokesperson for the Guardian Council today announced, “That even though the Guardian Council could be approached through legal channels, any complaints against the election were meaningless.” According to him, the Guardian Council’s decision was final.

Arrested / Released / Killed

10. Mohammad Ali Dadkha, a prominent lawyer and human rights activist, was arrested at his office today. Amir Raeesian and Malihe Dadkhah – who were in his office at the time – were also taken into custody. Mohammad Reza Yazdan-Panah of the Islamic Iranian Participation Front was also arrested. Partially confirmed reports suggest that Zhila Bani-Yaghoub and Ahmad Amavi have been put under house-arrest.

11. The Iranian Government released 22 of the 25 staff members from Kalameh Newspaper who had been arrested two weeks ago. Twenty members of the Mourning Mothers Group, arrested last week, were let go. Nine civilians were discharged. High-profile releases include: Gholamreza Zarifiyan (a Cabinet Minister during Khatami’s administration), Zainab Paighambarzadeh, and Poyesh Asaanlo.

12. Ismail Ahmadi-Mogham, Commander of the Iranian Police, announced that 100 detainees will be released in the next few days. He claimed the government had already released two-thirds of the 2,500 protesters arrested. Roughly 500 of those still detained, will be prosecuted in a court soon.

Media Communications

13. IRG’s (Islamic Revolutionary Guard) Javan Daily Newspaper continues to publish confessions of reformists and other detainees who had been arrested in the post-election unrest. Independent sources have confirmed that prisoners have been tortured to confess that they were, “directed by foreign nations into instigating violence in Iran.”

14. Internet connection speed has slowed even further in Iran. Connecting phone calls to Iran has also become notoriously difficult. Chants of Allah o Akbar continue to echo across the night in most parts of Iran -every night.

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. Anonymous has been faithfully running this forum for the past three weeks besides their regular website. The amount of traffic and the extra content has added to their costs of running their servers. If you want to help monetarily, you can check out their donation page at: General Expense - Why We Protest

B. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

C: If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context, please request for sub-editorship at #iran.aic - WebIRC - AnonNet - Check out the website for the project at: Iran Map | Iran Map or email me at dbosca@gmail.com.

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor: آنلاين Tor

[B]Help us set up more bridges on Tor here:

Gonzo Times � Torrents List (82 videos)

Green Brief #21

2009-07-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons (CC). So use it freely and post it wherever you want.)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, July 7 .

Protests

1. There have been reports of atrocities committed against villages in Iran. According to partially confirmed reports, a village near Kamyaran in the Kordestan Province was set on fire by security forces because of protests there last week. Several villagers have also been arrested and are currently in custody.

2. In anticipation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech on Tuesday night, people across Iran came up with a unique plan to disrupt the transmission of the broadcast. The plan was to turn on as many electronic devices as possible, thus disrupting the flow of electricity across the country. Reports confirm that during his speech parts of Karaj, Ghazvin, Sari, Tabriz, Isfahan, Rodehen, Saghez, Lavasan, Ahvaz, Khoramshahr, Dezful, Jahrom, Khomeini Shahr, Shahin Shahr, Folad Shahr, Kashan and Rasht experienced massive black-outs.

3. Black-outs were also reported in Eastern Tehran, as well as the areas of Baharestan, Sarcheshme and Amir Kabir in Central Tehran. There were unconfirmed reports of gunshots in Eastern Tehran as well as Basijis attacking people who climbed to their rooftops to chant ‘Allah o Akbar’ and ‘Death to the Dictator’.

Opposition

4. Mousavi, Karoubi and Khatami held a joint meeting in Tehran today. The three leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the cause of invalidating the election. They called on the government to recognize the legitimate demands of the protesters. They also appealed the government to immediately release all political prisoners and protesters detained during the post-election unrest. The three leaders appointed Mr. Alireza Beheshti, Mr. Moghadam, Mr. Al-Weri and Mr. Amini to probe into the cases of those arrested. They will also survey families whose properties had been damaged during the protests.

5. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s Politically Party – Kargozaran - released the following statement yesterday: “We declare that the election result is unacceptable due to the unhealthy voting process, massive electoral fraud, and the bias candidate choice of the Guardian Council.” 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.

International

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.

8. Canada announced today that it hoped the G8 group of nations would hold a unanimous and firm position in regards to Iran in its upcoming meeting in Italy. Statements by the Prime Minister’s spokesperson indicated that Canada saw Iran’s regime as extremely dangerous, and hoped for a united position by the G8 in this regard.

9. Ten Nobel Peace Prize winners sent a letter today to Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General. They asked him to do everything in his power to put a stop to the abuse of human rights in Iran, and to make sure political prisoners in Iran are freed. They went on to request that he send a special envoy to Iran to investigate human rights abuse and government propaganda against Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi.

10. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director for Human Rights Watch, called on G8 leaders to denounce the violent repression of protesters in Iran. He asked the G8 to dismiss any claims made by the Iranian government that blames “foreign powers” for the violence THEY have committed against protesters. The group called on G8 leaders to ask for an impartial investigation into abuses and accountability for those responsible. Mr. Roth added, “G8 leaders should make clear that Iran is violating international law.”

11. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a televised speech tonight, told the Iranian people that the election was the ‘freest’ of any other anywhere in the world. He blamed foreign powers of interfering in Iranian affairs. He claimed that his opponents have not provided any evidence of voter fraud. His speech was briefly cut because of a power outage, but transmission resumed within seconds.

Arrests / Releases / Killed

12. Faizollah Arab-Sorkhi, a reformist member of Mujahideen-e-Enghelab and a close supporter of Mohammad Khatami – was arrested at his home today. His whereabouts are unknown. It has also been confirmed that another reformist, Siyamak Haidarzadeh is currently being held in captivity. There are no news of his whereabouts either.

13. Although the police in Tehran claim that students arrested from the University of Tehran have all been released, the University’s Chancellor announced that at least two are still in detention.

14. Mahdi Karoubi’s office has asked those with family members in detention or whose property has been damaged during the protests by security forces to contact them about the incidents. Karoubi’s office has released a phone number through which they can be contacted: 227 131 35

15. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, demanded that Iran release French citizen Claudette Reiss immediately. Reiss was arrested a few days ago as she was leaving Iran from Tehran International Airport. She had been living in Isfahan for five months and was teaching French. Reiss has been charged with attempting to harm Iran’s National Security.

16. Confirmed reports from Evin prison indicate that the torture of prisoners has intensified. A reliable source confirmed that hot water was being poured on prisoners, they weren’t allowed to sleep, and that many had been put in solitary confinement. We now confirmed instances of sexual harassment, and rape of male and female prisoners.

17. Iran’s Attorney General’s Office has announced that starting next week, prosecution against some 500 detainees – all arrested during the protests the last couple of weeks - will begin. This comes at a time when thousands of people are feared to be in Iranian prisons stemming from arrests made at protests. Many high-profile political prisoners have not been able to contact their families and many are said to be in dire need of medical attention.

18. In other news, during Ahmadinejad’s speech, a bug continued to fly around his head, forcing him to swat around relentlessly at the bug in front of his face. Reliable sources have now confirmed that the bug has been arrested, moved to Evin Prison, and has confessed to a plot to annoy Ahmadinejad by the Evil UK. His confession will be broadcasted through IRIB soon – so stay tuned.

(A special thanks to all the translators, editors and compilers who make the job of making the Green Brief easier. THANK YOU!)

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. Anonymous has been faithfully running this forum for the past three weeks besides their regular website. The amount of traffic and the extra content has added to their costs of running their servers. If you want to help monetarily, you can check out their donation page at: General Expense - Why We Protest

B. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

C: If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context, please request for sub-editorship at #iran.aic - WebIRC - AnonNet - Check out the website for the project at: Iran Map | Iran Map or email me at dbosca@gmail.com.

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

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[B]Help us set up more bridges on Tor here:

Gonzo Times � Torrents List (82 videos)

Congratulation notes from children and wives of our dears in prison to their noble fathers and husbands:

2009-07-06T22:51:00.000-07:00

These appeared on Mousavi's Facebook page:

Special thanks to Sara for the Translation

Fetemeh, daughter of Dr. Mostafa Tajzadeh
Dad; happy father’s day to you! I am not crying in your absence as I have learned patience from you. Stay strong!

Sepehr, son of Shahab Tabatabai
Our dear daddy Shahab; no hand can separate you from us. You are with us even when you are away, anytime, anywhere. We are anxiously waiting for your return.

Children of Safai Farahani
Dear father; this year we are celebrating the birth of Imam Ali (peace be upon him), the symbol of justice, in the absence of your precious presence and we are praying for your wellbeing and prosperity to the almighty God. We are proud of you and we love you dearly.

Zahra, wife of Dr. Ali Tajernia
My companion and soulmate Ali; day is formed by the sun, night by the starts and I by you. Congratulations to you on this day!

Mohammad-Hossein, Sara, Amir-Hossein and Alireza, children of Dr. Tajernia
Our kind father; our congratulation is an excuse to remember the happy days of our lives. We congratulate this day to you and pray to the compassionate Lord for your wellbeing and freedom.

Wife and children of Dr. Shirakvand
My dear father; tonight is the birthday of most noble and most chaste of the fathers. But I am wondering what uncommitted sin has banned me from your kind embrace and warm kisses? Hope that the caring hand of Imam Ali presents my unlimited love to your lonely hands.

Dr. Marsousi, wife of Dr. Saeed Hajarian
Dear Saeed; we have forgotten your stammering owing to your constancy of belief and shuddering of your hand because of your permanence of notion. They were able to target your voice and hand with hatred and revulsion but your idea and your conviction will always be green. Today is the birthday of the king of compassion and justice. They have imprisoned your ailing body but know that your green idea will always remain in our hearts.

Leili-Saddat Jalalzadeh, wife of Javad Imam
The birthday of Imam Ali is not only the father’s day but also the day to celebrate courage, humanity, generosity, peace, compassion and truth, and these are the treasures that not everyone can attain. These days you were not only courageous but also taught bravery, resilience and humanity to everyone. Congratulations to you on this day!

Children and wife of Majid Nayeri
Our dear Majid; we sincerely congratulate father’s day, the day of courage and heroism, and we hope you come back to the family’s arms soon.

Mohammad, Ahmad and wife of Dr. Abdollah Ramazanzadeh
Our dear father, congratulations to you on this day! Endure as God is with those who are patient. God willing we will soon meet you and your noble comrades among the family and the Iranian people.

Maryam Baghi, wife of Mohammad Ghochani
My darling, Mohammad; on this blessed day I entrust you to the “born of Kaaba” who portrayed justice and fairness with the heart broken from the injustice that he endured. God of Ali, God of you, is the ultimate judge. I congratulate this day to you and I swear to your God that the ultimate champion is none but the truth. To this day no corporeal power has been able to alter belief and faith with chain and prison so you that have faith in father of Shias, Imam Ali, are free even in prison. Congratulations to you and your fellow imprisoned comrades for the birth of the king of all noble men in the universe.

Wife and children of Kambiz Nourozi
In the appreciation of your imprisoned pen and of your hand that made heroism and courage the memory of these days. Stars be upon your day!

Mahtab, Doughter of Eissa Saharkheir
Dear Dad; we are spending father’s day in your absence and enduring what is happening these days. We are waiting for your freedom. We are waiting for the freedom. Be prosperous and courageous!

Sajaad, son of Sadegh Nourozi
My dear father; I wish you were with me in such a day. Be determined and courageous!

Mother of Somayeh Tohidlo
Dear God, put the “knowledge of Ali” ahead of the “love for Ali”. Best wishes for the birth of the icon of justice and bravery to all his true followers.

Green Brief #20

2009-07-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons (CC). So use it freely. A big apology for not being able to brief yesterday. I was in a different city and the internet connection at the hotel was just...)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Monday, July 6 in Iran.

Protests

1. As reported yesterday, people did indeed gather in front of Evin Prison with flowers and gifts for prisoners. These individuals were there to celebrate Iranian’s Father’s Day. However, the peaceful gathering resulted in the presence of security forces – which again used force in order to scatter the crowd. It has not been confirmed if anyone was injured in the incident. Videos of people chanting in front of the Evin prison have been released, but dates cannot be confirmed on any of them.

2. UAE police last night prevented roughly 100 Iranian expatriates from signing a piece of cloth which said, “Ahmadinejad is not our president!” It was supposed to be sent to Paris and used as a petition where it would’ve joined similar petitions from around the world. The UAE police told protesters that they had the right to gather, but did not have the right to sign petitions against the Iranian government.

3. In an interview on an Iranian website, the spokesperson for Imam’s Way Faction (members of Parliament) accused security forces of attacking people’s homes and abducting Iranian students from universities in Tehran. He also complained that the government was blocking their website, Parlemaan News, from time to time. He demanded the government to stop filtering news from reaching the people.

4. Protesters are widely being dubbed as “rioters” by the Iranian Media and government officials. It has increasingly replaced the word protesters in government channels. Ayatollah Khamenei called the participants of the post-election protests a ‘depressed’ and ‘distressed’ minority.

Opposition

5. There were reports today of a meeting between Rafsanjani and Mousavi, however, it could only be partially confirmed. Rafsanjani is proving to be very elusive for both sides of the conflict - so anything attributed to him needs to be considered with great caution.

6. Mousavi celebrated Imam Ali’s birthday today with a small group at his house. Mousavi said, “The flaws in the system had become more apparent because of the election.” He called the government illegitimate and stated that he and his followers will continue to work to achieve their goal of nullifying the election. He went on to say, “the real issue has not disappeared simply because the protests have quieted down - on the contrary, we will continue to work to the very end.”

Government / International / Clerics

7. Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, congratulated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his victory as President today. He was being eyed as a key member of the government who might be swayed to join the pro-reform movement, however, despite earlier indications; he has remained firmly in Ahmadinejad’s side.

8. It must be noted that except for one statement from pro-reform clerics in Qom supporting the protesters, no pro or anti-protester statement has been released by major clerical organizations from Qom. Reports indicate that the majority of clerics in Qom are against crackdowns on protesters and meetings are daily held between various factions to determine their course of action.

9. Hossein Subhani-Nya, a key member of the Iranian parliament’s foreign relations committee, told Iran’s Al-Alam TV today that they had indications that 6 member nations of the G8 group had already decided to call back their ambassadors from Iran after being urged to do so by Britain. He did not divulge the names of the members. He added that Iran would never bend to Western pressure and that it will take action against countries who call back their ambassadors on a case by case basis.

10. After Joe Biden’s statements yesterday, Alaeddin Broujerdi, the head of Iran's parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said today that Iran was going to take ‘real and decisive’ action if attacked by Israel. He defended the government’s crackdown on protests and called the situation in Iran calm and peaceful. Today, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the Iranian people deserved a better government.

11. Ayatollah Khamenei warned the West to not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. He urged Western countries to not meddle in Iran and warned them of a reaction by the Iranian nation if they didn’t pay heed to his warnings. News of Khamenei being abandoned by senior officials is intensifying. It was reported today that the spokesperson for the Guardian Council – Mr. Kadkhodaie – will be resigning soon to focus on teaching. Reports indicate it is a move by Kadkhodaie to distance himself from the government.

12. Grand Ayatollah Abbas-Ali Amid Zanjani – a former chancellor of Tehran University and a member of the Combatant Clergy Association – said today that every healthy mind doubted the impartiality of the election. He said that the large scale arrests of post-election protesters was regrettable and slammed the government for killing protesters and then branding them as rioters.

13. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the IRG, said today that the IRG had taken a large role in quelling the protests. He said that the opportunity had presented itself and the Guard had to take action in order to restore calm in the country which it did almost flawlessly.

Arrests / Releases / Killed

14. Ahmadi-Mogham, a high-ranking police official in Tehran, today said that the police had not fired a single shot at protesters. He also denied any relationship between plainclothesmen and the police and the Basijis. This comes at a time as more and more sources report that at least 100 people were killed in Tehran during the protests – many of them by Tehran’s police.

15. Reports indicate of the arrest of at least one female French citizen in Iran. It cannot be positively confirm when she was arrested and where she is kept at this point. It has been reported by the BBC that she’s an academic who had spent 5 months in Isfahan and was arrested on her way out of Tehran at the city’s main airport.

16. Farnaz Moyerian, a student activist and reporter, was released today from Evin Prison. It has been reported that Mousavi will be meeting with the families of detained protesters sometime in the next few days to discuss their release.

Communications

17. SMS services have been disconnected in Tehran again. Iran’s national broadcasting agency has been removed again.

Miscellaneous

18. Tehran's Air Pollution Monitor Center warned citizens not to go out on Tuesday as air pollution was above Crisis Level because of recent dust storms. Due to air pollution, all government offices and educational institutions in Tehran will be closed tomorrow. The chants of Allaho Akbar echoed across Iran again at night, even as the roofs could be hardly seen because of low visibility.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. Anonymous has been faithfully running this forum for the past three weeks besides their regular website. The amount of traffic and the extra content has added to their costs of running their servers. If you want to help monetarily, you can check out their donation page at: General Expense - Why We Protest

B. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

C: If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context, please request for sub-editorship at #iran.aic - WebIRC - AnonNet - Check out the website for the project at: Iran Map | Iran Map or email me at dbosca@gmail.com.

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

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Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor: آنلاين Tor

[B]Help us set up more bridges on Tor here:

Gonzo Times � Torrents List (82 videos)

Green Brief #18-19

2009-07-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons (CC). So use it freely. A big apology for not being able to brief yesterday. I was in a different city and the internet connection at the hotel was just...)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Saturday and Sunday, July 4-5 in Iran.

Protests

1. The head of the IRGC – one of the various security forces used to quell protesters – claimed today that the BBC and the British Embassy were the main instigators directing ‘rioters’. Brigadier General Abdullah Iraqi (Iraqi is just a last name) claimed that the government did not deal with the protesters harshly in the beginning – although it could have. Among his many outrageous claims was that ‘rioters’ hauled other injured ‘rioters’ from ambulances and killed them. He also claimed that ‘rioters’ injured 600 IRGC officers and that 8 officers had been killed in the line of duty.

2. Monday 6 July at 5 PM Iran time, the families of some Iranians who have been detained at Evin Prison plan on gathering in front of the prison with flowers and gifts in recognition of Father’s Day. Around 5000 workers at the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Plantation the city of Shosh in Khuzestan province have gone on strike – although said to be in solidarity with the Sea of Green, this could not be independently confirmed. Although said to be still in the planning phase, reports indicate the government has already started planting cameras in areas of Tehran where protesters have gathered in huge numbers in the past. It is said to be a way for pinpointing individual protesters for arrests and also better coordination of security forces in case of protests. It is interesting to note that Ahmadinejad has opposed the idea.

3. Heavy sand storms have hit Tehran and according to sources within the city, the entire city is affected by low visibility. 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. Although we’ve been hearing a lot about it, the more reliable twitter sources have not been able to confirm anything in this regard.

Opposition

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. He claimed that the government had completely ruined the reputation of the Basij by ordering it to act violently during the protests. He further asked the government to stop the spree-killings during protests.

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.

8. It is continually being hinted that Rafsanjani is working frantically behind doors to find a solution to the current stalemate. Reports indicate that he has stepped up pressure on the Guardian Council and is working to weaken their sway over the security forces as well as the Iranian regime. Nothing is fully confirmed at this point, although the sources who have reported this are quit reliable. In a meeting with families of detainees, he said that what has happened since the election has been a bitter experience and that Iranians should join hands and help make the regime stable in the long-term.3

9. Several high-ranking officials within the government or related to government officials have been disowned by their parents. In the latest case, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s son-in-law was disowned by his father. Mahdi Khorsheedi’s father said on Saturday that he no longer had a son named Mahdi because Mahdi Khorsheedi had sided with Ahmadinejad in the post-election unrest.

Arrests, Releases, Fatalities

10. Isa Saharkhiz, a prominent Iranian journalist and founder of IAPPF (Iranian Association for Protection of Press Freedom) was arrested on Friday. Another reformist and member of Musharekat Party (IIPF), Jalal Mohammadlou was arrested while on his way to the hospital. Two prominent members of Musharekat Party, Saeed Hajjarian and Mohsen Amin-Zadeh, both of whom had already been arrested and released earlier in the uprising, have now been transferred to an IRG hospital in Tehran. According to sources, Hajjarian is in failing health.

11. Masood Bastani, an Iranian journalist and the husband of detained Iranian journalist Mehsa Amrabadi, was detained while he was at court seeking information about his wife. Mahsa was detained 20 days ago and is with child. Their house had previously been raided, but Masood hadn’t been home while the security forces caused serious damage to their property.

12. It has now been confirmed that the lone UK Embassy staffer in custody is being charged with endangering Iranian national security and is the Embassy’s senior political analyst. Most detainees that were arrested in the post-election unrest have been charged with attempting to endanger national security. So far, 20 journalists are also in Iranian prisons. A Greek-born American journalist working for the Washington Times has now been released by the Iranian government. Bita Samimi Rad, a leftist student activist, has now also been released from Evin Prison.

13. Members of Mourning Mothers, a group that was formed by mothers of detained protesters to seek their release, who had been arrested in Laleh Park last week have now been freed. The group has planned more gatherings in Tehran in the next week to try and seek the release of their loved ones.

14. Hamid Maddah, a core member of Mousavi’s campaign in Mashhad, died in custody on Saturday. He had been arrested in Gowharshad Mosque along with many other Mousavi supporters. According to sources, he had been tortured badly and wasn’t able to recover. The official death certificate registers the cause of death as internal bleeding in the skull.
15. There are reports surfacing of the wide-spread use of torture and intimidation in Evin prison. Protesters are regularly beaten, sources claim, and there have been instances of male protesters being raped. Unconfirmed reports also indicate of several protesters being hanged at Evin and in Mashhad, but they cannot be confirmed at this point.

Government / International / Clergy

16. The Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom released a statement on Saturday calling the election invalid and the government formed by it illegitimate. The association boasts within its ranks respected clerics and Shi’ite teachers that reside in the holy city of Qom, a center for Islamic learning for Shi’ites. It had been reported before, on the Green Briefs and other outlets, that there were intense negotiations going on in Qom. This seems to be only the tip of the iceberg and sources indicate more is soon to follow in the form of support for reformists and protesters.

17. Ahmadinejad on Saturday told a meeting of medical school deans that he wanted to hold negotiations with President Barack Obama before the media. He stated that he would go to the United Nations and ask President Obama for the opportunity. The White House has not released any comments about the offer. Ahmadinejad also indicated the Iran will pursue more active diplomacy in his second term.

18. Ayatollah Hashemi Shahrodi, the head of Iran’s judiciary, asked courts throughout the country to prosecute people who are aiding protesters through websites. He has also ordered an overall clampdown on anyone ‘using any means’ to help protesters. Furthermore, Sharhodi has ordered the prosecution of people who’re ‘helping to spread lies about Iran through satellite channels’.

19. In Kordestan province, the government has started to compile a list of supporters of opposition candidates. The list is supposedly being prepared to make the work of security forces easier when arresting unwanted elements. As sit-ins at mosques were used by protesters to show their discontent, the doors of several mosques in Tehran have now been closed. There are notes hanging on the doors telling people that the mosques are closed to Etekaaf, a form of religious sit-in at mosques where people pray to Allah and ask for forgiveness.

20. Mohammad Mollabashi, a government official in the Ministry of Education, has stated that students who have been active in ‘riots’ will not be permitted to pursue their education in Iran.

Media / Communications

21. Fars News alleged on Sunday that Mousavi’s campaign headquarters was nothing but a meeting point for sexual-deviant Iranian youth. He claimed that many of these people wanted to help Mousavi to gain sexual freedom. The editor-in-chief of Keyhan newspaper has said that any party formed by Mousavi is illegal as Mousavi’s responsible for spilling Iranians’ blood.

22. Several prominent television personalities have now been banned from IRIB. The editor of Etemaade Melli newspaper was again summoned on Sunday by the public prosecutor’s office in Tehran. He was there to answer accusations of involvement in ‘riots’ by the newspaper’s staff and support for them by the newspaper.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. I would like to ask all the people translating the Breifs to take a break today and not translate this brief as it is far too long and the next one will be coming out shortly anyway. I will send you a link to the new one via email soon as it’s done. (Probably in about 12 hours).

B. Anonymous has been faithfully running this forum for the past three weeks besides their regular website. The amount of traffic and the extra content has added to their costs of running their servers. If you want to help monetarily, you can check out their donation page at: General Expense - Why We Protest

C: If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context, please request for sub-editorship at #iran.aic - WebIRC - AnonNet - Check out the website for the project at: Iran Map | Iran Map or email me at dbosca@gmail.com.

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor: آنلاين Tor

[B]Help us set up more bridges on Tor here:

Gonzo Times � Torrents List (82 videos)

Green Brief #17

2009-07-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. [B](My work is released under Creative Commons (CC). So use it freely)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Friday, July 03 in Iran.

