Showing posts with label NiteOwl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NiteOwl. Show all posts

Friday, June 26, 2009

Green Brief #9

(This was posted from the original site)

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. (There was precious little today to offer so I waited very long)

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.)

(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 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

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:

“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.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Green Brief #8

(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. 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.
  2. 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.)
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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]
  6. 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!"
  7. 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.
  8. 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.)
  9. 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
  10. 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!

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

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:

“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.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Green Brief #7

(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.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Green Brief #6

(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.

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Monday, June 22, 2009

Green Brief #5

(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.
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Green Brief #4

(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.

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Sunday, June 21, 2009

Green Brief #3

(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.
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Saturday, June 20, 2009

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.

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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.

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An Update for Information

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!