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Note: There are alot of broken links in some of the earlier GB's due to parsing errors.

The Green Brief #1

The Green Brief #2

Hi,

I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are some of the happenings that I can positively confirm from Friday, June 18:

1. The 'black' protest was held today in Tehran. Most people were wearing black in order to commemorate those protesters killed earlier this week, however, many people joined the protest coming out from work and were not wearing black. Mousavi, Karoubi, Rafsanjani and his family were all at the protests. At the same time, protesters were joined by Mullahs and university professors - who were apparently very vocal. The numbers of protesters was very high, however, among conflicting report, it seemed safe to estimate the number at least 1.5 million people and possibly much more. Late at night, a candle light vigil was also held. Protesters went to mosques to continue morning late into the night.

2. No violence was reported during the protests from my sources, however, isolated incidents may have occurred of which I did not get information. Sources claimed that the Baseejis tried to provoke people and some even burned things themselves to blame it later on protesters. About a dozen students from the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics Studies were arrested after the protest as well as scores of others either when found in isolation or in small groups. All universities in Tehran were closed for the day.

3. Unlike before, though, this time plainclothes gunmen were not surrounding the protests. They were spotted from time to time and made most of the arrests. The number of non-Iranian Arabs present around the protests was much smaller than yesterday. Mohammad Tavassali, Former Tehran mayor was also arrested by them today. He is a prominent aide of Rafsanjani. Kaveh Servati, another prominent backer and supporter of Mousavi's campaign was also detained. Ebrahim Yazdi of the Freedom Movement of Iran, however, has now been freed because of failing health and is in a hospital, but still under strict supervision

4. Other protests were held in Qom, Isfahan, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Shiraz and Mashhad as well as smaller ones in other cities. Sources confirm that people were beaten in Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz and in Qom. Many arrests were also made in these cities, however, conflicting reports about their identities prevents this brief from naming them. Many mullahs joined protests in Ahvaz and Mashhad. In Shiraz, thousands of people gathered around a coffin to mourn the protesters who had been killed during previous rallies.

5. Currently, the protest in Tehran is continuing in small numbers in the mosques, and a very reliable source has confirmed that thousands upon thousands of people are protesting at 3 AM (the time of the writing of this dispatch) in Isfahan. Saturday protest in Tehran is to be held at four at Enqelab Field.

6. Abroad, 70 Iranian protesters in Dubai near the Iranian consulate were dispersed by UAE police and were told they had protested enough and needed to go home as their voices had already been heard. In Brussels, a few hundred Ahmadinejad supporters protested in support of him. This happens at a time when no major rallies were held supporting Ahmadinejad in Iran - not even in the rural areas where his strength lies. The Iranian national press continues to downplay the numbers and importance as well as character of the peaceful protests in Tehran and around Iran in support of Mousavi who spoke along with other leaders in Tehran claiming they won't stop till their demands are met. Most of the Iranian press inside the country continues to call protesters thugs and hooligans.

7. As the last Brief indicated, Rafsanjani has now openly started supporting Mousavi. Sources indicate that he is currently in negotiations with clerics from Qom and the Guardian Council. However, they also claim that he no longer has the freedom to fly out of the country.

8. The Guardian Council has ordered all the candidates to participate in their next meeting. This meeting will be held in Tehran some time on Saturday. There is no news on whether this is going to be a negotiation or simply an ultimatum to stop the protests - as indicated by some sources. The Guardian Council had ordered a partial recount before part of which has been carried out and results match previous results that were issued by the government. The Minister of Interior claims results are very accurate.

9. Grand Ayatollah Yousof Sanei - one the most prominent Shia clerics in the world - has shown dissatisfaction with the way the government is treating the protests as well as the protesters. He has asked the government to listen to what the protesters have to say and consider their demands seriously.

10. The last dispatch claimed that 8 people had died in Azadi Square in Tehran on Monday. New reports from hospitals through sources show that 12 people had been killed and 29 injured. Today, a student also died in Kermanshah of her wounds that she'd received after being beaten a few days ago. Adding the numbers, now the Brief can confirm that 37 people have at least been killed in the protests so far.

11. The number of people that have been arrested since the start of the protests can be anywhere between 2,000 to 5,000; no reliable estimate exists. But most sources indicate a number somewhere around that. Sources also claim that Baseejis are abducting reformist sympathizers from their hospital beds as well as taking away injured protesters from the ER. No source has been able to pinpoint the location of the abductees. This comes as the governor of Isfahan threatened protesters with death, according to sources there.

12. Mohammad Asgari - the Ministry of Interior employee who leaked a fraudulent election result sheet, showing Mousavi as the winner to the press - has been killed in a car accident. The government has not given further information about how and where he has been killed - sources claim.

13. Letter from professors at Iran University to Mousavi asks him to pursue the goal of getting people's rights and getting back their votes till the end. Students of Iran University's faculty of Fine Arts will be joining the protests officially starting Saturday. Iran Khodro workers - the largest and national automaker in Iran - also spent half an hour of each of their working shifts not working. They claimed they were supporting the protesters. Iranian footballers are being touted as heroes by protesters for wearing green bands during their World Cup qualifier game against South Korea by the protesters even though they lost the game and won't be qualifying to the World Cup as a result.

14. Sources claim that hundreds of Baseej militiamen are being moved from the northwest towards Tehran. It is claimed that the military and now the police are not using harsher tactics to scare away the protesters. It's being claimed - yet unverified by all sources - that many high-ranking members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard have been detained because they were considering to put their lot behind Mousavi and the protesters. One of the sources was escorted home today by policemen after he was in danger of being attacked by Baseejis.

15. And Finally, Mousavi has asked the world to participate in protests on Sunday in support of protests in Iran. He has also asked them to wear green to show their support openly. The request asks protesters to gather in capital cities around the world and show their support.

Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

Iranians who are trying to connect to twitter or other sites and need a way to connect please visit this website: http://torir.org/

For my announcements, see @iran_translator

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but human error will always manifests itself in even the most flawless of non-mathematical things. However, this includes nothing from the Western media, including the BBC which I have been generously using to inform people and I laud them for their courageous journalism.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don't need to find me, I will find you. Don't hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I'm an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you'll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around. I will be writing one brief of this kind everyday until this ends.

The Green Brief #3

Hi,

I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are some of the happenings that I can positively confirm from Friday, June 19 and early Saturday, June 20 in Iran.

1.Khamanei - the Supreme Leader of Iran - today at the Friday prayers announced that the protests were unacceptable and were a direct result of meddling in Iran's affairs by Zionists, the evil UK and the US. He said that unless the protests stop, they will result in bloodshed. He called upon the protesters to stop protesting because elections have winners and losers. According to him, if there were any complaints, they were going to be heard through legal channels and that these protests were results of plans from foreign countries that'd been waiting for a chance for years. He said that if the protests did not stop, protesters and their leaders must ready themselves for the consequences.

2.He candidly hinted that he had been an Ahmadinejad supporter before the election, but the people shouldn't had been influenced by his decision, thus, he didn't publicly declare his support. He blamed the youth of being fooled by foreign spies and turning into thugs. Yet he claimed that by going back to spirituality, the nation's problems could be solved. For a transcript of Khamenei's speech please check this link: Khamenei's Speech in English - Why We Protest - IRAN

3.It is to be noted that neither Mousavi nor Karoubi joined Friday prayers under Mr. Khamanei, according to our reliable sources. But they had already decided not to hold a protest on Friday. It has also been confirmed that a large number of people were brought from the more religiously conservative rural areas of central Iran in order to fill the mosque and give the country a false sense of unity. Our sources also confirmed that many reform activists who had decided not to go were promptly arrested even as the Friday prayers were being held. The number of these people soared after the end of the prayers.

4.Reports of Mousavi being in danger have been refuted. His office was not burned or trashed as reported on main-stream media. According to my sources, he was been threatened to not say a word to his supporters, but he was not arrested by the IRG (Iranian Revolutionary Guard). He is safe and free and is preparing for tomorrow's protest. Saturday's rally that was planned in Tehran will take place at 4 PM near Enghelab Field. This is at a time when the government has officially denied Mousavi and Karoubi's request to hold a rally on that day. Sources, though, claim that he has given the go ahead for the protest to be held on Saturday and urged all his supporters to participate in the similar fashion as before.

5.SMS is now working inside Iran, though, foreign news outlets; social networking websites and messengers still don't work. Though sources have indicated that most twitter users have said that this is a potential trap so that the government could more easily be able to find out what their identities are and arrest them.

6.Large numbers of Basij and IRG troopers have been stationed within the city. There have been reports of attacks on the Basijis by armed Iranians. Sources claim that Basijis are being arrested by these men who seem to have some level of support by the police. Although confirmed by several sources that the young men are getting organized and call themselves the National Iranian Resistance, this Brief will not go so far as to confirm it entirely. Please wait for confirmation by either us or MSM.

7.Sources have also confirmed that several high-ranking IRG members have been arrested today. They join several other members who were arrested in the past two days. At the same time, it is being reported that a few members of the IRG were seen laying down their arms around isolated pockets of protesters, telling them they won't fight fellow Iranians and had gone home. Sources also claim that the military is currently the only body that has not taken part in arrests, violence or other abuses. But according to them, Ahmadinejad has the support of the IRG and the Basji at this point.

8.It has been also reported that the IRG has been given full authorization to suppress the protests. Even though confirmed by twitter sources, again, this is too important a piece of information to be taken lightly. Coupled with Khamenei's statements today, it potentially sets up a violent crackdown on any protests that will take place on Saturday.

9.Negotiations are ongoing within Qom between leading clerics to determine what they should do in case protests continue. Sources have not confirmed anything beyond this, though in the past, multiple high-ranking clerics, including Ayatollah Montazeri and Ayatollah Sanei had called on the government to negotiate with protesters. This seems to put Khamenei in a position where he lacks support from two very revered clerics.

10.Reformist activists are still being arrested in large numbers. The number of people being arrested now stands upwards of 5,000. Sources indicate that some key reformists have been tortured and are being forced to sign confessions stating they were guilty of inciting violence.

11.Twitter sources that have been able to tweet have told us that they will be most definitely joining the protest tomorrow even though it is very possible that they might be injured or killed. Some have even indicated that they are fully prepared to die as they are simply too tired of living under a repressive regime with little to no rights that they desire.

12.Protests are planned for many other major cities in Iran, including Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Mashhad and Qom. After the call by Mousavi, other protests are currently planned around the world to show solidarity with Iranians.

Finally, a bit of inside journalism from myself...

13.Anonymous and the Pirate Bay are working as hard as they can to provide proxies to people so they can at least use twitter to get us what is happening. At the time of the writing of this brief, the majority of helpers involved in helping Iranian voices to be heard have not slept for days or very little. One helper confirmed that he hadn't had warm food until today since the protests began on Saturday (Although he's a n00b and we don't care about him much, j/k :D). But still, fully half of the sources who were used in compiling the past two Green Briefs and this Brief have gone quiet, left Tehran or have been arrested as their identities are being found by the government. The paramedic who made people cry by his distress about his missing daughter that he found has left Tehran and is in a safe place now. Our hearts and thoughts go to all those who are bravely going to participate in tomorrow's protests.

Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

Iranians who are trying to connect to twitter or other sites and need a way to connect please visit this website: ]Why We Protest - IRAN - View Single Post - Using Tor in Order to Surf Anonymously

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us: https://trancy.net/iran/

For my announcements, see @iran_translator

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but human error will always manifests itself in even the most flawless of non-mathematical things. However, this includes nothing from the Western media, including the BBC which I have been generously using to inform people and I laud them for their courageous journalism.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don't need to find me, I will find you. Don't hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I'm an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you'll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet. I promise to make the next one faster than this one. I had to wait to make sure everything was as accurate as humanly possible.

The Green Brief #4

Hi,

Please retweet this link. I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Saturday, June 20 in Iran.

1.There was a protest planned today at Enghelab Square in Tehran. However, the whole square was filled with police. The police attacked, beat down on protesters and dispersed them with tear gas. However, the whole city of Tehran was crowded with protesters. As we reported in the last brief, the IRG had expressly been given the authority by Khamenei to violently crush the protests if any start to take place after Friday. The story of tanks entering Tehran is a complete fabrication as far as my sources are concerned. No such thing happened.

2.Other protests took place in Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz, Mashhad, Rasht and Ahvaz. Protesters were attacked in all the above mentioned cities as well as in other areas of Iran. The situation seemed to be extremely critical in the cities of Shiraz, Tabriz, Isfahan and Rasht. There were incidents of violence against protesters in Ahvaz as well. Reports have also come in of protesters lashing back at IRG and Baseej with at least one Baseej base in Tehran being burnt by angry protesters. Molotov bombs have been used during the protests on a wider scale than before by protesters. It has also been confirmed that in Mashhad, a very large number Mullahs accompanied the protesters.

3.The government claimed as the protests were continuing that a suicide bomber had attacked Imam Khomeini's shrine. They also claimed that many people had been injured and killed in the incident. However, sources have not confirmed any such attack. We cannot at this point confirm or deny whether any attack on the shrine took place from all our sources. Iranian TV continues to claim this attack has indeed taken place. MSM might have more on this, but treat it with caution.

4.During the protest, helicopters dropped a strange liquid on protesters that we're still trying to determine the nature of. It has been claimed variously that the liquid was tear gas. Some sources have told us that people who've had the liquid contact their skin have developed burns on those spots. But as of yet, we cannot positively identify it.

5.In Tehran, Baseej and possibly IRG forces burnt down a mosque with protesters trapped inside, according to sources. They could not confirm if any protester had actually died or had been injured during the incident.

6.Even though larger protests have subsided, there are still people out on the streets in Tehran and other cities. It is being claimed by sources that the wave of arrests is continuing even at 1 AM Iran time. People are chanting Allah o Akbar and calling Ahmadinejad an oppressor as well blaming Khamenei for supporting him. Throughout the day, the number of people who were arrested has remained unconfirmed, but sources claim that thousands have been arrested, consensus being on around 3,000 and possibly more. Running the numbers and adding them to our previous number of 5,000 arrested before today, the number of people that have been so far seems to have reached somewhere between 5 and 10 thousand. The number of people killed during the protests is anyone's guess. Sources have confirmed at least 4 death that were recorded on video in Tehran. But the number could be much higher, probably somewhere around 100 or maybe even more as militias have been seen directly firing at crowds of people on several occasions by our sources. The government is not releasing any data on that as of yet.

7.The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been the spearhead of all the attacks within Tehran. The Basij is helping them. As we had reported before, the IRG had been authorized by Khamenei to use extensive force if necessary to quell the protests. The police have this time also been active in the suppression of the protests but not to the level of the IRG and the Baseej. The remainder of the military has so far taken no action.

8.It has also been claimed that IRG is soon to take complete control of the capital and possibly the major cities where protests have taken place. This is said to be a measure in order to stop protests from happening in the first place. Confirmation is still not as positive as it is in other cases reported here.

9.Mousavi was present during the protests but was unable to deliver his prepared speech. He said that he is ready to be martyred for the cause of people. Reports of his detention and freedom have come from various sources but it seems that for now he is safe. He has called for a general strike throughout Iran.

10.Reformists and high-ranking Mousavi supporters are now being arrested in massive numbers. Sources claim that the Iranian government wants to completely isolate Mousavi so he has no way of contacting the outside world. However, Mousavi continues to manage to get messages out using his sources.

11.As the injured were shipped to hospitals, many were directly taken away into custody without even reaching the hospital. Sources also confirm that government forces then went to hospitals and picked up the injured, hauling them out and taking them to undisclosed locations. The arrest of injured protesters is so massive that our sources have pleaded with everyone inside Iran to NOT go to hospitals.

12.Several embassies in Tehran opened up their doors to injured protesters. They include the embassies of Slovenia, Dutch, Italian, British, Australian, Romania, Czech Republic, Denmark and Germany. There are rumors of other embassies opening their doors to injured protesters as well; however, they cannot be positively confirmed. It has also been confirmed that the Canadian Embassy has closed its doors and turned away injured protesters and told them they are not accepting anyone. (Edit: However, now - 4 hours after the writing of this brief - some secondary sources claim Canada is accepting them and have put on a request for more doctors to come and join them in helping injured protesters.)

13.It has also been reported that Baseej, IRG and police have been stationed around the embassy to intercept any protesters who try to enter the embassies. Many people have so far been arrested on route or close to the embassies and taken to undisclosed location.

14.Sources confirmed that the government is taking forced confessions from arrested protesters and linking them to Western nations. The Iranian TV showed confessions of several protesters. One protester claimed that he had been taking orders from sources in the UK. The TV news stories have been so far blaming the UK and Israel for the violence and have hinted at possible involvement by the US government as well.

15.The Iranian Ministry of Interior has taken extreme measures in order to protect its internet services and data from hackers trying to sabotage their systems. Most websites helping Iranian online protesters have pleaded to all hackers not to DDoS any government-run websites or internet services as this would also create severe problems for Iranians using internet as well and quite possibly might cut off connection to them.

Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

Iranians who are trying to connect to twitter or other sites and need a way to connect please visit this website: [url]http://torir.org[/url] - Using Tor in Order to Surf Anonymously

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us: [url]https://trancy.net/iran/[/url]

For my announcements, see @iran_translator

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don't need to find me, I will find you. Don't hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I'm an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you'll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

The Green Brief #5

Hi,

Please retweet this link. I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl - iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Sunday, June 21 in Iran.

1.Thousands of people took to street. People WERE beaten up in some parts, while in other parts; they weren't allowed to gather and were dispersed. There was a silent protest of people in front of the UN's office as well. Sporadic clashes are reported from Baharestan, Enqelab, Vanak and Vali-Asr squares. Hundreds of students continued to protest in Tehran University for the fourth straight day. There were also reports of people being attacked in the UN gathering - this has been partially confirmed.

2.The majority of Mousavi's advisors and important aides have all been arrested. He has been left with only a handful of junior political workers and is currently under effective house arrest as he not allowed to speak to journalists or make any other statements. His movement has been limited today and he did not appear at any gatherings. His Facebook account and most of the news websites affiliated with him as well as his website and websites of his supporters have more less all been either hacked or now under effective government control. False statements regularly issued from the hacked accounts. GhalamNet can not longer be trusted and his Facebook account is currently being used by the Iranian government to place information so that the protesters can either lose hope or get violent.

3.Even in this state, however, Mousavi has continued his call for a general strike on Tuesday. He has also called all citizens to turn the headlights of their cars on from 5 to 6 PM on Monday in order to commemorate those that have been killed in the protests during the past week and the few days after. He has reportedly called upon people to go on an indefinite strike until their demands are met if he is to be killed by government.

4.Five of Hashemi Rafsanjani's family members were arrested early on Saturday, these included his daughter Faezeh Hashemi who was among the first from his family to join the protests open on Wednesday. The government announced that they had been arrested because they were under threat of assassination by terrorist elements within the country. Four of the family members were released later while Faezeh was released late at night. No news of why they were released could be confirmed.

5.The police are continuing to find and arrest any reformists that have not been arrested in the past few days. The government-run media in Iran has released information of the arrests of at least 475 people. Yet the number cannot be confirmed or denied. What sources indicate is that more than 5,000 people have so far been arrested by the government. Correspondents of the BBC and Al-Arabiya news crew have been asked to leave the country on Monday. The photojournalist of Life magazine has gone missing. Overall, more than two dozen journalists within Iran are currently under arrest. The government has also increased censorship and at least four newspapers in Tehran were edited by government agents.

6.The government has branded all protesters as thugs as the national media in Iran continues to call them so through government sources. One media outlet in Iran announced that people tried to hide in Embassies on Saturday while trying to flee from terrorists. However, they are unable to account for the participation of a large number of mullahs and clergy in these protests. Here's a picture of some of the 'thug' clerics: http://i.friendfeed.com/53ae98683f0c706873071afd008d09210f908338

7.Business owners in Tehran and shopkeepers in Tehran are said to have already put their support behind Mousavi for the protests. Our sources have urged everyone in Iran to get food, fuel and other resources as soon as possible and prepare for a few days of shortage of supplies. Autobus workers have also indicated that they will join the protests and the strike now.

8.The Writers' Association of Kordistan, the Human Rights Campaign of Kordistan and some other prominent people have also called for a strike in Kordistan province on Tuesday.

9.Tweeters indicate that anyone flying into Iran should be highly alert as the government is thoroughly checking those arriving at Tehran International Airport and any connections to Mousavi could mean an arrest on the spot. The government has also created dozens of false twitter accounts to urge people to be violent so they can have a bloodier crackdown and crush the protesters.

10.Rafsanjani has met with clerics from Qom yet again. There are wild rumors circulating as to what the outcome of the meetings will be. However, no news has actually arrived about the incident. Any claims made right now are far-fetched. However, people are slowly starting to call upon him to take action. Tweets have included messages to him, urging him to come to the plight of the oppressed. Mohammad Khatami has released condemning the violence yet again and asked for an end to hostilities.

11.The city of Tehran and cities around Tehran have yet again been hearing Allah o Akbar at night. It needs to be mentioned that most sources tell of the voices getting louder as the protests continue. Chants of Death to Dictator have also been heard. And in a heartbreaking and cruel gesture, the government banned people from holding a memorial for Neda - the Iranian girl who's death by a police bullet in Tehran has sparked international outrage - in any mosque in Tehran, openly.

12.The Iranian government is aggressively trying to clamp down on internet, telephones and other communication sources. Almost all foreign TV channels are banned, getting through to Iranians on the phone is almost impossible and internet's download speed right now in Tehran is, according to one source, "375 bytes".

Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

Iranians who are trying to connect to twitter or other sites and need a way to connect please visit this website: [url=http://torir.org]Why We Protest - IRAN - View Single Post - Using Tor in Order to Surf Anonymously[/url] - Using Tor in Order to Surf Anonymously

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us: http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-current-events/news-current-events/keeping...onymously.html[/url]

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don't need to find me, I will find you. Don't hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I'm an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you'll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

The Green Brief #6

Please retweet this link. I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl - iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Monday, June 22 in Iran. (If I cannot positively confirm, I have indicated that I can't.)

1.Protests were held throughout Tehran today. The main protest was held at 7 Tir Square where 3-5 thousand people gathered to remember and mourn Neda - the protester killed on Saturday. However, soon hundreds of IRG, police, Basij and plainclothesmen gathered and violently tried to disperse the protesters. It took hours to disperse all the protesters. The security forces used batons and fired tear gas shells as well as firing weapons in the air. Dozens of people were injured, including many women. Helicopters were flying over Tehran for the second day. There were also reports of helicopters firing tear gas shells at people - they have not been fully confirmed.

2.There was also a gathering of about 1,000 people in Valiasr Avenue, meeting security forces who sparked a confrontation. It was not as violent as the one on 7 Tir, but many people were injured there as well. There was a huge rally held by Ahmadinejad's supporters at Valiasr for his victory speech. The participants were mostly people from the provinces, children and older Iranians. There were also a large number of government employees.

3.News of protests around the country was not relayed through tweets much today; however, sources confirmed that at least some rallies and protests were held in Tabriz where protesters met with violent attacks by the security forces. Later in the night as people chanted Allah o Akbar from the rooftops, there were reports of clashes in northern and western Tehran between protesters and security forces. Chants of Allah o Akbar also echoed across the country. Candles were lit throughout the country in memory of protesters that have been killed so far. The number of confirmed deaths stands close to 50 now and there have been more than a thousand injured.

4.Sources claim that the government is considering expelling some diplomatic missions because they've helped protesters or are accused of masterminding the unrest. The government earlier in the day alleged that the US had paid 400 million dollars to people in order to organize unrest in Iran. They also blamed the UK and Germany - saying the latter was coaxed into taking action by Israel - how Israel manages to coax other countries was beyond our sources... The Guardian Council has now announced that there were 3 million extra votes cast. Other information is unreliable at this point or various sources exist.

5.The government is actively trying to suppress news from getting out. BBC and Al-Arabiya's correspondents were told to get out in 24 hours, twitter sites are being hacked, people are being tricked into getting out late at night by others chanting in the streets who are actually Basijis and the spread of spam and propaganda on twitter. The government has also established dozens of sites with pictures of protesters, asking people to identify them. At least two of these sites that were based abroad have been taken down by hackers sympathetic to Iranians today.

6.There are sporadic reports coming in from Qom at this point. Sources claim that Rafsanjani who was in Qom has had meetings with clerics inside Qom. It has been also reported - but not confirmed - for the past three days that Ayatollah Montazeri has declared a three days' mourning period. It likely is a hoax because it has not been confirmed by anyone. What can be confirmed is that the Council of Combatant Clerics - which includes in its members Rafsanjani and Nateq Noori - have backed the protesters. Khamanei is going to lead Friday prayers in Tehran. If there was a speech, we'll have a translation availble here within the hour.

7.Hamzeh Ghalebi, head of Mousavi's youth headquarters and Reza Homaye, another reformist and backer of Mousavi, have been arrested. There have been arrests of numerous other reformists and backers of Mousavi, Karoubi, Noori and Rafsanjani. The total number of people that have been arrested is still anyone's guess. Reports indicate somewhere between five and ten thousand.

8.Tuesday has been declared a national strike by Mousavi and his backers. Already close to half of the shops in Tehran were closed on Sunday. (Sunday is not a holiday in Iran; Friday is.) It has been reported that in the provinces, people are excited about the news and many important figures in provinces are openly or secretly backing the call. The government is threatening people that they'll be fired if they didn't show up at their jobs on Tuesday.

9.Thursday, rallies will be held in Tehran. The location of the major rally in the city has not been disclosed. According to sources, this has been done so that the government couldn't be prepared. In anticipation, the government has placed thousands of police and Basiji inside Tehran, turning stadiums into headquarters and areas for gathering for these security forces.

10.Our sources have strongly denounced the commercialization of the Sea of Green (That's what most of them call the protests) by various people around the world. They have especially disliked how some people put advertisements on twitter with #iran or #iranelection on them as well as #neda. They have also shown outrage over the fact that Nokia and Siemens were exposed to have supplied the Iranian government with equipment to help censor their voices on the internet and over cell phones.

11.Finally, Mousavi has yet again called on the people of the world to rally in support of the plight of Iran's people on Thursday. This is the second time Mousavi has called on citizens of Planet Earth to stand up and support the voices of Iranians.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

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67.174.201.136:9001 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837

(trad. tor port)

67.174.201.136:3074 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837

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The Green Brief #7

Please retweet this link. Apologies for the lateness of today's brief. I had urgent matters to take care of. I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl - iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, June 23 in Iran. (If I cannot positively confirm, I have indicated that I can't.)

1.Although most sources had confirmed that there was going to be a strike today in Tehran, the city had only partially closed down its shops. Throughout the day reports kept arriving that Mousavi had not ordered the strike, however, most people continued urging protesters to comply with the strike. It seemed that there was a complete lack of coordination between the movement and its leader. This is the first time it has happened, however, and seems to be a direct result of government's tireless efforts at trying to jam communications between protesters and their leaders.

2.There were sporadic reports of a more successful strike in parts of the Kurdish-inhabited areas of northwestern Iran. In Kurdistan province, the cities of Sanadanj and Seqqez were reported to have had half their shops closed. There were also reports from Mahabad in Western Azerbaijan province to the north of Kurdistan province. That city is also inhabited by Kurds. The main stream media has not confirmed these reports; however, sources were pretty uniform about the veracity of them. There have been unrests in Mashhad and Tabriz as well, but no solid news came out for us to investigate further.

3.People in Tehran, though, acted in different ways to continue to defy the authorities. There were anti-government posters stuck on walls, anti-government slogans adorned parts of the walls of the city and waves of small rallies broke out in various parts of the city. Car headlights were turned on in the city at dark to commemorate those killed in the protests and chants of Allah o Akbar continued to ring loudly at night. Among these chants, there were also chants of "Death to the Dictator" and surprisingly enough, some people also chanted "Death of Khamenei" - although the last one was only reported in isolated areas.

4.The city of Tehran was literally crawling with Basijis and police. There were roadblocks everywhere and the streets were heavily patrolled by the security forces. Most sources complained that going outside was dangerous for anyone - even if the person wasn't a protester as security forces continued to beat up anyone they could get their hands on.

5.There were reports of clashes in northern, western and eastern Tehran between small numbers of protesters and the security forces, though; no news of any casualties reached us. Shots were fired late at night as well, but still no word of casualties today. People had started small fires on the streets that were continuously being put down by the security forces.

6.Arrests continue to take place throughout the day. Journalists from Kalemeh newspaper were picked up and there were unconfirmed reports of the arrest of at least 2 journalists affiliated with the foreign media, however, the latter claim could not be independently verified. One of these is a Greek reporter with the Washington Times. The government has now announced the creation of a special court in order to investigate and decide the cases of people who have been so far arrested by the government.

7. There was also sickening news of security forces asking the families of protesters who'd been killed for large sums of money - typically between 3-5 thousand dollars - as a "bullet fee" if they wanted the bodies of their dead relatives back. At least two cases were confirmed by our reliable sources, but it seems to have not picked up with MSM yet. Also, relatives of protesters went today to Evin prison to see if they could get information about the ones arrested recently. They were turned away without a chance to verify whether their relatives were in custody.

8.The Iranian government continued to blame the West for Iran's current state of affairs. As a direct result of this, Iran expelled to British diplomats in protest, resulting in the expulsion of two Iranian diplomats by the British government. There are reports of the EU mulling over imposing sanctions against Iran. Shirin Ebadi - the Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Iran - has asked the world to only impose political and not economic sanctions on Iran.

9.Mousavi and Khatami's offices have told their supporters to use a different tactic to get their demands by going to the bazaars with their families everyday starting Tuesday at 9 and not buy anything at all. If anyone is to ask them, they're to say they're there to shop. According to Khatami, time had come people to stop wasting their energies on the government in the old ways and start new ways of defying the authorities' refusal to meet their demands. According to Khatami, the actions described above will halt all business in Tehran.

10.State media in Iran are continuing to denounce protesters as thugs, hooligans and terrorists. It has been reported that Keyhan Daily's tomorrow's edition is going to call for Mousavi's arrest. Reports were also published and broadcasted about Mohsen Rezaee - on of the four candidates during the election - has taken back all his complaints against the elections. Khamenei has extended the period for registering complaints against the elections for five more days. The deadline was Wednesday, before.

11.Throughout the day, there were reports of Mousavi organizing a fresh rally as well as Karoubi calling on people to stage rallies in different locations. Both leaders were said to have wanted rallies late afternoon on Thursday. Yet, the reports were often so conflicted that for now, the place and time of the protests cannot be verified. As before, it seems they are trying to confuse the government into keeping less armed personnel around the protest area by not letting them know where it's actually at. So far, reliable sources have mostly agreed upon a rally at Baharestan Square in the late afternoon.

12.There was word all over twitter about Britain freezing more than a billion dollars worth of Iranian assets as a result of the protests. However, this had actually happened way before the protests as a result of Iran's non-compliance with the recommendations of IAEA during the nuclear standoff. The news of Iranian footballers that wore green bands in their game against South Korea being forcibly retired has been confirmed.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

English: [url]http://tinyurl.com/lexowb[/url]

Fars: [url]http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9[/url]

For the more savvy, try these if you want to connect from Iran:

67.174.201.136:9001 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837

(trad. tor port)

67.174.201.136:3074 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837

(xbox live port)

(Thanks to Alexander)

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us: [url]http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-current-events/news-current-events/news-current-events/news-current-events/news-current-events/news-cu...onymously.html[/url]

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

"Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments."

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

The Green Brief #8

I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (There was precious little today to offer so I waited very long)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, June 24 in Iran.

1. The event of the day was the protest held at Baharestan Square in the late afternoon. Although the exact number cannot be fully known, my sources claimed somewhere between 5,000-10,000 people tried to join the rally. Things got violent when security forces that had been waiting there for hours moved in as soon as a small crowd had managed to gather. They used force to brutalize the protesters and scatter them faster then they could regroup. Police were also patrolling the areas around Baharestan and people were attacked even as they fled Baharestan and go to the outer edges of the area. This continued for at least two hours.

