Green Brief #15
NUR
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. [B](My
work is released under Creative Commons (CC). So use it freely)
These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from
Tuesday, July 01 in Iran.
Protests
1. There have been unconfirmed reports of a protest in Tehran today.
There were reports of clashes in Rasht that could be partially
confirmed. Clashes broke out when police tried to disperse people who
were mourning dead protesters. A doctor and two nurses were badly
beaten in Loghman Hospital in Tehran after they tried to stop security
forces from arresting an injured protester from the facility. A tweet
source talked to a Basiji in Tehran today. According to the source,
the Basiji claimed that he was working for Islam, but hoped that he
wouldn’t be forced to quell protests again.
2. Protests are being planned for tomorrow - although none could be
fully confirmed. A number of Iranian women who’ve formed a quasi-group
called Mourning Mothers have announced that they will gather at Laleh
Park on Saturday to mourn the dead. Reports from Tehran suggest that
shops are being closed earlier than usual. Several sources claimed
that the city is in a virtual state of an unofficial curfew.
Political Statements
3. Mousavi today released his 9th statement since the elections. He
said that, “No opportunity to illuminate the extent of this lie and
its historic repercussions should be lost and that the liars and
cheats are only sheltering behind the law to impose their intentions.”
He added that it was his and “all Iranians’ revolutionary
responsibility to not let the blood of thousands of martyrs to have
been in vain.” He continued to say, “It’s our historic mission to
continue our protest and not abandon the cause of regaining people's
rights.” He questioned the government’s legitimacy and said that he no
longer believed the government to be lawful – a sentiment already
recognized by the majority of Iranians. He called upon the
Government’s Elite to help expose the election fraud by releasing
evidence and documents currently in their possession.
4. Khatami criticized the government in a new, harsher tone that
suggested outright contempt today. He called the elections a “coup
d’état against democracy.” He asked, “How can the Iranian people calm
down when their votes were stolen? When their blood is and has been
shed? When they are being hauled away and arrested en masse? When the
government and media blatantly ignore them?” He asked, “How is a
National reconciliation even remotely possible in a country that is
turning into a police state?” He went on to say that what’s happening
now in Iran “is a direct violation of the very rights people are
promised in the constitution.” He accused the media of attempting to
provoke further unrest and violence and denounced the governments’
attempts at censorship. He predicted that Regime’s establishment would
fail if this were to continue.
5. Khatami later met with several families of loved ones arrested
during in the violence the past two weeks. He yet again asked for the
release of those detained for protesting, including all political and
media personalities. He slammed the Ministry of Interior for
professing “obliviousness” over the fate of many of the detained.
6. A video of Ayatollah Hadi Ghaffari, another prominent Shi’ite
cleric has surfaced in which he directly accuses Khamenei of sinning
against the people by ordering arrests and killings. This is the
second high-ranking cleric in two days who has been reported to
criticize the government so harshly. Ayatollah Taheri, the former Imam
of Isfahan’s Friday prayers’s mosque, criticized the government’s
actions yesterday.
Government
7. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly said today that there was as much
truth to electoral fraud in Iran as there was for the Holocaust.
(Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust denier.) Ahmadinejad reportedly cancelled
his trip to Libya to attend an African summit today as well. The media
reported that Ahmadinejad was too busy at work and there were ‘other
priorities’ for him to get to. This comes at a time when some
reformists abroad are secretly planning on creating a shadow
government for Iran – according to unconfirmed reports.
8. The Imam's Way Faction (a group of MP’s) of parliament, which is
slightly pro-reform, asked the families of detainees to send them
documented information about their arrested family members. More high-
profile Iranians were arrested today. Among the arrested were: Saeedeh
Kordinejad and Zoia Hasani -members of Mosharekat Party, Vahid
Amoozadeh-Khalili - the son of another pro-reform personality and Omid
Mosleh - a prominent film critic. Mosleh was later released. Mohammad
Mostafayee, a prominent lawyer who had been arrested two days ago, was
also released on bail today.
Arrests, Releases and Investigations
9. Vahid Amoozadeh-Khalili’s detention could only be confirmed today,
although he had been missing for two days. A high-ranking official in
the Police Department confirmed that 1,032 people had been arrested
since the start of the protests. According to independent sources, the
numbers are likely much higher. There was partial confirmation of the
release of 4 other British Embassy's local staffers from Iranian
detention. One still remains under arrest. The government had
previously claimed that some of the 9 staffers arrested were guilty of
taking part in orchestrating the current unrest in Iran. This comes
when the EU has threatened to pull out all its diplomatic missions
from Iran if the staffers were not released.
10. The Iranian government claimed that the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan
was in no way, shape, or form related to the recent ‘riots’. Iran’s
Chief of Police announced today that one of the key eye-witnesses of
Neda’s death, Arash Hejazi, is actually wanted by Interpol for
unspecified crimes. The government had earlier claimed that the bullet
that killed Neda was not shot by any weapon currently in use by
Iranian Security Forces.
11. Mohmmad Ghouchani, the detained editor-in-chief of Etemade Melli,
has denied reports published in IRG’s main media outlet Javan Daily
that he confessed committing crimes and breaking the law in organizing
protests. He also rejected Javan’s claim that he had been secretly
trained in an Arab country to carry out subversion tactics. He claimed
to not even own a passport.
Media in Iran and Miscellaneous
12. Etemade Melli will be published again starting tomorrow after
being banned for a day by the government for reportedly attempting to
publish Karoubi’s statements yesterday. Reports suggest that the
government is now heavily censoring Etemade Melli as well as other
newspapers in order to stop any such statements from getting out to
the public. A reporter of government-owned Press TV has also quit his
job over perceived bias in the station’s reporting of the events after
the election.
13. Today, reporters accompanying the governor of Fars province and
the Friday prayers’ Imam of Shiraz stumbled upon four unopened ballot
boxes from the elections in Shiraz’s main library. Per electoral rules
in Iran, all ballot boxes were supposed to be shipped to Tehran.
According to reports, the governor promptly declared the contents of
the boxes ‘national documents’ and asked the reporters not to report
the incident.
(Here are some pictures of the boxes as they can be clearly seen
sealed. The last picture shows the Imam voting on Election Day,
wearing a different robe. We cannot fully authenticate the pictures as
no dates can be seen in the pictures.):
پایگاه مستقل خبر رسانی عبرت www.ebrat.ir
14. Chants of Allah o Akbar continued to rattle Tehran and other
cities of Iran at dusk. A report published by the Guardian reports
through a protester's friend that the protester was arrested, beaten
and raped. Here's the full story on The Guardian's website: Iran
protester was arrested, beaten and raped, friend says | World news |
guardian.co.uk
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