Unimaginable horror In Tehran today

The Iran government said Wednesday that the presence of sufficient security forces in Tehran today prevented the violence seen in previous days, according to a CNN reported.

The following story was published by ThreatsWatch.org today, and I've decided to pass it on exactly as it was submitted--no rewriting, no editing (except some spelling and style corrections), no additional reporting from other sources, no commentary from me.

By Steve Schippert on June 24, 2009 at 3:30 PM

Iran has executed its Tiananmen Square. Baharestan Square has become synonymous with barbarity, cruelty, massacre and inhumanity.

An Iranian blogger (whose URL I will not publish) live blogging from Baharestan Square in central Tehran today captures but brief glimpses of the unimaginable horror that took place today. Bus loads of protesters were stopped and unloaded from their buses by "black-clad police" and literally herded. When the massing was sufficient, as the barely controlably distraught Tehran caller to CNN described first hand, hundreds of the regime's Basij thugs poured out of an adjoining mosque and commenced a massacre with axes, clubs, guns and gas.

From the live blogger's eyewitness account:

> More than 10,000 Bassij militias got in position in central Tehran, including Baharestan Square.
> Army helicopters flying over Baharestan and Vali Asr Square.
> The streets, squares and around Baharestan (south-east of Tehran) are swarming with military forces, civilian forces, security motorists.
> The crowd have moved to the south of Baharestan, the situation is bad; the shooting has started.
> In Baharestan Square [there's] police shooting; a girl is shot, and the police is not allowing [others] to help.
> In Baharestan we saw militia with axe chopping people like meat--blood everywhere--like butcher.

This is the Iranian regime, wading into its own unarmed people and axing them to death, bludgeoning women (seen as the greatest threat to the regime) and throwing them to their deaths from pedestrian bridges. The same Iranian regime whose embassy officials are invited to American embassies around the world to celebrate on July 4th, of all things, a successful revolution.

This frantic phone call from a Tehran woman will break your heart as you consider our standard response has been "that there are sets of international norms and principles about violence" and that "the international community is watching." Part of yesterday's response by President Obama in a press conference included "that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy (of the Iranian regime) and prosperity for the Iranian people. We hope they take it." The Iranian theocratic regime clearly is not interested.

There should not be--nor should have ever been--invitations to the ruthless Iranian regime's international ambassadors to celebrate anything with us, anywhere, unless it is an invitation to a tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity.

To my intelligent friends who have been arguing the logic of our President's near silence on the issue of Iran--and not without merit on certain points--you can disengage from me now. I will entertain none of it any longer.

This is an axe wound, just one, doled out by the regime's thug Basiji animals on Saturday, June 20.

This was a brutal murder of an assuredly unarmed protester of the up-close-and-personal variety. An act, and one not isolated, which requires the presence of inhumane malice and aggression and the absence of humanity. The traits required for massacres upon the unarmed. There is no nuance, no logical approach, no deft explanation that covers near silence and inadequate, tepid condemnation of the meekest sort. To decline any mention of possible repercussions on the regime for these acts "because we don't know how this is going to turn out" is moral cowardice of the highest order. Look at the picture above and listen to the frantic woman calling in to CNN again. They seem to "know how this is going to turn out."

There is a way to condemn a regime axing its citizens in the streets of Tehran and other cities across Iran without "making this about the U.S." You, and our President, are intelligent men and women and lacking no gifts of speech and prose. Find what's missing. Each of you frustrate and sadden me. Argue your eloquent points elsewhere. My ears are deaf as of now.

Source: ThreatsWatch.org
ThreatsWatch.Org was established in 2005 as the means to disseminate information on national security threats in an accessible, interactive and contextually aware form. In 2007 ThreatsWatch.Org became the web-based publication of the Center for Threat Awareness (CTA), a 501(c)3 tax-exempt corporation whose mission is to increase public awareness of threats to national security and liberty.

FLASH NEWS - Iran unrest, Iraq bomb, marijuana

Iran protesters beaten 'like animals'

Security forces wielding clubs and firing weapons beat back demonstrators who flocked to a Tehran square Wednesday to continue protests. One witness told CNN security forces beat people like "animals." A witness told Reuters there were no casualties after riot police clashed with protesters in central Tehran.