2. Force was utilized without discrimination; however, media reports about a complete massacre cannot be confirmed by my more reliable sources. What I can confirm is at least 3 people were killed; the police used batons to beat people quite viciously - leaving dozens injured, not just in Baharestan but also in the areas around Baharestan. Shots were also fired and at least 2 of the fatalities were as a result of gunfire. Tear gas was also used to disperse them. We cannot confirm the use of axes on protesters. It could have been isolated incidents. But a wide-spread use cannot be confirmed. There were reports of killings at Lalehzar as well. Lalezhzar is a park in Tehran which has been completely taken over by security forces and is being used as a quasi-de fact base. Pictures are scarce and videos cannot be confirmed at this point either. The police were checking cell phones throughout the area as well as in other parts of the city and deleting images or videos or confiscating the phone altogether.

(I have to add a personal note here. I am not anti-protester and neither am I against the freedom of Iran from the grips of such a repressive regime. The Green Briefs are VERY one-sided and TOTALLY pro-protester. However, I think the event was overblown partly because the people who participated were terrorized by the brute nature of the event and at the same time, the word 'massacre' got lost in translation a little. I apologize if you find my denial of this outrageous, but I will not confirm something like this. It could easily be a government ploy to scare people from joining further protests.)

3. The area was surrounded also by vans and cars belonging to the security forces. Injured protesters and those protesters the police could hold onto were promptly thrown into these vehicles and moved to undisclosed locations. It has been suggested that Evin prison is being used to house most of the prisoners, but the sheer number of protesters easily could mean that make-shift prisons have been built around Tehran to house these people. Some sources indicated as well, but this cannot be confirmed right away. Most shops around Baharestan were closed so people had nowhere to hide. Cell phone service was also jammed so no help could arrive for those stranded and the vicious and wide-spread beatings and arrests could continue.

4. The security forces were being heavily helped by helicopters. They flew all over the city and informed security forces of places where people had gathered. Security forces arrived in minutes and dispersed crowd. However, people were extremely persistent. Gatherings and small rallies took place in several places and the quicker they were dispersed the quicker more sprang up. This continued late into the night until people dispersed on their own. The sheer tenacity of the protesters is heartening and many twitter sources indicated that no matter what happens they will go to streets and protest. Hezbollah e Ansar were also spotted from time to time. Plainclothesmen also did their part of the arrests as they drove around the city in motorcycles.

5. There were also other arrests in Iran today. At least 70 university professors and other professionals held a meeting today with Mousavi at the end of which, all of them were arrested as they exited the meeting area. Reports also confirm that Mousavi's chief lawyer, Ardsher Amir Arjman has also been arrested. There is no real confirmation of whether Mousavi has been arrested or he's free. However, there are strong indications and SOME sources that claim he is currently under house arrest. For a partial list, please click here: [url]http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-current-events/2346-list-killed-injured-english.html#post18622[/url]

6. Several foreign nationals were arrested today as well. Among them is Iason Athanasiadis - a Greek national who works for the Washington Times. The identity of other people detained cannot be confirmed at this point. The media lockdown is continuing in Iran as the government tries to stop the spread of news of what's happening inside the country. Saw a quote that I wanted to share by an Iranian twitter user: "Saving Iran... one tweet at a time!"

6. As reported before, Mohsen Rezaei is being reported to have withdrawn his complaints regarding the election. However, it seems that his office believes he has been sidelined by the government through pressure and intimidation. His office today told the Guardian Council that that they need to tell the people the real reason why they quit or they will publish the real reasons themselves. Reports also abound that Rafsanjani is preparing a plan of action and will make an announcement on Friday, but this cannot be fully confirmed. Mousavi, Rafsanjani and Rezaei also held a meeting with officials from the National Security Committee of Iran. No news as to the issues debated or decisions made can be confirmed yet.

7. The chants of Allah o Akbar continued throughout the night in Tehran and reports indicate that it also occurred in many cities around the country. Confirmed reports also indicate that plainclothesmen put some trees on fire near the homes of people who were chanting in Sharake Gharb. It is being reported that on June 25 at 1 PM, people will fly ceremonial balloons from their homes. The balloons will be green to symbolize the movement and black for the dead protesters. Reports indicate that tomorrow's mourning rallies in Tehran have been canceled as well. (I will no longer post information about protests that are to come here. Too many Iran-gov people are reading this and it might help them.)

8. Khamanei spoke to a meeting of members of the Majlis of Iran (Majlis = Parliament). Click here to read it: [url=http://tinyurl.com/ktrs9l]Khamenei Speech to Parliamentarians June 24 (Excerpts English) - Why We Protest - IRAN[/url]

9. Finally, reports indicate that the Iranian ambassador in Copenhagen has 'threatened' the Danish government by telling them that they are watching the Danish media very closely...

Read this if you want to help or get help!

English: [url=http://tinyurl.com/lexowb]Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain[/url]

Fars: [url=http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9]Tor: ?????? Tor[/url]

For the more savvy, try these if you want to connect from Iran:

67.174.201.136:9001 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837

(trad. tor port)

67.174.201.136:3074 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837

(xbox live port)

(Thanks to Alexander)

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us: [url=http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-current-events/news-current-events/news-current-events/news-current-events/news-current-events/news-cu...onymously.html]Why We Protest - IRAN - Powered by vBulletin[/url]

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

"Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments."

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

The Green Brief #9

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Thursday, June 25 in Iran.

1.Protesters continued to swarm the streets of Tehran today, however, the number of security forces deployed to stop them from gathering in large numbers proved effective. We had previously reported that large numbers of motorcycles have been brought into Tehran by the government and given over to Basij and other security forces. They are being used very efficiently to mobilize the security forces and protesters are being hunted down wherever they are suspected to be. In the mess, several people who aren't protesters have also been beaten as the beatings have turned to indiscriminate persecution of citizens of Iran.

2.News of protesters came from different parts of Tehran, but confirmation as always have been a bit tricky as twitter sources continue to give out information that is sometimes uniform and at times widely divergent. What we were able to confirm was that a large mass of people that tried to gather at martyred protester Neda's grave site was beaten and dispersed. No one was allowed to stand near her grave for more than a few seconds as police actively sought to beat the protesters out of the area. There were reports of Basijis firing at people from atop a mosque in Tehran. It can be partially confirmed, however, the number of casualties cannot be.

3.The Minister of Interior in the mean time has declined to issue a request for the holding of requests by Mousavi's supporters. He has stated that any permits need to be sought in person at least 7 days before the planned date. (There are reports, however, that Mousavi has been granted a permit for a small rally tomorrow.) Chants of Allah o Akbar and Ya Hossein echoed across Tehran yet again and there were reports of protests in Shiraz by university students and a strike in Tabriz. (I can only partially confirm this as only a few of my reliable sources could confirm it.)

4.As reported yesterday, no massacre can be confirmed to have occurred in Baharestan square. Readers have sent me several photographs of bodies with gaping wounds that might suggest the use of axes - I have confirmed ISOLATED use of axes in the previous report -, however, all of the photos have been from past protests. As of yet, the claim by Mainstream Media that there was a massacre at Baharestan cannot be confirmed. (At the time of the writing of this brief, many have retracted their previous statements and some have actually began to kill the story that was used to increase viewership of US TV networks...)

5.In new statements today, Mousavi, Khatami and Rezaei have pledged their support for the cause of the protesters yet again. Mousavi released a statement today declaring that he won't back down from their legitimate demands. He also accused the people who have rigged the election of the violence that has wracked Tehran and continues to destabilize the country. Rezaei who has taken back his complaints to the Guardian Council regarding the election has yet against said that he has not abandoned the protesters. According to him, he has only taken back the complaints and the cause of the protesters and just and must be followed until successful. Khatami declared today that everyone should stand up because opportunities like these are rare and will not be granted again.

6.There were reports today indicating that several journalists that have been arrested in the past few days have been transferred to Evin prison. A Washington Time correspondent who was arrested yesterday was about to leave the country through Tehran's main airport when he was arrested. The government's media outlets have claimed that John Layne - the BBC correspondent in Tehran who was forced to leave Tehran days ago - was behind the murder of Neda. They claim that he hired people to gun her down so he could then report on it and use it in a documentary he is making.

7.Seyed Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, the editor in chief of Kalameh Sabz newspaper which is pro-Mousavi, who was arrested yesterday, has still not been released. Of the 70 professors that were arrested after meeting Mousavi yesterday, 66 have been released by the Iranian government. The fate of the rest remains unknown. More and more people were arrested today for even wearing green signs or any clothing that had the color green. The Society for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights has announced that they are ready to provide legal aid to recent detainees and their families. For a list of people so far killed and arrested as well as released, please check this link: [url]http://iran.whyweprotest.net/missing-persons/2346-list-killed-arrested-english.html[/url]

8.Government sources now confirm that eight Basijis have so far been killed in the protests. The number cannot be confirmed using our sources. So far, even the most impartial twitter sources have not confirmed that any protester has succeeded in taking the life of a Basiji. (Apparently, many have wished for their death and would show great joy if it can be confirmed as their brutality has been quite pronounced in the past few days.) Sources also claim that Basijis are receiving extravagant amounts of money as per diem in order to secure their loyalty.

9.A group of Iranian lawyers - most of them female - have released a statement, asking the government to cancel Nobel-laureate Shirin Ebadi's law license. They claim that she has acted unconstitutionally by contacting governments outside Iran and asked them to interfere in Iran's internal affairs. They also accuse her of breaching Islamic verdicts.

10.Meanwhile, Ali Abbaspour, a prominent parliamentarian and the head of the education committee in the parliament, has told the media that they are insistent on impartial investigations being carried out on the attacks in various universities inside Tehran and other parts of the country. Reports also indicate of Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani's continued marginalization by the government. He is being reported as one of the top men inside the regime who is slowly moving towards the cause of the protesters.

11.Finally, we can now confirm that Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri has broken his silence and denounced the current spate of violence that's been carried out against peaceful protesters. He asked the people of Iran to seek their rightful demands through peaceful means. He also criticized the government's actions and said that the violence carried out against protesters is clearly different from what Islam teaches.

12.Ayatollah Khamenei has a planned speech during the Friday prayers today in Tehran. That will commence at 2:30 AM Pacific Time. I will upload the transcript of the speech in English within an hour of it's delivery on iran.whyweprotest.net and posting a link on my twitter account. You can also tune into BBC if you want to see it live with an English translation. (If I wasn't able to do the translation, please forgive me.)

(There is simply too much on the tweets about where Mousavi is at this point. According to last reports, he was being sternly watched by the government and his movement is restricted, but it's an ever evolving situation.)

Read this if you want to help or get help!

English: [url=http://tinyurl.com/lexowb]Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain[/url]

Fars: [url=http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9]Tor: ?????? Tor[/url]

For the more savvy, try these if you want to connect from Iran:

67.174.201.136:9001 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837

(trad. tor port)

67.174.201.136:3074 AE4DE948A8F37F18D886C5545F375AB246647837

(xbox live port)

(Thanks to Alexander)

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

"Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments."

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

The Green Brief #10 (June 26)

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (All my work is released under Creative Commons (CC). You can freely use it and repost it wherever you'd like to. Just provide a link to the original source at the bottom.)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Friday, June 26 in Iran.

1. No large rallies or prsotests were held today. There were unconfirmed reports of small gatherings in isolated areas of the city, but for the most part, Tehran didn't seem to witness the same as it has been for the past two weeks. Sources indicated that it was in no way a sign of giving up, but rather a brief interval in more protests that are to come. They added that currently, the Sea of Green is organizing and regrouping as well as coming up with new ways to defy the authorities and also know of the fate of their leaders in order to progress.

2. At 1 PM, however, a large number of people in Tehran took to roofs and released green balloons to show solidarity with the Sea of Green and to commemorate protesters who've died so far. (Link showing the balloons: YouTube - IRAN RIGGED ELECTIONS: Green balloons were used as a form of protest all over Iran 6/26/2009 ) At night, the people again took to the roofs and chanted "Allah o Akbar" and "Death to the Dictator". They also burned candles and held vigils. There was confirmation of the death of one protester who was fired upon by security forces as he chanted from his rooftop. Reports of vigils also came from Mashhad.

3. Khamenei was supposed to lead Friday prayers in Tehran and give a speech; however, he was a no show. Ayatollah Sayyid Ahmad Khatami a hard-line cleric and a member of the Assembly of Experts who has strong ties with Khamenei and Ahmadinejad lead the prayers in his stead. He claimed that the protesters were acting against Allah, branded them 'rioters' and called for their suppression through any means possible. He also added that the government will not bend against pressure and that Neda was killed by protesters. This is backtrack from the government's earlier statements that Neda had been ordered to be killed by a BBC correspondent.

4. Reports indicate that the reason why Khamenei did not attend the prayers was Ayatollah Montazeri's statements yesterday that denounced the government's suppression of the protesters' 'legitimate demands'. This, according to sources, creates a divide between the powerful clergy which has pressured Khamenei just enough to stop him from giving out another speech of the caliber he gave last week. 4. Whether Montazeri's current stance will develop into something of a bigger boost to protesters remains to be seen.

5. (For those who don't know, Montazeri was Khomeini's designated successor until just a few months before Khomeini's death; he openly criticized the Islamic regime and was sidelined in favor of Khamenei. He still wields enough considerable support among the more moderate clergy and is popular among liberal Muslims in Iran.)

6. Meanwhile, on the government's official English News channel, Press TV, George Galloway, a British MP representing the constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow, spent several hours denouncing the protests, Israel and Zionism. He called upon the world to accept Ahmadinejad's re-election and called on the protesters to go home and accept the will of the people. He did not indicate which people he meant when he made that statement.

7. A reliable source indicated that Khomeini's family has thrown its lot behind the protesters. Although they denied calling out for a protest tomorrow, they indicated that they were with the protesters and claimed to be supporting the protesters lawful demands and don't consider Ahmadinejad's government legitimate anymore. This, coupled with Montazeri's statements and Larijani's lethargy, is a strong indication that the clergy are divided in what to do with the protesters and that there is a considerable level of public support now for the protesters among the religious elite.

8. The spokesperson of the Guardian Council announced today that a commission had been formed to recount 10% of the ballots cast with representatives of the candidates present. The commission includes Ali Akbar Velayati, Hadad Adel, Eftekhar Jahromi, Aboutorabi Fard, Dari Najafabadi and Hossein Rahimian. He also gave candidates 24 hours to appoint representatives that would join the commission in the recount.

9. As reported before, the government is heavily charging people for the return of their dead family members' bodies who were killed during the protests. Families are being charged thousands of dollars and are also required to sign a waiver that states they won't sue the police and that Mousavi is the reason behind the death of their loved ones. More people were arrested today including Mohammad Mostafaie, who is a prominent lawyer and important reformist.

10. . The Iranian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden was attacked today by angry Swedish-Iranians after a peaceful protest. It has been reported that as the protesters neared the gate, one of the guards tried to force the protesters away which enraged them and they tried to take over the Embassy. The police were forced to call for back up to control the protesters. There was also a report of a molotov bomb thrown by pro-Sea of Green protesters at the Iranian Embassy in Bern, Switzerland. It caused little damage to one of the walls.

11. The government is continuously attacking and arresting Iranians who are using twitter to get the message out to the world. Several of our sources have so far been arrested or have stopped using twitter altogether, yet the remainder have pledged to continue until the last minute. Amidst the somber mood, some emotional moments can also be seen. One Iranian tweeted: "I would rather our Iranian youth were tweeting about Michael Jackson than having 2 face this death & horror. Lets set them free to do so."

(There is simply too much on the tweets about where Mousavi is at this point. According to last reports, he was being sternly watched by the government and his movement is restricted, but it's an ever evolving situation.)

Read this if you want to help or get help!

The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English: Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi: Tor: ?????? Tor

Images and vids and instructions on how to send them to us:

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

"Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments."

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

The Green Brief #11

Here are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Saturday, June 27 in Iran.

1.Mousavi has rejected the Guardian Council's decision to look into discrepancies in only 10% of the vote. Mousavi has said that as he mentioned in two letters before to the GC, there are simply far too many irregularities for them to accept the election. A new one must be held in order to give people their voice back.

2.A prominent supporter of Mousavi was forced to confess on national TV that protests were pre-planned and that they have broken laws. However, reports strongly indicate that the media had already pre-written the statements because they sounded far more official than a speaker can come up with impromptu. More and more protesters are being prepped through intimidation and torture to make confessions.

3.Iran's paramilitary Basij are carrying out brutal nighttime raids, destroying property in private homes and beating civilians in an attempt to stop nightly protest chants, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch also said the Iranian authorities are confiscating satellite dishes from private homes to prevent citizens from seeing foreign news.

4.Ahmadinejad warned the US of repercussions if it continues to meddle in Iranian affairs. He also sent out a message to the people saying that the days of liberal democracy were over. (In the sense that no more reform and change against Islamic law will be allowed to take place.) He warned that in the next 4 years he will take a tougher approach. This happens while Ahmadinejad's first deputy, Parviz Davoudi, was denied a US visa by the US State Department. Iranian ambassador to the UN blamed the US government for it.

5.At the same time, a government spokesperson blatantly accused other countries of meddling in Iranian affairs and instigating the current protests and violence. Fatemeh Rajabi, spokesperson & symbol of women in Ahmadinazhad's government in a separate statement also called Mousavi and Khatami the faces of corruption in the country.

6.The Guardian Council commission on investigating 10% of the vote was rejected by Mousavi today. He said that 10% was not enough and the elections have to be annulled. He added that an impartial commission should be set up to help arbitrate the issue. The other two candidates also didn't send representatives to the commission. This is after the commission was criticized by others - including a prominent MP and Mahdi Karoubi - for being too one-sided and the investigation of irregularities in only 10% of the vote insufficient. This is while the GC yet again called the elections the 'best in Iran's history so far'.

7.Javan newspaper - which is closely linked to the IRG - has reported that instigators of violence and the forces behind the protests have been identified. According to Javan, a group of actors were involved and this group created flyers and statements! It accused these individuals - 15-20 people according to Javan - of hiring thugs and distributing weapons that were used in violence. It also reported the arrest of three prominent Iranian film personalities.

8.Tehran's district attorney stated that he didn't know how many people have been arrested so far but that he had met several at Evin Prison. The detainees are continuously under mental & sometimes physical torture. IRNA reported that Iran banned Mousavi's ally Abolfazl Fateh from leaving the country. It is being reported that it's possible that the fate of the people that have been arrested would be known by the end of the week. The name of the girl who was shot in Baharestan and died later in the hospital is reportedly Sheler Khezri.

9.Amnesty International confirms on CNN: people disappearing from hospitals. Hundreds of people missing. Amnesty International asked the Iranian authorities to immediately release dozens of journalists who are at risk of torture in detention. The UN also asked the government to prevent further violence and bloodshed. More people were arrested today including journalists and bloggers as well as other people of some clout in the Iranian society. Karoubi's newspaper, Etemade Melli's chief editor was asked to appear before a court.

10.Today a group of people including women's rights activists assembled in Laleh Park to light candles in memory of Neda and other martyrs. The protesters were dispersed by the police and plainclothesmen using violent tactics. There were also many policewomen. Many people were arrested and hauled away. Reporters of Keyhan and Fars newspapers were taking people pictures with cameras.

11.Reports have suggested that there is a bitter divide developing between military leaders on what the military's role should be in the current unrest and whether they should step in. (This could be not confirmed unfortunately through the most reliable sources). Reports of clerics meeting in secret to discuss the current unrest have surfaces from Qom, Tabriz and Mashhad. It is being suggested that even though clerics had participated in the protests a few days ago, they might join in larger numbers if further protests are held.

12.Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabeli has released a statement stating that the election has weakened the regime. He added that the Guardian Council should allow for people to pursue their demands and asked the people to pursue their complaints through legal means as well as asking the government to let people express their discontent through the media. He deplored violence and said that no violence must be used to pacify protestors.

13.It is being reported that very careful planning is being carried out for a successful national strike. This is while in a meeting with members of the National Security Council, Karoubi said that he'll continue to legally pursue annulment of the elections.

14.Sunday is the anniversary of 7 Tir martyrs and there will be a gathering in "Ghoba" Mosque. It has been organized after getting a permit from the government. Mousavi asked Iranians abroad to continue their protests. Chants of Allah o Akbar were heard in Tehran, Tabriz and other parts of Tehran again.

15.Sea of Green is largely peaceful. Reports that Sea of Green is actively seeking to hunt and kill security forces being forcefully denied by sources. Here's a heartwarming video of youth protecting Police from angry protesters when they were surrounded by people. The youth keep yelling, "We're all Iranians! We're all Iranians!" [url=http://bit.ly/mHrmT]YouTube - ‫?????? ???? ????? ??? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ? ??? ????? ?????? ???? !?‬&lrm;[/url]

16.(On persiankiwi, I don't know any of the tweeters personally. I stopped using him/her as a source since the day of the Baharestan protest. I only stated that he has been arrested as a caution so that people would be careful. The second most reliable source after pk reported that pk had been arrested so I was forced to go ahead and warn people. But some people have harshly attacked me for this. I whole-heartedly apologize if anyone thinks I'm trying to mislead them. The Green Briefs are only one source out of hundreds. Please use your own judgment and trust whichever source you think is more reliable in getting news from Iran. I will hence stop trying to convince people that I have good intentions. It is futile as well as VERY stressful and time-consuming.)

Read this if you want to help or get help!

English: [url=http://tinyurl.com/lexowb]Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain[/url]

Farsi: [url=http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9]Tor: ?????? Tor[/url]

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: [url=http://giagro.wordpress.com/torrents]Torrents list ? Rivolta in Iran[/url]

Helpers with expertise in the field of medecine, translation and such:

"Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments."

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

The Green Brief #12

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Sunday, June 28 in Iran.

1.URGENT: Rumors of Mousavi's arrest are being spread around the blogosphere and twitter. So far, no reliable source has confirmed this. At the time of the writing of this brief - 9:27 PM ET - he is still free. His facebook account denies the claim: [url]http://www.facebook.com/mousavi?ref=mf[/url]

2.Thousands of people gathered in Tehran's Ghoba Mosque today at a rally planned to coincide with the 7 Tir bombing that killed Ayatollah Beheshti and 70 other prominent clerics in 1981. The mosque was filled and the streets and alleys leading up to the mosque were completely crowded by protesters chanting "Where's our vote?" Reports indicate that the number was somewhere between 3 and 10 thousand. Beheshti's son addressed the crowd and said that the current regime was pushing people backwards and was not in touch with current realities of the world. He said that the Sea of Green could stand this and were protesting.

3.Mahdi Karoubi was able to join the protests spoke to protesters. Mousavi wasn't able to make it to the center of the crowd and was forced to deliver his message by calling a cell phone as the receiving phone was put on a loudspeaker. Other prominent members of the reform movement were also present, including the wife and daughter of Rafsanjani. Mousavi urged people to continue fighting for their legitimate demands and announced that he would not stop pursuing their collective goals. Rezaei also issued an open letter to the GC today asking them to investigate the whole election & all protests & complaints.

4.Later, intense clashes broke out between the security forces and protesters. Several shots were heard from the vicinity of the mosque. Fires were started in the area and smoke could be seen coming out of some streets from afar. Police violently beat some protesters in order to disperse them. Although the protesters had received a permit by the government, they were still attacked by the police under the pretense that people were only allowed to be inside the mosque. Protesters were beaten, tear gas was used and many protesters were hauled away and arrested by the security forces. Some of the high-profile arrests today included Reza Ataraan - a movie star and filmmaker -, Shokoofeh Azar, reporter for Sarmaye Emrooz, and Kambiz Norouzi, legal secretary of journalists' union. The actual number of protesters arrested today could not be confirmed, but several dozens people were likely arrested, reliable sources indicated. There were also reports of protests in other parts of the city and clashes as well, yet they could only be partially confirmed.

5.Rafsanjani today spoke to reporters today and said that the election had created a complex situation and that enemies were trying to create a divide between the regime and people. He praised Khamenei's decision to extend the period for complaints to the Guardian Council about the election. Khamenei today said that people shouldn't stoke emotions and both sides should not create tensions and inflame the youth. He also accused the world of meddling with the affairs of Iran and warned them to back off of Iranian affairs.

6.In a letter addressed to the Guardian Council, Karoubi said that the election was engineered in such a way that people's presence was only a pre-designed show. Karoubi: For every candidate a share of the vote was previously defined. He added that before the election a member of GC said that the leader had chosen Ahmadinezhad and it's not wise to cross him and that the small share of the votes assigned to him will not stop the pursuit of people's demands.

7.Yesterday, it was reported that 9 UK Embassy staff from Tehran were arrested. Today, reports have surfaced that at least 4 of them have been released. It is being reported that the rest are not being kept at Evin, but rather at an undisclosed location. They were all accused by the Iranian government of having a hand in the protests which they claim are 'riots'.

8.A representative of Tabriz spoke in the Parliament today and said that it was not fair to listen to only one-side of the dispute and ignore the cries of the other side completely. He called upon the government to not act against the country's laws when dealing with people. Ahmadinejad's supporters in the parliament tried to force him from continuing his speech by yelling and shouting at him.

9.A government spokesperson today said that there have been no serious incidents during the protests and that people should go to courts to complain if they've been beaten with sticks. The bodies of some protesters who've been killed so far are being released to their relatives if they quietly bury them. Mousavi's head of campaign, Ghorban Behzadian Nezhad and all but three staff members of his newspaper were released today.

10.A selected team of the parliament's security commission will meet with Mohammad Khatami regarding the recent events. The team will meet Ahmadinezhad as well. Previously they met Ayatollas Javadi Amoli, Mousavi Ardebili and Sobhani. Amoli said today that the separation of powers was not a recent phenomenon and it had existed before in Islam and called for it. Ayatollah Javadi Amoli previously criticized the government in Friday prayer in Qom. Amoli said that if someone's the judge, jury and executioner, then there was a problem.

11.Insurance companies are shunning people. They're being told that the government has told them not to talk to rioters. This is after people went to insurance companies after the destruction of property or death of a loved one.

12. The Min. of Interior has been asked to cancel the permits of IIPF, the Combatant Clerics and Mojahedin-Enghelab parties. They are going to legally pursue them and if found guilty of a crime - the protests have been called law-breaking and a crime - their permits will be cancelled. It is being reported that the online results of the election released by the Ministry of Interior are continuously being changed.

13.Tonight people are continuing their chants of Allah o Akbar as Basijis have started to harass them. During past days plain cloths went door to door and warned people to stop chanting. Website of ministry of internal affairs which uploaded election statistics keeps updating files as people find more errors in the results.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

English: [url=http://tinyurl.com/lexowb]Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain[/url]

Farsi: [url=http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9]Tor: ?????? Tor[/url]

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: [url=http://giagro.wordpress.com/torrents]Torrents list Rivolta in Iran[/url]

Helpers with expertise in the field of medicine, translation and such:

"Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments."

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

P.S. Please post this around and tweet and retweet.

The Green Brief #13 (June 29)

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (All my work is released under Creative Commons (CC). You can freely use it and re-post it wherever you'd like to. Just provide a link to the original source at the bottom.)

In Italian: http://giagro.wordpress.com/29062009...fine-giornata/

In German: http://kyrah.net/gr88/gb13.html

In Portuguese: http://tinyurl.com/mk8lta

In Hebrew (Summary) http://tinyurl.com/mqooe8

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Monday, June 29 in Iran.

1. There was a human chain planned for today. The plan had been to form it between Tajrish Square and the Railway; however, the route was guarded heavily by Basijis, plainclothesmen and security forces. Nonetheless, people at gathered Mellat Park, Valiasr Field, Vanak and Valiasr Avenue and were trying to form a human chain. The police tried to disperse the crowd and stop the human chain from being formed. There were reports of clashes as well which cannot be fully confirmed. Reports of police smashing people's windows for honking their horns and slashing their tires with knives.

2. Cell phone services were cut off around Valiasr as well as other parts of Tehran. The Basiji had Daneshjo Park under their control and helicopters were flying all over the place, especially over Valiasr. Today was one of the few times when the government cut off phone lines in order to disrupt communications between protesters and hinder their coordination of the event. During the event, several people were arrested as well. Most of Tehran was crawling with Basijis carrying sticks, some on motorcycles sporting camouflage vests. Protesters and some other people were wearing green wristbands in support of Moussavi.

3. Larijani, the speaker of the parliament today said that CNN had given money and cell phones to protesters to portray a wrong image of Iran. He added that the unrest was not an important event and it will be easily overcome and that it was just another experience for the Islamic Republic.

4. Two former Ministers of Interior have asked the Ministry of Interior to form an independent commission to investigate the problems related to the election. They have asked for the release of all the detained protesters as well and for the Iranian media to let protesters' demands be heard. They have also requested an investigation into the deaths of protesters and other crimes committed during the protests and ask that people should be compensated for their losses.

5. Bijan Khajehpour a renowned Iranian political economist was detained at the airport in Tehran on Saturday upon arrival from the UK. Sources were unsure about his whereabouts but assumed he was in Evin prison. Dr. Mehdi Khazali, the son of Grand Ayatollah Khazali, who unlike his father is a critic of the government and Ahmadinejad, was also arrested. The Iranian media also announced the arrest of some people who were posing as Basijis. Yesterday's arrest of Homa Roosta has now been confirmed to not be true.

6. Human rights groups claim that so far over 2,000 people are still in detention. Reports have surfaced that there is no more space left for women in Tehran's official prisons. Human rights' activists report on unsanitary and inappropriate conditions for imprisoned women protesters in Iran's overcrowded jails. At least 60 of imprisoned women are in the public wards and have only been given a blanket and are forced to sleep in corridors.

7. Today, Amnesty International expressed concern about the political leaders who have been arrested and claimed that they faced torture in detention. This is while a member of the National Security Council announced today that they were not going to release any of the political prisoners any time soon.

8. Members of the National Security Council met with Khatami today. A special commission has been ordered to be formed by the Judiciary to take up the cases of the people arrested in the recent unrests. Ahmadinejad has reportedly asked the Judiciary to investigate the murder of Neda Agha-Sultan. In a letter, Ahmadinejad asked the head of the Judiciary for answers in the death and called the killing 'suspicious'.

9. State TV says Iran's top legislative body has confirmed Ahmadinejad victory in the disputed June 12th Presidential election after a partial recount. The Guardian Council's leader, Jannati said that the GC deemed the complaints and irregularities irrelevant and thereby can confirm the results. Clashes were reported in Tehran after people took to the streets protesting the Guardian Council's ruling. (This cannot be fully confirmed). People also started shouting 'Death to Dictator' on their roofs, after GC confirmed the victory of Ahmadinejad.

10. Since official results of Ahmadinejad's win, only 11 countries congratulated Ahmadinejad on his 'victory'. These countries are Tajikistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, the People's Republic of China, Oman, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela.

11. The office of the Islamic Association of Sistan and Baluchestan University was set on fire by anonymous people today. The office is a hotbed of reform student activity.

12. Mohseni, Iranian Minister of Information, said today that he had met with Mousavi and had told him that the path he had taken had no end. He added that he told Mousavi that his insistence on annulling the election would achieve nothing but create more problems for him and his followers.

13. Five out of nine British Embassy staffers arrested earlier in the wee were released today. The rest are currently being held at an undisclosed location and include senior staff members. The government issued a statement saying that the detained staffers had connections with the unrest in Iran. The EU threatened a mass pullout of its ambassadors from Iran if the staffers were not released.

14. The spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Iran has stated that they don't want to close any embassies. He added that the arrest of the local staff of some embassies was not breaking international conventions. He added the remaining four staffers will be dealt with according to the law.

15. Keyhan, a newspaper close to Khamenei, slammed Mousavi today and called him a criminal. Also in a TV confession, another of Mousavi's staffers was forced to say that the Iranian election protests were preplanned. Press TV announced today that reports of Iranian soccer players being punished for wearing green bands during their game with South Korea are false, after FIFA inquired about their reported lifetime ban which was placed by the Iranian Football Federation.

*Today, the source that had claimed of reports of persiankiwi's arrest has tweeted that she talked to persiankiwi and pk is still free. Pk told the source that they simply don't have access to resources for tweeting at this point. **Also a HEARTY thanks to Amandapanda for spending her precious time and energy on debriefing me to help compartmentalize the work.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian and Hebrew, please let us know. It comes out every day so it'll be an every day thing - who knows for how long - so it's for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great!

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what's going in Iran. The mainstream media has completely and utterly failed to get the message across so please, be the voice for Iranians.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

http://torir.org

http://torir.brokep.com

http://img1.anonbw.com

Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi:

http://torir.org/index.html.fa

Tor: ?????? Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: Torrents list ? Rivolta in Iran

Helpers with expertise in the field of medicine, translation and such:

"Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir - WebIRC - AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments."