In Dutch: Green Brief #16 (2 juli) (Nederlands) - Why We Protest - IRAN

In French: Dossier Vert #17 – Vendredi 3 Juillet, 2009 � Le dossier vert – The green brief in French

In Greek: Green Brief #17 (july 3) [In Greek] - Why We Protest - IRAN

In Hebrew: http://sites.google.com/site/cometru...untitledpost-1

In Indonesian: The Green Brief #17 (Indonesian) - Why We Protest - IRAN

In German: Nachrichten zur Situation im Iran

In Norwegian: Green Brief #17 (Norwegian)

In Portuguese: O Taborita: Resenha Verde #17 (3 de julho)

In Russian: Green Brief # 17 (July 03) [in Russian] - Why We Protest - IRAN

In Spanish: Green Brief #17 en Español � Pocket Diplomat

In Swedish: Green Brief på Svenska

In Turkish: http://ow.ly/gvyY

Protesters

1. Family of detained protesters continued to swarm in front of Evin Prison for the third day in a row. In yesterday’s mourning at Beheshte Zahra Cemetery, mourners were reportedly attacked by Basijis. It was reported that a large portion of Tehran’s shops were closed yesterday – to commemorate the 20th day of the “Sea of Green” movement.

2. There were demonstrations at Mashhad today, although our sources could not confirm information beyond that. Sources also indicated that so far, at least 5 people have been killed and more than 200 have been detained during protests from Mashhad. High-profile detainees include Hashem Khastar, Reza Arab and Rohullah Shahsavar.

3. The main University of Sistan o Baluchistan has been shut-down by the government, according to unconfirmed reports. Furthermore, students from the university were dragged out of their dorms and sent home. Daryoosh Shikoof, a prominent Iranian filmmaker who lives in Germany, has started a hunger strike in front of the Russian Embassy in Berlin to protest Russia’s continued support for Ahmadinejad’s regime.

Arrested and Killed

4. Ayatollah Jannati – Head of The Guardian Council - announced that the remaining British Embassy staff has been found to have had a hand in the unrest. Speaking at Friday Prayer’s in Tehran, he added they will be “prosecuted for the crimes they have committed – and already confessed to.” He went on to say that, “confessions from other instigators of violence will also be shown on national TV.” Sources indicate that the government is planning on hanging the remaining staffers after mock trials. So far, two British Embassy staffers remain in Iranian custody.

5. Sara Sabaghian, a lawyer and prominent women’s rights activist, was freed today from Evin Prison. Another detainee at Evin, Mojtaba Tehrani, who maintained the website for Etemade Melli newspaper, has called his family after a week in detention and asked them for their prayers. Reports have also surfaced that an Iran Telecom employee who has sent text messages to the BBC has been fired from his job.

Statements

6. Grand Ayatollah Yosuf Sanei today stated that, “confessions of detained protesters didn’t hold any merit, neither legally or rationally.” He added that, “detentions, killings, beatings, lies and tricks should not stop people from trying to retain their right to determine their future.” He called into question the legitimacy of the election again by stating that none of the candidates – except for the winner – had given up their claims against its impartiality. He also cautioned security forces against the use of force against civilians and called it an “unforgivable sin” and stated that no order by any authority could justify acts of violence against the populace. His statements come at a time when more Ayatollahs are siding with protesters and denouncing the government’s actions in the aftermath of the elections.

7. No reliable statements from Mousavi have surfaced today. His wife, Zahra Rahnavard, however, did state today that Mousavi will continue to fight for women’s rights. Reports have indicated that at least she is under house arrest and unconfirmed reports indicate that both of them are currently being overseen by security forces and their movement is severely restricted.

8. The Association of Iranian University Graduates has released a statement claiming that, “the government was out to suppress opposition by any means possible escalating from the rigged elections.” Dozens of Iranian university professors have a signed a letter expressing deep anger for the attacks made by security forces on Iranian universities and students.

Government / International

9. Reports indicate that Ahmadinejad’s trip to Mashhad has been canceled due to the government’s fear of possible violent reaction from the residents there. Reports have also surfaced that clerics in Mashhad are conducting closed-door meetings to evaluate the situation and many have given their blessings to protesters. Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city is considered a holy city because of the numerous shrines for martyrs, as well as for Prophet Mohammed’s family members. It boasts a large and active population of clerics.

10. All 27 EU member nations have summoned the Iranian ambassadors in their countries to question them about the current situation in Iran. They asked about the fate of the remaining British Embassy staff detained in Tehran, and demanded their immediate released. Pressure is being mounted on Iran as EU nations are searching for ‘other ways’ to resolve the situation. It is being reported that the EU is considering whether it should stop issuing visas to Iranian government officials.

11. The Dutch government today suggested that it might push for EU legislation banning the sale of all technology that could be used to filter or censor information to Iran. The Dutch Parliament told the government it should take the initiative to convince the European Union to ban such sales. It was reported that China lent expertise to the Iranian government to censor websites and track down net-dissidents. Today, it was also reported that the Sultan of Oman – one of very few countries who congratulated Ahmadinejad on his re-election – has canceled his trip to Iran.

12. Etemaade Melli’s Newspaper was once again censored by the government. According to reports, it was forced to publish a repeat of yesterday’s articles. The government has claimed that the videos of Neda’s death are all fake. Mr. Zarghami, head of the government’s official media organization, IRIB, has accused Twitter, Facebook and YouTube of grossly misrepresenting what is going on in Iran and said that they were being directed by foreign forces.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch or Greek, please let us know. It comes out every day so it'll be an every day thing so it's for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great! Email me on dbosca@gmail.com if you're interested.

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what’s going in Iran.

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Green Brief #16

2009-07-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. [B](My work is released under Creative Commons (CC). So use it freely)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Thursday, July 02 in Iran.

In Italian: Gonzo Times � Blog Archive � 02/07/2009: Report di fine giornata

Protests

1. Thousands of people gathered at Iran’s Beheshte Zahra Cemetery and other smaller cemeteries to mourn the people who’ve died in the protests. The numbers were hard to confirm, but various sources claimed somewhere between 10-15 thousands. Large numbers of Basijis were reported to have been stationed in and around Beheshte Zahra, but no clashes were reported. Shopkeepers in Tabriz shopkeepers have reportedly stopped their strikes because of government intimidation and threats by the Basijis.

2. Mousavi’s Facebook page asked for protesters to form a human chain on Sunday, however, this could not be confirmed through other sources. This while about 120 women from the group Mourning Mothers gathered at Laleh Park again today and lit candles in memory of the fallen protesters. They have planned mass gatherings in Laleh, Andisheh and Mellat parks for July 4. Some relatives of detainees gathered in front of Evin Prison again today and asked for the release of their loved ones.

Government / International

3. Hard-line parliament members today again called on the Judiciary to prosecute Mousavi for allegedly breaking the law by calling protests and for instigating violence. The call had been made in the past as well and several state-run newspapers have also made similar demands in the past few days. Unconfirmed reports from Qom and Khorasan indicate that more clerics are considering to denounce the government’s actions in the past week and to declare the protests legitimat

4. Samareh Hashemi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s campaign manager, told PressTV today that the SMS outage and cell phone service restrictions were put in place to "ensure security" during and after the election. He added that Mousavi wasn’t really an opposition leader because he’s views closely matched those of the governments. He claimed that all the candidates fully know that the election was as impartial as any and that no voting fraud had taken place.
5. More international pressure is being mounted as in a meeting next week; EU member nations will consider pulling their ambassadors from Iran because of the government’s actions. Russia’s foreign ministry announced today that Russia opposed international sanctions against Iran and that the election and its aftermath were Iran’s internal issues that needed to be dealt with by Iranians, MosNews reported. A former Justice Minister of Canada, Irwin Cotler, has asked the international community to ban Ahmadinejad from entering their countries, Deutsche-Welle reported.
6. An Egyptian lawyer belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, Mamdouh Ismail, has filed a complaint in the prosecutor general’s office in Egypt asking them to ban Ahmadinejad from entering Egypt next month to attend a diplomatic meeting there. He has accused him of winning the election fraudulently and insulting two of Prophet Mohammed’s companions. This was reported on Al-Arabiya’s website.

Arrests, Casualties, Releases

7. Seven people were arrested in Qazvin today in connection with the protests. The head of Participation Front in Hormozgan province, Mr. Ramezanpour, was arrested there today. The government-owned media now claims that 20 people have died in the post-election protests. Real numbers are hard to obtain, but the number is reportedly much more than what the Iranian media reported. Iranian journalists Maryam Ameri and Omid Mohaddes were released from prison today in Tehran.

8. However, Saeed Hajjarian – a prominent politician and backer of Mousavi – is being said to be in deteriorating health. Amnesty International today once again called upon the government to release Hajjarian. On Wednesday News Week asked Iran for immediate release of their reporter Maziar Bahari who had been detained earlier and rejected accusations by the Iranian media that Bahari had a hand in the post-election violence. He was arrested on June 21 and has been denied access to a lawyer.

9. Meanwhile media reports of six protesters being hanged in Evin were denied by the government. Iranian Students News Agency reported on their website that the six people were accused of killing their spouses and other people. They didn’t indicate that any of the people were implicated because of any involvement in the protests.

10. Interpol today denied that the witness to Neda Agha-Soltan’s death is wanted by the Interpol. They also denied receiving any requests from the Iranian government for his arrest. Iranian media and government have claimed that the witness, Arash Hejazi, was wanted by the Interpol. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Iranian government’s intelligence agencies as well as the Ministry of Islamic Guidance are compiling a list of Iranian journalists which will be barred from traveling abroad.

11. Reports of torture at Evin and other Iranian prisons are mounting. Some sources claim that detainees are being beaten every night and others are being water-boarded with hot water in order to get confessions from them.

Statements

12. Yet another Ayatollah has joined the cause of the protesters. Ayatollah Bayat-Zanjani today said that demand for justice and protesting for one’s rights was legal. He also denounced the suppression of protesters and called the act illegitimate. He asked Mousavi to stand for justice and help people get their rights. Zanjani joins Ayatollahs Taheri, Ghaffari and Montazeri in their support for the cause of the protesters. Karoubi announced again today that he would not recognize the government and would continue to stand by people demanding for their rights till the end of his life.

13. It has also been reported that Rafsanjani, who is also one of the Imams who rotate leading Friday prayers in Tehran’s largest mosques, has for the second week decided to not lead the prayers. Last week, his spot was first filled by Khamenei, but Khamenei pulled out at the last minute leaving Ahmad Khatami to lead the prayers. Rafsanjani is not planning to attend this Friday's prayer either.

Media

14. Parlemaan News’ website has been blocked by the government. The website was one of the only remaining sources of impartial news for the Iranian people. The government closed it after it posted several of Mousavi’s statements and Khatami’s criticism of the government. Parlemaan News – parlemaan means parliament in persian – is the official news webstie of the Imam’s Way faction of MP’s in the Iranian parliament. They had been warned last week by security forces and the Judiciary to restrict criticism of the government.

15. The BBC reported today that the Kingdom of Jordan had banned Iran’s state-run Al-Alam and Press TV stations from broadcasting in Jordan and revoked their operation permits. Al-Alam broadcasts news in Arabic and Press TV is the main English language news channel of Iran. The latter today showed footage of what it called ‘thugs attacking Basiji Headquarters in Tehran’ which showed several protesters chanting in front of the headquarters at an unspecified date. The footage didn’t show any of the ‘thugs’ actually using any of Molotov cocktails they were holding.

COMMUNICATIONS

16. Even though SMS was back in Tehran yesterday, reports indicate that it has been cut-off once again. Sources indicated that they’d asked twitter users from Tehran to not text each other using the service because it could be a ploy by the government to find dissidents. There are reports that Iran’s main telecom companies were trained in China in how to how weed out dissidents using their data posted on the net as well as monitoring and other techniques.

17. Even though yesterday’s news of four unopened ballot boxes being found in Shiraz couldn’t be verified, reliable sources indicate that the governor of Fars province where Shiraz is located announced today that the boxes were from past elections. He added that they will be stored as national documents. Mohammad Reza Nasab-Abdollahi, the journalist that broke the news, has been reportedly intimidated by the government and is being pressured to recant his report and deny the claim.

18. Chants of Allah o Akbar again echoed across Iran. Reports have suggested that dozens of people – in some cases the residents of entire apartment buildings – have been arrested by Basijis for chanting on their rooftops at night. Residents in Northern Tehran have also been warned that they could either stop chanting or risk losing their satellite antennas – which are illegal in the country, but widely owned by the public.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch or Greek, please let us know. It comes out every day so it'll be an every day thing so it's for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great! Email me on dbosca@gmail.com if you're interested.

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what’s going in Iran.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

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Farsi:

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Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: http://gonzotimes.net/?page_id=500

A Failure of Propagandic Proportions

2009-07-02T09:12:00.001-07:00

It seems that CBS News has uncovered a bit of propaganda that the Iranian government had tried to spread. Iran’s government claimed that INTERPOL was investigating Neda Soltan’s death, when in fact they invented the probe.

Image via Wikipedia

Rachel Billington, a spokesperson for INTERPOL, said: "We've not received any request for information or for assistance on the death of that lady.”

This is just one more thing to add to the illegitimacy of the regime which has just declared itself in charge after fraudulently stuffing ballot boxes and refusing to hold a re-vote—the only way it might be able to ensure enough confidence in the process to prevent exactly the kinds of protests which are continuing to plague Tehran.

Makes you wonder what kind of madness they think they can get away with, doesn’t it?

Green Brief #15

2009-07-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Image by BL1961 via Flickr

Protests

1. There have been unconfirmed reports of a protest in Tehran today. There were reports of clashes in Rasht that could be partially confirmed. Clashes broke out when police tried to disperse people who were mourning dead protesters. A doctor and two nurses were badly beaten in Loghman Hospital in Tehran after they tried to stop security forces from arresting an injured protester from the facility. A tweet source talked to a Basiji in Tehran today. According to the source, the Basiji claimed that he was working for Islam, but hoped that he wouldn’t be forced to quell protests again.

2. Protests are being planned for tomorrow - although none could be fully confirmed. A number of Iranian women who’ve formed a quasi-group called Mourning Mothers have announced that they will gather at Laleh Park on Saturday to mourn the dead. Reports from Tehran suggest that shops are being closed earlier than usual. Several sources claimed that the city is in a virtual state of an unofficial curfew.

Political Statements

3. Mousavi today released his 9th statement since the elections. He said that, “No opportunity to illuminate the extent of this lie and its historic repercussions should be lost and that the liars and cheats are only sheltering behind the law to impose their intentions.” He added that it was his and “all Iranians’ revolutionary responsibility to not let the blood of thousands of martyrs to have been in vain.” He continued to say, “It’s our historic mission to continue our protest and not abandon the cause of regaining people's rights.” He questioned the government’s legitimacy and said that he no longer believed the government to be lawful – a sentiment already recognized by the majority of Iranians. He called upon the Government’s Elite to help expose the election fraud by releasing evidence and documents currently in their possession.

4. Khatami criticized the government in a new, harsher tone that suggested outright contempt today. He called the elections a “coup d’état against democracy.” He asked, “How can the Iranian people calm down when their votes were stolen? When their blood is and has been shed? When they are being hauled away and arrested en masse? When the government and media blatantly ignore them?” He asked, “How is a National reconciliation even remotely possible in a country that is turning into a police state?” He went on to say that what’s happening now in Iran “is a direct violation of the very rights people are promised in the constitution.” He accused the media of attempting to provoke further unrest and violence and denounced the governments’ attempts at censorship. He predicted that Regime’s establishment would fail if this were to continue.

5. Khatami later met with several families of loved ones arrested during in the violence the past two weeks. He yet again asked for the release of those detained for protesting, including all political and media personalities. He slammed the Ministry of Interior for professing “obliviousness” over the fate of many of the detained.

6. A video of Ayatollah Hadi Ghaffari, another prominent Shi’ite cleric has surfaced in which he directly accuses Khamenei of sinning against the people by ordering arrests and killings. This is the second high-ranking cleric in two days who has been reported to criticize the government so harshly. Ayatollah Taheri, the former Imam of Isfahan’s Friday prayers’s mosque, criticized the government’s actions yesterday.

Government

7. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly said today that there was as much truth to electoral fraud in Iran as there was for the Holocaust. (Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust denier.) Ahmadinejad reportedly cancelled his trip to Libya to attend an African summit today as well. The media reported that Ahmadinejad was too busy at work and there were ‘other priorities’ for him to get to. This comes at a time when some reformists abroad are secretly planning on creating a shadow government for Iran – according to unconfirmed reports.

8. The Imam's Way Faction (a group of MP’s) of parliament, which is slightly pro-reform, asked the families of detainees to send them documented information about their arrested family members. More high-profile Iranians were arrested today. Among the arrested were: Saeedeh Kordinejad and Zoia Hasani -members of Mosharekat Party, Vahid Amoozadeh-Khalili - the son of another pro-reform personality and Omid Mosleh - a prominent film critic. Mosleh was later released. Mohammad Mostafayee, a prominent lawyer who had been arrested two days ago, was also released on bail today.

Arrests, Releases and Investigations

9. Vahid Amoozadeh-Khalili’s detention could only be confirmed today, although he had been missing for two days. A high-ranking official in the Police Department confirmed that 1,032 people had been arrested since the start of the protests. According to independent sources, the numbers are likely much higher. There was partial confirmation of the release of 4 other British Embassy's local staffers from Iranian detention. One still remains under arrest. The government had previously claimed that some of the 9 staffers arrested were guilty of taking part in orchestrating the current unrest in Iran. This comes when the EU has threatened to pull out all its diplomatic missions from Iran if the staffers were not released.

10. The Iranian government claimed that the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan was in no way, shape, or form related to the recent ‘riots’. Iran’s Chief of Police announced today that one of the key eye-witnesses of Neda’s death, Arash Hejazi, is actually wanted by Interpol for unspecified crimes. The government had earlier claimed that the bullet that killed Neda was not shot by any weapon currently in use by Iranian Security Forces.

11. Mohmmad Ghouchani, the detained editor-in-chief of Etemade Melli, has deined denied reports published in IRG’s main media outlet Javan Daily that he confessed committing crimes and breaking the law in organizing protests. He also rejected Javan’s claim that he had been secretly trained in an Arab country to carry out subversion tactics. He claimed to not even own a passport.

Media in Iran and Miscellaneous

12. Etemade Melli will be published again starting tomorrow after being banned for a day by the government for reportedly attempting to publish Karoubi’s statements yesterday. Reports suggest that the government is now heavily censoring Etemade Melli as well as other newspapers in order to stop any such statements from getting out to the public. A reporter of government-owned Press TV has also quit his job over perceived bias in the station’s reporting of the events after the election.

13. Today, reporters accompanying the governor of Fars province and the Friday prayers’ Imam of Shiraz stumbled upon four unopened ballot boxes from the elections in Shiraz’s main library. Per electoral rules in Iran, all ballot boxes were supposed to be shipped to Tehran. According to reports, the governor promptly declared the contents of the boxes ‘national documents’ and asked the reporters not to report the incident.

(Here are some pictures of the boxes as they can be clearly seen sealed. The last picture shows the Imam voting on Election Day, wearing a different robe. We cannot fully authenticate the pictures as no dates can be seen in the pictures.):
پایگاه مستقل خبر رسانی عبرت www.ebrat.ir

14. Chants of Allah o Akbar continued to rattle Tehran and other cities of Iran at dusk. A report published by the Guardian reports through a protester's friend that the protester was arrested, beaten and raped. Here's the full story on The Guardian's website: Iran protester was arrested, beaten and raped, friend says | World news | guardian.co.uk

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch or Greek, please let us know. It comes out every day so it'll be an every day thing so it's for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great! Email me on dbosca@gmail.com if you're interested.

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what’s going in Iran.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

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Tor: ?????? Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: Torrents list � Rivolta in Iran

Green Brief #14

2009-06-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (All my work is released under Creative Commons (CC). You can freely use it and re-post it wherever you'd like to. Just provide a link to the original source at the bottom.)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, June 30 in Iran.

1. 1. Today, people gathered at Vali Asr Square -the entire place was packed with Security Forces. Guards at Vanak Square were reportedly breaking car windows (those that honked their horns) which is a sign of the current protests. After security forces tried to arrest a young girl, some clashes broke out. (There was no further news about this event so confirmation is partial only.)

2. About 10 people were arrested at Tajrish Square after a group of people gathered there and chanted against the regime. Clashes were also reported at Satarkhan Street and Jomhori Street. The Independent Youth was also planning to organize a protest today in Tehran, however, reports were scarce and no confirmations could be obtained of the protests.

3. Today, more than 2,000 people gathered in front of the Islamic Republic Court in Urumieh asking about their detained relatives. So far, thousands have been rounded-up during protests, as well as during day and night-time raids all over the country. The number cannot be verified but it is said to be in the thousands. Mousavi and Karoubi have denied having sanctioned yesterday’s protests.

4. Mousavi has been reported by Iran Press TV to only be accepting of a new election. Mousavi's campaign today called the widespread arrests “immoral and illegal.” Furthermore, they said that the torture of detained civilians could produce anti-revolutionary sentiments amongst the people, thus damaging the Islamic Revolution severely. There were reports of a National Strike being organized and propagated on Mousavi’s website, but it cannot be confirmed through independent sources.

5. The Iranian government has meanwhile banned Mousavi’s ally, Abolfazl Fateh, from leaving the country. Abolfazl Fateh today said that elections were “a deeply political concept and militarizing them was uncommon, costly and worrisome.” He said that their campaign would only release word on GhalamNet. Meanwhile, Mousavi's website – GhalamNet – today denied sending new letters to the Guardian Council and rejected GC spokesperson's claims yesterday about receiving fresh Mousavi demands. On the cyber side, Ayatollah Montazeri's website has been taken down by the Ministry of Interior after he denounced the elections and called the government clamp-down on peaceful protesters against Islam.

6. Today, Khatami called for a change in the security presence on the streets of Iran, as well as for the formation of an independent commission to investigate complaints against the election. He added that, “force should not be used to make people do what one wants them to.” He added that the general trust of the Iranian people have been damaged by such tactics.

7. Karoubi announced in a letter to that Iranian people that he didn’t recognize the government’s legitimacy. Karoubi said that he entered the election for "change" and that hidden forces had blatantly changed the outcome. Karoubi objected to widespread arrests and asked officials for the immediate release of all detainees, as well as reparation of their reputation. He expressed readiness to work with individuals and groups because he perceived the republic, Iran and Islam to be in danger.

8. Ayatollah Taheri stated that Mousavi's rights had been violated. Taheri - the former Friday Imam of Isfahan - called Ahmadinejad's appointment illegal. He added that the old enemies of Imam [Khomeini] were sending the Islamic Republic to the museum with their actions [meaning it will be removed and become part of history if these actions don’t stop]. In response, a member of parliament today openly criticized Taheri and said that he was longer a senior cleric. After him, Pezeshkian – a reformist MP – told the parliament that God's enemy was he who stood against the people.

9. Ahmadinejad declared that an attempt at a 'soft overthrow' of the regime had failed. This comes after a partial recount of 10% of the vote by the Guardian Council which resulted in slightly more votes of Ahmadinejad!!! Mohammad Yazdi, a cleric and member of the Guardian Council, announced today that he could personally testify as to the impartiality of the election. He added that Mousavi will be barred from taking part in any future elections.

10. Tehran's notorious Evin prison is reportedly packed to capacity now and security forces are housing the detained in football stadiums. So many people are put in Tehran’s prisons that prisoners only have standing space. Reports say guards are preventing prisoners from sleeping by keeping them standing all night. Amnesty International today warned that the opposition leaders arrested in Iran were at risk of being tortured.

11. Maziar Bahari was forced to confess at a press conference that the protests were pre-planned and organized from abroad. Bahari is an adroit Iranian-Canadian Journalist and filmmaker, who has written for Newsweek and the New Statesman. Meanwhile,the torture of university students continues in the Ministry of Interior. Some Iranians traveling to Iran for the holidays have been taken in for questioning directly at the airport as they tried to leave the country. They were questioned because of updated information on their Facebook accounts.

12. There is still no news about Mojtaba Tehrani, an Etemad Melli correspondent. Three days have passed after his arrest. Another correspondent of Etemade Melli, Mahsa Amrabadi, who has been in detention for two weeks, has only been allowed to briefly call her family. Her whereabouts are unknown.

13. On the good side of things, Isfahan's judicial sources announced the freedom from detention of 280 people who'd been arrested during the protests. Hundreds more still remain in detention. But today, it was announced that the legal prosecution of detained prisoners has started. The man in charge, Saeed Mortazavi, has led many to believe that dozens will probably be sentenced to death as he is notorious in seeking and getting death sentences for dissidents in Iran.

