(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.

In response to the international outcry over Neda’s death — including President Obama’s confirmation that he’d seen the “heartbreaking” video on YouTube — the regime set about attempting to rewrite the story, pointing a finger at the CIA and outside agitators, the same forces they blamed for the mass street protests and allegations of vote rigging that led to the greatest upheaval in Iran since the revolution of 1979. FRONTLINE uncovers some video of Neda’s killer — a member of the Basij militia who’d been brought into Tehran by the regime’s Revolutionary Guards to stamp out the “Green Revolution.” A medical doctor in the crowd who had watched Neda die now watched as the crowd considered its own violence against the Basij militia member:

“They started to discuss what to do with him,” the doctor recalled. “They grabbed his wallet, took out his ID card and started shouting, ‘He is a Basiji member; he is one of them,’ and started swearing and cursing him, and he was begging for people not to harm him or kill him. … They believed the police wouldn’t do anything to him as the Basiji are really powerful and he would have easily have got away, so in all of the chaos they decided to release him.”

The Iranian government admits 11 protesters were killed on June 20, but doctors from three Tehran hospitals confirmed at least 34 deaths. Other bodies were buried by security forces without first being identified. In October, the regime tried to script the end of the story for Neda. But instead, Neda’s mother made a very public stand. The government offered her financial help if she would blame Neda’s death on opponents of the regime. All she had to do was to agree to call Neda a “martyr” for the Islamic Republic. But she refused, telling FRONTLINE: “Neda died for her country not so I could get a monthly income from the Martyr Foundation. If these officials say Neda was a martyr, why do they keep wiping off the word ‘martyr’ which people write in red on her gravestone?”

(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.

It was the first time Ahmadinejad has made such a call, publicly siding with hard-line politicians and clerics and commanders of the powerful Revolutionary Guard who have demanded in recent weeks that opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and his top allies be arrested.

Ahmadinejad took an even tougher line than his top ally, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who earlier this week said he saw no evidence that opposition leaders were tools of Iran’s foreign enemies, a claim that hard-liners have made.

The differing stances suggest there are divisions within Iran’s leadership over how far to take to heavy crackdown against the opposition since the disputed June 12 presidential election.

Hard-liners appear to be seeking to completely crush the pro-reform movement, calling for its political parties to be banned and leaders detained. Khamenei seems to be wary that going too far could fuel a backlash against the clerical leadership, which has already been weakened by the postelection crisis. Khamenei holds ultimate say in political issues in Iran, but he also needs to satisfy hard-liners and the Revolutionary Guard.

The government has already put on trial more than 100 senior figures and activists from the pro-reform opposition, accusing them of being part of a foreign-backed plot to overthrow the Islamic Republic through a ”velvet revolution.” Prosecutors allege that the wave of mass protests that erupted after the election claiming fraud were instigated by the opposition to spark that revolution.

But so far, despite hard-liners’ calls, there has been no move to arrest the very top rung of the opposition — Mousavi and his allies Mahdi Karroubi and former President Mohammad Khatami. Doing so would be a major escalation in the confrontation.

In a harshly worded statement, Khatami lashed out at hard-liners, saying they were accused of ”treason” in the public’s eyes because of the fraudulent vote. He said the claims that the opposition protests were part of a foreign plot were a ”very big mistake” and aimed to ”justify violent, illegal and monopolistic behavior” by the government.

”The sacred Friday prayer podium has been given to those who … call for the punishment of prominent figures … while they are accused in the eyes of the public for committing treason themselves,” he said, referring to hard-line clerics who have denounced the opposition during Tehran’s main Friday prayers, one of the country’s most potent political platforms.
Khatami said killing protesters and abusing detainees in custody has revealed the true nature of the ruling system in dealing with peaceful protests. ”Is this the merciful Islamic image that defends morality and the people’s basic rights?” he said in a statement posted on the Web late Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands joined street protests after the election, supporting Mousavi’s claims of fraud, until security forces, the Revolutionary Guard and the pro-government Basij militia crushed the demonstrations with a crackdown in which hundreds were arrested. The opposition says at least 69 people were killed and that many of those detained were abused, tortured and even raped in prison.

