Iran

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!"

Spray cans in Tehran – risky but increasingly popular

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:03:41 +0100

The most famous piece of Iranian graffiti is probably the deathly Statue of Liberty painted on the wall of the former US Embassy in Tehran. There's far more to street art than anti-American paintings however, and in the past two years, it's become more popular than ever.

Here are a few examples, sent to us by one of our Observers in Tehran, Alireza.

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.

First images of Tehran clashes

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:36:46 +0100

The opposition movement born in the wake of Iran’s disputed presidential election in June is back on the streets of Tehran today, marring the anti-American celebrations organised to mark the 30th anniversary of the storming of the US embassy in 1979.

These are the first images to come from the capital. We’re updating this post as we get more footage. Please be aware that the time indicated is the time we publish the document, not the time it happened.

Send us your images.

Better than Superman: Super Bassiji

Team Observers — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:14:05 +0100

Our Observer Omid Habibinia sent us this South Park-style cartoon, which parodies the "superpowers" of Iran's Bassiji paramilitary forces, and the "help" they bring to the population.

According to him, it has spread like wildfire on Iranian blogs and Facebook over the past week, after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei officially merged the Bassiji with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, giving them an even greater role in the monitoring and repression of the population's "un-Islamic" behaviour.

Give blood! We don't...

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:55:16 +0200

Hard to encourage people to give blood when you're not willing to do it yourself. That's the story of two Iranian officials, after journalists released footage of them making fake donations.

The director and an employee of a blood transfusion centre in Yazd, central Iran, decided to get local film crews to document them giving blood as a way of getting others to do the same. They didn't actually want to give up any blood however. But the result, seen in this video, probably got them more attention in any case.

Video posted on IranNegah.com

Thinking through the Iranian nuclear crisis

Team Observers — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:52:51 +0200

Photo:"azrainman" on Flickr.

One of our Israeli Observers, Joel Schalit, sent us his analysis of the recent developments of the tough Iran-Israel negotiations.

React to this view — in a constructive, argumentative way.

Confronted by renewed talk of weapons of mass destruction, of aggressive United Nations inspections and the threat of crippling sanctions, even the most casual of observers of Mideast politics began to feel a sense of déjà vu.

The rhetoric sounded eerily reminiscent of that which led to 2003 invasion of Iraq, and over a dozen years’ worth of violence prior to it, when the Persian Gulf state was forced to trade oil for food, American fighters patrolled its skies, UN investigators turned the country upside down looking for chemical weaponry, and more than 1.5 million Iraqis are reported to have died.

History repeating itself?

Yet, on September 25, two weeks after the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the “war on terror”, US President Barack Obama, flanked by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Premier Gordon Brown, delivered a severe warning to Tehran that just as well could have been given to Iran's next door neighbour a decade before: Desist from producing nuclear weapons and allow UN officials to inspect your nuclear facilities or face the consequences. Though the American leader failed to mention Iraq, of course, the parallel was obvious. History, it seemed, was repeating itself. Again.

Delivered a week before a hotly anticipated meeting between Iran and the P5+1 – the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany – to discuss the Islamic state's nuclear program, President Obama's speech was clearly strategic.

Reassuring the Jews

Following the disclosure of the existence of a second Iranian nuclear plant, purportedly designed for military purposes, two days before Iran demonstrated new ballistic missiles on Yom Kippur, the US leader's uncharacteristically threatening language was meant to be as comforting as it was intended to sow fear. If Jews wanted reassurance that Barack “Hussein” Obama was indeed pro-Israeli, they need look no further.

So prominent in the headlines has been Israel's concerns about Iran's nuclear program that it is impossible to mistake to whom the American president is signalling.

No US leader has been subject to such intense and prolonged attempts to discredit his standing amongst world Jewry than Barack Obama. Reviled by the Israeli right for demanding a freeze to Jewish settlement building in the Occupied Territories, incited against by their Republican counterparts in the United States, derided for being a secret Muslim, Obama has been the target of fervent efforts to turn him into public enemy number one of the Jews.

Obama’s taking such a strong stand, his sounding exactly like Bush at his “pro-Israel” best, make it impossible to imagine that the American leader won't repair some of the damage he has sustained at the hands of critics who charge that he favours Arabs.

Unintended consequences

The problem, unfortunately, with emphasizing positions such as this is that they have the ironic consequence of reinforcing the false notion that it is US Jews and Israelis who drive American foreign policy, not the interests of the American people as a whole, when in fact US posturing towards Iran (and Iraq before that) has always been an expression of a plurality of domestic and foreign influences, of which Israel is only a part.

Unfortunately for those who fear the worst, who expect a repetition of the Iraqi tragedy in Iran under liberal auspices, the linkage between Jewish concerns and the direction of American policy are their own eternal indictment.

As long as the so-called Israel lobby is in charge, the results will be the same. Never mind the fact that Israeli interests might correspond with those of other US allies. Ignore the possibility that, for example, even though Saudi Arabia and Israel are technically at war, the two countries feel equally threatened by Iran and are equally proactive in trying to contain it. The only difference is that Israel's efforts have a much larger and more dramatic media footprint, whereas Saudi Arabia's are more subtle, attempting to buy out, for example, Iran's Russian arms suppliers, as well as quietly working with the US on its diplomatic and military initiatives.