14. Police today entered Tehran University's dorms at the request of the president of the university, reportedly. However, the president, Mr. Kohkan, later denied he had asked them to do so. Amir Hossein Shemshadi, in charge of Mousavi's youth campaign, contacted his parents from inside Evin today and told them he would not be freed anytime soon

15. The Daily Khabar was stopped from printing its daily paper for the fourth time this week. Tehran public prosecutor and Cultural Ministry officials also stopped the publication of Etemade Melli newspaper today following its plans to publish a letter by Karoubi. Pressured by security forces, the session of the Journalists Union of Iran was also canceled. The sessions were to be focused on detained journalists.

16. The chants of Allah o Akbar continued tonight even though Basijis have threatened people with arrests and destruction of property if they continue to do so. One chanter has already been killed in the past days.

** Thank you all for translating! We still need more people with translations if they’re willing to do so. Email me if you are willing to help and if you are not asked to help, it still doesn’t mean you’re not AWESOME! You can still publish the translations on your blogs. @josh_612 and @gfanhoto please send me the link to your German and Portuguese translations at dbosca@gmail.com and anyone else who's done another language! Everyone else, who wants to be part of this, please let me know. A hearty thanks to everyone and a special thanks to Sahar joon for proof-reading!

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian and Hebrew, please let us know. It comes out every day so it'll be an every day thing - who knows for how long - so it's for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great!

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what’s going in Iran. The mainstream media has completely and utterly failed to get the message across so please, be the voice for Iranians.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor: ?????? Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: Torrents list � Rivolta in Iran

Green Brief #13

2009-06-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (All my work is released under Creative Commons (CC). You can freely use it and re-post it wherever you'd like to. Just provide a link to the original source at the bottom.)

In Italian: http://giagro.wordpress.com/29062009...fine-giornata/

In German: http://kyrah.net/gr88/gb13.html

In Portuguese: http://tinyurl.com/mk8lta

In Hebrew (Summary) http://tinyurl.com/mqooe8

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Monday, June 29 in Iran.

1. There was a human chain planned for today. The plan had been to form it between Tajrish Square and the Railway; however, the route was guarded heavily by Basijis, plainclothesmen and security forces. Nonetheless, people at gathered Mellat Park, Valiasr Field, Vanak and Valiasr Avenue and were trying to form a human chain. The police tried to disperse the crowd and stop the human chain from being formed. There were reports of clashes as well which cannot be fully confirmed. Reports of police smashing people’s windows for honking their horns and slashing their tires with knives.

2. Cell phone services were cut off around Valiasr as well as other parts of Tehran. The Basiji had Daneshjo Park under their control and helicopters were flying all over the place, especially over Valiasr. Today was one of the few times when the government cut off phone lines in order to disrupt communications between protesters and hinder their coordination of the event. During the event, several people were arrested as well. Most of Tehran was crawling with Basijis carrying sticks, some on motorcycles sporting camouflage vests. Protesters and some other people were wearing green wristbands in support of Moussavi.

3. Larijani, the speaker of the parliament today said that CNN had given money and cell phones to protesters to portray a wrong image of Iran. He added that the unrest was not an important event and it will be easily overcome and that it was just another experience for the Islamic Republic.

4. Two former Ministers of Interior have asked the Ministry of Interior to form an independent commission to investigate the problems related to the election. They have asked for the release of all the detained protesters as well and for the Iranian media to let protesters’ demands be heard. They have also requested an investigation into the deaths of protesters and other crimes committed during the protests and ask that people should be compensated for their losses.

5. Bijan Khajehpour a renowned Iranian political economist was detained at the airport in Tehran on Saturday upon arrival from the UK. Sources were unsure about his whereabouts but assumed he was in Evin prison. Dr. Mehdi Khazali, the son of Grand Ayatollah Khazali, who unlike his father is a critic of the government and Ahmadinejad, was also arrested. The Iranian media also announced the arrest of some people who were posing as Basijis. Yesterday’s arrest of Homa Roosta has now been confirmed to not be true.

6. Human rights groups claim that so far over 2,000 people are still in detention. Reports have surfaced that there is no more space left for women in Tehran’s official prisons. Human rights’ activists report on unsanitary and inappropriate conditions for imprisoned women protesters in Iran's overcrowded jails. At least 60 of imprisoned women are in the public wards and have only been given a blanket and are forced to sleep in corridors.

7. Today, Amnesty International expressed concern about the political leaders who have been arrested and claimed that they faced torture in detention. This is while a member of the National Security Council announced today that they were not going to release any of the political prisoners any time soon.

8. Members of the National Security Council met with Khatami today. A special commission has been ordered to be formed by the Judiciary to take up the cases of the people arrested in the recent unrests. Ahmadinejad has reportedly asked the Judiciary to investigate the murder of Neda Agha-Sultan. In a letter, Ahmadinejad asked the head of the Judiciary for answers in the death and called the killing ‘suspicious’.

9. State TV says Iran’s top legislative body has confirmed Ahmadinejad victory in the disputed June 12th Presidential election after a partial recount. The Guardian Council’s leader, Jannati said that the GC deemed the complaints and irregularities irrelevant and thereby can confirm the results. Clashes were reported in Tehran after people took to the streets protesting the Guardian Council's ruling. (This cannot be fully confirmed). People also started shouting ‘Death to Dictator’ on their roofs, after GC confirmed the victory of Ahmadinejad.

10. Since official results of Ahmadinejad’s win, only 11 countries congratulated Ahmadinejad on his 'victory'. These countries are Tajikistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, the People’s Republic of China, Oman, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela.

11. The office of the Islamic Association of Sistan and Baluchestan University was set on fire by anonymous people today. The office is a hotbed of reform student activity.

12. Mohseni, Iranian Minister of Information, said today that he had met with Mousavi and had told him that the path he had taken had no end. He added that he told Mousavi that his insistence on annulling the election would achieve nothing but create more problems for him and his followers.

13. Five out of nine British Embassy staffers arrested earlier in the wee were released today. The rest are currently being held at an undisclosed location and include senior staff members. The government issued a statement saying that the detained staffers had connections with the unrest in Iran. . The EU threatened a mass pullout of its ambassadors from Iran if the staffers were not released.

14. The spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Iran has stated that they don't want to close any embassies. He added that the arrest of the local staff of some embassies was not breaking international conventions. He added the remaining four staffers will be dealt with according to the law.

15. Keyhan, a newspaper close to Khamenei, slammed Mousavi today and called him a criminal. Also in a TV confession, another of Mousavi’s staffers was forced to say that the Iranian election protests were preplanned. Press TV announced today that reports of Iranian soccer players being punished for wearing green bands during their game with South Korea are false, after FIFA inquired about their reported lifetime ban which was placed by the Iranian Football Federation.

*Today, the source that had claimed of reports of persiankiwi’s arrest has tweeted that she talked to persiankiwi and pk is still free. Pk told the source that they simply don’t have access to resources for tweeting at this point. **Also a HEARTY thanks to Amandapanda for spending her precious time and energy on debriefing me to help compartmentalize the work.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian and Hebrew, please let us know. It comes out every day so it'll be an every day thing - who knows for how long - so it's for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great!

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what’s going in Iran. The mainstream media has completely and utterly failed to get the message across so please, be the voice for Iranians.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

http://torir.org

http://torir.brokep.com

http://img1.anonbw.com

Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi:

http://torir.org/index.html.fa

Tor: ?????? Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: Torrents list � Rivolta in Iran

Helpers with expertise in the field of medicine, translation and such:

“Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments.”

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

You Are Winning

2009-06-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Once again, this is another open letter to any of the brave Iranian protesters who may be reading.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I hope you are doing well. I hope you are all safe. I am sure there are still many of you feeling afraid or pessimistic about the current situation. While I certainly hope this is not the case, I feel I must say a few words in case you do have such feelings.

First and foremost, I must say this: You are winning. Now, I’m sure many people might feel I may be exaggerating or just plain naïve, but I am not. I have seen all that has happened in the past two weeks. I might not be right there with you, as I am halfway across the world, but I have seen the events as they have played out since the very beginning.

In the past two weeks, the firm hold the regime had upon its people has been shattered, destroyed as a result of their own unwillingness to listen to the voice of their people and their own acts of injustice. Their efforts to suppress the voice of the people have been cruel, inhumane in many cases, but they have not had the effect the regime wanted.

The regime wanted to silence those who disagreed with their decisions, but it has instead made even more people speak out against their numerous violations of human rights. Even many high profile clerics are speaking out against the Supreme Leader’s crackdown now. A prime example is the recent speech by Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabeli. Many other politicians and clerics have spoken out as well, some even joining the protesters in the streets, but still the regime continues with crackdowns. The more they continue, the more people are appalled, and the more people speak out. A rift has formed within the government that stretches to its very foundations.

All of this after just a two week period of time! Making such a huge impact in such a small amount of time is not easy (in fact, I’d say it’s downright unheard of) but you have done that, my friends. You are winning. It’s easy to think otherwise, seeing all the cruelty at the hands of Besij thugs and being fed demoralizing misinformation and lies from State TV…but the fact remains: You are winning.

The supporters of the crackdown are now cornered cats, clawing wildly in every direction. They are afraid. They are doing everything they can to stop you and it is simply not working. They are doing whatever they can to demoralize and depress you, but I know you will not give in. The world may seem dark at times, but at dawn, the sun will always rise. You are that sun, my friends. You and your hope for a better future will be the dawn.

Still, I’m sure many of you do not feel that way. Many of you have lost a lot over the course of the past few weeks. Many of you have had to endure heartache that no person should ever have to go through. Many of you probably feel that, in the end, this is a lost cause. While I can understand that feeling, I feel I have to tell you that you can win and, as I’ve said, you’ve already accomplished much.

I know sometimes it can seem that winning is impossible. It’s hard to see the people who have died, the people who are suffering, and not feel despair. It’s hard not to feel afraid all the time, to feel cold and empty as if your soul has left you. It is a terrible feeling, one I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I am sorry you have to feel such feelings and I wish I could do more to take that pain away…but I’m telling you, even though sometimes you may feel like things are hopeless and can never get better, look at what’s happening. More people are speaking out against the crackdown and supporting the protesters.

The majority of the people within the country, including many citizens who previously supported president Ahmadinejad, are now disapproving of the unjust acts the regime is inflicting upon their own people. More of the hardliners within the regime are beginning to become nervous, making ridiculous claims that other countries such as Britain are behind the protest and overall simply refusing to accept that their time is coming to an end. The State TV and those supporting the crackdowns are unable to keep their own lies straight, blaming at least four completely different sources for Neda’s death, none of which are even close to being remotely believable. You have shaken the very core of the regime. You are winning. So please, please, never feel that things are hopeless. That is simply what the regime wants you to believe, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. You are not alone. You cannot be silenced. And you will win.

The Sea of Green is moving ever stronger. It’s gone beyond an election, beyond all of us. The Sea of Green now stands for all that is right, even in a world that can sometimes seem so wrong. Your voices all shout for justice, for a country where such cruelty cannot be committed against its own people, for a better future for you, your children, and your children’s children. Your voices are getting louder each day (the rally yesterday and the deafening chants in the night should be proof enough of that). You will never be silenced, no matter how much the current regime tries.

I hope this has been at least a little helpful to some of you. Please do not feel despair when you have already accomplished so much. I hope you and all those close to you will be safe. Never allow yourself to be silenced and never doubt yourselves. Take care.

Yours Faithfully,

Corey

Green Brief #12

2009-06-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (All my work is released under Creative Commons (CC). You can freely use it and repost it wherever you'd like to. Just provide a link to the original source at the bottom.)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Sunday, June 28 in Iran.

1. URGENT: Rumors of Mousavi’s arrest are being spread around the blogosphere and twitter. So far, no reliable source has confirmed this. At the time of the writing of this brief – 9:27 PM ET – he is still free.

2. Thousands of people gathered in Tehran's Ghoba Mosque today at a rally planned to coincide with the 7 Tir bombing that killed Ayatollah Beheshti and 70 other prominent clerics in 1981. The mosque was filled and the streets and alleys leading up to the mosque were completely crowded by protesters chanting "Where's our vote?" Reports indicate that the number was somewhere between 3 and 10 thousand. Beheshti's son addressed the crowd and said that the current regime was pushing people backwards and was not in touch with current realities of the world. He said that the Sea of Green could stand this and were protesting.

3. Mahdi Karoubi was able to join the protests spoke to protesters. Mousavi wasn't able to make it to the center of the crowd and was forced to deliver his message by calling a cell phone as the receiving phone was put on a loudspeaker. Other prominent members of the reform movement were also present, including the wife and daughter of Rafsanjani. Mousavi urged people to continue fighting for their legitimate demands and announced that he would not stop pursuing their collective goals. Rezaei also issued an open letter to the GC today asking them to investigate the whole election & all protests & complaints.

4. Later, intense clashes broke out between the security forces and protesters. Several shots were heard from the vicinity of the mosque. Fires were started in the area and smoke could be seen coming out of some streets from afar. Police violently beat some protesters in order to disperse them. Although the protesters had received a permit by the government, they were still attacked by the police under the pretense that people were only allowed to be inside the mosque. Protesters were beaten, tear gas was used and many protesters were hauled away and arrested by the security forces. Some of the high-profile arrests today included Reza Ataraan - a movie star and filmmaker -, Shokoofeh Azar, reporter for Sarmaye Emrooz, and Kambiz Norouzi, legal secretary of journalists' union. The actual number of protesters arrested today could not be confirmed, but several dozens people were likely arrested, reliable sources indicated. There were also reports of protests in other parts of the city and clashes as well, yet they could only be partially confirmed.

5. Rafsanjani today spoke to reporters today and said that the election had created a complex situation and that enemies were trying to create a divide between the regime and people. He praised Khamenei's decision to extend the period for complaints to the Guardian Council about the election. Khamenei today said that people shouldn’t stoke emotions and both sides should not create tensions and inflame the youth. He also accused the world of meddling with the affairs of Iran and warned them to back off of Iranian affairs.

6. In a letter addressed to the Guardian Council, Karoubi said that the election was engineered in such a way that people's presence was only a pre-designed show. Karoubi: For every candidate a share of the vote was previously defined. He added that before the election a member of GC said that the leader had chosen Ahmadinezhad and it's not wise to cross him and that the small share of the votes assigned to him will not stop the pursuit of people’s demands.

7. Yesterday, it was reported that 9 UK Embassy staff from Tehran were arrested. Today, reports have surfaced that at least 4 of them have been released. It is being reported that the rest are not being kept at Evin, but rather at an undisclosed location. They were all accused by the Iranian government of having a hand in the protests which they claim are 'riots'.

8. A representative of Tabriz spoke in the Parliament today and said that it was not fair to listen to only one-side of the dispute and ignore the cries of the other side completely. He called upon the government to not act against the country’s laws when dealing with people. Ahmadinejad's supporters in the parliament tried to force him from continuing his speech by yelling and shouting at him.

9. A government spokesperson today said that there have been no serious incidents during the protests and that people should go to courts to complain if they’ve been beaten with sticks. The bodies of some protesters who've been killed so far are being released to their relatives if they quietly bury them. Mousavi's head of campaign, Ghorban Behzadian Nezhad and all but three staff members of his newspaper were released today.

10. A selected team of the parliament's security commission will meet with Mohammad Khatami regarding the recent events. The team will meet Ahmadinezhad as well. Previously they met Ayatollas Javadi Amoli, Mousavi Ardebili and Sobhani. Amoli said today that the separation of powers was not a recent phenomenon and it had existed before in Islam and called for it. Ayatollah Javadi Amoli previously criticized the government in Friday prayer in Qom. Amoli said that if someone's the judge, jury and executioner, then there was a problem.

11. Insurance companies are shunning people. They're being told that the government has told them not to talk to rioters. This is after people went to insurance companies after the destruction of property or death of a loved one.

12. The Min. of Interior has been asked to cancel the permits of IIPF, the Combatant Clerics and Mojahedin-Enghelab parties. They are going to legally pursue them and if found guilty of a crime - the protests have been called law-breaking and a crime - their permits will be cancelled. It is being reported that the online results of the election released by the Ministry of Interior are continuously being changed.

13. Tonight people are continuing their chants of Allah o Akbar as Basijis have started to harass them. During past days plain cloths went door to door and warned people to stop chanting. Website of ministry of internal affairs which uploaded election statistics keeps updating files as people find more errors in the results.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English: Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi: Tor: ?????? Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: Torrents list � Rivolta in Iran

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us:

Helpers with expertise in the field of medicine, translation and such:

“Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments.”

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

(Reposted from the original site.)

A Taste of Persian Culture: The Story of Luck

2009-06-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

(This story was published by permission. Original story is here, and lessons on speaking Parsi may be found on the same site. Thank you, Hassan!)

Image by youngrobv (Rob & Ale) via Flickr

Years ago, a poor peasant was trying to change his life. Whatever he tried was useless; he was still poor and helpless. One day, while working on his land, he thought: "I have done everything I could to get a better life. Why can't I change it? Maybe my luck is sleeping in a very far away land! I'd better go and awaken my damned luck. It will certainly change my life!" He then decided.

He then left everything to find his sleeping Luck. Days and nights passed as he traveled impatiently toward his luck. Somewhere on the way, he came across to a very weak lion. "Where are you going man?" The lion asked. "I'm going to awaken my sleeping luck to change my life." The man replied proudly. The lion said, "I have been seriously sick for a long time. Please tell your luck about my situation and ask him to prescribe something for me so that I can get well again." The man agreed and kept on traveling.

After some time he met a farmer sitting under an old tree crying. "Why are you crying?" The man asked as he came close to him. The farmer said, "I'm so poor that I can't feed my family properly. My children are always hungry. I don't know what will happen to them in future. By the way, who are you and where are you going now?" the farmer asked. "I have been as helpless as you till now. But I'm now going to find my luck that is sleeping in a very far away land. Then I will be helpless no more," The man answered proudly. The farmer then requested the man to ask his luck about his situation and find him a way out of his difficulties. The man agreed and left.

Somewhere on his way, he entered a village whose ruler was very old and disappointed. The village gatemen took the man as a stranger to the ruler. The man explained the whole story to the ruler. The ruler said: "I consider myself unsuccessful as I have no son who could inherit my position. I'm so old now and people don't obey me any longer. Please tell your luck about my problems and ask for a solution." The man agreed and went.

He finally found his luck sleeping in a very old shack. He awakened his luck very enthusiastically and explained everything to him. "Don't worry," The luck said, "From now on I will be with you in whatsoever you are doing. Tell the ruler that if he lets his only daughter marry, she will give birth to a very smart son who can handle the job. The farmer has got a precious treasury under the same tree where he is always crying. The lion must have the brain of a stupid human to treat his disease." After the man listened to the luck carefully, he became so happy because his luck had been awakened now.

On the way back, the man went to the ruler and explained it all to him. "What a good opportunity this is!" The ruler thought, "This man can save my dynasty. I'll ask him to marry my daughter," he decided. The man nevertheless rejected the ruler's offer and said, "I have just awakened my luck. I'm going to be a lucky man. I can't have myself chained here! I'm going to find my bright future."

He then went to the farmer and helped him find the treasury. "Come and stay here with us. We will be rich enough to have a very happy life together," The farmer said pointing to the treasury they had found. The man laughed and said, "Stay here? You must be kidding! I have just awakened my luck. I am going to be a lucky man."

At the end, he went to the lion and explained the whole story to him. "What an unbelievably stupid man this human is!" The lion thought, " He has rejected such excellent offers so carelessly to find a better life in the future. I don't believe I'll find one more stupid than him. If I want to get well again, the brain of this stupid man will be the best medicine for me!" The lion then decided.

By: Hassan H.

Green Brief #11

2009-06-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (All my work is released under Creative Commons (CC). You can freely use it and repost it wherever you'd like to. Just provide a link to the original source at the bottom. I trust austinheap)

Here are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Saturday, June 27 in Iran.

1. Mousavi has rejected the Guardian Council's decision to look into discrepancies in only 10% of the vote. Mousavi has said that as he mentioned in two letters before to the GC, there are simply far too many irregularities for them to accept the election. A new one must be held in order to give people their voice back.

2. A prominent supporter of Mousavi was forced to confess on national TV that protests were pre-planned and that they have broken laws. However, reports strongly indicate that the media had already pre-written the statements because they sounded far more official than a speaker can come up with impromptu. More and more protesters are being prepped through intimidation and torture to make confessions.

3. Iran's paramilitary Basij are carrying out brutal nighttime raids, destroying property in private homes and beating civilians in an attempt to stop nightly protest chants, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch also said the Iranian authorities are confiscating satellite dishes from private homes to prevent citizens from seeing foreign news.

4. Ahmadinejad warned the US of repercussions if it continues to meddle in Iranian affairs. He also sent out a message to the people saying that the days of liberal democracy were over. (In the sense that no more reform and change against Islamic law will be allowed to take place.) He warned that in the next 4 years he will take a tougher approach. This happens while Ahmadinejad's first deputy, Parviz Davoudi, was denied a US visa by the US State Department. Iranian ambassador to the UN blamed the US government for it.

5. At the same time, a government spokesperson blatantly accused other countries of meddling in Iranian affairs and instigating the current protests and violence. Fatemeh Rajabi, spokesperson & symbol of women in Ahmadinazhad's government in a separate statement also called Mousavi and Khatami the faces of corruption in the country.

6. The Guardian Council commission on investigating 10% of the vote was rejected by Mousavi today. He said that 10% was not enough and the elections have to be annulled. He added that an impartial commission should be set up to help arbitrate the issue. The other two candidates also didn't send representatives to the commission. This is after the commission was criticized by others - including a prominent MP and Mahdi Karoubi - for being too one-sided and the investigation of irregularities in only 10% of the vote insufficient. This is while the GC yet again called the elections the 'best in Iran's history so far'.

7. Javan newspaper - which is closely linked to the IRG - has reported that instigators of violence and the forces behind the protests have been identified. According to Javan, a group of actors were involved and this group created flyers and statements! It accused these individuals - 15-20 people according to Javan - of hiring thugs and distributing weapons that were used in violence. It also reported the arrest of three prominent Iranian film personalities.

8. Tehran's district attorney stated that he didn’t know how many people have been arrested so far but that he had met several at Evin Prison. The detainees are continuously under mental & sometimes physical torture. IRNA reported that Iran banned Mousavi’s ally Abolfazl Fateh from leaving the country. It is being reported that it's possible that the fate of the people that have been arrested would be known by the end of the week. The name of the girl who was shot in Baharestan and died later in the hospital is reportedly Sheler Khezri.

9. Amnesty International confirms on CNN: people disappearing from hospitals. Hundreds of people missing. Amnesty International asked the Iranian authorities to immediately release dozens of journalists who are at risk of torture in detention. The UN also asked the government to prevent further violence and bloodshed. More people were arrested today including journalists and bloggers as well as other people of some clout in the Iranian society. Karoubi's newspaper, Etemade Melli's chief editor was asked to appear before a court.

10. Today a group of people including women's rights activists assembled in Laleh Park to light candles in memory of Neda and other martyrs. The protesters were dispersed by the police and plainclothesmen using violent tactics. There were also many policewomen. Many people were arrested and hauled away. Reporters of Keyhan and Fars newspapers were taking people pictures with cameras.

11. Reports have suggested that there is a bitter divide developing between military leaders on what the military’s role should be in the current unrest and whether they should step in. (This could be not confirmed unfortunately through the most reliable sources). Reports of clerics meeting in secret to discuss the current unrest have surfaces from Qom, Tabriz and Mashhad. It is being suggested that even though clerics had participated in the protests a few days ago, they might join in larger numbers if further protests are held.

12. Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabeli has released a statement stating that the election has weakened the regime. He added that the Guardian Council should allow for people to pursue their demands and asked the people to pursue their complaints through legal means as well as asking the government to let people express their discontent through the media. He deplored violence and said that no violence must be used to pacify protestors.

13. It is being reported that very careful planning is being carried out for a successful national strike. This is while in a meeting with members of the National Security Council, Karoubi said that he'll continue to legally pursue annulment of the elections.

14. Sunday is the anniversary of 7 Tir martyrs and there will be a gathering in "Ghoba" Mosque. It has been organized after getting a permit from the government. Mousavi asked Iranians abroad to continue their protests. Chants of Allah o Akbar were heard in Tehran, Tabriz and other parts of Tehran again.

