Rafsanjani's friday sermon on video

[bigwinnman]

Dec 20 2009
The Latest from Iran (20 December): Montazeri Death; Regime Scrambles for Legitimacy

Posted by Scott Lucas in Middle East & Iran

The Latest from Iran (20 December): Montazeri Death; Regime Scrambles for Legitimacy | Enduring America

0825 GMT: Sane’i Message for Ashura. Ayatollah Yusuf Sane’i has spoken to students about the protests during the holy month of Moharram and specifically on the day of Ashura (27 December), reiterating the need for non-violent demonstration: “If you respond to violence with violence then your reform movement will not have any result….Persist on getting your rights and be present anywhere and in any place that is talk of defending the oppressed.” He added that Imam Hossein will protect those who are mourning for him.
Grand Ayatollah Saanei repeatedly upheld both the image of Imam Hossein, whose death is marked by Ashura, and the ideals of Ayatollah Khomeini: “We wanted of the revolution a government come to power that protects the nation’s rights and that was what Imam and people sacrificed for….Powers will never survive by oppression and tyranny.”
0800 GMT: We are providing rolling coverage of this morning’s breaking news of the death of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, 87, one of the most prominent clerical figures in post-1979 Iran and a vocal opponent of the Ahmadinejad Government and Supreme Leader. Most of the reaction is marking his death with sadness and tributes, but there is already some discussion of whether this news will hinder the opposition, as it loses one of its most powerful (if politically ostracised) voices, or boosts it, as Montazeri becomes a symbol for the cause of fighting injustice and oppression in the name of Islam.

The news overtakes a number of moves on both the Government and opposition sides. The regime moved yesterday to limit some of the post-election political damage from abuse of detainees, confirming that three had died from beatings in Kahrizak Prison and that 12 officials have been indicted for alleged abuses.
Perhaps more importantly, Iranian ministries are scrambling to repair the damage from Friday’s mini-march that failed to establish Government legitimacy. The Ministry of Islamic Culture issued warnings to five newspapers (Abrar, Andishye-Noe, Jahan-Eghtesad, Etemad, and Mardom-Saalaari) for “not giving enough coverage” of the rallies, ostensibly organised to protest the burning of Ayatollah Khomeini’s picture on 16 Azar (7 December).

[bigwinnman]

Dec 19 2009
Iran Analysis: RegimeFail?

Posted by Scott Lucas in Middle East & Iran

Iran Analysis: RegimeFail? | Enduring America

If a demonstration occurs in the square but no one really notices, does it make a sound?
It is less than 24 hours after the Iranian regime tried to build up a mass rally on the first day of the religious month of Moharram, not only for the pretext of protesting the burning of Ayatollah Khomeini’s photograph but for the wider goal of showing the Government’s political superiority over its opposition. Yet this morning, Iranian state medium Press TV, which was proclaiming that “millions” were on the streets of Iran, is not even bothering to mention the story, let alone update it. Fars News is now on the nuclear issue and promoting art about martyrs. The Islamic Republic News Agency is trying to boost President Ahmadinejad, after his appearance at the climate change talks in Copenhagen, with his rhetoric on how Iran — unlike European countries — supports freedom and democracy around the world. (IRNA, further down its page, has a short, rather limp story that a million people marched in support of Khomeini and the Supreme Leader.)

Iran on Moharram, Day 1: The Regime Flops?
The Latest from Iran (18 December): Moharram Begins

We tentatively suggested yesterday afternoon that the attempted demonstrations in Tehran, let alone in other parts of Iran where I have still not seen visual evidence, were a regime “flop”. No need to be tentative now: this was a clear picture, after six months, not of a regime asserting its political strength but of a Government and even Supreme Leader struggling to maintain even a 24-hour appearance of political legitimacy. The sensational cries of “Death to Mousavi”, whipped up by an Ayatollah Khamenei ally, made little more than fleeting headlines; indeed, I don’t think even the base charge of “insult to Khomeini” was successfully stuck upon the opposition.
This, however, is the easy analysis to make this morning. Now the ball bounces back into the court of the opposition, be that Hashemi Rafsanjani, senior clerics, or the Green movement. Once more they have both the initiative and the burden of showing that their supporters are still ready to press their demands.
So on to Ashura (27 December), the key day of mourning and commemoration in Moharram marking the death of Imam Hossein. The Green movement rallied on Qods Day (18 September), which traditionally had been a regime day as it displayed its support of the Palestinians and their claim on Jerusalem. It rallied on National Students Day (7 December), which had marked the supremacy of the Islamic Republic over the Shah with the memory of the killing of three students in 1953. Can the opposition now mark one of the most important days on the Iranian and Shi’a Islam calendar as their own?
The regime failed yesterday, but that is far from enough to argue that it has lost. Those challenging the regime now have to prove they can make a meaningful, otherwise many Iranians (how many?) may sit on their hands in passivity and resignation.
It is eight days to Ashura.

