Green Brief #24

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.

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Green Brief #12

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

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

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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.)

Green Brief #11

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.)

Green Brief #2

(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.

The Green Brief

(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:

1. During the last protest in Tehran, several policemen have been spotted by protesters who were wearing green bands which is the color of the revolution. The policemen have told them candidly that they support them.

2. During the protests, on several occasions, Baseejis who have attacked peaceful protesters have been arrested on the spot by the police. This seems to have occured in several spots, yet it hasn't been a crackdown of sorts. A few cases only!

3. Several Baseeji militiamen have been spotted laying down their arms and going home after being asked to interfere with the protesters.

4. By far the biggest threat people are facing right now are plainclothesmen. They seem to be everywhere and are targeting people who are not in groups. These men have been mostly linked with Ansar e Hezbollah. They are responsible for beating people up, arresting people, threatening protesters, arresting reformists from their homes and such.

5. So far, it has been confirmed that 15 people in Tehran and 32 people around the country have been killed. Hundreds more have been injured and in excess of 800 people have been detained. Among these there are dozens of reformists. Most of these arrests have been made by the notorious plainclothesmen mentioned above.

6. During yesterday's protests, mullahs have been spotted joining rallies within Tehran and in several other cities. No one could confirm what the status of these Mullahs was or is within the clerical society, but their numbers have been very visible this time.

7. Protests have occurred not just in Tehran yesterday, but in Ahvaz, Mashhad, Kermanshah, Qazvin, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz and EVEN Qom.

8. Pro-Ahmadinejad protesters' numbers have been greatly exaggerated by the state media in comparison to Mousavi's supporters' numbers. In reality, Pro-Ahmadinejad protesters were only a pocket full of people. Most of these people have been identified by other protesters as either people who work at government offices or people who were brought from the countryside.

9. After downplaying the protests for days, the state-run media has finally started to announce news of the events a little more accurately.

10. Text Messaging is still down in Iran and internet is extremely slow. People are unable to get satellite channels on their televisions. At the same time, police and plainclothesmen are going door to door and taking away people's satellite dish antennas.

11. Mohsen Rezayee, one of the candidates, is going to declare his support for a reelection tomorrow. The fourth candidate, Mahdi Karoubi openly joined yesterday's rally.

12. A group of prominent officials within the Ministry of Interior have written a letter to the Guardian Council declaring that they have witnessed widespread irregularities within the voting and counting processes during the election. They have asked this matter to be investigated fully.

13. As of today, not a single report of the military's intervention into the peaceful protests has been established. Not a single one.

14. Khatami and Mousavi have both asked the Ministry of Justice to investigate the involvement of the plainclothesmen in the violence that has been sparked during the protests.

15. Several eye-witnesses have seen non-Iranian Arabs waving Hamas/Hezbollah flags around the protests. These reports have been fully confirmed and are NOT a rumor spread by Israel.

16. Finally, the big news. It seems that the Green Revolution has garnered the support of Hashemi Rafsanjani, Nateq Noori, Tabatabayee and other prominent clerics and politicians. The Rohaniyone Mubarez organization that which has in its ranks pretty much most of the clerics except for the ones in power and includes Mr. Rafsanjani and Mr. Noori has declared their support for the annulment of the election and holding of new elections. Ayatollah Montazeri has yet to declare clear support.

Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

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.