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LIT

The Green Brief #14

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, June 30 in Iran.

In Spanish:[/url] [url]http://tinyurl.com/lqpplo[/url]

In French: [url]http://tinyurl.com/moo7v2[/url]

In German: [url=http://tinyurl.com/mjdls7]Green Brief #14 (June 30) - Why We Protest - IRAN[/url]

In Portuguese: [url]http://tinyurl.com/knjfgh[/url]

In Italian: [url=http://giagro.wordpress.com/30062009-report-di-fine-giornata/]30/06/2009: Report di fine giornata Rivolta in Iran[/url]

1. Today, people gathered at Vali Asr Square -the entire place was packed with Security Forces. Guards at Vanak Square were reportedly breaking car windows (those that honked their horns) which is a sign of the current protests. After security forces tried to arrest a young girl, some clashes broke out. (There was no further news about this event so confirmation is partial only.)

2.About 10 people were arrested at Tajrish Square after a group of people gathered there and chanted against the regime. Clashes were also reported at Satarkhan Street and Jomhori Street. The Independent Youth was also planning to organize a protest today in Tehran, however, reports were scarce and no confirmations could be obtained of the protests.

3.Today, more than 2,000 people gathered in front of the Islamic Republic Court in Urumieh asking about their detained relatives. So far, thousands have been rounded-up during protests, as well as during day and night-time raids all over the country. The number cannot be verified but it is said to be in the thousands. Mousavi and Karoubi have denied having sanctioned yesterday's protests.

4.Mousavi has been reported by Iran Press TV to only be accepting of a new election. Mousavi's campaign today called the widespread arrests "immoral and illegal." Furthermore, they said that the torture of detained civilians could produce anti-revolutionary sentiments amongst the people, thus damaging the Islamic Revolution severely. There were reports of a National Strike being organized and propagated on Mousavi's website, but it cannot be confirmed through independent sources.

5.The Iranian government has meanwhile banned Mousavi's ally, Abolfazl Fateh, from leaving the country. Abolfazl Fateh today said that elections were "a deeply political concept and militarizing them was uncommon, costly and worrisome." He said that their campaign would only release word on GhalamNet. Meanwhile, Mousavi's website - GhalamNet - today denied sending new letters to the Guardian Council and rejected GC spokesperson's claims yesterday about receiving fresh Mousavi demands. On the cyber side, Ayatollah Montazeri's website has been taken down by the Ministry of Interior after he denounced the elections and called the government clamp-down on peaceful protesters against Islam.

6.Today, Khatami called for a change in the security presence on the streets of Iran, as well as for the formation of an independent commission to investigate complaints against the election. He added that, "force should not be used to make people do what one wants them to." He added that the general trust of the Iranian people have been damaged by such tactics.

7.Karoubi announced in a letter to that Iranian people that he didn't recognize the government's legitimacy. Karoubi said that he entered the election for "change" and that hidden forces had blatantly changed the outcome. Karoubi objected to widespread arrests and asked officials for the immediate release of all detainees, as well as reparation of their reputation. He expressed readiness to work with individuals and groups because he perceived the republic, Iran and Islam to be in danger.

8.Ayatollah Taheri stated that Mousavi's rights had been violated. Taheri - the former Friday Imam of Isfahan - called Ahmadinejad's appointment illegal. He added that the old enemies of Imam [Khomeini] were sending the Islamic Republic to the museum with their actions [meaning it will be removed and become part of history if these actions don't stop]. In response, a member of parliament today openly criticized Taheri and said that he was longer a senior cleric. After him, Pezeshkian - a reformist MP - told the parliament that God's enemy was he who stood against the people.

9.Ahmadinejad declared that an attempt at a 'soft overthrow' of the regime had failed. This comes after a partial recount of 10% of the vote by the Guardian Council which resulted in slightly more votes of Ahmadinejad!!! Mohammad Yazdi, a cleric and member of the Guardian Council, announced today that he could personally testify as to the impartiality of the election. He added that Mousavi will be barred from taking part in any future elections.

10.Tehran's notorious Evin prison is reportedly packed to capacity now and security forces are housing the detained in football stadiums. So many people are put in Tehran's prisons that prisoners only have standing space. Reports say guards are preventing prisoners from sleeping by keeping them standing all night. Amnesty International today warned that the opposition leaders arrested in Iran were at risk of being tortured.

11.Maziar Bahari was forced to confess at a press conference that the protests were pre-planned and organized from abroad. Bahari is an adroit Iranian-Canadian Journalist and filmmaker, who has written for Newsweek and the New Statesman. Meanwhile,the torture of university students continues in the Ministry of Interior. Some Iranians traveling to Iran for the holidays have been taken in for questioning directly at the airport as they tried to leave the country. They were questioned because of updated information on their Facebook accounts.

12.There is still no news about Mojtaba Tehrani, an Etemad Melli correspondent. Three days have passed after his arrest. Another correspondent of Etemade Melli, Mahsa Amrabadi, who has been in detention for two weeks, has only been allowed to briefly call her family. Her whereabouts are unknown.

13.On the good side of things, Isfahan's judicial sources announced the freedom from detention of 280 people who'd been arrested during the protests. Hundreds more still remain in detention. But today, it was announced that the legal prosecution of detained prisoners has started. The man in charge, Saeed Mortazavi, has led many to believe that dozens will probably be sentenced to death as he is notorious in seeking and getting death sentences for dissidents in Iran.

14.Police today entered Tehran University's dorms at the request of the president of the university, reportedly. However, the president, Mr. Kohkan, later denied he had asked them to do so. Amir Hossein Shemshadi, in charge of Mousavi's youth campaign, contacted his parents from inside Evin today and told them he would not be freed anytime soon

15.The Daily Khabar was stopped from printing its daily paper for the fourth time this week. Tehran public prosecutor and Cultural Ministry officials also stopped the publication of Etemade Melli newspaper today following its plans to publish a letter by Karoubi. Pressured by security forces, the session of the Journalists Union of Iran was also canceled. The sessions were to be focused on detained journalists.

16.The chants of Allah o Akbar continued tonight even though Basijis have threatened people with arrests and destruction of property if they continue to do so. One chanter has already been killed in the past days.

** Thank you all for translating! We still need more people with translations if they're willing to do so. Email me if you are willing to help and if you are not asked to help, it still doesn't mean you're not AWESOME! You can still publish the translations on your blogs. @josh_612 and @gfanhoto please send me the link to your German and Portuguese translations at [email]dbosca@gmail.com[/email] and anyone else who's done another language! Everyone else, who wants to be part of this, please let me know. A hearty thanks to everyone and a special thanks to Sahar joon for proof-reading!

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian and Hebrew, please let us know. It comes out every day so it'll be an every day thing - who knows for how long - so it's for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great!

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what's going in Iran.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

[url=http://torir.org]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

[url=http://torir.brokep.com]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

[url=http://img1.anonbw.com]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

[url=http://tinyurl.com/lexowb]Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain[/url]

Farsi:

[url=http://torir.org/index.html.fa]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

[url=http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9]Tor: ?????? Tor[/url]

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: [url=http://giagro.wordpress.com/torrents]Torrents list Rivolta in Iran[/url]

The Green Brief #15

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, July 1 in Iran.

In Dutch: [url]http://tinyurl.com/nhl854[/url]

In French: [url]http://tinyurl.com/l5cmtl[/url]

In German: [url]http://tinyurl.com/n8hc3f[/url]

In Greek: [url]http://tinyurl.com/lx6xh2[/url]

In Hebrew (Summary): [url]http://tinyurl.com/kp22p4[/url]

In Italian: [url]http://tinyurl.com/loqauv[/url]

In Portuguese: [url]http://tiny.cc/WBLCD[/url]

In Russian: [url]http://tinyurl.com/lgs9r9[/url]

In Spanish: [url]http://tinyurl.com/npvgc3[/url]

In Swedish: [url]http://greenbrief.blogspot.com/[/url]

Protests

1.There have been unconfirmed reports of a protest in Tehran today. There were reports of clashes in Rasht that could be partially confirmed. Clashes broke out when police tried to disperse people who were mourning dead protesters. A doctor and two nurses were badly beaten in Loghman Hospital in Tehran after they tried to stop security forces from arresting an injured protester from the facility. A tweet source talked to a Basiji in Tehran today. According to the source, the Basiji claimed that he was working for Islam, but hoped that he wouldn't be forced to quell protests again.

2.Protests are being planned for tomorrow - although none could be fully confirmed. A number of Iranian women who've formed a quasi-group called Mourning Mothers have announced that they will gather at Laleh Park on Saturday to mourn the dead. Reports from Tehran suggest that shops are being closed earlier than usual. Several sources claimed that the city is in a virtual state of an unofficial curfew.

Political Statements

3.Mousavi today released his 9th statement since the elections. He said that, "No opportunity to illuminate the extent of this lie and its historic repercussions should be lost and that the liars and cheats are only sheltering behind the law to impose their intentions." He added that it was his and "all Iranians' revolutionary responsibility to not let the blood of thousands of martyrs to have been in vain." He continued to say, "It's our historic mission to continue our protest and not abandon the cause of regaining people's rights." He questioned the government's legitimacy and said that he no longer believed the government to be lawful - a sentiment already recognized by the majority of Iranians. He called upon the Government's Elite to help expose the election fraud by releasing evidence and documents currently in their possession.

4.Khatami criticized the government in a new, harsher tone that suggested outright contempt today. He called the elections a "coup d'�tat against democracy." He asked, "How can the Iranian people calm down when their votes were stolen? When their blood is and has been shed? When they are being hauled away and arrested en masse? When the government and media blatantly ignore them?" He asked, "How is a National reconciliation even remotely possible in a country that is turning into a police state?" He went on to say that what's happening now in Iran "is a direct violation of the very rights people are promised in the constitution." He accused the media of attempting to provoke further unrest and violence and denounced the governments' attempts at censorship. He predicted that Regime's establishment would fail if this were to continue.

5.Khatami later met with several families of loved ones arrested during in the violence the past two weeks. He yet again asked for the release of those detained for protesting, including all political and media personalities. He slammed the Ministry of Interior for professing "obliviousness" over the fate of many of the detained.

6.A video of Ayatollah Hadi Ghaffari, another prominent Shi'ite cleric has surfaced in which he directly accuses Khamenei of sinning against the people by ordering arrests and killings. This is the second high-ranking cleric in two days who has been reported to criticize the government so harshly. Ayatollah Taheri, the former Imam of Isfahan's Friday prayers's mosque, criticized the government's actions yesterday.

Government

7. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly said today that there was as much truth to electoral fraud in Iran as there was for the Holocaust. (Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust denier.) Ahmadinejad reportedly cancelled his trip to Libya to attend an African summit today as well. The media reported that Ahmadinejad was too busy at work and there were 'other priorities' for him to get to. This comes at a time when some reformists abroad are secretly planning on creating a shadow government for Iran - according to unconfirmed reports.

8.The Imam's Way Faction (a group of MP's) of parliament, which is slightly pro-reform, asked the families of detainees to send them documented information about their arrested family members. More high-profile Iranians were arrested today. Among the arrested were: Saeedeh Kordinejad and Zoia Hasani -members of Mosharekat Party, Vahid Amoozadeh-Khalili - the son of another pro-reform personality and Omid Mosleh - a prominent film critic. Mosleh was later released. Mohammad Mostafayee, a prominent lawyer who had been arrested two days ago, was also released on bail today.

Arrests, Releases and Investigations

9.Vahid Amoozadeh-Khalili's detention could only be confirmed today, although he had been missing for two days. A high-ranking official in the Police Department confirmed that 1,032 people had been arrested since the start of the protests. According to independent sources, the numbers are likely much higher. There was partial confirmation of the release of 4 other British Embassy's local staffers from Iranian detention. One still remains under arrest. The government had previously claimed that some of the 9 staffers arrested were guilty of taking part in orchestrating the current unrest in Iran. This comes when the EU has threatened to pull out all its diplomatic missions from Iran if the staffers were not released.

10.The Iranian government claimed that the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan was in no way, shape, or form related to the recent 'riots'. Iran's Chief of Police announced today that one of the key eye-witnesses of Neda's death, Arash Hejazi, is actually wanted by Interpol for unspecified crimes. The government had earlier claimed that the bullet that killed Neda was not shot by any weapon currently in use by Iranian Security Forces.

11.Mohmmad Ghouchani, the detained editor-in-chief of Etemade Melli, has denied reports published in IRG's main media outlet Javan Daily that he confessed committing crimes and breaking the law in organizing protests. He also rejected Javan's claim that he had been secretly trained in an Arab country to carry out subversion tactics. He claimed to not even own a passport.

Media in Iran and Miscellaneous

12.Etemade Melli will be published again starting tomorrow after being banned for a day by the government for reportedly attempting to publish Karoubi's statements yesterday. Reports suggest that the government is now heavily censoring Etemade Melli as well as other newspapers in order to stop any such statements from getting out to the public. A reporter of government-owned Press TV has also quit his job over perceived bias in the station's reporting of the events after the election.

13.Today, reporters accompanying the governor of Fars province and the Friday prayers' Imam of Shiraz stumbled upon four unopened ballot boxes from the elections in Shiraz's main library. Per electoral rules in Iran, all ballot boxes were supposed to be shipped to Tehran. According to reports, the governor promptly declared the contents of the boxes 'national documents' and asked the reporters not to report the incident.

(Here are some pictures of the boxes as they can be clearly seen sealed. The last picture shows the Imam voting on Election Day, wearing a different robe. We cannot fully authenticate the pictures as no dates can be seen in the pictures.):

[url=http://bit.ly/olxzn]?????? ????? ??? ????? ???? www.ebrat.ir[/url]

14. Chants of Allah o Akbar continued to rattle Tehran and other cities of Iran at dusk. A report published by the Guardian reports through a protester's friend that the protester was arrested, beaten and raped. Here's the full story on The Guardian's website: [url=http://bit.ly/15pnac]Iran protester was arrested, beaten and raped, friend says | World news | guardian.co.uk[/url]

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch or Greek, please let us know. It comes out every day so it'll be an every day thing so it's for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great! Email me on [email]dbosca@gmail.com[/email] if you're interested.

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what's going in Iran.

English:

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[url=http://tinyurl.com/lexowb]Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain[/url]

Farsi:

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[url=http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9]Tor: ?????? Tor[/url]

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: [url=http://giagro.wordpress.com/torrents]Torrents list Rivolta in Iran[/url]

The Green Brief #16

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Thursday, July 02 in Iran.

In Dutch: [url]http://tinyurl.com/lrk37g[/url]

In German: [url]http://kyrah.net/gr88/gb16.html[/url]

In Greek: [url]http://tinyurl.com/nwke32[/url]

In Hebrew: [url]http://tinyurl.com/mqooe8[/url]

In Italian: [url=http://gonzotimes.net/?p=527]Gonzo Times ? Blog Archive ? 02/07/2009: Report di fine giornata[/url]

In Portuguese: [url]http://tiny.cc/1Zd39[/url]

In Russian: [url]http://tinyurl.com/mxooox[/url]

In Spanish: [url]http://tinyurl.com/n549ps[/url]

In Swedish: [url]http://greenbrief.blogspot.com/[/url]

Protests

1. Thousands of people gathered at Iran's Beheshte Zahra Cemetery, along with other smaller cemeteries, to mourn the people who have died in the protests. The numbers were hard to confirm, but various sources claimed somewhere between 10,000 - 15,000. Large numbers of Basijis were reported to have been stationed in and around Beheshte Zahra Cemetery, but no clashes were reported. Shopkeepers in Tabriz have reportedly stopped their strikes because of government intimidation and threats made by the Basijis.

2. Mousavi's Facebook page asked for protesters to form a human chain this Sunday - we could not confirm this through other sources. Meanwhile, about 120 women from the group "Mourning Mothers" gathered at Laleh Park again today and lit candles in memory of the fallen protesters. They have planned mass gatherings in Laleh, Andisheh and Mellat parks for July 4. Relatives of detainees yet again gathered in front of Evin Prison today and asked for the release of their loved ones.

Government

3. Hard-line Parliament members today again called on the Judiciary to prosecute Mousavi for allegedly breaking the law by calling for protests and for instigating violence. The call had been made in the past as well and several state-run newspapers have also made similar demands in the past few days. Unconfirmed reports from Qom and Khorasan indicate that more and more clerics are considering denouncing the government's actions; declaring the protests as legitimate.

4. Samareh Hashemi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign manager, told PressTV today that the SMS outage and cell phone service restrictions were put in place to "ensure security" during and after the election. He added that Mousavi wasn't really an opposition leader because "his views closely match those of the governments." Furthermore, he claimed that the candidates KNOW that the election was as impartial as any before, and that no voting fraud had taken place.

5. More international pressure is being mounted on Iran's Government. There will be an EU meeting next week where it is reported that member nations will consider pulling their ambassadors from Iran. Russia's foreign ministry announced today that Russia opposed international sanctions against Iran and that the election and its aftermath were Iran's internal issues that needed to be dealt with by Iranians, MosNews reported. A former Justice Minister of Canada, Irwin Cotler, has asked the international community to ban Ahmadinejad from entering their countries, Deutsche-Welle reported.

6. Al-Arabiya's website has stated that an Egyptian lawyer belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, Mamdouh Ismail has filed a complaint in Egypt's Prosecutor General's Office. He has asked them to ban Ahmadinejad from entering Egypt next month to attend a diplomatic meeting. He has accused Ahmadinejad of winning the election erroneously and for insulting two of Prophet Mohammed's companions.

Arrests, Casualties, Releases

7. Seven people were arrested in Qazvin today in connection with the protests. The head of Participation Front in Hormozgan Province, Mr. Ramezanpour, was also arrested. The government-owned media now claims that 20 people have died in the post-election protests. Real numbers are hard to obtain, but the number is reportedly much higher than what the Iranian media has reported. On a positive note, Iranian journalists Maryam Ameri and Omid Mohaddes were released from prison today in Tehran.

8. Saeed Hajjarian - a prominent politician and backer of Mousavi - is being said to be in deteriorating health. Hajjarian has diabetes - a very serious condition that requires daily care. Amnesty International today once again called upon the government to release Hajjarian. On Wednesday, Newsweek asked Iran for the immediate release of their reporter, Maziar Bahari, who was arrested on June 21, 2009. Newsweek rejected accusations by the Iranian media that Bahari had a hand in the post-election violence. Bahari has since been denied access to a lawyer.

9. Media reports of six protesters, reportedly hung in Evin Prison, were denied by the government. Iranian Student's News Agency reported via their website that the aforementioned individuals were accused of killing their spouses and other people. They made neither implications nor correlations with the "prisoners" and the post-election arrests.

10. Interpol today denied that the witness to Neda Agha-Soltan's death is wanted by the Interpol. They also denied receiving any requests from the Iranian government for his arrest. Iranian media and government have claimed that the witness, Arash Hejazi, was wanted by the Interpol. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Iranian government's intelligence agencies as well as the Ministry of Islamic Guidance are compiling a list of Iranian journalists which will be barred from traveling abroad.

11. Reports of torture at Evin and other Iranian prisons are continuing to mount. Some sources claim that detainees are being beaten every night and others are being water-boarded with hot water in order to coerce confessions from them.

Statements

12. Yet another Ayatollah has joined the cause of the protesters. Ayatollah Bayat-Zanjani today said that the demand for justice and protesting for one's rights was legal. He also denounced the suppression of protesters and called the act illegitimate. He asked Mousavi to stand for justice and help people obtain their rights. Zanjani joins Ayatollahs Taheri, Ghaffari and Montazeri in supporting the cause of the protesters. Karoubi again announced today that he would not recognize the current government and would continue to stand by the people in their quest for their rights - even if it took the rest of his life.

13. It has been reported that Rafsanjani, who is one of the Imams that lead Friday Prayers in Tehran's largest mosque, has declined to lead prayers there again. Last week, his spot was first filled by Khamenei, but Khamenei pulled out at the last minute leaving Ahmad Khatami to lead the prayers. Rafsanjani is not planning to attend this Friday's Prayers either.

Media

14. Parlemaan News website has been blocked by the government. The website was one of the only remaining sources of impartial news for the Iranian people. The government closed it after it posted several of Mousavi's statements and Khatami's criticism of the government. Parlemaan News - parlemaan means parliament in Persian - is the official news website of the Imam's Way faction of MP's in the Iranian Parliament. They had been warned last week by security forces and the Judiciary to restrict criticism of the government.

15. The BBC reported today that the Kingdom of Jordan had banned Iran's state-run Al-Alam and Press TV stations from broadcasting in Jordan and revoked their operating permits. Al-Alam broadcasts news in Arabic and Press TV is the main English language news channel of Iran. The latter today showed footage of what they called 'thugs attacking Basiji Headquarters in Tehran' - but the footage only showed several protesters chanting in front of the headquarters at an unspecified date. The recording didn't show any of the 'thugs' actually using any of Molotov cocktails they were holding.

Communications

16. Even though SMS was back in Tehran yesterday, reports indicate that it has been cut-off once again. Sources indicated that they had asked twitter users from Tehran to NOT text each other using the service because it could be a ploy by the government to find dissidents. There are reports that Iran's main telecom companies were trained in China in "how to weed out dissidents using their data posted on the net," as well as monitoring and other techniques.

17. Although yesterday's news of four un-opened ballot boxes found in Shiraz couldn't be verified, reliable sources indicate that the Governor of Fars Province, where Shiraz is located, announced today that the boxes were from past elections. He added that they will be stored as National Documents. Mohammad Reza Nasab-Abdollahi, the journalist that broke the news, has been reportedly intimidated by the government and is being pressured to recant his report and deny the previous claim.

18. Chants of Allah o Akbar again echoed across Iran. Reports have suggested that dozens of people - in some cases the residents of entire apartment buildings - have been arrested by Basijis for chanting on their rooftops at night. Residents in Northern Tehran have also been warned that they should either stop chanting or risk losing their satellite antennas. Satellite antennas are illegal in the country, but widely owned by the public.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what's going in Iran.

C: If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context, please request for sub-editorship at [url]http://anonnet.org/webirc/iran.aic[/url] - Check out the website for the project at: [url]http://iranmap.whyweprotest.net[/url] or email me at [email]dbosca@gmail.com[/email].

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

[url=http://torir.org]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

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[url=http://img1.anonbw.com]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

[url=http://tinyurl.com/lexowb]Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain[/url]

Farsi:

[url=http://torir.org/index.html.fa]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

[url=http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9]Tor: ?????? Tor[/url]

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: [url]http://gonzotimes.net/?page_id=500[/url]

The Green Brief #17

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Friday, July 03 in Iran.

In Dutch: [url=http://tinyurl.com/lrk37g]Green Brief #16 (2 juli) (Nederlands) - Why We Protest - IRAN[/url]

In French: [url=http://tr.im/qPrn]Dossier Vert #17 -Vendredi 3 Juillet, 2009 ? Le dossier vert - The green brief in French[/url]

In Greek: [url=http://tinyurl.com/l2pk4m]Green Brief #17 (july 3) [In Greek] - Why We Protest - IRAN[/url]

In Hebrew: [url]http://sites.google.com/site/cometruecontent/viral/untitledpost-1[/url]

In Indonesian: [url=http://tinyurl.com/n76ajt]The Green Brief #17 (Indonesian) - Why We Protest - IRAN[/url]

In German: [url=http://iran-info-dienst.blogspot.com/]Nachrichten zur Situation im Iran[/url]

In Norwegian: [url]http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-current-events/6518-green-brief-17-norwegian.html[/url]

In Portuguese: [url=http://tiny.cc/7w0Pu]O Taborita: Resenha Verde #17 (3 de julho)[/url]

In Russian: [url=http://tinyurl.com/mw7clx]Green Brief # 17 (July 03) [in Russian] - Why We Protest - IRAN[/url]

In Spanish: [url=http://tinyurl.com/m7by4h]Green Brief #17 en Espa�ol ? Pocket Diplomat[/url]

In Swedish: [url=http://greenbrief.blogspot.com]Green Brief p�Svenska[/url]

In Turkish: [url]http://ow.ly/gvyY[/url][/B]

Protesters

1. Family of detained protesters continued to swarm in front of Evin Prison for the third day in a row. In yesterday's mourning at Beheshte Zahra Cemetery, mourners were reportedly attacked by Basijis. It was reported that a large portion of Tehran's shops were closed yesterday - to commemorate the 20th day of the "Sea of Green" movement.

2. There were demonstrations at Mashhad today, although our sources could not confirm information beyond that. Sources also indicated that so far, at least 5 people have been killed and more than 200 have been detained during protests from Mashhad. High-profile detainees include Hashem Khastar, Reza Arab and Rohullah Shahsavar.

3. The main University of Sistan o Baluchistan has been shut-down by the government, according to unconfirmed reports. Furthermore, students from the university were dragged out of their dorms and sent home. Daryoosh Shikoof, a prominent Iranian filmmaker who lives in Germany, has started a hunger strike in front of the Russian Embassy in Berlin to protest Russia's continued support for Ahmadinejad's regime.

Arrested and Killed

4. Ayatollah Jannati - Head of The Guardian Council - announced that the remaining British Embassy staff has been found to have had a hand in the unrest. Speaking at Friday Prayer's in Tehran, he added they will be "prosecuted for the crimes they have committed - and already confessed to." He went on to say that, "confessions from other instigators of violence will also be shown on national TV." Sources indicate that the government is planning on hanging the remaining staffers after mock trials. So far, two British Embassy staffers remain in Iranian custody.

5. Sara Sabaghian, a lawyer and prominent women's rights activist, was freed today from Evin Prison. Another detainee at Evin, Mojtaba Tehrani, who maintained the website for Etemade Melli newspaper, has called his family after a week in detention and asked them for their prayers. Reports have also surfaced that an Iran Telecom employee who has sent text messages to the BBC has been fired from his job.

Statements

6. Grand Ayatollah Yosuf Sanei today stated that, "confessions of detained protesters didn't hold any merit, neither legally or rationally." He added that, "detentions, killings, beatings, lies and tricks should not stop people from trying to retain their right to determine their future." He called into question the legitimacy of the election again by stating that none of the candidates - except for the winner - had given up their claims against its impartiality. He also cautioned security forces against the use of force against civilians and called it an "unforgivable sin" and stated that no order by any authority could justify acts of violence against the populace. His statements come at a time when more Ayatollahs are siding with protesters and denouncing the government's actions in the aftermath of the elections.

7. No reliable statements from Mousavi have surfaced today. His wife, Zahra Rahnavard, however, did state today that Mousavi will continue to fight for women's rights. Reports have indicated that at least she is under house arrest and unconfirmed reports indicate that both of them are currently being overseen by security forces and their movement is severely restricted.

8. The Association of Iranian University Graduates has released a statement claiming that, "the government was out to suppress opposition by any means possible escalating from the rigged elections." Dozens of Iranian university professors have a signed a letter expressing deep anger for the attacks made by security forces on Iranian universities and students.

Government / International

9. Reports indicate that Ahmadinejad's trip to Mashhad has been canceled due to the government's fear of possible violent reaction from the residents there. Reports have also surfaced that clerics in Mashhad are conducting closed-door meetings to evaluate the situation and many have given their blessings to protesters. Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city is considered a holy city because of the numerous shrines for martyrs, as well as for Prophet Mohammed's family members. It boasts a large and active population of clerics.

10. All 27 EU member nations have summoned the Iranian ambassadors in their countries to question them about the current situation in Iran. They asked about the fate of the remaining British Embassy staff detained in Tehran, and demanded their immediate released. Pressure is being mounted on Iran as EU nations are searching for 'other ways' to resolve the situation. It is being reported that the EU is considering whether it should stop issuing visas to Iranian government officials.

11. The Dutch government today suggested that it might push for EU legislation banning the sale of all technology that could be used to filter or censor information to Iran. The Dutch Parliament told the government it should take the initiative to convince the European Union to ban such sales. It was reported that China lent expertise to the Iranian government to censor websites and track down net-dissidents. Today, it was also reported that the Sultan of Oman - one of very few countries who congratulated Ahmadinejad on his re-election - has canceled his trip to Iran.

12. Etemaade Melli's Newspaper was once again censored by the government. According to reports, it was forced to publish a repeat of yesterday's articles. The government has claimed that the videos of Neda's death are all fake. Mr. Zarghami, head of the government's official media organization, IRIB, has accused Twitter, Facebook and YouTube of grossly misrepresenting what is going on in Iran and said that they were being directed by foreign forces.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what's going in Iran.

C: If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context, please request for sub-editorship at [url=http://anonnet.org/webirc/iran.aic]#iran.aic - WebIRC - AnonNet[/url] - Check out the website for the project at: [url=http://iranmap.whyweprotest.net]Iran Map | Iran Map[/url] or email me at [email]dbosca@gmail.com[/email].

English:

[url=http://torir.org]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

[url=http://torir.brokep.com]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

[url=http://img1.anonbw.com]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

[url=http://tinyurl.com/lexowb]Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain[/url]

Farsi:

[url=http://torir.org/index.html.fa]Tor Browser Bundle[/url]

[url=http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9]Tor: ?????? Tor[/url]

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: [url=http://gonzotimes.net/?page_id=500]Gonzo Times ? Torrents List (78 videos)[/url]

The Green Brief #18-19

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Saturday and Sunday, July 4-5 in Iran.

Protests

1.The head of the IRGC - one of the various security forces used to quell protesters - claimed today that the BBC and the British Embassy were the main instigators directing 'rioters'. Brigadier General Abdullah Iraqi (Iraqi is just a last name) claimed that the government did not deal with the protesters harshly in the beginning - although it could have. Among his many outrageous claims was that 'rioters' hauled other injured 'rioters' from ambulances and killed them. He also claimed that 'rioters' injured 600 IRGC officers and that 8 officers had been killed in the line of duty.

2.Monday 6 July at 5 PM Iran time, the families of some Iranians who have been detained at Evin Prison plan on gathering in front of the prison with flowers and gifts in recognition of Father's Day. Around 5000 workers at the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Plantation the city of Shosh in Khuzestan province have gone on strike - although said to be in solidarity with the Sea of Green, this could not be independently confirmed. Although said to be still in the planning phase, reports indicate the government has already started planting cameras in areas of Tehran where protesters have gathered in huge numbers in the past. It is said to be a way for pinpointing individual protesters for arrests and also better coordination of security forces in case of protests. It is interesting to note that Ahmadinejad has opposed the idea.

3.Heavy sand storms have hit Tehran and according to sources within the city, the entire city is affected by low visibility. Confirmed reports indicate that protesters are quietly going through the city and writing anti-government slogans on city walls, using the storm to their advantage.

4.Recently, a lot of news has been circulating about IRG and military clashes over how to deal with protests. Although we've been hearing a lot about it, the more reliable twitter sources have not been able to confirm anything in this regard.

Opposition

5.Mehdi Karoubi today stated that they will continue to fight even though it looks as if resistance will become more difficult. He mocked Ahmadinejad for ordering a probe into Neda Agha-Soltan's death while many more people have been killed in the unrests. He claimed that the government had completely ruined the reputation of the Basij by ordering it to act violently during the protests. He further asked the government to stop the spree-killings during protests.

7.Reliable sources have indicated that Mir Hossein Mousavi will be creating a new party in order to further their goals of nullifying the election. Among the many instances of fraud in the election that have been claimed by Mousavi is the alleged printing of 20 million extra votes by the government in order to fill boxes with votes for Ahmadinejad.

8.It is continually being hinted that Rafsanjani is working frantically behind doors to find a solution to the current stalemate. Reports indicate that he has stepped up pressure on the Guardian Council and is working to weaken their sway over the security forces as well as the Iranian regime. Nothing is fully confirmed at this point, although the sources who have reported this are quit reliable. In a meeting with families of detainees, he said that what has happened since the election has been a bitter experience and that Iranians should join hands and help make the regime stable in the long-term.

9.Several high-ranking officials within the government or related to government officials have been disowned by their parents. In the latest case, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's son-in-law was disowned by his father. Mahdi Khorsheedi's father said on Saturday that he no longer had a son named Mahdi because Mahdi Khorsheedi had sided with Ahmadinejad in the post-election unrest.

