Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Video: Pro-regime university speaker shouted down by students

Team Observers — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:11:45 +0100

Pro-regime speakers are regularly invited by University Bassij to speak before students - but since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election in June, they face increasingly hostile audiences. On November 16, one of Ahmadinejad's staunchest supporters was booed to silence with calls of "murderer" and "liar, go away!" But students often pay the price for their outspokenness.

Mullah Hamid Rasaei, a prominent Member of Parliament and one of Ahmadinejad's most vocal supporters, was invited to speak at the Imam Khomeini University of Qazvim, a town near Tehran. A few minutes into his speech, however, he is forced to abandon the floor after being drowned out by the slogans and shouts of angry students. He tries to raise his voice and rebuke the crowd for insulting him, but his words only fuel the student's anger. Cries of "Students will die but never give up!" ring out, along with slogans of "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to Russia!" (many opponents of Ahmadinejad believe that his government is being propped up by Russia). Meanwhile, Bassij event organisers shout back "Death to America!"

The revolt of the banknotes

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:50:27 +0100

When they're not out on the streets demonstrating, anti-government activists spend their time finding other ways to inconvenience the authorities. Their most recent offensive involves banknotes and green pens.

The arrested protester that got away

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:01:08 +0200

As Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received the official endorsement of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday, the crackdown on opposition protesters continued in the streets of Tehran. Our Iranian Observers tell us that the police are still arresting demonstrators. One, however, already handcuffed, managed to escape.

In preparation for Ahmadinejad's inauguration the authorities banned all gatherings on Monday. The time and place of the ceremony was kept secret but protesters turned out anyway in the Vali-e-Asr and Vanak districts.

This footage was filmed in the Saei Park in the Vali-e-Asr district of Tehran. According to our Observer Omid Habibinia, the bare-chested and handcuffed protester we see was freed by other demonstrators after he had been arrested by the police during the rally, during which he lost his T-shirt.

The protesters are now attempting to undo the handcuffs without drawing attention to themselves. One shouts "get him a T-shirt!" before adding "don't mess up, I'm trying to get the handcuffs off". At the end of the video we see a woman arrive with something for him to wear.

Omid Habibinia sent us this video. Blurring by FRANCE 24.

Operation blackout with the help of hair straighteners

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:43:00 +0200

So brutal was the post-election crackdown that anti-Ahmadinejad protesters no longer dare to organise outdoor demonstrations. They have not given up the fight, however. One of our Observers in the country, Sara, took part in "operation blackout" on Tuesday. Armed with an iron and hair strengtheners, she tried, along with many others, to cut the president's televised speech with an electricity blackout.

Exclusive eyewitness report from Iran: “Protesters are terrified”

Julien — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:46:44 +0200

Iranian public television claims that 12 protesters have been killed since the beginning of the post-electoral crisis. This number is impossible to verify independently because foreign journalists are barred from covering anti-government demonstrations (read the Reporters without Borders report here). Defying censorship, one of our Observers in Teheran managed to send us an exclusive video testimony on the effects of police repression on the opposition movement.

Neda, a coveted icon

Julien — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:58:23 +0200

Image posted on the site "We Are All Neda".

Neda’s blood-stained face and frozen stare has come to symbolise the violent clashes between protestors and police or militia forces in Iran. She has become the icon of democracy advocates opposed to the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But the authorities are trying hard to break her aura.

Neda, 27, was a philosophy student in Tehran. She was shot in the chest and killed during last Saturday’s protests in the city. Footage of her death was captured on a cellphone camera and were reportedly posted online on Facebook by Hamed R, an Iranian blogger living in the Netherlands.

The circumstances of Neda’s death have been at the centre of a heated debate on the Iranian web. According to her fiancé, Caspian Makan, who spoke on the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera, Neda was not even protesting that day. She was stuck in traffic with her music instructor due to the protests, and got out of the car to observe the protests when she was shot (see video below). Makan cites eyewitnesses as saying that Neda was deliberately targeted by Basiji militiamen, who theoretically do not have the right to bear arms. According to Makan, Neda was neither pro-Mousavi nor pro-Ahmadinejad, although she did take part in several pro-democracy rallies.

