Topic: 2009 Iranian presidential election
On the 16th, the Iranian people held a large-scale "solidarity rally" in the capital Tehran to express their desire for national stability and unity. Xinhua news agency
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This is the messy computer room in the dormitory building of Tehran University. Witnesses said the attack took place between 1: 30 and 5: 00 am on Monday.
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Witnesses said that riot police and militia beat students in the dormitory and even shot at the protesters.
The Beijing News reported on June 18th.On the 17th, the political turmoil caused by alleged fraud in Iran’s general election has entered the fourth day. The day before, supporters of reformist Mousavi, the loser of the general election, still ignored the government ban and held protests. On the 17th, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard issued a tough statement, announcing that it would restrict online media and severely punish those who "create tension" on the Internet.
The opposition continued to demonstrate.
On the 16th, while Mousavi’s supporters held protests, the supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who won the general election, also organized a "rally for unity". On the same day, Yasser Square in the center of Tehran became a sea of Ahmadinejad supporters, who accused Mousavi and the West of trying to undermine national stability.
On the 17th, Mousavi himself publicly appealed to supporters to hold a large-scale rally on the 18th to mourn and commemorate the students and civilians who were shot and killed by the military and police on the 15th.
The army has sent "network detectives"
In the face of the reformists’ continuing demonstrations, the Iranian elite force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, directly under the orders of Iran’s supreme leader, issued a statement on the 17th, announcing that it would restrict online media. Since the Iranian government banned foreign media from going out to cover the Iranian political situation on the 16th, the Internet has become the main tool for reformist demonstrators to report news and communicate with each other.
According to the statement, Iranian website operators and bloggers must remove the online content that "creates tension", or they will face "severe punishment by law", and the investigators of the Revolutionary Guard have begun to act.
The statement also accused that some "reactionary websites" were supported by foreign forces such as Canada, the United States and Britain.
Many media in Mousavi camp expressed dissatisfaction with the Revolutionary Guard’s involvement in the election. They said that the Revolutionary Guard should not be involved in politics.
The supreme leader called for the settlement of the dispute.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not make a public appearance after the election, but he has been making statements since the election. On the 17th, he held talks with representatives of four candidates in the presidential election. Khamenei asked all parties not to send wrong signals to their supporters, let alone use the election to disrupt the social situation. "No one should aggravate the tension, on the contrary, it should be calmed down as soon as possible."
Khamenei also demanded that voters, marchers and violence makers be treated differently. "In the election, voters have different opinions, but they all share the belief in the existing system and support the Islamic Republic. The demonstrators did not want to overthrow the Republic, and the violence was planned and implemented by anti-Islamic enemies. "
Khamenei also reiterated that he supported the recount of votes in some areas, but did not agree with Mousavi’s demands for all recounts.
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On June 17th, a foreign journalist was contacting the outside world by telephone. There is an Iranian newspaper on his desk.
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On the 16th, supporters of current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also took to the streets for a party. The picture shows two demonstrators holding up anti-BBC propaganda slogans. They accused Mousavi and the West of trying to destabilize the country. (This article Source: Beijing News Author: Zhang Le Xu Chao)
■ Against each other
government
Planning illegal protests or facing the death penalty
After Iranian intelligence minister Ejeie confirmed that security forces arrested dozens of "masterminds" suspected of inciting demonstrations, an Iranian local official warned on the 17th that the masterminds behind illegal protests may face severe punishment.
The semi-official Farce News Agency quoted Habibi, Attorney General of Isfahan Province, as warning that there were a few lawless elements behind the large-scale demonstrations, who were controlled by forces outside Iran. According to Islamic law, these people may face the death penalty at the highest. Habibi warned these people to stop "criminal activities".
"We warn a few lawless elements controlled by foreigners that they will face the death penalty for trying to disrupt national security by inciting personal sabotage and arson," Habibi said. "Therefore, before being brought to justice, they should return to the embrace of the motherland and avoid any more criminal acts."
