NUR
2009-08-15 04:38:35 UTC
http://iran.whyweprotest.net/green-brief/31577-green-brief-53-august-13-mordad-22-a.html
I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on
twitter. I'm a journalist and a human rights activist and NOT Iranian.
This is a compilation of news from Iran that I've gathered through
twitter and Iranian sites that were advertised on twitter. Remember,
this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons
(CC).)
These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from
Thursday, August 13 - Mordad 22.
In German: http://iran-info-dienst.blogspot.com/
In Italian: http://tinyurl.com/nody6x
Protests / Unrest
1. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Green Movement might attend
the Friday prayers. (The Friday prayers will probably be over when
most readers get this brief). There are also rumors that Mousavi will
be attending the Friday prayers. Nothing can be confirmed at this
point.
2. Reports from Evin confirm that 30 detainees have announced they
will be holding a hunger strike starting Saturday. They have warned
that the authorities need to pay attention to their plight. This was
reported to Amir Kabir News Agency by a detainee, who had just been
released from Evin. The news has also been forwarded to the Iranian
government and to the parliamentary commission, set up to assess the
condition of detainees.
International Protests / Events
3. Fatemeh Khezrie, 44, has been holding a hunger strike in front of
the US Embassy in London, with others, for the past 17 days. Her
condition is deteriorating as she has refused to take a fluid drip.
Full Story: Hunger striker Fatemeh Khezrie seriously ill outside US
embassy in London | UK news | guardian.co.uk
4. A Swiss-Iranian Green-supporter, who we affectionately call the
Epic Protester, has been protesting in front of the Iranian Embassy in
Bern for the past two months non-stop, generating quite a lot of buzz.
There is a blog dedicated to his efforts which you can reach here:
Epic Protester
And you can read his interview here: Interview with the Epic Protester
� Epic Protester (Courtesy of @Nedjarsen)
5. Amidst the stories of brutality being circulated, there are also
some heart-warming instances of human compassion. One Hearts View is
one such project that a world citizen is undertaking. Visit and
comment at: One Hearts View: Iran wanted me to bear witness...and I
have.
6. For a list of protests that are being planned in Germany, please
visit this link: [url=http://tinyurl.com/nbzacj] (English and German)
(If you, your friends or your organization are holding events,
protests or doing something else related to the Iranian election
internationally, please send me an email with details and I will give
you coverage. (Will only cost you 10 million dollars!) My email is:
***@gmail.com
Opposition
7. Partially confirmed reports suggest that the Supreme (Iranian
Dictator) Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s brother, Hadi Khamenei – an
eminent cleric in his own right and a supporter of Mousavi – has
traveled to Mashhad. Hadi Khamenei has been holding meetings with
freed detainees for the past few weeks and on his trip to Mashhad, has
reportedly held a closed door meeting with Ayatollah Mousavi Aradabeli
about the current situation in the country. Information about what
happened during the meeting has not yet been disclosed.
8. Nasrullah Torabi – a reformist MP – today asked the government to
present evidence about the alleged death of nine Basijis. He was
speaking about Karroubi’s claim that detained protesters had been
raped at detention centers when he changed the subject and asked the
government to provide documents of every allegation it has also made.
According to Torabi, if Karroubi is supposed to provide evidence about
his claims, then why was the government not providing evidence for
their claims?
9. An Aide for Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, today told
PressTV that the Ayatollah had not sent any letter of congratulations
to Ahmadinejad. As reported yesterday, an alleged letter of
congratulations to Ahmadinejad by Shirazi was being circulated for
several days which, as reported yesterday, is a FAKE.
10. Mahdi Karroubi is soon to present Ali Larejani with evidence about
the instances of the rape of detainees. Larejani said he will review
the evidence. It has also been reported that witnesses are also
willing to testify about these incidents to the parliament.
11. Karroubi stated, in an interview today, that his letter to
Rafsanjani had been sent to Hashemi Shahroudi – the Judiciary Chief –
who had ordered the contents of the letter be reviewed. Karroubi also
added that Dari Najafabadi – Iran’s Attorney General – has contacted
them and might send people to Karroubi, to ask him about the
allegations of rape and forward that information on to government
officials.
