CNN:
Meanwhile, the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard — which enforces strict Islamic codes — said it will prosecute Web sites it accuses of inciting riots, adding to a ban on foreign media reporting on the protests and a block on Internet site such as Facebook or Twitter.
In response to this, I’ll remind all of you that we posted how to set up a proxy server for Iranians to access Twitter here.
Read MoreThere are some unconfirmed reports swirling around that Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a senior cleric who supports Mir-Hossein Moussavi, and also the head of the Assembly of Experts, has called an emergency meeting of the Assembly of Experts in the holy city of Qom.
The Assembly of Experts most notable role in the Islamic Republic is selecting the Supreme Leader. There has been rumors all weekend that Rafsanjani was in Qom quietly counting the votes needed to remove Khameini from power.
Rafsanjani was President in Iran from 1989-1997, succeeding Khameini, who at the time, was serving as both the President and the Supreme Leader. He also ran for a third term in 2005 against Ahmedinejad and lost in the runoff, amidst allegations of voting irregularities.
Rafsanjani is seen as somewhat of a moderate, as opposed to the hard-liners of Khameini and Ahmedinejad. If this report is true, this would be a major development.
Meanwhile, it seems that demonstrations have continued today, and Moussavi has called for a Day of Mourning tomorrow:
Read More“A number of our countrymen were wounded or martyred,” Mousavi said, calling the day of mourning for Thursday. “I ask the people to express their solidarity with the families … by coming together in mosques or taking part in peaceful demonstrations,” Mousavi said on his website.
NIAC posts a very helpful diagram from RAND, to help keep track of all of the security forces in Iran:
Based on what I’ve read, it seems that the Basij and the IRGC (or Sepah) have been responsible for most of the violence. Obviously, this is very hard to confirm.
On a more general note, however, I think that a nation has some serious structural problems if it has 2 entirely distinct militaries, 3 paramilitary groups with conflicting loyalties, and a general law enforcement agency.
Read MoreLindsey Hilsum continues her stellar reporting, recapping today’s events, despite a government crackdown on foreign journalists:
One more thing that I will reluctantly post is this video. I’m warning you that it is extremely disturbing and I will not be watching it again. It does, however, provide an isolated example of the brutality that has occurred over the past few days.
Read MoreVia Reuters (as pointed out on Sullivan’s blog) :
Read MoreWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it had contacted the social networking service Twitter to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that would have cut daytime service to Iranians who are disputing their election.
Confirmation that the U.S. government had contacted Twitter came as the Obama administration sought to avoid suggestions it was meddling in Iran’s internal affairs as the Islamic Republic battled to control deadly street protests over the election result.
Twitter and Facebook have been used as a tool by many young people to coordinate protests over the election’s outcome.
President Barack Obama said earlier on Tuesday he believed “people’s voices should be heard and not suppressed” in Iran.
According to the AP:
Iranian authorities are restricting all journalists working for foreign media from firsthand reporting on the streets. The rules cover all journalists, including Iranians working for foreign media. It blocks images and eyewitness descriptions of the protests and violence that has followed last week’s disputed elections.
The order issued Tuesday limits journalists for foreign media to work only from their offices, conducting telephone interviews and monitoring official sources such as state television. It comes as foreign reporters in Iran to cover the elections began leaving the country. Iranian officials say they will not extend their visas.
Iranian state-run media is reporting that many opposition leaders have been arrested “with explosives and guns.”
Luckily, we still have Twitter to get the real story. If you want to help the people in Iran access it, here’s instructions on how to set up a proxy server (Windows, Mac, Linux).
Read MoreIn its purest, and most ugly form.
Read MoreThis is really awesome:
A critical network upgrade must be performed to ensure continued operation of Twitter. In coordination with Twitter, our network host had planned this upgrade for tonight. However, our network partners at NTT America recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran. Tonight’s planned maintenance has been rescheduled to tomorrow between 2-3p PST (1:30a in Iran).