The opposition has dismissed the month-old trial of opposition figures and activists as a ”show trial” in which defendants were forced to make public confessions admitting to a plot.

Ahmadinejad’s comments Friday came in a speech to thousands ahead of the weekly Friday prayers in Tehran. He said those on trial were ”deceived” into participating in the alleged plot and that the leaders should be punished.

”These deceived, second-tier elements should be dealt with with Islamic mercy. Don’t give immunity and protection to the main elements while punishing the deceived second-tier elements,” he said.

”There must be a serious confrontation with the leaders and key elements who organized and provoked (the riots) and carried out the enemy’s plan. They have to be dealt with seriously,” he said, without directly naming the leaders.

Ahmadinejad also admitted for the first time that some detained protesters were abused in custody but also denied any government involvement, claiming instead that it was the work of Iran’s enemies and the opposition.

”These actions that were carried out in custody … were part of the enemy’s scenario,” he said. ”Security, military and intelligence forces are free from these shameful acts.”

Top police officials and a parliamentary probe has already confirmed that some prisoners were abused by their jailers. The government has been struggling to contain outrage among many Iranians over the accusations of abuse. The opposition says some detainees were tortured to death. Hard-liners have particularly been angered at Karroubi, who claims some prisoners were raped. The government says about 30 people were killed in the postelection crackdown.

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.Hard-line clerics close to Ahmadinejad called for prominent reformist Mehdi Karroubi, a former speaker of parliament and a presidential candidate, to stand trial for making allegations of jailhouse rape and torture in the country’s detention centers.

On the opposing side, a group of former reformist lawmakers issued a letter late Thursday demanding that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, be investigated by the Assembly of Experts, clerics who have the power to replace the supreme leader, in relation to the election’s violent aftermath.

The factional disputes, which are expected to get worse before the naming of the next Cabinet, come as street protests have faded.

“The ball of crisis is still rolling, if not on the streets, within the ruling establishment,” said Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a reformist journalist and human rights activist in Tehran.

Protesters, nursing bruises and stifled by late-summer temperatures, are sitting back for the moment, apparently hoping they can accomplish their minimal goal — removing from power Ahmadinejad and his circle of hard-liners in the security apparatus — without more bloodshed.

Analysts said that opposition figure Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad’s leading challenger in the election, has been reluctant to call for protests for fear he would be arrested. His news website, Ghalamnews.ir, has been shut down for days, and many of his deputies remain in prison.

“There is a plan for paralyzing the system and bringing down Ahmadinejad,” said Mohsen Sazegara, a Washington-based analyst and political activist who supports the opposition. “But Mousavi can’t announce it because he’ll be arrested. If he doesn’t say anything, it doesn’t mean that within the opposition there’s no plan.”

For now, neither hard-liners nor reformists appear to be backing down.

At Friday prayers, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a staunch supporter of Ahmadinejad, reiterated demands by his conservative allies that the judiciary put Karroubi on trial for making allegedly false accusations that prisoners swept up in a wave of protests were raped and tortured in prison.

According to a respected reformist news website, Ahmadinejad has submitted a proposal to the country’s Supreme National Security Council for the arrests of Mousavi and Karroubi, along with other prominent reformists. The plan was spurned by the “highest authorities” for fear that it would cause the “collapse” of the system, reported Norooznews.ir.

Reformists have not gone away despite such threats. The letter to Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani signed by hundreds of former lawmakers called for the Assembly of Experts, which he oversees, to examine whether Khamenei should be replaced under an article in the constitution.

Karroubi, meanwhile, has issued more details of prison abuse, stating on his website Thursday that he had evidence that prisoners were stripped naked and forced to walk and scream like animals.

The allegations of sexual abuse, which tarnish Ahmadinejad and his clique as corrupt, are particularly effective in wooing moderate clerics and those within the political establishment, analysts said.

