Iran: An Electoral Crisis! #iranelection – ARCHIVE 5

Main Post: Here Earlier posts Archive #1 and Archive#2, Archive #3, Archive 4, Archive 5

7/15/2009 – 8:54PM – Clinton to Iran – Time is running out

Hillary Clinton will give what one administration official familiar with the U.S. Secretary of State’s preparations described as a “muscular” foreign-policy address this afternoon before the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. As The Cable reported last week, Clinton appears to be using the occasion to raise her profile amid Washington chatter that she has not yet seemed to fully dominate her turf as the nation’s top diplomat. It’s a perception Clinton seems set to challenge. [...] [A] key theme of Clinton’s speech appears to be defending the administration’s pursuit of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, despite widespread international outrage over the Iranian regime’s violent crackdown on demonstrators protesting against alleged vote-rigging in the June 14 presidential election. Conservatives in particular have said that Obama was slow to condemn the Iranian government’s conduct, a charge the White House and its defenders deny. Source: Here

7/15/2009 – 2:14AM – Supreme leader Khamenei diminished in Iranians’ eyes

For two decades he was considered to be above the petty political squabbles, a cautious elder contemplating questions of faith and Islam while guiding his nation into the future. But Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose title of supreme leader makes him Iran’s ultimate authority, has gotten his hands dirty. His decision in recent weeks to so stridently support the nation’s controversial president after a disputed election has dramatically changed his image among his people, setting in motion an unpredictable series of events that could fundamentally change the Islamic Republic.

Read the full Article: Here

7/14/2009 – Tehran morgues holding hundreds of bodies.

The on-line Farsi-language newspaper, Nooroz, reports that hundreds of unidentified dead bodies are being held in Tehran’s morgues. According to Nooroz, the government has provided little information on the fates and locations of those individuals detained during the recent unrest in Iran. One of the few official organs providing information on the detainees is the office of unidentified dead persons, which has summoned some families to various morgues around the city to determine whether their loved ones are among the dead. Nooroz newspaper reports that those families, who find their sons or daughters among the countless corpses, are threatened and pressured into signing statements attesting that their family members died in car crashes or as a result of other ordinary, run of the mill accidents. Unless the families sign these statements, the cherished bodies of their loved ones are withheld from them.

Source

7/14/2009 – Activists turn the water red in Mahabad.

Activists turn the water red

Source: Here

7/13/2009 – 11:46PM Rafsanjani confirms on his website he will be leading Friday Prayers

خبر فوری /نماز جمعه این هفته تهران به امامت “ایت الله هاشمی ر فسنجانی”اقامه می شود

دانشگاه تهران 26تیرماه میزبان رئیس مجمع تشخیص مصلحت نظام و رئیس مجلس خبرگان رهبری است و نماز جمعه این هفته تهران به امامت “ایت الله هاشمی رفسنجانی” اقامه خواهد شد

Rough Google Translation:

Imamat “Ayatollah Hashemi Fsnjany ر” Performing is

Tehran University on July 26, host President and head of the Expediency Council and Assembly of Experts in Tehran Friday Prayers this week Imamat “Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani,” Performing will be