[bigwinnman]

Dec 21 2009
The Latest from Iran (21 December): The Montazeri Funeral

Posted by Scott Lucas in Middle East & Iran

The Latest from Iran (21 December): The Montazeri Funeral | Enduring America

1100 GMT: Among the chants on videos from Qom: “Those who cheated tore up the photos [of Ayatollah Khomeini]“; “Political prisoners must be freed”.
1010 GMT: Andisheh-ye No (New Thought), one of five papers warned this weekend for not paying due attention to “large” pro-Government rallies on Friday has been banned from publishing.
1005 GMT: Iran Mediawatch. It looks like Mehr News has defied the Government command to ignore the crowds for Montazeri. It has photos of the gathering and of prominent figures paying condolences. It may be a sign of demand for confirmation of events or, alternatively, Internet restrictions in Iran that Mehr’s website appears to be overloaded.
0940 GMT: Images of Mourning. Photos have been posted of Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi paying their respects inside the Montazeri house. We have also posted the first videos of mass demonstrations in Qom and Najafabad.
0910 GMT: Press TV just posted a short report on the funeral of “leading clerical figure Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri”. It mentions the Supreme Leader’s condolences, omitting the criticisms of Montazeri.
There is no mention, however, of the crowds in Qom.
0905 GMT: The View from the Other Site — Montazeri & “Terrorists”. One of the few remarks from an Iran-based commentator in non-Iranian media is in Al Jazeera English’s coverage. It comes from Tehran University academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi:

[Montazeri said] the same thing for around 25 years….After his inner circle was discovered to be linked to Mujahidin terrorists based in Iraq, he was isolated by the reformists….He is not a major player and has always been very critical.

0855 GMT: Iranian Mediawatch. Press TV’s website has nothing on the funeral (now see 910 GMT). The Iranian Labor News Agency’s English site has a short item that “thousands of mourners converged” on Qom and that Mir Hossein Mousavi attended. ILNA also uses the title “Ayatollah” for Montazeri, who was “one of the leaders of the 1979 Iranian Revolution along with the founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini”.
ILNA also emphasises, via the word of Montazeri’s doctor, that the cleric died of natural causes.