15. Sea of Green is largely peaceful. Reports that Sea of Green is actively seeking to hunt and kill security forces being forcefully denied by sources. Here's a heartwarming video of youth protecting Police from angry protesters when they were surrounded by people. The youth keep yelling, "We're all Iranians! We're all Iranians!" YouTube - ‫جوانان غیور ایران حتی از نیروهای ضد شورش که توسط مردم محاصره شده بودند نیز حمایت میکنند ، آیا اینها اغتشاش گرند !؟‬‎

16. (On persiankiwi, I don’t know any of the tweeters personally. I stopped using him/her as a source since the day of the Baharestan protest. I only stated that he has been arrested as a caution so that people would be careful. The second most reliable source after pk reported that pk had been arrested so I was forced to go ahead and warn people. But some people have harshly attacked me for this. I whole-heartedly apologize if anyone thinks I’m trying to mislead them. The Green Briefs are only one source out of hundreds. Please use your own judgment and trust whichever source you think is more reliable in getting news from Iran. I will hence stop trying to convince people that I have good intentions. It is futile as well as VERY stressful and time-consuming.)

Read this if you want to help or get help!

The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English: Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi: Tor: ?????? Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: Torrents list � Rivolta in Iran

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us:

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

“Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments.”

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

(Repost from the original site.)

Information From “Why We Protest”

2009-06-27T07:31:00.001-07:00

My name is @UtahPirate. I have asked the owner of this site to publish this anonymously. I do this because there have now been three reports I am aware of, of people being attacked in the United States (where I live) by Iranian nationals who are apparently pro-Khameni/Ahmadinejad. These attacks are not lethal and have so far not been truly harmful, but they are worrisome. Anonymity is therefore warranted and prudent.

(For the record, the owner of this blog is not in control of all aspects of it and so my own information is available, for those who dig hard enough.)

I have reposted several items of interest from the Why We Protest – Iran forums, since they say that people should. The reason for this is that the forums are apparently under attack by Iranian Regime forces—and the servers aren’t particularly stable to begin with. This results in a large number of outages, and a significant amount of downtime for the site. Maintenance is ongoing, as far as I’ve been told.

The posts which have been reposted should be clearly identifiable because of a link to notify our readers of the original source. These include all of the Green Briefs, and several other items of interest. These will appear as dated on the original date of posting (so far as we can ascertain—NiteOwl has been exhausted, and expressed that he couldn’t really remember the dates. Luckily for NiteOwl, the approximate dates are listed in the forums).

We would hope that NiteOwl would continue his excellent work in sifting through the news, tweets, and other sources of information to arrive at the most accurate information possible, given the limited resources and opportunities for information coming out of Iraq. As we are able, we will continue to bring information here.

Also, I am told that this blog has so far remained free from a significant amount of downtime. I (and this blog’s owner) wanted to thank the provider, Blogspot, for the excellent work in keeping its blogs up and running. While there have been reports of a few blogs being compromised, this hasn’t been one of them. Keep up the great work, Blogspot!

As a final note, we have updated our arrest list as of a few days ago. This will continue to be updated as we receive information. We duplicated the lists because of efforts by pro-regime hackers to take down the web site of the UN Council on Human Rights in Iran. Since the lists are sometimes not available there, they will be made available here as circumstances permit.

Green Brief #10

2009-06-27T06:26:00.001-07:00

(Fresh News from Iran, reposted from the original web site)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Friday, June 26 in Iran.

No large rallies or protests were held today. There were unconfirmed reports of small gatherings in isolated areas of the city, but for the most part, Tehran didn't seem to witness the same as it has been for the past two weeks. Sources indicated that it was in no way a sign of giving up, but rather a brief interval in more protests that are to come. They added that currently, the Sea of Green is organizing and regrouping as well as coming up with new ways to defy the authorities and also know of the fate of their leaders in order to progress.

At 1 PM, however, a large number of people in Tehran took to roofs and released green balloons to show solidarity with the Sea of Green and to commemorate protesters who've died so far. (Link showing the balloons: http://bit.ly/17jRGN ) At night, the people again took to the roofs and chanted "Allah o Akbar" and "Death to the Dictator". They also burned candles and held vigils. There was confirmation of the death of one protester who was fired upon by security forces as he chanted from his rooftop. Reports of vigils also came from Mashhad.

Khamenei was supposed to lead Friday prayers in Tehran and give a speech; however, he was a no show. Ayatollah Sayyid Ahmad Khatami a hard-line cleric and a member of the Assembly of Experts who has strong ties with Khamenei and Ahmadinejad lead the prayers in his stead. He claimed that the protesters were acting against Allah, branded them 'rioters' and called for their suppression through any means possible. He also added that the government will not bend against pressure and that Neda was killed by protesters. This is backtrack from the government's earlier statements that Neda had been ordered to be killed by a BBC correspondent.
Reports indicate that the reason why Khamenei did not attend the prayers was Ayatollah Montazeri's statements yesterday that denounced the government's suppression of the protesters' 'legitimate demands'. This, according to sources, creates a divide between the powerful clergy which has pressured Khamenei just enough to stop him from giving out another speech of the caliber he gave last week. 4. Whether Montazeri's current stance will develop into something of a bigger boost to protesters remains to be seen.
(For those who don't know, Montazeri was Khomeini's designated successor until just a few months before Khomeini's death; he openly criticized the Islamic regime and was sidelined in favor of Khamenei. He still wields enough considerable support among the more moderate clergy and is popular among liberal Muslims in Iran.)
Meanwhile, on the government's official English News channel, Press TV, George Galloway, a British MP representing the constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow, spent several hours denouncing the protests, Israel and Zionism. He called upon the world to accept Ahmadinejad's re-election and called on the protesters to go home and accept the will of the people. He did not indicate which people he meant when he made that statement.
A reliable source indicated that Khomeini's family has thrown its lot behind the protesters. Although they denied calling out for a protest tomorrow, they indicated that they were with the protesters and claimed to be supporting the protesters lawful demands and don't consider Ahmadinejad's government legitimate anymore. This, coupled with Montazeri's statements and Larijani's lethargy, is a strong indication that the clergy are divided in what to do with the protesters and that there is a considerable level of public support now for the protesters among the religious elite.
The spokesperson of the Guardian Council announced today that a commission had been formed to recount 10% of the ballots cast with representatives of the candidates present. The commission includes Ali Akbar Velayati, Hadad Adel, Eftekhar Jahromi, Aboutorabi Fard, Dari Najafabadi and Hossein Rahimian. He also gave candidates 24 hours to appoint representatives that would join the commission in the recount.
As reported before, the government is heavily charging people for the return of their dead family members' bodies who were killed during the protests. Families are being charged thousands of dollars and are also required to sign a waiver that states they won't sue the police and that Mousavi is the reason behind the death of their loved ones. More people were arrested today including Mohammad Mostafaie, who is a prominent lawyer and important reformist.
The Iranian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden was attacked today by angry Swedish-Iranians after a peaceful protest. It has been reported that as the protesters neared the gate, one of the guards tried to force the protesters away which enraged them and they tried to take over the Embassy. The police were forced to call for back up to control the protesters.
The government is continuously attacking and arresting Iranians who are using twitter to get the message out to the world. Several of our sources have so far been arrested or have stopped using twitter altogether, yet the remainder have pledged to continue until the last minute. Amidst the somber mood, some emotional moments can also be seen. One Iranian tweeted: "I would rather our Iranian youth were tweeting about Michael Jackson than having 2 face this death & horror. Lets set them free to do so."

(There is simply too much on the tweets about where Mousavi is at this point. According to last reports, he was being sternly watched by the government and his movement is restricted, but it's an ever evolving situation.)

Read this if you want to help or can give help!

The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English: Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi: Tor: ?????? Tor

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us:

[URL is malformed; removed: try the Iran Protest website ]

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

“Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments.”

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

Green Brief #9

2009-06-26T00:32:00.000-07:00

(This was posted from the original site)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Thursday, June 25 in Iran.

1. Protesters continued to swarm the streets of Tehran today, however, the number of security forces deployed to stop them from gathering in large numbers proved effective. We had previously reported that large numbers of motorcycles have been brought into Tehran by the government and given over to Basij and other security forces. They are being used very efficiently to mobilize the security forces and protesters are being hunted down wherever they are suspected to be. In the mess, several people who aren't protesters have also been beaten as the beatings have turned to indiscriminate persecution of citizens of Iran.

2. News of protesters came from different parts of Tehran, but confirmation as always have been a bit tricky as twitter sources continue to give out information that is sometimes uniform and at times widely divergent. What we were able to confirm was that a large mass of people that tried to gather at martyred protester Neda's grave site was beaten and dispersed. No one was allowed to stand near her grave for more than a few seconds as police actively sought to beat the protesters out of the area. There were reports of Basijis firing at people from atop a mosque in Tehran. It can be partially confirmed, however, the number of casualties cannot be.

3. The Minister of Interior in the mean time has declined to issue a request for the holding of requests by Mousavi's supporters. He has stated that any permits need to be sought in person at least 7 days before the planned date. (There are reports, however, that Mousavi has been granted a permit for a small rally tomorrow.) Chants of Allah o Akbar and Ya Hossein echoed across Tehran yet again and there were reports of protests in Shiraz by university students and a strike in Tabriz. (I can only partially confirm this as only a few of my reliable sources could confirm it.)

4. As reported yesterday, no massacre can be confirmed to have occurred in Baharestan square. Readers have sent me several photographs of bodies with gaping wounds that might suggest the use of axes - I have confirmed ISOLATED use of axes in the previous report -, however, all of the photos have been from past protests. As of yet, the claim by Mainstream Media that there was a massacre at Baharestan cannot be confirmed. (At the time of the writing of this brief, many have retracted their previous statements and some have actually began to kill the story that was used to increase viewership of US TV networks...)

5. In new statements today, Mousavi, Khatami and Rezaei have pledged their support for the cause of the protesters yet again. Mousavi released a statement today declaring that he won't back down from their legitimate demands. He also accused the people who have rigged the election of the violence that has wracked Tehran and continues to destabilize the country. Rezaei who has taken back his complaints to the Guardian Council regarding the election has yet against said that he has not abandoned the protesters. According to him, he has only taken back the complaints and the cause of the protesters and just and must be followed until successful. Khatami declared today that everyone should stand up because opportunities like these are rare and will not be granted again.

6. There were reports today indicating that several journalists that have been arrested in the past few days have been transferred to Evin prison. A Washington Time correspondent who was arrested yesterday was about to leave the country through Tehran's main airport when he was arrested. The government's media outlets have claimed that John Layne - the BBC correspondent in Tehran who was forced to leave Tehran days ago - was behind the murder of Neda. They claim that he hired people to gun her down so he could then report on it and use it in a documentary he is making.

7. Seyed Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, the editor in chief of Kalameh Sabz newspaper which is pro-Mousavi, who was arrested yesterday, has still not been released. Of the 70 professors that were arrested after meeting Mousavi yesterday, 66 have been released by the Iranian government. The fate of the rest remains unknown. More and more people were arrested today for even wearing green signs or any clothing that had the color green. The Society for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights has announced that they are ready to provide legal aid to recent detainees and their families. For a list of people so far killed and arrested as well as released, please check this link: List of Killed and Arrested – English

8. Government sources now confirm that eight Basijis have so far been killed in the protests. The number cannot be confirmed using our sources. So far, even the most impartial twitter sources have not confirmed that any protester has succeeded in taking the life of a Basiji. (Apparently, many have wished for their death and would show great joy if it can be confirmed as their brutality has been quite pronounced in the past few days.) Sources also claim that Basijis are receiving extravagant amounts of money as per diem in order to secure their loyalty.

9. A group of Iranian lawyers - most of them female - have released a statement, asking the government to cancel Nobel-laureate Shirin Ebadi's law license. They claim that she has acted unconstitutionally by contacting governments outside Iran and asked them to interfere in Iran's internal affairs. They also accuse her of breaching Islamic verdicts.

10. Meanwhile, Ali Abbaspour, a prominent parliamentarian and the head of the education committee in the parliament, has told the media that they are insistent on impartial investigations being carried out on the attacks in various universities inside Tehran and other parts of the country. Reports also indicate of Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani's continued marginalization by the government. He is being reported as one of the top men inside the regime who is slowly moving towards the cause of the protesters.

11. Finally, we can now confirm that Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri has broken his silence and denounced the current spate of violence that's been carried out against peaceful protesters. He asked the people of Iran to seek their rightful demands through peaceful means. He also criticized the government's actions and said that the violence carried out against protesters is clearly different from what Islam teaches.

12. Ayatollah Khamenei has a planned speech during the Friday prayers today in Tehran. That will commence at 2:30 AM Pacific Time. I will upload the transcript of the speech in English within an hour of it's delivery on iran.whyweprotest.net and posting a link on my twitter account. You can also tune into BBC if you want to see it live with an English translation. (If I wasn’t able to do the translation, please forgive me.)

Read this if you want to help or get help!

English: Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi: Tor: ?????? Tor

For the more savvy, try these if you want to connect from Iran:
67.174.201.136:9001 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837
(trad. tor port)

67.174.201.136:3074 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837
(xbox live port)

(Thanks to Alexander)

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us:

Why We Protest – IRAN

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

Green Brief #8

2009-06-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

(Reposted from the original site)

I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (There was precious little today to offer so I waited very long)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, June 24 in Iran.

1. The event of the day was the protest held at Baharestan Square in the late afternoon. Although the exact number cannot be fully known, my sources claimed somewhere between 5,000-10,000 people tried to join the rally. Things got violent when security forces that had been waiting there for hours moved in as soon as a small crowd had managed to gather. They used force to brutalize the protesters and scatter them faster then they could regroup. Police were also patrolling the areas around Baharestan and people were attacked even as they fled Baharestan and go to the outer edges of the area. This continued for at least two hours.
Force was utilized without discrimination; however, media reports about a complete massacre cannot be confirmed by my more reliable sources. What I can confirm is at least 3 people were killed; the police used batons to beat people quite viciously - leaving dozens injured, not just in Baharestan but also in the areas around Baharestan. Shots were also fired and at least 2 of the fatalities were as a result of gunfire. Tear gas was also used to disperse them. We cannot confirm the use of axes on protesters. It could have been isolated incidents. But a wide-spread use cannot be confirmed. There were reports of killings at Lalehzar as well. Lalezhzar is a park in Tehran which has been completely taken over by security forces and is being used as a quasi-de fact base. Pictures are scarce and videos cannot be confirmed at this point either. The police were checking cell phones throughout the area as well as in other parts of the city and deleting images or videos or confiscating the phone altogether.

(I have to add a personal note here. I am not anti-protester and neither am I against the freedom of Iran from the grips of such a repressive regime. The Green Briefs are VERY one-sided and TOTALLY pro-protester. However, I think the event was overblown partly because the people who participated were terrorized by the brute nature of the event and at the same time, the word 'massacre' got lost in translation a little. I apologize if you find my denial of this outrageous, but I will not confirm something like this. It could easily be a government ploy to scare people from joining further protests.)
The area was surrounded also by vans and cars belonging to the security forces. Injured protesters and those protesters the police could hold onto were promptly thrown into these vehicles and moved to undisclosed locations. It has been suggested that Evin prison is being used to house most of the prisoners, but the sheer number of protesters easily could mean that make-shift prisons have been built around Tehran to house these people. Some sources indicated as well, but this cannot be confirmed right away. Most shops around Baharestan were closed so people had nowhere to hide. Cell phone service was also jammed so no help could arrive for those stranded and the vicious and wide-spread beatings and arrests could continue.
The security forces were being heavily helped by helicopters. They flew all over the city and informed security forces of places where people had gathered. Security forces arrived in minutes and dispersed crowd. However, people were extremely persistent. Gatherings and small rallies took place in several places and the quicker they were dispersed the quicker more sprang up. This continued late into the night until people dispersed on their own. The sheer tenacity of the protesters is heartening and many twitter sources indicated that no matter what happens they will go to streets and protest. Hezbollah e Ansar were also spotted from time to time. Plainclothesmen also did their part of the arrests as they drove around the city in motorcycles.
There were also other arrests in Iran today. At least 70 university professors and other professionals held a meeting today with Mousavi at the end of which, all of them were arrested as they exited the meeting area. Reports also confirm that Mousavi's chief lawyer, Ardsher Amir Arjman has also been arrested. There is no real confirmation of whether Mousavi has been arrested or he's free. However, there are strong indications and SOME sources that claim he is currently under house arrest. For a partial list, please click here: [link removed due to being malformed]
Several foreign nationals were arrested today as well. Among them is Iason Athanasiadis - a Greek national who works for the Washington Times. The identity of other people detained cannot be confirmed at this point. The media lockdown is continuing in Iran as the government tries to stop the spread of news of what's happening inside the country. Saw a quote that I wanted to share by an Iranian twitter user: "Saving Iran... one tweet at a time!"
As reported before, Mohsen Rezaei is being reported to have withdrawn his complaints regarding the election. However, it seems that his office believes he has been sidelined by the government through pressure and intimidation. His office today told the Guardian Council that that they need to tell the people the real reason why they quit or they will publish the real reasons themselves. Reports also abound that Rafsanjani is preparing a plan of action and will make an announcement on Friday, but this cannot be fully confirmed. Mousavi, Rafsanjani and Rezaei also held a meeting with officials from the National Security Committee of Iran. No news as to the issues debated or decisions made can be confirmed yet.
The chants of Allah o Akbar continued throughout the night in Tehran and reports indicate that it also occurred in many cities around the country. Confirmed reports also indicate that plainclothesmen put some trees on fire near the homes of people who were chanting in Sharake Gharb. It is being reported that on June 25 at 1 PM, people will fly ceremonial balloons from their homes. The balloons will be green to symbolize the movement and black for the dead protesters. Reports indicate that tomorrow's mourning rallies in Tehran have been canceled as well. (I will no longer post information about protests that are to come here. Too many Iran-gov people are reading this and it might help them.)
Khamanei spoke to a meeting of members of the Majlis of Iran (Majlis = Parliament). Click here to read it: Khamenei Speech to Parliamentarians June 24 (Excerpts English) - Why We Protest – IRAN
Finally, reports indicate that the Iranian ambassador in Copenhagen has 'threatened' the Danish government by telling them that they are watching the Danish media very closely...
Read this if you want to help or get help!

English: Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Fars: Tor: ?????? Tor

For the more savvy, try these if you want to connect from Iran:

67.174.201.136:9001 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837
(trad. tor port)

67.174.201.136:3074 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837
(xbox live port)

(Thanks to Alexander)

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us:

[Link malformed; removed.]

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

An Open Letter to the Brave Protesters in Iran

2009-06-25T01:02:00.000-07:00

This is a letter from an American to all the brave protesters in Iran right now. I hope this reaches some of you.

I imagine there are many of you right now that are having doubt. I think there are many of you that are afraid and, sadly, there may even be some of you who feel like hope is lost. In such times, it’s hard for people not to feel like that.

However, I am here to tell you that not to give into that fear. The government is working tirelessly to instill that fear in you. They have killed people, beaten them, jailed them. They have made you think they are everywhere. They are trying to make you feel you are alone. But you are not alone. There are still now many who feel the same way you do. There are still those who don’t believe the government should be allowed to do this to people and are willing to fight with everything they have for that. They are in the streets, they are next to you, they are shouting from the rooftops, they are with you. You are not alone.

Not only that, but there is support for you all around the world. There are many people out there who, if they were able to, would be right there with you now, fighting with you if they had the chance. I know because I am one of them. I cannot tell you how much it hurts me to be so far away, unable to be there with you. I have never met you all but the messages I have seen from you and those like you have tugged at my heart. They have moved people from all over the world. We are with you. We will do anything we can to help you. And, I can honestly say, if I could be with each of you right now to give you the encouragement you need in person, I would.

Unfortunately, all I can do is write this letter to you. So I think I speak for all the supporters around the world (who are too numerous to count) when I say we are with you. We are moved by what you are going through. Our heart aches when we see what your government is doing to you. And, most importantly, we believe in you. We have seen your courage, we have seen what you are fighting for, and we know in our hearts if you keep fighting you will achieve it. You will have your voices heard and your dream for a better country will become a reality. We believe in you, so make sure that you also believe in yourself.

There is a reason the government wants you to be afraid and feel alone. In fact, the reason is quite simple. The truth is that the government is far, far more afraid of you than you are of them. That is why they have resorted to such cruel acts, why they try to silence your voice, why they try to prevent communication. They know they are outnumbered, so they try to make you think you are alone. They try to make you think you are helpless because they know you are not. They try to make you think you can’t bring about change, because they KNOW that you can. They think what they are doing will make everyone lose hope and have their dreams turn into dust, but that is impossible. The government cannot stop the ideals you believe in. No force on this earth is able to do that. And if you’re willing to fight for what you believe in with everything you have, you will be able to succeed.

Sometime it may be hard to believe that, especially since many people have died. But the things you believe in, the cause you fight for, can never die. Many have died, but that is exactly why you must go on. It is not right for people to be killed by their government simply for wanting their voices heard. It is not right for a sixteen year old girl to be murdered in cold blood simply for being a bystander. It is not right for evil men to be allowed to kill and beat their own people, while the State TV insists they are doing the right thing. No person deserves such oppression, so that is why you must continue on. You must show the government that they cannot treat their own people so unjustly. If you continue stand up for what is right, if you continue to see the truth, if you continue to believe in yourself and make sure those around you believe in themselves too, you can change things for the better. Your beliefs, your ideas, are strong and ideas can never be stopped with a bullet.

I understand you may be afraid. But I want to make sure you know that true bravery is not being without fear, but knowing you are afraid and doing the right thing anyway. You have this bravery inside you. I have seen this. The world has seen it and knows this too. So do not forget that. You have shown myself and the world what true bravery is. You have stood up for what’s right. You’ve defied injustice and refused to accept oppression. For that, all of you are heroes. Never forget that. Don’t doubt yourselves.

I’m sure you already know this, but I feel I should repeat that the State TV and reality are two very, very different things. The State TV is now nothing more than a way to spread fear and doubt. They will lie, they will intimidate, and they will do anything if they think it will make you doubt yourself. They are puppets dancing at strings. Do not let them get to you. Do not believe their lies. There are ways for you to find out the truth. Use them. And help others find the truth as well.

There are still ways you can communicate. Find them, use them, and make sure the others who are with you know of it as well. You are not alone. You are intelligent. You are capable of great things. All of this is possible if you believe in yourself, make sure doubt is not allowed to spread, and you keep thinking. The regime’s tactics are changing, so your tactics must as well. You are smart people, much smarter than me, and you are capable of strategy. Communicate as securely as you are able in any way you can. Know when to communicate securely and what to say publicly. Use what you know of the government’s tactics to your advantage. Do not be deterred. Share your ideas, stand together, help one another, stay united. Remember, despite what your oppressors want you to believe, you are not alone in this and you will never be alone.

Most importantly, do not feel like you can’t do anything to make your country a better place. You can. The potential to do so exists in every person and, united together, nothing can stop you. The government believes that if they lie enough, if they are cruel enough, your spirit will be broken and your ideas will fade away. It is up to every one of you to prove them wrong. Let your voice be like thunder and your spirit like iron. Show the regime that you will never be deterred, that you will never give up, that you are a force unlike anything ever seen before. You can do this. Never believe otherwise.

I hope my letter has been of some help. I honestly wish I could do more to help but there is only so much I can do from this corner of the world. The rest is up to you. My belief, my hope, and my heart goes out to all over you. I wish you the best.

Yours Faithfully,

Corey

We Believe In Iran: An American Perspective

2009-06-24T22:48:00.001-07:00

This is sure to be a bit long, but I’m asking you to all bear with me. I feel this is very important to say. Even if you believe you don’t care much about the Iran issue or want to hear about it (especially if you don’t), I’m asking you to read this all the way though. All I’m asking for about five or ten minutes of your time. I feel that’s pretty reasonable.

I am an American. I have never been to Iran. In fact, as far as I know, I don’t even know anyone whose been to Iran. Still, like many people, I have been following by the news coming out of Iran. And it has affected me on a very personal level.

For those of you who do not know already, a concise summary of what sparked these events can be found here: http://blacklillian.deviantart.com/journal/25319378/

In a nutshell, a dictator was reelected into office, but the terms of his victory were suspect. People supporting the reformist candidate named Mousavi voiced their opinion that the election was rigged and took to the streets. People peacefully protested in the streets and the government sent forces to beat them, jail them, and even kill them, just for protesting in the street. Still, people continued to protest. The protests got large and larger until today, after a previous statement by the Supreme Leader of Iran, the government cracked down. It prevented people from getting to scheduled rallies, beat people, shot tear gas at them, and even killed them.

I’m sure many of you read that past sentence yet do not get the sense of what I am talking about. Many brave Iranian protesters have risked their safety to report what they are seeing on Twitter and other areas of the net, and many brave people from around the world are working around the clock to make sure as much information about this gets out as much as possible. Hearing the Iranians tell their stories, voice both their doubts and resolve, post pictures and videos of what’s happening in their country, is moving on a level that I cannot begin to convey…

I have seen photos of Iranian women whose heads have been smashed against the ground. I have seen pictures of men beaten and bruised to the point where they can not open their eyes. I have seen video of a woman shot and murdered in cold blood, guilty of nothing other than having an opinion different than that of the state. I have heard a brave Iranian see the violence that happened today and respond “I feel terrible and that is why I will go back to the streets.”