Karroubi also criticized government officials – mainly Larejani and
Burojerdi – for calling the allegations false without forming a
commission to investigate the allegations. He added that even though
people’s voices were being forcefully silenced, he would never stop
speaking the truth in this matter or other matters.
Karroubi further said that detainees had been tortured to death at
Evin and other detention centers. He also added that some prisoners
had been forced to take off their clothes and were ‘ridden’ by the
guards. (This is like riding a horse or a donkey and is considered an
act of extreme disrespect in the Middle East.)
12. There are unconfirmed reports circulating that a number of
important members of the Iranian parliament have sent a letter to
Rafsanjani asking him to review the 111th article of the constitution.
This article concerns the replacement of the Supreme (Iranian
Dictator) Leader. The letter alleges that, in his capacity as the
Supreme Leader, Khamenei is responsible for the unrests and illegal
clamp down on citizens, following the election. Full confirmation is
not yet available.
Government / International
13. Ali Larejani today blasted Western countries and said they had
interfered in Iran’s internal affairs. He specifically targeted the US
and France and called their comments on Iran’s affairs a sign of
failed diplomacy. He called upon them to assess the consequences of
their actions.
14. PressTV published a report on Khamenei today: [Leader of the
Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has advised officials
to obtain further “insight” to differentiate between friends and foes
in the aftermath of the June 12 election. “If I was to give you one
advice, it would be for you to increase your insight [into state
affairs],” the Leader said in a meeting on July 27, his remarks were
released on Wednesday.
Ayatollah Khamenei, meanwhile, urged officials present at the meeting
to abandon their personal agendas and set aside their political
affiliations to uncover the truth behind the events. “If you do not
have deep insight, if you cannot distinguish your friends, if you
cannot spot your enemies, then your attacks, dialogue and your actions
may target your friends instead of your enemies,” the Leader added.
15. Ahmad Khatami against urged the government to prosecute Mahdi
Karroubi for defamation against the regime.
16. Partially confirmed reports indicate that Syrian President Bashar
Al-Asad is soon to make a visit to Tehran.
17. Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador to Berlin on Wednesday, to
protest against the show trials of 100 people on charges related to
the post election protests and unrest. Andreas Peschke, a spokesperson
for German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said the action
was coordinated with other EU States.
18. AKI - [United Nations human rights experts voiced serious concern
on Thursday over accusations of torture and rough interrogation
tactics used against protesters jailed during the recent unrest in
Iran following its disputed presidential election. “No judicial system
can consider as valid a confession obtained as a result of harsh
interrogations or under torture,” stressed Manfred Nowak, the UN's
special rapporteur on torture. Nowak said he had brought more than 300
cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment to the attention of Iranian
authorities. The allegations came from ex-detainees as well as
relatives and lawyers of people still being held, Nowak said. The UN
rights experts said they continue to receive reports of people dying
in custody, and whose families are given false or contradictory
information regarding the cause of death.]
Arrested / Released / Killed
19. Reports indicate, so far, at least three dozen members of Iran’s
Artash – the main army besides the IRG – have been arrested during the
unrest following the election.
20. The detention of Iranian mountaineer Kazem Faridian has now been
confirmed.
21. Kianoosh Asa’s brother Kamran Asa has clarified that their other
brother, Daneshvar Asa has not been arrested. According to Kamran,
Daneshvar has been interrogated several times, but is still free.
22. Including Hamid Chobineh, reports indicate that about 20 other
detainees have been released in the past two days or so. The names of
other detainees could not be confirmed at this point.
23. The prosecution of seven Baha’i leaders will commence next week on
the 18th. The accused have been imprisoned for months and have
limited, to no access to lawyers for their defense. Here is a report
on an event from yesterday held in San Francisco to highlight their
plight and to the human rights situation in Iran. (Courtesy of
@dakster9): Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead � Evening in Support of
Iranian Baha’is in San Francisco
24. Two members of the parliament’s committee to assess the condition
of detainees have met with Tajzadeh, Abtahi and Atrianfar. According
to one of the members, Farhad Tajari, Tajzadeh is alive and well –
contrary to rumors of his death.
