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Wednesday, 21 September 2005
They Start Calling You Names When They Run Out Of Ideas.
Topic: Iran
I have gotten myself a new label on Cao's Blog

Idiot Dan the Islamofascist

What is so comical is that the last time I got under the skin of someone in an online dialog it was on the CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) Discussion Board before they nuked it. We were winning I think in the debate and THEY also gave me a label it was

Kentucky Fried Caffir


They also informed me at the time that quote:

"There are now hundreds of the Faithful Praying to Allah daily, that your Soul be Ripped Shrieking from your Body and thrown into the Bottomless Pit of Endless Torment by the Angel of Darkness"


They even included specific directions on exactly how to perform this prayer so that Allah would hear and be more likely to grant it.

I recall at the time my response was that this did not sound to me to be All Merciful, All Compassionate and All Loving. Man do I wish I had kept a screen capture of that exchange but who knew that the would Discussion Board would just disappear some day?

So one might understand the bemusement I experienced with being called an Islamofascist, it would also come as a big surprise to some with whom I have knocked heads with over the years on Islam-Online.net

Some on that website would be greatly offended to have me lumped in with them. The funny thing was on both of those forums there were those who used extreme language and their posts went through, while mine were sometimes censored, particularly when I used Muslim sources and websites to make my points.

Oh and I got called my fair share of names there too.
They call you names when they run out of ideas.

My sin on Caos Blog was that I do not think a case has been definitely made that Ahmadinejad was one of the guards and torturers at the American Embassy in Tehran.

Now I have been very clear that the man is indeed a Murdering, Facist Thug. I have no doubt of that the record is clear and their is certainly enough information, For instance his part in the assassination of Kurdish dissidents in Vienna in which he received a small wound.

The record is also clear that he was on the Islamic Students Association.

Ms Caos did off her list send me a very interesting information source.

Iran's President-Elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Here is the pertinent part

"# Enrolled Elm-o Sanaat University 1975 studying engineering
# Became leave of student activist group at Elm-o Sanaat University
# Founded the Islamic Students Association at Elm-o Sanaat shortly after fall of shah
# 1979 became representative from Elm-o Sanaat at the Office of Strengthening Unity between Students and Theological Seminaries (OSU) (OSU set up by Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, top confidant to Ayatollah Khomeini
# Ahmadinejad and other members of OSU central council including Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Mohsen Kadivar, Mohsen Aghajari, and Abbas Abdi regularly met with Khomeini
# Mirdamadi and Abdi suggested to OSU that US embassy be stormed. Ahmadinejad recommended storming the Soviet embassy at the same time.
# During 1980 "Islamic Cultural Revolution" Ahmadinejad and the OSU assisted in purging dissident lecturers and students - many arrested and later executed.
# 1980 - Ahmadinejad joined Revolutionary Guards"

As I understand things "Ahmadinejad recommended storming the Soviet embassy at the same time."
because some of the Student Counsel wanted the attack on the US Embassy to drive Iran closer to the Soviet Union, he wanted a distance from both Satans.

So yes he was involved in the Student Counsel, yes he was a torturer and murderer later after he joined the
Revolutionary Guards in 1980, but was he a Guard and a torture at the American Embassy?

The record is not fully clear on that point. It has been many years since I have had day to day contact with Iranians. But I do comprehend some facets of the Culture in that region.

Ahmadinejad has never denied any of his actions over the years, as a matter of fact he is quite proud of his blows against the Great Satan, neither has he ever made any claim to have been one of the actual Guards and Torturers at the American Embassy and he denies have been one now.

Why is that so? I mean we ARE talking about the type of person who thinks for instance blowing up children in the cause of the Faith is something to be proud of and he has done the same or worse to many Iranians and Kurds since then.

So why hide for all these years and deny now what in his Culture is a Badge of Honor.

It is too simplistic to think of men like this as mindless unthinking robots. Many of them are highly intelligent, highly motivated and True Believers. The fact that I also think of them as rabid dogs who would be best put down, does not diminish my appraisal of their capabilities and dedication to their own Cause.

For Ahmadinejad to deny he was there if he was, would be to deny everything he believes in.

"Ahmadinejad and other members of OSU central council including Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Mohsen Kadivar, Mohsen Aghajari, and Abbas Abdi regularly met with Khomeini"

It would be to deny Khomeini the Revolution and to lose the Respect of all who WERE there and involved at the time.

If he were NOT there to claim he was, would be to lose the Respect of those who were there as well.

In that Culture and in his position to lose Respect in those manners would be a fate worse than Death and actually probably fatal.

During the Taliban's reign in Afghanistan an action team hit a Shi'ai village, They killed and skinned a young 16 year old boy you can find the story on the website of the

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan

A scuffle arose among the men as to who got to dip their hands in the blood and become Ghazzi Warriors and assured of Paradise.

This is the value placed by fanatics on actions such as the torture of Infidels, Shi'ais being Apostates are rated about as low as we are.