According to sources quoted by Reuters and AFP, reformist Jalaipur and political commentator Lairaz, who supported Mousavi, were arrested one after another on the morning of 17th. Among them, newspapers under the name of Lairaz have been criticizing the economic policies of current President Ahmadinejad.
Xu Chao (special feature of Xinhua News Agency)
opposition
"Network Series" Calls for Street Demonstrations
Mousavi’s supporters are mostly young people and college students. During the general election and after the election dispute, many people use the Internet to inform each other about the news online and encourage them to take to the streets.
On the blog of Gatti, a famous Iranian blogger, many supporters posted that they spontaneously gathered in the Gam area of Tehran to support Mousavi. The rally was called "quiet demonstration" because no one shouted slogans, just walked quietly or sat quietly. An Iranian who reported the situation on Gatti’s blog left a message on the early morning of 16th, saying: The cell phone signal was blocked again, and people used silence to express their protest. Someone followed the message and said, "See you on the 17th!"
On other social networking sites, the message "See you on the 17th" appeared, and some people also posted messages: If we can’t get legal rights in the election, we will consider long-term demonstrations.
Gatti himself published a blog post saying that many blogs can’t send messages, so many people use proxy servers to log on to blocked websites. In order to prevent this phenomenon, the government simply cut off the Internet in many areas.
Some Iranian netizens posted that in a football match between Iran and South Korea, some players also wore green wristbands to support Mousavi.
(Zhang Le)
■ connection
Journalists in China encounter difficulties in interviewing.
(Reporter Zhang Le) Luo Lai ‘an, a correspondent of China Radio International in Iran, said on the 17th that the Iranian government has indeed issued a notice to journalists from all over the world, asking them not to cover "unauthorized" demonstrations, otherwise their cameras will be confiscated and their press cards will be revoked.
Luo Laian told reporters, "When this ban comes out, news sources will definitely be affected, and it is more difficult to interview." However, he said that the gathering of Ahmadinejad supporters on the 16 th was approved by the government and could be interviewed; However, the gatherings of reformist supporters such as Mousavi are usually not allowed, and if they go to interview, they will be "in trouble."
Luo Laian on the other end of the phone expressed helplessness to the Iranian government’s regulation. "At present, I can only watch the TV of the Iranian government, but the news inside doesn’t report much about the reformists. Recently, there are many people surfing the Internet, the network speed is also very slow, the mobile phone signal is very unstable, and the short message was blocked around the 13th. "
■ observation
street protest
Fear will continue.
No matter what the result of the recount is, it is difficult to eliminate social division.
To some extent, the political deadlock after the election reflects that Iran’s universal suffrage politics is "lacking in maturity" in both form and content.
When the general election was still in progress, the Iranian government introduced the new form of candidate debate for the first time, but there were many "abnormal phenomena" in the debate process. For example, Ahmadinejad successfully provoked a "corruption debate", but criticized his opponent by name without producing conclusive facts.
Usually, attacking an opponent without evidence is easy to give people a handle, which is not conducive to the election. However, the polls conducted by the Iranian media afterwards showed that Ahmadinejad’s "unprovoked attack" won the support of more than half of the voters.
The debate and violence after the election also reflect many problems in Iran’s universal suffrage politics. For example, the lack of independent election supervisors, the rapid counting of votes, the blocking of some networks, riots caused by people taking to the streets, and mutual intolerance between the two factions.
Judging from the current development of the situation, no matter what the result of the recount, street sports will be difficult to eliminate, and the rift in Iranian society will be difficult to bridge in a short time.
If the Guardian Council confirms that Ahmadinejad still wins, Mousavi’s supporters will not leave it at that; If the Guardian Council overturns the previous results, Ahmadinejad’s faction is bound to take to the streets on a large scale. Iran’s future political development may face the severe test of "street democracy".
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