UPDATED: Iran Starts Fifth Trial over Post-Election Unrest - Cross-Post

UPDATE 1: We'll talk .... about anything that doesn't matter to you.

(cross-posted from Revolutionary Road).

Iran starts fifth trial over post-election unrest

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TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran began a new trial Monday of people accused of fomenting street unrest after a disputed presidential election three months ago, official media reported.

Six people were in the dock for Monday's court session, including a well-known student activist, Abdollah Momeni, the IRNA news agency said.

Iran last month began four mass trials over post-election events against more than 100 people, including senior reformers and former government officials, charged with orchestrating opposition protests in a bid to undermine the Islamic Republic.

The opposition has denounced the court sessions as "show trials." Reformist former President Mohammad Khatami last month said trial confessions by moderates were made in "extraordinary conditions" and were invalid.

The June election, which was followed by huge opposition protests, plunged Iran into political turmoil and exposed deepening divisions within its ruling elites.

The opposition says more than 70 people were killed in the unrest. Officials estimate the death toll at up to 36 people including members of the Islamic Basij militia, which helped the elite Revolutionary Guards quell the protests.

"The fifth ... trial of detainees accused of recent unrest and riots began in Tehran's Revolutionary Court this morning," IRNA said.

"Six people accused of being involved in the recent Tehran unrest appeared in the dock in the presence of their lawyers," it added.

An indictment read out at the trial appeared to focus on "false reports" spread via the Internet in a bid to stir unrest.

"The Islamic revolution of Iran has always been facing psychological warfare and destructive propaganda ... by internal and external enemies," it said, suggesting U.S. financial support for such activity.

"They (Iran's enemies) have used all the latest technology to reach their aims, including the Internet," the ISNA news agency quoted the indictment as saying. "It was one of the important methods to provoke the people ... "

The election and its turbulent aftermath plunged Iran into deep internal crisis. Rights groups say thousands of people, including senior pro-reform figures, were arrested after the poll, though most have been freed.

The moderate opposition says the June 12 poll was rigged to secure President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election. The authorities deny it.

Hardliners have portrayed the opposition protests as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the Islamic government system.

(Writing and additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Matthew Jones)

A Tale of Two Daughters and A Tale of Silence

Tale 1: Two Daughters of Reserve Officers Stay Strong

As a former ARNG officer with a young daughter, and as daughter of a retired naval officer, I related-well to the story of these candid and strong young women: 'Two Military Daughters Start Sisterhood For Teens.'

'On the Internet, there are all kinds of videos of teenagers being teenagers. Some are breathing helium and then talking like Donald Duck. Others are squealing because they got asked on a date. There are endless variations of kids getting grossed out by pimples. But a recent posting on YouTube.com is different. "I'm Moranda Hern, and I'm a military teen," says a young woman who looks like a cheerleader. "I'm Kaylei Deakin," her friend says, wearing a bright blond mohawk. "I'm 16, and I'm also a California military teen." The girls look straight into the camera, and sound proud. "During my dad's deployment, it was a really tough time for my family," Hern continues. "And the more we identified with other military youth from across California, we saw they had the same need." The high school girls, who will start their senior year in the fall, have decided to do something that nobody has done before — not Pentagon officials, not governors, not mayors (at least, NPR can't find a record of it). They are trying to organize the first major get-together for the children, specifically daughters, of troops who have gone to war. "We'd like to boost these girls and their self-esteem and their self-confidence," Deakin tells the camera. "We are growing the sisterhood, with our mantra: unite, inspire, lead," Hern adds. They call their conference "The Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs" — a play on the title of a popular novel and Army speak for battle uniforms.'

Apart from the annoying 'Army speak' description (BDU is an acronym for Battle-Dress-Uniform), the interview (the link at the top will take you to both a full transcript of the story and to an audio link) was excellent. I'm donating to their fund-raising effort, and encourage readers to consider doing the same.

Tale 2: The 'Silent Riot' in Iran

(Mass execution at Evin Prison on or around June 28)

UPDATED: Rafsanjani Speaks (Don't Let Them Be Forgotten)

UPDATE: During today's Friday prayers, Ayatollah Rafsanjani spoke against Ahmadinejad and his supporters. Shortly after, protests erupted at and near Tehran University.

'"We could have taken our best step in the history of the Islamic revolution had the election not faced problems," he told worshipers in and around Tehran University. "We are in doubt today. Today, we are living bitter conditions due to what happened after the announcement of the election result. All of us have suffered. We need unity more than any time else." Even before Rafsanjani's speech began, security forces were stuffing young men into waiting police vans. Helmeted Basiji militiamen aboard motorcycles began pushing forward. After the speech, downtown Tehran erupted in violence as security forces attacked crowds of demonstrators, older and grayer than recent gatherings, who were chanting "Death to the dictator!" and "God is great."'

The movement toward freedom appears to be intact, and its demands, unabated.

UPDATED: Bodies of Slain Protestors in Tehran Returned to Families

From Revolutionary Road:

'While many of prisoner's families are still worried about their loved ones and everyday are getting astonished by going from this union to that organization and from this prison to that court and they are not getting any response from authorities,they invite some other families to an unknown place and after justifying what they have done and threatening them about other family members being in danger,make them commit not to inform anyone of their children deaths and also make them sign some papers stating that their loved ones have died in car accident or other natural accidents and then deliver the bodies to scathing families.
Quoting from one of this families who did not want her name to be revealed ; They have taken her to a cold storage for keeping fruits and dairy products in south-west of Tehran and have showed her a photo album of more than 100 killed people to identify her child's body.She also has said : It has taken about half an hour to see killed people's photos.
She added while she has been going out of cold storage she has seen hundreds of martyr's bodies which were put over each other.