25. Lara Setrakian’s report about a victim of rape in Iran’s prisons.
(courtesy of @LaraABCNews): A Protester's Purported Account of Rape in
Detention - larasetrakian
26. Mohsen Armin – a member of the Combatant Clerics Association has
released a confession in order to make sure that if he is arrested,
any forced confessions obtained from him could be nullified. Full
confession: IRAN: Activist issues preemptive retraction of future
confession | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times
27. The Association of Defenders of Human Rights of Iran has released
a statement calling all confessions obtained from detainees unreliable
and without legal merit.
Miscellaneous
28. Iran has issued a commemorative stamp for Ahmadinejad's
reelection. The stamp bears his likeness and other symbols, including
a symbol recognizing 40 million votes.
29. Khamenei’s giant poster, greened by protesters: YouTube -
‫لکه سبزی بر صورت خامنه ای بزرگراه کردستان تهران‬‎
*Correction: Yesterday we erroneously reported that Ali Larejani had
personally dismissed that the rape of detainees had occurred in
Iranian detention centers. @sp4rrowh4wk corrected the statement and
his correction is accurate which I post here:
@sp4rrowh4wk: (Parleman, Fars and others) report [that] he said the
committee itself had found no truth to the allegations. He further
stated [that] he would turn over the evidence he had (from Karroubi,
et al) to the Majlis as a whole, making for a very public
investigation of these terrible events. Ali Larijani also asked others
to come forward with their evidence many are beginning to do so.
To Helpers
- Thank you for the generous donations to Anonymous to keep their
servers running for the month of August.
- Info on republishing the Green Brief: For Bloggers, News Sites and
Forum who want to republish the Green Brief Plesae Read! - Why We
Protest - IRAN
- Information on Tor: Tor Browser Bundle
- Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_53;[/url]
Create it if it doesn't exist.
- (A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs
- A hearty thanks to Sahar joon and S joon for helping me out with
proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the
translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as
many people as possible.
I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on
twitter. I'm a journalist and a human rights activist and NOT Iranian.
This is a compilation of news from Iran that I've gathered through
twitter and Iranian sites that were advertised on twitter. Remember,
this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons
(CC).)
These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from
Thursday, August 13 - Mordad 22.
In German: http://iran-info-dienst.blogspot.com/
In Italian: http://tinyurl.com/nody6x
Protests / Unrest
1. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Green Movement might attend
the Friday prayers. (The Friday prayers will probably be over when
most readers get this brief). There are also rumors that Mousavi will
be attending the Friday prayers. Nothing can be confirmed at this
point.
2. Reports from Evin confirm that 30 detainees have announced they
will be holding a hunger strike starting Saturday. They have warned
that the authorities need to pay attention to their plight. This was
reported to Amir Kabir News Agency by a detainee, who had just been
released from Evin. The news has also been forwarded to the Iranian
government and to the parliamentary commission, set up to assess the
condition of detainees.
International Protests / Events
3. Fatemeh Khezrie, 44, has been holding a hunger strike in front of
the US Embassy in London, with others, for the past 17 days. Her
condition is deteriorating as she has refused to take a fluid drip.
Full Story: Hunger striker Fatemeh Khezrie seriously ill outside US
embassy in London | UK news | guardian.co.uk
4. A Swiss-Iranian Green-supporter, who we affectionately call the
Epic Protester, has been protesting in front of the Iranian Embassy in
Bern for the past two months non-stop, generating quite a lot of buzz.
There is a blog dedicated to his efforts which you can reach here:
Epic Protester
And you can read his interview here: Interview with the Epic Protester
� Epic Protester (Courtesy of @Nedjarsen)
5. Amidst the stories of brutality being circulated, there are also
some heart-warming instances of human compassion. One Hearts View is
one such project that a world citizen is undertaking. Visit and
comment at: One Hearts View: Iran wanted me to bear witness...and I
have.