No a man such as Ahmadinejad would either proudly proclaim his actions had he been there or deny it if he were not.

That he is a Brutal Savage Murdering Lying Monster notwithstanding he can still be expected to behave in a manner consistent with his own moral code, no matter how disgusting it is to us.

He is guilty of many atrocities and his hands is stained with the blood of a multitude of innocents, but in this case I do not think a complete case has been made, nor do I think it is likely he had hands on participation, involvement definitely, and that is damning enough.

And this belief make neither Amir Taheri nor me Islamofascists.

Previous information I have posted on this topic here on my site is in

Former US Embassy Hostages ID Ahmadinejad

PS I bought my firs Quran and started following these issues shortly after my Cousin Casey bought the farm in Beirut in 1983.

To paraphrase a line from a CW song
"I was anti-terrorist before anti-terrorism was cool"


Like I said, I have been called plenty of names over the years but never an Islamofacist, usually BY Islamofascists and even as upset as some of them on the CAIR or Islam=Online got, debating these issues, never been banned before LOL

Never too late for new experiences and learning opportunities

Wow she has really gone off the deep end

"Update: Through email Dan admits he met with Russian muslims in Russia. He is officially through his own admission, an Islamofascist who is spreading propaganda in favor of Islamofascist terrorists like Ahmidinejad. I have banned him from the server level and changed his comments to ?Idiot Dan the Islamofascist?, removing his linkage."

Actually it was BASHKORTOSTAN and we among other things discussed what they referred to as "Those to the South who say, Believe as We say or Die" I did not just meet them, I had tea in their homes, sashleek too, their version of shishkabob.

Wonder how I read the above if I am banned at the server level?

I am tempted to give Ms Caos a back but it would be redundant.

PPS if you link from here over to there, try not to get the poor girl more excited than she already is.
Best leave her alone or she will start checking under her bed for me and my Islamofacsist pals.
.


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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 6:17 AM CDT
| Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post
Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:19 AM CDT
Tuesday, 20 September 2005
Former US Embassy Hostages ID Ahmadinejad
Topic: Iran
You know? One of the trickiest and most subjective things can be eye witness testimony.

I have NO doubt the Embassy Hostages are convinced beyond any doubt that this man was one of their tormentors.

I am also well aware from personal experience how tricky Post Traumatic Stress Triggers can be. My own experience has been a situation close but not the same can trigger and episode, where you do not exactly remember events you actually re-experience them.

That said, I find it hard to understand, why he would deny that event in his past if it were true.

Being at the Embassy in Tehran at that time, would be like a Bolshevik being on the Aurora or taking part in the Storming of the Winter Palace.

One could make the claim that it would be denied for present political concerns, but why would it have been hidden and denied for all these years when in that Society, that experience would give one a claim to Herodom?

He insists he was not there
and several known hostage-takers - now his strong political opponents - deny he was with them.

His website says he joined the Revolutionary Guards voluntarily after the revolution, and he is also reported to have served in covert operations during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.


That Ahmadinejad was involved in those events goes without saying.


In 1979, Ahmadinejad

was the head representative of IUST to the unofficial student gatherings that occasionally met with the Ayatollah Khomeini. In these sessions, the foundations of the first Office for Strengthening Unity (daftar-e tahkim-e vahdat), the student organization of which several members behind seizure of the United States embassy which led to the Iran hostage crisis, were created. Ahmadinejad became a member of the Office of Strengthening Unity. Before the seizure of the embassy, Ahmadinejad had suggested a simultaneous or similar attempt against the Soviet Union embassy, but was voted down, resulting in independent pursuit of the idea by its proponents.

US embassy siege
As a young student, Ahmadinejad joined an ultraconservative faction of the Office for Strengthening Unity, the radical student group spawned by the 1979 Islamic Revolution and staged the capture of the US Embassy.

According to reports, Ahmadinejad attended planning meetings for the US Embassy takeover and at these meetings lobbied for a simultaneous takeover of the Soviet Embassy.


To my mind being on the planning committee is more involvement than being a Guard at the Embassy, but I guess it is not as dramatic.

The Bulk of my view was influenced by an article on
Benador Associates
founded by Eleana Benador, is located in New York City as well as in Paris and London. However, the activities of the firm are expanding throughout the American continent, as well as in Europe and the Middle East.

Each of our experts is nationally and internationally recognized on issues of the Middle East and national security, among others. We are confident each of them makes your event, radio or television show a unique one


A source which does NOT have a reputation as an Apologist for Fascist Thugs in the Mideast. Amir Taheri, is a leader in the struggle against International Extremist Jihadism.

WHO ARE THE MEN IN THIS PHOTO?

