Report from Iran - Green Brief No. 11

This is a re-post with permission of the author, Josh Shahryar, under Creative Commons. Please feel free to re-post. See Green Brief No. 11 and and Green Brief No. 10




Green Brief #11

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I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (All my work is released under Creative Commons (CC). You can freely use it and repost it wherever you'd like to. Just provide a link to the original source at the bottom. I trust austinheap)

Here are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Saturday, June 27 in Iran.

1. Mousavi has rejected the Guardian Council's decision to look into discrepancies in only 10% of the vote. Mousavi has said that as he mentioned in two letters before to the GC, there are simply far too many irregularities for them to accept the election. A new one must be held in order to give people their voice back.

2. A prominent supporter of Mousavi was forced to confess on national TV that protests were pre-planned and that they have broken laws. However, reports strongly indicate that the media had already pre-written the statements because they sounded far more official than a speaker can come up with impromptu. More and more protesters are being prepped through intimidation and torture to make confessions.

3. Iran's paramilitary Basij are carrying out brutal nighttime raids, destroying property in private homes and beating civilians in an attempt to stop nightly protest chants, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch also said the Iranian authorities are confiscating satellite dishes from private homes to prevent citizens from seeing foreign news.

4. Ahmadinejad warned the US of repercussions if it continues to meddle in Iranian affairs. He also sent out a message to the people saying that the days of liberal democracy were over. (In the sense that no more reform and change against Islamic law will be allowed to take place.) He warned that in the next 4 years he will take a tougher approach. This happens while Ahmadinejad's first deputy, Parviz Davoudi, was denied a US visa by the US State Department. Iranian ambassador to the UN blamed the US government for it.

5. At the same time, a government spokesperson blatantly accused other countries of meddling in Iranian affairs and instigating the current protests and violence. Fatemeh Rajabi, spokesperson & symbol of women in Ahmadinazhad's government in a separate statement also called Mousavi and Khatami the faces of corruption in the country.

6. The Guardian Council commission on investigating 10% of the vote was rejected by Mousavi today. He said that 10% was not enough and the elections have to be annulled. He added that an impartial commission should be set up to help arbitrate the issue. The other two candidates also didn't send representatives to the commission. This is after the commission was criticized by others - including a prominent MP and Mahdi Karoubi - for being too one-sided and the investigation of irregularities in only 10% of the vote insufficient. This is while the GC yet again called the elections the 'best in Iran's history so far'.

7. Javan newspaper - which is closely linked to the IRG - has reported that instigators of violence and the forces behind the protests have been identified. According to Javan, a group of actors were involved and this group created flyers and statements! It accused these individuals - 15-20 people according to Javan - of hiring thugs and distributing weapons that were used in violence. It also reported the arrest of three prominent Iranian film personalities.

8. Tehran's district attorney stated that he didn’t know how many people have been arrested so far but that he had met several at Evin Prison. The detainees are continuously under mental & sometimes physical torture. IRNA reported that Iran banned Mousavi’s ally Abolfazl Fateh from leaving the country. It is being reported that it's possible that the fate of the people that have been arrested would be known by the end of the week. The name of the girl who was shot in Baharestan and died later in the hospital is reportedly Sheler Khezri.

9. Amnesty International confirms on CNN: people disappearing from hospitals. Hundreds of people missing. Amnesty International asked the Iranian authorities to immediately release dozens of journalists who are at risk of torture in detention. The UN also asked the government to prevent further violence and bloodshed. More people were arrested today including journalists and bloggers as well as other people of some clout in the Iranian society. Karoubi's newspaper, Etemade Melli's chief editor was asked to appear before a court.

10. Today a group of people including women's rights activists assembled in Laleh Park to light candles in memory of Neda and other martyrs. The protesters were dispersed by the police and plainclothesmen using violent tactics. There were also many policewomen. Many people were arrested and hauled away. Reporters of Keyhan and Fars newspapers were taking people pictures with cameras.

11. Reports have suggested that there is a bitter divide developing between military leaders on what the military’s role should be in the current unrest and whether they should step in. (This could be not confirmed unfortunately through the most reliable sources). Reports of clerics meeting in secret to discuss the current unrest have surfaces from Qom, Tabriz and Mashhad. It is being suggested that even though clerics had participated in the protests a few days ago, they might join in larger numbers if further protests are held.

12. Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabeli has released a statement stating that the election has weakened the regime. He added that the Guardian Council should allow for people to pursue their demands and asked the people to pursue their complaints through legal means as well as asking the government to let people express their discontent through the media. He deplored violence and said that no violence must be used to pacify protestors.

13. It is being reported that very careful planning is being carried out for a successful national strike. This is while in a meeting with members of the National Security Council, Karoubi said that he'll continue to legally pursue annulment of the elections.

14. Sunday is the anniversary of 7 Tir martyrs and there will be a gathering in "Ghoba" Mosque. It has been organized after getting a permit from the government. Mousavi asked Iranians abroad to continue their protests. Chants of Allah o Akbar were heard in Tehran, Tabriz and other parts of Tehran again.

15. Sea of Green is largely peaceful. Reports that Sea of Green is actively seeking to hunt and kill security forces being forcefully denied by sources. Here's a heartwarming video of youth protecting Police from angry protesters when they were surrounded by people. The youth keep yelling, "We're all Iranians! We're all Iranians!" YouTube - ‫جوانان غیور ایران حتی از نیروهای ضد شورش که توسط مردم محاصره شده بودند نیز حمایت میکنند ، آیا اینها اغتشاش گرند !؟‬‎

16. (On persiankiwi, I don’t know any of the tweeters personally. I stopped using him/her as a source since the day of the Baharestan protest. I only stated that he has been arrested as a caution so that people would be careful. The second most reliable source after pk reported that pk had been arrested so I was forced to go ahead and warn people. But some people have harshly attacked me for this. I whole-heartedly apologize if anyone thinks I’m trying to mislead them. The Green Briefs are only one source out of hundreds. Please use your own judgment and trust whichever source you think is more reliable in getting news from Iran. I will hence stop trying to convince people that I have good intentions. It is futile as well as VERY stressful and time-consuming.)

Read this if you want to help or get help!

The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English: Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi: Tor: ?????? Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: Torrents list � Rivolta in Iran

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us:

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

“Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments.”

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.