I had kept up on the news before today and, since rallies were scheduled after the Supreme Leader issued a stern warning to protesters, I knew something decisive would happen today. If it had been up to me I would have been on Twitter, posting and reteeting news that might be of some benefit to the Iranians…hell, if it had been up to me, I wish I could have been there for them somehow…but, I am sad to say, at that critical moment, I was at work. Doing a menial job that, in the grand scheme of things, served no importance at all.

I had been glued to news from Twitter and other sources for days. All throughout the day, as I performed the job, I could not help but think what was happening. When I could get a chance, I got to a computer and logged on at work, something I am not supposed to do at all. And I saw the violence that was happening, the horrors of it…and I saw that the people were still taking to the streets. I saw that people had doubts and were afraid, but they most still wanted to take to the streets.

The entire day, I felt like I was in a daze. The world seemed unreal. The day was one of the longest I ever experienced. Every moment I worked I was screaming at myself “What the hell are you doing? You should be doing something to help. I don’t know what, but dammit, do something!” I wanted to leave, and yet I could not. I barely remembered most of what I did all day, since my mind was focused on Iran. I did not feel like myself. I must not have looked like myself either. Several people asked me if anything was wrong. I lied and said I was fine. When they walked away, I wondered why I hadn’t told the truth. I told myself they wouldn’t have understood (I had tried to spread the word to several people before without much avail), but I still regretted not telling the truth. But even then I continued to lie…

I looked around and saw people going about their lives like everything was normal. Many probably had no idea what was going on. Many more, I suspect, must have heard something but was either decided not to worry about it, thinking it wasn’t worth their time to think about, believing it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. Of course, among them I am sure there were people who were just keeping up appearances, acting like nothing was wrong while their feeling ate away at them from the inside. People lying just like me.

There were points in the day when, after thinking about all those innocent people…many of them who could have been dying while I was doing totally purposeless shit...I found it was too much for me. I went to the bathroom, found a stall, and shed a few tears as quietly as I could manage. I would compose myself as quickly as possible and return outside, nobody appearing to notice any difference (or if they did, not asking about it). I had to do this more than once. By the end of the day, I felt so overwhelmed that I felt physically sick feeling like I could vomit.

When I was finally done with work, I returned home, finally able to get a good grasp of what was going on (at least as much as humanely possible from the info available). I felt unclean. People were dying half way around the world and I had acted like nothing was wrong. I am a liar, a fucking coward. I should have done something, said something to people. In my last hours at work, I tried to think of what I would say to people who asked what was wrong if I had any backbone. I tried to word it right then, knowing writing was the only thing I seemed to be able to do right, resolved to write it when I got home.

That’s where I am now. If I was not a liar, if I was not a coward, this is what I would tell people.

I would tell people that people are fighting for their lives and dying for the chance to live in a place where their voices are heard, where they can express their opinions without being beaten or murdered. They are fighting with the hope that in the future, their country can be a better place than it is now, where the government will not be able to treat people the way it is treating them now. Many of them are afraid and have doubts, but are fighting anyway, because in their heart, they know it is the right thing to do even if the government and their media tells them it is wrong. They are exhibiting more bravery than I ever knew existed. They are much stronger than I. They are heroes and my heart and prayers go out to them.

And they need support.

I’ve seen with my eyes that there must be people who either don’t know about this issue or, more likely, aren’t following it closely. I urge everyone reading this to do so. Educate yourself. There are places like http://iran.whyweprotest.net/ and http://www.twitter.com/protesterhelp where you can follow what’s actually going on. Human rights are being violated. This isn’t just about politics, this isn’t about an election, it’s about people having their rights violated and being killed for it. Most of them are in their twenties, college students, like a lot of us out there. They’re fucking kids and people are trying to murder them for wanting to make their country a better place. They’re not at all different from us and they’re getting killed. Look at the information out there. Look at the videos, look at the pictures. If you can look inside yourself and tell yourself that its not worth your time to take it personally, than go ahead. But if there’s one thing the support this cause has generated outside Iran has shown me already its that most people are basically good at heart and share the common ideals of justice and peace, so I doubt many of you will be able to tell yourselves that honestly if you looked at all the information out there.

Maybe you feel you can’t do anything, and that is a feeling I understand. But there is always something you can do. Just because you can’t be there fighting with them doesn’t mean you can’t make a difference, can’t do something. If you’re telling someone who didn’t know about this issue before and educating them about it to try to get the involved, you’re doing something. If you’re twittering news from RELIABLE sources to get the right info out there, you’re doing something. If you’re posting a piece of art or writing in an effort to spread awareness of what’s happening in Iran, you’re doing something. If you’re marching in a protest in your own country to support the cause, you’re doing something. If you’re posting a link to info about the cause, you’re doing something. If you’re spreading this piece around, you’re doing something (and feel free to do so if you feel it worthy to spread around. Link, post in journals or forums, blatantly steal, I don’t care what). If you’re wearing green clothes or wristbands and people ask why and you tell them, you’re doing something. If you’re calling someone in the US government or UN to do something about this, you’re doing something. Even if you’re following the news and telling others you’re doing so, you’re doing something. But for God’s sake, don’t do nothing. Don’t just forget about it. Don’t just lie to yourself and pretend this isn’t happening and it’s not important. You may come to feel bad about yourself like I have if you do so.

The people of Iran are not just changing their country. I believe they are changing the world. I used to believe people were desensitized to events and injustice far away from them, but I seen that is not the case. This could be the first step in making our generation rediscover our conscience.

Thank you for your time. If my tone has been too preachy, I apologize. If you have considered this worth reading, I ask you spread it around in any way you deem appropriate. If not, I apologize for the inconvenience, but still ask you educate yourself on the issue further.

After writing this, I do feel a little relieved. I feel a bit less like a liar and a coward now…but I still am not sure if it’s enough. But, then again, I’m the kind of person who feels like they can never do enough, I guess…

Yours Faithfully,

Corey

Green Brief #7

2009-06-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

(Reposted from the original site)

Please retweet this link. Apologies for the lateness of today's brief. I had urgent matters to take care of. I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl - iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, June 23 in Iran. (If I cannot positively confirm, I have indicated that I can't.)

1. Although most sources had confirmed that there was going to be a strike today in Tehran, the city had only partially closed down its shops. Throughout the day reports kept arriving that Mousavi had not ordered the strike, however, most people continued urging protesters to comply with the strike. It seemed that there was a complete lack of coordination between the movement and its leader. This is the first time it has happened, however, and seems to be a direct result of government’s tireless efforts at trying to jam communications between protesters and their leaders.

2. There were sporadic reports of a more successful strike in parts of the Kurdish-inhabited areas of northwestern Iran. In Kurdistan province, the cities of Sanadanj and Seqqez were reported to have had half their shops closed. There were also reports from Mahabad in Western Azerbaijan province to the north of Kurdistan province. That city is also inhabited by Kurds. The main stream media has not confirmed these reports; however, sources were pretty uniform about the veracity of them. There have been unrests in Mashhad and Tabriz as well, but no solid news came out for us to investigate further.

3. People in Tehran, though, acted in different ways to continue to defy the authorities. There were anti-government posters stuck on walls, anti-government slogans adorned parts of the walls of the city and waves of small rallies broke out in various parts of the city. Car headlights were turned on in the city at dark to commemorate those killed in the protests and chants of Allah o Akbar continued to ring loudly at night. Among these chants, there were also chants of “Death to the Dictator” and surprisingly enough, some people also chanted “Death of Khamenei” – although the last one was only reported in isolated areas.

4. The city of Tehran was literally crawling with Basijis and police. There were roadblocks everywhere and the streets were heavily patrolled by the security forces. Most sources complained that going outside was dangerous for anyone – even if the person wasn’t a protester as security forces continued to beat up anyone they could get their hands on.

5. There were reports of clashes in northern, western and eastern Tehran between small numbers of protesters and the security forces, though; no news of any casualties reached us. Shots were fired late at night as well, but still no word of casualties today. People had started small fires on the streets that were continuously being put down by the security forces.

6. Arrests continue to take place throughout the day. Journalists from Kalemeh newspaper were picked up and there were unconfirmed reports of the arrest of at least 2 journalists affiliated with the foreign media, however, the latter claim could not be independently verified. One of these is a Greek reporter with the Washington Times. The government has now announced the creation of a special court in order to investigate and decide the cases of people who have been so far arrested by the government.

7. There was also sickening news of security forces asking the families of protesters who’d been killed for large sums of money – typically between 3-5 thousand dollars - as a “bullet fee” if they wanted the bodies of their dead relatives back. At least two cases were confirmed by our reliable sources, but it seems to have not picked up with MSM yet. Also, relatives of protesters went today to Evin prison to see if they could get information about the ones arrested recently. They were turned away without a chance to verify whether their relatives were in custody.

8. The Iranian government continued to blame the West for Iran’s current state of affairs. As a direct result of this, Iran expelled to British diplomats in protest, resulting in the expulsion of two Iranian diplomats by the British government. There are reports of the EU mulling over imposing sanctions against Iran. Shirin Ebadi – the Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Iran – has asked the world to only impose political and not economic sanctions on Iran.

9. Mousavi and Khatami’s offices have told their supporters to use a different tactic to get their demands by going to the bazaars with their families everyday starting Tuesday at 9 and not buy anything at all. If anyone is to ask them, they’re to say they’re there to shop. According to Khatami, time had come people to stop wasting their energies on the government in the old ways and start new ways of defying the authorities’ refusal to meet their demands. According to Khatami, the actions described above will halt all business in Tehran.

10. State media in Iran are continuing to denounce protesters as thugs, hooligans and terrorists. It has been reported that Keyhan Daily’s tomorrow’s edition is going to call for Mousavi’s arrest. Reports were also published and broadcasted about Mohsen Rezaee – on of the four candidates during the election – has taken back all his complaints against the elections. Khamenei has extended the period for registering complaints against the elections for five more days. The deadline was Wednesday, before.

11. Throughout the day, there were reports of Mousavi organizing a fresh rally as well as Karoubi calling on people to stage rallies in different locations. Both leaders were said to have wanted rallies late afternoon on Thursday. Yet, the reports were often so conflicted that for now, the place and time of the protests cannot be verified. As before, it seems they are trying to confuse the government into keeping less armed personnel around the protest area by not letting them know where it’s actually at. So far, reliable sources have mostly agreed upon a rally at Baharestan Square in the late afternoon.

12. There was word all over twitter about Britain freezing more than a billion dollars worth of Iranian assets as a result of the protests. However, this had actually happened way before the protests as a result of Iran’s non-compliance with the recommendations of IAEA during the nuclear standoff. The news of Iranian footballers that wore green bands in their game against South Korea being forcibly retired has been confirmed.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English: http://tinyurl.com/lexowb

Fars: http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9

For the more savvy, try these if you want to connect from Iran:

67.174.201.136:9001 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837
(trad. tor port)

67.174.201.136:3074 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837
(xbox live port)

(Thanks to Alexander)

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us: http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-cu...onymously.html

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

“Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments.”

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

A Message to the International Community from Inside Iran

2009-06-23T10:07:00.001-07:00

This was found in an undisclosed location. The text is as follows:

I apologise in advance for the tone and style of this letter to you. The people in Tehran of whom I speak on behalf are weak and tired. I hope you are able to clearly understand the message we are sending to you. This letter is a call to all people outside of Iran, both Persian expatriates and other people. At the present time this is very important for the fate of Iran. To quote Napolean: "There is but one step between victory and defeat." We in Iran are at the same critical step. Your help is of the most urgent importance.

Tonight I was just up on the roof. I was at home and began hearing the voice of a young girl crying out from her roof top, "Allahu Akbar!" I began to join in with her chant until I had no strength remaining to yell. "Allahu Akbar! We're all together!" For 30 minutes we cried out into the night together. Eventually I became a bit frustrated and nervous about being on the roof and came down. But the sound of the girl continued. She began chanting loudly, "Iranians join together! Support, Support!"

These words warmed the hearts of those of us within the range of her voice. The last few days I have been all around the city, demonstrating and chanting. This girls voice touched me most of all.
Here in Tehran people are scared. The rumors are swirling about people who are identifying demonstrators from pictures found online and then going to their homes at night and attacking their families. Yesterday CNN aired a video with a voice screaming from inside a house. The video showed darkness, but the sound of a woman begging Basiji to leave her home has galvanized us. People are scared!

Another video has also put fear into a lot of Iranian people. That is the video of the late Neda Agha-Soltan (the woman shot on the street who died). Neda's death has perplexed people. As foreign media has been removed from our televisions, we are dependent on Iranian State Television which is practising a severe psychological warfare with our minds. Now everywhere people go they are watching who is behind them. All over the streets of Tehran are clothes which have been left behind by those arrested by police and Basiji. Today I became downhearted when I saw only a few thousand at 7 June Square for Neda's memorial. God, we all have to get our spirits back! Right now, time is very critical! We have these immediate needs:

Please tell your governments that if they are seen as interfering or supporting our actions - then we have lost! I believe that if we can receive covert resources and support without prompting action by the regime, our enemy will be severely suppressed. Today we heard from sources outside of Iran that we can not win. Those who are saying this in the media please notice: You must also mention the success of the results thus far. For the sake of the spirit of our demonstrators, you must mention that we are making great strides. Your words have the power of giving energy to our cause. The actions against us will only escalate unless the legitimacy of this government is removed from popular opinion. We only have ourselves to depend on. Today the commander of the Tehran Police refused to implement the suppression orders sent down to him by the Government. This was a small success, however many were later arrested when the information became known to the Officials.
People are afraid to demonstrate without money or resources. Many are afraid that a general strike will drain bank accounts and thus cripple our efforts. Please be cautious when calling for demonstrators to remove money from banks, stop shopping and work. While it is effective for us to use these measures, please be cautious and regard that we are making necessary plans within our groups. Your information being sent en mass through public mediums is falling directly into the hands of our enemies.
Continue blocking Iran regime websites. We continue needing Firefox plug-ins, anonymous portals and IP devices. If you can find a way to provide those to us, it will be important in our efforts.
Iranian State Television is creating massive distorition of truths. Their reports are stirring fear and frustration in the people. They collect information from foreign media websites and report just the opposite, or design filtered propaganda to distress our efforts. The Iran television news is showing pictures that have been collected off websites of the demonstrators, and they are asking viewers to send in informative leads to who the face belongs to and where they live. Recently many have blanked out the face of the demonstrators before uploading our pictures. That is a great help to our cause.
The Regime is accusing foreign governments and Western media with unfounded charges. Their motive in doing so is to create chaos and diversion. They are provoking governments to take a position instead of well-thought passive defense. The State-Run News plays up the Western governments as imperfect and problematic - attempting to inspire people to stop these protests for fear of becoming like the Western nations. These allegations have been extremely critical of the USA and President Obama administration. What we feel is best would be the United Nations to call on Iran's regime to hold another election. We all have the courage to face this, so International Community, as your governments to pressure the UN to act on requesting a new election in Iran. Also continue to call on your governments in Europe and America to visibly appear neutral and do not show explicit support. The USA administration is doing that and it helps so much. President Ahmadinejad is very worried at this hour of the protests.
It is very likely that quite soon our leaders: Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami will be arrested. It is also very likely many other political leaders will be detained. We call on the International Media to continue broadcasting fair information while remaining responsible.

Green Brief #6

2009-06-23T00:21:00.000-07:00

(Reposted from the original page)

Please retweet this link. I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl - @iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Monday, June 22 in Iran. (If I cannot positively confirm, I have indicated that I can't.)

1. Protests were held throughout Tehran today. The main protest was held at 7 Tir Square where 3-5 thousand people gathered to remember and mourn Neda – the protester killed on Saturday. However, soon hundreds of IRG, police, Basij and plainclothesmen gathered and violently tried to disperse the protesters. It took hours to disperse all the protesters. The security forces used batons and fired tear gas shells as well as firing weapons in the air. Dozens of people were injured, including many women. Helicopters were flying over Tehran for the second day. There were also reports of helicopters firing tear gas shells at people – they have not been fully confirmed.

2. There was also a gathering of about 1,000 people in Valiasr Avenue, meeting security forces who sparked a confrontation. It was not as violent as the one on 7 Tir, but many people were injured there as well. There was a huge rally held by Ahmadinejad’s supporters at Valiasr for his victory speech. The participants were mostly people from the provinces, children and older Iranians. There were also a large number of government employees.

3. News of protests around the country was not relayed through tweets much today; however, sources confirmed that at least some rallies and protests were held in Tabriz where protesters met with violent attacks by the security forces. Later in the night as people chanted Allah o Akbar from the rooftops, there were reports of clashes in northern and western Tehran between protesters and security forces. Chants of Allah o Akbar also echoed across the country. Candles were lit throughout the country in memory of protesters that have been killed so far. The number of confirmed deaths stands close to 50 now and there have been more than a thousand injured.

4. Sources claim that the government is considering expelling some diplomatic missions because they’ve helped protesters or are accused of masterminding the unrest. The government earlier in the day alleged that the US had paid 400 million dollars to people in order to organize unrest in Iran. They also blamed the UK and Germany – saying the latter was coaxed into taking action by Israel – how Israel manages to coax other countries was beyond our sources… The Guardian Council has now announced that there were 3 million extra votes cast. Other information is unreliable at this point or various sources exist.

5. The government is actively trying to suppress news from getting out. BBC and Al-Arabiya’s correspondents were told to get out in 24 hours, twitter sites are being hacked, people are being tricked into getting out late at night by others chanting in the streets who are actually Basijis and the spread of spam and propaganda on twitter. The government has also established dozens of sites with pictures of protesters, asking people to identify them. At least two of these sites that were based abroad have been taken down by hackers sympathetic to Iranians today.

6. There are sporadic reports coming in from Qom at this point. Sources claim that Rafsanjani who was in Qom has had meetings with clerics inside Qom. It has been also reported – but not confirmed – for the past three days that Ayatollah Montazeri has declared a three days’ mourning period. It likely is a hoax because it has not been confirmed by anyone. What can be confirmed is that the Council of Combatant Clerics – which includes in its members Rafsanjani and Nateq Noori – have backed the protesters. Khamanei is going to lead Friday prayers in Tehran. If there was a speech, we'll have a translation availble here within the hour.

7. Hamzeh Ghalebi, head of Mousavi's youth headquarters and Reza Homaye, another reformist and backer of Mousavi, have been arrested. There have been arrests of numerous other reformists and backers of Mousavi, Karoubi, Noori and Rafsanjani. The total number of people that have been arrested is still anyone’s guess. Reports indicate somewhere between five and ten thousand.

8. Tuesday has been declared a national strike by Mousavi and his backers. Already close to half of the shops in Tehran were closed on Sunday. (Sunday is not a holiday in Iran; Friday is.) It has been reported that in the provinces, people are excited about the news and many important figures in provinces are openly or secretly backing the call. The government is threatening people that they’ll be fired if they didn’t show up at their jobs on Tuesday.

9. Thursday, rallies will be held in Tehran. The location of the major rally in the city has not been disclosed. According to sources, this has been done so that the government couldn’t be prepared. In anticipation, the government has placed thousands of police and Basiji inside Tehran, turning stadiums into headquarters and areas for gathering for these security forces.

10. Our sources have strongly denounced the commercialization of the Sea of Green (That’s what most of them call the protests) by various people around the world. They have especially disliked how some people put advertisements on twitter with #iran or #iranelection on them as well as #neda. They have also shown outrage over the fact that Nokia and Siemens were exposed to have supplied the Iranian government with equipment to help censor their voices on the internet and over cell phones.

11. Finally, Mousavi has yet again called on the people of the world to rally in support of the plight of Iran’s people on Thursday. This is the second time Mousavi has called on citizens of Planet Earth to stand up and support the voices of Iranians.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Iranians who are trying to connect to twitter or other sites and need a way to connect please try these!:

67.174.201.136:9001 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837
(trad. tor port)

67.174.201.136:3074 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837
(xbox live port)

(Thanks to Alexander)

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us: http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-cu...onymously.html

“Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments.”

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but human error will always manifests itself in even the most flawless of non-mathematical things. However, this includes nothing from the Western media, including the BBC which I have been generously using to inform people and I laud them for their courageous journalism.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don't need to find me, I will find you. Don't hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I'm an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you'll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

Green Brief #5

2009-06-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

(Reposted from the original site)

Hi,

Please retweet this link. I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl - iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Sunday, June 21 in Iran.

1. Thousands of people took to street. People WERE beaten up in some parts; while in other parts, they weren't allowed to gather and were dispersed. There was a silent protest of people in front of the UN's office as well. Sporadic clashes are reported from Baharestan, Enqelab, Vanak and Vali-Asr squares. Hundreds of students continued to protest in Tehran University for the fourth straight day. There were also reports of people being attacked in the UN gathering – this has been partially confirmed.

2. The majority of Mousavi’s advisors and important aides have all been arrested. He has been left with only a handful of junior political workers and is currently under effective house arrest as he not allowed to speak to journalists or make any other statements. His movement has been limited today and he did not appear at any gatherings. His Facebook account and most of the news websites affiliated with him as well as his website and websites of his supporters have more less all been either hacked or now under effective government control. False statements regularly issued from the hacked accounts. GhalamNet can not longer be trusted and his Facebook account is currently being used by the Iranian government to place information so that the protesters can either lose hope or get violent.

3. Even in this state, however, Mousavi has continued his call for a general strike on Tuesday. He has also called all citizens to turn the headlights of their cars on from 5 to 6 PM on Monday in order to commemorate those that have been killed in the protests during the past week and the few days after. He has reportedly called upon people to go on an indefinite strike until their demands are met if he is to be killed by government.

4. Five of Hashemi Rafsanjani’s family members were arrested early on Saturday, these included his daughter Faezeh Hashemi who was among the first from his family to join the protests open on Wednesday. The government announced that they had been arrested because they were under threat of assassination by terrorist elements within the country. Four of the family members were released later while Faezeh was released late at night. No news of why they were released could be confirmed.

5. The police are continuing to find and arrest any reformists that have not been arrested in the past few days. The government-run media in Iran has released information of the arrests of at least 475 people. Yet the number cannot be confirmed or denied. What sources indicate is that more than 5,000 people have so far been arrested by the government. Correspondents of the BBC and Al-Arabiya news crew have been asked to leave the country on Monday. The photojournalist of Life magazine has gone missing. Overall, more than two dozen journalists within Iran are currently under arrest. The government has also increased censorship and at least four newspapers in Tehran were edited by government agents.

6. The government has branded all protesters as thugs as the national media in Iran continues to call them so through government sources. One media outlet in Iran announced that people tried to hide in Embassies on Saturday while trying to flee from terrorists. However, they are unable to account for the participation of a large number of mullahs and clergy in these protests. Here’s a picture of some of the ‘thug’ clerics: http://i.friendfeed.com/53ae98683f0c...8d09210f908338

7. Business owners in Tehran and shopkeepers in Tehran are said to have already put their support behind Mousavi for the protests. Our sources have urged everyone in Iran to get food, fuel and other resources as soon as possible and prepare for a few days of shortage of supplies. Autobus workers have also indicated that they will join the protests and the strike now.

8. The Writers’ Association of Kordistan, the Human Rights Campaign of Kordistan and some other prominent people have also called for a strike in Kordistan province on Tuesday.

9. Tweeters indicate that anyone flying into Iran should be highly alert as the government is thoroughly checking those arriving at Tehran International Airport and any connections to Mousavi could mean an arrest on the spot. The government has also created dozens of false twitter accounts to urge people to be violent so they can have a bloodier crackdown and crush the protesters.

10. Rafsanjani has met with clerics from Qom yet again. There are wild rumors circulating as to what the outcome of the meetings will be. However, no news has actually arrived about the incident. Any claims made right now are far-fetched. However, people are slowly starting to call upon him to take action. Tweets have included messages to him, urging him to come to the plight of the oppressed. Mohammad Khatami has released condemning the violence yet again and asked for an end to hostilities.

11. The city of Tehran and cities around Tehran have yet again been hearing Allah o Akbar at night. It needs to be mentioned that most sources tell of the voices getting louder as the protests continue. Chants of Death to Dictator have also been heard. And in a heartbreaking and cruel gesture, the government banned people from holding a memorial for Neda – the Iranian girl who’s death by a police bullet in Tehran has sparked international outrage - in any mosque in Tehran, openly.

12. The Iranian government is aggressively trying to clamp down on internet, telephones and other communication sources. Almost all foreign TV channels are banned, getting through to Iranians on the phone is almost impossible and internet’s download speed right now in Tehran is, according to one source, “375 bytes”.

Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

Iranians who are trying to connect to twitter or other sites and need a way to connect please visit this website: Why We Protest - IRAN - View Single Post - Using Tor in Order to Surf Anonymously - Using Tor in Order to Surf Anonymously

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us: http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-cu...onymously.html

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but human error will always manifests itself in even the most flawless of non-mathematical things. However, this includes nothing from the Western media, including the BBC which I have been generously using to inform people and I laud them for their courageous journalism.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don't need to find me, I will find you. Don't hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I'm an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you'll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

Green Brief #4

2009-06-22T04:30:00.000-07:00

(Posted from the original site)

Hi,

Please retweet this link. I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Saturday, June 20 in Iran.

1. There was a protest planned today at Enghelab Square in Tehran. However, the whole square was filled with police. The police attacked, beat down on protesters and dispersed them with tear gas. However, the whole city of Tehran was crowded with protesters. As we reported in the last brief, the IRG had expressly been given the authority by Khamenei to violently crush the protests if any start to take place after Friday. The story of tanks entering Tehran is a complete fabrication as far as my sources are concerned. No such thing happened.

2. Other protests took place in Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz, Mashhad, Rasht and Ahvaz. Protesters were attacked in all the above mentioned cities as well as in other areas of Iran. The situation seemed to be extremely critical in the cities of Shiraz, Tabriz, Isfahan and Rasht. There were incidents of violence against protesters in Ahvaz as well. Reports have also come in of protesters lashing back at IRG and Baseej with at least one Baseej base in Tehran being burnt by angry protesters. Molotov bombs have been used during the protests on a wider scale than before by protesters. It has also been confirmed that in Mashhad, a very large number Mullahs accompanied the protesters.

3. The government claimed as the protests were continuing that a suicide bomber had attacked Imam Khomeini’s shrine. They also claimed that many people had been injured and killed in the incident. However, sources have not confirmed any such attack. We cannot at this point confirm or deny whether any attack on the shrine took place from all our sources. Iranian TV continues to claim this attack has indeed taken place. MSM might have more on this, but treat it with caution.

4. During the protest, helicopters dropped a strange liquid on protesters that we’re still trying to determine the nature of. It has been claimed variously that the liquid was tear gas. Some sources have told us that people who’ve had the liquid contact their skin have developed burns on those spots. But as of yet, we cannot positively identify it.

5. In Tehran, Baseej and possibly IRG forces burnt down a mosque with protesters trapped inside, according to sources. They could not confirm if any protester had actually died or had been injured during the incident.

6. Even though larger protests have subsided, there are still people out on the streets in Tehran and other cities. It is being claimed by sources that the wave of arrests is continuing even at 1 AM Iran time. People are chanting Allah o Akbar and calling Ahmadinejad an oppressor as well blaming Khamenei for supporting him. Throughout the day, the number of people who were arrested has remained unconfirmed, but sources claim that thousands have been arrested, consensus being on around 3,000 and possibly more. Running the numbers and adding them to our previous number of 5,000 arrested before today, the number of people that have been so far seems to have reached somewhere between 5 and 10 thousand. The number of people killed during the protests is anyone’s guess. Sources have confirmed at least 4 death that were recorded on video in Tehran. But the number could be much higher, probably somewhere around 100 or maybe even more as militias have been seen directly firing at crowds of people on several occasions by our sources. The government is not releasing any data on that as of yet.

7. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been the spearhead of all the attacks within Tehran. The Basij is helping them. As we had reported before, the IRG had been authorized by Khamenei to use extensive force if necessary to quell the protests. The police have this time also been active in the suppression of the protests but not to the level of the IRG and the Baseej. The remainder of the military has so far taken no action.

8. It has also been claimed that IRG is soon to take complete control of the capital and possibly the major cities where protests have taken place. This is said to be a measure in order to stop protests from happening in the first place. Confirmation is still not as positive as it is in other cases reported here.

9. Mousavi was present during the protests but was unable to deliver his prepared speech. He said that he is ready to be martyred for the cause of people. Reports of his detention and freedom have come from various sources but it seems that for now he is safe. He has called for a general strike throughout Iran.

10. Reformists and high-ranking Mousavi supporters are now being arrested in massive numbers. Sources claim that the Iranian government wants to completely isolate Mousavi so he has no way of contacting the outside world. However, Mousavi continues to manage to get messages out using his sources.

11. As the injured were shipped to hospitals, many were directly taken away into custody without even reaching the hospital. Sources also confirm that government forces then went to hospitals and picked up the injured, hauling them out and taking them to undisclosed locations. The arrest of injured protesters is so massive that our sources have pleaded with everyone inside Iran to NOT go to hospitals.

12. Several embassies in Tehran opened up their doors to injured protesters. They include the embassies of Slovenia, Dutch, Italian, British, Australian, Romania, Czech Republic, Denmark and Germany. There are rumors of other embassies opening their doors to injured protesters as well; however, they cannot be positively confirmed. It has also been confirmed that the Canadian Embassy has closed its doors and turned away injured protesters and told them they are not accepting anyone. (Edit: However, now - 4 hours after the writing of this brief - some secondary sources claim Canada is accepting them and have put on a request for more doctors to come and join them in helping injured protesters.)

13. It has also been reported that Baseej, IRG and police have been stationed around the embassy to intercept any protesters who try to enter the embassies. Many people have so far been arrested on route or close to the embassies and taken to undisclosed location.

14. Sources confirmed that the government is taking forced confessions from arrested protesters and linking them to Western nations. The Iranian TV showed confessions of several protesters. One protester claimed that he had been taking orders from sources in the UK. The TV news stories have been so far blaming the UK and Israel for the violence and have hinted at possible involvement by the US government as well.

15. The Iranian Ministry of Interior has taken extreme measures in order to protect its internet services and data from hackers trying to sabotage their systems. Most websites helping Iranian online protesters have pleaded to all hackers not to DDoS any government-run websites or internet services as this would also create severe problems for Iranians using internet as well and quite possibly might cut off connection to them.

Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

Iranians who are trying to connect to twitter or other sites and need a way to connect please visit this website: http://torir.org - Using Tor in Order to Surf Anonymously

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us: https://trancy.net/iran/

For my announcements, see @iran_translator

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but human error will always manifests itself in even the most flawless of non-mathematical things. However, this includes nothing from the Western media, including the BBC which I have been generously using to inform people and I laud them for their courageous journalism.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don't need to find me, I will find you. Don't hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I'm an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you'll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

Traffic in Iran Blocked

2009-06-21T22:43:00.001-07:00

A source has offered the following graph of traffic blockage behind the "Iran Firewall". At this point, we’re trying to confirm sources for these figures, and so please do not rely upon this as fact (yet):

Thanks, and we hope that this information becomes useful to someone so that we can know if our friends and families in Iran are safe.

Green Brief #3

2009-06-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

(Reposted from the original site)

Hi,

I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are some of the happenings that I can positively confirm from Friday, June 19 and early Saturday, June 20 in Iran.

1. Khamanei – the Supreme Leader of Iran – today at the Friday prayers announced that the protests were unacceptable and were a direct result of meddling in Iran’s affairs by Zionists, the evil UK and the US. He said that unless the protests stop, they will result in bloodshed. He called upon the protesters to stop protesting because elections have winners and losers. According to him, if there were any complaints, they were going to be heard through legal channels and that these protests were results of plans from foreign countries that’d been waiting for a chance for years. He said that if the protests did not stop, protesters and their leaders must ready themselves for the consequences.

2. He candidly hinted that he had been an Ahmadinejad supporter before the election, but the people shouldn’t had been influenced by his decision, thus, he didn’t publicly declare his support. He blamed the youth of being fooled by foreign spies and turning into thugs. Yet he claimed that by going back to spirituality, the nation’s problems could be solved. For a transcript of Khamenei’s speech please check this link: Khamenei's Speech in English - Why We Protest - IRAN

3. It is to be noted that neither Mousavi nor Karoubi joined Friday prayers under Mr. Khamanei, according to our reliable sources. But they had already decided not to hold a protest on Friday. It has also been confirmed that a large number of people were brought from the more religiously conservative rural areas of central Iran in order to fill the mosque and give the country a false sense of unity. Our sources also confirmed that many reform activists who had decided not to go were promptly arrested even as the Friday prayers were being held. The number of these people soared after the end of the prayers.

4. Reports of Mousavi being in danger have been refuted. His office was not burned or trashed as reported on main-stream media. According to my sources, he was been threatened to not say a word to his supporters, but he was not arrested by the IRG (Iranian Revolutionary Guard). He is safe and free and is preparing for tomorrow’s protest. Saturday’s rally that was planned in Tehran will take place at 4 PM near Enghelab Field. This is at a time when the government has officially denied Mousavi and Karoubi’s request to hold a rally on that day. Sources, though, claim that he has given the go ahead for the protest to be held on Saturday and urged all his supporters to participate in the similar fashion as before.

5. SMS is now working inside Iran, though, foreign news outlets; social networking websites and messengers still don’t work. Though sources have indicated that most twitter users have said that this is a potential trap so that the government could more easily be able to find out what their identities are and arrest them.

6. Large numbers of Basij and IRG troopers have been stationed within the city. There have been reports of attacks on the Basijis by armed Iranians. Sources claim that Basijis are being arrested by these men who seem to have some level of support by the police. Although confirmed by several sources that the young men are getting organized and call themselves the National Iranian Resistance, this Brief will not go so far as to confirm it entirely. Please wait for confirmation by either us or MSM.

7. Sources have also confirmed that several high-ranking IRG members have been arrested today. They join several other members who were arrested in the past two days. At the same time, it is being reported that a few members of the IRG were seen laying down their arms around isolated pockets of protesters, telling them they won’t fight fellow Iranians and had gone home. Sources also claim that the military is currently the only body that has not taken part in arrests, violence or other abuses. But according to them, Ahmadinejad has the support of the IRG and the Basji at this point.

8. It has been also reported that the IRG has been given full authorization to suppress the protests. Even though confirmed by twitter sources, again, this is too important a piece of information to be taken lightly. Coupled with Khamenei’s statements today, it potentially sets up a violent crackdown on any protests that will take place on Saturday.

9. Negotiations are ongoing within Qom between leading clerics to determine what they should do in case protests continue. Sources have not confirmed anything beyond this, though in the past, multiple high-ranking clerics, including Ayatollah Montazeri and Ayatollah Sanei had called on the government to negotiate with protesters. This seems to put Khamenei in a position where he lacks support from two very revered clerics.

10. Reformist activists are still being arrested in large numbers. The number of people being arrested now stands upwards of 5,000. Sources indicate that some key reformists have been tortured and are being forced to sign confessions stating they were guilty of inciting violence.

11. Twitter sources that have been able to tweet have told us that they will be most definitely joining the protest tomorrow even though it is very possible that they might be injured or killed. Some have even indicated that they are fully prepared to die as they are simply too tired of living under a repressive regime with little to no rights that they desire.

12. Protests are planned for many other major cities in Iran, including Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Mashhad and Qom. After the call by Mousavi, other protests are currently planned around the world to show solidarity with Iranians.

Finally, a bit of inside journalism from myself…

13. Anonymous and the Pirate Bay are working as hard as they can to provide proxies to people so they can at least use twitter to get us what is happening. At the time of the writing of this brief, the majority of helpers involved in helping Iranian voices to be heard have not slept for days or very little. One helper confirmed that he hadn’t had warm food until today since the protests began on Saturday (Although he’s a n00b and we don’t care about him much, j/k ). But still, fully half of the sources who were used in compiling the past two Green Briefs and this Brief have gone quiet, left Tehran or have been arrested as their identities are being found by the government. The paramedic who made people cry by his distress about his missing daughter that he found has left Tehran and is in a safe place now. Our hearts and thoughts go to all those who are bravely going to participate in tomorrow’s protests.

Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

Iranians who are trying to connect to twitter or other sites and need a way to connect please visit this website: Why We Protest - IRAN - View Single Post - Using Tor in Order to Surf Anonymously

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us: https://trancy.net/iran/

For my announcements, see @iran_translator

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but human error will always manifests itself in even the most flawless of non-mathematical things. However, this includes nothing from the Western media, including the BBC which I have been generously using to inform people and I laud them for their courageous journalism.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don't need to find me, I will find you. Don't hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I'm an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you'll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet. I promise to make the next one faster than this one. I had to wait to make sure everything was as accurate as humanly possible.

Neda on Wikipedia

2009-06-21T17:06:00.001-07:00

It seems that Wikipedia doesn’t like Neda. Having her own page there apparently violates their purpose, which is to be an encyclopedic reference. The deletion of this page could only be seen as offensive to those who remember.

This beautiful young lady’s entry will be preserved here, just in case such a deletion occurs:

Neda Agha Soltan (1982 – June 20, 2009 in Tehran) was an Iranian woman whose alleged killing by Basij militia during the 2009 Iranian election protests was captured on video by bystanders. The graphic videos were posted on the Internet, and her name quickly becoming a rallying cry for the pro-reform demonstration. Neda means "voice" in Persian, and she was dubbed the "voice of Iran" by some opposition groups.

An unnamed Twitter poster claimed on June 20, 2009 that Neda, along with her father, walked in protest down Karegar Avenue in the city of Tehran. They were participating in the protests against the 2009 Iranian election when she was allegedly shot by members of the Iranian Basij volunteer militia. Undated amateur videos of Neda's alleged death were uploaded to Facebook and YouTube, and spread across the internet virally. The videos were accompanied by an unverified message written by an anonymous individual who claimed that he was present when the amateur video was recorded:

“At 19:05 June 20th Place: Karegar 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."

Discussions about Neda on Twitter became one of the "trending topics" by the end of the day on June 20, 2009.

The authenticity of the videos, the location of the incident, and the identity of the alleged killer have not yet been independently confirmed by the main stream media. Neda's alleged death was not reported by the state controlled Iranian media, but was reported by international media. CNN showed the video of the incident multiple times on June 21, 2009, at first with her face blurred, and later without censoring.

Early reports listed her name as "Neda Salehi".

The name "Neda" can be heard several times on the video clip, presumably by her father. It has been reported that he can be heard saying (in Farsi) "Neda, don't be afraid. Neda, don't be afraid. [obscured by others yelling] Neda, stay with me. Neda stay with me!"

We will not forget. And forgiveness will be difficult. Neda was martyred, not because she was protesting, but because she was outside and watching the protests. We will not forget, because we are human beings with emotions. And through the streets of Iran, Neda has lived up to her name: she has given the people a voice because of the her illegal and unwarranted murder.

Neda: A Martyr, a Victim, a Child

2009-06-21T02:52:00.000-07:00

Her name was Neda. We can hear the grief and shock of her father calling her name as she dies, her life's blood spilled by the shot of a gunman. She was watching the protests, but was not participating. Her crimes, as they are listed:

Being too innocent of the danger of what she did.
Being in public.
Standing on the same street as protesters.

When someone dies an innocent bystander, it it always tragic. We see the graphic reality of violence, the blood spilling as it fills her inside to the point it cannot be contained. She is dead quickly, a mercy for which we can only be thankful. I can only shed tears at the tragic suddenness of her passing, with her father right there. No parent should have to outlive a child.

Her name has become a battle-cry in the streets: "Remember Neda," they call. And at least 24 web sites that I've personally seen carry her name.

We will all remember Neda. Those of us who saw will remember her whether we want to or not. We hope that those who committed such an act understand that this only furthers the resolve of those who are resisting. Violence cannot be a solution when there is a nation based on the principles of Peace.

We can only pray for you for now. But we must ensure that things of this nature do not happen again.

Green Brief #2

2009-06-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

(Reposted from the original site)

Hi,

I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are some of the happenings that I can positively confirm from Friday, June 18:

1. The ‘black’ protest was held today in Tehran. Most people were wearing black in order to commemorate those protesters killed earlier this week, however, many people joined the protest coming out from work and were not wearing black. Mousavi, Karoubi, Rafsanjani and his family were all at the protests. At the same time, protesters were joined by Mullahs and university professors – who were apparently very vocal. The numbers of protesters was very high, however, among conflicting report, it seemed safe to estimate the number at least 1.5 million people and possibly much more. Late at night, a candle light vigil was also held. Protesters went to mosques to continue morning late into the night.

2. No violence was reported during the protests from my sources, however, isolated incidents may have occurred of which I did not get information. Sources claimed that the Baseejis tried to provoke people and some even burned things themselves to blame it later on protesters. About a dozen students from the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics Studies were arrested after the protest as well as scores of others either when found in isolation or in small groups. All universities in Tehran were closed for the day.

3. Unlike before, though, this time plainclothes gunmen were not surrounding the protests. They were spotted from time to time and made most of the arrests. The number of non-Iranian Arabs present around the protests was much smaller than yesterday. Mohammad Tavassali, Former Tehran mayor was also arrested by them today. He is a prominent aide of Rafsanjani. Kaveh Servati, another prominent backer and supporter of Mousavi’s campaign was also detained. Ebrahim Yazdi of the Freedom Movement of Iran, however, has now been freed because of failing health and is in a hospital, but still under strict supervision

4. Other protests were held in Qom, Isfahan, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Shiraz and Mashhad as well as smaller ones in other cities. Sources confirm that people were beaten in Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz and in Qom. Many arrests were also made in these cities, however, conflicting reports about their identities prevents this brief from naming them. Many mullahs joined protests in Ahvaz and Mashhad. In Shiraz, thousands of people gathered around a coffin to mourn the protesters who had been killed during previous rallies.

5. Currently, the protest in Tehran is continuing in small numbers in the mosques, and a very reliable source has confirmed that thousands upon thousands of people are protesting at 3 AM (the time of the writing of this dispatch) in Isfahan. Saturday protest in Tehran is to be held at four at Enqelab Field.

6. Abroad, 70 Iranian protesters in Dubai near the Iranian consulate were dispersed by UAE police and were told they had protested enough and needed to go home as their voices had already been heard. In Brussels, a few hundred Ahmadinejad supporters protested in support of him. This happens at a time when no major rallies were held supporting Ahmadinejad in Iran – not even in the rural areas where his strength lies. The Iranian national press continues to downplay the numbers and importance as well as character of the peaceful protests in Tehran and around Iran in support of Mousavi who spoke along with other leaders in Tehran claiming they won’t stop till their demands are met. Most of the Iranian press inside the country continues to call protesters thugs and hooligans.

7. As the last Brief indicated, Rafsanjani has now openly started supporting Mousavi. Sources indicate that he is currently in negotiations with clerics from Qom and the Guardian Council. However, they also claim that he no longer has the freedom to fly out of the country.

8. The Guardian Council has ordered all the candidates to participate in their next meeting. This meeting will be held in Tehran some time on Saturday. There is no news on whether this is going to be a negotiation or simply an ultimatum to stop the protests – as indicated by some sources. The Guardian Council had ordered a partial recount before part of which has been carried out and results match previous results that were issued by the government. The Minister of Interior claims results are very accurate.

9. Grand Ayatollah Yousof Sanei – one the most prominent Shia clerics in the world – has shown dissatisfaction with the way the government is treating the protests as well as the protesters. He has asked the government to listen to what the protesters have to say and consider their demands seriously.

10. The last dispatch claimed that 8 people had died in Azadi Square in Tehran on Monday. New reports from hospitals through sources show that 12 people had been killed and 29 injured. Today, a student also died in Kermanshah of her wounds that she’d received after being beaten a few days ago. Adding the numbers, now the Brief can confirm that 37 people have at least been killed in the protests so far.

11. The number of people that have been arrested since the start of the protests can be anywhere between 2,000 to 5,000; no reliable estimate exists. But most sources indicate a number somewhere around that. Sources also claim that Baseejis are abducting reformist sympathizers from their hospital beds as well as taking away injured protesters from the ER. No source has been able to pinpoint the location of the abductees. This comes as the governor of Isfahan threatened protesters with death, according to sources there.

12. Mohammad Asgari – the Ministry of Interior employee who leaked a fraudulent election result sheet, showing Mousavi as the winner to the press – has been killed in a car accident. The government has not given further information about how and where he has been killed – sources claim.

13. Letter from professors at Iran University to Mousavi asks him to pursue the goal of getting people's rights and getting back their votes till the end. Students of Iran University's faculty of Fine Arts will be joining the protests officially starting Saturday. Iran Khodro workers – the largest and national automaker in Iran – also spent half an hour of each of their working shifts not working. They claimed they were supporting the protesters. Iranian footballers are being touted as heroes by protesters for wearing green bands during their World Cup qualifier game against South Korea by the protesters even though they lost the game and won’t be qualifying to the World Cup as a result.

14. Sources claim that hundreds of Baseej militiamen are being moved from the northwest towards Tehran. It is claimed that the military and now the police are not using harsher tactics to scare away the protesters. It’s being claimed – yet unverified by all sources – that many high-ranking members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard have been detained because they were considering to put their lot behind Mousavi and the protesters. One of the sources was escorted home today by policemen after he was in danger of being attacked by Baseejis.

15. And Finally, Mousavi has asked the world to participate in protests on Sunday in support of protests in Iran. He has also asked them to wear green to show their support openly. The request asks protesters to gather in capital cities around the world and show their support.

Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

Iranians who are trying to connect to twitter or other sites and need a way to connect please visit this website: http://torir.org/

For my announcements, see @iran_translator

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but human error will always manifests itself in even the most flawless of non-mathematical things. However, this includes nothing from the Western media, including the BBC which I have been generously using to inform people and I laud them for their courageous journalism.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don't need to find me, I will find you. Don't hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I'm an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you'll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around. I will be writing one brief of this kind everyday until this ends.

Iran Disconnected?

2009-06-20T04:40:00.001-07:00

Iran is apparently getting its communications completely disconnected, so that only satellite phones are able to get communications out, and those only if they are away from the radio jamming equipment.

Last word from Iran is that people are taking to the streets in mass protest, and are listening to music and singing as they go to hear Mousavi speak. The report of disconnection is troubling, however, as the main source of information for this blog cannot be contacted to confirm (may be out protesting).

An encouraging note is that the police are NOT restricting the people, and are apparently trying to make the procession orderly.

Mousavi’s speech has just started as we write this. We have asked for people to report on what has been said. We hope we will have word later.

The outside world is concerned for the people: we only hope that this can yet end peacefully.

BREAKING: Green Revolution’s Sides are Drawn

2009-06-20T01:14:00.001-07:00

NOTE: Recently received, confirmed news and continuing to develop! Thanks to ProtesterHelp for this news!

Sometime on Tuesday, small urban gangs began organizing within themselves, and, armed with melee weapons and small caliber firearms, began hunting down and attacking Besiji. They are being called, amongst themselves somewhat and by the members of Anonymous and other forum assistants, the National Iranian Resistance, or NIR. We know that as NIR were seen to be an asset to the Iranian people, as they offered protection from Besiji and knew the streets of their cities intimately, they began receiving support in the form of information from many older Iranian citizens, such as shop owners and business people. Due to their spontaneous formation, the Resistance has, as of now, no centralized governing body, tending to operating on a tightly knit cellular level. We are at this time unsure of where the Besiji that are being detained by the Resistance are being taken.

The members of the Resistance do this at great risk to themselves. There are many reports of groups of Besiji and Resistance encountering each other, and the Resistance being killed on sight. Additionally, when NIR are found by Pasdarna troops (Also known as the IRG, IRGC, Iranian Revolutionary Guard (Corps)) they are arrested. Where they are taken is currently unknown.
On Wednesday morning, Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei authorized the following individuals complete control to suppress all protest movements in 1 week (June 24th, 2009.) Afshin Kamel, Haj Ali Rezaei, Ali Afsari, Majid Afshardi Amir Ghorbani, Amir Maghouli, Amir Hossein Arich, Mehdi Amiri, Hossein Yabgar, Ilias Dizji, Ebrahim Mahmoodi, Mehdi Ebrahimi, Mehdi Ebrahimi Fereidoon Taghizadeh, and Mahmoud Fatehi. Most of the above are officers within the Pasdarna, of varying ranks.

In response, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, which is the armed forces sanctioned and government, have taken measures to protect the people of Iran, and the sanctity of the Republic. Those measures have included arresting Besiji militants, as well as patrolling the streets of various cities, focusing on Tehran, almost continually since Wednesday afternoon until the time of writing, Saturday morning. As they have been ordered, they have taken many Resistance members into custody, however they are yet to turn any over to Pasdarna forces. At this point, that is close to a direct defiance of orders from the Supreme Leader.

At some point after the Army began pursuing Besiji leads, with the combined efforts of the Resistance, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army's leading officers began telling top politicians, including Khamenei himself, that they plead for no violence, or they will be forced to carry out their constitutional duty and fullfil their oath, protecting the people of Iran. They cite Article 143 of the Iranian Constitution.

Additionally, they state that Ahmadinejad personally violated Article 145 of the Iranian Constitution by using foreign forces against citizens of Iran. As of Thursday evening, both Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah were known to be aiding the Revolutionary Guard.