With opposition figures constrained by the threat of prison, hard-liners are finding themselves unsure about the depth of discontent within the country. Their increasingly strident calls to lock up Mousavi and Karroubi prompted the son of former longtime Intelligence Minister Ali Younesi, popular among those in the security apparatus, to warn authorities about consequences that he did not specify.

“The knowledgeable ones among these authorities, if there are any of them, know well that such gestures are like playing with fire,” Hassan Younesi wrote on his blog Wednesday night.

Even conservatives complain that Ahmadinejad has not met the minimum requirements they spelled out to avoid a protracted fight over his next Cabinet team, which he must submit to parliament early next week.

In recent days he has bucked an Iranian law by taking de facto control of the Intelligence Ministry and promptly purging it of longtime ranking officials deemed insufficiently loyal. He also dismissed the head of the Islamic Republic News Agency on charges of being too balanced.

Ahmadinejad managed to elevate his brother in-law, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, to chief of staff despite the disapproval of Khamenei and moved to promote a close ally, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Reza Radan, to the helm of the national police.

In a meeting with a group of scholars associated with the hard-line Basiji militia days before his inauguration, Ahmadinejad made a reference to seizing opponents by their collars and sticking “their heads to the ceiling.”

“Let me take the oath of office,” he said, “and wait for the government to begin its work.”

He later explained that he meant Iran’s foreign rivals, not his domestic foes.

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.”

The basic question was “where is my vote.”  Many believe the demonstrations were the largest since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.  Tehran City Hall estimated the number of demonstrators at around 3 million.  One particular and important element in the demonstrations was the nonviolent way Iranian youth showed their opposition to the result of the election. It was amazing to see how intelligent these young people are.  3 million people in the “silent rallies” in the streets of Tehran invited one another to keep quiet.  Slogans like “my silence is stronger than your gun” were not skeptical. They showed growth and maturity in these young people.

The response from the government was unfortunate–especially after the first Friday prayers, during which Ayatollah Khamenei refuted the claims of the opposition, claiming  “ there was not any fraud,” that “ the idea of fraud is coming from foreigners,” “any demonstration is illegal and if anything happened to demonstrators in the streets the responsibility is on themselves,”  and that he “support[ed] Mr. Ahmadinejad.”

Many believed that this was a green light to authorities to crack down on the demonstrators.  The opposition had hoped not to see that kind of reaction from their Supreme Leader.  The Supreme Leader, who is characterized as the “kind father” of the nation and the “ultimate voice” in disagreements among different groups, shouldn’t take sides. His support of Mr. Ahmadinejad that Friday disappointed many. This time Ayatollah Khameini’s voice couldn’t be “the last and ultimate.”  Demonstrations continued and expanded to other cities.  I have seen videos from Isfahan, Shiraz, Kermanshah, Mashhad, Tabriz, Rasht and, of course, Tehran.

The question is still there:  What do these people want?

Do they want their vote back?  Are they still chanting “where is my vote?”

That was one of the basic and first questions. But there were more questions, after the government’s reaction to the demonstrations became violent, and the killing of some like Neda Agha-Sultan became universally known.  Unfortunately some,  like Sohrab Arabi and Mohsen Ruh-al-Amini, have been killed under severe torture.  This bloody response from the government changed the question from “Where is my vote?” to “Where is my friend?” and later to “Death to the Dictator!”

“Where is my friend?” is not the only reason they are still in the streets.   Perhaps a glance at the contemporary history of Iran can give us some idea what these people want.

In 1905, during the reign of Mozafaredin Shah, demonstrations took place in Teheran and soon expanded to other cities.  Demonstrators wanted a parliament for the first time in Iranian history (and interestingly for the first time in all of Asia). The Shah eventually gave in and signed the “Right of Constitution” on August 1906.