This scathing mother says though i did not find my child's body there but by seeing all those corpses which were depot , I collapsed and when I regained my consciousness i was in car out of cold storage.

All these happening while Iran militia authorities have rejected using of warm weapon in recent clashes in Tehran and it's not clear how all these killed and martyr people whom their names are daily publishing have been killed.'

Saeed Valadbaygi II

"Delivery of dead bodies to their families has started in Tehran and other cities. Judicial and security organisation were waiting for July 9th to pass and then start deliverying dead bodies which mostly were dead on June 15 and days after that on the streets or under torture in prisons.In Shahpour police station,50 photos are available for families to go and identify their beloved ones..."

UPDATES: Religious Persecution in Iran

UPDATED: From Revolutionary Road: The mother of a slain student speaks out and reports from inside Evin Prison

Saeed Valadbaygi II: "Marzieyeh Aminzadeh,30 and 27-year-old Maryam Rostam Pour are imprisoned, in fact for changing their religion to Christianity for more than 4 months, but officially announced that they are in jail for acting against national security and they are being interrogated in Evin. Maryam and Marzieyeh's lives are exteremly in danger especially after recent protests."

An article in today's Wall Street Journal, details some of the internal dynamics in Iran.

UPDATED: Ongoing Clashes in Iran

UPDATE 3: From Saeed Valabaygi: "Plainclothes forces with hot and cold weapons(gun and knife) along with organized cyclists attacked some of the politechnic dormitories. Plainclothes forces in a attack to Golashan dormitory in Beh Afarin St beaten up several students and dormitory's guards."

UPDATE 2: Reportedly, the owner of the openDemocracy blog, who has written about equal rights for women, has been arrested.

UPDATE 1: The BBC is confirming heavy riot police and Basij presence at and around Tehran University and the use of tear gas and the cut-off of mobile text messaging services. Reportedly arrests have been made, including the arrest of Mohammad ali Dadkhah, a lawyer representing the Human Rights Defender's Center.

Revolutionary Road is live blogging protests in Tehran that are being held on the tenth anniversary of the 1999 student uprising. If you're on Facebook, you can link to Saeed's FB updates off the Revolutionary Road website. He's reporting seeing military helicopters, tear gas attacks, random Basij attacks on buses and bystanders, and protests at the Chinese embassy.

The BBC has documented protests and clashes beginning yesterday, as has the Associated Press.

More to follow later this afternoon.

UPDATES: Protest Videos

UPDATES: The person, from whom many of my recently-posted videos and notes come, would like me to go ahead and site his blog by name. While this does reveal his name, he is firm in his desire to openly confront what he sees around him. The blog is Revolutionary Road. I am also placing it in my blogroll. Saeed is determined to call the regime what it is and demand justice and freedom. I hope you'll take the time to look at his site, and support him.

Hopefully, this post will work. Everytime I try to load some of these videos into a separate post (like the last one), the links don't correctly work. These are primarily from students I have contact with in Iran, although some are from regional news services and one is from the Times Online.

20 June 2009:

23 June 2009:

24 June 2009:

Tehran University

Candlelight Memorial and Vigil:

Basij Kill a Protestor:

Riot Police Crush Protests in Tehran (Times Online):

A Montage Of Images From Iran

The video is from You Tube.  The rest I'm getting through a friends of a friend of a friend all of whom shall remain nameless.  While your names are not here, never believe that this struggle is forgotten or un-noticed.  Sites for more on-the-ground photos and postings: news.gooya.com, radiozamaneh.com.

UPDATE: President Obama Speaks Up

UPDATE 2:

UPDATE 1: For live coverage and active blogging on events as they're reported, go here to Atlas Shrugs.

The House passed a resolution in support of the protesters against the Iran's election results, followed by the Senate. Rep. Ron Paul was the only member of the House to vote against. The vote in the Senate was unanimous.

The Ayatollah's 'sermon' at Friday prayers at Tehran University predictably warned against further protests, saying: '"I want to tell everyone these things must finish. These street actions are being done to put pressure on leaders but we will not bow in front of them."' He further implied that any further protests would lead to bloodshed that would be on the heads of the protest leaders. This morning (Tehran time), the state-controlled media put our further warnings not to gather in protest. While there were protests today, and running battles with the sanctioned militia, crowds were unable (or too cautious) to gather in the numbers seen over the last few days.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, the former Prime Minister who presided over the dismantling (and executions in some cases) of the former Shah's government after the Revolution, now says that he is willing to be a martyr. He has called for a nationwide strike if he is arrested, sparking speculation that strikes in the oil industry will cause a massive rate hike in the cost of a barrel of oil.

All of this had led President Obama to make yet another statement today, this one more forceful than over the previous week. '"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."' While I long to hear the president make a truly forceful statement in support of the protesters, and I'm not convinced that his motives are as described, it's possible that any stronger statements will only be used by the Iranian government to further harm the protesters themselves. This is the opinion of Henry Kissinger.



We'll find out in the next few days how far this will go. Right now, protests have continued into the night, and a tank is now reported to be at Azadi Square. Hot Air has many excellent video and site links to follow further.