New Hampshire Legislature passes medical marijuana bill

Governor reportedly will study the bill before deciding.

Car bomb in Baghdad, at least 72 dead, over 125 injured

Iraqi police told Reuters that at least 104 people were injured in a powerful explosion at a Baghdad market caused by a car bomb.


Sources: Reuters, AP, AFP, BNO, CNN

Warnings, arrests are the order of the day in Iran

Supporters of the pro-reformist presidential candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, demonstrate in Tehran. (Getty)

Following are the latest headlines:

• Thousands of riot police lining Tehran streets Sunday; marches taking place, but no violence reported.
• President Ahmadinejad tells U.S and Britain to stop interfering in Iran's internal affairs.
• Iranian state TV says Iran has arrested members of the Mujahideen Khalq Organization, accusing them of "terrorist" activities.
• Authorities arrest daughter of former President Rafsanjani along with four family members for taking part in unauthorized protest rallies.
• Iranian Fars news agency says Faezeh Hashemi was detained for her own "protection" late Saturday night.
• Iran's police chief warns that it will "decisively confront" any further "illegal activities" after a day of clashes killed at least 19.
• Iran's former president Khatami warns over "dangerous" consequences of banning street protests.
• Iranian state TV says 13 people it described as "terrorists" were killed during clashes with police during Saturday.
• Correcting itself from previous reports, Iran State TV says 10 people were killed during Saturday's protests, over 100 injured.
• Iranian dissident grand Ayatollah Montazeri calls three days of mourning for killed protesters.
• Iran's influential parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani slams election authority.
• Serveral people killed after rioters torch mosque in Tehran according to Iranian State TV.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki said that results of the voting fraud investigation will be announced by week's end.
• UK foreign Secretary says rejects idea Iranian protesters "manipulated by foreign countries"; deplores violence.
• BBC confirms Iran has asked its Tehran correspondent, Jon Leyne, to leave country as the crackdown on foreign media continues.

Source: BNO News

Death toll climbs to over 150 in Iran fallout

According to media and eye witness reports from Tehran, more than 150 people have been killed so far, 19 today, in the aftermath of last week's presidential elections in Iran, with hundreds more injured.

In addition to city-wide chaos, reports of the Basij militia raiding homes and stores and showing up without uniform at hospitals to obtain the names of protesters are spreading via Twitter and YouTube, which has videos of these and other events unfolding in Iran as we speak. Basij militia reportedly is blocking access to embassy to which many are flocking seeking aid.

In unrest unseen since the Islamic revolution swept the country 30 years ago, supporters of defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who campaigned on promises of change for Iran, took to the streets after the elections last weekend to protest what they claim was a fraudulent vote count to declare President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.

On Friday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insisted the vote count was legit, gave Ahmadinejad his blessing, and ordered the demonstrations to end.

Below are highlights from his speech:

"The result of the election comes out of the ballot box, not from the street."

"The legal structure of the election does not allow any vote rigging. Everyone who was in charge of the elections process confirms this fact — and to do so with a difference of 11 million votes...Sometimes there is 100,000 votes here, 200,000 votes there, or 1 million maximum, then one can question whether there has been some rigging or manipulation or irregularities. But there is a difference of 11 million votes. How could this be rigged?"

"I am urging them to end street protests, otherwise they will be responsible for its consequences, and consequences of any chaos.

"If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible."

More to come...

Sources: CNN, AP, Twitter

Obama to Iran: 'the world is watching'

As if Obama didn't have enough crises to juggle, both domestic and international, he's now being blasted by--big surprise--Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his posse for not showing enough support to the Iran protesters.

Yo! What is he supposed to do? Go into Iran as Bush went into Iraq and "show them how it's done"? Puh-lease.

In my view, if you have nothing constructive to contribute to this, or any other situation, just shut the fuck up. Sorry, but opportunistic politicizing pisses me off.

I'd like to see McCain face and handle half of the crap Obama is facing and managing as president, crap that, by the way, and I don't care what anybody says, was largely brought on by W and his administration's hardheaded, arrogant, stupid, shortsighted policies. McCain would dropped the ball sometime in the first week, if you ask me.

In response to the clusterfuck in Iran today, the White House released the following statement by President Obama:

"The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

Martin Luther King once said: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness."