Gulf News
July 4, 2005

Even before the polls had opened in Iran's recent presidential election, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the eventual winner, was at the centre of controversies regarding his past




AP
This November 9, 1979 photo shows one of 60 US hostages being displayed to the crowd outside the US Embassy in Tehran by Iranian hostage takers


He makes no secret that he is a professional revolutionary,
having spent all his adult years in the service of the Khomeinist movement.

But was he the chief interrogator of American diplomats held hostage during the occupation of the United States Embassy in Tehran in 1979-80? And was he involved in the assassination of three dissident Kurdish leaders in Vienna in 1989?

On the basis of research in the past few days, it is almost certain Ahmadinejad was not directly involved in the US embassy episode.

But it is equally clear he was present when the three Kurdish leaders were gunned down by a hit-list from Tehran.

The allegation that Ahmadinejad was one of the hostage-holders at the American embassy is based on an Associated Press photo unearthed and published by a pro-Rafsanjani website hours after the election.

In it a bearded youth, holding the arm of a blindfolded American, is identified as Ahmadinejad. But anyone with the slightest understanding of morphology would realize the man in the photo is not Ahmadinejad.

The man in the photo has almost slanted eyes with eyebrows that point upwards. Ahmadinejad, however, has almond eyes with almost drooping eyebrows.

In any case the man in the photo has already been identified as Jaafar Zaker, one of the student leaders during the embassy raid.


Zaker's younger brother Mohsen told journalists in Tehran last Saturday that he recognized his brother who died in the Iran-Iraq war in 1984.

The second youth seen in the photo has been identified as one Ali Ranjbaran who was executed for his alleged links with the Mujahedin Khalq Islamic Marxist group.


That Ahmadinejad was not personally involved in the hostages drama is also borne out by his denials.

The occupied US Embassy in Tehran became a seeding ground for a new generation of radicals thirsting for action to gain revolutionary credentials.

Of the 400 or so students involved in the operation, nearly half died in the eight-year war against Iraq. The rest had differing fortunes. A few dozens were executed after being linked with leftist groups.

Some, like their ideological mentor, the dentist Habiballah Peyman, lapsed into an eclipse produced by disillusionment.

Others, however, used the episode as the centrepiece of their CV to claim senior posts in the new regime.

Maasumeh Ebtekar, the group's spokeswoman, operating under the code-name of "Sister Mary", became Assistant to the President for Environmental Affairs under Mohammad Khatami.

Reza Shaikh Al Islam, known to the hostages as "the tooth" and regarded as the most vicious of the captors, became deputy foreign minister and ambassador to Syria.

Mohammad-Reza Khatami, a brother of President Khatami, became a vice-speaker of the Islamic Majlis (parliament).

Mohsen Kadivar transformed himself into an ideologue for the self-styled "moderate" wing of the establishment.

Javad Zarif became ambassador to the UN. Abbas Abdi, Hashem Aghajari and Bijan Abidi joined the regime's loyal opposition. The remaining occupy high places in the Khomeinist nomenklatura.

Not personally involved

They all assert that Ahmadinejad, although a member of the Central Committee of the so-called Office of Consolidating Student Unity (OCSU) at the time, was not personally involved in the holding of the hostages.

It is almost certain that had Ahmadinejad been involved, he would have trumpeted the fact as part of his "glorious" Khomeinist background..


Instead, he has always said that he was opposed to the embassy raid because he saw it as a manoeuvre by the pro-Soviet left to provoke a clash with the United States and force the new regime into Moscow's arms.



Iranian author Amir Taheri was the editor-in-chief of Kayhan, the most important Iranian daily under the Shah. He is also a member of Benador Associates.



The rest of this article deals with the assassination of Kurdish dissidents in Vienna in
1989.

Correction for the record I originally researched this topic a couple of months ago and in posts and emails recently, I mistakenly stated that the Kurdish Hit took place in Switzerland, I was WRONG in that statement
If there are doubts about Ahmadinejad's involvement in the embassy raid, his presence at the killing of the Kurdish leaders in Vienna on 13 July 1989 is an established fact.

Ahamdinejad was wounded in the shoot-out and spent a day in a Vienna hospital before being whisked out of Austria with a diplomatic passport.

Iranian author Amir Taheri was the editor-in-chief of Kayhan, the most important Iranian daily under the Shah. He is also a member of Benador Associates.


Now I got into a little flurry on this subject over at


Cao's Blog


I presented from memory some of the above and the responce was.

If you can?t understand what it is I?m trying to say, I?m sorry?but don?t call me ?emotional? when you?re not being logical and examining the facts.

You?re measuring a lying terrorist scumbag by your own standards (saying he isn?t guilty because he hasn?t admitted his guilt) and Arab terrorists do not fit within our standards of thought. Obeidi wrote about that in his book when he was able to get what he asked for from the American University.

These guys don?t tell the truth; they LIE to further the cause of Jihad and Islam.

That?s not ?emotional?, that?s ?FACT?.

If you?re not familiar with that you should monitor what Robert Spencer writes over at Jihadwatch.


