Reformists held after Iran riots

[Turborama]

Source: Al Jazeera English

Several leaders of a group which supported defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi have been detained following violent protests over the results of Friday's presidential election.

Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran, fighting running battles with riot police, after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the conservative incumbent, was declared the winner of the polls.

At least four of the main leaders of the Islamic Iran Participation Front party have been arrested, according to party sources.

Al Jazeera's Alireza Ronaghi, reporting from Tehran, said that the official IRNA news agency was reporting that a committee led by two senior supporters of Mousavi was organising the riots. "Whether this is really an honest outburst of anger against the outcome of the election we don't know yet, but what we see is a major crackdown on reformists and their leaders," he said.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/200961445310869719.html

[IndianaGreen]

1. Iran rounds up more than 100 reformists

Sunday, 14 June 2009

Brother of former president Khatami among the detained

Iran rounds up more than 100 reformists

TEHRAN (AlArabiya.net, Agencies)

Iran has rounded up at least 100 reformists , among them Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of former reformist president Mohammad Khatami, a party member said on Sunday, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in a deeply-disputed vote sparked riots across Tehran.

"They were taken from their homes last night," leading reformist Mohammad Ali Abtahi said, adding that more arrests were expected.

The arrested were members of Iran's leading reformist party Mosharekat.

Ahmadinejad appeared on television on Saturday to declare his landslide victory over moderate challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi was "fair" after thousands of angry opposition supporters took to the streets in protest at alleged vote-rigging.

Iranian security forces have arrested at least 10 leaders of two reformist groups who backed ex-premier Mousavi in Friday's vote, an official from one group told AFP.

"At least 10 members of the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Islamic Revolution Mujahedeen Organization were arrested yesterday," said Rajab Ali Mazroei, a member of the front.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/14/75900.html

This will not end well.

[Alamuti Lotus]

2. No surprise there, before the election Mousavi threatened violence if he lost

[SkyDaddy7]

4. He did?

Not that I don't believe you but do you have links to the media report on this?

[EFerrari]

3. I'm afraid to turn on the news.

:(

[rainbow4321]

6. Oh, don't worry, our news isn't covering any of this

It's mostly coming out of Iran via Twitter. Late last night there were some Iranians twittering about Iran's Intel Ministry police storming a university that students had taken over...the troops entered the female dorms and trashed the place, injuring students. Tear gas was being used.
Not that you could find ANY of that on the cable news networks.
Meanwhile, over in the trending topic section of Twitter, #cnnfail had climbed to the #3 spot from people on Twitter calling out CNN for their lack of coverage. Lots of comments like "maybe if there was a missing blonde over in Iran, the country would actually get some mention on CNN" and "Iranian revolution and what do we get on CNN, the Palin vs Letterman story, Miss Cali being ousted, FCC getting phonecalls about the digital switch".
CNN was getting trashed so bad that their journalists were on their twitter accounts last night trying to defend their lack of coverage.

Needless to say, when CNN did give any kind of mini report, they referred to Iranian facebook entries and avoided mentioning all the Twitter entries (couldn't have viewers go to twitter and see #cnnfail as being #3 on the twitter trend list!)

Here are some twitter accounts (others are being posted in GD:P forum) to follow for the news that is not being shown on cable news:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23iranelection

http://tehranbureau.com/2009/06/14/sunday-iran-alerts/



Here is the cnnfail twittering
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23cnnfail

[ohio2007]

9. A minor problem with twitter is that its like Wikipedia..... only on crack

You only know what they are saying.

hubbit: RT @iran09: police is making students to walk and jump on the broken glassed in U of Isfahan dorms!!! #iranelection #humanrights

....

DMAKron: RT @kayoungche: RT @Elizrael @iran09: Police surrounded students n Tehran U, shooting evrbody w/ plastic bullets,


......


AntoniaZ: #IranElection: BREAKING NEWS: AL-ARABIA NEWS CHANNEL OFFICES IN TEHRAN CLOSED FROM TODAY FOR ONE WEEK ON ORDERS FROM GOVT (via @potent_one)

You really don't know who is actually where reporting first hand observations.

But, I wouldn't trust the mullahs MSM for accurate accountability in times like these that is for sure.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Syrian President Bashar Assad sent a message of congratulation to his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his reelection as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.





World Leaders Hail Ahmadinejad's Reelection
TEHRAN (FNA)- A large number of the world countries felicitated Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his reelection in the June 12 presidential election
snip




http://english.farsnews.com/

Guess it's best to surf sites such as
AL-ARABIA NEWS CHANNEL
for example

[ohio2007]

5. Iran reformists held after street clashes (video at link)

Up to 100 members of Iranian reformist groups have been arrested, accused of orchestrating violence after the disputed presidential election result.Backers of defeated reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi were rounded up overnight, reports said, including the brother of ex-President Khatami.

There were reports of new small-scale clashes on Sunday ahead of a planned victory rally by President Ahmadinejad.

snip

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8099218.stm

[GoesTo11]

7. So will Iranians now show courage or cowardice?

With leadership of the reform organizations being arrested, it's time for those who haven't been arrested to decide whether they are too afraid to challenge the crimes - in which case they will get the government they deserve - or if this is a bridge too far for the mullahs. Stay tuned! I'm betting on the mullahs - they're more ruthless.

[ohio2007]

8. Evian prison is a bad place to be. With international pressure "You can check out anytime you like

but..."