Finally, they have the legal support granted by Articles 3.6, 38, and 39 to stop any attempted coup d'etat against the Republic. While not publically acknowledged, it is implied that they are accusing Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, as well as the Pasdarna, of attempting to seize total control over the Republic of Iran.

Friday morning, prior to the prayers and Khamenei's speech, the National Iranian Resistance leaders of various areas began asking for the Iranian Army to assist them in protecting the Iranian people on Saturday.

They also warn that if Khamenei is removed from his seat by political and clerical action by the clerics in Qom, and another Supreme Ayatollah is appointed, it may result in Ahmadinejad and the above named Iranians seizing full control of Iran.

It is suspected that on the protests at Saturday, June 20th, 2009, to be held at 4pm, across the cities of Iran, the Isliamic Republic of Iran Army will not have the strength to defend all protests and protesters from the combined threat of Besiji and Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces. The National Iranian Resistance have shared that they are going to attend protests and do what they can to protect people from military action, however they have very little military experience and acknowledge that flaw. Additionally, members of the Resistance with clerical experience will be with the protesters, providing them with the guidance and protection of God, an additional disobedience to the will of Khamenei.

Published at 12:39, Saturday, June 20th, 2009 [Tehran Time]

The above document was written by ProtesterHelp, available on twitter at http://twitter.com/ProtesterHelp and e-mail at ph.on.twitter@gmail.com. Please share this with whoever you feel would be interested.

The Green Brief

2009-06-20T00:51:00.000-07:00

(Reposted from the original site)

An Update for Information

2009-06-20T00:01:00.001-07:00

Thanks to NiteOwl’s Green Brief 3, we can confirm that people will be protesting today. There is also a plethora of additional information. I encourage you to read!

Silence and the Specter of Death

2009-06-19T23:02:00.001-07:00

NOTE: This is posted for a friend, and for his friend, both of whom shall remain anonymous:

All indications are that the rally at 4pm today (Tehran time) in Engelhab Square (marching to Azadi Square) is going forward. As we approach the morning in Iran, our sources are strangely quiet. All are making their final farewells in case they must die. They are preparing for martyrdom, rather than live in an unjust regime with a ruler who cannot hear them, and who can no longer hear God.

At the moment I write this, I cannot imagine how it feels in Tehran, facing almost certain death. I reminded by my contact that the enemy—who has guns—will almost certainly run out of bullets before they can kill everyone. Even if they brought one bullet for every person, it would be more than they could carry. And, it is expected, that some will die before the day is done. But as they see the will of the people manifest, God will provide them with the opportunity to see that what they do is wrong. I only pray that my contact is correct in this.

Khamanei ordered people in his speech to refrain from protests. However, the defiance of Mousavi and the others can only mean that Khamanei is a dying lion. It’s been said on Twitter a few times:

“The lion roars loudest just before death.”

Is that Khamanei? Or is it the will of the people that roars now, forever to be silenced by the louder roar of gunfire?

I feel the anguish of the loss of a friend before he is even gone. And yet, I understand the need for death. In the West, many people don’t understand martyrdom. I am not Muslim, but dying for an ideal is something that I understand. I would die if it would bring freedom to everyone else. But in death, the only guarantee is that death occurs: a death is meaningless if the changes which are sought cannot come about as a result.

God will protect the soul of a martyr. And I pray that this “digital ink” can count for the ink of a scholar. While I wish for peace, it is on occasion that violence becomes a regrettable necessity. This is the case for so long as lies and injustice reign supreme.

Says one part of my possibly final email from my friend:

I go into an uncertain future, save one certainty: our friendship will last until the moment of my death. It is a shame that you have never accepted the Holy Word of the Prophet, peace be upon him. I only hope you continue to read the Holy Word, and that you understand the need for the blood of martyrs today. I hope that God permits the military and the police an opportunity to see Khamanei in the correct light, just as I wish this for myself. The Basiji are certainly not in God’s favor. Be well, and goodbye.

As I read these words, I am actually crying. I’m not a particularly religious person, but if there is a God, may he protect my friend.

Iranian Video

2009-06-19T15:50:00.001-07:00

During the night after Khamanei’s hardline speech to the people, we hear just how the city of Tehran calls to the Most High: God is Great!

And a woman with a video explains to us just how this night works, from the perspective of real people still in Iran.

Tomorrow is Saturday. Tomorrow is a day of destiny.

Tonight, the cries of Allah-o Akbar are heard louder and louder than the nights before.

Where is this place? Where is this place where every door is closed? Where is this place where people are simply calling God? Where is this place where the sound of Allah-o Akbar gets louder and louder?

I wait every night to see if the sounds will get louder and whether the number increases. It shakes me. I wonder if God is shaken.

Where is this place that where so many innocent people are entrapped? Where is this place where no one comes to our aid? Where is this place that only with our silence we are sending our voices to the world? Where is this place that the young shed blood and then people go and pray -- standing on that same blood and pray. Where is this place where the citizens are called vagrants?

Where is this place? You want me to tell you? This place is Iran. The homeland of you and me.

This place is Iran.

Thank you! Those outside Iran wish you all health and life! Peace be upon you!

Translation of Ayatollah Khamanei's Speech

2009-06-19T04:23:00.000-07:00

This is a transcript translated from Farsi by our own translator:

(He first started by praying and speaking about purely religious matters and then got to the real point.)

[01:26] (Ayatollah Khamanei) Remember god,
[01:28] (A. K.) Iran has gone through a lot since the revolution
[01:28] (A. K.) Any of them could have put us in turmoil
[01:28] (A. K.) Even from our neighbors
[01:31] (A. K.) (Allah o Akbar)
[01:33] (A. K.) Our youth are in a materialistic world
[01:33] (A. K.) In a time of turmoil
[01:33] (A. K.) They don't know what to do,
[01:33] (A. K.) They need to understand spirituality,
[01:34] (A. K.) They need to get back to spirituality,
[01:34] (A. K.) But they don't know how,
[01:34] (A. K.) It's been two centuries since the west has destroyed cultures,
[01:34] (A. K.) But our nation wants to regain that spirituality back.
[01:34] (A. K.) So that the revolution can be regained.
[01:36] (A. K.) I swear to the holy Imams,
[01:36] (A. K.) I ask you O god give us more faith
[01:36] (A. K.) O God, I ask you to give us a calm and peaceful heart
[01:37] (A. K.) O god, these oppressed people, give triumph over the enemy.
[01:37] (A. K.) Protect them,
[01:37] (A. K.) O god we do everything for you and only for you,
[01:37] (A. K.) O God take our Salams and greetings to Mahdi (the hidden Imam)
[01:38] (A. K.) (Praying in Arabic)
[01:39] (A. K.) I would like to say to our dear brothers and sisters,
[01:40] (A. K.) I would like to speak about the issue of the election which is the important issue in our country
[01:40] (A. K.) I have three issues to talk about,
[01:40] (A. K.) In three different parts
[01:40] (A. K.) I do have some things to tell the people.
[01:40] (A. K.) One issue will be for the political members of the politicians,
[01:41] (A. K.) I would like to also talk to the western countries,
[01:41] (A. K.) And the leaders of their media
[01:41] (A. K.) First issue is for the people,
[01:41] (A. K.) I will only thank you,
[01:41] (A. K.) I don't like to talk too much,
[01:41] (A. K.) I don't like to use nice arguments only
[01:42] (A. K.) Even if I do exaggerate, it won't be enough to say what i have to say,
[01:42] (A. K.) The elections of June 12 was a fulfillment of the nation's responsibility
[01:42] (A. K.) It was a proof of participation of the people that was a show of the love towards their system
[01:43] (A. K.) It is similar but better than the democracies in other countries,
[01:43] (A. K.) BUT
[01:43] (A. K.) Those countries don't have a democracy as good as ours.
[01:43] (A. K.) The constitution of 1988
[01:44] (A. K.) This is the largest number of people that have taken part in an election in Iran since the founding of the republic
[01:44] (A. K.) And the passing of the constitution,
[01:44] (A. K.) I would like to deeply thank you
[01:45] (A. K.) The youngsters in our country showed especially,
[01:45] (A. K.) that they are partaking in the political process since the beginning of the revolution.
[01:46] (A. K.) Now we'll see the same responsibilities from them that we saw during the Iraqi Aggression War
[01:46] (A. K.) As for elections some people want one person others want someone else
[01:46] (A. K.) This is natural
[01:46] (A. K.) We saw everyone, men women, the young and the old,
[01:47] (A. K.) People participating from all over the country to make this a success,
[01:47] (A. K.) This election is a political defeat for your enemies,
[01:47] (A. K.) For your friends all over the world a celebration.
[01:47] (A. K.) A historic one,
[01:47] (A. K.) People are showing love and loyalty for their Imam and martyrs
[01:47] (A. K.) And for the system
[01:48] (A. K.) This election was a religious democratic event
[01:48] (A. K.) everyone saw it
[01:48] (A. K.) It was a showing against the dictators and oppressive regime
[01:49] (A. K.) And FOR a show of support for the religion and system.
[01:49] (A. K.) We can see the results of the exams
[01:49] (A. K.) Also another point about the election
[01:49] (A. K.) The election of June 12 showed that people with beliefs and hopes and joys is living in this country.
[01:49] (A. K.) The enemies are using it,
[01:50] (A. K.) If our young didn't have any hope,
[01:50] (A. K.) They wouldn't partake in the election
[01:50] (A. K.) If they didn't feel freedom, they wouldn't vote.
[01:50] (A. K.) Faith in the system has been shown by the massive participation.
[01:50] (A. K.) The enemies target the belief and trust of people on that system
[01:51] (A. K.) This trust is the biggest investment of the Islamic republic
[01:51] (A. K.) They wanted to take it from us
[01:51] (A. K.) They want it to shake our trust in this system
[01:51] (A. K.) The enemies of the people of Iran will succeed when people won't participate.
[01:51] (A. K.) The system will be questioned.
[01:51] (A. K.) Only when no one partakes in it.
[01:52] (A. K.) We couldn't compare that to anything that happens.
[01:52] (A. K.) The enemy wants to make people believe that they have been fooled
[01:52] (A. K.) It started 3 months ago.
[01:53] (A. K.) I have been hearing enemies saying repeatedly that the elections will be fraudulent.
[01:53] (A. K.) They had been preparing months in advance
[01:53] (A. K.) This 30 year old system has not come about without sacrifices and hard work.
[01:53] (A. K.) And people have a firm belief in it.
[01:54] (A. K.) But the enemies want to shake that very belief.
[01:54] (A. K.) The third point is,
[01:54] (A. K.) These rivalries, between different candidates were transparent.
[01:54] (A. K.) They were clean and clear cut.
[01:55] (A. K.) And transparent
[01:55] (A. K.) The enemies are trying through their media - which is controlled by dirty Zionists.
[01:57] (A. K.) The Zionist, American and British radio are all trying to say that there was a competition between those who support and those who didn't support the state
[01:57] (A. K.) Everyone supported the state
[01:58] (A. K.) I know everything about these candidates
[01:58] (A. K.) I have worked with them.
[01:58] (A. K.) I know all of them
[01:58] (A. K.) I don't believe in everything that they say
[01:58] (A. K.) some of their views and practices can be criticized
[01:58] (A. K.) I believe that some of them are better in serving the country
[01:58] (A. K.) BUT the people have to make the choice.
[01:58] (A. K.) It's not my will
[01:58] (A. K.) My choice wasn't told to people,
[01:59] (A. K.) And they were not asked to follow my views either
[01:59] (A. K.) They decided on their own who to follow
[01:59] (A. K.) So this is a competition within the state
[01:59] (A. K.) It is not acceptable to change the appearance of the issue
[01:59] (A. K.) this is evil if someone does that
[01:59] (A. K.) there is no fight between people and state
[01:59] (A. K.) No revolutionaries and anti-revolutionaries
[01:59] (A. K.) This is between the state parties
[01:59] (A. K.) people voted for these people with belief in the state
[02:00] (A. K.) they came to the understanding that will be better for the state
[02:00] (A. K.) then voted
[02:00] (A. K.) These competitions and debates were very interesting.
[02:00] (A. K.) It was very transparent
[02:00] (A. K.) It was a blow in the face of those who say that this competition is just a formality
[02:01] (A. K.) Forgetting that the candidates actually sat and talked.
[02:01] (A. K.) positive aspect of the debates was that during the debate and TV conversation everyone spoke explicitly and openly
[02:01] (A. K.) saying what they believed
[02:01] (A. K.) Then some criticized the candidates
[02:01] (A. K.) They had to respond to the criticism
[02:01] (A. K.) They began to defend themselves
[02:02] (A. K.) The positions and stances taken by people and groups were presented without any ambiguity
[02:02] (A. K.) So people could hear what every candidate had to say
[02:02] (A. K.) So that people could see all of this
[02:02] (A. K.) So people could judge them all accordingly
[02:02] (A. K.) People felt that in the Islamic state, they are not stranger
[02:02] (A. K.) We don't have US and THEM
[02:02] (A. K.) Everything was open and transparent before the people
[02:02] (A. K.) Everything was presented clearly
[02:03] (A. K.) It became clear that people's vote would rely based on the same judgments
[02:03] (A. K.) People wanted to make their choices willingly
[02:03] (A. K.) And according to their own tastes
[02:03] (A. K.) Thus, the number of votes increased
[02:03] (A. K.) People were able to have a better understanding of the views of the candidate
[02:03] (A. K.) they were able to decide better
[02:03] (A. K.) the debates were even extended to the streets and homes
[02:03] (A. K.) So this added to the power of choice of the people
[02:04] (A. K.) Such debates will strengthen the minds
[02:04] (A. K.) to Help make better choices
[02:04] (A. K.) BUT
[02:04] (A. K.) They shouldn't get to a point where they lead to major differences
[02:04] (A. K.) Otherwise adverse effects follow
[02:04] (A. K.) It would be good to be kept to the extent to which it existed during campaign
[02:04] (A. K.) If it leads further, it will cause problems
[02:05] (A. K.) it will be better to have such debates at the administrative level
[02:05] (A. K.) We should carry these debates
[02:05] (A. K.) to the administrative level
[02:05] (A. K.) They should describe their policies
[02:05] (A. K.) Defend themselves against criticism
[02:05] (A. K.) People will have a chance to do that,
[02:05] (A. K.) But we should try to overcome the negative aspects
[02:06] (A. K.) Criticisms will be heard during the four years of a president's term
[02:06] (A. K.) We should try to address the negative aspects
[02:06] (A. K.) We could see that people became irrational and emotional sometimes.
[02:06] (A. K.) They tried to destroy the other side sometimes
[02:07] (A. K.) Even we saw that the practice of the past was being questioned.
[02:07] (A. K.) rumors were mentioned
[02:07] (A. K.) accusations were leveled
[02:07] (A. K.) Some statements made were not fair
[02:07] (A. K.) government and governments of the past were criticized in an unfair manner
[02:07] (A. K.) the entire 30 years were criticized unfairly
[02:07] (A. K.) people became emotional
[02:07] (A. K.) they said some unpleasant and unacceptable things
[02:07] (A. K.) I watched the debates on TV
[02:08] (A. K.) I enjoyed freedom of speech
[02:08] (A. K.) i was happy that Islamic republic was there to help people make this choice
[02:08] (A. K.) YET
[02:08] (A. K.) the negative aspects made me unhappy
[02:08] (A. K.) for their supporters this was also not good and they were disturbed by the unfair criticism
[02:08] (A. K.) We saw this on both sides
[02:09] (A. K.) In this Friday prayer sermon
[02:09] (A. K.) I should mention of the realities of both sides
[02:09] (A. K.) both sides can be criticized for such negative aspects of behavior
[02:09] (A. K.) ON the one side, the president was insulted,
[02:09] (A. K.) EVEN BEFORE the debates, 2, 3 months ago,
[02:09] (A. K.) I used to see insulting statements against him,
[02:09] (A. K.) Accusations were leveled against the president
[02:09] (A. K.) against the legal president
[02:09] (A. K.) he was wrongly accused
[02:10] (A. K.) the president who is trusted by people was accused of lying
[02:10] (A. K.) Are these good?
[02:10] (A. K.) Fake records were made and then distributed around the country
[02:10] (A. K.) we were aware of the situation
[02:10] (A. K.) we knew what was published was not true
[02:10] (A. K.) they insulted the president
[02:10] (A. K.) said he was superstitious
[02:10] (A. K.) they falsely accused the president by such words
[02:10] (A. K.) so they trampled over ethics and fairness [02:10] (A. K.) on the other hand,
[02:11] (A. K.) Similar things were done against the outstanding record of the Islamic Republic
[02:11] (A. K.) Some important figures of the state were mentioned
[02:11] (A. K.) People who have spent their lives for the state
[02:11] (A. K.) I have never have mentioned names during prayers on Friday before but I have to now
[02:11] (A. K.) Rafsanjani and Nateq Noori's names have been mentioned
[02:11] (A. K.) These gentlemen have not been accused of financial misdoings
[02:12] (A. K.) But their relatives.
[02:12] (A. K.) If you have anything against them, prove them legally through the courts
[02:12] (A. K.) Unless it is proven, no one can be accused.
[02:13] (A. K.) I have known Rafsanjani for a long time
[02:13] (A. K.) he is one of the most prominent members of this revolution
[02:13] (A. K.) he was one of the major fighters before the revolution
[02:13] (A. K.) after the victory,
[02:13] (A. K.) he was one the most influential members of the Islamic state
[02:13] (A. K.) still is
[02:13] (A. K.) he walked with the Imam
[02:13] (A. K.) Still walking with him
[02:13] (A. K.) he was almost martyred several times
[02:14] (A. K.) he spent all his money on the revolution,
[02:14] (A. K.) they young people should know about this fact
[02:14] (A. K.) he has had many responsibilities now
[02:14] (A. K.) president, leader of parliament
[02:14] (A. K.) he has not made money out of the revolution for himself.
[02:16] (A. K.) Same with Mr. Nateq Noori
[02:16] (A. K.) he has also served this revolution
[02:16] (A. K.) He has rendered great services
[02:16] (A. K.) there is no doubt about it
[02:17] (A. K.) but the live TV debates are good
[02:17] (A. K.) but these shortcomings should be removed
[02:17] (A. K.) after the debates I talked to the president and warned him
[02:17] (A. K.) he said he will listen to me.
[02:17] (A. K.) the admin has a clear stance on corruption
[02:17] (A. K.) It should be fought anywhere it is found
[02:18] (A. K.) Yes there is corruption within our system.
[02:18] (A. K.) YES there are people who are corrupt.
[02:18] (A. K.) But at the same time,
[02:18] (A. K.) It is one of the one of the healthiest system in the world as well
[02:19] (A. K.) but then accusing the government of corruption because of Zionist reports is not the right thing
[02:19] (A. K.) questioning the credibility of the government is not corrects either.
[02:19] (A. K.) Everyone is obliged to fight corruption.
[02:19] (A. K.) If it is not brought under control, it will spread like it has in some western countries
[02:19] (A. K.) They are up to their ears in this corruption
[02:20] (A. K.) this is part of their scandal
[02:20] (A. K.) it goes way beyond than it is publicized
[02:20] (A. K.) Let me talk to people
[02:20] (A. K.) To make this absolute victory a failure,
[02:20] (A. K.) is some people's goal
[02:20] (A. K.) To not let you enjoy
[02:20] (A. K.) to not let the world register the highest rate of turn out
[02:20] (A. K.) but it has been registered
[02:21] (A. K.) The highest rate of turn out has been registered in your name
[02:21] (A. K.) The race has ended
[02:21] (A. K.) whoever has voted for these candidates will receive divine reward.
[02:21] (A. K.) they all belong to the state
[02:21] (A. K.) they have gotten closer to god by voting, they have
[02:22] (A. K.) there were 40 million votes for the revolution,
[02:22] (A. K.) not just 24 million for the winner
[02:22] (A. K.) The people have trust
[02:22] (A. K.) Their votes will not go in vain by the people.
[02:22] (A. K.) The legal mechanism in our country won't allow any cheating.
[02:23] (A. K.) Those are involved in the election process are aware of this fact
[02:23] (A. K.) Especially if there is an 11 million votes difference
[02:23] (A. K.) If it were little than that, we would say there's doubts,
[02:23] (A. K.) but how can 11 million votes be replaced or changed?
[02:23] (A. K.) At the same time
[02:24] (A. K.) I said this and the guardian council believes that whoever has doubts can present proof to the legal channels.
[02:24] (A. K.) I will not accept any illegal initiative.
[02:24] * A. K. is now known as A. K.
[02:24] (A. K.) Today,
[02:24] (A. K.) If the laws are broken today,
[02:24] (A. K.) No election will be immune in the future
[02:25] (A. K.) in every election,
[02:25] (A. K.) there are losers and winners
[02:25] (A. K.) no other election will ever be trusted if you take other avenues.
[02:25] (A. K.) thus, all legal procedures should be observed
[02:25] (A. K.) If there are any doubts, the issue should be followed by legal procedures
[02:25] (A. K.) we have laws
[02:25] (A. K.) the candidate's representatives had the right to inspect the ballot stations
[02:26] (A. K.) And to make complaints
[02:26] (A. K.) through the legal procedure
[02:26] (A. K.) If they have doubt, it should be recounted - the individual ballot boxes.
[02:26] (A. K.) Today is a very sensitive moment in our country
[02:26] (A. K.) look at the Middle East
[02:26] (A. K.) look at the economic situation in the world
[02:26] (A. K.) look at Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan
[02:27] (A. K.) VERY sensitive juncture in history, we are in.
[02:27] (A. K.) we should be careful to not make mistakes
[02:27] (A. K.) the voters' duty was to take part in the elections in the best possible manner
[02:27] (A. K.) but we have a bigger responsibility
[02:28] (A. K.) political party leaders should be very careful about what they say and do
[02:28] (A. K.) if they do anything extremist, their radical moves will moves will take them to where it won't be solvable
[02:28] (A. K.) we've seen this happen before
[02:28] (A. K.) when extremism is forced upon a society, it leads to another one
[02:28] (A. K.) if political elite want to fix someone at the cost of another thing
[02:29] (A. K.) to BREAK the law
[02:29] (A. K.) they would be responsible for the bloodshed
[02:29] (A. K.) And any form of unrest
[02:29] (A. K.) I would like to advise all these gentlemen,
[02:29] (A. K.) All my brothers and friends
[02:29] (A. K.) Just observe the hands of the enemy
[02:29] (A. K.) They are hungry wolves
[02:30] (A. K.) ambushing and removing the diplomacy cover from their faces
[02:30] (A. K.) Don't underestimate them.
[02:30] (A. K.) I will tell you,
[02:30] (A. K.) diplomats of other countries in the past few days have taken away their masks and showing their true image
[02:30] (A. K.) The most evil of them all is the British Government.
[02:31] (A. K.) I should tell these brothers,
[02:31] (A. K.) you are responsible before god
[02:31] (A. K.) you will be asked questions
[02:31] (A. K.) remember the last will and testament of the late imam
[02:31] (A. K.) the law determines what should be done
[02:31] (A. K.) elections are held so that any difference should be settled at the ballot box
[02:31] (A. K.) it should become clear there.
[02:31] (A. K.) what people want and what they don't want
[02:32] (A. K.) not on the streets
[02:32] (A. K.) if after every election those who haven't gotten votes start to have street camps and invite their followers to come to the streets,
[02:32] (A. K.) And the winners' followers take their followers to the streets,
[02:32] (A. K.) Then why did we hold elections to begin with?
[02:33] (A. K.) what have the people done wrong?
[02:33] (A. K.) They live on these streets
[02:33] (A. K.) That we want to show them we can do such things
[02:33] (A. K.) For terrorists it is different
[02:33] (A. K.) infiltrating terrorist will hide behind these people.
[02:34] (A. K.) if you make covers for them, then who's responsible?
[02:34] (A. K.) people have been killed from ordinary people and the Baseej
[02:34] (A. K.) Who's responsible?
[02:34] (A. K.) The issues is that some people have killed Baseeji forces and killed other people,
[02:34] (A. K.) who should address this issue?
[02:34] (A. K.) Who should react?
[02:34] (A. K.) attack at universities,
[02:34] (A. K.) Good students were beaten up
[02:34] (A. K.) not the ones who were involved in riots.
[02:35] (A. K.) then they chant slogans of supporting the leader.
[02:35] (A. K.) Then you become unhappy and your heart is hurt to see all this.
[02:35] (A. K.) street wrestling is not acceptable after the elections
[02:35] (A. K.) this is challenging democracy and election
[02:35] (A. K.) I want both sides to put an end to this
[02:36] (A. K.) then the responsibility of the consequences should be shouldered by those who aren't putting an end to it.
[02:36] (A. K.) by thinking that by turning out onto the streets that you can pressure the officials your demands is wrong.
[02:37] (A. K.) first of all.
[02:37] (A. K.) it will not be acceptable to submit to illegal demands
[02:37] (A. K.) this would be the start of dictatorship.
[02:37] (A. K.) This is a miscalculation,
[02:38] (A. K.) If there are any consequences, they would directly affect the leaders behind the scene
[02:38] (A. K.) the people would know them in due time as well.
[02:38] (A. K.) I call on all these dear friends, brothers and sister to observe the law
[02:38] (A. K.) to follow the legal code
[02:38] (A. K.) the law welcomes you
[02:38] (A. K.) legal channels are there for you
[02:39] (A. K.) i hope that almighty god will help us all to follow the legal channels.
[02:39] (A. K.) don't allow the enemies to destroy and ruin the celebration of our elections.
[02:39] (A. K.) If there are people who choose other paths, I will come and talk to people even more exclusively.
[02:40] (A. K.) now, third
[02:40] (A. K.) I want to talk to the media leaders and leaders
[02:40] (A. K.) I have witnessed the statements of American and EU countries' leaders and listening to them.
[02:40] (A. K.) I have monitored their actions and reactions in the past few weeks,
[02:40] (A. K.) Before and after the elections,
[02:40] (A. K.) Their behavior was different
[02:41] (A. K.) First, before the elections, their media orientation and their statements made was they wanted to
Cast out the hearts of the people a feeling that the election was useless to cut the turn out,
[02:41] (A. K.) They could guess the results,
[02:41] (A. K.) but they never expected 85%
[02:41] (A. K.) 40 million voted
[02:41] (A. K.) they never believed this
[02:41] (A. K.) after they witnessed this, they were shocked
[02:42] (A. K.) they learned what a great development in Iran has taken place
[02:42] (A. K.) they found out they had to adjust themselves to this new situation
[02:42] (A. K.) to the Middle East, Iran and the world
[02:42] (A. K.) they learned that a new chapter has opened in connection related to the Islamic Republic.
[02:42] (A. K.) This great turn out was observed
[02:42] (A. K.) they reported it time and again
[02:42] (A. K.) they were all surprised since Friday morning
[02:43] (A. K.) some of the reactions and feedback to these correspondents were also noticed
[02:43] (A. K.) when they saw objections by some candidates, they saw an opportunity
[02:43] (A. K.) they used it from Saturday to Sunday
[02:43] (A. K.) their tone changed
[02:43] (A. K.) they slowly saw these protests
[02:43] (A. K.) which were held by the invitation of the candidate
[02:43] (A. K.) they became hopeful
[02:43] (A. K.) their masks were removed
[02:43] (A. K.) they saw a way
[02:43] (A. K.) they revealed their true nature
[02:44] (A. K.) a number of heads of states and other leaders of EU and America made statements that clarified the true nature of those leaders.
[02:44] (A. K.) it was said on behalf of the US president that he was waiting for a day that people came out to streets.
[02:44] (A. K.) Inside the country
[02:44] (A. K.) their agents started their action
[02:45] (A. K.) they started to cause riots in the street
[02:45] (A. K.) they caused destruction
[02:45] (A. K.) burnt houses,
[02:45] (A. K.) theft and insecurity prevailed.
[02:45] (A. K.) the people felt unsafe and insecure
[02:45] (A. K.) this has nothing to do with supporters of the candidate
[02:45] (A. K.) this is the servants of the westerners
[02:45] (A. K.) Zionist agents and their servants.
[02:46] (A. K.) What was clumsily done inside Iran by some, made them greedy
[02:46] (A. K.) they thought that Iran is Georgia.
[02:46] (A. K.) An American Zionist capitalist some time ago claimed that he had spent ten million dollars and created velvet revolution in Georgia
[02:47] (A. K.) They are comparing the Islamic Republic with GEORGIA!?
[02:47] (A. K.) What do you think we are?
[02:47] (A. K.) You don't understand us.
[02:47] (A. K.) What are you talking about?
[02:48] (A. K.) what is the worst thing to me in all this
[02:48] (A. K.) are comments made in the name of human rights
[02:48] (A. K.) and freedom and liberty
[02:48] (A. K.) made by American officials
[02:48] (A. K.) they said that we are worried about Iranian nations
[02:48] (A. K.) The wars and bloodshed
[02:48] (A. K.) Who is crushing Iraq under its soldier's boots?
[02:48] (A. K.) in Palestine?
[02:48] (A. K.) Who supported the Zionists?
[02:49] (A. K.) even inside America
[02:49] (A. K.) During the time of the democrats
[02:49] (A. K.) Time of Clinton
[02:49] (A. K.) 80 people were burned alive in Waco?
[02:50] (A. K.) Now you are talking about human rights?
[02:50] (A. K.) Well,
[02:50] (A. K.) I believe that the officials of America and EU should feel some embarrassment
[02:50] (A. K.) shouldn't say anything like that
[02:50] (A. K.) Islamic republic supports oppressed people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine
[02:50] (A. K.) we support all those who are oppressed
[02:51] (A. K.) we are supporting the flag of human rights
[02:51] (A. K.) flag of humans is raised in this country by Islam
[02:51] (A. K.) we don't need advice about human rights
[02:51] (A. K.) My speech about the election is over.
[02:51] (A. K.) (VERY ABRUPTLY)