Arrests, Releases, Fatalities

10.Isa Saharkhiz, a prominent Iranian journalist and founder of IAPPF (Iranian Association for Protection of Press Freedom) was arrested on Friday. Another reformist and member of Musharekat Party (IIPF), Jalal Mohammadlou was arrested while on his way to the hospital. Two prominent members of Musharekat Party, Saeed Hajjarian and Mohsen Amin-Zadeh, both of whom had already been arrested and released earlier in the uprising, have now been transferred to an IRG hospital in Tehran. According to sources, Hajjarian is in failing health.

11.Masood Bastani, an Iranian journalist and the husband of detained Iranian journalist Mehsa Amrabadi, was detained while he was at court seeking information about his wife. Mahsa was detained 20 days ago and is with child. Their house had previously been raided, but Masood hadn't been home while the security forces caused serious damage to their property.

12.It has now been confirmed that the lone UK Embassy staffer in custody is being charged with endangering Iranian national security and is the Embassy's senior political analyst. Most detainees that were arrested in the post-election unrest have been charged with attempting to endanger national security. So far, 20 journalists are also in Iranian prisons. A Greek-born American journalist working for the Washington Times has now been released by the Iranian government. Bita Samimi Rad, a leftist student activist, has now also been released from Evin Prison.

13.Members of Mourning Mothers, a group that was formed by mothers of detained protesters to seek their release, who had been arrested in Laleh Park last week have now been freed. The group has planned more gatherings in Tehran in the next week to try and seek the release of their loved ones.

14.Hamid Maddah, a core member of Mousavi's campaign in Mashhad, died in custody on Saturday. He had been arrested in Gowharshad Mosque along with many other Mousavi supporters. According to sources, he had been tortured badly and wasn't able to recover. The official death certificate registers the cause of death as internal bleeding in the skull.

15.There are reports surfacing of the wide-spread use of torture and intimidation in Evin prison. Protesters are regularly beaten, sources claim, and there have been instances of male protesters being raped. Unconfirmed reports also indicate of several protesters being hanged at Evin and in Mashhad, but they cannot be confirmed at this point.

Government / International / Clergy

16.The Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom released a statement on Saturday calling the election invalid and the government formed by it illegitimate. The association boasts within its ranks respected clerics and Shi'ite teachers that reside in the holy city of Qom, a center for Islamic learning for Shi'ites. It had been reported before, on the Green Briefs and other outlets, that there were intense negotiations going on in Qom. This seems to be only the tip of the iceberg and sources indicate more is soon to follow in the form of support for reformists and protesters.

17.Ahmadinejad on Saturday told a meeting of medical school deans that he wanted to hold negotiations with President Barack Obama before the media. He stated that he would go to the United Nations and ask President Obama for the opportunity. The White House has not released any comments about the offer. Ahmadinejad also indicated the Iran will pursue more active diplomacy in his second term.

18.Ayatollah Hashemi Shahrodi, the head of Iran's judiciary, asked courts throughout the country to prosecute people who are aiding protesters through websites. He has also ordered an overall clampdown on anyone 'using any means' to help protesters. Furthermore, Sharhodi has ordered the prosecution of people who're 'helping to spread lies about Iran through satellite channels'.

19.In Kordestan province, the government has started to compile a list of supporters of opposition candidates. The list is supposedly being prepared to make the work of security forces easier when arresting unwanted elements. As sit-ins at mosques were used by protesters to show their discontent, the doors of several mosques in Tehran have now been closed. There are notes hanging on the doors telling people that the mosques are closed to Etekaaf, a form of religious sit-in at mosques where people pray to Allah and ask for forgiveness.

20.Mohammad Mollabashi, a government official in the Ministry of Education, has stated that students who have been active in 'riots' will not be permitted to pursue their education in Iran.

Media / Communications

21.Fars News alleged on Sunday that Mousavi's campaign headquarters was nothing but a meeting point for sexual-deviant Iranian youth. He claimed that many of these people wanted to help Mousavi to gain sexual freedom. The editor-in-chief of Keyhan newspaper has said that any party formed by Mousavi is illegal as Mousavi's responsible for spilling Iranians' blood.

22.Several prominent television personalities have now been banned from IRIB. The editor of Etemaade Melli newspaper was again summoned on Sunday by the public prosecutor's office in Tehran. He was there to answer accusations of involvement in 'riots' by the newspaper's staff and support for them by the newspaper.

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The Green Brief #20

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Monday, July 6 in Iran.

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Protests

1.As reported yesterday, people did indeed gather in front of Evin Prison with flowers and gifts for prisoners. These individuals were there to celebrate Iranian's Father's Day. However, the peaceful gathering resulted in the presence of security forces - which again used force in order to scatter the crowd. It has not been confirmed if anyone was injured in the incident. Videos of people chanting in front of the Evin prison have been released, but dates cannot be confirmed on any of them.

2.UAE police last night prevented roughly 100 Iranian expatriates from signing a piece of cloth which said, "Ahmadinejad is not our president!" It was supposed to be sent to Paris and used as a petition where it would've joined similar petitions from around the world. The UAE police told protesters that they had the right to gather, but did not have the right to sign petitions against the Iranian government.

3.In an interview on an Iranian website, the spokesperson for Imam's Way Faction (members of Parliament) accused security forces of attacking people's homes and abducting Iranian students from universities in Tehran. He also complained that the government was blocking their website, Parlemaan News, from time to time. He demanded the government to stop filtering news from reaching the people.

4.Protesters are widely being dubbed as "rioters" by the Iranian Media and government officials. It has increasingly replaced the word protesters in government channels. Ayatollah Khamenei called the participants of the post-election protests a 'depressed' and 'distressed' minority.

Opposition

5.There were reports today of a meeting between Rafsanjani and Mousavi, however, it could only be partially confirmed. Rafsanjani is proving to be very elusive for both sides of the conflict - so anything attributed to him needs to be considered with great caution.

6.Mousavi celebrated Imam Ali's birthday today with a small group at his house. Mousavi said, "The flaws in the system had become more apparent because of the election." He called the government illegitimate and stated that he and his followers will continue to work to achieve their goal of nullifying the election. He went on to say, "the real issue has not disappeared simply because the protests have quieted down - on the contrary, we will continue to work to the very end."

Government / International / Clerics

7.Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, congratulated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his victory as President today. He was being eyed as a key member of the government who might be swayed to join the pro-reform movement, however, despite earlier indications; he has remained firmly in Ahmadinejad's side.

8.It must be noted that except for one statement from pro-reform clerics in Qom supporting the protesters, no pro or anti-protester statement has been released by major clerical organizations from Qom. Reports indicate that the majority of clerics in Qom are against crackdowns on protesters and meetings are daily held between various factions to determine their course of action.

9.Hossein Subhani-Nya, a key member of the Iranian parliament's foreign relations committee, told Iran's Al-Alam TV today that they had indications that 6 member nations of the G8 group had already decided to call back their ambassadors from Iran after being urged to do so by Britain. He did not divulge the names of the members. He added that Iran would never bend to Western pressure and that it will take action against countries who call back their ambassadors on a case by case basis.

10.After Joe Biden's statements yesterday, Alaeddin Broujerdi, the head of Iran's parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said today that Iran was going to take 'real and decisive' action if attacked by Israel. He defended the government's crackdown on protests and called the situation in Iran calm and peaceful. Today, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the Iranian people deserved a better government.

11.Ayatollah Khamenei warned the West to not interfere in Iran's internal affairs. He urged Western countries to not meddle in Iran and warned them of a reaction by the Iranian nation if they didn't pay heed to his warnings. News of Khamenei being abandoned by senior officials is intensifying. It was reported today that the spokesperson for the Guardian Council - Mr. Kadkhodaie - will be resigning soon to focus on teaching. Reports indicate it is a move by Kadkhodaie to distance himself from the government.

12.Grand Ayatollah Bayat-Zanjani - a supporter of Mousavi - said today that every healthy mind doubted the impartiality of the election. He said that the large scale arrests of post-election protesters was regrettable and slammed the government for killing protesters and then branding them as rioters.

13.Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the IRG, said today that the IRG had taken a large role in quelling the protests. He said that the opportunity had presented itself and the Guard had to take action in order to restore calm in the country which it did almost flawlessly.

Arrests / Releases / Killed

14.Ahmadi-Mogham, a high-ranking police official in Tehran, today said that the police had not fired a single shot at protesters. He also denied any relationship between plainclothesmen and the police and the Basijis. This comes at a time as more and more sources report that at least 100 people were killed in Tehran during the protests - many of them by Tehran's police.

15.Reports indicate of the arrest of at least one female French citizen in Iran. It cannot be positively confirm when she was arrested and where she is kept at this point. It has been reported by the BBC that she's an academic who had spent 5 months in Isfahan and was arrested on her way out of Tehran at the city's main airport.

16.Farnaz Moyerian, a student activist and reporter, was released today from Evin Prison. It has been reported that Mousavi will be meeting with the families of detained protesters sometime in the next few days to discuss their release.

Communications

17. SMS services have been disconnected in Tehran again. Iran's national broadcasting agency has been removed again.

Miscellaneous

18.Tehran's Air Pollution Monitor Center warned citizens not to go out on Tuesday as air pollution was above Crisis Level because of recent dust storms. Due to air pollution, all government offices and educational institutions in Tehran will be closed tomorrow. The chants of Allaho Akbar echoed across Iran again at night, even as the roofs could be hardly seen because of low visibility.

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The Green Brief #21

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, July 7.

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Protests

1.There have been reports of atrocities committed against villages in Iran. According to partially confirmed reports, a village near Kamyaran in the Kordestan Province was set on fire by security forces because of protests there last week. Several villagers have also been arrested and are currently in custody.

2.In anticipation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech on Tuesday night, people across Iran came up with a unique plan to disrupt the transmission of the broadcast. The plan was to turn on as many electronic devices as possible, thus disrupting the flow of electricity across the country. Reports confirm that during his speech parts of Karaj, Ghazvin, Sari, Tabriz, Isfahan, Rodehen, Saghez, Lavasan, Ahvaz, Khoramshahr, Dezful, Jahrom, Khomeini Shahr, Shahin Shahr, Folad Shahr, Kashan and Rasht experienced massive black-outs.

3.Black-outs were also reported in Eastern Tehran, as well as the areas of Baharestan, Sarcheshme and Amir Kabir in Central Tehran. There were unconfirmed reports of gunshots in Eastern Tehran as well as Basijis attacking people who climbed to their rooftops to chant 'Allah o Akbar' and 'Death to the Dictator'.

Opposition

4.Mousavi, Karoubi and Khatami held a joint meeting in Tehran today. The three leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the cause of invalidating the election. They called on the government to recognize the legitimate demands of the protesters. They also appealed the government to immediately release all political prisoners and protesters detained during the post-election unrest. The three leaders appointed Mr. Alireza Beheshti, Mr. Moghadam, Mr. Al-Weri and Mr. Amini to probe into the cases of those arrested. They will also survey families whose properties had been damaged during the protests.

5.Hashemi Rafsanjani's Politically Party - Kargozaran - released the following statement yesterday: "We declare that the election result is unacceptable due to the unhealthy voting process, massive electoral fraud, and the bias candidate choice of the Guardian Council." Rafsanjani himself has so far not supported this statement and where he stands is still unknown at this time.

6.There are partially-confirmed reports that Mousavi met with one, mourning protester's family on Monday night. The protester's father told Mousavi that his son was not very political, yet had taken a great deal of interest in Mr. Mousavi's message. He also claimed that his son was not violent. Mousavi told the grieving family that the blood of the innocent never goes in vain.

International

7.After US Vice President Joe Biden's statement yesterday, that suggested the US would not interfere if Israel were to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, Saudi Arabia was reported as offering Israel its airspace for any future attacks on Iran. However, Saudi Arabia today denied that it had made such comments. In the meantime, US President Obama has vehemently denied that Biden's statements implied that the US had given Israel "a green light" to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

8.Canada announced today that it hoped the G8 group of nations would hold a unanimous and firm position in regards to Iran in its upcoming meeting in Italy. Statements by the Prime Minister's spokesperson indicated that Canada saw Iran's regime as extremely dangerous, and hoped for a united position by the G8 in this regard.

9.Ten Nobel Peace Prize winners sent a letter today to Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General. They asked him to do everything in his power to put a stop to the abuse of human rights in Iran, and to make sure political prisoners in Iran are freed. They went on to request that he send a special envoy to Iran to investigate human rights abuse and government propaganda against Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi.

10.Kenneth Roth, Executive Director for Human Rights Watch, called on G8 leaders to denounce the violent repression of protesters in Iran. He asked the G8 to dismiss any claims made by the Iranian government that blames "foreign powers" for the violence THEY have committed against protesters. The group called on G8 leaders to ask for an impartial investigation into abuses and accountability for those responsible. Mr. Roth added, "G8 leaders should make clear that Iran is violating international law."

11. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a televised speech tonight, told the Iranian people that the election was the 'freest' of any other anywhere in the world. He blamed foreign powers of interfering in Iranian affairs. He claimed that his opponents have not provided any evidence of voter fraud. His speech was briefly cut because of a power outage, but transmission resumed within seconds.

>Arrests / Releases / Killed

12.Faizollah Arab-Sorkhi, a reformist member of Mujahideen-e-Enghelab and a close supporter of Mohammad Khatami - was arrested at his home today. His whereabouts are unknown. It has also been confirmed that another reformist, Siyamak Haidarzadeh is currently being held in captivity. There are no news of his whereabouts either.

13.Although the police in Tehran claim that students arrested from the University of Tehran have all been released, the University's Chancellor announced that at least two are still in detention.

14.Mahdi Karoubi's office has asked those with family members in detention or whose property has been damaged during the protests by security forces to contact them about the incidents. Karoubi's office has released a phone number through which they can be contacted: 227 131 35

15.French President Nicolas Sarkozy, demanded that Iran release French citizen Clotilde Reiss immediately. Reiss was arrested a few days ago as she was leaving Iran from Tehran International Airport. She had been living in Isfahan for five months and was teaching French. Reiss has been charged with attempting to harm Iran's National Security.

16.Confirmed reports from Evin prison indicate that the torture of prisoners has intensified. A reliable source confirmed that hot water was being poured on prisoners, they weren't allowed to sleep, and that many had been put in solitary confinement. We now confirmed instances of sexual harassment, and rape of male and female prisoners.

17.Iran's Attorney General's Office has announced that starting next week, prosecution against some 500 detainees - all arrested during the protests the last couple of weeks - will begin. This comes at a time when thousands of people are feared to be in Iranian prisons stemming from arrests made at protests. Many high-profile political prisoners have not been able to contact their families and many are said to be in dire need of medical attention.

18.In other news, during Ahmadinejad's speech, a bug continued to fly around his head, forcing him to swat around relentlessly at the bug in front of his face. Reliable sources have now confirmed that the bug has been arrested, moved to Evin Prison, and has confessed to a plot to annoy Ahmadinejad by the Evil UK. His confession will be broadcasted through IRIB soon - so stay tuned.

(A special thanks to all the translators, editors and compilers who make the job of making the Green Brief easier. THANK YOU!)

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The Green Brief #22

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Wednesday, July 8 in Iran.

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Protests / Unrest

1.Tomorrow, July 9th (18th of Tir in Iran), marks a very important day. It memorializes the 10th year anniversary of a student uprising for freedom. Many students were killed and thousands were beaten, arrested and tortured.
Thousands are expected to take to the streets tomorrow in a peaceful march. It will be in memory of those slain, the revived fight for freedom, and to once again show their discontent with the election results. Cities confirmed to protest include: Ahvaz, Arak, Adrabil, Bandar Abbas, Birjand, Bojnurd, Bushehr, Esfehan, Ghazvin, Ghom, Gorgan, Hamedan, Ilam, Kerman, Kermanshah, Khorramabad, Mashhad, Rasht, Sanandaj, Sari, Semnan, Shahrekord, Shiraz, Tabriz, Urmieh, Yasuj, Yazd, Zahedan and Zanjan.

2.Protesters have been advised to walk calmly through cities, as well as to carry Korans and roses in their hands - to show their peaceful intent. Sardar Ismail Ahmadi-Moghadam, a high-ranking commander in the Iranian security forces, claimed that no one had requested permission for permits to hold rallies or to stage protests. Reports also suggest that Rafsanjani's family is planning on attending the rallies.

3.Mir Hossein Mousavi released a new statement calling on Iranians "To honor and commemorate those slain in the post-election violence by going to mosques and other religious establishments to mourn and pray for them." He has specifically asked them to do so in the late afternoon. Mousavi went on to endorse rallies and protests that are to be held for this purpose. Furthermore, he declared that he will be joining the mourners.

4.News circulated today of security forces attacking internet cafes in Kermanshah. It was reported that they checked people's cell phones and interrogated them as to what they were doing there. Reports say Basijis started marking people's doors with red ink at night - those of who chanted on their rooftops. It was suggested that Basijis would then go back in the morning and intimidate those residents. Recent reports say that people voluntarily marked their doors with red ink in order to confuse and overwhelm the Basijis.

Opposition

5.IIPF (Islamic Iranian Participation Front) - a reformist political party with close ties to Mohammad Khatami - released a new statement on Iranian websites asking for the immediate release of all political detainees and non-political detainees. The statement slams the government's brutality and violence and called the election, "a coup against democracy in Iran." They asked the government to reduce the presence of security forces in Tehran because it was, "starting to look like an army brigade."

6.It has been reported that Hashemi Rafsanjani has yet again decided to NOT lead Friday Prayers. It is speculated that the rationale behind his decision has to do with wanting to remain neutral until the issues regarding the election are resolved. Two days ago, his political party declared the election invalid. Rafsanjani himself has not made it clear whether he supports that statement or not.

Government / International / Clergy

7.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is continuously canceling trips abroad and inside Iran. So far, he has cancelled his trips to Libya and Egypt (to attend the meeting of Non-Aligned Nations). He cancelled his trip to Mashhad and now there's news that he has cancelled his trip to Shiraz as well. Heads of States from around the world have also cancelled trips to Iran - among them, The Sultan of Oman and the President of Ukraine. Recent reports from inside his faction divulge that he will not be traveling abroad until the situation in Iran is "completely calm."

8.International media is reporting that Mojtaba Khamenei - the son of Ayatollah Khamenei - has taken direct control of Iran's militia group (Basij) in order to suppress the Sea of Green. They also report that officials within other security forces, along with the powerful clergy, are not happy with the situation. However, solid confirmations from our Iranian sources have yet to be confirmed.

9.The spokesperson for the Guardian Council today announced, "That even though the Guardian Council could be approached through legal channels, any complaints against the election were meaningless." According to him, the Guardian Council's decision was final.

Arrested / Released / Killed

10.Mohammad Ali Dadkha, a prominent lawyer and human rights activist, was arrested at his office today. Amir Raeesian and Malihe Dadkhah - who were in his office at the time - were also taken into custody. Mohammad Reza Yazdan-Panah of the Islamic Iranian Participation Front was also arrested. Partially confirmed reports suggest that Zhila Bani-Yaghoub and Ahmad Amavi have been put under house-arrest.

11.The Iranian Government released 22 of the 25 staff members from Kalameh Newspaper who had been arrested two weeks ago. Twenty members of the Mourning Mothers Group, arrested last week, were let go. Nine civilians were discharged. High-profile releases include: Gholamreza Zarifiyan (a Cabinet Minister during Khatami's administration), Zainab Paighambarzadeh, and Poyesh Asaanlo.

12.Ismail Ahmadi-Mogham, Commander of the Iranian Police, announced that 100 detainees will be released in the next few days. He claimed the government had already released two-thirds of the 2,500 protesters arrested. Roughly 500 of those still detained, will be prosecuted in a court soon.

Media Communications

13.IRG's (Islamic Revolutionary Guard) Javan Daily Newspaper continues to publish confessions of reformists and other detainees who had been arrested in the post-election unrest. Independent sources have confirmed that prisoners have been tortured to confess that they were, "directed by foreign nations into instigating violence in Iran."

14. Internet connection speed has slowed even further in Iran. Connecting phone calls to Iran has also become notoriously difficult. Chants of Allah o Akbar continue to echo across the night in most parts of Iran -every night.

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

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The Green Brief #23

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Thursday, July 9.

In French: [url]http://ledossiervert.wordpress.com[/url]

In Greek: [url]http://tinyurl.com/lydakw[/url]

In Swedish: [url]http://greenbrief.blogspot.com/[/url]

Protests / Unrest

1.As anticipated, there were protests today in almost every corner of Iran. In total, tens of thousands took to the streets across the country. Protesters were brutalized, arrested and shot at. Tear gas was extensively used. Detailed recap follows.

2.Tehran - Even before the protests started, security forces had gathered in Enghelab Square, Jamalzadeh Square and other parts of the city. It appeared as if helicopters were flying around in almost every block of the city. Their presence was continuous over Enghelab Square, Laleh Park, Azadi Blvd, and Azadi Square. An IRG (Islamic Revolutionary Guard) Unit, also known as Sepahe Pasdaran in Farsi, was stationed in front of the Ministry of Interior. All shops were closed on Azadi Blvd to prevent possible damage.

3.By 5 PM, people started to gather en masse at Vanak Square, Enghelab Square, Valiasr Square, Ferdowsi Square, as well as other parts in Tehran. Hundreds gathered at Tehran and Polytechnic University. People were joined by their wives, fathers, mothers and children. Contrary to most reports, many elderly people were also reported to have joined the protests. At times, pedestrians would join protesters in order to increase their numbers - making it more difficult for security forces to attack.

4.Protesters chanted "Mir Hossein, Ya Hossein!" and "Death to the Dictator." Strangely enough, some slogans were directed at Mojtaba Khamenei - the son of Ayatollah Khamenei. Mojtaba Khamenei has allegedly taken control of the Basiji and is heavily involved in the government's attempt at brutally suppressing the protests. "Mojtaba Bemiri, Rahbari Ro Nabini" - Mojtaba may you die and never become the leader - was heard being chanted in many neighborhoods (I personally viewed some authentic videos).

5.Estimating how many people actually gathered in Tehran is almost impossible. What can be safely asserted, from eyewitness accounts and examination of videos, is that the numbers were more than 35,000 - that's including all the protesters and some pedestrians who joined them. Again, this number is only an estimate. All over the country, the number of protesters was reported to be slightly more than twice as much. On a side note, there were confirmed reports of people protesting in front of the Chinese Embassy in Tehran.

6.The police and the Basiji did not back away today. Clashes were reported in Tehran at Valiasr Square, Enghelab Square, Vanak Square, Karegar Shomali Street, Tehran University, and other parts of the city. Police shot at people in Azadi and Enghelab squares. People were seen being hit by bullets and falling to the ground. So far, at least one fatality has been confirmed in today's scuffles.

7.Tear gas was used at Vanak Square, Enghelab Square, Tehran University and in other areas. Tear gas was most heavily used in front of Tehran University where hundreds of protesters had gathered. Protesters were shot at with rubber bullets as well. Tear gas was hurled at buses - an attempt to stop protesters from getting to and from other protest sites.

8.We have confirmed reports that plainclothesmen attacked dorms inside of Amir Kabir University. Partially confirmed reports also indicate attacks on Polytechnic University's. Unconfirmed reports suggest security forces shot at people from helicopters. Heavy clashes were reported on Tajrish and Shariati Streets as well.

9.Fires were ablaze around the city. The metro station at Mirdamad was set on fire. Basijis were seen breaking window shops and attacking people indiscriminately. There were reports of people going on the offense and retaliating against the Basiji - in an attempt to stop them from damaging property and arresting other protesters.

10.Mousavi was supposed to join mourning families at a mosque today in Tehran. So far, no reports of his presence have emerged. Rafsanjani's daughter was also expected to join the protests - no confirmation of her attendance has been obtained.

11.As previously mentioned, only one death can be confirmed at this point. Videos of people brutally beaten have been circulating on the internet - most of them confirmed. Today's protests have seen an increase number of women heartlessly beaten. As the security forces chased crowds, women were often the ones falling behind, and thus, were mercilessly beaten with batons (Personally saw the video of woman with a broken leg being carried away by other protesters).

12. At the end of the day in Tehran, people took to the roofs again and started chanting 'Allah o Akbar' and 'Death to the Dictator'. There were reports of Basijis shooting at people on rooftops in some parts of Tehran. Only partial confirmation could be obtained for this.

13. Apart from Tehran, large protests were fully confirmed in Ahvaz, Mashhad, Rasht, Isfahan, Tabriz, Sari, Hamadan, Babol, Kerman, Dezfol and Shiraz. Reports from Shiraz indicate that the protest there was probably the largest. Isfahan was a close second in terms of the number of people on the streets.

14.Reports of clashes in Isfahan where protests took place from 6 PM - 10 PM are confirmed. Tear gas was heavily used. In Dezfol, about two thousand people took to streets and reports of clashes are confirmed. Partially confirmed reports in Mashhad show that clerics had yet again joined the protesters.

Opposition

15. Iranian Nobel peace laureate, Shirin Ebadi, wrote an open letter to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that has been published online. Ebadi request the removal of a ban placed on the operation of the Defenders for Human Rights Center - which she chairs -, and an end to the security and political pressures on civil, political and human rights activists by governmental bodies and officials in his administration.

Government / International

16. Reports coming from Tehran suggest that senior Ayatollahs that have supported the government are increasingly becoming disillusioned about Khamenei's leadership because of his son's heavy involvement in the post-election events. Partially confirmed reports from Tehran suggest that the head of the Judiciary has halted all death sentences until further notice.

17. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear installations. Iran's ambassador to Iraq said Thursday that five Iranian diplomats held by US forces in Iraq for more than two years had been handed over to the Iraqi government.

18. The European High Court has affirmed the ban against Iran's National Bank in Europe. The court decided that Iran's government was acting against international laws by continuing to work on its nuclear program, thus, the earlier decision by the EU to ban the bank should continue to take effect.

Arrested / Released / Killed

19. At least 30 people were arrested from in front of Tehran University; several others from Valiasr Square. Several protesters were seen being beaten and dragged away. Security forces were said to have used ambulances to move arrestees away so people would let them pass through.

20. There are reports that some young Iranians had their passports confiscated at the airport immigration before entering Iranian soil. Mehsa Amrabadi was finally able to call her family after three weeks of being in detention. She is several months pregnant and her husband has been arrested too. She's being held at Evin Prison. Sayeed Laylaz was also able to call his family, after being in detention for several days now.

20. Abbas Hakimzadeh, another reformist politician, and Kaveh Muzaffari, a reporter, were both released today. It has been reported the UN's human rights body has requested the Iranian government to let them enter the country and investigate human rights violations after the election.

Media / Communications

21. In Tehran, the Telephone Directory Service was out, SMS was cut off again, cell phones weren't working in several parts of the city and even land-lines were also cut off in some parts. Most Iranian televisions ignored protests almost completely. Some later showed limited footage. Press TV again claimed that the UK was unquestionably behind the unrest in Iran.

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The Green Brief #24 (July 10)

Protests / Unrest

1. There was a gathering of the families of those detained during the protests in Tehran today. Protesters stood in front of Kalantari 103 Pasdaran, 140 Baghe Faiz and Enghelab Square. Numbers cannot be confirmed, but the numbers were probably small.

2. It has not been confirmed that Basijis attacked the dorms of the Polytechnic University yesterday. The presence of Rafsanjani's family was also partially confirmed. Still no word of whether Mousavi joined mourners later in the evening like he said he would.

3. Police in Nicosia, Cyprus clashes with Iranian protesters in front of the Iranian Embassy. People were seen being dragged and reports indicate that several were arrested and held for several hours. Whether this was from July 09 cannot be confirmed at this point. Here's a video related to the incident: Revolutionary Road...: Shame on Cyprus police!

Government / International

4. Ayatollah Hashim Hashim-Zadeh Hareesi - a member of the Assembly of Experts - said today that people had started to distrust the system. He explained that whatever had happened after the election had caused people to become suspicious and that the government needed to take strides to restore people's trust otherwise, distrust could result in further more severe problems.

5. Tehran's Interim Fridays Prayers Leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani asked the Majlis of Iran to take measures in solving some short-comings that are present in the current electoral law. According to Ayatollah Emami Kashani, the unrest that followed the recent election was a result of those short-comings.

6. The Guardian Council's spokesperson, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaie said today that the Guardian Council was currently going over the entire election. According to him, the Council will soon release a detailed report about the election. The Council has already affirmed the impartiality and accuracy of the election which leaves little room for further investigation into charges of fraud.

7. The French Ambassador in Tehran met with Clotilde Reiss, the detained Frenchwoman who's currently being held in Iran on charges of espionage. According to the ambassador, Ms. Reiss looked in good mental health. It is not clear as of yet when she will be released.

8. Iran's government today summoned the German ambassador and questioned him about the death of an Egyptian woman in Germany at the hands of racist extremists. Iranian TV continues to show her death and accuse the West of acting against Muslims in Europe.

9. The G7 nations + Russia have given Iran till September to restart negotiations on its controversial nuclear program. It was unclear what Iran's rejection of this offer would entail. The statement came during a meeting in l'Aquila, Italy where the group was meeting to go over the world-wide economic downturn.

10. A U.S. panel has demanded that Baha'is facing trial in Iran be released immediately. Baha'is are a religious minority in Iran who believe in a universal religion and are fervent supporters of world peace. They are openly persecuted because of the country's strict religious laws.

11. The Canadian government also summoned the Iranian ambassador in Ottawa and demanded the immediate release of Canadian-Iranian journalist Mazyar Bahari. Bahari has been detained for a while now and the government is trying to keep a lid on his whereabouts. He works for Newsweek.

Arrests / Releases / Deaths

12. Iranian-American Scholar, Kian Tajbakhsh has been arrested according to reliable sources. Majid Durri has also been rearrested. There are also reports that security forces arrested several students during their raid at Amir Kabir University's dorm. Their fate remains unknown.

13. The only person released today was Kambiz Noroozi, yet his release cannot be fully confirmed. Family members of several political prisoners - including those of Mirdamadi and Hajjarian - met with Ayatollah Mousavi Aradabeli today. Ayatollah Ardabeli consoled the families and discussed the issue with them. He later said that this is an important issue and needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.

14. Reports have now surfaced that people detained during yesterday's protests have been moved to Evin Prison. The prison is reportedly so full that people are kept in the corridors. Sources have confirmed that people are being viciously tortured and detainees are underfed. Many are facing solitary confinement.

Media

15. Fars News has reported that the government has discovered a recording studio belonging to the BBC at Mousavi's campaign headquarters. Iranian media continues to beat the drum of an Egyptian woman's death in Germany and protests yesterday were for the most part, ignored.

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

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C: If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context, please request for sub-editorship at #iran.aic - WebIRC - AnonNet - Check out the website for the project at: Iran Map | Iran Map or email me at dbosca@gmail.com.

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

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The Green Brief #25 (July 11)

Protests / Unrest

1. Delayed reports - just emerging - confirm that protests did indeed take place around the country on July 9th. We also have authentication of mass arrests during this time. Reports of black-outs during Ahmadinejad's speech are now being confirmed by mainstream media as well (this was confirmed on twitter three days ago).

2. Vast weekly protests and the heavy presence of Basiji's have had a negative impact on Iranian bazaars; they are finding it harder and harder to stay open. As a result, commerce is slowly coming to a standstill. Reports indicate that the opposition is in the midst of planning more strikes and protests. Today, about 150 protesters pelted eggs at the German Embassy in Tehran protesting against the death of an Egyptian woman in Germany at the hands of a right-wing extremist.

3. People in Tehran are continuing to honk their horns at the sight of Basijis - and chanting anti-government slogans while speeding away. Many people drive with their headlights on. Reports indicate that many Basijis are quitting their jobs and are being replaced by fresh recruits, many of them under 18. People travelling to Iran are being targeted at the airport upon entry and are being forced to divulge their Twitter and Facebook accounts so the government can monitor their online activity.

Opposition

4. In a letter to the Head of the Judiciary, Mahdi Karoubi - one of the candidates during the election and a key force behind the current protests - asked for the immediate release of all political prisoners as well as arrested protesters. In a letter addressed to Ayatollah Shahrodi, Karoubi claimed that, "People believed in the system, however, the system had been hijacked by a few." He accused Tehran's authorities of systematically eradicating opposition. He warned the government of "unimaginable consequences" if the current situation persisted.