7/13/2009 11:34PM – Some Updates on Friday from Enduring America

UPDATE 13 July, 0845 GMT: How serious could this challenge be?Rumours are being spread, possibly by pro-Ahmadinejad sources, that this Friday’s prayers will be Rafsanjani’s last. Rafsanjani’s son has denied this, and Ali Asghari, the repesentative of the Expediency Council in Parliament, has reaffirmed that Rafsanjani remains a prayer leader in Tehran. UPDATE: A reader offers the following clarification and comment, “On the Mousavi Facebook it says, “Until now there is no confirmed report of the presence of Mousavi, Khatami and [Presidential candidate Mehdi] Karroubi in the prayers”. I also wished that you had given more credit to Karroubi in your analysis. I think that Karroubi was very active and organized in supporting the protesters, organizing ways for families of the protesters to get in touch with the arrested and taking personally taking on the regime regarding the state of the arrested people.” We began today’s updates by noting, “For the second day in a row, there were no significant open demonstrations, and statements were limited,” and wondering when the opposition would make its next big move. It’s come. Four hours ago, on his Facebook page, Mir Hossein Mousavi declared, part in English, part in Farsi: “ANOTHER BIG EVENT IS GOING TO COME…. “Venue on 26th Tir (July 17th)” “Rafsanjani to address the people for Friday’s prayers at Tehran University” “Arise, Green Wave!” “The day we were awaiting is finally going to come” “With the presence of Seyyed Mohammad Khatami and Mir Hossein Mousavi” So the perfect storm of the opposition from “without”, the public challenge symbolised by the leadership of the Presidential candidate Mousavi, and the opposition from “within”, the private manoeuvring of former President Rafsanjani, may be imminent. Rafsanjani, having refused to lead prayers in recent weeks and limited his pulbic appearances, re-emerges dramatically on Friday, and a vast crowd of demonstrators marches to the University of Tehran to welcome and applaud him. It turns the regime’s public displays — an ayatollah, even the Supreme Leader, setting out the appropriate line to the acclaim of followers — against it. This plan also has the clever beauty of complicating the regime’s response. Does it dare tell Rafsanjani that he cannot speak on Friday? Do security forces dare block marchers who, after all, are only trying to worship as “good” Muslims? This, in short, could be the largest mass gathering since 15 June, complete with the presence of Rafsanjani, Mousavi, and Khatami. Start counting dowy the days…. (hat tip to readers who made this analysis possible)

7/13/2009 7:30PM – Iranian Facebook Police

And you thought your boss was bad with Facebook.

[...]On passing through the immigration control at the airport in Tehran, she was asked by the officers if she has a Facebook account. When she said “no”, the officers pulled up a laptop and searched for her name on Facebook. They found her account and noted down the names of her Facebook friends.[...]

Read the full report from NPR

7/13/9 12:41 – Qom leadership to move to Najaf if Ahmadinijad is sworn in

There are repots that the Qom Leadership will relocate to Najaf if Ahmadinijad is sworn in. In related news, Rafsanjani has recently traveled to Najaf to confer with Sistani.

Sources Green Brief.

This comes at a time when a large number of Iranian clerics in Qom have reportedly threatened to leave Iran for Najaf, Iraq (Najaf is the holiest site in Shi’ism and Qom is a center of Shi’ite learning). They demanded the government to cease with their relentless pressure to side with them.

7/13/9 12:01AM — Friday prayer – Rafsanjani & Mousavi

Just announced on his Facebook Page both will be there this friday. Mousavi called for massive demonstration.

The poster on his page says: “The day has come, Green wave is on the move” After a long absence, pro-Mousavi cleric Rafsanjani to lead prayers

7/12/9 11:40PM Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s Fatwa: an Unfair Supreme Leader is Illegitimate

[TEHRAN BUREAU] In a very important development, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the most senior cleric living in Iran, and one of the top two* marja’ taghlid(source of emulation) in Shiite Islam, issued a series of Fatwas, calling the Supreme Leader illegitimate and saying that he was working with the government against religion. Montazeri has called on people to take action against this injustice, even if they have to pay a heavy price for it.

Source: Tehran Bureau

7/12/9 9:00PM State-Run TV Takes a Hit

[TEHRAN BUREAU] Iranian news outlets noandish.com and tabnak.com report that Iranian state television has been hurt by falling advertising revenue. Several companies have reportedly either canceled or not renewed their contracts to broadcast their commercials through the IRIB, or the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Some analysts quickly concluded that boycotting products advertised on IRIB’s TV channels, a tactic suggested after the election by Mir Hossein Mousavi’s supporters, is working. Others see it differently.

Source: Tehran Bureau

7/12/9 12:21PM – Iranian-Americans rally at White House

WASHINGTON – Hundreds of protesters, many of them Iranian-Americans, marched from Capitol Hill to the White House on Saturday, most holding Iranian flags and chanting demands for the U.S. to take more action after Iran’s disputed election.

After marching through several blocks of downtown Washington, more than 200 people rallied in front of the White House. They shouted demands for President Barack Obama and leaders of other countries to “reject the sham elections, impose complete sanctions.”

They also shouted “death to Ahmadinejad,” referring to the Iranian president whose disputed June 12 re-election prompted days of street protests in Iran. Some carried pictures of Neda Agha Soltan, a young woman who bled to death in a Tehran street. She became a symbol of the postelection protest movement after videos of her death by gunfire were posted online.

Source: MSNBC

7/11/9 1:07AM — Madonna on Iran Election and other world dictators

7/10/9 11:52PM — Inside the protests – Documentary look at the protests

Very interesting documentary look at inside the protests.

