"Green Cyber Demonstration": World Solidarity with the Iranian Protestors
INTERNATIONAL CYBER-DEMONSTRATION IN SUPPORT OF THE IRANIAN PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT
One aim: unite the world’s citizens of all origins, nationalities and horizons who believe in democracy and Human Rights, and who wish to express their support for the pro-democracy movement in Iran.
This initiative is completely independent, non-political and non-religious.
How to participate
- Join our group on facebook, flickr, add us on twitter & myspace
- make our logo your profile image on these social websites
- write a message of support as your headline & on our page(s)
- inform & send links to your friends & contacts
- write about this event in your blogs & websites, feature our image & add a link to us
- contribute to our webpage with comments, slogans, photos/videos/songs etc.
The pro-democracy protestors in Iran are isolated and vulnerable. A strong turn-out here is a means for us to support them in their battle & remind governments & official international bodies around the world to act in the best interest of these freedom-fighters.Iran has ratified both the Declaration of Human Rights (signed 1948) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (signed 1968). Let us show the world that human dignity and Human Rights are values that transcend frontiers, and that our leaders should use as much energy in defending Human Rights as they do the nuclear issue.
“A dictatorship is more dangerous than a nuclear weapon.”
Context
As a result of the fraudulent Iranian presidential elections of the 12th of June 2009, millions of people took to the streets of Iran to protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; demanding a new and democratic election. These brave protestors, comprising all generations, demonstrated pacifically but faced harsh repression from government forces resulting in beatings, deaths, arrests, torture, forced confessions and mock show-trials. Despite this repression, the protest movement has continued to grow and is known as the ‘Green Movement’ (read below: ‘Why Green?’).In spite of this repression, the pro-democracy protestors in Iran have continued their mobilisation; taking to the streets, infiltrating official marches and finding new means to express themselves such as via the internet - despite the huge risks, including for their lives (two young men arrested before the elections,Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, were executed on the 28thJanuary 2010, with more feared).
Why Green?
Green is the symbolic colour under which the pro-democracy protestors march in Iran - it is traditionally the colour of hope. Although the colour of the presidential candidate Mussavi in June’s fraudulent elections, the protestors have since made this colour their own and are commonly called the ‘Green Movement’, which has grown to become a spontaneous independent citizen’s movement demanding democracy for Iran. Green is now the colour of all those who march for democracy in Iran.
Iran and Syria put on show of unity in alliance Clinton finds 'troubling'
Ahmadinejad and Assad accuse the Americans of trying to dominate Middle East
Ian Black, Middle East Editor, Guardian.co.uk, 25 February 2010
Ahmadinejad and al-Assad [EPA]
"The presidents of Syria and Iran put on show of unity":Link to video
Iran and Syria put on a show of defiant unity today, scorning US efforts to break up their alliance and warning Israel not to risk attacking either of them.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, flew to Damascus for talks with Bashar al-Assad days after the US appointed an ambassador to Syria after a five-year gap – a move seen by some as the start of a diplomatic thaw.
"The Americans want to dominate the region but they feel Iran and Syria are preventing that," Ahmadinejad said during a press conference with Assad.
"We tell them that instead of interfering in the region's affairs to pack their things and leave. If the Zionist entity wants to repeats its past errors, its death will be inevitable."
Assad made clear that Syria would not distance itself from Iran, its ally since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. "We hope that others don't give us lessons about our region and our history," he said. "We are the ones who decide ... and we know our interests. We thank them for their advice. I find it strange how they talk about Middle East stability and at the same time talk about dividing two countries."
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said yesterday that the US was troubled by Syria's relationship with Iran and characterised the appointment of an ambassador as a "slight opening". Ties between Washington and Damascus were downgraded after the murder of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafiq al-Hariri, in 2005 was blamed on Syria.
Al-Jazeera reported that Ahmadinejad also met Khaled Mash'al, the Damascus-based leader of the Palestinian movement Hamas, and Ramadan Shallah of Islamic Jihad, both of which are supported by Tehran. Links between Hamas and Iran have been highlighted by the killing of the Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, by an alleged Israeli hit squad in Dubai.
Two years ago the military leader of Lebanon's Hizbullah, Imad Mughniyeh, was assassinated in Damascus in an attack that was also blamed on Israel's secret service, the Mossad. It was not clear whether Ahmadinejad was also meeting Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbullah leader.