I am familiar with Jihadwatch, but I also prefer the testimony of Secular MidEasternors such as Taheri and Heggy and others.

I fail to comprehend where I dissolve this man of any guilt. But somethings he DID and somethings he did NOT do.

That in one instance memory may have played false with some of our fellow Americans held hostage all those years ago, in no means absolves him of a just label as a Brutal, Oppressive, Murdering, Torturing Fascist Thug, It just means that in this instance he was one of those who planned and directed it but did not engage in hands on activities.

Now if someone wants to disagree with the above and has verifiable sources we can discuss?

I welcome the input, my aim is to find the reality of a situation, not to defend an intellectual turf,

I will try not to descend to ad hominen attacks and if you have pc problems or are maybe tired and thumb fingered when you post?

I value substance over form any day.

"There is something wrong with your spacing, what?s the matter, did the cut and paste not work very well?

tsk tsk"


Actually I was very tired and having PC problems.
Happens. LOL

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 5:21 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:19 AM CDT
Thursday, 4 August 2005
State Supported Terrorism
Topic: Iran
Well it is now going to be impossible for any sane person to claim Iran is not supporting terrorism.

However the World has no severe lack of insane People does it?

I wonder how they will distort reality to claim this is Really the result of a Neo-Con plot?

Iranian hardline weekly seeks 'martyrs' Wed. 3 Aug 2005

An advertisement appeared in a conservative-radical Iranian weekly Wednesday seeking people to register for "martyrdom seeking operations" against Islam's foes.

"Central command of martyrdom lovers is to prepare one division from every province among the martyrdom seekers to receive specialized training, making them ready against the enemies of Islam and the sacred regime of the Islamic republic," the advertisement in Parto Shokhan (Light of speech) read.

Parto Shokhan is published by an institute run by one of Islamic republic's most ultra-conservative ideologues, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi.

The advertisement, decorated with pictures of Iranians soldiers, who conducted such operations against Iraq during their eight years of war, begins with a quote from Iran's all-powerful Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying: "Martyrdom seeking operations are the zenith of greatness of a nation and also zenith of its epic."

All the would-be volunteers have to do is send their photo, the accompanying form and a copy of a birth certificate, to a post office box with no address.

The advertisement was published on the same day Iran's new hardline President Mahmood Ahmadinejad, who benefited from ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi's support during his campaign, took office.

According to the institute's website, operating from Iran's clerical capital, Qom, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi was appointed as the head of the institute by Khamenei.

The institute is a kind of a seminary school which not only persues Islamic researches, but also sends students abroad and teaches Islamic teachings to Iran's volunteer militia, the Basij.

It is not the first time hardline Iranians have called upon volunteers to register for suicide missions.

However, the Iranian foreign ministry has repeatedly denied that these people and their actions are officially supported by the regime.


A few months ago, a ceremony was held by a group calling themselves "Esteshhadion" (martyrdom seekers) to honor the Palestinian women suicide bombers.

A billboard size photo of the women has been posted on a tall building in a busy intersection in central Tehran.

"I love my son, but I love martyrdom more," the main sentence on the mural reads, underneath a picture of one of the women carrying her son in one arm and a machine gun in the other.

|


Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 7:00 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:22 AM CDT
The Hidden News Behind The Quran Curtain
Topic: Iran
Iran Revolutionary Guards’ brutality against Kurds backfires Wed. 3 Aug 200


Tehran, Iran, Aug. 03 – On Tuesday, July 26, plainclothes agents from the intelligence directorate of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps took 18 detained Kurdish men from the restive towns of Baneh and Marivan to a barren location and, after a violent rough-up, forced them to strip naked and walk back to their towns.

The Revolutionary Guards were trying to intimidate young people in this restive area of western Iran into silence after days of anti-government protests that have spread to several towns and cities. But the brutality and humiliation inflicted on the Kurds have only inflamed an already tense situation.

The day after the 18 men were beaten and stranded, angry Kurds seeking revenge attacked police patrols in the region killing five agents of Iran’s State Security Forces.

Tensions have increased dramatically in the area since the events of July 26 and there have been several other violent attacks on agents of the SSF in recent days.

In a bid to contain the situation, the local authorities claimed this week that the perpetrators of the crime were Kurdish dissidents posing as Revolutionary Guards, who wanted to “incite people against the Islamic Republic”. As could be expected, the belated attempt to calm down the anger of local Kurds has not been successful and anti-government protests are continuing in different parts of the region.


Let me see if I get this straight, Terrorize the People and if that does NOT work, blame it on Sinister Western Influence.

Iran police fire on Kurdish protesters from chopper Wed. 3 Aug 2005



Tehran, Iran, Aug. 03 – Iran’s State Security forces opened lethal fire on protesters in the western town of Saqqez from a military helicopter on Wednesday, eye-witnesses reported.

