Iranians Protest | 06/18/2009 9:15 am
Iran Election Update: Clerics to Discuss Ahmadinejad Victory, Mousavi Calls for Protestors to Wear Black in Peace, Mourning

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Opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi has asked Iranians to wear black to peacefully mourn those killed or injured in protests over the disputed presidential election in Iran. Since Ahmadinejad’s victory last Friday, opponents of the extremist president have boldly taken to the streets to rally – despite the threat of being jailed, flogged — or harsher. Demonstrators have also taken to social-networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to voice their disapproval and to keep from being silenced.
Both CNN and The New York Times report that the Guardian Council announced Thursday that it had invited candidates challenging the official results to meet to discuss their grievances. The news comes after the Iranian government claimed that a record-breaking 85 percent of the voting population took to the ballots. Ahmadinejad opponents say that the figures reveal nearly 30 Iranian towns cast more votes than they had registered users, reports the Guardian.
The New York Times reports that Iranians are posting on Twitter to arrange for peaceful protests. From reading tweets, The New York Times reports that demonstrators plan to gather in Tehran’s Imam Khomeini square at four o’clock PM local time. "All wear BLACK — we pray together," one Twitter posting said.
As tens of thousands of protestors gathered in Tehran on Wednesday, some wearing green headbands (in support of Mousavi), rallies were happening in other cities as well, reports the AFP. Reported death tolls vary among publications. Amnesty International reported Monday eight deaths and approximately 100 more detainees. The New York Post, Reuters and AP report 32 slain as a result of protests. A blogger on the website Anonymous Iran claims he’s posting tweets about the situation in Iran and "confirmed" 32 people around Iran have been killed. His findings include: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.
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.
Most alarming was the message he wrote to those who are reading this:
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.The recent protests in Iran are said to be the largest since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.























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President Obama doesn’t know what the hoopla is all about in Iran…
"Many Iran experts lauded Mr. Obama’s measured stance just after the election. But some of that support evaporated on Tuesday when he said there was not much difference between Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mr. Moussavi.
“For Barack Obama, this was a serious misstep,” said Steven Clemons, director of the American strategy program at the New America Foundation. “It’s right for the administration to be cautious, but it’s extremely bad for him to narrow the peephole into an area in which we’re looking at what’s happening just through the lens of the nuclear program.”
Mr. Obama’s comments deflated Mr. Moussavi, who is rapidly becoming a political icon in Iran, even supporters of Mr. Obama’s Iran policy say.
“Up until now, the president had very thoughtfully calibrated his remarks on Iran, but this was an uncharacteristic and egregious error,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “People are risking their lives and being slaughtered in the streets because they want fundamental change in the way Iran is governed. Our message to them shouldn’t be that it doesn’t make much difference to the United States.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/us/politics/18prexy.html?_r=2&hp
Exactly! And thanks for the ‘tip’ on how to pronounce the name too—-from yesterday, MK….
As I mentioned on another thread, when I read what the rest of the world media comments on, I am very thankful that Obama has stepped back, publicly, on this issue…..privately, from what I can glean, there is plenty of co-operative discussion amongst the nations of the world, happening…but to GRANDSTAND, which is what the GOP is shouting for, is not only arrogant, it would be destructive to America….