Syria and Iran announced they were cancelling visa restrictions between their countries. "We must have understood Clinton wrong because of bad translation or our limited understanding, so we signed the agreement to cancel the visas," Assad said.
Syria was prepared for any Israeli aggression, he said. Talks between the two countries over the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967, broke down in 2008 and show no sign of resuming.
Syria has also offered to mediate between Iran and the west over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme but says it opposes any sanctions.
Clinton said the US wanted Syria "generally to begin to move away from the relationship with Iran, which is so deeply troubling to the region as well as to the United States".
The following text is translated from an article written by Armin Arefi in French:
Shocking video which proves the violence used by Iranian police.
This is an exclusive video which the BBC Persian Service has obtained. This is the first and only video to date of the attacks upon the TehranUniversity dorms by the Iranian authorities which date from the 14th of June 2009; two days after the contested presidential elections.
Sunday 14th June 2009 at 9:00pm; the students of the TehranUniversity (the most prestigious and politicised in Iran), decided to gather in protest against the announced re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which they considered tainted by mass fraud.
At around 11:30pm; the state security forces which had encircled the university campus, decided to storm the dorms. These forces comprised those of the Special Police (wearing ‘Robocop’ style uniforms), as well as Basij militia men dressed in civilian clothing. One of the assailants filmed the scene with a hand held camera. Warning, this is violent footage:
Iranian law prohibits security forces from entering the TehranUniversity dorms unless the University rector gives permission to do so. Several days later, TehranUniversity’s rector Farhab Rahbar denied any implication in this attack. According to the camera-man’s own statements recorded on the video (at 3min29 into the footage), it was the Tehran police Chief Rasool Azizolah Rajabzadeh, who gave the order to attack. Rajabzadeh has just recently taken his retirement, after only six months at his post.
Clashes brake-out between the two camps and bonfires are lit. Students posted on the roofs of the dorms throw stones onto the security forces below (1min15) while shouting “Resign! Resign!” (They mean the Ahmadinejad government). The security forces also throw stones and tear-gas at the students (1min24).
The Basij militia then attempt to enter the dorms in a rare scene of urban warfare, without success (1min44).
2:30am; the Basij are joined by the Police Special Forces (2min08), still not succeeding in entering the dorms. At this point we notice a man wearing a large light shirt who calls for reinforcements from “children Basij” (2min18).
After many attempts, the security forces manage to break into the dorms section of the university; they are armed with batons (3min17).
The groups of security forces, who have managed to enter the dorms themselves, pull out the students dragging them on the ground (3min44). One of these students receives kicks from a Basij dressed in civil cloths and who orders him to get up (3min48) – though this student no longer appears to present any real threat. In response to this outbreak of extreme violence, even the camera man calls on the Basij to “stop hitting!” (3min51). Students are heard imploring their aggressors; “stop hitting sir!” (3min56)
The assailants then reach the university dorms library building (4min05), from which students are savagely dragged along the ground (4min09), they are beaten and insulted by the Police Special Forces. “Take a picture of him and kill him!” shouts one of the Police while signalling a young man lying on the ground (4min30).
At this point there are half a dozen bodies piled upon each other on the ground surrounded by the Police Special Forces (4min50), who continue to beat and insult their victims:
“Group of f***ers, you wanted to beat us?!?” and “group of faggots, is this what you’re used to?!?” (5min01)
As a mark of how violent the attack by the Special Forces is, members of the Basij militia ask them to stop the violence (5min06):
“Don’t hit him, that’s enough! Stop hitting! Everyone, stop hitting now! Gentlemen, on the soul of Imam Hossein….”
Up till now, the Basij militia (a paramilitary force comprised of young volunteers from the slum quarters who are paid well), especially those in civil dress; were considered to be the most violent section of the security forces and have been blamed as those primarily responsible for the deaths of the opposition protestors, which was not the case for the police. Now a quite different image has been presented to us.
Each new student who has been arrested is thrown onto this pile of bodies (5min34), while the cameraman attempts one again to intercede shouting “don’t hit him!” (6min13)
Then, four police men round upon a student wearing a white shirt (6min17), who quickly collapses from the blows; they continue beating him on the ground (6min20).
There are now a dozen bodies piled-up as though animals (6min40), as blood is dripping from the head of one of them (6min45). The students attempt to protect their heads from the violent beatings, when one of the attackers orders them to:
“Put down your hands now! I’m talking to you!” and “Raise your head! Look at me. Look at me damn it!” (7min29)
The man, of whom we only hear a low voice, takes photos of their distressed faces with his camera (7min35), in order that they be more easily identifiable in the future.
