A Death In Tehran

(PBS | Frontline | 17 November 2009) - At the height of the protests following Iran’s controversial presidential election this summer, a young woman named Neda Agha Soltan was shot and killed on the streets of Tehran. Her death — filmed on a camera phone, then uploaded to the Web — quickly became an international outrage, and Soltan became the face of a powerful movement that threatened the hard-line government’s hold on power.

In A Death in Tehran, FRONTLINE revisits the events of last summer, shedding new light on Neda’s life and death and the movement she helped inspire. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Friction among Iran authorities heats up

With street protests quiet, factional disputes intensify. Hard-line clerics call for opposition leader Karroubi to stand trial, and reformist lawmakers want supreme leader Khamenei investigated.

(Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim | Los Angeles Times | 15 August 2009) - Rival camps within Iran’s corridors of power intensified their threats against each other Friday, signaling potentially dangerous clashes within elite circles and the security establishment after the disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Read the rest of this entry »

What are the Iranian people asking for?

Leila Zand, Peace with Iran co-founder and FOR Iran Program Director, argues that the demands of the protesters in the streets are part of a larger, 103-year struggle by Iranians for both internal freedoms and autonomy from foreign interference.

(Leila Zand | FOR Peace | 13 August 2009) – When the opponents of Mr. Ahmadinejad announced the possibility of fraud, supporters of the three presidential candidates poured into the streets and demonstrated against the “fraud.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Call for the human rights of the people of Iran to be respected

The Right to Peaceful Protest

In the days following Iran’s presidential election on Friday 12 June, many thousands took part in marches and demonstrations across the country, condemning both the process and outcome of the election. Read the rest of this entry »

August 6, 2009 Protest

Tehran Bazar, 14 Mordad (5 AUG)

Reports of Cyber Attacks

According to the Unite4Iran Blog, there have been reports of renewed cyber attacks on the social media sites of members of the opposition in Iran, including the Facebook page of presidential candidate Mousavi and his wife. Twitter is also reported to not be working in Iran. Questions abound whether this is the government’s retaliation for the cyber attacks of several groups on Iranian government sites.   Internet activists had also targeted websites of Ahmadinejad on his inaguration.  Moreover, instructions have also been circulating in the Iranian blogosphere for how to increase the security of Facebook pages. Please share this posting with friends in Iran. 

Iran’s crisis – does it feel like velvet?

Submitted by Leila Zand for FORpeace on August 5, 2009 – 6:01pm.

Much has been written, discussed, and debated since the Iranian presidential election in June. One of the most interesting subjects discussed in these conversations and debates, both in the U.S. among activist groups and in Iran among politicians on both sides (the “Principalists” and the“Reformists”), is the nature of the uprisings that began right after the election and that still continue. Read the rest of this entry »

Will Putting Reformists On Trial, End Iranian Opposition?

National Public Radio (Morning Edition) – August 3, 2009

STEVE INSKEEP, host:  “And now let’s turn to the trail being held in Tehran, where more than 100 opposition figures are accused of working with foreigners to undermine the government. We’re going to Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times. He’s been reporting on Iran for years, and he’s following events from the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Borzou, welcome back to the program.”

Inauguration Expected To Spark More Unrest In Iran

National Public Radio – August 3, 2009

By Mike Schuster Read the rest of this entry »