This was translated via a text chat program as the typer listened.

The translation is clear: Khamanei has lost his credibility and is trying to make himself look better.

This translation recently made it to the Anonymous Iran forums, as well.

Arrests in Iran

2009-06-19T04:00:00.001-07:00

These names are reposted and compiled from several lists. At the time of this writing, no official lists have been released to the public.

(I took this from the website of the Internatoinal Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. This list is only partial, but mostly confirmed. However, still be cautious as information gets out at a staggeringly slow rate and remember, the Iranian government expertly lies. The list is rather long, but I'm gonna try and translate it into Farsi as soon as I possibly can. - NiteOwl)

Killed by Government Forces:

The government has admitted to at least 27 fatalities in Tehran but the true numbers are most probably much higher. The Campaign has been able to identify only the names of four persons killed in Tehran during recent protests because of the extreme restrictions imposed by the government. There are also reports of fatalities in other cities but the Campaign has not been able to collect any reliable information.

1) Neda Aghasoltan, student, was murdered at the demonstration in Tehran on 20 June 2009

2) Naser Amirnejad, Aerospace PhD student, was murdered during the attack on the Tehran University dormitories on the night of Wednesday, 14 June 2009. His body was buried in his home town, one of the villages in the city of Yasouj on 19 June 2009.

3) Mostafa Ghanian, graduate student at Tehran University, was murdered during the attack on the Tehran University Dormitories on the night of Monday , 14 June 2009. His body was buried in his home town in Mashad on 21 June 2009.

4) Mehdi Karami, killed in Jonat Abad Street, Tehran, 15 June 2009

5) Eight people were killed during the attack to the peaceful demonstration in Tehran on 15 June 2009, according to the government report

6) At least nineteen people were killed during the attack on the peaceful demonstration in Tehran on 20 June 2009, according to the government report

There are also several hundred injuries about which there is no available information. Some of the injuries could be life threatening. The Campaign has been informed that Ashkan Zahabian, a member of the Modern Faction of the Islamic Students Association of Ferdowsi University has been severely injured after attacks by members of Basiji Militia and is currently in a coma.

——————–

Arrested and in Detention as of 23 June 2009:

Government officials have announced a total of 645 arrests in Tehran since 13 June 2009. The Campaign has received information that about 70 people detained in Shiraz have been released as of 21 June. The Campaign believes several hundred more people could be in detention throughout the country. The following is a list of prominent political personalities, journalists, and students that the Campaign has received.

I. Political personalities and members of the reformist presidential candidates’ campaigns:

1) Mostafa Tajzadeh, a member of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolutionary Political Organization and deputy of the Interior Ministry during Khatami’s presidency, was arrested on 13 June

2) Behzad Nabavi, a founding member of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolutionary Political Organization and former minister and parliamentarian, was arrested on 13 June and released the day after. He was arrested on 16 June for the second time

3) Mohsen Mirdamadi, General Secretary of the Iranian Participation Front and former parliamentarian, was first arrested on 13 June and released the day after, but was disappeared on 17 June

4) Saeed Hajarian, a senior adviser to reformists, a journalist, member of the Central Council of the Iran Front Participation, member of the first City Council in Tehran, the victim of an assassination attempt in 2000, was arrested on 15 June, is paralyzed and suffers serious brain and spinal cord injuries

5) Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Vice president of the Iran Front Participation, coordinator of the reformist campaign in Kurdistan and former government spokes person during Khatami’s presidency, was arrested on 16 June

6) Ali Abtahi, a senior adviser to Karroubi’s Campaign, former Deputy of Parliament Office of President Khatami, and a vice president under Khatami, was arrested on 16 June

7) Abdolfatah Soltani, a human rights lawyer and one of the founding members of the Human Rights Defenders Center as well as a member of Executive Board of the Bar Association, was arrested on 16 June

8) Javad Emam, a member of Tehran branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Political Organization

9) Hojat Esmaieli, a member of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolutionary Political Organization

10) Mohsen Safaiee Farahani, member of the Iran Front Participation and the head of its Implementation Board, and former president of the Football Federation,

11) Ali Tajernia, a member of the Central Committee of the Iran Participation Front and former parliamentarian

12) Baghier Oskouiee, leading official in Karroubi’s campaign, was arrested on 16 June

13) Saeed Laylaz, prominent economist and Journalist, was arrested on June 17

14) Kuroush Zaieem, a member of the Central Council of the Iran National Front, was arrested on 21 June

15) Davoud Solaymani, a member of the Central Committee of the Iran Participation Front and former parliamentarian

16) Mohammad Tavasoli, director of the political office of the Freedom Movement in Iran and first Mayor of Tehran after the 1979 Revolution, was arrested on 16 June

17) Hossein Zaman, a well-known pop singer whose works have been banned from State controlled Radio and Television because of his support for the reformist movement

18) Mohsen Aminzadeh, a founding member of the Iran Participation Front and former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Khatami�s cabinet, on June 16

19) Saeed Shirkvand, member of Central Council of Iran Participation Front and former Deputy of Treasury in Khatami�s cabinet

20) Ahmad Zaydabadi, general secretary of the Advar organization and journalist, was arrested on June 13

21) Abdolah Momeni, member of the central council of the Advar organization and its spokesperson, was arrested on 21 June

22) Hamed Iranshahi, member of the Central Council of Advar organization, was arrested on June 16

23) Musa Saket, a member of the Advar Tahkim Vahdat and in charge of the campaign seeking supporters of Karroubi, was arrested on 18 June

24) Mohammad Atrianfar, a leading member of the Kargozaran Sazandegi Party and journalist, was arrested on 16 June

25) Jahanbakhsh Khanjani, a member of the Kargozaran Sazandegi Party and former spokesperson for the Internal Affairs Ministry in Khatami�s presidency

26) Ebrahim Khoshchehreh, a political activist in Lahijan and member of National Religious Activits, was arrested on 21 June

27) Khoshchehreh, Son of Ebrahim Khoshchehreh, was arrested in Lahijan on 21 June

28) Mohsen Bastani, member of the Islamic Revolutionary Political Organization in Isfahan

29) Mehrdad Balafkan, member of the Islamic Revolutionary Political Organization in Isfahan

30) Ahmad Afjeiee, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran

31) Emad Bahavand, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran

32) Mojtaba Khandan, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran

33) Saeed Zeraatkar, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran

34) Rouholah Sahraee, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran

35) Ali Mehrdad, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran

36) Mohammad Reza Ahmadinia, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran

37) Reza Arjaini, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran in Zanjan

38) Jalal Bahrami, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran in Zanjan

39) Sadegh Rasouli, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran in Zanjan

40) Ahad Rezaiee, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran in Zanjan

41) Bagher Fathali Baygi, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran in Zanjan

42) Mansour Vafa, member of the Freedom Movement of Iran in Zanjan

43) Ali Pourkhayri, member of the Iran Participation Front

44) Shahin Nourbakhsh, member of the Iran Participation Front

45) Ali Taghipour, member of the Iran Participation Front

46) Mohammad Shokuhi, member of the Iran Participation Front

47) Ashkan Mojaleli, member of the Iran Participation Front

48) Maysam Varahchehre, member of the Iran Participation Front

49) Mahdian Minavi, member of the Iran Participation Front

50) Farhad Nasrollahpour, member of the Iran Participation Front

51) Amir Ariazand, member of the Iran Participation Front

52) Ali Taghipour, member of the Iran Participation Front

53) Adel Dehdashti, member of the Iran Participation Front

54) Mehrdad Balafkan, member of the Iran Participation Front

55) Mahmoud Ebrahimi, member of the Iran Participation Front

56) Bahram Kardan, member of the Iran Participation Front

57) Shahabobdin Tabatabaiee, the head of the Youth Supporters of the Moussavi Campaign

58) Mohammadreza Jalaieepour, a student in Oxford and in charge of the website of the youth branch of the Iran Participation Front, was arrested on June 17 in Tehran Airport

59) Saeed Nourmohammadi, member of the Iran Participation Front

60) Ali Mohaghar, a member of the Kargozaran Sazandegi party

61) Hedayatollah Aghaiee, a member of the Kargozaran Sazandegi party

62) Ali Waghfi, member of the Moussavi Campaign in Tehran

63) Hamzeh Ghalebi, member of the Moussavi Campaign in Tehran

64) Saeed (Hassan) Nikkhah, member of the Moussavi Campaign in Tehran

65) Hesam Nasiri, member of the Moussavi�s Campaign in Tehran

66) Ehsan Bagheri, member of the Moussavi Campaign in Tehran

67) Homaiee, member of the Moussavi Campaign in Tehran

68) Fatahi, member of the Moussavi Campaign in Tehran

69) Zakeri, member of the Moussavi Campaign in Tehran

70) Rouholah Shahsavar, member of Moussavi Campaign in Khorasan

71) Mohsen Rouzbehan, member of Moussavi Campaign in Khorasan

72) Kaveh Servati, member of Moussavi Campaign, was arrested on 20 June

73) Maryam Ameri, member of Karroubi�s Campaign

74) Naseh Faridi, member of Karroubi�s Campaign

75) Morteza Khani, member of Karroubi�s Campaign

76) Bagher Oskouiee, member of Karroubi�s Campaign

77) Siamand Ghiyasi, member of Karroubi�s Campaign in Kermanshah

78) Mohammad Jafari, member of Karroubi�s Campaign in Kermanshah

79) Dr. Jalil Sharabianlu, a prominent MD and surgeon in Tabriz

80) Dr Ghafar Farzadi, in Tabriz

81) Majid Jabari, in Tabriz

82) Rahim Yawari, In Tabriz

83) Abbas Pourazhari, in Tabriz

84) Dr. Laya Farzadi, in Tabriz

85) Shabeti, in Tabriz

86) Shamlu, in Tabriz

87) Dr. Ghafarzadeh, in Tabriz

88) Dr. Soltaniazad, in Tabriz

89) Dr. Panahi, in Tabriz

90) Dr. Seyflou, in Tabriz

91) Dr. Dadizadeh, in Tabriz

92) Mehdi Yarbahrami, in Tabriz

93) Mansour Ghafari, in Tabriz

94) Hojatollah Amiri, in Tabriz

95) Amir Hossein Jahani, in Tabriz

96) Rhdah Rahimipour, in Tabriz

97) Mehdi Khodadadi, in Tabriz

98) Payam Haydar Ghazvini, student in Gazvin

99) Nasim Riahi, student in Gazvin

100) Mojtaba Rajabi, student in Gazvin

101) Atar Rashidi, student in Gazvin

102) Hanieh Yousefian

II) Journalists:

Some of the journalists who were also political personalities are listed above under the political personalities. The list of detained journalists has also been independently verified by Reporters without Borders.

1) Mohammad Ghouchani, journalist and editor in charge of daily Etemad e Meli, was arrested on 18 June

2) Rajabali Mazrouiee, head of the Journalists Association, was arrested on 20 June

3) Karim Arghandehpour, a blogger (???? ????? :: ???? ?????? ??? :: futurama.ir) and reporter for
pro-reform newspapers Salam, Vaghieh and Afaghieh, was arrested on 14 June

4) Maziyar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian dual national, journalist and the representative of Newsweek in Iran, was arrested on 22 June

5) Kayvan Samimi Behbahani, editor in chief of the closed monthly Nameh and human rights activist, was arrested on 14 June

6) Zhila Baniyaghoub, journalist and editor in charge of the Iranian Women�s Center website, was arrested on 20 June

7) Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, journalist, was arrested on 21 June

8) Mojtaba Pourmohsen, journalist and Radio Zamaneh�s representative in Rasht, was arrested on 15 June

9) Mahsa Amraiee, Journalist , was arrested on 14 June

10) Behzad Bashou, Cartoonist, was arrested on 14 June

11) Sayed Khalil Mirashrafi, TV producer was arrested on 14 June

12) Abdolreza Tajik, journalist was arrested on 14 June

13) Rohollah Shahsavar, journalist was arrested in Mashhad, was arrested on 17 June

14) Mashallah Haydarzadeh, journalist in Boushehr, was arrested on 14 June

15) Hamideh Mahouri, journalist in Bushehr, was arrested on 14 June

16) Amanolah Shojaiee, journalist in Bushehr, was arrested on 14 June

17) Hossein Shokouhi,a journalist in Bushehr, was arrested on 14 June

18) Somayeh Touhidlou, sociologist and blogger in the Road of Health

19) Shiva Nazarahari, a member of the Reporters of Human Rights Committee and a journalist was arrested on 13 June

20) Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, editor in charge of banned daily Kalameh and the website Kalameh Sabz, former director of the Iran Participation Front, was arrested on 23 June during the attack to the newspaper property. Beheshti�s son, Sadra, was arrested while he was visiting his father.

21) Hassan Maadikhah, director of the Zareh Publication and son of Abdolmajid Maadikhah the former Cultural and Guardiance Minister,

22) Mostafa Ghavanloo Ghajar, was arrested on 22 June

23) Fariborz Soroush, arrested in Karaj

��

III) University Students and professors: [The names of students who were arrested during the attack on the Tehran University Dormitories are based on information released by the Reports of Human Rights Committee]

1) Marjan Fayazi, student at Mazandaran University, was arrested on June 22

2) Sogan Alikhah, student at Mazandaran university, was arrested on June 22

3) Alireza Kiani, student at Mazandaran university

4) Milad Hosseini Koshtan, student at Mazandaran university

5) Ali Nazari, student at Mazandaran university

6) Siavoush Safavi, student at Mazandaran university

7) Ashkan Zahabian, student at Mazandaran university

8) Ali Dinavari, student at Mazandaran university

9) Rahman Yaghoubi, student at Mazandaran university

10) Maziar Yazdani, student at Mazandaran university

11) Ali Abbasi, student at Mazandaran university

12) Shouaneh Merikhi, student at Mazandaran university

13) Majid Dari, an expelled student at Alameh Tabatabaiee University in Tehran, was violently arrested on 21 June in his home

14) Esmaiel Jalilvand, a student activist in Shiraz University, was arrested on 21 June

15) Hamdollah Namjou, a student activist in Shiraz University, was arrested on 21 June

16) Hossein Reisian, university professor at International Emamkhomaini University in Ghazvin, was arrested on June 21

17) Fazli, university professor at International Emamkhomaini University in Ghazvin

18) Imani, university professor at International Emamkhomaini University in Ghazvin

19) Alborzi, university professor at International Emamkhomaini University in Ghazvin

20) Darvish, university professor at International Emamkhomaini University in Ghazvin

21) Mohsen Barzegar, student at Babol Engineering Univeristy, was arrested on June 18

22) Iman Sedighi, student at Babol Engineering Univeristy, was arrested on June 18

23) Hesam oldin Bagheri, student at Babol Engineering Univeristy, was arrested on June 18

24) Siavash Saliminejad, student at Babol Engineering Univeristy, was arrested on June 20

25) Alireza Khoshbakht, an expelled graduate student, was arrested on June 17

26) Zahra Tohidi, an expelled graduate student, was arrested on June 17

27) Ziaoldin Nabavi, secretary of the Education Rights Council, was arrested on 16 June

28) Sohrab Ahadian, student at Tehran University, was arrested on June 17 when the Tehran University Dormitories were violently attacked

29) Reza Arkouzi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

30) Karim Emami, student, was arrested during the attack on the Tehran University Dormitories mid night on June 14

31) Mohammad Hossein Emami, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

32) Elaheh Imanian, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

33) Rouholah Bagheri, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

34) Farhad Binazadeh, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

35) Iman Pourtahmasb, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

36) Ezat Torbati, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories midnight on June 14

37) Somayeh tohidlou, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

38) Milad Chegini, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

39) Mohammadreza Hohabadi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

40) Seyed Javad hosseini, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

41) Farshid Heydari Zamin, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

42) Behnam Khodabandeh lou, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

43) Mohammad Khansari, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

44) Mohammad Davoudian, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

45) Mahmoud Delbari, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

46) Ali Raiee, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

47) Omid Rezaiee, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

48) Ali Refahi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

49) Seifolah Rmezani, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

50) Ebrahim Raidian, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

51) Naser Zamani, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

52) Majid Selahvand, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

53) Hanif Salimi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

54) Mohammad Bagher Shabanpour, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

55) Hamed Shaykh alishahi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

56) Iman Shaydaieezaban, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

57) Farhad Shirahmad, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

58) Saman Sahebjalali, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

59) Farhan Sadeghpour, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

60) Farshad Taheri, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

61) Ghamdideh Olum, student, was arrested during the attack to the TehranUuniversity Dormitories at midnight on June 14

62) Esmaieel Ghorbani, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

63) Mohammad Karimi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

64) Erfan Mohammadi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14

65) Naseh Faridi, student at Teacher Training Universtiy, was arrested on June 17

66) Izadi, Professor of Bualisina University in hamedan, was arrested on June 16

67) Majzoubi, University Professor at Bualisina University in Hamedan, was arrested June 13

68) Amin Nazari, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

69) Siavash Hatam, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

70) Pouria Sharifian, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

71) Mehdi Mosafer, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

72) Reza Jafarian, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

73) Hojat Bakhtiari, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

74) Mostafa Mehdizadeh, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

75) Omid Sohravi, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

76) Vahid Amirian, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

77) Fazolah Joukar, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

78) Mehdi Torkaman, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

79) Nastaran Khodarahimi, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

80) Ali Ahmadi, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

81) Mosaab Ebrahimi, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

82) Saeed Parvizi, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

83) Bahareh Hosseini, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

84) Hadis Zamani, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

85) Nahid Siahvand, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

86) Imani, student at Bualisina University in Hamedan

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Arrested and Released:

1) Mohammad Reza Khatami, member of the Central Committee of Iran Participation Front, brother of former president Khatami, was arrested on 13 June and released on 14 June

2) Zahra Mojaradi, a member of the Iran Participation Front, was arrested on 13 June and released on 14 June

3) Saeed Shariati, a member of the Iranian Participation Front, was arrested on 13 June and released on 14 June

4) Taghi Rahmani, political figure and journalist, was arrested on 14 June and released the day after

5) Reza Alijani, political figure, was arrested on 14 June and released the day after

6) Hoda Saberi, journalist, was arrested on 14 June and released the day after

7) Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, and her daughter and two other members of Rafsanjani’s Family were arrested on 20 June and released after 30 hours

8) Ebrahim Yazdi, General Secretary of the Iran Liberation Movement, was arrested on June 14 from the Pars Hospital in Tehran and was taken back to the hospital on June 15 for further surgery

9) Ahmad Ahmadian, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories mid night on June 14 and released later

10) Eskandari, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

11) Amin Afzali, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories midnight on June 14 and released later

12) Vahid Anari, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories mid night on June 14 and released later

13) Mohammad Bolourdi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

14) Hossein Hamedi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

15) Mohsen Habibi, Mazaheri, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

16) Navid Haghdadi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran university Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

17) Mohammad reza Hokmi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

18) Kazem Rahimi Olume, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

19) Morteza Rezakhani, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

20) Maysam Zareiee, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

21) Amin Samiee, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

22) Bahram Shaabani, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories at midnight on June 14 and released later

23) Alireza Shaykhi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories mid night on June 14 and released later

24) Ebrahim Azizi, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories mid night on June 14 and released later

25) Siavash Fiaz, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories mid night on June 14 and released later

26) Sayed Hossein Mirzadeh, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran University Dormitories mid night on June 14 and released later

27) Hossein Noubakht, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran university Dormitories mid night on June 14 and released later

28) Javad Yazdanfar, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran university Dormitories mid night on June 14 and released later

29) Habib Khadangi, student, student, was arrested during the attack to the Tehran university Dormitories mid night on June 14 and released later

Link: http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2009/06/list/