Meanwhile, former President Bill Clinton was quoted by AP saying the Iranian government is trying to block modern ideas and freedom.

Sources: BNO News, My Twisted Mind; photo source unknown
Copyright © 2009

Foreign coverage restricted in Tehran

Left: Al-Alam footage shows Ahmadinejad supporters rallying Tuesday in central Tehran. (AFP/Getty Images)

As thousands took to the streets again on Tuesday, Iran's government banned international journalists from covering rallies and blocked access to some online communication tools in the wake of last week's disputed presidential election, CNN reported Tuesday.

Reporters working for international news outlets, including CNN, could talk about the rallies in their live reports but were not allowed to leave their hotel rooms and offices.

The decision was an apparent reaction to video showing violence at recent demonstrations in support of Mir Hossein Moussavi, who is disputing the results of Friday's presidential election. The government has criticized some of that coverage and the images, describing them as biased.

Iran also blocked access to certain online communication tools, text and video, but many Iranians were able to find a way around the restrictions.

Iran's all-powerful leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appealed to the citizenry on Tuesday to stand behind the Islamic republic.

"Some people are against the unity of the Iranian nation and the solidarity of the Islamic system," Khamenei said in a meeting with representatives of the four presidential candidates, government-funded Press TV reported.

"Such acts and vandalism and some crimes that were committed are not related to the candidates' supporters, but to disturbers of peace, and all should stand against them," Khamenei said.

Right: A protester injured during Monday's demonstration in Tehran is carried to a hospital. (European Press Photo Agency)

Iranian government-run television was not affected by the media restrictions. It aired live coverage of Tuesday's rally in support of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose supporters crowded the streets of central Tehran.

Meanwhile, Iran's Guardian Council--an unelected panel of 12 top clerics and judges--agreed Tuesday to recount some votes in the disputed presidential election. But Moussavi asked instead for fresh elections.

Moussavi asked his supporters to forgo their planned rally Tuesday in the same area as the pro-Ahmadinejad gathering at Vali Asr Square in central Tehran. Instead, his supporters gathered at another location in Tehran, according to video footage of the rally.

Moussavi has contested the results of Friday's election, which showed an overwhelming victory for Ahmadinejad. His supporters have taken to the streets every day since the election, often clashing with police and Ahmadinejad's backers, asking for fresh elections. An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a recount would provide another opportunity for the government to manipulate the results.

Source: CNN
Copyright © 2009

More violence in Iran, militia shoots at protesters

Reformist presidential candidate Mir Houssein Mousavi, with his wife his wife Zahra Rahnavard, addresses supporters at a rally today in Tehran. (Olivier Laban-Mattei/AFP/Getty Images)

It should be of no surprise that the unrest in Iran continues to be our top story.

We start the day with reports of shootings in Tehran with one person confirmed dead (I suspect this number will climb) and more panic spreading throughout the city, which has been "on fire" in the aftermath of presidential elections Friday Supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chief rival, Mir Hossein Moussavi, are protesting the election results, claiming fraud .

Tens of thousands of Mousavi supporters--more than 100,000 according to some reports--gathered for a rally in downtown Tehran calling for the annulment of the official result of Friday's election. Moussavi spoke to the crowd at the rally.

It has been reported that the pro-government militia opened fired at demonstrators at Azidi Square, but according to the latest reports shootings have now been heard in at least three districts of northern Tehran.

The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, said rally is the biggest demonstration in the Islamic republic's 30-year history and described it as a "political earthquake."

The U.S. State Department stated it's "deeply troubled" by the reports of violence in Iran.

So where is this clash heading to? Will people calm down and the issue die down in a couple of days? Hmm...I doubt it.

But Iran is not the U.S.--there won't be a "recount" there, and foreign nations have no say on Iran's elections. The opposition isn't powerful enough to be a threat to Ahmadinejad. So what are the protesters hoping to accomplish other than rant and vent? Not that there's anything wrong with ranting and venting...

"If Ahmadinejad remains president we will protest every day," the protesters are shouting. "We fight, we die, we will not accept this vote rigging," was another chant in the crowd, Reuters reported.

If indeed Ahmadinejad was the winner, the opposition is toast. But if the election was tampered with and this can be proven somehow, then democracy and justice could have a chance at prevailing in Iran...but I'm not holding my breath.