The student political body ‘Tahkim vahdat’ announced the deaths of 5 students on that night, the names of whom The Guardian newspaper listed in an article [read the article here:Iran: 12 students reported killed in crackdown after violent clashes]. The names cited are Fatemeh Barati (a woman), Kasra Sharafi, Mobina Ehterami (another woman), Kambiz Shoaee and Mohsen Imani; the article states that they were buried the following day in a Tehran cemetery without their families having been informed. According to the student website ‘Autnews’, the students had found refuge in the lavatories after the police had stormed the dorms, the rooms of which had been ransacked and the beds set on fire.
The Iranian government denied these reports, talking only of 100 to 120 wounded people. The Supreme Guide Ayatollah Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, as per usual blamed the “enemies” of the Islamic Republic, that is to say foreigners. Before taking to his retirement, the chief of Tehran’s police, Rossool Azizolah Rajab Zadeh, defended his department’s work on that fatefull night.
Eight months later a parliamentary commission had been created to enquire on these events; up till today no conclusion has been made.
The day following these events, with the Iranian authorities assured that they had managed to create an atmosphere of terror among those at the University of Tehran (the bastion of the contestation in Iran), and in an attempt to dissuade people from protesting; millions on Iranians of all sectors of society and age, went onto the streets in silence in order to demand a fair election.
Watch the full length recordings (in higher quality and without the Persian commentary from BBC Persia) in the following two videos:
Iran Mozaikis an inventive manner by which to explore the video footage taken by the 'citizen reporters' of the pro-democracy movement in Iran. As the project itself states:
"This video art creation is dedicated both to Iran's popular and democratic movement, and also particularly to all those anonymous "Reporter Citizens" who courageously circulate vital news from within the country, from places where professional media are barred from.
"Iran Mozaik Project" is a dynamic web project showing the current face of Iran according to the situation of the popular protest since June 2009 and the videos we receive through Youtube.
As long as the struggle continues and courageous "citizen journalists" continue to send videos this map will continue to live.
This map will be different each time you will visit after major events. Thus the Iran of Ashura 2009 is different from the Iran of 22 Bahman 2009 and so on.
I hope one day it will freeze forever, not because we won't receive any image from Iran, but because the struggle of the people of Iran will be over and victorious!"
Follow this link to visit the project website: iranmozaik.com
The Secretary General of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, Mohammad Javad Larijani, on the AMANPOUR. set
By Tom Evans; Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.
(CNN)- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's policy on Iran is "dubious, inconsistent, and naive," one of Iran's most influential officials declared Tuesday.
Mohammad Javad Larijani, a member of a powerful political clan in Iran, rejected an assertion by Clinton on Monday that the Revolutionary Guard is supplanting the Iranian government, and Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship. One of Larijani's brothers is speaker of the Iranian parliament and another is head of Iran's judiciary.
"On the one hand she (Clinton) is worried about democracy in Iran, on the other hand she's offering the most generous military help to states which don't run a single election," Larijani told CNN's Christiane Amanpour just after Clinton had completed a three-day tour of Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.
Larijani said the Revolutionary Guard, which has extensive business interests in Iran, is answerable to legal structures of the state.
"The Revolutionary Guard is part of our defense system, they have a legal status, they have a legal command, and they are legally answerable to Parliament," he added.
Larijani, whose title is secretary general of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights, also rejected Western criticism of Iran's rights record, declaring that his country is "the greatest and ... only democracy in the Middle East."
He said he explained Iran's position in full this week to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, where the U.S., Britain, France and other nations strongly attacked Tehran's record, as they stepped up pressure for new international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
"It is true that the United States and a number of Western countries aired their criticism toward us, but it was mostly a kind of cliche," Larijani said.
"But on the other side, a lot of nations also supported and commended our position," he added - a reference to countries including Cuba, Venezuela, and Sri Lanka.
Despite the government's massive crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators since the disputed presidential election in June last year, Larijani said Tuesday that no one is jailed because of protests in Iran.
"The only reason for jailing is the violence which was attached to the protests, a violence which got the life of more than 20 policemen and 13 civilians and also damaged the properties and also people's life and health," he asserted.
"I think the beating of our police is much less than the New York and Los Angeles police ... the violence in Tehran was much less that the violence in Paris.. (which) was in flames for three months."