Several other far-fetched versions have circulated on official Iranian media. The Guardian quoted Iranian newspaper Jomhouri Islami as reporting that Neda was shot by a sniper from the People’s Moudjahiddin group, to reinforce anti-government propaganda.

The pro-Ahmadinejad newspaper Javan claimed that expelled BBC correspondent Jon Leyne orchestrated the shooting to enrich his coverage of the protests…

Authorities have not yet opened an official investigation into Neda’s death. She was reportedly buried on Sunday in the outskirts of Tehran, the authorities having apparently refused a public funeral or memorial for her in the capital.

Wall Street Journal says Siemens-Nokia helps Iran tap Internet users: exaggeration?

Julien — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:08:31 +0200

According to the Wall Street Journal, a joint venture between mobile phone companies Nokia and Siemens built a "monitoring centre" within the Iranian government’s telecom monopoly enabling authorities to inspect and intercept Web traffic.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article reported that Nokia-Siemens' system uses "deep packet inspection" technology, which allows cyberpolice to open packets of information sent online to censor or supervise Web users. The respected US broadsheet quoted a Nokia-Siemens spokesman as confirming that the company provided this technology, adding that "if you sell networks, you also, intrinsically, sell the capability to intercept any communication that runs over them".

The Wall Street Journal article was cited by dozens of US media outlets, and has begun making waves on social networking websites. Several groups on Facebook have begun calling for a Nokia and Siemens product boycott.

FRANCE 24 contacted Ben Roome, the spokesperson of the joint venture also reached by WSJ. He categorically denies that his company provided Iran with any type of technology enabling authorities to intercept or filter Internet content. According to Roome, Nokia-Siemens sold Iran a system which solely provides the capability to conduct voice monitoring of local calls on its fixed and mobile network. However, Roome remained evasive when asked whether Nokia's technology enabled Iran to intercept and block SMS messages.

The sale of a phone-tapping technology to Iran by Nokia and Siemens is therefore confirmed. It doesn't seem, however, that the European companies participated in the creation of an internet surveillance centre, as the WSJ seems to imply.

Our Observer in Tehran lifts the lid on Web censorship

Team Observers — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:57:07 +0200

Iranian Internet has slowed down massively over the last ten days, and is down to 5Kb/s. More and more websites and social networking sites (Facebook, etc) are filtered. One of our Observers, Sara M. (pseudo), a student in Tehran, managed to send us a short video in which she shows how state censorship works on the Web and on text-messaging services.

To find out more about censorship of the Web, we recommend this article in the Wall Street Journal. It explains how filtering technologies used in Iran were developed by European companies Siemens and Nokia.

Tehran: “I’m too scared to leave the house”

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:39:47 +0200

The day after Ayatollah Ali Khameni's speech in Tehran, thousands of demonstrators poured onto the streets of the Iranian capital, despite being told not to. The response from the authorities was severe. One of our Observers there gives his account of what was possibly the most violent day since the start of the protests.

Iranians react to Khamenei's speech: “People here obey the rules”

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:10:52 +0200

In his first public address since the demonstrations began, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that the government will not surrender to the protesters. Two of our Observers, one a supporter and the other a critic of Ahmadinejad, give their opinions on the speech.

A few extracts from the speech:

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

"Street challenge is not acceptable, this is challenging democracy after the elections."

"The legal structure in this country does not allow vote-rigging."

"If some people have doubts and evidence it should be dealt with through legal ways - only through legal ways. I will never accept illegal innovations."

"Arm-wrestling in the street must stop, I want everyone to put an end to this. If they don't stop this ... they will be held accountable for all of this."

"Enemies try through various media -- many of which belong to the Zionists -- to make people believe that there is a fight between supporters of the opposition and the Islamic establishment. They have no right to say that, that is not true."