7/10/9 11:43PM –Inside the Iranian Crackdown — When the Unrest Flared, the Ayatollah’s Enforcers Took to the Streets of Tehran With Batons and Zeal

Interesting article from the WSJ.

On the first day of the unrest, the 24-year-old volunteer member of Iran’s paramilitary Basij force mounted his motorcycle and chased reformist protesters through the streets, shouting out the names of Shiite saints as he revved his engine.

[...]

“It wasn’t about elections anymore,” says Mr. Moradani, a short, skinny man with pitch-black hair and a beard. “I was defending my country and our revolution and Islam. Everything was at risk.”

[...]

At the height of the street battles, in Sadaat Abad, a middle-class neighborhood in east Tehran, young men and women organized themselves into an unofficial militia to fight the Basij, with a “commander” taking responsibility for each street. Every afternoon, they would meet to prepare for the evening’s expected battle, according to a 25-year-old student who was involved with the group. They collected rocks, tiles and bricks from construction sites and spilled oil on the roads, an attempt to sideline the Basij’s motorcycles. When a Basij rider would go down, the young men would beat him, according to the student. Women stood back, screaming “Death to the Dictator” and stoking bonfires in the street. Older supporters remained indoors, throwing ashtrays, vases and other household items from their balconies and windows onto the Basij motorcycle riders below. [...] For Mr. Moradani, the biggest shock during the election turmoil came in his personal life. He had recently gotten engaged to a young woman from a devout, conservative family. A week into the protests, he says, his fiancée called him with an ultimatum. If he didn’t leave the Basij and stop supporting Mr. Ahmadinejad, he recalls her saying, she wouldn’t marry him. He told her that was impossible. “I suffered a real emotional blow,” he says. “She said to me, ‘Go beat other people’s children then,’ and ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with you,’ and hung up on me.” She returned the ring he gave her, and hasn’t returned his phone calls. “The opposition has even fooled my fiancée,” he says. 7/10/9 9:13PM — Camera Man gets attacked 7/10/9 9:12PM — The Rooftop Project One of the most compelling elements of the continued uprising in Iran has been when each night under the cover of darkness Iranians chant themselves hoarse from the rooftops, balconies, and windows of their homes. This is done to express resolve, hope, frustration, but probably more than anything else – to provide a way for people to be together, in spirit and in their cause. As long as their voices echo through each night, Iran is not yet free. It is the soundtrack of a revolution. This is meant to be the most complete possible collection of recordings of nighttime protest in Iran since the beginning of the uprising. Its goal is to locate and profile at least one video for each night primarily focusing on the nightly chanting of Allah-o-Akbar from the rooftops whenever that footage is available. Some of these videos have not been widely seen until now. I will continue to update this post with new videos as they become available, please encourage people in Iran to try to record these evening chants of Allah-o-Akbar so that the world can continue to see and hear them every day. There are several days for which I was unable to find a video – please help me find them! – you can email me at itsmightier@gmail.com – I can post the videos anonymously under my YouTube account if needed. The permalink for this post will be http://mightierthan.com/rooftop 7/10/9 5:22AM — Iran Azad Underground Newspaper (In Farsi) 7/9/9 11:49PM — The dangers of citizen journalism 7/9/9 9:12 PM – Journalist explains time in Iranian prison. From Al Jazeera:

At least 35 Iranian journalists have been arrested since protests against the result of recent elections began.