0850 GMT: New Entries. We have posted the video and translation of an interview given by Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s son Saeed yesterday on his father’s last words and views: “I think one of the main reasons [for his death] was his grief for the post-election events which troubled my father a lot.”
And, on another front, we have posted a view from Tehran of the current Iranian position in the nuclear talks with the “West” and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
0840 GMT: Mir Hossein Mousavi’s Kalemeh, in a long report on the funeral, confirms that both Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi were in the procession.
0810 GMT: Montazeri’s son has asked the crowd to quiet their chants, but the protests continue.
0805 GMT: Mediawatch. The Montazeri ceremonies/protests are now the lead item on the BBC, with Jon Leyne providing an excellent summary both of today’s gathering and of attempted Government restrictions. Leyne says that Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi were in the funeral procession, a claim that we have been unable to confirm.
0735 GMT: With security forces apparently trying to move people from the Shrine, crowds are moving about Qom, with many reportedly headed toward Montazeri’s house.
0730 GMT: The doors of the Masoumeh Shrine have been closed because of the size of the crowd.
0720 GMT: Numerous reports of the crowd’s mourning turning into a protest with chants against the Government and even the Supreme Leader.
0657 GMT: It appears the ceremony proceeded more quickly than we first reported (0615 GMT). Reports now that Montazeri has been buried in the Massoumeh Shrine.
0650 GMT: The article in Time from Robin Wright, one of the best US-based journalists on Iran, is to the point: “Iran’s Opposition Loses a Mentor But Gains a Martyr”.
0643 GMT: Josh Shahryar has posted a tribute, “Good Bye Montazeri, You Will Be Missed”: “The struggle for freedom, human rights and justice will continue. If we’ve learned anything in the past six months it is that the Iranian people’s desire for change will not die with the death of an individual – no matter how important that individual may be.”
0640 GMT: Ayatollah Shobeiri-Zanjani is now leading prayers.
0630 GMT: A LiveBlog from Qom is claiming “hundreds of thousands” are now in the streets. Reported chant: “Montazeri is not dead; the Government is dead.”
0615 GMT (0945 Tehran & Qom): The mourning ceremonies for Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri began about 30 minutes ago in Qom, with his body being taken from his house to the Imam Hassan mosque. In about 45 minutes, the procession will move from the mosque to the Masoumeh Shrine. There are reports, despite Government efforts to limit or prevent attendance, tens of thousands have lined the route.
As well as the reported orders from the regime to Iranian newspapers to prohibit his photograph on front pages, to ignore Montazeri’s political significance and emphasise the 1989 incident that led to his dismissal as Ayatollah Khomeini’s successor, the Government is jamming BBC Persian.

[bigwinnman]

Hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered in Qom
Clashes at funeral of top Iran dissident cleric

Mon, Dec 21, 2009 | Muharram 04, 1431
Year Six, Day 305

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/12/21/94795.html

TEHRAN (Agencies)
Hard-line vigilantes clashed with mourners at the funeral of Iran's top dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the city of Qom on Monday, opposition websites reported.

"The present crowd in the procession has been estimated at hundreds of thousands of people and they were also shouting slogans in his support, and also in support of (opposition leader) Mirhossein Mousavi," Jaras website reported.

The report could not be independently verified as foreign media have been banned from travelling to Qom for the event.

Kaleme also reported Mousavi has arrived in the holy city of Qom earlier to take part in the funeral but that Iranian security forces stopped a bus carrying opposition supporters on their way to the funeral.

Mousavi and another opposition leader urged their supporters on Sunday to attend the funeral and announced a day of national mourning for Montazeri, the same reformist website reported earlier.

The official IRNA news agency, in its first report on the funeral procession, said mourners carrying the coffin "calmly" entered Qom's main religious shrine where prayers would be held. It did not give any details on the size of the crowd.

Fars, a semi-official news agency, later said Montazeri had been buried at the shrine.

Hard-line and pro-government "Ansar Hezbollah groups entered the crowd and wanted to derail the slogans and disrupt the ceremony. They went away after clashing with some people," another reformist website said.

The authorities have slowed Internet connections down to a crawl, as has been the case whenever opposition demonstrations are anticipated.


A spiritual leader

Montazeri was an inspiration and spiritual leader to Iran reformists and human rights activists, who died aged 87 on Saturday.

The cleric, who was widely considered as the highest living authority of Shiite Islam in Iran, was being buried in the shrine of Masoumeh, a revered Shiite figure, in Qom.

Montazeri was named in the 1980s to succeed revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as Iran's top authority, but fell out with him over the mass execution of prisoners.

The grand Ayatollah was among the government's harshest critics in a clerical establishment where splits have widened during the turmoil triggered by June 12 vote.

The pro-reform opposition says the poll was rigged to secure hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election.

The authorities have denied the charge and portrayed the huge opposition protests after the election, which were quelled by the elite Revolutionary Guards and Islamic militiamen, as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the clerical leadership.

In August, Montazeri said on his Web site that the authorities' handling of street unrest following the election "could lead to the fall of the regime" and he denounced the clerical leadership as a dictatorship.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Khomeini after his death in 1989, expressed his condolences, ISNA news agency reported.

Alluding to Montazeri's dispute with Khomeini, Khamenei said he asked God to forgive Montazeri over a "difficult and critical test" that he faced towards the end of Khomeini's life. Khamenei made clear his opinion was that Montazeri failed the test.