Sources: BNO News, Reuters, My Twisted Mind
Copyright © 2009

Eyewitness account of violence in Tehran

A backer of Mr. Moussavi confronted riot police officers in Tehran. In recent days, Mr. Moussavi's supporters were predicting a wide victory, citing voter surveys. And Mr. Ahmadinejad, the hard-line incumbent, had appeared on the defensive. Photo: Caren Firouz/Reuters

This is terrible. I found it on the CNN website--an eyewitness account on the violence and brutality that has taken over the streets of Tehran in the aftermath of the presidential elections. Kudos to the photographers.

TEHRAN, Iran -- He was surrounded and pleading for them to stop but six men with clubs, batons and metal rods kept battering a young Iranian man with ruthless force. The swing that keeps replaying in my head was the black baton that smashed the man in the skull behind his left ear.

Seconds earlier the man had dared to stand up to the baton wielding men because they had shoved a 14-year-old girl. For his chivalry he got one of the most savage beatings I have ever seen at the hands of four Iranian riot policemen and members of the Baseej, Iran's plain clothed volunteer militia.

"To hell with Iran," he said as he sat beaten and battered along the sidewalk. "This is not my government. This is not my country."

A grown man who watched the beating burst into tears.

A Moussavi supporter was injured in a demonstration. Witnesses reported that at least one person had been shot dead in clashes with the police in Vanak Square in Tehran. Photo: Olivier Laban-mattei/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

This was a glimpse of the ugly aftermath of Iran's presidential elections, which sparked outrage among supporters of candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi.

Moussavi's backers are calling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide victory a sham. They're demanding the vote be annulled. The government's response has been a ruthless and violent crackdown.

For eight chaotic hours I saw the two sides clash throughout the streets of Tehran. These were Iranians versus Iranians, but the two sides were worlds apart in appearance, ideology and brute force.

Moussavi's supporters were mostly young 20-something men and women. They were college students, young professionals with degrees demanding social freedom, a better way of life, and better relations with the West.

Two teenage girls carrying bricks had French manicured fingernails and designer sunglasses. The protesters threw objects, burned trash bins, honked their horns and chanted "death to the dictator!"

They were loud, until they heard the roar of the motorcycles.

The motorcycles belonged to two groups of Ahmadinejad supporters: Iran's riot police and the Baseej.

The riot police looked like modern gladiators, muscular and menacing with camouflaged uniforms, black boots, black bulletproof vests and black shielded helmets. They rode in pairs. One drove while the other wielded a club or a baton. They swarmed crowds of rowdy protesters in packs of about 20, beating anyone who got in their way.

The landslide victory for Mr. Ahmadinejad came as a powerful shock to opposition supporters, who had cited polls showing that Mr. Moussavi had a strong lead in the final days of the campaign. Photo: Olivier Laban-Mattei/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

On several occasions I saw female Moussavi supporters plead with their male counterparts not to run away. But they almost always did. They were clearly intimidated by the brutal show of force.

The Baseejis were just as ruthless. Those who didn't ride on motorcycles walked the streets in large packs carrying clubs. They didn't wear uniforms, so they could easily ambush protesters. They beat one protester so badly that he collapsed in the middle of an intersection and trembled uncontrollably. I saw one battered young man crawl into the lobby of an apartment building, curl up under the stairwell and sob. He had welts on his forehead and bruises up and down his arms.

"They hit me with everything," he said as he gasped for air. "They hit with clubs. They hit me with chains."

When the two sides weren't throwing objects at one another, they were hurling insults. I heard and felt the hatred on both sides.

During a Saturday afternoon news conference Ahmadinejad compared the violent crackdown against the protesters to a citation after a traffic ticket.

A few hours later thousands gathered in midtown Tehran to hear Ahmadinejad deliver a victory speech. The re-elected president said the elections belonged to Iran's people.

Never since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 have Iran's people appeared this divided.

Mr. Moussavi made clear in statements on Saturday that he rejected the results and called on supporters and fellow clerics to fight them. Supporters threw stones during clashes with riot police. Photo: Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters

Source: CNN

Unrest in Iran upon disputed election results

Right: Iranian riot police stand in front of a cloud of tear gas, as supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi fight running battles using stones and petrol bombs against police, as they protesting the results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, today, June 13. (Photo: AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Hell just broke loose in Iran. Just watch the videos of protesters clashing with police and you'll see what I mean. Be glad you're not there.