Mozafaredin Shah died shortly after the first parliament started its work and was automatically replaced by his son Mohammad Ali Shah.  The new Shah was opposed to the Parliament and Constitution.  In 1907, with the political and military support of Russia and Britain, he ordered the bombardment of the Parliament.  But the people’s desire for freedom and a constitution and their continued opposition made him flee the country and leave the throne to his son Ahmad Shah.

Ahmad took the throne at age 14 and became Shah with a working parliament.  During the Russian Revolution of 1917, the newborn Soviet desire for Iran made Britain nervous.  Having a weak Shah in an Iran where oil had recently been discovered was a nightmare for Britain.  They picked a strong colonel to take the throne instead of a weak Shah.  In 1925, Reza Khan took the throne through the direct intervention of the British.

During Reza Shah’s reign, Parliament didn’t have much power.  Elections were not fair and free and dictatorship was running the country.  During World War II, although Iran didn’t publicly take sides, the Allies used Iranian land facilities.  However, Reza Shah secretly wished victory in the Germans camps.  So the Allies decided to take the throne from him, as simply as they had handed it to him.   In 1941, the Allies, with the leadership of Britain, gave the throne to Mohammad Reza Shah, the late Shah’s son.

Mohammad Reza Shah held the same policies as his father regarding elections and Parliament – especially a null and ineffective parliament, which was just there, like window-dressing.

In 1953 intellectuals and political leaders of Iran had had enough of dictatorship and started a democratic movement.  They wanted an effective parliament and a new system with less power in the Shah’s hand.  The movement started in the political capital Tehran and immediately spread to all other towns.  Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh, a promoter of the national oil movement, took leadership.  The movement had the common dreams of every Iranian since 1906 of free and fair elections and a society free of dictatorship.  The Shah fled the country and the movement was victorious.  But the triumph was short-lived.   Again with foreign intervention, the dictator came back to the country and people took their silence home and just continued to dream.  The dictator this time had the support of a new colonial power, the United States.

Iranian people dreamed for many years and much blood was spilled for their dream of democracy.  It took them years to be successful and get the opportunity of having authority over their own country, without a domestic dictator or foreign colonialism. The 1979 revolution was a triumph of the people’s movement and their desire for democracy since 1906.

The revolution of 1979 succeeded through the efforts of all Iranians of different groups and various ideologies: Islamists, Marxists, Islamist-Marxist, and atheist alike.  They used the same three-part slogan, “Isteghlal, Azadi, Jomhurie Islami,” or ” Independent – Freedom- Islamic Republic.”   (There is a whole argument in the last part of the slogan which needs to be discussed in a different article.)  Any political group, large or small, who shared the dream of having a country free of despotism and colonialism was part of this movement. They all shared a dream which had had its beginning in 1906, and which had been destroyed – literally – by the Russians and the British. A dream that bloomed in 1953 and was destroyed again, this time by the US and Britain.  A dream, which finally came true as a beautiful flower and could give the freedom that Iranians had sought for decades.

The success of the Revolution was immediately followed by Saddam Husain’s invasion of Khoramshahr, a city in the south of Iran.  Saddam enjoyed covert international support from the United States and Europe.  The destructive war continued for 8 years.  Iranian solders were busy taking care of borders and defending the country, families in the cities were learning how to use shelters and how to defend themselves in case of a chemical bomb attack.   Bombs that were sold to Saddam by the US.  At the same time, in Tehran, politicians were choking the different voices, shouting off any opposition, anyone who was questioning the new government.   Shortly after the revolution the dream was gone again.

This time people had learned their lesson -  they didn’t want to change everything from bottom to the top and vice-versa.  They wanted to fix what they had, they didn’t want to destroy it.  They wanted an evolution – change from within.  They knew they didn’t have much time: They didn’t want to lag behind in the world. The Iranians didn’t want a Western democracy.  They didn’t want foreigners making decisions for them.  They wanted to take their future in their own hands.  So, based on the Iranian constitution (with all its far and less) they started a reform from within.

In 1997 the reformist movement with the leadership of someone from within the system, someone who knew the history and the pain of Iranians, officially began its existence.

