Originally published in Enduring America and The Huffington Post | February 22, 2010 Every so often, I read the news about Iran and it reminds me of growing up as a refugee in Pakistan. The latest reminder came on 11 February, my birthday, which happened to be the Islamic Revolution’s birthday as well. The occasion [...]
Green Report #24 – Fresh News from Iran – July 10
Ayatollah Hashim Hashim-Zadeh Hareesi – a member of the Assembly of Experts – said today that people had started to distrust the system. He explained that whatever had happened after the election had caused people to become suspicious and that the government needed to take strides to restore people’s trust otherwise, distrust could result in further more severe problems.
Green Report #23 – Fresh News from Iran – July 9
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 [...]
Green Report #15 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Wednesday, July 1
Khatami criticized the government in a new, harsher tone that suggested outright contempt today. He called the elections a “coup d’état against democracy.” He asked, “How can the Iranian people calm down when their votes were stolen? When their blood is and has been shed? When they are being hauled away and arrested en masse? When the government and media blatantly ignore them?” He asked, “How is a National reconciliation even remotely possible in a country that is turning into a police state?” He went on to say that what’s happening now in Iran “is a direct violation of the very rights people are promised in the constitution.” He accused the media of attempting to provoke further unrest and violence and denounced the governments’ attempts at censorship. He predicted that Regime’s establishment would fail if this were to continue.
Green Report #14 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Tuesday, June 30
Maziar Bahari was forced to confess at a press conference that the protests were pre-planned and organized from abroad. Bahari is an adroit Iranian-Canadian Journalist and filmmaker, who has written for Newsweek and the New Statesman. Meanwhile,the torture of university students continues in the Ministry of Interior. Some Iranians traveling to Iran for the holidays have been taken in for questioning directly at the airport as they tried to leave the country. They were questioned because of updated information on their Facebook accounts.
Green Report #13 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Monday, June 29
Human rights groups claim that so far over 2,000 people are still in detention. Reports have surfaced that there is no more space left for women in Tehran’s official prisons. Human rights’ activists report on unsanitary and inappropriate conditions for imprisoned women protesters in Iran’s overcrowded jails. At least 60 of imprisoned women are in the public wards and have only been given a blanket and are forced to sleep in corridors.
Green Report #12 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Sunday, June 28
Thousands of people gathered in Tehran’s Ghoba Mosque today at a rally planned to coincide with the 7 Tir bombing that killed Ayatollah Beheshti and 70 other prominent clerics in 1981. The mosque was filled and the streets and alleys leading up to the mosque were completely crowded by protesters chanting “Where’s our vote?” Reports indicate that the number was somewhere between 3 and 10 thousand. Beheshti’s son addressed the crowd and said that the current regime was pushing people backwards and was not in touch with current realities of the world. He said that the Sea of Green could stand this and were protesting.
Green Report #11 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Saturday, June 27
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.
Green Report #10 – Fresh News from Iran – Summary of tweets on Iran from Friday, June 26
Reports indicate that the reason why Khamenei did not attend the prayers was Ayatollah Montazeri’s statements yesterday that denounced the government’s suppression of the protesters’ ‘legitimate demands’. This, according to sources, creates a divide between the powerful clergy which has pressured Khamenei just enough to stop him from giving out another speech of the caliber he gave last week. Whether Montazeri’s current stance will develop into something of a bigger boost to protesters remains to be seen.