Some foreign journalists were also detained. Iason Athanasiadis, a Greek-British reporter, was held for three weeks in Tehran’s Evin prison. He’s now back home in Athens, where Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Phillips asked him to describe what happened after his arrest. 7/9/9 9:10 PM – U2 Do it again! 7/9/9 9:10 PM — Move videos Here 7/9/9 9:09 PM — Some updates from Nico over at Huffington Post “It was nothing less than war. Please pray for us.” ABC’s Lara Setrakian posts a dispatch she received from Tehran. Professor estimates 25,000 demonstrated in Tehran. Prof. Scott Lucas, who’s been blogging Iran here, is interviewed by Fintan Dunne. 7/9/9 5:18PM – REALLY LARGE crowds – Iran: July 9 2009 – 1388 18 تیر – Intersection of Vali Asr and Talaghani This video shows the time when protesters arrived at the intersection of Taleghani and Valiasr ave, heading toward Valiasr Square. The duration of this rally was about 25 minutes and before arriving at Taleghani intersection, riot forces were not interfering but closed behind the crowd to block the accumulation of people. After arriving at the intersection of Taleghani and Valiasr ave, people continued toward Valiasr Square, as shown in this video. At this time, the anti riot forces shot teargas and followed people on motorcycles forcing the crowd to Taleghani ave. I continued toward Chahar-rah Valiasr where people were blocked from going to Enghelab Square. The revolutionary guards on motorbikes hit pedestrians with batons. On my way to the subway station I saw a lot of military cars full of anti riot guard heading west, apparently to help their forces stationed at Enghelab square. Source: Huffington Post 7/9/9 4:16 PM — From the Tehran Times — In complete denial and delusion, Ahmadinijad says his administraiton will undergo major changes. He does however still insist that this was the “freest” election in history of the world. 7/9/9 4:12 PM From Al Jahzera a 30 Minute Program called People and Power. 7/9/9 2:45 PM — Watching Contessa Brewer on MSNBC and still no mention of the protests in Iran. Wonder if Rachel will cover it tonight, otherwise Im convinced MSNBC believes the citizens are not interested. However, if one more MJ video is shown, Im going to lose my lunch. 7/9/9 2:44 PM Guardian article on the anniversary of the Tehran University protests of 1999 continued uprising in Iran. 7/9/9 1:35 PM – Latest video from Iran. From reliable twitter source. 7/9/9 1:21 PM — Here are several pictures that have gone through the course of #IranElection 7/9/9 11:33 AM Video from #iranelection supposedly from today posted on Youtube. 7/9/9 10:53 AM — I just have to giggle when I see Nico Pitney post stuff on Huffington Post. Here is his latest: 10:47 AM ET — MSNBC fail. As far as I can tell, there has been zero mention of the events in Iran thus far on MSNBC. CNN has been doing updates roughly every 30 minutes. Besides Rachel Maddow nobody on MSNBC covers Iran! Maybe we should start a clock to see how long it will be until they start to cover it. So far Zip on Dyligans show. 7/9/9 10:45 AM – The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting this morning that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the Supreme Leader has taken control over the Basiji forces in Iran. We reported this yesterday on DYV, but what is revealed in this article is that Khamenei’s son is the “commander” of the coup. It appears that Iran is developing a guised hereditary monarchy. Further, the Herald reveals why the governing bodies are doing little to overturn this election. But they are reluctant to challenge the Khameneis openly out of fear that any conflict would destabilise the Islamic Republic and weaken Iran in the region. Instead they will use their positions within the state to make it hard for the supreme leader and the President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to govern. “This game has not finished. The game has only just started,” the source said, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position in Iran. 7/9/9 9:28AM — Militia dispersing protesters in Iran TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Iranian pro-government Basij militia members are dispersing crowds in Tehran who are protesting on Thursday, the 10th anniversary of a 1999 student uprising that, at the time, posed the biggest threat to the Islamic regime since its inception in 1979. Source: CNN 7/9/9 01:25AM — I Am Neda 7/8/9 11:05PM — Bearing Witness In Iran Weighs Heavily On Cohen

Roger Cohen, columnist for The New York Times, says he left a chunk of himself back in Tehran. He covered the Iranian presidential election for the paper, and wrote op-eds about the country before he left, from Tehran andafter his return to the U.S.

Cohen talks about how the protests and crackdown he witnessed in Iran changed his opinion about whether or not the U.S. should still reach out to Iran.

Listen to the Full account here

7/8/9 3:35 — ABC News is reporting that the G8 Summit will not call for new sanctions on Iran. 7/8/9 3:27 PM — The Guardian is reporting that The Supreme Leaders son is taking over the Basij. Could we see the beginning of a harder lined totalitarian regime emerging out of the clouds of IranElection? The son of Iran‘s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has taken control of the militia being used to crush the protest movement, according to a senior Iranian source. The source, a politician with strong connections to the security apparatus, said that the leading role being played by Mojtaba Khamenei had dismayed many of the country’s senior clerics, conservative politicians and Revolutionary Guard generals. 7/8//9 12:59 PM — Is Ahmadinijad related to Bagdad Bob? Enquiring minds want to know. — From Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sought yesterday to put the turmoil over the disputed presidential elections behind him and declared on national television that the contests were clean, fair and marked the start of a new era.His speech came as the country’s top three reformist leaders sought to rekindle their opposition movement, demanding that ruling clerics end the heavy “security atmosphere” imposed after the elections and free those detained in the unrest, according to an opposition Web site.It was Ahmadinejad’s first national speech since the leader declared the election results valid despite outcry from the other candidates and weeks of street protests claiming that the results were fraudulent. “This is a new beginning for Iran . . . we have entered a new era,” the president said, explaining that the 85 percent turnout and overwhelming win had given his government a new legitimacy.