In an amazing election in 1997 Mr. Khatami took the Office of Presidency in Iran.  In 2001 he won a second term as well.  Although he had the support of 80% of Iranians, mostly youth and women, whose rights had been abused in the past, he couldn’t do as much as he promised.  The conservative wing of the government who controlled the vital branches of the Iranian government and enjoyed non-election (and sometimes long life) appointments were against many of Mr. Khatami’s policies and made many difficulties for him during his presidency.

Many observers say that Iranian society became open during Khatami and never went back to old ways, pointing to the relaxed rules about women’s Islamic cover as an example.  But the Iranian desire for freedom and democracy is not bound in a woman’s hijab.  Since the Revolution of 1979, Iranians have asked for a free media, free political parties, free parliament and free elections.  They have asked for an open and modern economy, for foreign and private investment. They have asked for equality between men and women, freedom of religion, freedom of pen, speech and work based on the Human Rights constitution of the United Nations which Iran is a signatory.  At the same time, they have asked for the independence and sovereignty of Iran.

During the 8 years of Mr. Khatami, Iran was not successful in reaching its goal.  But during the presidency of Mr. Ahmadinejad, although he stayed firmly in front of pressure from US, EU and Israel, but  many of Iranian people’s desires and dreams -domestically- have been totally lost.

In June 2009 Iranians participated in an election to rekindle the dreams of the revolution of 1979: to have independence, freedom and republic.  And they voted to fix the problems from within and in a non-violent way.

They began their silent demonstrations with “where is my vote”, a single slogan with 103 years of history behind it.  Now they are in the streets, they know what they want as much as what they dont want.  They are aware of their history, they are mature and intelligent.  Now they don’t want just their “vote” but rather all the rights they lost or that were taken away from them either by despotism or colonialism.  Now they are asking only for what they deserve and what they have been asking for 103 years.

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.Amnesty International calls on the Iranian authorities to allow peaceful demonstrations, to exercise restraint in the policing of any further demonstrations, to stop using the Basij militia to police protests, and to ensure that firearms are not used except as a last resort and where strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.

Following the mass arrests of demonstrators and opposition activists in Iran over recent weeks in connection with the disputed presidential election, Amnesty International has compiled a list of the names or identities of 368 arrested people. Should you have any further information about arrests, killings and other human rights abuses in Iran please send them to iran.alerts@googlemail.com and iranalert@amnesty.org. All information will be dealt with confidentially.

Write to Iran’s Supreme Leader

Call on Ayatollah Khamenie to take action to ensure the human rights of the people of Iran are respected.

To send an email directly to the Supreme leader, please visit: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter

To send a letter to Ayatollah Sayed’Ali Khamenie through Amnesty International click here.

Amnesty International Letter to Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei

Dear Ayatollah Khamenei,

I have been watching the events in Iran over the past number of weeks with serious concern. I have seen peaceful protests attacked, protesters beaten and, in some cases, killed, and read of thousands being arrested.

I call on you to release all those imprisoned for simply exercising their rights to freedom of speech and assembly. For those accused of engaging in criminal acts, I call on you to ensure they receive a fair trial, with no reliance on forced “confessions” and that they are not sentenced to death.

All those imprisoned must be protected from torture and other forms of ill-treatment. To ensure this, you should clarify who is in detention and where they are being held and allow them access to their families and lawyers of their choice.

Finally, I call on you to clarify who has been killed, and to ensure that all deaths at the hands of security forces or in custody are properly and independently investigated and that anyone responsible for abuses is brought to justice promptly and fairly.

Yours sincerely,

Tehran Bazar, 14 Mordad (5 AUG)

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. 

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.

Some argue that these latest crises in Iran are part of a planned “velvet”/soft/color revolution, much like what we witnessed in Eastern Europe in late 1980s and ‘90s. Based on conversations with those who believe the above to be true, I have seen this opinion to be raised primarily by those who support Mr. Ahmadinejad and his policies toward U.S. and Israel. In identifying the real history of colonialism and apartheid throughout the Middle East, these people believe the movement in Iran has been organized and is supported by foreign powers as part of plans for regime change.