[bigwinnman]

Witnesses: Protests at Funeral for Iranian Cleric

21/12/2009

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, (AP) – Tens of thousands of Iranian mourners — many chanting protest slogans — joined the funeral procession Monday for the country's most senior dissident cleric, who had described government crackdowns as the work of power-hungry despots.

Iranian authorities have barred foreign media from covering the processions in the holy city of Qom for Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died Sunday at age 87. But witnesses said many mourners shouted protest cries including "Death to the Dictator" in displays of anger against Iran's ruling establishment.
There were no immediate reports of serious clashes from the witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of arrest by Iranian authorities. Some opposition Web sites noted scuffles and violence, but the reports could not immediately be confirmed.
On Monday, access to the Internet in Iran was slow, and cellular telephone service was unreliable. The government has periodically restricted communications in an attempt to prevent protesters from organizing.
Security was extremely tight in Qom, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Tehran, as people streamed in along the single highway from the capital, Tehran.
The funeral rites for Montazeri pushed Iranian authorities into a difficult spot. They were obliged to pay respects to one of the patriarchs of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the one-time heir apparent to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
But officials also worried that Montazeri's death — and upcoming memorials — could become new rallying points for opposition demonstrations.
Montazeri broke with the regime in the 1980s after claiming that the ruling clerics violated the ideals of the revolution by taking absolute power rather than serving as advisers to political leaders. He spent five years under house arrest and had only a minor role in political affairs after being released in 2003.
But the outrage after June's disputed presidential election gave him a new voice that resonated with a younger generation. His most pivotal moments came in the summer when he denounced the "despotic" tactics and "crimes" of the ruling clerics — a bold step that encouraged protesters to break taboos about criticism of Khomeini's successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In demonstrations earlier this month, students shouted "Death to the dictator!" and burned pictures of Khamenei.
Many people during Monday's funeral made references to the Green Movement of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who joined the procession in Qom, witnesses said. Opposition leaders had called for people to turn out for a day of mourning, and Mousavi described Montazeri's death as a "great loss."
On Sunday, Khamenei praised Montazeri as a respected Islamic scholar, but noted his falling out with Khomeini and other leaders of the revolution.
Montazeri's grandson, Nasser Montazeri, said he died in his sleep overnight. The Web site of Iranian state television quoted doctors as saying Montazeri had suffered from asthma and arteriosclerosis, a disease that thickens and hardens arteries.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said one of Montazeri's followers and a government critic, Ahmad Ghabel, was arrested while driving to Qom with his family to attend the funeral. The New York-based group called on the government not to interfere in the commemorations.
Another prominent critic, filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad, was arrested on a charge of insulting officials, the state news agency IRNA reported Sunday. Nourizad, once a conservative government supporter, wrote a letter of protest to Khamenei in September urging him to apologize to the nation for the postelection crackdown.
Montazeri was one of the leaders of the revolution and he helped draft the nation's new constitution, which was based on a concept called velayat-e faqih, or rule by Islamic jurists. That concept enshrined a political role for Islamic clerics in the new system.
But a deep ideological rift soon developed with Khomeini. Montazeri envisioned the Islamic experts as advisers to the government who should not have outright control to rule themselves. He was also among those clerics who believed the power of the supreme leader comes from the people, not from God.
Taking an opposing view, Khomeini and his circle of clerics consolidated absolute power.

[Clear Conscience]

Khamene2i didnt allow the news media to transmit the funeral of Mountazari. He is afraid from a dead person and from the mourners. Dictators are the most coward ever.

[bigwinnman]

