Ahmadinejad allies charged with sorcery

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Close allies of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been accused of using supernatural powers to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Several people said to be close to the president and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being "magicians" and invoking djinns (spirits).

Ayandeh, an Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds".

The arrests come amid a growing rift between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei which has prompted several MPs to call for the president to be impeached.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/05/ahmadinejad-allies-charged-with-sorcery

[BeHereNow]

1. Truly bizarre...

"a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds".

WTF?

BHN

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. Someone get a scale and a duck!

[Baclava]

15. ha ha.....what the hell are they smoking?

I bet the High Council gets the best hash.

[brooklynite]

3. If only someone could cast a spell to make the accusers stop accusing them...

[asjr]

4. OMG, where is Ali Baba when you need him?

[jpak]

5. Koo koo. Koo koo

yup

[Adsos Letter]

6. Medieval. n/t

[rfranklin]

7. Monty Python: "She has a wart!"

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/55fc026024/monty-python-shes-a-witch-from-montypythonfan

[iandhr]

8. Whats the power struggle about?

Is Ahmadinejad not crazy enough for the Ayatollah anymore?

[Kber]

11. It's a classic power struggle over, well, power.

snip
Conservatives believe that the increasing tension between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei stems from the growing influence of Mashaei, who is being groomed by Ahmadinejad as his possible successor.

Mashaei, whose daughter married Ahmadinejad's son, has become the most controversial figure in Iran, provoking harsh criticism from conservatives by favouring a greater cultural openness and opposing greater clerical involvement in the regime.

Mashaei, who champions a nationalist narrative of Iran's history, was himself forced to step down as Iran's first vice-president in July 2009 when Khamenei intervened in an unprecedented move and said in a letter that "the regime's expediency" required Mashaei to go. Ahmadinejad, to the surprise of many, then appointed Mashaei as his chief-of-staff instead.

Khamenei has tried to play down his confrontation with Ahmadinejad in recent days. In an official visit to the southern province of Fars last Saturday, he praised the achievements made by Ahmadinejad's government and told the crowd he only intervenes in the government's affairs when he feels that "the expediency is ignored". He added: "I won't allow as long as I'm alive, an iota of deviation of this massive movement of the nation."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/27/iran-president-supreme-leader-rift

Safe to say that in this case the enemy of our enemy is still not our friend.

[sufrommich]

9. Well, I guess those muggles are about to learn the hard way.

Do not mess with Slytherin!

[no limit]

10. Easy way to know if they are guilty or not, simply throw them off a cliff and see if they fly

[Canuckistanian]

12. A picture of Ghaffari

[AngryAmish]

13. It looks like our ratfucking them is working

Stuxnet, for example. Try to explain to a nutter fundy like Khamenei that a bunch of guys sitting in the US or Israel at their computers could never physically step into Iran yet totally cripple their nuke plant. The easier explanation is that it is magic.

Or it could just be a political excuse.

[Zorra]

14. More RW wacko fundie fanatics doing their nasty thing nt

[sarcasmo]

16. Is Harry Potter an allie of Mahmoud?

[flamingdem]

17. Sourcery... and imagine these are govt people in charge of nuke power, etc. nt

[fascisthunter]

18. goofey

[Turborama]

19. Ahmadinejad allies charged with sorcery

Source: The Guardian

Iranian power struggle between president and supreme leader sees arrests and claims of undue influence of chief of staff
Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Thursday 5 May 2011 19.23 BST

Close allies of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been accused of using supernatural powers to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Several people said to be close to the president and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being "magicians" and invoking djinns (spirits).

Ayandeh, an Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds".

The arrests come amid a growing rift between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei which has prompted several MPs to call for the president to be impeached.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/05/ahmadinejad-allies-charged-with-sorcery

[xchrom]

20. Eavesdropping on American politics? Nt

[sakabatou]

21. *facepalm*

[TheWraith]

22. Indeed.

This sort of shit is supposed to be the province of third world countries, and even THERE it's supposed to be laughed at.

[nolabear]

23. You beat me to it. How do you deal with that?

I mean, ethically and respectfully. Or just send Trump's hair over to put a mojo on them. I'm pretty sure it's sentient and very powerful in the black arts.

[EC]

24. Gee a power struggle between

two rulers...both of them bad. Whoever wins will be bad.

[DRex]

25. We can only hope for a Hamlet style ending to their struggle....

where they all conveniently kill each other.

[Art_from_Ark]

27. Mothra vs. Battra

No matter who wins, everyone else loses

[AtheistCrusader]

26. No less believable than any other aspect of religion.

Sounds about like the pope having a hotline to god.

[Tx4obama]

28. Breaking: Ahmadinejad to resign

A few minutes ago on May 5, 2011, Arab TV announced that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini requested Iran's President Ahmadinejad to step down from his post. This has not been confirmed nor verified by Western media as yet, however, it has been reported that several of his close aides are already under arrest.

http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/breaking-ahmadinejad-to-resign

[laconicsax]

29. BWAAAHAHAHAHAHA!

:rofl:

[dipsydoodle]

30. I can only assume the Guardian published this

because its an otherwise blank news week.

[WatsonT]

31. We are an interesting species

Well practiced in insanity.