As has been repeatedly disclosed in recent years, the entire Middle East is anxious about Iran. Whether that fear is explained in terms of Tehran's growing military clout or its supposed ambition to become the leader of the Islamic world, nearly all of Iran's neighbours have chosen to align themselves with Europe and the United States.

The United States, in turn, has attempted to return the favour, offering its own defence guarantees in tandem with those offered to Israel. While one may question the staying power of whatever alliances emerge from this, not to mention America's own motivations in cultivating them, we are left with a far more complex portrait of the forces helping determine Washington's Middle East policy than we are normally accustomed to hearing.

Is Iran reasonable?

Would it be any wonder, then, that the Iranians would choose to arm themselves so heavily and consider adopting nuclear weaponry? Would it seem unreasonable to assume that Iran would then single Israel as its primary foe (at least rhetorically) rather than the United States? If you want to point out the alien character of America's presence in the Mideast, the best way is by scapegoating the Jewish state.

Indeed, Israel has always been the best road to Washington. All Tehran has to do is push the right button: Deny the validity of the Holocaust, show off new missiles on important Jewish holidays, transfer increasingly sophisticated weaponry to Hezbollah and Hamas. Like the threat of sanctions, Iran's theatrics are familiar and well rehearsed.

This is why the breakthroughs announced this morning in Geneva are well worth paying attention to: sitting down for in-depth talks with the United States for the first time since 1979, agreeing to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect Iran's newly disclosed nuclear facility in Qom and to have a substantial percentage of its uranium enriched by Russia and France. America and Iran broke enormous new ground.

Even if all of the relevant parties fail to deliver, the precedent is still truly surprising, especially considering how routine and moribund their relations have become. As much as we legitimately fear a return to the past, it indicates that it still might be possible to escape it.

Iranian girl followed and arrested at her front door

Team Observers — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:18:01 +0200

These images were sent to us by our Observer Omid Habibinia. He says the footage was filmed on September 18 in the town of Rasht. It allegedly shows security forces detain a protester at the entrance of her building after having followed her home. Her family and neighbours appear to struggle to help her before being pushed back by the police.

Protests resume in Tehran

Julien — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:13:56 +0200

Tens of thousands of Iranian demonstrators have defied a warning by the authorities not to turn an annual pro-Palestinian rally into street protests against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Clashes involving protesters, security forces and Ahmadinejad supporters have broken out. [Post updated throughout the day]

Amir (not his real name) is a student in Tehran. He is taking part in the opposition rally.

Tens of thousands of supporters of [opposition leader] Mirhossein Mousavi are marching in the streets. There have been clashes between opposition members and Ahmadinejad supporters, who are backed by the Basij [a pro-government militia]. The police stepped in, but Ahmadinejad’s backers came looking for us. There will be more protests in other neighbourhoods of Tehran today."

Posted at 9 pm:

Motorbikes set alight in the streets of Tehran. Video published on Youtube by omid2006.

Published at 5.19 pm:

Video published on Youtube by greenshler.

Posted at 4.35pm:

The loudspeaker says: "Death to the USA. Death to Israel." The crowd reply: "Death to Russia" (referring to Russia's perceived support of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad). Video published here.

Photos posted by Mousavi's wife on her facebook account at 3.32 pm:

Mirhossein Mousavi at the rally.

Mohammad Khatami, a former Iranian president, joins demonstrators.

Posted at 3.20 pm:

Video sent to FRANCE 24.

Posted at 2.55 pm:

Posted on YouTube by madyariran.

Posted at 2.40 pm:

Published on this Facebook page.

Posted on YouTube by aryanbigbang12345

Posted on YouTube by onlymehdi. Demonstrators chant "Karoubi, Karoubi", after the name of a reformist candidate in the disputed June 12 presidential election.

Published on Facebook by Freedom Messenger - Ghasedane AZADI

MP investigating abuse jokes about torture prison, live on TV

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:33:20 +0200

Despite months of mass unrest, dozens of deaths and alleged rape and torture at the hands of the Iranian authorities, the MPs dealing with the issues seem to find the whole thing utterly hilarious.

The Iranian parliament, known as the Majlis, went to the polls on Thursday to vote on each member of President Ahmadinejad's suggested cabinet. The event was broadcast live on major TV channels and radio stations including IRIB1, Press TV, Farhang Radio and Iran Radio. As the MPs queued up to cast their ballots, some of them began making jokes about certain honourable members being too lazy or too busy chatting to get up. They then moved on to the apparently uproarious issue of fraud, referring to reports of areas where 120% of the population voted (which they blame on demographics inaccuracies). But there was one MP who took it a step too far. Kazem Jalali, who is currently leading a parliamentary investigation into human rights abuses following the June 12 election, shouted over to an opposition MP to tell him that, if he said anything about fraud at this vote, he would be sent off to the notorious Kahrizak prison in south Tehran - which he himself is currently investigating following its closure last month due to the alleged torture, rape, beating and death of detainees.