Clashes reported at funeral of Iranian dissident cleric

BBC News - Clashes reported at funeral of Iranian dissident cleric

The streets of the city of Qom were thronged with mourners

Iranian reformists have clashed with police after the funeral of a dissident cleric, opposition websites say. Earlier, tens of thousands took part in a procession for Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri in the holy city of Qom.
Clashes reportedly broke out, but the scale of the confrontation is not clear, says a BBC correspondent.
Montazeri - who died aged 87 of natural causes in Qom on Saturday night - had decried President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in June as a fraud.
The reformist Jaras website said mourners chanted slogans in support of the cleric and also of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Mr Mousavi took part in the procession, along with fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi.
The reformist Kaleme website reported that Mr Mousavi's car was attacked by "plainclothes men" on motorbikes, as the opposition leader travelled back from Qom to Tehran.
Kaleme said the assailants shattered the car's back window and injured a member of Mr Mousavi's entourage.
'Beating their chests'
Many mourners were carrying green banners or wearing green - the colour of Iran's opposition.
The ayatollah's son, Saeed Montazeri, said the security forces had surrounded his father's home after the ceremony in the holy city of Qom.
Kaleme said that following the funeral, some mourners threw stones at police surrounding the cleric's house and clashes with security forces followed.
Footage broadcast on the internet showed crowds chanting against Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling him a "murderer" and saying his rule was illegitimate.
Meanwhile, amateur footage sent to BBC Persian interactive apparently shows government supporters outside Montazeri's house, holding posters of the supreme leader.
Policemen wearing blue uniforms with NAJA on the backs, are holding them in line.
Other video showed thousands of mourners marching in Montazeri's home town of Najafabad, near the central city of Isfahan.
They beat their chests and chanted: "Oppressed Montazeri, you are with God now."
The government knows the funeral is one demonstration it cannot forbid, says the BBC's Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne, although it fears it could spark another round of protests.
In response, authorities have imposed strict new restrictions on the media, both foreign and domestic.
The BBC said fresh attempts had been made to jam its Persian television service to Iran.
Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi were both presidential candidates in last June's disputed elections.
Anger at the result saw mass protests in Tehran and other cities that led to thousands of arrests and some deaths.
They have called for Monday to be a national day of mourning.
The grand ayatollah was one of Shia Islam's most respected figures.
He was an architect of the 1979 revolution that created Iran's Islamic state but later became a vocal critic of the government.
'Rioters' cleric'
BBC religious affairs correspondent Christopher Landau says that in a country where the younger generation is often seen as increasingly secularised, Montazeri offered an understanding of Islam in sympathy with many of the opposition's concerns.
His death deprives Iran of an outspoken champion of an alternative vision for the Islamic Revolution, our correspondent says.
The cleric's death also comes during the sacred first month of the Islamic calendar. The 10th day of that month, the Shia festival of Ashura, is this coming Sunday.
It was already likely to offer a platform for opposition protests, and this death gives that date added significance, our correspondent adds.
On 20 December, following news of the grand ayatollah's death, a large crowd quickly gathered outside his home in Qom to pay respects.
Sporadic gatherings were also reported in Tehran and other cities.
Foreign media have been restricted in Iran since the post-election protests and it is often difficult to verify reports. No foreign media have been allowed to attend the funeral.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did offer his condolences on Sunday, praising Grand Ayatollah Montazeri as an outstanding jurist.
However, the Supreme Leader tempered this with criticism, saying he hoped God would forgive the late cleric for failing his "crucial test".
This was a reference to Montazeri's falling out with the leader of the revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
State news agency Irna did not use the grand ayatollah title in its early reports of Montazeri's death, and referred to him as the "rioters' cleric".
The White House praised Montazeri, saying he had been "known and internationally respected for his unwavering commitment to universal rights".
Hoseyn Ali Montazeri was one of the early backers of Ayatollah Khomeini and was designated to succeed him.
But the pair fell out over Iran's human rights record a few months before Khomeini died of cancer in 1989.
In 1997 he famously clashed with Khamenei, whom he outranked in the religious hierarchy, after questioning the powers of the supreme leader.
Montazeri repeatedly accused the country's rulers of imposing dictatorship in the name of Islam and said the liberation that was supposed to have followed the 1979 revolution never happened.
Then, despite his old age and failing health, Montazeri backed the opposition's claims that the 2009 election result, which gave Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a landslide victory, had been widely rigged.
Montazeri said Iran's leadership was a dictatorship and issued a fatwa condemning the government.