With respect to these groups, I sincerely believe that those of us who live outside Iran – Iranians and non-Iranians alike – must listen more to what Iranians living in Iran are asking for. This has been our (the peace movement’s) policy. During the time when the Bush administration considered attacking Iran, or when Mr. Obama was not sure how to engage with Iran, what we did was to listen to the Iranian people, and do our best to serve their interest as people. We did our best to promote diplomacy, to help lift sanctions, and to prevent new sanctions because that was – we believed – best for the Iranian people.

At that time,we here in the U.S. supported Mr. Ahmadinejad and his policy in any possible way we thought would help the Iranian people. Because we respected the Iranian’s choice, we confronted any and all disrespectful and unfair behavior aimed at him as the elected president during the past four years. We joined rallies in support of Iran. We met with our senators and representatives where we defended Iran and its president (and his speeches). We wrote many articles in his defense, including his New York City trip in September 2007 when he was attacked in many U.S. media and treated discourteously by the president of Columbia University. When he returned to the U.S. in September 2008 to attend the U.N. General Assembly, we applauded when he was interviewed on “Larry King Live” and we organized a respectful meeting for him with participation of many national peace organizations and activist groups to encourage and promote direct dialogue. We wanted to let everyone know that we do not support the U.S. government’s policies of “threatening Iran.” We engaged in dialogue with him in his position as the president of Iran.

We did all this not because they related specifically to Mr. Ahmadinejad. Rather, we sat with him as the president of a country whose people were threatened. We did this for every single person in Iran and because we respect the intelligence and choice of Iranians. We believe that the 1953 coup d’état was not only illegal but also disrespectful – it was based on a paternalistic belief that outsiders know what is best for Iran, rather than the Iranian people themselves – and we are committed to ensuring such attempts will not be repeated.

We believe that separating the Iranian people from their government is wrong. We also believe that designating funds for regime change in Iran under the pretence of “promoting democracy” is wrong and is a form of interference in Iranian affairs. We believe that we must support Iranians in their dream of, and struggle for, independent freedom and democracy: a dream whose seeds were planted with the establishment of the Islamic Republic as early as 30 years ago.

Then how about now? What has changed now?

The short answer is: nothing! I believe nothing has changed in the nature of our support. We still support the Iranian people. We still support their dream and desire for democracy, freedom, and independence. We still support Iranians against all foreign interferences. We still support their right within the international community. And we still support them incombating any economic sanctions or military intervention. We are asking the U.N. to lift previous sanctions, which so far has only harmed the people of Iran – and that will be the case in the future as well. We are asking the U.S. Senate to remove the funding designated for “supporting democracy in Iran.” We practice and promote the same policies as before, because we have never changed our minds about the integrity and intelligence of the people of Iran.

At the same time, we must be aware that trusting the Iranian intelligence means that we must also believe in what it is that they are saying today. We must understand the reasons for which they are still in the streets protesting, even after many have been killed, many others lost their lives under torture, and thousands more are still in terrifying prison cells. We must acknowledge the reasons that keep the Iranian people in the streets in spite of all the hardships they face.

We must listen to the Iranian people’s cries for democracy before we take the easy path of accusing them of attempting a “velvet revolution.” Before we associate this unprecedented movement with the CIA or MOSSAD, and plans to overthrow the Iranian regime. Does a velvet revolution have 14 million (based on official reports from Iran) people in it? Does a velvet revolution include people like the two-term presidents: Khatami and Rafsanjani? Does it include the former prime minister, Mousavi, the speaker of the house, Karoubi, and all those former high officials of the past 30 years?  Does it include so many of those leading figures who played such prominent role on establishment of this regime?

Before accusing them all of being members of a velvet revolution, and citing what happened in Eastern Europe as “evidence,” we must review the history of Iran, at least within the past three decades. We must ask ourselves: have these people been asking for foreign support? Are they asking anything more than what is written in the constitution of the Islamic Republic?

