A friend who works in the media sent me the pictures below of the riots going on in Iran today as the voting public expresses their anger over the sham electionsDear Iranian People, Mousavi has not left you alone, he has been put under house arrest by Ministry of Intelligence #IranElection about 4 hours ago from web
mousavi1388
Leading Iranian opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi issued a statement warning of "tyranny" Saturday after a tense night in Iran in which state organs proclaimed that incumbent hardline Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won a "landslide" victory by a two-to-one margin, a statistic that defied the belief of many analysts. Voter turnout was an unprecedented 84%.
Meantime, reports from western-based Iranians late Saturday said that several people had been arrested in Iran, including the campaign manager for another reformist presidential candidate Mehdi Karoubi, and the brother of former reformist Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, Reza Khatami.
Mousavi's Twitter account said he had been put under house arrest overnight Sunday: "Dear Iranian People, Mousavi has not left you alone, he has been put under house arrest by Ministry of Intelligence," it posted at 740pm EST Saturday. But a Los Angeles-based Iranian pro-democracy activist Pooya Dayanim said Mousavi's family had not confirmed it.
Iranian access to Facebook, Iranian cell phones and SMS have been shut down, Iranians said, while international cell phones still worked in Iran.
"I would like to inform you that in spite of wide-ranging fraud and problem-making, according to the documents and reports we have received, the majority of your votes have been cast in favor of your servant," Mousavi's statement said. "I will use all legal facilities and methods to restore the rights of the Iranian people."
Mousavi wrote a second letter to the clerics in Qom Saturday. The implication, says Iran analyst Trita Parsi, of the National Iranian American Council, is that the fight may escalate and the legitimacy of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may increasingly come into question.
The White House issued a cautious statement Saturday: "Like the rest of the world, we were impressed by the vigorous debate and enthusiasm that this election generated, particularly among young Iranians," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement. "We continue to monitor the entire situation closely, including reports of irregularities.".....
...."I don't think anyone anticipated this level of fraudulence," Reuters cited the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Karim Sadjadpour on Friday. "This was a selection, not an election. At least authoritarian regimes like Syria and Egypt have no democratic pretences. In retrospect it appears this entire campaign was a show: Ayatollah Khamenei wasn't ever going to let Ahmadinejad lose."
"I'm in disbelief that this could be the case," Reuters cited Parsi. "It's one thing if Ahmadinejad had won the first round with 51 or 55 per cent. But this number ... just sounds tremendously strange in a way that doesn't add up ... It is difficult to feel comfortable that this occurred without any cheating."
(University of Michigan Middle East expert Juan Cole compiled numerous signs of vote fraud here. Iranian dissident and former Iranian foreign minister Ibrahim Yazdi detailed more signs of fraud in an interview Saturday with The Nation.)
Police attacks on demonstrators were reported, and fears of a larger police crackdown on opposition leaders and their supporters have been heightened. Several protests and clashes have appeared, including on Youtube. News site Tehranbureau and the National Iranian American Council are live-blogging developments in Iran.
Several western-based Iranians reported Saturday afternoon that Facebook and SMS messages appear to be blocked in Iran, and that Internet access is limited, and that Iranian-based cell phone numbers are not working. The person coordinating the blackout in Iran is Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, said Parsi.
Parsi said that rumors that key figures had been arrested often preceded them being arrested. Currently circulating Saturday night he said was an as yet unconfirmed report that former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a backer of Mousavi, had been surrounded and resigned as head of the Expediency Council, the body that selects the Supreme Leader, Parsi said, although that didn't yet appear to be the case.
The Hague-based human rights NGO, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, issued a statement Saturday calling on the international community to withhold recognition of Iran's elections, "which gives all signs of having been manipulated by government authorities to produce a massive victory for incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
"Mousavi appealed directly to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the country's supreme leader today threw his weight behind Ahmadinejad," the Guardian reported. "Khamenei ... called the result a 'divine assessment' and called on all Iranians to support Ahmadinejad."
"It's a disaster of course," an American reporter in Tehran told The Cable Saturday. "A few violent clashes in distant towns. People are angry, devastated. Crying. Streets in Tehran mostly quiet. Heavy security presence. Street in front of Interior ministry blocked off. People tell me Mousavi and Karrubi will join together to fight this. Rafanjani is really angry, so it's said. Big clampdown expected. I'm afraid people's hopes will be crushed."
Ahmadinejad is expected to hold a press conference and victory rally Sunday. Afterwards, the foreign press may be kicked out, Dayanim relayed.
"Yesterday's events could have a very negative impact on Khamenei's desires to maintain stability and balance within his administration," said Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born Middle East analyst. "The question is: what caused him to take such a drastic action, by ordering fraud on such a massive scale?"
"The disapointment and disorientation of people in Iran that I've spoken to is unmistakable," said Parsi. "While a majority argue that this is a coup by Ahmadinejad and Khamenei against virtually the rest of the establishment, there are several question marks: Khamenei, most experts agree, is addicted to the perception of legitinacy for himself and the system. But this coup does away with any chances for such legitimacy.
"Which then raises the question," Parsi continued, "Is he too under pressure from circles in the [Revolutionary] Guard?"..."If the reports coming out of Tehran about an electoral coup are sustained, then Iran has entered an entirely new phase of its post-revolution history," veteran NSC Iran hand Gary Sick wrote. "The Iranian opposition, which includes some very powerful individuals and institutions, has an agonizing decision to make.
"If they are intimidated and silenced by the show of force (as they have been in the past), they will lose all credibility in the future with even their most devoted followers," Sick continued. "But if they choose to confront their ruthless colleagues forcefully, not only is it likely to be messy, but it could risk running out of control and potentially bring down the entire existing power structure, of which they are participants and beneficiaries." Source
Allahpundit has Video of the protests here at Hot Air
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3 comments:
amazing amazing photos. keep the news coming, somebody cares
FROM CAROL HERMAN
Okay. Simple question. You have an unbelievably high margin of victory; and people go nuts and riot?
It's true that "riots" eventually cool down. But where does "Ahmajidahist" go with this? The EU has smelled the stinking cheat. And, to "win," now? Where's his "majority," not just in the "people's market," but among the striped pants crowd?
Of course, all dictators (including ACORN's chief), are watching how this unfolds. Just in case you can fool Persians with a fake win. I dunno what's ahead, but I do know you couldn't throw a soccer game this way; and watch what crowds can do.
FROM CAROL HERMAN
Someday, people will ask WHY? Why, when you go and steal an election do you make sure to make the FRAUD & THEFT so obvious?
Turns out that the "kakamamie" wanted to insult the "Mohave" guy" So, in a sense, this "humiliation" was planned out by jackasses.
Up ahead? If Obama still seeks to "dialog" with "Ahma-din-a-gin, the jihadist, he'll have to put his head, first, into a meat grinder.
There's no way to gain respect just because you spout outlandish numbers. And, then when you have your own citizens screaming mad; you turn off telecommunicatios.
Well, Twitter worked.
Now, we have violence.
Oh, yeah. North Korea did not launch a nuke, today. (So, they must have media savvy people who decided the best part of valor was to "hide the remote.") Who knew?
As to Bibi's speech, it turns out that Obama went out to play golf.
Golf. Not basketball. And, you want to tell me Obama is a "homeboy?" Maybe, one from Kenya.
What the nut job in Iran is doing is making sure he keeps his hold on power.
Would it have been better to have picked a lower winning number? Stay tuned.
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