5. Ayatollah Montazeri has released a Fatwa that is very supportive of protesters and their cause. In the Fatwa, Montazeri "condemned violence against protesters as un-Islamic." He's pleaded with the government to not play with the name of Shi'ism and Islam with their actions. He hinted that Khamenei's leadership is standing against Islam, human rationale and National interests - and that he was clearly in the wrong. Reports of Ayatollah Ustadi - Qom's temporary Friday Prayer's Imam - resigning his position and calling a strike could not be confirmed.

6. In an open letter released to the media, the women's wing of Mousavi's Participation Front have said that Iranian mothers were awaiting the release of their loved ones with teary eyes and aching hearts. They asked the government to immediately release all prisoners and to stop arresting people for using peaceful means to express their dissent.

Government / International

7. Iranian Foreign Minister, Manuchehr Motaki, has stated that Iran is willing to discuss issues with the West, but claimed that the government was going to present a package of issues for discussion - rather than just one. This comes at a time when the European Union has now fully suspended visas to Iranian diplomats who wish to enter any EU member nation.

8. The spokesperson for Parliament's Imam's Way Faction declared that the government's legitimacy was "questionable" after what transpired post-election. Reports from Tehran indicate that many members within the Faction are thinking of not partaking in the "vote of confidence" that will be held in Parliament soon (the President selects a cabinet, and then a vote of confidence takes place). The spokesperson added that, "When a Cabinet Minister refuses to answer to the public, then it shouldn't expect to get a vote of confidence."

9. Tehran's Police Chief has declared a state of emergency in parts of Tehran. Iran's government removed the head of security of Zanjan Province - after reports surfaced that he may be sympathetic to the reform movement. A number of prominent citizens in Tabriz have written a letter to Khamenei declaring that, "people were not satisfied with the election and that they will continue to voice their opposition to Ahmadinejad's government."

10. One of Mousavi's offices, located inside the Presidential Palace, was evacuated by government orders. Mousavi used this office during the last twenty years after leaving the Prime Minister's Post. It was NOT his campaign headquarters. Meanwhile, the government is stepping up its media campaign of discrediting Mousavi's role in Iran's past. This comes at a time when a large number of Iranian clerics in Qom have reportedly threatened to leave Iran for Najaf, Iraq (Najaf is the holiest site in Shi'ism and Qom is a center of Shi'ite learning). They demanded the government to cease with their relentless pressure to side with them.

Arrested / Released / Killed

11. Reports from inside Evin Prison indicate that at least one prisoner has died under extreme torture. The prisoner is the son of a member of the group of Mourning Mothers and was reportedly named Sohrab A'rabi. Reports of torturous acts had been confirmed before, but recent details reveal more extreme forms such as:

o Binding and then beating prisoners with batons
o Forcing prisoners to lay on their wounded side - on hot asphalt
o Pouring scorching-hot water over prisoners' heads

12. Reports of more than a dozen prisoners crammed into a 9 x 9 foot cell are increasing. Other reports indicate that the prison is so overcrowded that prisoners are now being thrown into cells that are half-demolished. Prisoners are interrogated non-stop for more than 12 hours. Injured prisoners are not receiving any medical attention - many are said to be in very bad conditions.

13. Iran is now holding 36 journalists in prison. Reports indicate that despite the overcrowding, nearly 150 protesters arrested on July 9th in Tehran were moved to Evin Prison. We don't have confirmations to the number of people arrested, but without a place to go. The arrest of many people were confirmed today - among them: Abbas Mirza Abutalebi (a reformist politician), Majid Saidi and Towheed Begi (photojournalists), Kaveh Muzaffari (a journalist who been detained and released prior), Shamsuddin Esaie (a key aide of Mousavi), and Hengameh Shaheedi (a key member of Etemaade Melli Party).

14. On a positive note, Iranian courts postponed the court date for seven Baha'is detained in Tehran today. They are being prosecuted under Iran's strict religious laws because of their faith. Reports also indicate that Kambiz Noroozi, a journalist detained yesterday, was released. The families of several detainees have pleaded directly to influential clerics in Qom to help attain the release of their loved ones.

Media

15. In an unexpected move, ISNA - one of Iran's official news agencies - declared that recent unrests in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Province was provoked by US intervention in Chinese affairs. ISNA declared that China did all it could to quell an uprising fueled by foreign intervention.

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

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The Green Brief #26 (July 12)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Sunday, July 12.

In French: http://ledossiervert.wordpress.com
In Hebrew: http://tinyurl.com/kun7r6

Protests / Unrest

1. Sporadic protests were reported from Tehran today. Although the numbers could not be confirmed, many sources claimed that people tried to gather at Valiasr Square. Clashes were reported in Keshavarz Blvd, Towhid Square, Fatemi Blvd, Satarkhan Street and Valiasr Square. Heavy presence of security forces was reported in those areas. Reports indicated helicopters were hovering over Central Iran - where most of these areas are located. Cell phone networks were cut off in the aforementioned areas as well.

2. Hundreds of people staged peaceful gatherings in front of the Islamic Republic Court and Evin Prison. They were demanding the release of their loved ones. It is speculated that there will be a large protest in Iran on Friday, however, this cannot be confirmed as of yet.

3. Shirin Ebadi - Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Iranian Human Rights Activist - has declared that this Friday, Iranians from all over the world, will unite to protest the appointment of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President. A three-day hunger strike by prominent Iranians will also be observed in front of the United Nation's Headquarters in New York City on July 22nd.

Opposition

4. The Democratic Party of Iran has declared its support for Mousavi. The party has declared that a regime only has legitimacy when that legitimacy is earned through the people. This party joins many others who have already pledged their support for Mousavi.

5. In a statement released today, Mohsen Rezaie - another candidate in the disputed elections - announced five points that everyone in Iran should realize in understanding the post-election problems.

- The Iranian Government should KNOW the difference between peaceful protesters and people who're working to destroy the Islamic Republic.

- The Iranian Government should KNOW the difference between politicians/people who merely have complaints, and those who may be "foreign meddlers."

- Politicians should be able to pursue their rights and rights of the people through legal channels. Government organizations should seriously consider complaints from the people/politicians without the fear of persecution from someone else.

- Negotiations should be held between those with complaints and the government for solving these complaints in order to safeguard national security and continue peaceful political participation in the country.

- Government agencies should follow the law when restoring calm and safeguarding people's rights.

- Imam Ali's guidelines and his life should be used as an example for solving all political issues.

6. Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani has given a Fatwa declaring that people should use peaceful means to remove individuals who have illegitimately gained a government post from their official posts. He gave the Fatwa after being asked whether government employees should stop working because the government was illegitimate. Ayatollah Montazeri also declared in a Fatwa yesterday that anyone who uses their power illegitimately was automatically disqualified from their position of religious authority.

7. In an interview released to the media, Shirin Ebadi has denounced the government's wide-spread arrests of lawyers and human rights activists since the election. She also denounced a new 'law' being created by the justice department which gives it broader power to revoke lawyers' permits, calling it illegal and asking the government to declare it null and void.

Government International

9. There are partially confirmed reports that Hashemi Rafsanjani will be leading the next Friday prayers in Tehran. It has also been reported that the Green movement is planning on participating, including leaders of the movement. This, however, cannot be confirmed at this point.

10. The commander of the IRG has warned that those who oppose the election should be careful because the armed forces of Iran would not surrender against protests. He also announced that the armed forces for ready and fully capable of quelling any unrests that may come in the following days.

11. In an attempt to ward off criticism from the government by the international community, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's assistant has issued a statement calling out the international community's stance regarding the recent developments in Iran, hypocritical. Among his claims to justify government's actions was that the number of political prisoners in Iran was far less than the number of political prisoners in Western countries. Several important clerics in Qom have criticized the government's silence over the deaths of more than 150 Muslims Uighors in unrests in Western China. They have called upon the government to condemn the Chinese government's brutality.

Arrested / Released / Killing

12. Since the beginning of the protests, 41 journalists have now been detained so far. Abulfazl Abedini - another journalist - has now been confirmed to have been arrested by unknown people and his whereabouts cannot be determined Sheila Najafi, a leftist activist and poet, was arrested from Amol and her whereabouts are unknown as well. . Saeed Hajjarian's son Mohsen Hajjarian has now been arrested as well. Mahdi Madavi-Azad, another journalist and editor-in-chief of Shahab News, was arrested today as well.

13. Sohrab A'rabi's body was finally given over to his family. His funeral will be held tomorrow at Beheshte Zahra cemetery and he will be buried there. It's worth noting that even though the last Green Brief indicated that he'd died under torture at Evin, it has now being reported that he had actually died weeks ago during a protest and that his body could not be identified until now.

14. In Saqez on Saturday, security forces stormed the houses of several prominent Iranians who are either reformist or pro-protester without search warrants and arrested as many as 32 people. During the recent protests in Kermanshah, dozens of protesters have been arrested and moved to Dizel Abad Prison. In Tehran, as people continue to chant Allah o Akbar at night on their rooftops - some have even started using loudspeakers -, the security forces have slowly ramped up arrests of people who engage in this form of protest. Several people have been arrested so far.

15. Mahdi Karoubi met with the families of detained reformists today. The detainees' families told Karoubi that they weren't anti-government and asked Karoubi to help them secure the release of their loved ones. Families of detainees are now being threatened by security forces that if they talk or give interviews about the detention of their loved ones, their relatives will be kept in prison longer.

Media

16. The sale of Nokia cell phones in Tehran has taken a setback in recent days as people in Tehranis accuse Nokia of helping the Iranian government in planting surveillance devices that have been used to arrest scores of Iranians. Sales have plummeted by as much as 50 percent.

17. This comes at a time when today, the IRG warned Iranians to not use websites like Twitter, Myspace and Facebook to create tensions. All of the above mentioned sites have already been blocked in Iran. It has also been reported that since Mousavi's call to stop buying advertisement time on IRIB, several prominent business-owners have complied. This has affected the IRIB's income significantly.

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

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The Green Brief #27 (July 13)

Protests / Unrest

1. Faculty members, doctors and dentists of the Tehran Medical University staged a gathering in Shariati Hospital in protest of the arrests of politicians and political activists.

2. Kordestan province and many other Kurdish areas in Iran's northwest observed a strike today. The strike was held in remembrance of Kurdish political activist, Dr. Abdorrahman Ghasimlo and in protest of the elections. All shops were closed in Saqez, Mahabad, Bokan and Sardasht as well as a few areas in Urumieh. The general strike was so wide-spread in Saqez that even rural areas around that city closed all shops in a show of solidarity. Transportation was completely jammed. No taxis could be seen on the streets of Saqez.

3. Tonight, people around Tehran's Apadana area lit candles in large numbers in order to commemorate the death of Sohrab A'rabi. People chanted, "Sohrab is alive; religious authority is dead!"

Opposition

4. Shirin Ebadi - Iranian human rights activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 has asked Germany to question Nokia and Siemens executives in connection with the companies' sale of surveillance equipment to the Iranian government. Nokia admitted to selling phone-surveillance equipment to the Iranian government two weeks ago.

5. It has now been confirmed that Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mahdi Karoubi and Mohammad Khatami will be attending this week's Friday prayers which will be lead by Hashemi Rafsanjani. In the past three weeks, Rafsanjani didn't lead prayers in Tehran's Friday Prayers mosque even though he is one of the four Imams of the mosque who lead prayers there in turns. There are reports that the Sea of Green might use the opportunity to conduct protests, but they remain unconfirmed as of yet.

Government / International

6. Tomorrow, there will be another protest held in front of the German Embassy in Tehran. According to sources, this protest is being organized by the Iranian government and large numbers of Basijis and government employees are being gathered up to take part in this protest. The protesters will gather to denounce the death of an Egyptian woman at the hands of an ultra-nationalist German citizen in Germany.

7. Iranian President-select Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today called upon the United Nations to impose sanctions on Germany. He said that the German government should be punished for the death of the Egyptian woman who was killed there a few days ago. Ironically, a government-owned media outlet, Reja News declared yesterday that Ayatollah Montazeri was not mentally stable. Montazeri's son issued a statement today that vehemently denied the accusations. Montazeri released a Fatwa yesterday condemning Iranian Dictator Ayatollah Khamenei's religious authority null and void.

Arrests / Releases / Killed

9. Mehrdad Heydari, a prominent reporter in northeastern Iran, was killed in Mashhad under suspicious circumstances today by unknown individuals. Heydari had been publishing reports that were deemed anti-government in the past few weeks. This is the second death of a prominent Iranian in Mashhad in the post-election violence. Before Heydari, Hamid Maddah, a member of Mousavi's party, died under torture in Mashhad two weeks ago.

10. Another death has now been confirmed during the protests. Yaghoub Berwayeh, who was shot three weeks ago and had reportedly died in the hospital, is the latest victim. The confirmation of his death took longer than expected because government agents had told his family that if they talked to the press or held a mass mourning, his body will not be delivered to them. He has already been buried quietly.

11. The body of Sohrab A'rabi was laid to rest in Beheshte Zahra cemetery today in Tehran. There was a mass gathering of hundreds of people during the event. The government had warned his family that in case people chanted anti-government slogans, they will be arrested. Sohrab's mother, a member of the group of Mourning Mothers, declared today that she was deceived into believing that her son was still in detention while he had been dead for weeks. She also said that she will not be silenced by government intimidation.

12. Dr. Mahdi Botorabi, an Iranian blogger and a supporter of Khatami, was arrested today. Mohsen Hajjarian, the son of Saeed Hajjarian, was released today. He had been detained yesterday, but he after spending a few hours in interrogation, it has been confirmed that he is no longer in detention

13. Reports from Evin now suggest that many political prisoners are held in cells together with hardened criminals. Prisoners are continuously tortured and remain underfed. Some prisoners aren't given food for days while others only get one small meal a day.

14. The government has also started delivering the bodies of dead protesters to their families. The Iranian Attorney General's office has reportedly threatened families that if they talked to the press, they won't hear any news about their loved ones or receive their bodies if they have already been killed in protests. The government has also announced that 14 people belonging to the Jondullah group of Sistan o Baluchistan will be hanged publicly in Zahedan, Sistan o Baluchistan tomorrow. The men have been convicted in an attack in southeastern Iran that left at least 22 civilians dead in 2006.

15. Mohsen Namjo was sentenced in absentia to five years imprisonment today. He was accused of insulting Koranic verses. Namjo had reportedly recorded songs, using Koranic verses as lyrics. It is worth mentioning that the songs were of comedic nature.

16. In a message sent for Mecca, Ayatollah Mousavi-Ardabeli has asked people to continue protesting for their demands in a peaceful manner. He also condemned the violence during the protests and asked members of security forces to deal with protesters with kindness and not with force. In a separate statement Grand Ayatollah Sanei called upon the protesters to continue their protests as it was their right to protest against an election the legitimacy of which they doubted.

Media

17. Javan newspaper declared today that Saeed Hajjarian prefers to remain in prison because the medical care he was receiving there was superior to the medical care he was going to receive outside prison. Hamshahri newspaper has fired several of its staff members for reportedly having sympathies to the protesters' cause.

(Apologies for any errors, I'm just really drowsy tonite)

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

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A. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

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C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

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The Green Brief #28 (July 14)

Protests / Unrest

1. Iran's Ministry of Energy has asked all Iranian citizens to lower their use of electricity in the late hours of the night. Protesters have been using electrical appliances en masse to disrupt the electricity supply in the country. The Ministry has asked for a decreased usage between 8 to 11 PM.

2. On Monday night, the main entrance to the Ministry of Information building in Mashhad was set on fire. It has been reported that this was done in retaliation for Monday's murder of Mehrdad Heydari - a prominent journalist from Mashhad. Heydari's death is rumored to be by the hands of security forces.

3. Reports indicate that the security situation in Tabriz is very bad with large numbers of security forces in the area and ongoing arrests. However, there are no reliable reports coming out of Tabriz at this point. It has been reported that Iranian pop idol, Googoosh, will go to the hunger strike in front of the UN on July 22, 2009.

4. It has now been fully confirmed that Hashemi Rafsanjani will in fact lead the Friday Prayer's in Tehran. We reported yesterday that Mahdi Karoubi, Mohammad Khatami and Mir Hossein Mousavi were also planning on attending. Reports - just coming out of Iran - now indicate that this may NOT be the case. Thus, until further confirmation, please treat their "supposed attendance" with a grain of salt. (Note: There have been times that leaders have indicated that they will attend an event, but have not, so anything is possible in our opinion.)

Opposition

5. Opposition members have started to sue government-owned newspapers for defamation, spreading rumors and slander. Sources claim that Mousavi's office, as well as Khatami's offices have sued Reja News, Fars News Agency, Iran Daily and Keyhan Daily. We reported on Green Brief #18-19 that Mousavi was reportedly forming a new political front. This has now been fully confirmed. There are reports out Mousavi has reportedly shunned Khamenei's attempts at holding emergency talks - none of them could be even partially confirmed.

>Government / International

6. The Deputy Speaker of Iran's Parliament announced today that Iranian President-Select Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be sworn into office on August 2, 2009. Although Ahmadinejad has postponed many of his trips abroad and even within Iran in the past few weeks, it has now been confirmed that he will be traveling to Mashhad on Thursday.

Arrested / Released / Killed

7. It was reported yesterday that Hamshahri Newspaper had fired some of its staff members. We have confirmations today that one of those staff members, Marjan Abdul-Hayan (a technician), has been arrested. Koroush Javan, a photographer for Khorshid Newspaper, has also been arrested. Reports indicate that three of Javan's roommates were also detained with him.

8. Blogger Mohammad Ismailzadeh has been released on bail after a month in detention. Mojtaba Tehrani has asked his family to post bail of about 150 million tomans (150 million tomans is about $150,000 US dollars.) Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard met with the family of slain protester Sohrab A'rabi to express their condolences.

9. The families of many political prisoners held a press conference today in Tehran. They proclaimed that all their efforts in contacting their loved ones had failed thus far. According to them, Iranian authorities were not responding to any of their inquiries. Tomorrow, families of many detainees will be meeting with a three-member committee set up by the Iranian Judiciary to follow-up on the status of detainees.

10. New reports have emerged that the Iranian government has stored the bodies of hundreds of protesters killed during the unrest in Southwest Tehran - instead of giving them to their loved ones. Norooz - an online Iranian news service - claims that one family was taken to a building and shown pictures of hundreds of dead detainees in order to identify their loved one. It should be noted that the building they were taken to was one that stored frozen fruit. If the above-mentioned claim of "hundreds of bodies" is true, it would lend credibility to the claim that the number of people killed in the post-election unrest is far higher than what has been reported so far. (In the Green Briefs 4 and 5 we speculated that the number of people that had been killed by then was likely over a hundred.)

11. Reports on the death of an 18 year old boy, who had been shot during the protests and was in a coma, emerged today from Shiraz. The slain boy was named Arman Estakhripour. Although reports circulated yesterday that 14 suspected Jondullah Members were to be hung in Zahedan, only 13 were hung today. The fate of the remaining Jondollah Member remains unknown.

12. There are reports spreading online that an Iranian student, identified as Taraneh M., may have been gang-raped by Basiji militiamen while detained in prison. No independent confirmation could be obtained at this point.

13. The US State Department has asked for the immediate release of Kenyan Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American scholar who has now been in detention for more than a week.

Media

14. It has been reported that IRIB has prepared a "blacklist" of hundreds of names - possibly as high as 1,000 - including politicians, journalists, and other prominent Iranians. They have purportedly handed this list over to all of their TV Stations with strict instructions to NEVER allow those "blacklisted" to appear on any of the government-run stations.

(Still pretty sick so apologies if work's being done late or I cannot respond to messages)

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

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The Green Brief #29 (July 15)

Protests / Unrest

1. The main lawyers' association of Iran announced on Tuesday that a new rule for lawyers devised and about to be implemented by the Judiciary was infringing upon their freedoms and was against the constitution. Today, 52 prominent Iranian lawyers released a statement calling upon the government to respect people's rights. They asked the government to charge people within 24 hours of their arrest or set them free.

2. Families of more than 30 political prisoners rallied in front of the Islamic Courts in Tehran, asking for the immediate release of their loved ones. The Mourning Mothers group has asked on the people of Iran to join them in their upcoming rally which is to be held next week. On Thursday, prayer sessions will be held across Iran for the safe return of detained protesters across Iran.

3. Isfahan's governor announced today that anyone who supports Mousavi is an enemy of Islam. It has been reported that electricity and water supply have been cut off in many main bazaars in Iran's Kurdish areas because they held wide-spread strikes. This can only be partially confirmed. There were also reports of a bomb explosion in Sanandaj in Kordestan province. Reportedly the bomb exploded inside a government building. This remains unconfirmed at this point.

4. There are rumors that protests are being planned for Friday - none could be confirmed. After reports surfaced that pro-Mousavi people should wear a green band or green clothes to signify their support for him during Friday prayers, twitter sources quickly claimed that it was a government ploy to identify protesters. Many bloggers have explicitly asked people to not wear any green for the Friday prayers in Tehran. A new form of protest by the people of Tehran is to write "Death to the Dictator" on banknotes. The practice is gaining ground and the plan is to have it written down on all banknotes circulating within the country.

Opposition

5. Mahdi Karoubi today visited Sohrab A'rabi's family. He also announced today that he will continue to fight for the rights of detainees and people whose property has been damaged by the government. He stressed that the government needed to let people know about the whereabouts of their loved ones. The families of several political prisoners also met with A'rabi's family.

6. Mir Hossein Mousavi announced today that he will be joining the Friday prayers in Tehran this week. There were rumors yesterday that he might not attend and that the statement was a ploy by the government to lure protesters in. His announcement entails that he is joining after repeated requests by his supporters.

7. A source close to Hashemi Rafsanjani claims that Rafsanjani will defend people rights in his Friday prayer sermon and show his discontent with the post-election violence. The source, Ghoratullah Alikhani, a member of the Imam's Way faction of the parliament, claimed that it was a tipping point in the post-election unrests and Rafsanjani was going to make important pro-protester announcement. Rafsanjani announced yesterday that his relationship with Khamenei was that of two lovers and it would never be broken. It is worth mentioning, however, that Alikhani is a staunch pro-reform MP and videos of him defending Mousavi and lampooning the election in a speech inside the parliament emerged right after the election.

Government / International

8. Government-owned media and several prominent pro-Khamenei and pro-Ahmadinejad politicians are pushing the government to prosecute Mousavi, calling him the instigator for of the current unrest in Iran.

9. After the airline accident in Iran that killed 168 people - all aboard -, Iranian President-Select Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced today that Iran's airlines were the safest and most secure airlines in the world. The Russian-made plane was traveling from Tehran to Yerevan, Armenia when it crashed near Ghazvin, northwest of Tehran.

10. Reports have confirmed that Ahmadinejad's new cabinet to be introduced in August will be composed mostly of staunch conservatives. Reports of him forming a compromise government with reformists aboard have been vehemently denied. Today, Vietnamese President Nguy?n Minh Tri?t called Ahmadinejad and congratulated him on his historic selection as Iran's president. Nguy?n joins a small number of heads of state that have called and congratulated Ahmadinejad.

Arrests / Releases / Deaths

11. The International Human Rights campaign in Iran announced today that the number of people killed in recent unrests in Iran were far higher than what the government was reported. According to a report published by the organization, last month more than 34 bodies were brought to a morgue in Tehran in a single day while the government claims that no more than 20 people have died in all. According to the report, the bodies were brought to three hospitals in Tehran on June 30. 19 were brought to Imam Khomeini Hospital, 8 to Rasoole Akram Hospital and 7 to Loqmane Hakeem Hospital.

12. It has now been confirmed that several students that have been missing from Birjand University in Southern Khorasan province are currently being held in detention. Among these students are Amin Ostadi and Milad Garajian. It has also been reported that the people in charge of interrogating prisoners at Evin Prison are Saeed Mortazavi, Hasan Zareh Denvai-Heydarifar and Hosseini Rasikh.

13. The Ministry of Information announced today that prisoners held at various prisons in Iran were being interrogated and the police were investigating their crimes. He also claimed that several detainees had confessed to their roles in the unrests in the country and that they also had other evidence to implicate them in violent acts.

Miscellaneous

14. Farhad Fakhreddini, the director of the national Orchestra of Iran quit today over what he called the government's mistreatment of peaceful protesters.

(I promise to get better and report on time starting tomorrow.)

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

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The Green Breif #30 (July 16)

Protests / Unrest

1. Several families of political prisoners continued their protest in front of the Islamic Courts in Tehran for the freedom of their loved ones.

2. Students in many universities in Iran are refusing to take part in exams in a show of protest against the election. Dozens of security forces' personnel have been stationed at Amir Kabir University to quell any further protests that might be held there.

3. Workers of Iran-Barak Company are continuing their strike in protest of the election. The company is located in Rasht City and over 220 people work there - most of them women.

4. In Shiraz during protests on July 9th, one protester served Basijis with iced home-made juice. Reportedly, the juice also contained strong laxatives sending dozens of Basijis back to their barracks.

Opposition

5. It has now been confirmed that Mahdi Karoubi will be attending the Friday prayers along with Mousavi. Earlier the Etemaade Melli newspaper - a media outlet close to reformists - reported that Mohammad Khatami, Mahdi Karoubi, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Nategh Noori will not be participating in Ahmadinejad's inauguration ceremony to be held on August 2.

6. Following the meetings of Mousavi and Karoubi with families of detained or martyred protesters, Khatami today also visited the families of detained political prisoners, Nabavi, Hajjarian, Abtahi and Tajzadeh. It was also reported that members of BARAN Council also held a meeting with Khatami.

7. In a letter released today, several prominent Shi'ite scholars declared their support for Ayatollah Ostadi, the Friday prayer Imam of Qom. Ostadi had announced that he would not longer lead Friday prayers.

8. Azam Taloghani, the son of Tehran's first Friday prayers' Imam and a Shi'ite cleric, asked the Assembly of Experts to do more in order to help people get their rights. He claimed that Iran's political system was in danger and that the government was indiscriminately imprisoning and killing peaceful protesters.

9. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said today that the French government was going to recognize Ahmadinejad as Iran's legitimate president as doing otherwise would be counter-productive. Speaking to the French parliament, He said that France, however, will continue to strengthen ties with and support the democracy movement in Iran.

10. Iran on Thursday summoned the French ambassador to Iran and criticized the 'unacceptable' and 'repressive' brutality of the French police against protesters in France on July 14. According to a report published by IRNA, the Foreign Ministry called France's human rights condition deplorable.

Government / International

11. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a trip to Mashhad today and spoke at the Imam Reza Shrine in the city. He delivered a speech calling the Iranian election of the freest in recorded history. He continued to denounce foreign intervention in Iranian affairs and called on Western nations to apologize for interfering in its affairs. He also said that the Iranian nation had disappointed the West by voting for him and that even though Iran wanted negotiations, it had been cleared that the West didn't.

12. The crowd gathered at Imam Reza Shrine was mostly composed of government employees, security forces personnel and people who'd been brought to Mashhad by buses from the countryside. It has been confirmed the number of clerics who attended the speech was extremely low. Ayatollah Va'ez Tabasi - one of the senior-most clerics of Mashhad - didn't even greet Ahmadinejad into the city. It is worth mentioning that he had come out to greet every president before Ahmadinejad who had come to Mashhad after their reelection.

13. Outside, massive preparations were in place to ensure the President-Select's security. The door of the shrine remained closed for much of the speech. His speech comes at a time when Gholam Reza Aghazadeh - the head of Iran's nuclear program - tendered his resignation yesterday which was promptly accepted by the government. Aghazadeh led the agency for more than a decade and is a close associate of Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hossein Mousavi.

Arrests / Releases / Deaths

14. It has been reported that prize-winning Iranian photojournalist Majid Saeedi has been arrested and is in detention since July 11. Other than Saeedi, at least six other photojournalists have been arrested in the past few weeks - including Satyar Emami who was arrested on the same day as Saeedi. A French-Iranian cameraman Saeed Mohavedi is among the arrested journalists.

15. Four Tehran University students were also abducted by unknown people from their homes. Iranian lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah has also been arrested by security forces. The whereabouts of the all of these detainees is unknown. It has also been confirmed that three students of Tabriz University who had gone missing a week ago are now in government detention.

16. Saeed Hajjarian's wife and son were arrested today as well. His wife was released after a few hours of interrogation, but his son remains in custody. It's worth mentioning that his son was previously detained, kept in jail for several days and was released later. Political Mohsen Mirdamadi was able to briefly contact his family today and tell them about his detention after a month of being custody.

17. Four professors of Ghazvin University have also been arrested. Their names are Dr. Raeesian, Dr. Imani, Dr. Davish and Dr. Fazli. Later reports indicated that they might have been released but I cannot fully confirm this at this point.

18. A staff member of the French Embassy with dual Iranian and French citizenship who had been arrested on Saturday was released today by security forces. However, her computer and some of her personal belongings were confiscated.

19. Reports indicate that even though Evin Prison is overflowing with detainees, more and more people are being brought in to be housed there. A protester who was released recently from the prison said that he was told daily that they would execute him in a couple of days.

(As promised, I feel much better today, thanks for all the concern. Still very depressed about this, though: Israel's Back Yard.)

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

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The Green Brief #31 (July 17)

Protests / Unrest

1. Hashemi Rafsanjani's Friday prayers speech was accompanied today by large protests across Tehran and in many other parts of Iran. His sermon was not live-broadcasted on Iranian TVs, but one IRIB radio station did broadcast it (Here's a PARTIAL translation of his speech: Rafsanjani's Friday Prayer Sermon - Why We Protest - IRAN).

2. Many top Iranian pro-reform politicians were present during the Friday sermons including Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mahdi Karroubi and Abdollah Nouri. Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, and Rafsanjani's wife and two daughters also joined the prayers today.

3. Karroubi was assaulted in front of Tehran University as he tried to enter the compound to join the prayers. Nouri - a former minister during Khatami and Rafsanjani's presidency and a much respected reformist who's derided by the conservatives - was also insulted and attacked by Basijis as he was making his way towards Tehran University. Reformist former president Mohammad Khatami was not seen attending the prayers. Conservative politicians largely stayed away from the prayers.

4. In his sermon/speech, Rafsanjani asked the government to release all prisoners, all sides of the political debate to sit together and discuss the issues, the government and security forces to follow the law when dealing with protesters, for an end to media censorship and said that the Guardian Council had missed a chance to restore people's trust.

5. Rafsanjani's speech at Tehran University was attended by thousands of people - many of them protesters who wore green bands on their heads or around their wrists. Thousands of people gathered outside the University while hundreds of thousands marched across other areas of Tehran even while the speech/sermon was being delivered.

6. Protesters inside the mosque chanted "Allah o Akbar", "Azadi... Azadi" (Freedom... Freedom) and slogans against Russia and China. Rafsanjani tried several times to stop people from chanting but the chants continued sporadically. It is worth mentioning that there was a loudspeaker inside the mosque which chanted, "Death to America!", but every time that slogan was heard, people loudly replied with, "Death to Russia, Death to China!"

7. How many people may have gathered in Tehran is very difficult to determine. While tweet sources claimed up to four million people were out on the streets, the real numbers were probably much lower. From photos and video footage that was released and testimonies from reliable tweet sources, one could assume that there were close to a million people or slightly more than a million took part in the protests. Again, this is just an estimate.

8. By far the largest part of the crowd headed from Tehran University to Azadi Square. Streets around the University were crowded with protesters. There were a few hundred pro-Ahmadinejad and pro-Khamenei protesters out too. Many held placards with Ahmadinejad and Khamenei's pictures. They also staged a march towards Azadi Square.

9. Thousands of people gathered around the Ministry of Interior, the IRIB building and in front of Evin Prison. Large numbers of protesters were present in Keshavarz Boulevard, Enghelab Square, Valiasr, Jamhori Blvd, Ferdowsi Square and Quds Ave and well as 16 Azar Ave. Protesters chanted "Death to the Dictator" "Where's My Vote?" and similar slogans.

10. Cell phone Networks were cut off in most parts of Central Tehran and in areas where protesters had gathered elsewhere. IRIB photographers and cameramen were filming individual protesters from within the crowds and from high-rise buildings. The task was made difficult because there protests in all parts of Tehran, not just the centre of city.

11. Basijis and other security forces today brutalized protesters once again. At least two people were shot and one girl was reportedly killed during the protests. Basijis used batons to beat people - even small children and women were not spared. Many women were reportedly stabbed with knives by Basijis dressed as women. Several mosques around the city were packed with Basijis waiting to come out and clash with protesters.

