Shocker

Image via Wikipedia

Not that anyone is surprised by the announcement made by the Guardian Council, but the election results have been confirmed following what was evident and blatant voter fraud.

Now comes the moment of truth for those who put their lives on the line in Iran, in an effort to tell their leaders they wanted the truth. Instead of compromise or reconciliation, these unarmed and peaceful citizens were brutally beaten to death, shot, hacked to pieces, thrown off bridges and tortured in ways that we generally only see in B-flick movies. Moussavi, the reluctant leader of this movement has not been seen in more than a week, and former President Rafsanjani has been out of sight, supposedly trying to rally political support in rural areas. In addition to draconian crackdowns on its own citizens, the Iranian government has also returned to old tactics, storming the British embassy and detaining all of it's members; while 5 have been released, 4 still remain in custody. The government is anxious to change the subject from the epic failure of leadership to trumped up rhetoric about the great Satans of the west. While it may seem that the Iranian people are losing momentum, do not be fooled. A revolution takes time, and far to many seeds of distrust, animosity and grief have been sown for this to ever go away. Rest assured, there will be much more to follow as the weeks and months pass by. While things may have quieted down (largely due to the severing of communication and mass arrests), this is only the beginning. The people will not forget, nor will they forgive what their clerical government has done to them. The days of the Islamic Republic are numbered.

Old Habits are Hard to Break

The Iranian Government, sticking by it's claims of meddling and interference by western powers took the drastic step of actually arresting all of the remaining staff members in Britain's Tehran embassy Saturday afternoon. Luckily, the preceding week the British government ordered all non essential personnel and family members evacuated from Britain's embassy in Iran; thankfully this foresight will help mitigate the diplomatic fallout that is soon to follow. Much like the hostage situation of 1979, the Islamic Republic still believes that what passes as a show of "force" can intimidate other countries into cooperation. They are gravely mistaken.

It is sad to see that over the past 30 years the Islamic regime has not learned any lessons from the past, and worst yet, sees the failures of the past as victories. Feeling that tactics of intimidation are their best weapon against the "Zionists", a failing Iranian government is practically inviting a military conflict with the west. This is combined with the fact that Iran has been running military exercises in the Gulf Coast since the protests started. If I didn't know any better, I would say they want to provoke a conflict with the Western powers in order to distract their people from that they are doing at home.

Picture Library

Pictures are worth a thousand words. In this case, a thousand pictures are the voice of a resistance.

Library of photos from Iran here.

Neda's Family Forced From Home

In the latest from the gaurdian (a uk journalism site) a harrowing story tells the heart breaking tale of Neda's family. The 26 year old girl that was gunned down in the streets Saturday and caught on film is now being hailed by the Iranian media as a Basij militia martyr. The propaganda reports many different stories, one of them being that a BBC journalist hired protesters to kill her for a documentary.

As if the tragedy of losing their daughter was not enough, the family was not even allowed to follow Persian custom in greiving, being told that they were not allowed to hold a memorial service or even hang a black banner outside their window (signifying the death of a loved one). When the authorities realized that the neighbors of Neda's family was becoming enraged for them, they ordered the family out of their home, presumably to prevent them from talking to the people closest to them. Imagine, your daughter dies, the government keeps her body and denies your family a funeral service, and then comes to your home and kick you out. That is what her family is enduring right now.

Read the full story here.

Protesters March on Parliament

Today in Tehran, a large group of protesters marched on the Parliament building as an act of defiance against the regime that has only increased their violence in an attempt to prevent further public protests. The Iranian government is obviously ignorant to the fact that the more they brutalize their own people, the worse it's going to be for them. The people now see Khamenei as a butcher, not a religious leader, this is compounded by what they see as corruption in their government when state TV spews lies, claiming that Neda (the girl gunned down in the street Saturday) was a terrorist. The news from Iran has slowed to a trickle, but what we do know is that the government's violence against its own people is only escalating in the worst sense. Iran, once a model social structure in the middle east has now become no better than Somalia. The Basij (and reports of Hezbollah militia) are no better than the thugs who rape women and hack them to pieces.

To see images of the march on the Iranian Parliament click here.

Inhumane and Brutal

Eye witness reports. Police beating people to death and hacking them to death with axes and machetes. Throwing people off of bridges and shooting them in the street.

This is the height of terror. The actions that the government is taking against their own people, young students and especially women being brutally murdered in the worst of ways. Even a bullet is more humane than hacking someone to death in the street. This is just disgusting.

New Video from Iran

Looks new but there is no way to confirm. The reason I say it looks new is because there were no reports of protesters actually setting up physical barricades that I saw previously. This does not mean that they didn't earlier, I just think we would have heard or seen something about it. In addition, this seems to indicate that the protester's patience with peaceful dissent is waning, and I can hardly blame them. The brutal and honest truth of the matter is this: the regime will not be toppled with peaceful protests and stones alone. They did the right thing, they tried to make their voices heard in a peaceful way, and their government has shot them in the street, stolen them from their homes at night and tortured them in ruthless ways. The regime has given their response to peace, I believe it is only a matter of time before the protesters cease being protesters and become resistance militants. Like or not, it is the only way they will ever have their freedom.