“It was the most clean and free election in the world,” he said, adding that during the re-count “no fault was discovered. The whole nation understood this.” *

7/8/9 12:56 PM EDT: Letter to Sent to Nico Pitney at the Huffington Post. Kudos to all the work Nico has done on #Iranelection. It is from Patrick Disney at National Iranian American Council I wanted to give you and your team a heads-up that we’re hearing from a lot of sources that Thursday will likely see a lot of unrest and potential violence in Iran. It marks the 10th anniversary of the “18th of Tir”, which is a monumental day in Iran. On that day in 1999, students protesting the closing of the reformist newspaper “Salaam” were attacked in their dormitories in Tehran and Tabriz. Six days of protests ensued, which began with several hundred students and blossomed into thousands of people from all walks of life supporting the demonstrations. They were the biggest display of [protest] sentiment in the regime’s then twenty-year history, and they were put down by the regime with a mandate by the threatened leadership to stop the unrest at any cost. 7/8/9 12:50 PM – From Reuters CARACAS (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Washington would call for more sanctions against Iran if the White House policy of engagement with Tehran failed. Clinton said U.S. outreach to Iran may not work given the country’s recent repression of protests after a disputed election. “It may not be possible, in which case we would ask the world to join us in imposing even stricter sanctions on Iran to try to change the behavior of the regime,” Clinton said in an interview with Venezuelan television station Globovision, broadcast late on Tuesday.

9:35 AM EST – The competing poles of Iran’s system have produced a fight-to-the-death ethos.

The streets of Iran have been largely silenced, but a power struggle grinds on behind the scenes, this time over the very nature of the state itself. It is a battle that transcends the immediate conflict over the presidential election, one that began 30 years ago as the Islamic Revolution established a new form of government that sought to blend theocracy and a measure of democracy. From the beginning, both have vied for an upper hand, and today both are tarnished. In postelection Iran, there is growing unease among many of the nation’s political and clerical elite that the very system of governance they rely on for power and privilege has been stripped of its religious and electoral legitimacy, creating a virtual dictatorship enforced by an emboldened security apparatus, analysts said. Source: NY Times

The Rebellion Network

Broadcast: 07/07/2009 – Source Reporter: Eric Campbell Very interesting piece by the ABC in Australia – Watch the video Online In 2009, post-election Iran has seen the unveiling of a bold and angry, highly mobile rebellion that’s challenging Iran’s old guard with new-media – filming protests and government aggression with mobile phones, uploading the sometimes bloody and confronting images to global net transmitters like YouTube, messaging instant observations to Twitter and keeping a concerned outside world up to the minute on the state of a secretive nation. Reporter Eric Campbell examines how this remarkable resistance evolved and what this explosive instalment might mean for Iran, the Islamic world and the West.

7/7/9 11:02 PM EDT HAYSTACK Project – Austin Heap needs YOU

In the past four weeks (three of which I took off of work) a lot has happened. First a tiny proxy list on Twitter, then a more organized effort called Proxyheap, and now Haystack, a completely custom protocol for beating the Iran governments filters. Visit Austins blog to see how you can HELP

7/7/9 11:02 PM EDT Freedom vs. the Firewall The Senate can help fend off authoritarian censorship.