Our partners are taking a huge risk not just for Twitter but also the other services they support worldwide—we commend them for being flexible in what is essentially an inflexible situation. We chose NTT America Enterprise Hosting Services early last year specifically because of their impeccable history of reliability and global perspective. Today’s decision and actions continue to prove why NTT America is such a powerful partner for Twitter.
Bravo.
Read More
That’s the early word via NIAC:
“Reliable news from Iran has arrived that after the death of one person by Basij, the Basij base in Azadi Sq. has been burned down and the commander in that base has been killed.” [The fire is being confirmed by an eye-witness.]
The Basij is kind of like an Iranian secret police. From Wikipedia:
a volunteer-based Iranian paramilitary force founded by the order of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on November 1979. The Basij are subordinate to, and receive their orders from, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Also, here’s a couple of good reports from Lindsey Hilsum of Britain’s Channel 4 News:
UPDATE:
It appears the AP has confirmed this story:
Gunfire from a pro-government militia killed one man and wounded several others Monday after hundreds of thousands of chanting opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marched in central Tehran to support their pro-reform leader in his first public appearance since disputed elections. [...]
Later, a group of demonstrators with fuel canisters set a small fire at a compound of a volunteer militia linked to Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard as the crowd dispersed from the square. As some tried to storm the building, people on the roof could be seen firing directly at the demonstrators at the northern edge of the square, away from the heart of the rally.
It seems the Basij is responsible the most egregious violence. From what I have read, the uniformed Iranian police mostly stood idly by after it became clear that hundreds of thousands had showed up to demonstrate.
Read MoreThere have been multiple tweets coming out recently about gunshots being heard. An AP photographer has confirmed that “pro-government militia fire at protesters, killing at least one.”
Not sure when this happened exactly, as it is currently about 9:30pm in Tehran. CNN finally has a video up of Moussavi addressing the crowd today. I guess they were sick of seeing #cnnfail on twitter:
UPDATE:
BBC confirms the shooting:
Read MoreShots have been fired at a rally in Iran where hundreds of thousands of people were demonstrating against last week’s presidential election results.
One protester was killed and several more were hurt when security forces opened fire.
It appears that hundreds of thousands showed up for the unsanctioned march organized by Moussavi:
You can real-time updates from those in Iran using this twitter search.
Also, as a side note, I was actually excited to get in my car this morning, because I was sure NPR would be covering this (unlike CNN). A false hope. The only thing that was mentioned was Khameini’s call for an investigation, which, to me, just looks like a smoke-screen tactic.
It seems that the only place to find news about this is to get it raw from twitter, or to check with Andrew Sullivan, the NYTimes Lede blog, or the NIAC blog, who have all done an excellent job covering the story.
Read More
There are several reports that the dorms at Tehran University have been stormed. Many students have been injured. It appears the same has occurred at Isfahan Technical University:
A website I’ve been checking all weekend, tehranbureau.com, has been shut down by the government.
It appears the protestors have been out all night:
Things are starting to get really ugly. There’s also been multiple reports of armed guards blocking entrances to hospitals, not letting the injured through.
It’s now morning in Iran. Moussavi has been trying to organize a march in the afternoon. There’s conflicting reports that he has secured a permit to do so. Regardless, you can expect that the streets will be filled tomorrow.
People of Iran, we are watching. Stay strong.
Read MoreI only read about it before, but Christiane Amanpour…you go girl:
Also.
Now I remember who Mahmoud reminds me of…
(Sorry, too easy.)
Shouts of “Allahu Akbar” echo in the night. This is apparently just like 1979:
Meanwhile, the BBC fills the gap of MSM TV coverage. Watch as the protesters scare off a member of the secret police from confiscating their camera:
This may be the last report like this we see. It’s becoming more dangerous by the minute to be a foreign journalist in Iran.
Read More
Recent Comments