Anti-government protesters set fire to the town’s principal prayer hall and vehicles belonging to the police on Wednesday morning. Various government buildings including the governor’s office were also attacked and the commander of State Security Forces was beaten by protesters. A government agency, Bonyad Panzdah Khordad, was completely ransacked.

Witnesses reported that women took part in great numbers during today’s clashes with the security forces. One witness described how several women attacked policemen who had detained a teenage boy and freed him.

In Hahlou Square, protesters chanted “Down with Khamenei”, referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In an attempt to contain the unrest, agents of the SSF opened fire on protesters. There were reports of several people being killed by SSF gunfire. By early afternoon, at least 30 people had been arrested.

Today’s unrest in Saqqez started at Oqab Square just before noon as hundreds of protesters attacked a local Bassij post with sticks and stones. The Bassij are paramilitary Islamic vigilantes loyal to the Supreme Leader.

The latest clashes come in the wake of a series of protests that have swept Kurdish towns and cities in Iran for the past weeks. Dozens of protesters have been injured or arrested by government troops in several towns.

11 die in northwest Iran clashes Wed. 3 Aug 2005

– Heavy clashes which broke out between protesters and State Security Forces on Wednesday in the Kurdish town of Saqqez, northwest Iran, have claimed 11 lives, according to Kurdish sources.

Witnesses reported that agents of the SSF fired lethal rounds on protesters from helicopters in the air.

Kurdish groups have announced the names of four of the dead as Mohammad Shariati, head of a local school; Farzad Mohammadi, Student; Abbass Ramazanzadeh, 55 years old, and Shakeri.

Iran’s state-run media and officials have confirmed extensive clashes in the western regions of the country. The state-run news agency ILNA reported on Wednesday that provincial governors of Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan, deputy chiefs of security in the Interior and Intelligence Ministries, deputy commander of Iran’s State Security Forces, and Majlis deputies from the area met to discuss ways of dealing with the worsening situation.

Kazem Jalali, a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told ILNA that participants in the meeting had determined that there should be “a higher level of security” imposed on the area to prevent unrest in Oshnavieh and Mahabad from spreading to other areas.

The state-owned Sharq newspaper reported on Wednesday that a group of Majlis deputies from Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan provinces had demanded that the Interior Minister “adopt measures to prevent the killing of innocent people in Mahabad, Sardasht and Piranshahr”. Their letter was read out during the Majlis session.

Anti-government protesters in Saqqez set fire to the town’s principal prayer hall and vehicles belonging to the police on Wednesday morning. Various government buildings including the governor’s office were also attacked and the commander of State Security Forces was beaten by protesters. A government agency, Bonyad Panzdah Khordad, was completely ransacked.

Witnesses reported that women took part in great numbers during today’s clashes with the security forces. One witness described how several women attacked policemen who had detained a teenage boy and freed him.

The latest clashes come in the wake of a series of protests that have swept Kurdish towns and cities in Iran for the past weeks. Dozens of protesters have been injured or arrested by government troops in several towns.



The Next time you hear someone say, "But what if Iraq turns into another Iran, Ask them if they KNOW anything about what is actually going OB in Iran.


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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 6:50 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:22 AM CDT
Tuesday, 2 August 2005
Under the Heel of the Mullahs
Topic: Iran
Yes we heard much in the Exempt Media when the Uzbekistan Government fired upon demonstrators.


But have you heard ANYTHING about THIS?


Police shoot dead protesters in northwest Iran Tue. 2 Aug 2005
Tehran, Iran, Aug. 02 – Iran’s State Security Forces on Monday evening opened fire at a peaceful anti-government demonstration in the Kurdish town of Sanandaj, northwest Iran, killing several people including two children and starting riots throughout the town, eye-witnesses reported.

At least 1,000 people had gathered at Esteghlal Park in the evening, peacefully demonstrating in protest to the brutal torture and murder of a young Kurd by police in the neighboring town of Mahabad which had acted as a catalyst for widespread anti-government protests in Kurdistan and Western Azerbaijan provinces for the past three weeks.

Protesters held up placards demanding justice for the killers of Shown Qaderi. There were also chants against senior officials within Iran’s theocratic leadership.

Uniformed and plain-clothed police attacked Protesters in Enghelab Square and Sheshom-e Bahman Street and at one point started to shoot live rounds. Eye-witnesses reported that several people were injured or killed. Among the dead are believed to be two children.

As demonstrators dispersed, a full-scale riot broke out in Sanandaj. People threw stones to fight off police and burnt car tyres in the streets. Local banks were attacked and had their windows shattered.

Several sonic-booms were also set off in between Protesters.

There is presently no accurate information on the number of people arrested, though witnesses reported heavy police presence in the town. Anti-riot units were also brought in from neighboring towns to quell the protests.

Or a couple of weeks before the Andijan massacre

Did you hear about this at all??????