6. For a list of protests that are being planned in Germany, please
visit this link: [url=http://tinyurl.com/nbzacj] (English and German)
(If you, your friends or your organization are holding events,
protests or doing something else related to the Iranian election
internationally, please send me an email with details and I will give
you coverage. (Will only cost you 10 million dollars!) My email is:
***@gmail.com
Opposition
7. Partially confirmed reports suggest that the Supreme (Iranian
Dictator) Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s brother, Hadi Khamenei – an
eminent cleric in his own right and a supporter of Mousavi – has
traveled to Mashhad. Hadi Khamenei has been holding meetings with
freed detainees for the past few weeks and on his trip to Mashhad, has
reportedly held a closed door meeting with Ayatollah Mousavi Aradabeli
about the current situation in the country. Information about what
happened during the meeting has not yet been disclosed.
8. Nasrullah Torabi – a reformist MP – today asked the government to
present evidence about the alleged death of nine Basijis. He was
speaking about Karroubi’s claim that detained protesters had been
raped at detention centers when he changed the subject and asked the
government to provide documents of every allegation it has also made.
According to Torabi, if Karroubi is supposed to provide evidence about
his claims, then why was the government not providing evidence for
their claims?
9. An Aide for Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, today told
PressTV that the Ayatollah had not sent any letter of congratulations
to Ahmadinejad. As reported yesterday, an alleged letter of
congratulations to Ahmadinejad by Shirazi was being circulated for
several days which, as reported yesterday, is a FAKE.
10. Mahdi Karroubi is soon to present Ali Larejani with evidence about
the instances of the rape of detainees. Larejani said he will review
the evidence. It has also been reported that witnesses are also
willing to testify about these incidents to the parliament.
11. Karroubi stated, in an interview today, that his letter to
Rafsanjani had been sent to Hashemi Shahroudi – the Judiciary Chief –
who had ordered the contents of the letter be reviewed. Karroubi also
added that Dari Najafabadi – Iran’s Attorney General – has contacted
them and might send people to Karroubi, to ask him about the
allegations of rape and forward that information on to government
officials.
Karroubi also criticized government officials – mainly Larejani and
Burojerdi – for calling the allegations false without forming a
commission to investigate the allegations. He added that even though
people’s voices were being forcefully silenced, he would never stop
speaking the truth in this matter or other matters.
Karroubi further said that detainees had been tortured to death at
Evin and other detention centers. He also added that some prisoners
had been forced to take off their clothes and were ‘ridden’ by the
guards. (This is like riding a horse or a donkey and is considered an
act of extreme disrespect in the Middle East.)
12. There are unconfirmed reports circulating that a number of
important members of the Iranian parliament have sent a letter to
Rafsanjani asking him to review the 111th article of the constitution.
This article concerns the replacement of the Supreme (Iranian
Dictator) Leader. The letter alleges that, in his capacity as the
Supreme Leader, Khamenei is responsible for the unrests and illegal
clamp down on citizens, following the election. Full confirmation is
not yet available.
Government / International
13. Ali Larejani today blasted Western countries and said they had
interfered in Iran’s internal affairs. He specifically targeted the US
and France and called their comments on Iran’s affairs a sign of
failed diplomacy. He called upon them to assess the consequences of
their actions.
14. PressTV published a report on Khamenei today: [Leader of the
Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has advised officials
to obtain further “insight” to differentiate between friends and foes
in the aftermath of the June 12 election. “If I was to give you one
advice, it would be for you to increase your insight [into state
affairs],” the Leader said in a meeting on July 27, his remarks were
released on Wednesday.
Ayatollah Khamenei, meanwhile, urged officials present at the meeting
to abandon their personal agendas and set aside their political
affiliations to uncover the truth behind the events. “If you do not
have deep insight, if you cannot distinguish your friends, if you
cannot spot your enemies, then your attacks, dialogue and your actions
may target your friends instead of your enemies,” the Leader added.
15. Ahmad Khatami against urged the government to prosecute Mahdi
Karroubi for defamation against the regime.
16. Partially confirmed reports indicate that Syrian President Bashar
Al-Asad is soon to make a visit to Tehran.
17. Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador to Berlin on Wednesday, to
protest against the show trials of 100 people on charges related to
the post election protests and unrest. Andreas Peschke, a spokesperson
for German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said the action
was coordinated with other EU States.
18. AKI - [United Nations human rights experts voiced serious concern
on Thursday over accusations of torture and rough interrogation
tactics used against protesters jailed during the recent unrest in
Iran following its disputed presidential election. “No judicial system
can consider as valid a confession obtained as a result of harsh
interrogations or under torture,” stressed Manfred Nowak, the UN's
special rapporteur on torture. Nowak said he had brought more than 300
cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment to the attention of Iranian
authorities. The allegations came from ex-detainees as well as
relatives and lawyers of people still being held, Nowak said. The UN
rights experts said they continue to receive reports of people dying
in custody, and whose families are given false or contradictory
information regarding the cause of death.]
Arrested / Released / Killed
19. Reports indicate, so far, at least three dozen members of Iran’s
Artash – the main army besides the IRG – have been arrested during the
unrest following the election.
20. The detention of Iranian mountaineer Kazem Faridian has now been
confirmed.
21. Kianoosh Asa’s brother Kamran Asa has clarified that their other
brother, Daneshvar Asa has not been arrested. According to Kamran,
Daneshvar has been interrogated several times, but is still free.
22. Including Hamid Chobineh, reports indicate that about 20 other
detainees have been released in the past two days or so. The names of
other detainees could not be confirmed at this point.
23. The prosecution of seven Baha’i leaders will commence next week on
the 18th. The accused have been imprisoned for months and have
limited, to no access to lawyers for their defense. Here is a report
on an event from yesterday held in San Francisco to highlight their
plight and to the human rights situation in Iran. (Courtesy of
@dakster9): Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead � Evening in Support of
Iranian Baha’is in San Francisco
24. Two members of the parliament’s committee to assess the condition
of detainees have met with Tajzadeh, Abtahi and Atrianfar. According
to one of the members, Farhad Tajari, Tajzadeh is alive and well –
contrary to rumors of his death.
25. Lara Setrakian’s report about a victim of rape in Iran’s prisons.
(courtesy of @LaraABCNews): A Protester's Purported Account of Rape in
Detention - larasetrakian
26. Mohsen Armin – a member of the Combatant Clerics Association has
released a confession in order to make sure that if he is arrested,
any forced confessions obtained from him could be nullified. Full
confession: IRAN: Activist issues preemptive retraction of future
confession | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times
27. The Association of Defenders of Human Rights of Iran has released
a statement calling all confessions obtained from detainees unreliable
and without legal merit.
Miscellaneous
28. Iran has issued a commemorative stamp for Ahmadinejad's
reelection. The stamp bears his likeness and other symbols, including
a symbol recognizing 40 million votes.
29. Khamenei’s giant poster, greened by protesters: YouTube -
‫لکه سبزی بر صورت خامنه ای بزرگراه کردستان تهران‬‎
*Correction: Yesterday we erroneously reported that Ali Larejani had
personally dismissed that the rape of detainees had occurred in
Iranian detention centers. @sp4rrowh4wk corrected the statement and
his correction is accurate which I post here:
@sp4rrowh4wk: (Parleman, Fars and others) report [that] he said the
committee itself had found no truth to the allegations. He further
stated [that] he would turn over the evidence he had (from Karroubi,
et al) to the Majlis as a whole, making for a very public
investigation of these terrible events. Ali Larijani also asked others
to come forward with their evidence many are beginning to do so.
To Helpers
- Thank you for the generous donations to Anonymous to keep their
servers running for the month of August.
- Info on republishing the Green Brief: For Bloggers, News Sites and
Forum who want to republish the Green Brief Plesae Read! - Why We
Protest - IRAN
- Information on Tor: Tor Browser Bundle
- Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_53;[/url]
Create it if it doesn't exist.
- (A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs
- A hearty thanks to Sahar joon and S joon for helping me out with
proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the
translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as
many people as possible.