12. Heavy clashes were reported from around the IRIB building, Jame Jam Street, Keshavarz Blvd, Amirabad Street, University of Tehran dorms, Ferdowsi Square, Jomhoori Street, Azadi Street and almost all parts of Central Tehran as well as in front of Tehran University where clashes were the heaviest. Gunshots were heard from many parts of the city, especially Azadi Square. Basijis even attacked people who had come to prayers.

13. More than a hundred people were arrested from Tehran today, a large majority from the central part of the city. Tear gas was used extensively in many parts of the city by Basijis and other security forces. There were also reports that many Basijis were carrying taserguns and used them on many protesters. Military helicopters were flying around the city for much of the day. Many shop-keepers and people with homes close to the protests opened their doors for protesters running away from security forces. Cars driving past protests honked their horns in a show of support for protesters. Protests continued till about midnight Tehran time.

14. Today, there were also reports of protests in Karaj, Ghazvin, Mashhad and Tabriz. In Mashhad, hundreds of people walked the streets with green placards. It has been partially confirmed that Basijis used tear gas to disperse protesters in Mashhad and many people were injured. A small rally was held in Qom as well.

15. During Ahmadinejad's speech in Mashhad yesterday, it has been confirmed that many people chanted Allah o Akbar and many people there to hear the speech wore green armbands and headbands.

Opposition

16. The Participation Front issued a statement today, thanking the Sea of Green for participating in rallies on Friday. The statement also added that the people responsible for the coupe d'�tat against the people would eventually lose the battle against the will of the people.

17. Reports indicate that Said Mohammad Khatami and Abdullah Nouri held a meeting on Tuesday last week to discuss the current situation in the country. It is being reported that Nouri has joined the opposition to the elections by urging of Khatami.

Government / International

18. President-Select Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed several members of his cabinet so far, but the full list of cabinet members will be released after his inauguration. Among the appointees, Asfandyar Rahim Mashaie has been appointed to the post of first vice president. He also appointed a new chief for the Iranian nuclear agency.

19. Iran Intelligence Minister Gholamhosein Ejaie claimed today that Israel as one of the enemies of the Islamic Republic had been responsible for much interference in Iran's affairs. Ejaie also added that the Israeli government had plotted to assassinate Ahmadinejad during the elections. (For once...)

Arrests / Release / Deaths

20. New reports indicate that at least 36 officers of the Iranian Army have been arrested for participating in Kamyl prayers for detainees and martyrs. They were arrested in Ray city close to Tehran on charges of holding secret meetings and activities pertaining to sabotage.

21. Shadi Sadr - an Iranian lawyer, feminist and journalist - was beaten and arrested while making her way towards the prayers today in Tehran. Later, her house was thoroughly searched by security forces. Her whereabouts are unknown at this point. New reports indicate that yesterday, Roshanak Siyasi - another feminist and reformist activist - was arrested as well. Other detainees from recent days include Ahmad Madadi, Raoof Taheri and Reza Abbasi from Zanjan.

22. An advisor to Mousavi has announced that a committee formed by reformists to follow cases of detainees will start operations from Saturday. Families of detainees can contact their office on this phone number: 77637696

23. I can now confirm the gang rape and death of Taraneh Mousavi. She was a leftist reformist student and was detained by Basijis a few days ago. She was raped repeatedly and her charred body was found in Ghazvin two days ago. Another detainee reportedly died on July 9. The cause of death cannot be ascertained at this point.

Media

24. IRIB censored many of Rafsanjani's pro-reform remarks and instead focuses all of its attention on his words for unity. Fars News claimed that people were whistling and clapping while Rafsanjani was giving the sermon. IRIB also failed to mention people chanting against China and Russia.

*A lot of questions regarding Bernard Kouchner's statement that France would recognize Ahmadinejad yesterday were answered by a responsible French citizen who provided us with valuable analysis of what actually happened: What Bernard Kouchner REALLY said about Iran - Why We Protest - IRAN)

**This picture is old, but I figured I'll post it for anyone who hasn't seen it. It shows how the Iranian government photoshopped a pro-Ahmadinejad protest a few weeks ago to make it look larger than it was: http://tinyurl.com/lkqscu --- Courtesy of an Israeli friend)

***A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

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The Green Brief #32 (July 18)

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter. I'm a journalist and a human rights activist and NOT Iranian. This is a compilation of news from Iran that I've gathered through twitter and Iranian sites that were advertised on twitter. Remember, this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons (CC) so you can post it wherever you want as long as you provide a link to the original source and the disclaimer... PLEASE?.)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Saturday, July 18 . (A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs)

In Danish: http://tinyurl.com/l6dcw5

In German: Irannews: Green Brief #32 (18. Juli 2009) - Deutsch

In Hebrew: Content Factory Reports:NO MIND CONTROL CC ????? ?????? ???????? ?(contentfactory)?

In Italian: The Green Brief #32 (July 18) in Italian - Why We Protest - IRAN

In Polish: http://glosiranu.blog.pl/archiwum/in...p?nid=14405462

In Spanish: Informe Verde #32 ? Diplom�tica de Bolsillo

Protests / Unrest

1. An event called the "Global Day of Action" is being organized for human rights in Iran by activists throughout the world. This event will take place on July 25th all across the world- in at least 50 cities. Protesters will demand the freedom of all Iranians apprehended, as well as asking the Iranian Government to stop the repression of the Iranian populace. More about this here: http://united4iran.org/

2. New reports emerging from yesterday's protests, confirm the burning of several Russian flags around Iran - a clear sign of their outrage for Russia's continued support for the Iranian Regime.

3. Youngsters in Iran have taken up a new course of action to show their discontent. Every night, they form small groups and walk around small streets and alleys, chanting slogans against the regime and in support of Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Opposition

4. Etemaade Melli Newspaper reported that the Minister of Information, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejaie, held a meeting with Sayed Mohammad Khatami. It is important to note that Ejaie is widely touted as the "Intelligence Chief" of Iran. It is not clear what was discussed in the meeting at this point.

5. In a statement released today, Sayed Mohammad Khatami said that he was unable to join Friday Prayer's because he "was in Qom holding meetings with prominent clerics." From the onset of the post-election turmoil, several leaders of the opposition have gone to Qom and held meetings with Ayatollahs. Many Ayatollahs have so far pledged their support for the cause of the protesters.

6. In an interview with ILNA today, Emad Afroogh - a conservative Iranian politician and former member of the Iranian Parliament - has criticized the government's media censorship tactics. He supports Rafsanjani's speech and said that Rafsanjani's words pointed out necessary steps that need to be taken in order to restore calm in Iran. He said that, "Iran wasn't China and that the government needn't worry about a velvet revolution." He asked the government to prosecute any media outlets that have lied about people's demands and their activities in the post-election turmoil.

7. Shirin Ebadi - Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights activist - released a statement today stating, "If the government doesn't change its mind and act rationally, protests will continue." Ebadi also urged the County of LA yesterday to not grant a business contract to Siemens because of their involvement in Iran's censorship.

Government / International

8. Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi - a member of the Guardian Council - has strongly criticized Rafsanjani's Friday Sermon. He said that, "A government's legitimacy doesn't come from people, but by God's support." He claimed that Rafsanjani had "no right" to ask for the release of detainees. He pointed out that Prophet Mohammed had also ordered the destruction of mosques built by Monafiqeen (People who claimed to be Muslim so they could create rifts between the Islamic communities).

(This is a correction. There was an error in reporting as we reported that Mesbah Yazdi had released those statements while it was Mohammad Yazdi. Apologies)

9. Many hard-liners - including Ahmad Khatami as well as Keyhan Daily Newspaper (which is considered to be the voice of Khamenei) - have criticized the appointment of Rahim Mashaie as Vice President of Iran. They have requested Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to review his decision because Mashaie was "not fit" for the position. Mashaie has been blasted by hard-liners in the past for saying, "The people of Iran were friends of the people of Israel."

10. Reports indicate that Iran's government has plans for systematically removing all "pro-Mousavi" and "anti-Ahmadinejad" professors from Iranian Universities. The first victims of this policy - Dr. Fatimeh Rakeie and Dr. Abdollah Naseri of Tehran's Az-Zahra University - have been forced to resign their positions. Many faculty members of Az-Zahra had joined Mousavi's movement recently. The "plan" also encompasses government employees from various ministries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has created a list of 200 names that have to be 'purged' from within the ministry.

11. The Guardian Council has published a detailed report about the election and the post-election events that transpired. The report asserts the legitimacy and accuracy of the elections, and notes that all complaints filed against the election were investigated and found to be baseless. The detailed report has been published by Parleman News which you can find here: ??????? ???? : ????? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ???? ???????? ????? ?????? ???? ??

Arrested / Released / Killed

12. Dr. Hasan Shiekhabadi, a political activist and journalist, was arrested yesterday from Mahabad in West Azerbaijan Province. Hossein Mousavi (Not to be confused with Mir Hossein Mousavi) and other members of the Participation Front were arrested right before Friday Prayer's. Three of the members were released, but Hossein Mousavi and many others are still in custody.

13. It has now been confirmed that another detained protester, 18 year old Muhammad Kamrani, has died after being severely tortured by the regime's security forces. According to sources, Kamrani died on Thursday after being in detention for over a week. Evidently, he was tortured so badly that the "gesture" of transferring him to a hospital proved futile. Reports indicate that even though Kamrani never regained consciousness after his transfer, he was still kept bound in his hospital bed.

14. In an interview published by Javan Daily, the Minister of Information has stated that many people responsible for the operation and maintenance of Ayandeh and Jomhooriyat Websites have been arrested. He alleged that, "These people were working to harm the Islamic Republic and that the government would clamp down on ALL people who are involved in attempts at creating tensions within Iran."

15. Amnesty International has released a statement calling for the immediate release of Iranian feminist, lawyer, and journalist Shadi Sadr, who was arrested yesterday. Security forces also raided her home and confiscated her computer, documents and many of her personal belongings.

Miscellaneous

16. Tehran Municipality Council has announced that it will be cleaning Azadi Tower. An icon in the city built 38 years ago, Azadi Tower is located in Azadi Square - the scene of many of the protests. According to reports, orders to wash the tower are due to the overwhelming display of anti-government and pro-reform slogans written all over the white tower.

17. Nokia sales are really taking a hit in Tehran as members of the Green Movement have started an active campaign to rid the country of the company's cell phones. According to sources, members have organized a campaign to stop buying new Nokia cell phones and discard those already in use. Similar campaigns are taking place around the world by other groups of concerned individuals. Reports from yesterday indicate that the County of Los Angeles might not grant Siemens -another company implicated along with Nokia in selling surveillance equipment to the Iranian Government - a business contract because of anger over its role in the regime's ability to track down dissenters.

Listen to: Sea of Green Radio // Playlist --> http://ow.ly/hCcZ // Browse --> Radionomy - Sea of Green radio ICECAST COMING SOON// The Big Board: Radio Index - GreenCandle

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The Green Brief #33 (July 19)

Protests / Unrest

1. It has been partially confirmed that a protests took place in Shiraz tonight. Hundreds of protesters gathered in the late afternoon and marched down the streets, chanting slogans against the government for several hours, before peacefully dispersing. Yesterday it was reported that Mahdi Karroubi's supporters had obtained a permit for a peaceful protests in Shiraz. It could not be immediately confirmed if there were any clashes or not.

2. Families of detained protesters will hold another protest in front of Evin prison tomorrow evening.

Opposition

3. Mahdi Karroubi visited some of the families of detainees and expressed his sorrow over the death of more than a hundred Armenians that died in the plane crash yesterday. Karroubi also visited the Church of St. Sarkis in Tehran to offer his condolences to the Iran-Armenian community over the tragic incident.

4. In a separate statement released today, Mahdi Karroubi has said that he feels "ashamed of being part of a government that spreads lies." He condemned the security forces for alleging that their staff had "been martyred," as well as "they hadn't opened fire on anyone." He asserted that, "Such lies could not be contained - the entire world had witnessed the atrocities committed by the security forces." Karroubi also confirmed that he was indeed attacked on Friday.

5. Khatami also held meetings with families of detainees today. During the meeting, he thanked Rafsanjani for his statements during the Friday Prayer's. He went on to add that what Rafsanjani asked for is the "bare minimum requirements" that must be met by the government. Khatami added that not only is the government facing a challenge, but the Islamic Regime was in danger because of the government's actions. He asked the government to pay heed to Rafsanjani's statements, but added that a referendum on the government's legitimacy should be held as soon as possible to restore the people's trust. It has been reported that during the meeting, two prisoners were allowed by prison guards at Evin to call their families.

6. Hashemi Rafsanjani traveled to Mashhad and will be there for a few days. According to sources, Rafsanjani is there to hold meetings with Ayatollahs Makarem Shirazi and Safi Golpayegani. Many important clerics are in Mashhad right now because of the holy month of Rajab (Shi'ite). Reports indicate that the overwhelming majority of clerics in Mashhad endorse Mousavi and Rafsanjani, while a very small minority is putting their support behind Ahmadinejad.

7. The Association of Combatant Clerics (ACC) has released a statement today calling for a referendum. The ACC also praised Hashemi Rafsanjani's sermon and asked the government to pay heed to his words. According to the ACC, a referendum would be the best way to restore the trust of the Iranian populace - whose trust had been severely diminished by the election and post-election turmoil.

8. Iranian Security Forces are claiming that a plan by the MKO (Mujahideene Khalq Organization) to assassinate Mousavi and Karroubi had been foiled. MKO, which is a left-wing Iranian paramilitary organization, had previously claimed that Israel had plotted to assassinate Ahmadinejad before the election.

9. Mir Hossein Mousavi released a statement today, offering his condolences to the families of victims of the airline crash near Qazvin. In the statement, he showed concern over several recent accidents involving Iranian airlines and asked the government to work to improve flight-safety in Iran.

10. Twenty members of the Iranian Parliament have summoned the Ministers of Intelligence and Judiciary in order to inquire about the arrests of politicians and political activists.

Government / International

11. Rumors circulated today that Esfandyar Rahim-Mashaie, the man appointed as the First Vice President of Iran, had declined the position. There were reports later suggesting Mr. Mashaie had denied making such a statement. We have been unable to confirm either statement, but it seems unlikely that he would decline such an appointment. It has now been confirmed that Khamenei had asked Hashemi Rafsanjani to attend the Inauguration Ceremony of President Ahmadinejad - a request he rejected.

12. Abbasali Kadkhodaie, the spokesperson for the Guardian Council, today criticized Rafsanjani's sermon and responded to comments made by one of Mousavi's representatives. According to Kadkhodaie, the Guardian Council had acted within the law and used all the legal means possible to ensure that the election was free and fair. He also slammed Karroubi and Mousavi for not sending representatives to a committee formed by the Guardian Council to investigate allegations of voting fraud (it is worth mentioning that the committee was set up to investigate only 10% of the total votes cast. Even if all those votes were to be transferred to Mousavi alone, Ahmadinejad would have still been the victor).

13. Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, a prominent Shi'ite cleric and a hard-liner who is supposedly the religious mentor of Ahmadinejad, stated today that "Many politicians are saying they only believe in the Supreme Leader's words because he has been constitutionally appointed. Yet the Supreme Leader has jurisdiction regardless."

14. It has been reported that Ayatollah Javad Amoli and Ayatollah Amini will soon meet with Khamenei to discuss the post-election mayhem. In another breakthrough, Ayatollah Kharrazi of Qom has announced that "Khamenei is responsible for the blood that has been spilled during the past few weeks."

15. The Iranian Minister of Energy has warned citizens that causing power blackouts (by over-using electricity) was useless and would, moving forward, be considered sabotage. This comes at a time when fresh allegations by the IRG have been levied against protesters. The government is once again claiming that:

A. The protests were pre-planned

-AND-

B. Protesters were prepared to use violence weeks before the election.

Arrested / Released / Killed

16. Iranian Government officials have confirmed that the last British Embassy staffer, Hossein Resam, had been released on bail. His release comes days after firm pressure from the international community. The government has also announced that over 40 protesters had been arrested during protests on Friday. 17. In a letter addressed to the Judiciary, the Ministry of Information, and the Attorney General of Iran, Ayatollah Mousavi Tabrizi has demanded for the speedy release of all detainees. He has demanded the lifting of all sanctions against political parties and a clamp down on those who have violated the people's civil rights during the protests.

18. Disturbing news continues to emerge from Evin Prison. Released detainees claim that prisoners are chained to walls within the prison's halls - in hot and overcrowded conditions. Prisoners are frequently beaten while other prisoners are forced to watch. Sleep-deprivation is common. Food and medication are hard to come by. Other sources also report of continued use of sexual assault as a torture tactic (we have already confirmed that many prisoners have been raped).

19. Dozens of university students from Tabriz, Mashhad and Semnan have been asked to appear before disciplinary committees. Reports suggest that most of these students had actively taken part in the protests following the elections.

Media

20. IRIB TV has reportedly broadcasted a mangled-up version of Hashemi Rafsanjani's sermon. The broadcast omits his appeal for the immediate release of prisoners, as well as his call for the lifting of media censorship. Instead, it focuses entirely on his calls for unity. The broadcast also stressed that Rafsanjani had not taken sides during the speech. This is while Grand Ayatollah Sobhani today slammed the Iranian media for lying about what was happening in Iran and called it un-Islamic to do so.

Note: (I respectfully decline to participate in the ongoing "hunt for Neda's killer." I have seen pictures of a man that many people claim to be the IRG member who killed her, but we cannot be certain about it. Even if we could, this would only incite people to commit violence - please remember, the Sea of Green needs to remain peaceful.)

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*****A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

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The Green Brief #34 (July 20)

Protests / Unrest

1. Mir Hossein Mousavi has endorsed his protesters' tactic of causing massive black-outs. The Iranian Government has equated the tactic to sabotage, but protesters have used it as a non-violent means to defy the government.

2. Neda Aga-Soltan's family will be congregating at her grave site on the 40th day after her death on July 30, 2009 (the 40th day after a person's death is traditionally the most essential day of mourning for Muslims). No prior announcements will be made - however, the family said they will welcome anyone who may want to partake in Neda's bereavement.

3. There are calls for demonstrations tomorrow to commemorate the deaths of protesters killed on June 20th. It has not been confirmed whether or not it has the backing of any opposition leaders.

4. Italian fashion designer, Guillermo Mariotto, wore a shirt that said "Neda Alive" (in green writing) during Haute Couture. All the models presenting his newest creations also wore green wristbands in solidarity with the Green Movement in Iran. Video: You Tube Video

5. Archbishop Bishop Desmund Tutu - a Nobel Peace Prize winner and South African human rights activist - has announced that he too will be joining the Global Day of Action in support of the Green Movement. Other prominent Iranian and international personalities including Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams, Betty Williams, Mairead Maguire, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Dariush, and Simin Behbahani. Details on the event can be found here: http://united4iran.org/

6. Noam Chomsky - an eminent American philosopher, linguist, author and lecturer who is 81 years old - has announced that he will partake in the hunger strike in support of the Green Movement in New York. The hunger strike is reportedly being held from July 22-25, and will encompass many important Iranian and international figures.

Opposition

7. The grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, Sayed Hassan Khomeini, has reportedly left the country. Reports indicate he left the country after being pressured by the government to attend Ahmadinejad's Inauguration Ceremony - in order to provide the government with much needed legitimacy.

8. Mousavi had a meeting with families of detainees today, where he made several statements:

� He announced that the Green Movement was a peaceful movement, BUT that it was ready to make sacrifices should the need arise.

� He asked the government to ensure freedom of speech. He claimed that it would foster a calm environment in the country - a much better alternative to the current atmosphere of fear created by the extensive use of security forces.

� He stated "The Iranian Nation had matured and that the use of pre-1979 tactics wouldn't be enough to silence it," and "The Nation had been reborn and was going to defend its achievements." He condemned the on-going arrests in the country and called it a "National issue - one that would not solve the government's problems."

� He called it "An insult to the Iranian Nation to suggest that foreigners had orchestrated the post-election protests in Iran." He also criticized the government for defending the arrests of peaceful protesters and called it unjust and cruel.

� He added that, "NO ONE in the international community was going to believe the lies the government was spreading with forced confessions from detainees." Mousavi, Karoubi and Khatami have been holding regular meetings with the families of detainees during the past three weeks.

9. Supporters of Mousavi in Eastern Azerbaijan Province held a meeting Sunday night and released a statement in support of Mousavi. Hundreds of prominent members of society including politicians, human rights activists and university professors attended the meeting.

10. Press TV quoted Mousavi as saying that he had "spent nearly $3.5 million US dollars on his campaign," and that "Mahdi Karroubi had spent roughly the same amount."

In a rare break from the government, Press TV's printed:

"According to Mousavi, Iran needs what he called a 'free media' to reverse the growing 'appeal of foreign media' which he claimed is a side effect of the 'lack of press freedoms' and the national broadcaster's 'mistaken approach."
The report also accused protesters of turning to violence and claimed that the Guardian Council had authenticated the elections after 'launching an extensive probe' of examining the complaints from the defeated candidates.

Government / International

11. Ali Motaherri - a representative of Tehran in the Iranian Parliament - criticized Ayatollah Yazdi's statements that questioned Rafsanjani's sermon on Friday. Motaherri said, "A regime's legitimacy was only guaranteed by people's support."

12. Khamenei issued harsh words today to 'Iran's Elite.' He said, "The Elite should watch their words and actions carefully, because they are facing a test." He added, "Failing the test would mean that not only would they lose their positions within the regime, but also lose their credibility and become pariahs." Although no names were mentioned, many say his speech was directed at Rafsanjani - for creating insecurity and disorder in the country. Khamenei declared, "The Iranian Nation would hate anyone who participated in such actions." He called the "creation of violence the biggest sin."

13. President-Select Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's office has asked people who want to help the country to come forward and offer their services. According to his office, the government was looking for people to help the president's administration at different levels and that a committee will soon be formed to recruit such people.

Arrested / Released / Killed

14. Partially-confirmed reports from Evin Prison indicate that one protester was tortured for days in order to extort a confession. After all torture tactics failed, a doctor was brought in to examine the detainee who was found to be deaf and mute. He was later released. Other reports from Evin Prison suggest a new torture tactic: hanging detainees' upside-down for hours, and sometimes the entire day.

15. Mohammad Kamrani's body was laid to rest today at Beheshte Zahra Cemetery. He was one of the protesters who was detained and tortured severely. He was transferred to Tehran's Mehr Hospital unconscious and shackled. He never regained consciousness, and later died.

16. It is now confirmed that Hamid and Puran Ebrahimnezhad - who have been in detention since their arrest - were in fact arrested on July 7, 2009. They were reportedly beaten while being hauled away.

17. On a positive note, detained political activist Mehdi Khazali has been released from Evin Prison. In a statement released today, families of political prisoners asked the government, yet again, to "promptly release all prisoners and stop the violent repression of the populace at the hands of security forces." Their statement also thanked Rafsanjani for taking a bold stand against the continued detention of political prisoners and peaceful protesters.

(I am compiling a report on torture and rape of detainees in Iran during the post-election violence. Should be released tonight or tomorrow)

Media

18. A leading Iranian Cleric - Hojatoleslam Seyed Mehdi Tabatabai - criticized Ahmadinejad's statements (against his opponents right after the election) in a televised interview on IRIB. He said, "Ahmadinejad should have immediately called for dialogue with his opponents and should NOT have subjected them to ridicule." He added, "The post-election violence was caused by hostility stemming from the blatant ridicule." It should be noted that this is one of the very FEW instances where Iranian media has allowed criticism of Ahmadinejad to be broadcasted on IRIB.

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****A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

B. ****Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_34

B. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

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The Green Brief #35 (July 21)

Protests / Unrest

1. Thousands of people gathered in and around Tehran to commemorate the deaths of several protesters who died a month ago. It was also the anniversary of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh's uprising against the former Shah more than half a century ago. The protest today was set forth by the people - it did not have the backing of any of the reformist leaders.

2. Hordes of protesters made their way to 7 Tir Square in Tehran chanting anti-government slogans. Protesters were wearing green armbands and headbands. Crowds gathered at Vanak Square, Valiasr Square, and adjoining areas.

3. The number of women outnumbered the number of men in some areas.
Although exact numbers are hard to obtain, most sources estimate the number of protesters to be around 15,000. Today's slogans included praise for former President Mohammad Mossadegh - who was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by the CIA in 1953.

4. Thousands of security forces armed with guns, batons and tear gas gathered in many parts of the city. Their presence was mostly jam-packed at 7 Tir Square. Many partially-confirmed reports indicate that several foreigners were spotted among the ranks of the security forces gathered at 7 Tir Square.

5. Police clashed with protesters as the crowd continued to swell - using brutal force to disperse them. Helicopters flew above Central Tehran. IRIB personnel were again positioned on high-rise buildings to take photographs and videos of protesters - to later be used by security forces. Police had also surrounded the IRIB building for protection against protesters. Protesters walked past IRIB with no clashes reported.

6. Women again took the brunt of the beatings as they were not fast enough to escape the attacks from security forces. Many were viciously beaten with batons. The use of tear gas was confirmed - especially at 7 Tir Square. Most of the shops around the city were already closed - protesters had nowhere to take refuge this time. Clashes were also reported from Baharestan Square. Although it has been confirmed that shots were heard from several areas in Tehran, no deaths could be confirmed. No confirmation of protesters suffering from gunshot wounds, either.

7. On a lighter note, many eyewitness accounts reported that some security forces would stop running after protesters and start cursing their superiors. Many complained of fatigue and were seen panting and telling protesters, "To just go and leave us alone."

8. Reports confirm protests in Oroumieh and Shiraz. There have been accounts of small protests in Tabriz - but none have been confirmed. Cell phone service was cut-off throughout Central Tehran.

9. In Oroumieh, hundreds of people marched peacefully but were attacked by security forces trying to disperse them. Partially-confirmed reports indicate that shots were fired at protesters. No casualties can be confirmed at this point.

10. Hundreds of people marched through Chamran Blvd and Saadi Street in Shiraz, before being attacked by security forces. Protesters were beaten severely with batons. The security presence was so overwhelming, that many claim there were more security forces than protesters. People chanted, "We want goat meat - NOT a goat president!"

11. The citizens of Iran again used electrical blackouts as a means to show their discontent. It was reported that many parts of Tehran, as well as some parts of Karaj and Qazvin experienced blackouts. Reports emerged indicating that Iranian TV did not even display the correct time as a means of confusing people who wanted to synchronize their overuse of electricity.

12. Two original members of the 1999 student protests in Tehran - Ahmad Tabatabie and Hasan Zareh Ardsher - have announced their participation in the upcoming "hunger strike" in front of the UN building in New York. Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn has also announced his support for the hunger strike. The hunger strike will be held July 22 - 25th.

13. Seventy-two former political prisoners from Iran have announced that they will hold a hunger strike in Berlin to show their solidarity with the Iranian people. The hunger strike will take place July 24th and 25th.

14. Mahdi Karroubi's supporters are planning a protest that will be held on August 2nd - the same day as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Presidential Inauguration. The location has not been disclosed at this point.

Opposition

15. Sayed Mohammad Khatami met with families of two political prisoners, Hossein Tajik and Hamza Ghaleb, last night. They both work for Mousavi's campaign. Rafsanjani's website published a page from his memoirs that talked about his days of fighting against the Shah during the Revolution. The page outlines that every generation faces challenges and that fear was never going to stop generations from fighting for their rights. Many are interpreting this as a direct message to Khamenei.

16. Former Minister of Health, Iraj Fazel, has criticized the government's clamp-down on peaceful protesters and asked for an immediate halt to the violence. He stated, "People of Iran did not revolt against the Shah so that the blood of our youth could be spilled by the revolution."

17. After yesterday's gathering of reformists in Eastern Azerbaijan Province, reformists in Fars Province held a meeting in Shiraz today. They declared their support for Mousavi and called for the annulment of the elections.

Government / International

18. The infighting within the Iranian Government over Ahmadinejad's appointment of Asfandyar Rahim Mashaie as one of his Vice Presidents continues. Reports today suggest that Ahmadinejad continues to support his selection. One of his aides, Mojtaba Samara Hashemi, was quoted today as saying, "Ahmadinejad will not reconsider the appointment; it is final."

19. Ahmadinejad's continued support for Mashaie was "checked" today by Khamenei. Sayed Mohammad Hassan Abotorabifard informed the ISNA (Iranian Student's News Agency) that Khamenei, the majority of Members of Parliament, and the Iranian people wanted Mashaie to either resign his position or for Ahmadinejad to take back his appointment. Abotorabifard, an MP from Qazvin, stated that Khamenei had sent an official letter to Ahmadinejad opposing the appointment of Mashaie.

20. In an ironic twist to his claim of "good governance," Ahmadinejad appointed his son-in-law, Mehdi Khorshidi, as Director of the Presidential Secretary, and the husband of Ahmadinejad's sister-in-law, as the head of Iran's largest youth organization.

21. The Iran's Chief of Police, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, accused the opposition of "inciting sedition" and announced that the, "Iranian police will crush anyone who creates tensions in Iran." The Iranian Judiciary announced that it was NOT going to enact a statute that lawyers claimed "restricted their freedom to practice their profession."

22. Russia's Foreign Minister stated, "Only a small number of people in Iran were chanting against Russia during protest." Meanwhile, Iran's Ambassador to Russia, declared, "Russian planes were far more secure in terms of flight-safety than the Airbus."

23. Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), gave a speech in the US House of Representatives today. McCotter criticized the Iranian government and talked about Taraneh Mousavi's rape and murder. Here's a video link to his speech: YouTube - McCotter on Iran's Khamenei: Your Referendum Has Been Held and You Have Failed Your Test

Arrested / Released / Killed

24. Reports suggest that as many as thirty people were arrested during protests today. No deaths could be confirmed.

25. Mohammad Ali Dadkhah -an Iranian lawyer and human rights activist who was detained after the protests - has been charged with possession of illegal firearms and opium. Mohammad Ali Abtahi has also been charged with possession of illegal weapons. One Iranian blogger has managed to obtain pictures of the 'weapons' discovered in Abtahi's house (LOL): ?????? ???????? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??????? ????? ? ????? ????? ????? ?? ?? ??? ?????

26. It has now been confirmed that Shapur Kazemi - the brother-in-law of Mir Hossein Mousavi - has been in detention for more than a month now. Reports also indicate that during the past few days, at least six prominent reformists have been arrested in Mahabad.

Media

27. The editor for Keyhan Daily Newspaper's dismissed Khatami's call for a "referendum" and called it akin to proposals by Michael Ledeen - from the American Enterprise Institute who in 2003 pressed for a military overthrow of Iran's regime. Press TV's Javad Shamaqdari today said that the IRIB should give Ahamdinejad more airtime.

Miscellaneous

28. Paula Slater has sculpted a detailed portrait bust of Neda Aga-Soltan which will be presented at a rally to support Iran on July 25th. The rally will take place in front of San Francisco City Hall. A picture of the sculpture: Death of Neda

29. The Piazzale Michelangelo - one of Florence's main squares - went green today in support of the Green Movement. Video: YouTube - Piazzale Michelangelo Luglio 2009

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*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

B. Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_35

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

http://torir.org

http://torir.brokep.com

http://img1.anonbw.com

http://tinyurl.com/lexowb

Farsi:

http://torir.org/index.html.fa

http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9
Get video torrents and help on Tor here:

http://gonzotimes.net/?page_id=500

The Green Brief #36 (July 22)

Protests / Unrest

1. Dozens of people gathered nearby Sohrab A'rabi's house in Tehran tonight. They chanted "Death to Dictator" and demanded freedom for the Iranian people. A'rabi is among those killed during the aftermath of the elections by the Iranian government.

2. Families of detainees again rallied in front of Evin Prison. Dozens assembled to ask for the release of their loved ones. Others demanded to know the whereabouts of their missing family members. The whereabouts of large numbers of Iranian protesters detained are unknown and the government refuses to provide information about them.

