The resolve of the Iranian Protestors is not Dead,
Hot Coals are GLOWING Red under Uprising Ashes,
Syria as Iran’s Close Ally knows much more about It,
And it may be main reason Syria is anxious for Peace!
I’ve been anxiously waiting for False Peace since 2004,
And am hoping weakening of Iran will lead to its Arrival,
4 excerpts following SEEM encouraging For a BEGINNING
Of it to arrive at some point in time Between 2010 & 2015!
August 1, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Begin Excerpt 1 from Jerusalem Post
Mass trial against Iranian reformists begins in Teheran
August 1, 2009
AP and jpost.com staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
Opposition political activists and protesters stood trial in Teheran Saturday on charges of rioting and conspiring against the ruling system in the country’s first trial following the disputed presidential election,
Iran’s state media reported.
The official IRNA news agency said the charges against the defendants included attacking military and government buildings, having links with armed opposition groups and conspiring against the ruling system.
The semiofficial Fars news agency said there were more than 100 defendants at the court.
Among the defendants were several prominent reformist opposition activists including former vice president Mohammat Ali Abtahi, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, former vice speaker of parliament Behzad Nabavi, former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh and leader of the biggest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Mohsen Mirdamadi.
Pictures from the courtroom showed a thin-looking Abtahi and a grim Mirdamadi in prison uniform sitting in the front row. More than a hundred defendants could be seen sitting in the packed courtroom, many of them handcuffed but without prison uniforms.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched in days of street protests after the June 12 election, denouncing official results that declared incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.
Iran’s opposition maintains that Ahmadinejad stole the vote from opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi by engaging in massive fraud, but its demonstrations have been ruthlessly suppressed leaving hundreds, possibly more, in prison.
State media didn’t provide further details about the trial, and there was no information on when it would end or when a verdict would be expected.
Iran’s hard-liners have drawn parallels between Mousavi’s campaign and the “velvet revolution” – an allusion to the peaceful overthrow of the communist government in the former Czechoslovakia.
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki, who has carried on in his position from the previous administration, accused Western countries for the upheaval in the country, singling out Britain.
In a speech broadcast on Iranian state radio Mottaki did not offer evidence to back up his explanation, but said that the UK’s meddling in Iranian affairs was the “worst.” His comments echoed accusations made by the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who shortly after the election also accused Britain of interfering in Iran’s affairs.
About a dozen Iranian employees of the British Embassy in Teheran were detained after Khamenei criticized the country, but they were released after several days.
Begin Excerpt 2 from Jerusalem Post
‘Iranian opposition still resolute’
July 28 , 2009
Sabina Amidi
, Special to The Jerusalem Post , THE JERUSALEM POST
While a sense of calm appears to have washed over the streets
of Teheran, oppositional and anti-regime forces quietly continue to gain momentum, according to sources in Teheran.
In recent days, mullahs opposed to the regime’s post-presidential election crackdown on its opponents have attempted to visit inmates at the capital’s Evin prison and other detention facilities, pleading for their release on behalf of concerned families who have not received word from detained loved ones.
They have had some success.
“There are cracks in the regime’s security forces and they are doing everything in their power to keep such discrepancies secret,” said one source in Teheran.
“The government wants to scare the people, making them believe that it has won. But it is a matter of time until the truth comes out.
Soldiers and police officers have been arrested for helping ‘the terrorists.’
“Mullahs are standing outside detention centers praying, and on many occasions pressing successfully for the release of those detained. They are also holding special services for those who have been wrongfully detained. On the other hand, many more opponents of the regime are arrested every day.”
In a telephone interview, another Teheran native, with strong ties to the sacred Shi’ite city of Mashhad, told this reporter of the active participation of religious figures throughout Iran in what amounts to opposition to the regime.
“In the avenues and sidewalks, mullahs have led afternoon prayers outside with photos of those who have been arrested in front of them. On one of these days, the mullah leading the namoz (Shi’ite prayers) was attacked by plainclothes militiamen during a peace service staged in front of a security force headquarters. However, other security force personnel ran out of the building to stop the violent and disgraceful assault.
Then, the plainclothes animals were beaten by their own superiors and were apprehended.”
He also went on to say that “uncooperative” soldiers have been another target of the hardliners’ crackdown.
“There have been many young conscripts who have been either threatened or temporarily detained for not following orders… These boys have been forced to work closely with the basiji [militiamen] on many occasions [in the bitter aftermath of the June presidential vote], even though such a union had never been done before. And if the drafted soldiers do not perform their duties, they will be arrested and their passports will be taken away. And if they don’t have their passports, they can never get married and cannot get another one issued for the rest of their lives.”
According to this source, “it is hellish right now” for many conscripts who come from good families and are college graduates.
“Even those who are stationed in cities close to their families are not allowed
to leave their compounds. And for what I have heard, they are given guard duties in the various detention facilities in Iran. Something that I will say again is unusual.
“Some are also required to extract information on the prisoners. In some cases, those in charge will intimidate the young conscripts by saying that they will go after their families if they don’t make a certain inmate talk. However, the conscripts are said to have shown mercy to the detainees, regardless of the risk. For instance, feeding them, refraining from torture, and changing files to lighten their sentence and their alleged crimes.”
This source spoke of a worrying shift in power within the security forces.
“Men who have been recently recruited by the government to suppress demonstrations are given higher ranks for their loyalty.
This has caused a shift in the nation’s paramilitary structure; the old are being replaced by the new.”
Still, said this source, not everything is always the way it seems: “We might see a soldier beat demonstrators on the street, but he will later let them go when no one is looking… Under what appears to be ashes, a fire is growing.”
Two Excerpts follow from Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Daily Alert
July 28, 2009
Begin Excerpt 3 from the UK Times
Mousavi Steps Up Pressure on Ahmadinejad
Martin Fletcher
In an unusually aggressive speech published on his website, Iran’s opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi accused the regime of a catalogue of crimes and abuses. He warned: “The more people you arrest, the more the movement will spread.” One analyst in Tehran said: “Mousavi’s smelling blood. He sees the President as wounded.” (Times-UK)
Begin Excerpt 4 from New York Times
Ahmadinejad Seen as Increasingly Vulnerable Since Re-election – Robert F. Worth and Nazila Fathi
President Ahmadinejad dismissed his intelligence minister on Sunday and his culture minister resigned, the latest fallout of a bitter dispute among conservatives that has exposed Ahmadinejad’s vulnerability in the aftermath of last month’s disputed election. (New York Times)
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