Riots broke in Tehran as news of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide election victory spread throughout the city.

Ahmadinejad won 62.63 percent of the vote while chief rival Mir Hossein Moussavi received 33.75 percent, the Iranian government said Saturday. The reformist opposition candidate is contesting the results, claiming fraud.

At a press conference, Mousavi declared himself "definitely the winner" based on "all indications from all over Iran." He accused the government of "manipulating the people's vote" to keep Ahmadinejad in power and suggested the reformist camp would stand up to challenge the results, AP reported.

"It is our duty to defend people's votes. There is no turning back," Mousavi said, alleging widespread irregularities.

Millions of mostly young Iranians desperate for change and who supported Mousavi in passionate pre-election rallies were crushed and furious. They clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tires upon learning about the results of the election.

Correspondents say the violence is the worst seen in Tehran in a decade, BBC reported.

A statement from Mousavi posted on his website urged his supporters to resist a "governance of lie and dictatorship."

"I'm warning that I won't surrender to this manipulation," he said. "The outcome of what we've seen from the performance of officials ... is nothing but shaking the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran sacred system and governance of lie and dictatorship."

Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad said Saturday the election in which he secured another four-year term was "free and healthy," rejecting allegations of irregularities by a moderate rival in the vote without making direct reference to Mousavi's remarks, Reuters reported.

"Everybody should respect people's vote...we need a calm atmosphere to build the country," Ahmadinejad said amid the protests.

The results flowed quickly after polls closed showing the hard-line president with a comfortable lead, defying expectations of a nail-biter showdown following a month of fierce campaigning and bringing immediate charges of vote rigging by Mousavi, AP reported.

It was even unclear how many Iranians were even aware of Mousavi's claims of fraud, according to the report, as communications disruptions began in the later hours of voting Friday, suggesting an information clampdown, according to various news reports. State television and radio only broadcast the Interior Ministry's vote count and not Mousavi's midnight press conference.

Sadeq Mahsouli, the country’s interior minister, on Saturday lauded the “unprecedented” turnout. He had said 85 percent of 46 million eligible voters had gone to the polls.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, closed the door on any chance he could use his limitless powers to intervene in the disputes from Friday's election, AP reported. In a message on state TV, he urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, calling the result a "divine assessment" and the voters’ turnout a show of Iran’s “pride” and “honor.”

Iran does not allow international election monitors. During the 2005 election, when Ahmadinejad won the presidency pledging to revive the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution, there were some allegations of vote rigging from losers, but the claims were never investigated.

His face covered with a green scarf symbolizing his party's color, a supporter of Iranian reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi holds a stone as others burn a trash bin in Tehran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. Mousavi supporters clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tires as authorities claimed the hard-line president was re-elected in a landslide. (AP Photo).

The U.S. and Canada challenged Iran's claims that hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won re-election, but much of the rest of the world remained silent Saturday despite claims of fraud and scenes of clashes on the streets of Tehran.

Iran is a key economic player in the region, a perceived threat to Israel's national security, and a major worry for the U.S. and allies who fear Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

"We are monitoring the situation as it unfolds in Iran, but we, like the rest of the world, are waiting and watching to see what the Iranian people decide," Clinton told reporters in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said his country, too, was "deeply concerned" by reports of irregularities.

Most countries appeared to be taking a wait-and-see approach, including the European Union and China, Germany, Italy and Japan--nations with strong economic ties to Iran.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said concerns about ballot counting that candidates have expressed are an issue for Iranian authorities to address.France said it was closely following the situation.

Following are the latest headlines related to this story:

• Iran's opposition leader Mousavi calls on all his supporters to avoid violence.

• A senior US official tells Reuters that the U.S. is "not yet ready" to pronounce the outcome of Iran's election; urges peaceful resolution.

• Cell phone service in Tehran is down while Facebook and websites affiliated with Ahmadinejad's top opponent have been blocked.
  

Source: BNO News, AP, Reuters, CNN, BBC, USA Today, CBS News