3. The planned hunger strike in support of the Green Movement commenced in front of the United Nations building in New York today. Akbar Ganji is one of the organizers of the event. Participants include Gogoosh -Iran's most famous Pop Diva, and Shohreh Aghashedlo- an Academy Award-nominated Iranian actress. It is worth mentioning that many other prominent Iranians and non-Iranians were present as well. The strike is planned to last until July 25th. Here's BBC's page on the strike with a video: http://tinyurl.com/nsbqyx

Opposition

4. Mir Hossein Mousavi met with university professors and reporters in Tehran, where he criticized the government and said, "They can't even tolerate the presence of people like Rafsanjani today." He went on to say, "People should continue their quest to ensure that their demands are met in a civil manner." He again asserted the election results as fraudulent, and said that, "A government that does not have legitimacy would only increase internal and external problems for Iran." Mousavi went on to say, "People have the key to resolve the question" and "I do not recognize Ahmadinejad's Government." He stated, "We all witnessed the power of the people as they gathered under the same banner - regardless of their affiliations." Mousavi affirmed his intent of creating a new political front - one that would include several well-known politicians. The new front's main objective will be to achieve the demands of the Iranian people, and that it would be unveiled next week.

5. In a separate two-hour meeting with reporters and other media personalities, Mir Hossein Mousavi discussed the current situation in Iran. He called for the immediate release of detainees and asked the government to ensure press freedom and to lift the media censorship.

6. Abdollah Nouri - another reformist who has joined the Green Movement - said that in the mid 70s, "No one thought that the Shah would be overthrown one day and that he would be forced to flee the country."

7. Ayatollah Sayed Ali Mohammad Dasteghaib - an eminent cleric from Shiraz - has announced his support for Rafsanjani's sermon. He is now backing Mousavi and Karroubi and asked other clerics to join the growing support for the reformists. He stated, "Clerics should NOT be divided on an issue that has so much mass support amongst its people." During the past month, several Ayatollahs have made their position well-known. For a full listing of Ayatollahs and their positions, please visit Tehran Bureau's website (I can attest to most of its authenticity): http://tehranbureau.com/ayatollah-watch/

8. Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani - in response to a question from one of his followers - said, "The appointment of someone to a leadership position who's gained it through fraud is illegitimate." He added, "However, people need to have evidence and need to be certain that such an individual had indeed used illegal means to get to that position for his presidency to be illegitimate." He acknowledged, "Complaints of other candidates cannot delegitimize a president unless those complaints are found to be accurate." He clarified, "Only the Presidency would lose its legitimacy; not the Regime nor the people working for the Regime."

9. Partially-confirmed reports indicate that Ayatollah Wahid Khorasani - another important cleric - warned Sadegh Larejani today that, "He would ruin his afterlife if he accepts the appointment to head Iran's Judiciary." Sadegh Larejani is a member of the Guardian Council, and is a staunch conservative being groomed to replace the current head of Judiciary. Larejani had reportedly stated in 2006 that people's vote didn't give a government its legitimacy.

10. Hashemi Rafsanjani's brother - Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani - has dismissed claims made by Mojtaba Zounnour (Khamenei's representative to the Revolutionary Guard) that he had donated more than five million dollars to Mohsen Rezaie's campaign. Mohammad declared that he did not donate money to any of the candidate's campaigns. Rezaie's camp on the other hand, vowed that if Zounnour could not prove his allegations, they would take him to court.

11. Mohsen Rezaie blamed Ahmadinejad's supporters of attempting to damage his credibility. According to Rezaie's website, an active campaign primarily instigated by Ahmadinejad's Party, had begun to discredit him and his achievements.

12. A committee that has been formed to follow the cases of detainees and to provide legal help to their families met with Mahdi Karroubi for the third time today - and asked for his continued support. Karroubi asked the committee to designate lawyers for following the cases of individual detainees as soon as possible. The committee later announced that they will soon be holding meetings with the Parliamentary Commission on National Security and Judicial Affairs as well as Iran's Attorney General.

13. Mohammad Khatami reiterated his position today and called for a referendum on the government's legitimacy. He insisted that people needed to make their voices heard. He said, "If this demand is not accepted, all legal channels for people to reach their goals would be closed." Khatami criticized detractors of claiming that he, Mousavi, and other reformists were working against the regime. He stated, "The referendum is an insurance policy," and urged the government to hold one as soon as possible.

Government / International

14. Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi has joined the battle over the appointment of Asfandyar Mashaie as one of Ahmadinejad's Vice Presidents. He called his appointment "absolutely illegitimate." Khamenei has opposed Mashaie's appointment, yet Ahmadinejad has refused to back down. Mashaie released a statement today on his official blog, calling himself "a staunch conservative." He declared that his earlier statement, in which he called "The people of Iran friends of the Israeli people," was the official government position at the time. It has also been partially-confirmed that during today's Cabinet meeting, Ahmadinejad had a verbal altercation with Hossein Saffar Harandi -Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance - over Mashaie's appointment, causing Harandi to leave the meeting.

15. Ahmadinejad signed into law - and issued an order for its implementation -a decree that severely damages freedom of expression in Iran. According to Press TV, the law requires internet service providers to save virtually ALL data that has been sent and received by their clients for a period of three months.

16. Mojtaba Zounnour - Khamenei's representative to the IRG - declared today, "Protesters armed themselves with pickaxes, shovels, and even purchased tear gas BEFORE the election in order to take part in post-election violence." He proclaimed that an "underground armed resistance group," with over 300,000 members, had been formed before the election. He insisted, "This group's mission was to trigger a revolution against the Islamic Republic - with help from the BBC." He also confirmed that at least two Basiji Members had been killed by protesters during the violence.

17. UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announced today that the British Government supported the rights of the Iranian protesters. He called the arrests of British Embassy staff and the expulsion of two British diplomats "unacceptable." Because of mounting international pressure, all staff members were released. Brown told reporters, "We have to be concerned if individual rights of citizens are being affected."

18. Reports indicate that 306 conservative clerics in Qom have released a statement in support of Ayatollah Yazdi's dismissal of Rafsanjani's demands during his Friday Sermon.

19. Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, told reporters yesterday, "The legitimacy of Ahmadinejad's Government was being challenged by the people." Sweden currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU for six months, so this comes as more of a European position than a Swedish.

Arrested / Released / Killed

20. Three journalists have now been confirmed to have been detained by the government. They include: Sayed Emar Kalantari - the editor-in-chief of Ayandeh website, Hossein Aghaie and Reza Rafi'ee Foroushani. Mohammad Reza Azeemi and Mostafa Sha'bani were also reportedly arrested today. Both men are lawyers who work for Raad - a legal institution that operates in Tehran.

21. Towhid Begi, Karroubi's campaign photographer, and Mojtaba Tehrani, a photographer working for Etemaade Melli Newspaper, were released today.

22. Reports surfaced yesterday that two people had died and several were injured in clashes with security forces in the city of Orumieh in Western Azerbaijan Province. Based on reports from today, I can now partially-confirm this.

23. Mohseni Ejaie, Iran's Minister of Intelligence, has recently said that more confessions of detainees will be broadcasted soon on National television.

24. The Revolutionary Road blog has published the names of 65 people who they claimed have died in the unrests, along with many more who have been detained. I cannot confirm the list, but here is the link for your review: http://tinyurl.com/lz6gcg

Scott Lucas, and his team over at Enduring America, has kindly translated all the names to English. If you want to see the list, please check-out their very informative and accurate website: http://tinyurl.com/lu6a6g

*Special Note: This is a personal request. Today, a very disturbing picture was disseminated on Twitter. It contained several dead bodies piled-up against a wall - with the poster claiming that these were the bodies of tortured detainees from Evin Prison. The picture was later discredited as being from Iraq. In the future, if such pictures make their way to you, please make sure it is authentic. Graphic pictures cause extreme pain and trauma to many people who are following and reporting on Twitter. Thank you.

*Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_36 ; Create it if it doesn't exist.

*If you wana republish the Green Brief, please visit this page: http://tinyurl.com/mjxrz3

*For Radio Broadcasters: http://tinyurl.com/nmvxpk

*(A list of all the Green Briefs: http://ded1.hybrid-optix.com/greenbriefs.html

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

B. Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_36

C. Iranmapping: iranmap.whyweprotest.net ; If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context for Iranmapping, please follow the instruction over at http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/IranMapping

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

http://torir.org

http://torir.brokep.com

http://img1.anonbw.com

http://tinyurl.com/lexowb

Farsi:

http://torir.org/index.html.fa

http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9

Get video torrents and help on Tor here:

http://gonzotimes.net/?page_id=500

The Green Brief #37 (July 23)

Protests / Unrest

1. Dozens of Iranian-Armenians and Iranians protested in front of Caspian Airline's office in Tehran today. A journalist covering the protests was arrested, but later freed. The protesters demanded to know why a Caspian Airline's flight from Tehran to Yerevan, Armenia crashed near Qazvin more than a week ago. Security forces dispersed the protesters. Iranian Government Officials have said that it will take another 2 months to complete their investigation.

2. The hunger strike in front of the UN building in New York continued today, despite the pouring rain. Protesters sang songs from the revolution of 1979 and demanded that Iranian rights be safeguarded. Protesters declared their opposition to any military action against Iran. See pictures below - compliments of Mehdi Saharkhiz: onlymehdi, People singing so many ppl even in the rain

3. The citizens of Tehran have planned a protest for this Saturday. Details of the protest will be provided after it has transpired. People continued to chant "Allah-o-Akbar" last night in Tehran. Others walked the streets chanting "Death to the Dictator," and "Allah-o-Akbar."

Opposition

4. In a statement released today, Mousavi said, "We will not stop until the last detainee has been released by the government." Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, stated, "The government can fabricate as many lies as it wants to, but the people of Iran will never believe any of the allegations against my detained brother." She added, "My brother is only one amongst many other Iranian brothers and sisters who have been imprisoned - this is why I have not given his name to the media." Lastly, she indicated that she will fight for her brother's freedom.

5. Hossein Khomeini - a grandson of Imam Khomeini - has told the BBC in an interview that an Islamic Government had no legal basis in Islam unless the prophet or one of the 12 Imams was leading it. Hence, hinting that the current regime had no legal basis in Islam.

He also added that the current constitution and government could not be changed as long as a post for a spiritual leader as the country's Supreme Leader existed, adding that spiritual leadership was for the prophet and the 12 Imams - 11 of which are dead and one is believed to be in hiding for more than a millennium. He condemned the government's killing of peaceful protesters and of the indiscriminate arrests.

Government / International

6. It has been confirmed that Mohammad Yazdi - Secretary of the Assembly of Experts - has written a letter condemning Rafsanjani's speech during Friday Prayers. Yazdi has asked him to revoke his stance. Although the letter is being circulated in the name of the entire Assembly, reports indicate that only a quarter of the members have signed it - another quarter has declined to do so.

7. IRIB has published Ahmadinejad's letters of appointment for several of his new staff members. The list includes:

1: Asfandyar Rahim Mashaie as 1st Vice President
2: Mehrdad Bazrpash as Director of the National Youth Organization
3: Parvez Davoodi as 1st Advisor to the President
4: Sayed Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi as 1st Assistant to the President
5: Ali Akbar Salehi as Director of the National Atomic Energy Agency
6: Mohammad Javad Hajali Akbari as Presidential Advisor on Youth Affairs
7: Masood Zaribafan as Director of Martyrs Foundation and Veterans Affairs
8: Hamid Baghaie as Director of the Office of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts

8. The Minister of Communication announced that SMS services will be reactivated step-by-step. SMS services have been essentially suspended in Iran for more than a month. Protesters were thought to rely on SMS services for coordinating their protests.

9. Ahmad Khatami - a member of the Assembly of Experts Leadership Council and hard-line cleric - announced today that, "Ahmadinejad will prove his loyalty to Khamenei by quickly removing Mashaie from his post as VP." Khamenei has already shown his express desire for Mashaie's removal.

10. In a statement released today, Ayatollah Dastegheyb yet again praised Rafsanjani's Friday Sermon and asked the government to listen to Mousavi, Karroubi and Rezaie's demands. He called for unity among Iranians. He added, "Foreigners are never going to be Iran's friend- unity among Iranians is the only solution to Iran's problems."

11. On the other spectrum, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Gharshi also released a written statement that was sent to government officials and opposition leaders criticizing Rafsanjani's Friday Sermon. Gharshi - who is a representative for Western Azerbaijan Province in the Assembly of Experts (which Rafsanjani heads) - told Rafsanjani, "It caused me much pain and distress to see that you were unable to keep yourself away from the turmoil on the streets." He asked Rafsanjani to stop before his "achievements and bright past" go to waste.

12. Ayatollah Abolghasem Khazali has also criticized Rafsanjani's Sermon and said that the elections had been a marvelous event. He hinted that prisoners should not be released because they had been implicated in violence. It is worth mentioning that Ayatollah Khazali's son was detained during the protests and has now been freed on bail.

13. In an interview with the BBC, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "The internal debates going on inside Iran have made it difficult, if not impossible, for them to pursue any diplomatic engagement, not just with us but anyone, like the P5+1 [permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany]. There is so much that is on hold."

14. Sweden - which heads the rotating presidency of the EU for six months - has asked the Iranian Government to promptly release Clotilde Reiss, a French citizen who has been imprisoned at Evin Prison for weeks.

Arrested / Released / Killed

15. Saeed Shojaiezadeh and Khosro Mousvivand - students at Ahvaz's Naft University - were detained yesterday. The father of martyred protester, Masood Hashemzadeh has been detained from his house by plainclothesmen. His house was searched and many items belonging to Masood were confiscated. Masood died during protests on June 21st on Shademan Ave, north of Azadi Street.

16. More people have been detained during the past few days including: Ahmad Bahri - the founder of Mahabad Monthly who was arrested in Mahabad, Jafar Agha-Mohammadi - an activist from Maghan who was arrested in Maghan. Ramin Sultankhwah, Saeed Kashani, Zafar Mogheemi, Saeed Shamsaie and Abbas Zareh-Haqeeqi were arrested in Gonabad.

17. More reports indicate that missing protester, Alireza Eftekhari, was actually killed during protests. Mohsen Rohulamini - the son of the former Director of Pasteur Institute in Tehran and a top advisor to Mohsen Rezaie - who was feared to be in detention, has now also been confirmed to have died at Evin. Fahimeh Solahshoor - another protester - is confirmed to have died at a hospital after sustaining head injuries during protests on June 14th. Finally, Maisam Ebadi - a 17 year old protester - has also been confirmed to have died on June 13th.

18. The son of Isa Saharkhiz, Mehdi Saharkhiz, has reported that his father called home from Evin Prison. According to Mehdi, his father is currently being held in solitary confinement. Mehdi said that his father reported of having several broken ribs. He did not reveal if he had been tortured or not.

19. Partially-confirmed reports indicate that many detainees are now being held in a building that was previously used as a drug rehabilitation center in Shorabad (close to Beheshte Zahra Cemetery in Tehran). According to the reports, Evin Prison is now full to capacity and only important prisoners are being kept there. The rest of the "street protesters" are being moved to temporary holding spots.

20. It has been confirmed that Khamenei has plans to pardon and/or reduce the sentences of many detainees in order to foster reconciliation.

21. The mothers of Sohrab A'rabi and Ashkan Sohrabi went to meet Neda Agha-Soltan's mother today. Many other feminists and women's rights activists accompanied them.

22. An Iranian photographer, Ali Zareh, who was detained and released after 40 hours in detention by the security forces has released a Youtube video chronicling his arrest, detention and torture. In the video, Zareh confirms that two of the men responsible for his arrests were Lebanese. The Green Brief has repeatedly confirmed the presence of foreigners amongst the ranks of Iranian Security Forces. This is the first solid confirmation. Here's a link to the video: YouTube - Ali Zare, photographer, talks about his detention in Iran

Media

23. Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi today criticized IRIB for using what he called 'aggressive' and 'unfriendly' language against the opposition and asked for compassion and friendship.

*Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_37 ; Create it if it doesn't exist.

**If you wana republish the Green Brief, please visit this page: For Bloggers, News Sites and Forum who want to republish the Green Brief Plesae Read! - Why We Protest - IRAN

***For Radio Broadcasters: Green Brief Pronounciation Guide - Why We Protest - IRAN

****(A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs

*****A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

B. Discuss/Annotate: Green Brief 36 - Anonymous Intelligence Collective

C. Iranmapping: iranmap.whyweprotest.net ; If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context for Iranmapping, please follow the instruction over at IranMapping - Anonymous Intelligence Collective

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor: ?????? Tor

Get video torrents and help on Tor here:

Gonzo Times ? Torrents List (82 videos)

The Green Brief #38 (July 24)

Protests / Unrest

* For the Iranian airliner accident, check this link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...tory?track=rss

1. In Solidarity with the Green Movement, protests are being held July 25 - that is this Saturday - in more than 100 cities worldwide. This initiative is being spearheaded by United 4 Iran. As I'm not just a journalist but also a human rights activist, I will personally join a protest and strongly urge everyone else to participate and to get their friends and loved ones to accompany them. Shirin Ebadi will be joining the protest in Amsterdam. For information on where they're being held, please visit: www.united4iran.com

As part of the protest, a green scroll will be exhibited close to the Eiffel Tower from 7 to 9 PM. Link here: OpenDNS

2. Families of many political prisoners are planning to stage a protest in front of Evin Prison at 10 AM tomorrow (they have held many protests previously).

3. The hunger strike in front of the UN's main office in New York continued today with the participation of many prominent Iranians, Americans and other nationals. Speaking to press reporters, Noam Chomsky - a prominent American linguist and philosopher - said, "People of the world were learning from the Iranian struggle." Chomsky at the strike: chomsky_hunger_strike_2.jpg (image)

4. An anti-Nokia protest was held in front of the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Protesters blamed the cell phone company for selling the Iranian Regime the necessary equipment needed for monitoring protesters' phone and internet use. Here is a picture from today's protest (graphic images ahead - viewer discretion is advised): Picasa Web Albums - Mere Rhetoric Blog

Opposition

5. In a letter addressed to Mahdi Karroubi, Ayatollah Montazeri expressed "shock and dismay" over last Friday's attack on Karroubi and Abdollah Nouri. They were attacked, pushed and insulted by security forces while on their way to Tehran University for Friday Prayer's. Montazeri reiterated his position that, "A government's legitimacy stems from the support of the majority of a country's citizens - as mentioned in Iran's Constitution."

Moreover, he said, "It's unfortunate that the government is afraid of peaceful protests and the participation of politicians such as Karroubi." He put the blame for the violence and bloodshed upon "those who had given security forces the power to conduct such activities" - a clear hint at Khamenei and Ahmadinejad. He concluded by warning, "The government needs to listen to the VOICE of its people and give in to their legitimate demands in order to restore public trust in the Islamic Republic."

6. Grand Ayatollah Saneie of Qom, has once again stated, "Forced confessions obtained from detainees have no legal or rational merit whatsoever and are un-Islamic." He added, "Although detainees are allowed to lie in order to escape from torture according to Islam, anyone who FORCES confessions through torture, has committed a grave sin." He claimed, "ANY form of torture performed on detainees is illegal and un-Islamic." Saneie had previously slammed IRIB for broadcasting and publishing forced confessions of detainees.

7. Sayed Mohammad Khatami visited the homes of three detained political prisoners today and spoke to their families. The detainees included: Saeed Leylaz, Abbasmirza Abotalebi and Davood Solaimani. Khatami again called for, "The immediate and unconditional release of all the people detained during the post-election protests or otherwise linked to the Green Movement."

8. On July 22nd we reported that 306 conservative clerics from the Qom's Seminary Teachers Association had released a statement in support of Ayatollah Yazdi's dismissal of Rafsanjani's demands during his Friday Sermon. New reports, however, indicate that the statement was actually written by the Editor-in-Chief of Keyhan Newspaper. Reports say that he was ordered to do so by Ayatollah Hejazi - a prominent conservative cleric from Qom. Although most of the clerics of the Association are arch-conservatives, this is yet another sign of government propaganda against the Green Movement.

Government / International

9. The mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, called upon Ahmadinejad to promptly sack Mashaie and called him and his wife "hypocrites." He joins several other prominent conservatives who have been enraged by Mashaie's appointment as Ahmadinejad's Senior Vice President. Mashaie has been criticized heavily by the Iranian Conservatives. Khamenei sent a personal letter to Ahmadinejad asking him to remove Mashaie from his post last week.

10. Within hours, Sayed Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi - a top Ahmadinejad aide - announced, "Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie has declared that he no longer considers himself as the Vice President of Iran. He is ready to accept any other position - to be of service to the Islamic Republic." Mashaie's website, however, does not include anything about his sudden departure. No hint has been given as to who will be replacing him.

(Enduring America did an interesting critique of Mainstream Media's converge of the Mashaie affair. Here's the link: Iran: How the "New Media" Tore Down the Gates of the "Mainstream" | Enduring America)

11. The US Senate voted unanimously last night to adopt bipartisan legislation that allocates funds to help Iranians obtain better access to news and information. This was in part initiated to neutralize the censorship of news and information by the Iranian government. In total, almost $55 million dollars will be made available - according to the legislation called the Victims of Iranian Censorship (VOICE) Act.

12. Sayed Reza Akrami - the Secretary General of the Society of Preachers in Tehran - has been dismissed from his post by the government. Reportedly, members of the Society had objected to his political positions. Akrami had supported Mir Hossein Mousavi during the elections. He also headed a small conservative faction that supported Mousavi's candidacy.

13. Friday Prayer's was lead by Ahmad Khatami today. The number in attendance was roughly 10,000 people - a far cry from the numbers who showed up last Friday. Khatami again criticized the Green Movement - and any politicians or activists who are leading and/or supporting it. After the sermon, about 300 pro-government people protested against Rafsanjani. It only lasted a few minutes. Most of the protesters were reportedly walking towards bus stops and only a few chants could be heard. On the other hand, the National Islamic Council - a reformist body of clerics and politicians - today announced their support for Rafsanjani's Friday sermon.

Arrested / Released / Killed

14. A survivor from the June 23rd brutal attacks in Baharestan Square, has come forward and confirmed that he attacked by a Basiji with an axe. He claims that he was recuperating from injuries. It should be noted that this man has been a reliable source of information from Tehran in the past.

15. Reports indicate that many Iranian professors -who are currently in detention for participating in the post-election protests and/or helping the Green Movement - are most likely to be dismissed from their posts. Many of them teach at Tehran University. The loss of these professors would severely damage the scholastic reputation of the university.

16. The father of martyred protester -Masood Hashemzadeh - has been released from jail on bail. His family has been instructed NOT to hold a funeral for Masood, not to hang black banners outside their home for mourning, and not to talk any foreign media. Neda's family has also been threatened to not hold any mourning events in commemoration of the 40th day after her death as well. This comes after the Ministry of Information announced today that the families of martyred protesters did not have the right to hold any events to commemorate their loved ones.

17. Hossein Shariatmadari - the editor-in-chief of Keyhan Daily Newspaper -wrote an editorial criticizing Ahmadinejad over the "Mashaie Affair." He stated, "Ahmadinejad's delay in dismissing Mashaie - even after receiving a letter from Khamenei - only showed his lack of understanding Islam.

Media

18. Amir Reza Khadem - a conservative member of Parliament - reported on his blog that IRIB had banned his pictures and videos from appearing on their broadcasting and publishing outlets. He added, "This was done in retaliation for my participation in Friday Prayer's last week led by Hashemi Rafsanjani."

*While the Iranian government continues to slam the "Evil UK," an Iranian blog published photos Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel - a former leader in Iran's Parliament - supposedly shopping in London. You are welcome to authenticate it if you're a Londoner. It is worth mentioning that Adel is also the father-in-law of Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei who is widely believed to be the driving force behind the suppression of protesters. Link: Freedom 4 persia: ???? ???? ?? ??????- ????? ???? ??? ???

*Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_38 ; Create it if it doesn't exist.

**If you wana republish the Green Brief, please visit this page: For Bloggers, News Sites and Forum who want to republish the Green Brief Plesae Read! - Why We Protest - IRAN

***For Radio Broadcasters: Green Brief Pronounciation Guide - Why We Protest - IRAN

****(A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs

*****A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

B. Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_38

C. Iranmapping: iranmap.whyweprotest.net ; If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context for Iranmapping, please follow the instruction over at IranMapping - Anonymous Intelligence Collective

D. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

http://torir.org

http://torir.brokep.com

http://img1.anonbw.com

http://tinyurl.com/lexowb

Farsi:

http://torir.org/index.html.fa

http://tinyurl.com/m6k3a9

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Green Brief #39 (July 25)

Protests / Unrest

1. The most wide-spread protests in the history of humanity were held today in support of Iranian's rights. (Not in terms of numbers, but in terms of how many and where they were held.) Thousands of people took part in more than 100 cities across the globe. As words cannot describe this event, you are welcome to see a slideshow of the event: United4Iran's Photostream

For the mammoth Green Scroll in Paris, click here: YouTube - Green Scroll in Paris - Ey Iran - Paris, Mur de la Paix, 25 Juillet 2009

One Green Brief team member reports that during Green Day's concert in New York, pictures of Iran's Green Movement were repeatedly shown in the background. Here's a link to a picture, courtesy PocketDiplomat: Solidarity for Iran during Green Day Concert ? Pocket Diplomat

(Several friends and team members of the Green Brief wrote letters about their experiences during the protests - I'm thankful for everyone's participation. I personally took part in a protest and met with some members of the Baha'i community as well)

2. The protesters in Dubai, however, were told by the government to stop. When they didn't comply, they were forcibly dispersed by the police. It has been partially confirmed that at least one protester was detained.

3. Hundreds of Iranians rallied in Vanak and Azadi Squares and many other parts of the Tehran today. Protesters chanted anti-government slogans and asked for the release of detained protesters. In the scorching heat, people were served with green soft drinks. Protesters were attacked by plainclothesmen and anti-riot police and several many were severely beaten at Vanak and Azadi. Many others were arrested. The families of detained protesters held a gathering in front of Evin Prison again.

4. Mousavi's camp has reportedly requested the government to issue a permit to hold a mourning ceremony for the slain on Thursday which coincides with the 40th day of Neda's death.

5. Protesters have now started to write Ahmadinejad's name on garbage bags.

Opposition

6. Iran's PressTV reports: "A Tehran court has found Iranian Minister of Industries and Mines Ali-Akbar Mehrabian guilty of fraud after he registered someone else's invention in his own name.
The verdict came after plaintiff Farzad Salimi filed a complaint against former municipality officials Mehrabian and Mousa Mazloum over the dishonest registration of an invention dubbed "Safe Room for Earthquakes" in their names."

7. Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabeli has issued another statement asking the government to release all detainees that have not broken the law. He claimed that the government was losing people's trust because of the detentions.

8. Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Dastegheyb has issued a statement condemning a letter released in the name of members of the Assembly of Experts that criticizes Rafsanjani. He asked them to immediately renounce the letter and apologize to Rafsanjani.

9. Ayatollah Zanjani has reportedly issued a fatwa calling for a boycott of Ahmadinejad's inauguration.

10. Leaders of the reformist camps have written a letter to Grand Ayatollahs of Iran to break their silence over the election and the post-election events. Mousavi, Khatami and Karroubi - the principle signatories - asked the Ayatollahs to stop the government from breaking the law and committing atrocities against the people of Iran.

11. In a separate statement released today, Karroubi condemned the wide-spread beatings of women during protests. He accused the security forces of specifically targeting women. Later during a meeting with members of his party, he said that they needed to become firmer in response to the deteriorating situation. He also announced a restricting of the party shortly.

12. It has been confirmed that even though Ayatollah Vaez Tabasi - the most eminent cleric in Mashhad - didn't greet or meet Ahmadinejad during his visit to that city, he had actually come to the airport to receive Rafsanjani when he visited the city last week.

13. Mohammad Reza Naseri Shohan - a high-ranking member of Etemaade Melli Party in Ilam province - was summoned to appear in court by the judiciary.

Government / International

14. 13. After his appointment as Ahmadinejad's senior Vice President was revoked, Mashaie has now been appointed as Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff and senior advisor.

15. 14. Even though it was earlier reported that the Ministers of Intelligence, Health, Labor and Culture had all been sacked, we can only confirm the sacking of the Minister of Intelligence Mohseni Ejaie at this point. Reports suggest the he may have been sacked because he was partly opposed to detainees' confessions being broadcasted on IRIB.

16. 15. Partially confirmed reports also suggest that the commander of the Basij, Hossein Taleb is going to be appointed as Ejaie's replacement in Ahmadinejad's new cabinet. Taleb has been accused of being the mastermind behind torturing detainees and obtaining confessions from them.

17. Sayed Ali Jafari - the Commander of IRG - has yet again accused reformists of attempting to stage a velvet revolution. He claimed that greatest dangers to stability in Iran came from elements inside the country.

Arrested / Released / Killed

18. Mohsen Rohul-Amini's father today said that Mohsen had died after being tortured profusely. According to Mohsen's dad, his jaw had been broken and after bleeding for days, he'd developed meningitis and died as a result.

19. Amir Javadifar - a protester who was detained - has died at Evin. It cannot be confirmed yet whether he died under torture. Family has been told to collect his body on Sunday. He was 24 and a student of Qazvin's Azad University. It has been reported - but not confirmed - that another detainee Mojtaba Samenezhad has died under torture at Evin.

20. Prisons in Iran have become a hotbed for infectious diseases as the number of detainees soars. The Ministry of health has reported in the past few days, at least 2,000 shots have been sent to prisons across Iran. At least two prisoners have so far died of meningitis in detention. Families of protesters who have died or have been badly injured after torture at Evin are only granted custody of their loved ones or their bodies if they promise to not lodge a complaint against the prison.

21. A number of intellectuals including Fariborz Rayis Dana arrested as they attended a gathering to commemorate the anniversary of Iranian poet Ahmad Shamloo's birth.

22. The staff at Evin Prison told families of detainees today that the names of none of the detainees they were seeking information about were in the prison's computerized database.

23. We had reportedly earlier that some detainees were being kept at a make-shift detention center that used to serve as a drug rehabilitation center. Reports now suggest that deep holes have been ground inside the building's main yard and prisoners are lowered and kept in the holes for days at a time without food or water.

24. Detained reformist Saeed Hajjarian is reportedly very sick. It has been reported that he is suffering from some sort of infection. Will update when we know more.

25. Detained journalists, Masood Bastani and Mahsa Amrabadi were allowed to meet each other briefly today. Mahsa is heavily pregnant.

*One blogger made some pictures of how Iranian banknotes might look like when the Green Movement succeeds. (That's right, WHEN, not IF.)

**(Apologies for the lateness and briefness of the brief. My commitment to this cause has NOT and WILL NOT change. But as everyone kept telling me to take a break, I have decied to spend some time with a friend to cool off a little bit. kudos to her and thank you all for your vigorous support!)

*Discuss/Annotate: Green Brief 38 - Anonymous Intelligence Collective ; Create it if it doesn't exist.

**If you wana republish the Green Brief, please visit this page: For Bloggers, News Sites and Forum who want to republish the Green Brief Plesae Read! - Why We Protest - IRAN

***For Radio Broadcasters: Green Brief Pronounciation Guide - Why We Protest - IRAN

****(A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

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The Green Brief #40-41 (July 26-27)

Protests / Unrest

1. There are reports that a small gathering of people chanting against the government was held on Tuesday held in retaliation of the government's decision to ban Mohsen Rohulamini's funeral ceremony from being public. I can only partially confirm this at this point.

2. Plans are underway to hold a day of silence around the world to commemorate the 40th day of Neda's death (I'm not sure if this has a lot of backing, but here's the link: Example Tweets for Thursday 3...). Protests are planned in Iran on that day as well.

3. Basijis are apparently wearing jeans and shaving their beards in order to infiltrate the ranks of protesters.

Opposition

4. Mousavi urged the government to not interfere with the mourning gathering to commemorate Neda's death. He said he hadn't planned a speech and only Koran will be recited during the mourning. He, however, declared that the Green Movement will continue. The gathering will be held at Grand Mosala. He added, "How can it be that the leaders of our country do not cry out and shed tears about these tragedies?"

5. Two days ago, Hashemi Rafsanjani stated in a meeting with faculty members of a university in Tehran denied there was a power struggle in the nation. But, in order to resolve the current situation, he said that he still stood by his comments made during his Friday sermon.

6. Ayatollah Montazeri has released a statement that expresses concern over the current state of affairs. He also applauded the efforts made by various people to resolve the current state of turmoil. It has been also confirmed that Ayatollah Montazeri has met with Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabeli and Ayatollah Shabiri Zanjani.