[bigwinnman]

Opposition crowds gather for night demo in Tehran

BBC News - Opposition crowds gather for night demo in Tehran

Page last updated at 17:47 GMT, Sunday, 20 December 2009

Crowds believed to be opposition supporters have held a night demonstration in Tehran, after the of death of dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri.
The amateur footage shows protesters holding up posters of Iran's most senior dissident cleric whilst chanting and waving their fists.

video at link

[bigwinnman]

The Significance of Today’s Events

December 21, 2009
niacINsight

Today clearly breathed new life into Iran’s opposition movement. Opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi both took the risk and attended alongside countless other mourners. (Mousavi’s convoy was reportedly attacked en-route back to Tehran by plain-clothed security officials who cut off the convoy and bashed in a window of one of the cars and injured one of Mousavi’s bodyguards.)
Khamenei issued a rather insulting statement of condolence, which the NY Times reports sparked boos, chants of “we do not want rationed condolences” and “death to the dictator” from the crowd of mourners in Qum. Khamenei’s statement follows:

“We have become informed that the sublime jurisprudent Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri has departed this life. He was a competent religious authority and a prominent expert and many students attended his classes. A long portion of his life had been dedicated to the movement of the revered and great Imam (Khomeini), and he strived and suffered hardships on this path. In the last years of the Imam’s life, he (Montazeri) was faced with a difficult test. I ask Almighty God to forgive him through His mercy and to accept the hardships suffered during his life as atonement. I extend my condolences to his bereaved wife and children and ask God to bestow forgiveness and mercy upon him.”

While the Iranian government managed to successfully block BBC Persian service into Iran, another critical audience couldn’t possibly miss what happened today. One of the readers at the New York Times’ The Lede put it best:

Qom is in many ways the heart of the last Revolution (how it ended up anyway) and its aftermath. Until now, the regime has tried very very hard to isolate Qom from the protest movement. The security presence there has always been reported as very high to prevent any protests. [...] With today’s protests in Qom, and the clergy’s close-up view of it (perhaps for the first time for some of them) it will be interesting to see what the Qom clergy does in the days and weeks to come.

The next day to watch is Sunday, when two major days of mourning coincide: the day of mourning for Ayatollah Montazeri (the seventh day after his death) and the religious holiday of Ashura, which marks the martyrdom of the Imam Hossein.

[bigwinnman]

Dec 21 2009
The Latest From Iran (21 December): The Montazeri Funeral

Posted by Scott Lucas in Middle East & Iran

Enduring America

2140 GMT: Sharing a Laugh. At the end of an emotional day, it’s good to relax with a bit of a laugh. So, over to you, pro-regime Kayhan newspaper: there were “a maximum of about 5000” in the crowd at the Montazeri ceremonies, as reformists “completely failed to create “a popular gathering”.
Oh, you pranksters….
1925 GMT: Arrest of the Activists. Shiva Nazar Ahari and Kouhyar Goodarzi, arrested yesterday as they travelled to Qom, are still detained. Mahboubeh Abbas Gholizadeh was released earlier today.
A video of Gholizadeh’s interview of Nazar Ahari, carried out just before her arrest, [video=youtube;ujPlkcLLMK4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujPlkcLLMK4"]has been posted[/url] in Set 1 and Set 2). The latest discovery? A lengthy clip of Mehdi Karroubi at the ceremonies.
1850 GMT: Clashes and Occupation (2). Rah-e-Sabz publishes the story we have been hearing for a few hours: The car of Mir Hossein Mousavi was attacked, allegedly by plainclothes forces, as it returned to Tehran from Qom, breaking the rear windscreen. A passenger was injured; Mousavi was unhurt. One of the attackers also suffered minor injuries.

NEW Latest Iran Video: Mourning Montazeri (21 December — 2nd Set)
NEW Latest Iran Video: Mourning Montazeri (21 December — 1st Set)
NEW Iran Video & Text: Montazeri’s Son Saeed On His Father’s Views, Last Words

Latest Iran Video: Montazeri’s Criticism of Supreme Leader Khamenei (1997; redistributed October 2009)
Latest Iran Video: Demonstrations in Memory of Montazeri (20 December)
Iran Special LiveBlog: Ayatollah Montazeri Has Died
1830 GMT: Clashes and Occupation (1). Back from a short break to find that Ahmad Montazeri, the son of the late Grand Ayatollah, has said “several people” were injured in clashes with security forces. Some of those forces are still “occupying” the Imam Hassan Mosque where services took place this morning.
Read the rest of this entry »

Dec 21 2009
Latest Iran Video: Mourning Montazeri (21 December — 2nd Set)

Posted by Scott Lucas in Middle East & Iran