Before the Senate Appropriations Committee is a bill that could provide access to 100 million distinct users every day. Dedicating $50 million in the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill to Internet freedom could allow millions who live in autocratic societies access to the Internet. Internet freedom has long been a stated congressional priority — the 2008 appropriations bill included a commitment to provide “anti-censorship tools and services for the advancement of information freedom in closed societies.” Now is the time for Congress to put its money behind its words. For every dollar the United States spends to guarantee access, oppressive regimes must spend thousands to put up walls and barriers. Once enough there are enough holes in a firewall, it crumbles. The technology for this exists. What is needed is more capacity. Source: Washington Post 7/6/9 6:45 PM EDT Iranian Dissenters Embark on Campaign of Covert Civil Disobedience — London Times Online Using Money to Fight the Regime. We should start that here in the US. Forced to stop demonstrating by police brutality, a Tehran nurse called Mojgan has found a new way of expressing her hatred of a regime which, she believes, stole the election from Mir Hossein Mousavi then ruthlessly stifled dissent. In the privacy of her home she takes all the banknotes from her purse and, with the help of her two children, writes on them “Mousavi” or “Death to the Dictator”. Then she goes out and spends them, using the legal currency of the Islamic Republic to undermine a rotten state. 7/6/9 5:27 PM VPOTUS Joe Biden on Iran — This man seriously needs to be toned down. WASHINGTON – Vice President Joe Biden signaled that the Obama administration would not stand in the way if Israel chose to attackIran‘s nuclear facilities, even as the top U.S. military officer said any attack on Iran would be destabilizing. Biden’s remarks suggested a tougher U.S. stance against Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Nonetheless, administration officials insisted his televised remarks Sunday reflected the U.S. view that Israel has a right to defend itself and make its own decisions on national security. 7/6/9 5:21 PM Great New Article from Reza Aslan (hope he is on Maddow tonight — also hope that Rachel is back) on the Daily Beast. He reports that opposition leaders are planning a three day strike corresponding with the Islamic Holiday of Itikaf. It will be interesting to see if this can get Michael Jackson off the headlines. )It is really frightening when you are glad to see Sarah Palin on the news!) 7/6/9 4:56 PM From The MERMI Blog –

Kayhan: Mousavi, Khatami Must Be Put on Trial

In two editorials, the Iranian daily Kayhan termed Mousavi, Khatami and their followers a dangerous opposition, and called to put them on trial for treason, cooperation with foreign elements, and responsibility for the death of civilians during the recent protests.

Source: Kayhan, Iran, July 4-5, 2009

7/6/9 4:22 PM Iran Revolutionary Guard Takes Bigger Role In National Security — LA TIMES

Reporting from Beirut — The top leaders of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard publicly acknowledged they had taken over the nation’s security during the post-election unrest and warned late Sunday, in a threat against a reformist wave led by Mir-Hossein Mousavi, that there was no middle ground in the ongoing dispute over the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the elite military branch, said the guard’s takeover of the nation’s security had led to “a revival of the revolution.”

7/6/9 11:20 AM Mousavi planning new Iranian Party from CNN

(CNN) — Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi plans to form a new political party aimed at reining in the power of the Islamic Republic’s leadership, a leading reformist newspaper reported Sunday. Moussavi told supporters the party will be focused on upholding “the remaining principles of the constitution,” according to Etemad-e Melli, a newspaper aligned with fellow opposition candidate Mehdi Karrubi. He is expected to file papers with Iran’s Interior Ministry to establish the party before hard-line incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sworn in for a new term, the newspaper reported. The announcement comes after weeks of protests over Iran’s disputed presidential election and an attempted clampdown by Iran’s clerical leadership. The parallels to today’s events are uncanny, and while the date has been marked with numerous protests since 1999, this anniversary takes on a special significance. We know that authorities are already trying to lock the cities down ahead of time. Demonstrations are planned all over the U.S. in solidarity with the protesters letting them know the world is watching what the regime is doing.

He’s now back home in Athens, where Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Phillips asked him to describe what happened after his arrest.

Some foreign journalists were also detained. Iason Athanasiadis, a Greek-British reporter, was held for three weeks in Tehran’s Evin prison.

At July 9 demonstrations, protesters mocked the ayatollah’s son, Mojtaba, who many believe hopes to succeed his father.

“Public respect for him has been significantly damaged,” said one analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Opposing him is no longer the same as opposing God.” The venerated Khamenei has even become the target of public jokes and criticism. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “commits crimes, and the leader supports him,” was a popular slogan during the riots of June 20, the day after Khamenei delivered a blistering Friday sermon in which he said that the election a week earlier had been won by Ahmadinejad.

[A] key theme of Clinton’s speech appears to be defending the administration’s pursuit of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, despite widespread international outrage over the Iranian regime’s violent crackdown on demonstrators protesting against alleged vote-rigging in the June 14 presidential election. Conservatives in particular have said that Obama was slow to condemn the Iranian government’s conduct, a charge the White House and its defenders deny.

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