Iran executes teenage demonstrators in Ahwaz ? reports Sat. 23 Apr 2005

Ahwaz, Apr. 23 ? Iran?s Revolutionary Guards executed a number of teenage demonstrators in the streets of Ahwaz, southern Iran, according to eye-witnesses.

Residents reported that Revolutionary Guards arrested demonstrators in the city streets and gunned them down to terrorize the local people and end a week long anti-government uprising that has spread throughout the oil-rich Khuzestan Province.

Helicopters were also seen opening fire on demonstrators.

A 5-year-old boy was killed when he was run over by a Revolutionary Guards? armored personnel carrier, eye-witnesses said.

Smoke from tear-gas that has been fired was so heavy that hospitals have been inundated with patients complaining of severe respiratory problems. A number of hospitals have also been raided by State Security Forces and large numbers of youth have been arrested on charges of taking part in the demonstrations.

Fierce fighting has brought the province to a complete stand-still since Friday, when State Security Forces (SSF) opened fire on a 3,000-strong anti-government demonstration in the city of Ahwaz.

Ahwaz was placed under a de facto martial law after anti-government demonstrations led to bloody clashes between local residents and security forces.

A government-orchestrated counter-demonstration on Friday was greeted with apathy by the local people. Even the non-Arab residents of Ahwaz stayed away from the march led by local clerics and officials of the Islamic Republic. State television showed scenes of the demonstration, with large banners blaming ?the U.S., Israel and the Monafeqin? for the uprising. Monafeqin, or hypocrites, is the term Iranian state media and officials use to describe the People?s Mojahedin, Iran?s main opposition group.

The semi-official Jomhouri Islami daily wrote in its editorial today, ?We must not ignore the seditious role being played by the Monafeqin in the events in Ahwaz?.

The Prosecutor-General of Ahwaz Amir Khani said today that five people had been detained by Iran?s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, charged with being the primary instigators of the clashes that are still on going in a number of districts. He also announced the arrest of a further 59 people involved in the clashes in Ahwaz by the security and intelligence apparatus.

Now after Andijan, " The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an independent investigation into the massacre."


What did we hear from the UN High Commissioner after
Ahwaz?

There were TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY anti-government protests, clashes, strikes, and other forms of social unrest throughout Iran over the past month, according to the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK, or People?s Mojahedin).

Most of the protests and public actions occurred in Tehran and other major cities, including Isfahan, Mashad, Ahwaz, and Tabriz.

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 7:29 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:20 AM CDT
Monday, 1 August 2005
Yankees Go Home
Topic: Iran
Recently in Uzbekistan, demonstrators were fired upon by government troops, with tragic results.

That the US had a base in that country, was of course commented upon in the media.

Wherever we are, whatever happens there, we are responsible it seems.

Well the US has made its concerns known, and has been asked to leave and is doing so.

Bush kept the faith.



This in from TigerHawk

Sunday, July 31, 2005
The United States stands on principle and loses a base in central Asia
[Uzbekistan-Afghanistan]
The United States has a strategically significant base in Uzbekistan, which borders on Afghanistan. In May, Uzbekistan's hideous government opened fire on demonstrators and killed hundreds of innocent people, raising the ire of the civilized countries of the world. The United States, among others, threw a fit. Uzbekistan has now expelled the United States, ordering it out of the base within six months. Russia and China, neither offended by the thugs running Uzbekistan but both sorely annoyed by the U.S. presence in central Asia, are happy today.

The next time somebody tells you that the United States operates without principle, remind them that the Bush Administration walked away from an important base in central Asia because it stood up for political liberty in one of the most isolated places on the planet.


Now one wonders what the media will being saying about demonstrators being gunned down in Iran?


Over 280 protests in Iran in past month - opposition Mon. 1 Aug 2005

London, Aug. 01 ? Disenchanted Iranians stated more than 280 anti-government protests, clashes, strikes, and other forms of social unrest throughout Iran over the past month, according to the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK, or People?s Mojahedin).

Most of the protests and public actions occurred in Tehran and other major cities, including Isfahan, Mashad, Ahwaz, and Tabriz.

There were many protests in regions with substantial ethnic minorities, such as Kurdistan and Khuzistan.

Workers staged 170 strikes in the same month, the opposition group said.

Student demonstrations were widespread, despite the closure of most schools and universities during the summer period. Many of the students who took part in anti-government activity were arrested and some continue to be in detention at unknown locations.

Civil servants, nurses, drivers, and other social groups organized more than 50 protests.

The opposition group highlighted the unrest in the Kurdish town of Mahabad, northwest Iran, where it said protests started on July 9 and have not ended since. Several people have been left dead including a woman after police launched a crackdown on Mahabad and neighboring towns to prevent social dissent from escalating.

The southern province of Khuzistan has also been a hotbed for anti-government demonstrations and clashes between the population and security forces.



Don't hold your breath waiting for Mainstream Media Reports.

One demonstration where the US has a base?