I say: we should believe in the intelligence of the Iranian people, and their efforts toward self-determination should not be argued as the work of foreigners and outside influences.

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.”

National Public Radio – August 3, 2009

By Mike Schuster

Despite the harsh police crackdown in Tehran, Iran’s opposition movement continues to bring thousands of protesters into the streets to challenge the government.

Just last week, several thousand came out to commemorate those who have been killed since the protests erupted after Iran’s disputed presidential election in June.

On Monday, Iran’s Supreme leader formally endorsed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term.

More protests are expected this week when Ahmadinejad is inaugurated on Wednesday.

In a matter of weeks, the opposition movement has transformed itself from a campaign for a presidential candidate to a broader movement challenging the leaders and the foundation of the Islamic republic.

Protest Has ‘Life Of Its Own’

After a lull, the protest movement appears to be gaining strength again, says Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian studies at Columbia University.

“It is precisely because the ruling elite of the Islamic republic is conscious of the snowballing effect of these demonstrations that they are cracking down on them so severely and violently. And I’m absolutely convinced that it will continue. This is no longer just in reaction to the presidential election. This has assumed a life of its own,” Dabashi says.

What the opposition movement wants is not entirely clear. The chant, “Down with the dictator,” dominates the demonstrations. But there is a certain ambiguity to that, which seems to suit protesters of different political stripes.

The sentiment could be directed against Ahmadinejad, but also at Iran’s supreme leader himself, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which would be a more profound challenge to the foundation of the Islamic republic, says Farideh Farhi, an Iranian specialist at the University of Hawaii.

“I think it has ultimately been directed at the supreme leader precisely because he has chosen to take responsibility not only for the fraud that occurred during the election, but also by threatening violence after the election and actually implementing violence after the election,” she says.

No Clear Leader

It is also not clear who is leading the opposition movement, if anyone. Ostensibly, defeated presidential candidate Mir Houssein Mousavi is its leader, but his actions have been severely restricted. He rarely appears in public and is confined to posting his views on Web sites.

Some of Iran’s prominent political figures, such as former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and former President Mohammad Khatami, have attempted to set specific goals for the movement, but with little real impact, says Mehrzad Boroujerdi, a professor of Middle East studies at Syracuse University.

“Politicians of the ilk of Rafsanjani and Khatami are trying to see if there is any middle-of-the-road type of a solution, either by calling for a referendum or by asking for the release of political prisoners. I don’t think that this is going to satisfy the citizenry any more, and it seems to me that that ship has already left the port,” he says.

It has been a season of political surprises in Iran, beginning in May, just a few weeks before Iran’s June 12 presidential election. Overnight it seemed, hundreds of thousands of people were turning out to support Mousavi, the reformist candidate. He chose green as the symbol of his campaign, and people all over Iran began wearing the color.

Violence Galvanizes Instead Of Deters

On June 13, officials announced that Ahmadinejad was re-elected president — by a seemingly improbable two-to-one margin, no less. And the green movement began its rapid transformation into an opposition, surprising everyone, Farhi says.

“Most people did not expect this kind of popular outrage. Furthermore, they did not expect this popular outrage to persist,” Farhi says.

The violent methods used to try to crush the movement further fueled the outrage. In one cell-phone video, posted on YouTube in late July, a helmeted policeman shoots at demonstrators with a rifle. A man in plainclothes also shoots at the demonstrators with a pistol. One protester falls and a half dozen come to his aid. The people making the video shout at the demonstrators, giving them directions on where to go to get away from the police.

Despite the violence, thousands are still turning out to challenge the government. They don’t number in the millions as they did back in June. But there are still many women, older people and some poorly dressed protesters to supplement the young men — largely from the educated middle class — who are taking the worst beatings.

The demands of the opposition remain vague, but that could change. Repression often breeds radicalization, which could lead to new surprises in the astounding political drama that still has Iran in its grip.