He also rejected criticism of Iran's policy on executing people who, he said, were engaged in violence. "Those who indulge in terrorist activities, they are pursued by the law. They will face a very harsh sentence, if it is proved by the court."
Larijani acknowledged that official wrongdoing and unlawful acts do occasionally happen in Iran, but insisted the authorities take quick action to address problems when they are identified. He cited the example of what happened after the deaths of three protesters who were jailed at the Kahrizak Detention Center in Tehran. One of those who died was the son of a leading conservative politician.
He said the prosecutor-general, Saeed Mortazavi, who was linked to those deaths by a parliamentary committee could now face further investigation by the judicial authorities.
"Nobody will replace the court and their final decision," Larijani asserted.
Iran rejects U.N. call to free political prisoners
GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran rejected calls to release all political prisoners and accept an international inquiry into violence after last June's contested presidential elections, an official U.N. report said.
The Islamic Republic also refused to end the death penalty and said it would not make torture as an offence under its laws, according to the report on a discussion of its rights record in the world body's Human Rights Council.
In the discussion, held on Monday as part of the Universal Permanent Review (UPR) process which all U.N. members undergo every four years, it said many recommendations, including one from Chile urging guarantees of political and civil rights for all, including dissidents, were already in effect.
In Wednesday's report, approved by the 47-member Council, Iran had already declared it was an open democracy under the rule of law, pledged it would comply fully with international rights pacts and ensure that torture was eliminated.
The Council also registered Iranian promises to ensure religious freedom, freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate peacefully.
Critics of the UPR system, including many activist NGOs, say it gives too much room for countries to fend off detailed criticism on specific issues and allows them to make vague promises of future action.
"The proof of this pudding produced today will be in the eating," said one European diplomat asking for anonymity in referring to the Iran report. "We have seen promises like this before, but not much action to follow them up."
Despite agreeing to a Netherlands recommendation to "take measures to ensure that no torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment takes place," Iran rejected another from Spain to sign the U.N. anti-torture pact.
And it rejected a U.S. proposal that it allow the U.N. special investigator on torture, Austrian lawyer Manfred Nowak, to visit the country and have access to detention facilities -- although it has accepted a visit next year by Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay.
Asserting earlier that the Iranian media was free and that the state did not block access to the Internet, it dismissed recommendations to "end severe restrictions on the right to free expression" and to stop harassment of journalists.
The Council has no mechanism to enforce implementation of pledges made in the UPR process, although countries are expected to report back on what they are doing.
Over 65 reporters face spying charges in Iran: rights group
(AFP) – Feb 16, 2010
UNITED NATIONS — More than 65 journalists, bloggers and writers have been detained in Iran since last June's disputed presidential polls and could be tried on charges of "spying" for the foreign media, a New York-based media rights group said Tuesday.
"The picture (in Iran) is pretty gloomy," Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) told a press conference here as he presented a worldwide 2009 survey titled "Attacks on the Press in 2009" and highlighted the detentions in Iran.
Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian correspondent for Newsweek who was jailed in Iran in June and released four months later, also told reporters that more than 100 journalists, bloggers and writers had been arrested at different periods since the elections, including the more than 65 who were still behind bars.
"They can all be accused of spying for the foreign media," he said, noting that spying carries the death penalty in Iran.
"The government has no respect for the privacy of individuals," Bahari said. "The strategy of the Iranian government is to make everyone's life, especially journalists' lives, insecure."
And in an alarming development, Mahoney said Iranian authorities were now using online social networks such as Facebook to target journalists and dissidents.
"The Iranian government is now using (Facebook) to go after and find dissidents and journalists, mining their data, seeing who their friends are,' he added. "They are turning the technology that should liberate the press against the press. This is a worrying trend."
Mahoney said the CPJ was "monitoring more and more closely the government's attempt to censor and filter content online, to surveille journalists, to get into their contact books and generally try to disrupt their ability to use the internet as a tool for freedom of expression."
Last week, the United States also accused Iran of trying "a near total information blockade" to deal with anti-government protesters, calling the move unprecedented.
Based on US monitoring of networks and other information, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said it appeared that "Iran has attempted a near total information blockade."
He added that his statement was based on US monitoring that showed the phone network was taken down, text messages blocked, satellite television jammed and the Internet "throttled."
One aim: unite the world’s citizens of all races, nationalities and horizons who believe in democracy and Human Rights, and who wish to express their support for the pro-democracy movement in Iran.
We are completely independent, non-political and non-religious.
