The Human Screen Protest Against Ahmadinejad

New York City, 22 September 2009

Against a  symbolic human screen of protesters images, news footage, and Iranians saying “Ahmadinejad is not my president” captures the struggle of Iranians to have their voices heard since the June 12 presidential elections.  We share the complete video footage above.

U.S., Iran: So much to talk about

Upcoming discussions with Iran should address its nuclear program and its awful human rights record.

(LA Times | Editorial | 19 September 2009) – The Obama administration has agreed to direct talks with the government of Iran, along with the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, at a meeting scheduled for Oct. 1. Now the question is: What will they talk about? Read the rest of this entry »

BBC Persia Interview: Frozen Bodies Buried in the Dark of Night

In this interview, the investigator reporter, Haniff Mazroee of Norooz website , gives BBC  Persian the chilling account of the report of tens of graves in the Behesht-Zahra cemetery with unknown names. The frozen bodies were brought to Behesht-Zahra and buried in the middle of the night on two different dates. The officials of Iran deny the existence of such graves.

Ahmadinejad Wants Opposition Tried

(AP Tehran | New York Times | 28 August 2009) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday called for the leaders of the opposition to be prosecuted over Iran’s postelection turmoil, stepping up pressure against the pro-reform movement that says he won the election by fraud. Read the rest of this entry »

Top Iran reform figures on trial

The trial has begun in Iran of a number of senior opposition figures following June’s disputed presidential election.

(BBC | 25 August 2009) - The defendants, who include former ministers in the 1997-2005 Khatami government, are accused of conspiring with foreign powers to organise unrest. Read the rest of this entry »

Fourth Show Trial of Reformist in Tehran with Prominent Reformist Hajjarian [Persian]

(Fars News | YouTube) – One of Iran’s most prominent pro-reform figures admitted fomenting unrest and asked for the country’s forgiveness Tuesday during the mass trial of activists detained in the post-election crackdown in a confession that the opposition said was coerced. The courtroom statement by Saeed Hajjarian — who is considered one of the reform movement’s top architects and who was shot in the head in a 2000 assassination attempt — was the latest dramatic confession in the month-old trial that the opposition has compared to Josef Stalin’s “show trials” of opponents in the Soviet Union.

Iran’s president unveils cabinet

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose disputed re-election triggered a political crisis in the country, has unveiled his list of cabinet ministers.

(BBC | 20 August 2009) - For the first time in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic it includes three women. Read the rest of this entry »

Will Iran’s Basij stay loyal?

At any opposition demonstration in Iran they materialise from nowhere. For opposition supporters, they have become notorious. (See BBC video).

(Jon Leyne | BBC News | 13 August 2009) – The government’s Basij militia have become President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s chief enforcers, as he tries to consolidate power in the wake of his disputed re-election. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran’s Crumbling Judiciary

(Muhammad Sahimi | Tehran Bureau | 15 August 2009) – Iran’s judiciary is facing a deep crisis. The Stalinesque show trials alone would be comical if not for the serious and grave nature of them. Dungeons in the Interior Ministry, torture to the point of death, and all around lawlessness have come to characterize the judicial system over the past few weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran: Investigate Security Chiefs in Post-Election Abuse

Nature, Scale of Abuses Indicate Coordinated Efforts Ordered at Highest Levels

(Human Rights Watch | 14 August 2009) - The Iranian government should investigate the nation’s top security officials to determine whether attacks on demonstrators and detainees following the disputed June 12, 2009 election were ordered and coordinated at the highest levels, Human Rights Watch said today. Read the rest of this entry »