Full coverage,

280 protests in ONE MONTH?

We never hear about.


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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 8:46 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:20 AM CDT
Saturday, 30 July 2005
In Other News You Probably Won't Hear
Topic: Iran
Kazemi was deliberately killed, says Iran's Ebadi

There was some mention awhile back of journalists losing their lives in the MidEast. Not much about the ones who get their heads cut off by Jihadists but quite a lot of carping about combat deaths of Journalists by American or Coalition Fire.

Myself I figure if you want to run around the countryside with Jihadists, you better keep in mind that:

A We shoot at them
and
B We can't tell who you are from a distance so we will shoot at you too.

All that aside if AMERICA or anyone of the Coalition had taken a Journalist into custody and BEATEN THEM TO DEATH.

Would there be any protests worldwide denouncing us?
Would there be headlines and speeches denouncing us?

YOU BET THERE WOULD

So somebody please explain the total silence from the Worldwide Community on this?

Kazemi was deliberately killed, says Iran's Ebadi

Reuters

TEHRAN - Lawyers representing the family of a Canadian photographer who died in custody in Iran said on Monday she was deliberately killed and demanded an impartial court retry the case.

Zahra Kazemi, a Montreal-based photojournalist, died in July 2003 after her skull was split after being arrested for taking photographs outside Tehran's Evin prison where many political dissidents are held.

"Forensic reports show her head was hit in two spots and based on Islamic penal code, this cannot be unintentional," 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, one of the four lawyers acting for Kazemi's family, told the court hearing.

But the judge said a preliminary court had already found the killing had been 'unintentional' and said Monday's hearing was not in a position to discuss the issue.

Ebadi said previous courts were biased and asked the Judiciary to send the case to an impartial court.

"If justice is not served in Iran, I will appeal to international courts and human rights organizations," Ebadi told Reuters.

The case severely damaged ties between Iran and Canada. Ottawa has twice withdrawn its ambassador and in May froze most ties with Tehran, accusing Iranian authorities of failing to investigate the death properly. Though Iranian-born, Kazemi had taken Canadian citizenship.

Foreign media were barred from Monday's court hearing.

"I do not consider this hearing as an open court hearing. Why were foreign media not allowed to attend at the hearing?" Ebadi asked.

Iran's conservative judiciary initially said Kazemi had died of a stroke but an investigation by the reformist government revealed she had received a heavy blow during questioning which caused a brain hemorrhage.

The judiciary last year acquitted an intelligence agent charged with the murder of Kazemi and argued she had died in an accident, hitting her head after fainting.

At the last hearing of the appeal in May, lawyers for Kazemi's family argued the original court did not have jurisdiction to rule in such the case


Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 9:34 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:18 AM CDT
News You Won't Hear
Woman protestor killed by Iran?s security forces in Kurdish town

Topic: Iran
Jamileh Khezri

There has been a LOT of play on the Media recently about Aruba. Now first off let me say, that I feel deeply for the family, it is a terrible tragedy and no parent wants to out live a child, but that girl is not the only young girl who has died recently.


Jamileh Khezri is dead, gunned down in the street and VERY few outside of Iran will ever hear about her or her fate. You need to ask yourselves, your newspapers, your radio stations and your televisions stations.



WHY?




Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jul. 28 - Iran’s security forces gunned down a woman protestor in the Kurdish town of Oshnavieh, northwest Iran, on Wednesday during clashes between residents and government forces.

The woman was identified as Jamileh Khezri and was among three protestors killed by state security forces in Oshnavieh during the unrest.

On Monday, two anti-government demonstrators were shot dead by police, according to local residents.

Monday’s demonstration in Oshnavieh, during which participants chanted anti-government slogans, was in solidarity with the more than 200 people arrested in the nearby towns of Mahabad, Piranshahr, and Marivan, according to local Kurdish websites.

The two killed were identified as Heydar Abdollahzadeh and Amr Amini.


Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 9:23 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:18 AM CDT
Saturday, 16 July 2005
Iran: Clashes erupt in Mahabad, SSF vehicle set on fire
Topic: Iran
Iran Focus


Mahabad, Iran, Jul. 16 – Unrest continued in the north-western town of Mahabad, Iranian Kurdistan province, last night, with clashes erupting between locals and State Security Forces, following a week of similar anti-government protests which flared up after news broke out of the brutal murder of a young Kurdish man by the SSF.

Yesterday evening, close to 1,000 people gathered in the main path leading to Independence Square and started to march forward. They were joined quickly by several thousand of the local population and together they started chanting anti-government slogans and burning tyres. As they crowded Independence square, chants of “Death to Khamenei” could be heard, referring to the clerical state’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Chants of “Shoan, we will continue your struggle” echoed in the square.

On Sunday, agents of the SSF opened fire on Shoan Qaderi and two of his friends in an avenue near Independence Square. The security forces then proceeded with tying Qaderi’s body to a Toyota jeep and while driving dragged him in streets, according to eye-witnesses.

Witnesses said that the act was carried out because Qaderi was active in anti-government protests and authorities wanted to intimidate the local population to prevent further demonstrations in the volatile city.

Minutes after Qaderi’s body was dragged throughout the town, several hundred angry residents gathered in nearby streets and started to chant anti-government slogans.

Last night’s demonstration was met with swift and fierce retribution by anti-riot forces already stationed there to prevent a re-emergence of dissent. The SSF fired live rounds and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Several protestors including a child were gravely wounded and were driven to a local hospital by fellow demonstrators. A number of SSF agents were also injured. At least a dozen people were detained and taken to unknown locations.

Gasoline was poured onto the ground and set alight at several locations surrounding the square to stop the sting of the tear gas.

As the violence escalated, protestors set an SSF vehicle and several nearby government buildings on fire. Clashes ensued until well after midnight.

Several hundred people have been arrested over the past week during numerous hit-and-run clashes and house-to-house raids.

Several other large anti-government demonstrations have rocked the town of Mahabad in recent month.




100 arrested, 60 buses damaged in Iran city protests



Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jul. 16 – At least 100 demonstrators were arrested and 60 buses damaged in clashes that erupted Saturday after a football match in Iran’s second largest city.

Security forces and young people clashed over a large area of the city of Mashad after a football match between Saba Battery and Abu-Moslem football clubs.

Clashes began as supporters of the Mashad-based Abu-Moslem booed the referee for what they said was an unfair penalty. As security forces moved in to put down the protest, protesters began throwing stones and using flagpoles to push back the truncheon-wielding policemen.

Skirmishes spilt out of the stadium and into the surrounding districts, as the protest took on a political hue with young people chanting, “guns, tanks and [the paramilitary] Bassijis are no longer effective”.

The clashes in Mashad mark the third large-scale confrontation between security forces and young people in Iranian cities in less than a week since the inauguration of a hard-line Revolutionary Guards commander as the chief of the police. Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam vowed upon assuming responsibility for Iran’s law enforcement forces that he would crack down on all “enemies of the Islamic Republic”.

Football matches often provide an arena for Iran’s frustrated youth to vent their anger at the Islamic regime. At least seven people were killed in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium when clashes erupted after a World Cup qualifier between Iran and Japan. An inquiry into the deaths blamed the security forces.


Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 10:26 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:03 AM CDT
Friday, 15 July 2005
Iran declares new crackdown on women, ?social vice
Topic: Iran
Iran Focus






Tehran, Iran, Jul. 11 - With the arrival of a top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as the country’s new police chief, Iran’s state-run media announced a new summer-long crackdown on “social vice” in Tehran targeting in particular young women and runaway girls.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed on Saturday Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, the number two in the paramilitary Bassij and commander of the force in Greater Tehran, as Iran’s new chief of police.

A senior security official told one of Iran’s state-run news agencies, ISNA, that “mal-veiled or unveiled individuals inside and outside of cars” would be the target of arrests by Iran’s State Security Forces, the paramilitary police force.

SSF in Tehran would also be on the lookout for “open examples of corruption in tourist and recreation resorts”.

The top official said the police would embark on a systematic clampdown on “shops and public places where public chastity and Islamic values are ignored”. Loud music will no longer be tolerated, he said.

Runaway girls and homeless young women would also be the target of arrests, and Tehran’s police force would also identify and crack down on places where “corrupt people gather”, the report added.

The appointment of Ahmadi Moghaddam, who is among the top commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and a protege of IRGC Commandant General Rahim Safavi, brings the country’s police force under the complete domination of the Revolutionary Guards and signals a readiness to crack down harder on what the ultra-conservatives see as “deviation” from the country’s rigid religious laws.

Moghaddam was quoted by the state-run daily Kayhan as saying in November 2004, “A country where liberal ideas rule will get no where”.

200 police conduct midnight raid in northwest Iran city park

Thu. 14 Jul 2005



Iran Focus

Tabriz, Iran, Jul. 14 – At least 200 agents of Iran’s State Security Forces on Monday conducted a midnight raid in the central park in Tabriz, northwest Iran, according to eye-witness accounts.

“At one in the morning, more than 200 of the regime’s security forces were brought to Baghe Golestan Park in their cars and they started arresting anyone in sight”, said one eye-witness, who requested anonymity.

Another eye-witness described seeing at least 70 SSF cars approach the vicinity of the area around the part. “Out of nowhere suddenly we saw at least 70 police cars close off the vicinity of the park”.

“They started to attack everyone there”, he added.

Local news on the state-controlled television later described the raid as part of “ongoing efforts to root out drug addicts”, but witnesses described the violent attacks on locals as part of a new wave of crackdown to suppress social decent.

The first witness went on to explain that he saw the SSF detain passers-by including someone taking out his trash.


Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 7:56 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:03 AM CDT

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