7. Partially confirmed reports suggest that Ayatollah Saneie has announced his intention of attending the mourning rallies of the 40th day of Neda's death. On Sunday, he also criticized the government's wide-spread clamp downs on peaceful protesters and called on it to release all detainees. In a letter to Mousavi, Khatami and Karroubi, he also said that the path to attaining peoples' rights must continue without violence or bloodshed. Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabeli also joined his call for the release of all prisoners and asked the government to halt cruelty against peaceful protesters. It is worth noting that both Ayatollahs' statements come as a response to a letter sent to Iranian Ayatollahs by the reformist leaders, asking for their support.

8. Ayatollah Hassan Zarandi - a member of the Assembly of Experts, representing Kermanshah - has written a letter, supporting Rafsanjani's Friday sermon.

9. Reformist MP Alikhani has criticized the government's decision to continue using Russian-made airplanes. He accused the government of treating the lives of Iran's citizens as worthless.

Government / International

10. It has now been confirmed that the resignation letter of the Minister of Culture has been rejected by Ahmadinejad. So far, only the Minister of Intelligence has been sacked. Reports of the sacking of two other ministers could not be confirmed.

11. It has been confirmed that sacked Intelligence Minister Ejaie has sent a letter to Khamenei criticizing Ahmadinejad rather harshly.

12. Although it had been reported that Ahmadinejad's inauguration would be held on August 2, new reports suggest that it might have been changed to August 5 and still others claim August 4 to be the day. For now, August 2 seems to remain in effect.

13. MP Hamid Reza Katouzian has stated that Mohsen Rohulamini's only fault was to Ahmadinejad and called the killing of dissidents by the government ugly and shameful. This is while another MP Ali Motaher - who has sided with reformists in the past weeks - asked Iran's judiciary to give up the name of Mohsen's killer.

14. Mohsen Rezaie has thanked judiciary chief Ayatollah Hashemi-Shahroudi for ordering a quick review of the cases of the detainees of the post-vote unrest in Iran.

15. It has been confirmed that besides Intelligence Minister Ejaie, as many as 20 high-ranking officials from that ministry have been sacked. Reports suggest that Ahmadinejad has sacked these officials for their failure to provide concrete evidence that attempts at staging a 'velvet revolution' were being made in Iran by foreign powers.

16. As reported in the Green Brief two weeks ago, several prominent Shi'ite clerics are going to make a decision about leaving Iran and settling in Najaf, Iraq. It is expected that the final decision will be made within days.

17. In a meeting held by a committee set up by the reformist camp to investigate the fate of detainees, Ali Larijani - the head of Iran's Parliament - has asked them to continue their investigation. He has also asked for the release of those detainees who have not committed serious crimes. However, he reiterated that government's official policy of blaming foreign media outlets for the current unrest in Iran.

Arrests / Released / Killed

18. It has been confirmed that Khamenei has ordered the closure of a single detention center because detainees were being ill-treated there and Iranian laws were broken. Khamenei's spokesperson - while announcing the Supreme Leader's decision - said that this had been done to ensure that detainees remain safe from cruelty while in detention. We cannot confirm which prison it is at the moment; however, it seems Khamenei must not be aware of what's happening at Evin...

19. Famous Iranian actress Pegah Ahangarani has been detained. Partially confirmed reports suggest that prominent feminist, lawyer and human rights activist Shadi Sadr has been released.

20. The spokesperson for Iran's Judiciary has announced that Shahrodi - the director of the Judiciary - ordered that within a week the fate of all prisoners detained after protests started must be determined. He said that some will be released very soon because they might not have committed any serious crimes, but claimed that only 300 remained behind bars. It has also been confirmed that 7 members of parliament went to visit Evin and Rajayi prison to assess the condition of detainees on Monday.

21. The director of Mazandaran province's detention facilities has told a human rights organization that the provincial prison at Sari held a thousand prisoners - four times more than it could actually hold. He also claimed that up to 60 people were being held at cells designed for 12.

22. Ramin Qahremani - a protester detained for two weeks - has died only two days after being released because of internal and external injuries. He had been extensively tortured and was reportedly hung upside down for extended periods of time while in detention.

23. Faizullah Arab-Sorkhi, Saeed Hajjarian, Behzad Nabavi and Mostafa Tajzadeh, who are all reformists politicians currently in jail and in bad health, have been moved to IRG Hospital #66. It has been reported that they will be questioned by a special team from now on that is being headed by a representative of the Supreme Leader.

24. In more tragic news, the family of a protester who went to a rally in Rasht was recently notified to pick up his body by the authorities of the city. The protester's brother was asked upon arrival by the authorities to sign a statement, saying that the protester had died because he was suffering from a terminal illness. When he refused, the protester body was not returned.

25. As chants of Allah o Akbar continue throughout the night, security forces are actively hunting people who are taking part in this form of protest. Reportedly, people are being fined hundreds of dollars if caught in the act.

Media

26. Reformist newspaper Sadaye Adalat's permit has been cancelled by the government.

27. Several state-owned media outlets, mainly Ansar News, IRIB, PressTV and Keyhan have recently started to criticize Ahmadinejad rather harshly. The spate of criticisms started after Ahmadinejad's appointment of Mashaie as his vice president and the six-day long battle between Ahmadinejad and conservatives to remove him.

(I don't particularly like Fareed Zakariya but this is just brilliant!)
YouTube - Iran CNN - Fareed Zakaria Attacks...

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*****A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

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The Green Brief #42 (July 28)

Protests / Unrest

1. The Ministry of Interior refused to issue a permit for gatherings on Thursday for mourning the 40th day of Neda's death. However, Mousavi and other reformists have indicated that they would proceed with plans for gatherings, even if a permit is not issued. Mousavi and other reformist leaders will also visit the graves of protesters who have been killed during the unrests. Mousavi has reportedly suggested that his supporters make use of religious holy days for gatherings and rallies - full confirmation of this could not be obtained.

2. Two minutes of silence will be publicly observed in many parts of the world on Thursday. For more details on this and how to participate, please follow this link: The Silent Wave. The Silent Wave - Be still for Iran on Thursday July 30, 2009.

3. Saifullah Daad's funeral will be held on Monday (Iran Time) and many reformists and Green Movement supporters are expected to attend. Partially confirmed reports suggest that Mir Hossein Mousavi will also be present.

4. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi and the Secretary General of Amnesty International Irene Khan have published a joint statement, declaring that the situation in Iran was getting worse. They expressed concern that violent repression was possible in retaliation to protests that might be held on the day of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's inauguration.

5. Mehr News has reported today that a bomb had been defused near Saderat Bank in Karaj. This remains unconfirmed for now.

6. Mousavi stencils in green are appearing all over Tehran. Picture: http://tinyurl.com/mnowfy

Opposition

7. Full Text of Mousavi's Speech on Monday (English): Mir Hossein Mousavi ??? ???? ?????: Mousavi: "Religious celebrations are opportunities for the display of the "Green" movement's creativity." | Facebook (I went through as much of it as I could and the translation seems to be impeccable. Hopefully, those who were looking for it will find it useful).

8. Ninety two professors and faculty members of universities in Tabriz have sent a letter of support to Mousavi. The letter also asks the government to release political prisoners, ensure freedom of speech and stop violently oppressing peaceful protests.

9. Ayatollah Sayed Jalalludin Taheri Isfahani has written a letter supporting Rafsanjani's stance in regard to the elections. He asked the political elite to join hands in finding a solution for the current turmoil. He stated that the regime and spirituality were in danger because of the present situation.

10. Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani also wrote a letter today to the reformist leadership. The letter states that the blood spilled, during the post election violence, was on the hands of those who have always thought little of people and have ignored their votes. He urged the reformists to continue to stand against the oppression that was taking place and said those who ignore such atrocities also share the blame.

11. In an interview, published in Etemaade Melli newspaper, Fakhrusadaat Mohtashamipour blamed the Guardian Council of overly supporting Ahmadinejad and hurting the oppositions' campaigns using censor tactics and media as a tool.

12. Reformist leaders continue to meet with the families of protesters who've been killed or detained. On Monday, Mohammad Khatami met with the family of detained reporter Mohammad Ghochani and Mahdi Karroubi met with the family of Neda Aga-Soltan. Karroubi told the family of Neda that she had merged into the people's movement and had become a symbol for freedom.

Government / International

13. Reports suggest that Ahmadinejad has assumed the responsibilities of the Minister of Intelligence after he sacked Ejaie from the post. This can only be partially confirmed at this point. There are other reports suggesting that he has appointed another high-ranking official at the Ministry as the "caretaker".

14. Congressman Ted Poe, R-Texas, on Monday praised the women of Iran for their bravery in pursuit of their rights and freedoms. He mentioned Shadi Sadr and the fact she had been arrested. Video: YouTube - Congressman Poe Impressed By The Women Of Iran

15. Iranian MP Ali Motaheri today criticized the government's decision to close just one detention center. He said the closing of only one detention center didn't mean that there were not other places where people were deprived of their liberty and tortured.

16. Reports suggest that Ahmadinejad is losing support in parliament. At least two parliament members have reportedly suggested in recent days that Ahmadinejad's government could face a vote of no confidence. However, this remains only partially confirmed. Ahmadinejad is also still under pressure by some conservatives for keeping Esfandiar Mashaie as his Chief of Staff.

17. MP Hamid Reza Katouzian of Tehran today criticized Ahmadinejad harshly over his continued support for Mashaie. He also accused Ahmadinejad of not being loyal to the Supreme Leader. Also on Tuesday, conservative MP Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghaddam expressed support for Rafsanjani and said that most of the detainees should be released since they were simply young and excited youngsters.

Arrested / Released / Killed

18. After the order by Shahrodi which stipulated a speedy release for detained protesters with minor offences, Ali Larijani - the head of the Iranian parliament - announced today that a special committee would be reviewing the situation from the beginning of the tension. The three member committee will meet with prisoners and write a detailed report about their status, rights and the interrogations they've gone through. The committee would also gather complaints from people who've been beaten or have suffered financial loss during the unrest.

19. Saeed Hajjarian is reportedly being released today. He is in failing health and human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that if not released, he could die in detention.

20. More deaths during the protests have been confirmed.

- Hossein Akhtar-Zand, 32, was killed by Basijis in Isfahan on June 15th.
It has been alleged that he was thrown from a building. I have seen pictures of his body. I am not going to post the link as they are too graphic.

- Saeed Abbasi was killed on June 20 after being shot in the head on Rodaki Ave.-

- Sajjad Qayed Rahmati, was killed on June 21 by IRG members near Navab Metro Station.

- Davood Sadri, 25, was killed on June 15 after being shot by Basijis from the rooftop of their headquarters at Moghdad near Jinnah Avenue in Tehran.

- Amir Javadi Langroodi has also died after suffering days of torture at Evin.

- A 16 year old detainee was brutally beaten in front of more than 200 other detainees at Kahrizak and died on the spot.

- Hossein Akbari was killed by security forces in the first week of unrests. He had gone missing, but his family didn't know of his death for almost a month. His body was given to his family on July 22 and he was buried four days later.

- Mansour Ghoujazadeh, a resident of Khoy, was beaten so badly during a protest that he couldn't survive his injuries. He was quietly buried after his family was threatened by security forces.
(But they aren't just names, they have faces too: Faces of the Iranians killed and Arrested)

21. Reports today confirmed the detention center, ordered to be shut down by Khamenei, is Kahrizak Detention Center located south of Tehran. Horrendous reports of torture and abuse are surfacing about the facility.

- One detainee reportedly suffered so much trauma to the head at Kahrizak that he went blind and died in detention.

- Detainees are forced to strip, then, electric cables are used to lash them for hours ripping into their bodies and inflicting terrible damage.

- Other detainees are crammed into small cells where many have contracted infectious diseases.

- Tehran's Police Chief, Ibrahim Reza Radan has personally beaten and tortured detainees on his visits to the facility. His weapon of choice was reportedly a plastic hose.

22. Reports from other detention facilities describe incidents like these:

- A female detainee was supposedly forced to sign a confession to admit she had not been mistreated while in detention. She was repeatedly beaten, harassed by male interrogators, her hair was pulled and male interrogators repeatedly touched her body inappropriately to force her to confess.

- One detainee was forced to lick the commode of the detention facility's toilet and guards forced his head down to the ground with their boots. He was also repeatedly beaten with batons.

- Guards who would refuse to subjugate prisoners to such torture were reprimanded. One guard was detained and tortured after he refused to torture a detainee.

- One Iranian expatriate, who had been detained after returning from London, was beaten so badly and harassed that he has become mentally unstable. After his release, his family has been forced to restrain him so he does not attempt to commit suicide.

(The committee formed by the parliament to investigate the cases of detainees most probably will not be visiting Kahrizak as it has already been closed. For accounts of what happened at Kahrizak, visit this link: ???? ?? ???????: The Holocaust denier is casting his own version)

23. The number of protesters who have been killed in detention or on the streets has climbed to 78. According to multiple sources this number is much higher. Here is an updated list of the dead and detained Leaving Facebook... | Facebook.

24. The government is continuing to charge people money for returning the bodies of their loved ones. They are also being forced to sign papers that absolve the government of the blame for the victim's death. Unless these two conditions are met, bodies are not returned.

25. Reports suggest that in the past two days, at least 140 prisoners were freed from Evin and other prisons. They include Mohammad Tavsoli who had been in detention for the past 43 days. Aida Mesbahi was also released today. The government has announced that the remaining detainees - which according to it number in less than 200 - have committed major crimes such as damaging property or providing weapons to other protesters that were used in violence.

26. Ali Maghami - a member of Karoubi's campaign HQ - was arrested yesterday.

27. Unconfirmed reports indicate that two political prisoners were hung in Zahedan, Sistan o Baluchestan province. The prisoners were primarily persecuted because they belong to the Sunni branch of Islam which is a minority in Shia-majority Iran. There is still no news on the fate of seven detained members of the Baha'i faith.

Media

28. Javan Daily has accused the Association of Anonymous Addicts of also having a hand in the current turmoil. (Next, it will be the Pope!)

29. Khanaye Moseeqi (House of Music), an organization of Iranian musicians, has released a letter defending Saeed Shajarian. He has been repeatedly insulted by the government owned media after he asked them to stop broadcasting his patriotic songs.

Miscellaneous

30. Francesco Totti, top Italian footballer, sent a message in Farsi to Iranian youth fighting or their freedom: YouTube - Top striker Francesco Totti sends...

Note: I thought about cutting down the number of GBs to less than 7 a week. But honestly, so much happens every day that I find it difficult to keep the GBs as brief as they should be. So until further notice, one a day will be the norm.

*Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_42 ; Create it if it doesn't exist.

**If you wanna republish the Green Brief, please visit this page: For Bloggers, News Sites and Forum who want to republish the Green Brief Plesae Read! - Why We Protest - IRAN

***For Radio Broadcasters: Green Brief Pronounciation Guide - Why We Protest - IRAN

****(A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs

*****A hearty thanks to Sahar joon and S joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

B. Iranmapping: iranmap.whyweprotest.net ; If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context for Iranmapping, please follow the instruction over at IranMapping - Anonymous Intelligence Collective

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

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The Green Brief #43 (July 29)

Protests / Unrest

1. Gatherings to honor protesters who've died in the post-election violence will be held today in Tehran and other parts of Iran. Mousavi, Karroubi and many other reformists are expected to join the protests.

2. Beheshte Zahra Cemetery, where most of Tehran's protesters who were killed are buried, is currently in a state of lockdown. Plans have been put in place by the government, to stop the flow of protesters into the main grounds of the cemetery.

3. Neda's mother has declined to join the mourners. She released a statement saying that she does not want to share the blame for the beatings, arrests or deaths of any mourners. However, she has indicated that others could do as they please and join the gatherings if they wanted to. Sohrab A'rabi's mother will be joining the mourners, though.

4. The main gathering will be at Tehran Mosala, after a visit to Beheshte Zahra Cemetery. Thousands of people are expected to attend. It has been reported that protesters may march towards Neda's house, after the gathering at Mosala.

5. SMS services have been disconnected throughout Tehran in anticipation of the protests on Thursday. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Khamenei has ordered Basijis and plainclothes men not to interfere with the mourners. He has stated that, at all costs, the Basijis and plainclothes men are to avoid gathering near Mosala. Other security forces are said to be in charge of keeping the peace.

6. At least 50 students of San'ati Sharif University have been forced to write forms stating they will not chant Allah o Akbar from their dorm rooms at night.

Opposition

7. The Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) - the main reformist party - issued a statement on Wednesday. They stated that the Judiciary Chief's one-week investigation, into the fate of arrested detainees, is a complete sham. The statement also said that crimes against citizens were continuing and were being perpetrated by the government. The only way to end turmoil - according to the statement - was the fall of Ahmadinejad's government.

8. Ayatollah Mortaza Motahhari's son, Mohammad Motahhari, has joined the Green Movement and issued a scathing criticism of the government. Mortaza Motahhari was one of Khomeini's closest disciples and was a founding figure of the Combatant Clergy Association.

9. Ayatollah Montazeri has, yet again, released a statement criticizing the government, telling it to learn from what happened to the Shah. He added that the shutdown of Kahrizak detention facility was merely a government ploy to distract people. He asked the government to stop the Basij and IRG from killing innocent people and criticized the government for letting a few people control the fate of the whole nation.

Government / International

10. For the first time, the government has admitted that security forces might have been involved in violence during the protests. The overall head of Iran's security forces, General Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, said today that some members of security forces have overreacted. Moghaddam also added that the government had paid at least 197 Iranians money, to compensate for damages to their property, sustained during the protests. The total amount of payments is about $50,000.

11. Kazem Jalali, the spokesperson for a parliamentary committee that is investigating the condition of detainees, as well as recent arrests, said today that the committee had received news of an underground detention facility, operated by the Ministry of Intelligence. The facility might be located beneath the ministry - according to Jalali. He said investigations were ongoing and declined to comment further.

Arrest / Released / Killed

12. Partially confirmed reports suggest that Javad Abbasi Kangevari - also known as Javad Azadeh Amoli - has been appointed as the chief interrogator for high-profile detainees. He has been appointed after a special order by Khamenei as other interrogators have so far failed to extort confessions from these detainees. Amoli is famous for being a proficient torturer and brutal interrogator. Hossein Ghorbanzadeh - also known as Hossein Gestapo - who is another notorious torturer - is at the moment the main man for extorting confessions from other detainees.

13. Alireza Eftekhari, a former report for Abrare Eghtesad, was killed on June 15 after sustaining massive head trauma. He had been hit badly by security forces armed with batons. It has been also confirmed that Amir Hossein Toofanpour has been killed in the unrest. No other information could be obtained about him or the circumstances of his death. A 16 year old protester Hossein Akbari's body has also been handed over to his family. He had been missing for a month and his head, chest and limbs had sustained severe injuries from a blunt object - possibly a baton.

14. Saeed Hajjarian still remains in prison, even though it had been reported he would be released today. Today, Shayesteh Amiri - a former aide of Khatami -, Saeed Shariati - a high-ranking member of IIPF - and Fariborz Raees Dana were all arrested by security forces. Emad Behavar - a student activist - and Abolreza Tajik were released today.

15. Reports have partially confirmed that starting Saturday, trials for detained protesters and political prisoners, will commence in Tehran. IRNA also reported on Wednesday, that indictments had been issued against nearly 20 detainees, allegedly involved in "planning and carrying out sabotage". Their trials are set for Saturday, IRNA reported. Among the detainees are members of MKO, as well as some members of Iran's Baha'i minority. This could not be confirmed as of yet.

16. PressTV has announced that Iranian security forces have arrested a group of photographers who had been hired by foreign media outlets, to get photos and video of protests in Iran. Majid Saeedi and Satyar Imami - two photographers who have been detained for some time - were forced weeks ago to give confessions and have been introduced to the public as Iranians who are working for foreign elements.

Media

17. Hossein Shariatmadari - the representative of Khamenei in Keyhan Daily - wrote in his column today that the protesters killed in the past few weeks, had been killed by hired thugs, who had been paid for their services by Mousavi and Khatami.

Miscellaneous

18. The Italian government has named a street in Rome after Neda Agha-Soltan. Article in Italian: Neda: Roma le dedica una via

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*****A hearty thanks to Sahar joon and S joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

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The Green Brief #44 (July 30)

Protests / Unrest

1. Protesters all over Iran were prevented from mourning the death of other protesters today. Reports suggested that Khamenei had asked for no violence but unfortunately this was not the case.

2. In Tehran, the plan was for people to first gather at Beheshte Zahra Cemetery, recite Koran and then head towards Grand Mosalla through Khosravi Avenue. There the people were supposed to gather and listen to the reformists and other clerics speak about the protesters who had lost their lives.

3. Around 30-40 thousand people tried to gather at Beheshte Zahra Cemetery throughout the morning. As more and more people arrived, it became difficult for everyone to enter the cemetery. Thousands stayed outside and gathered around the perimeter. Security forces had blocked entrances to Khosravi Avenue where Neda was killed.

4. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mahdi Karroubi, Mousavi's wife Zahra Rahnavard, Abdollah Nouri, Ayatollah Mousavi Tabrizi and Haji Mahdi Ghaffari all came to Beheshte Zahra Cemetery separately. Mousavi was immediately escorted off the grounds of the cemetery by the security forces before he could make his way towards Neda's grave. Karroubi was able to give a speech. Sohrab A'rabi's mother also managed to make it to the Cemetery and spoke to the mourners. Sohrab's brother read the names of many of the fallen protesters.

5. At least 200 security forces had gathered at the Cemetery. They tried to block the area around Neda's grave and other prominent protesters' graves called area 257. However, as Karroubi entered the cemetery, protesters broke through the security forces and thousands gathered around Neda's grave.

6. Thousands of protestors gathered across Tehran at Valiasr and Vanak Squares, at Beheshti, Motahhari, Hafez Shamali, Zartusht and Fatemi Avenues. Others gathered at Sayed Maidan and Hafte Tir Square. Many other areas of Tehran also saw large gatherings of protesters and mourners. By far the largest crowds were gathered at Valiasr with witnesses describing thousands of protesters chanting anti-government slogans.

7. The Basij and other security forces used brutal tactics against the people, yet again. In the morning, they closed the doors to Mosalla, stranding people outside. The security forces used extreme force to remove people from the area. Several videos show them firing tear gas into the crowd of protestors. Yet again several protestors were badly beaten with batons.

8. Protesters were also beaten at Beheshte Zahra where one man's skull was fractured after being hit repeatedly by batons. Security forces tried to remove protesters - many of them women - from around Neda's grave injuring many of them. Despite having 200 security forces at the cemetery they failed to stop the people from gathering around Neda's grave.

9. Away from Beheshte Zahra and Mosalla, clashes were reported all over Tehran. At Valiasr, protesters were beaten with batons, then tear gas was shot into the crowd, finally, after they refused to disperse, bullets were fired directly at the people. At least ten people have been injured and one fatality has been confirmed. The people had tried to give the security forces flowers and in return the security forces attacked them with tear gas.

10. On Amirabad Street and Abbas Abad Street the clashes were less violent although 10 people were still injured. Shots were heard from Amirabad. Clashes were also reported from Beheshti, Motahhari, North Hafez, Zartusht and Fatemi Avenues. At Vanak, people threw stones at security forces to try and drive them back. Riot police also smashed the windows of cars with no regard for the safety of the driver or passengers.

11. Helicopters flew above Beheshte Zahra from early morning; they also flew over other parts of Central Tehran. SMS was completely shut down. In many areas, people set garbage on fire and smoke could be seen all over Tehran's skies.

12. Security forces also video-taped protesters so they could be identified and arrested later. Hundreds of protesters also gathered round the Ministry of Interior and the IRIB building. Slogans chanted today were, "Iranian Republic, Independence, Freedom," "Death to the Dictator," "Death to Russia," and other slogans against Mojtaba Khamenei (Khamenei's son). Protests in Tehran continued very late into the night.

13. The attitude of the security forces appeared weaker today. The number of protesters arrested from many areas of Tehran cannot be confirmed, but it appears the number was lower than the previous protests. Reports indicated that Mosalla was packed with Basijis and other special forces wearing black uniforms. They stormed out of the building and attacked people - although this can only be partially confirmed. A few Basijis were injured in the clashes and were taken from the scene by ambulance.

14. Outside Tehran, protesters and mourners gathered in Shiraz, Ahvaz, Isfahan, Rasht, Mashhad, Mahabad, Oromieh, Kermanshah, Arak and Tabriz. Clashes were reported from Isfahan, Shiraz, Ahvaz, Rasht, Mashhad, Mahabad and Oromieh.

15. 5-6 thousand people gathered in Maidane Enghelab, Ayeneh Khaneh Park, Sio-Seh Bridge and other parts of Isfahan. Security forces clashed with protesters violently. Reports of injuries or deaths could not be confirmed at this time. Tear gas again was used to disperse the crowds. Protesters were holding green placards with the names of the detained or dead protesters.

16. In Ahvaz, hundreds of protesters gathered at Kyanpars Avenue and chanted against Ahmadinejad and the regime. The weather was very hot, but protesters stayed for hours. At least 30 protesters were arrested after clashes with the security forces.

17. Close to 2,000 people gathered in Rasht. The protest was less violent than in other parts of Iran. Protesters filled the central part of the city while security forces largely stayed a few meters away and watched.

18. In Shiraz, a few hundred protestors gathered around the main Gas Plant in the city as well as in Azadi Park. They sang Yaare Dabestani and chanted slogans. Security forces later dispersed the crowds.

19. Smaller crowds gathered at Mellat Park in Mashhad. Clashes between protesters and security forces were reported, but no further information could be obtained at this point.

20. Neda's mother held a silent candlelight vigil at a park near her home. She had previously said that she would not go to Neda's grave at Beheshte Zahra Cemetery because she didn't want the blame for anyone's injury or death.
Here is a picture of her in the park (Courtesy of Enduring America): http://tinyurl.com/lbr6kw

21. All around the world people have held vigils for Neda and the other fallen protesters. A vigil was held at Union Square in New York City tonight, candles were lit and mourners sat in silence, holding pictures of Neda. In San Francisco, around 200 mourners gathered at the UN Plaza and held a candlelight vigil between 8-9pm. People handed out signs with the photo and name for each of the fallen. Everyone was requested to sit on the ground, while the name of each person who had fallen was read, followed by the sound of a bell. As the names of the fallen were read, the person holding the sign with the name of the fallen and stood in respect. The reading of the names was followed by 15 minutes of silence, after which, there was singing and chanting.
Pictures: (Courtesy of Dana - @dakster9) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!.

22. In Europe, vigils and flash demonstrations were held in many cities. In Flensburg, German, dozens of people gathered outside a Lutheran church to mourn Neda and the other protesters who have been killed by the security forces. Mourners sang songs, prayed, read anthems and poems and placed flowers in front of a picture of Neda. The gathering was organized and attended by "Deutsch-Iranischer Freundschaftsverein", which has been recently formed in support of the Green Movement. Picture (Courtesy of Paleene): http://tinyurl.com/n66ue6

23. In Vienna, a flash demonstration was held in front of the parliament building. Around 25 people gathered, dressed in black and green, some of them carrying red roses. At 6:30 Vienna time the demonstration dropped themselves to the ground and lay motionless for 2 minutes. Pictures (Courtesy of @Kyrah)

Opposition

24. In a meeting with parliament members from the Imam's Way faction, Khatami today said that the government needs to prosecute the people who are responsible for killings and torture. He dismissed the government's closing of Kahrizak, saying that torture had happened all over Iran and in other prisons as well Kahrizak. He also criticized the government's decision to close Kahrizak just as a parliamentary commission was established to investigate the condition and treatment of detainees.

Government / International

25. Reports indicate that the former Minister of Intelligence, Ejaie is forming a group with other disgruntled officials from Ahmadinejad's government to oppose him. Full confirmation has not yet been received.

26. It has been reported and confirmed that several supporters of Mousavi and elements within security forces that are sympathetic to the protesters' cause have been sacked or transferred away from Tehran.

Arrested / Released / Killed

27. Kazem Jalali, spokesman for the Iranian Parliament's Special Committee, following up on recent events, announced today that Saeed Hajjarian has been moved from prison to a governmental housing facility. Jalali quoted Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran's attorney general, saying that the new housing facility is equipped with welfare and medical facilities and that Mr. Hajjarian's family is allowed to visit him at this new location.

28. The government has stopped Alireza Avaie from visiting Evin prison. He was turned away from the gates, by guards, after he went to prepare a report about the condition of detainees. Avaie is a high-ranking official in the Judiciary, responsible for an office within the Judiciary, whose responsibility is to investigate human rights abuses against the citizens of Tehran province.

29. Mahnaz Mohammadi, Jafar Panahi and Rukhsareh Ghayem-Magham who had been arrested earlier today have been released. Panahi and Mohammadi work in Iranian cinema and Ghayem-Magham is a renowned documentary maker.

30. Reports of the release of Mahsa Amrabadi are false.

31. Two more protesters have now been confirmed to have died:

- Mostafa Kya Rostami was killed two weeks ago during Rafsanjani's sermon. He was 22. He succumbed to his injured four hours after being hit repeatedly on the head with batons.

- Saeed Esmaili-Khanbebin's body was also returned to his family in Tehran after his family paid money to security forces. His funeral was tightly guarded by the police. He was 23. He also died of injuries inflicted by repeated blows to his head with batons.

Media

32. IRNA today published a report calling the mourners violent mobs. The news agency blamed the mourners for breaking the law and called their movement small and insignificant. It also claimed that Iranians wanted the government to suppress these protests as they had made the city insecure.

33. PressTV reported that, "Police have dispersed hundreds of Iranians who sought to gather in a cemetery south of the capital of Tehran to commemorate those killed in the post-election unrest". The station did not mention anything about violence or other protests around the country.

Miscellaneous

Picture of the day from Tehran: http://bit.ly/OoWw8

Death to Khamenei written on a city bus: 20495517-8476285c09aee819c31e0c3de441ab38.4a7249a7-scaled.jpg (image)

*Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_44 ; Create it if it doesn't exist.

**If you wanna republish the Green Brief, please visit this page: For Bloggers, News Sites and Forum who want to republish the Green Brief Plesae Read! - Why We Protest - IRAN

***For Radio Broadcasters: Green Brief Pronounciation Guide - Why We Protest - IRAN

****A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs

*****A hearty thanks to Sahar joon and S joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

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The Green Brief #45 (July 31)

Protests / Unrest

1. Hundreds of citizens of Qazvin have sent protest letters to Ali Larijani - head of Parliament - and to their two representatives in the legislative body. They have demanded the elections be annulled, fresh elections be held, all prisoners to be freed and the people responsible for violence against the protesters be put on trial.

2. 12 prominent Iranian filmmakers also sent a letter to members of the parliament asking them to do their constitutional duty and help solve the crisis. The filmmakers have demanded the release of the detainees and a peaceful solution to the turmoil that has been plaguing the country for weeks.

3. The government is now indiscriminately blocking access to satellite channels in a bid to stop the flow of news to the protesters. The tactic is reportedly an attempt by the government to stop the protesters from knowing about other protests being held around the country.

4. In Thursday's protests, Iranians burned a Russian flag. Picture: http://bit.ly/19jsNv

Opposition

5. Reports suggest that the majority of Iranian Ayatollahs are conducting frantic meetings across the country, in an attempt to sway each over the conflict.

6. Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers has issued a statement urging the protesters to continue their protests and that the protestors had the support of the Assembly. The statement called the violence against the protestors following the election, one of the worst acts that one could commit. The Association's members include prominent clerics such as Ayatollah Mohammad Va'ez Abaee-Khorasani, Ayatollah Mousavi Tabrizi and Ayatollah Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani.

7. The son of Ayatollah Beheshti - one of the founders of the Islamic Republic - Alireza Beheshti, said in an interview that the regime never thought the people would stand behind Mousavi. He also added that the real number of people arrested was unknown and hinted that the government was deliberately attempting to distort the facts about detainees, making it more difficult to obtain their release.

8. Ayatollah Hojjati Kermani, today in an interview questioned the validity of the government's claim that post-election violence was the work of foreigners. He said in the past 30 years the government had used 'blaming others' for too many problems. He added that the country's freedom was at stake, people's lives and their faith was in danger.

9. During Friday prayers in Qom, Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini said that the youth wanted change and couldn't tolerate tyranny, so they would always rebel against it. He said that their voices needed to be heard if their demands are legitimate. He also asked for prisoners to be treated humanely and within the law, welcoming the Judiciary's order to complete investigations within a week about all detainees.

10. Sayed Mohammad Khatami, today met with the families of protesters who were killed in the past few weeks, again. He met the families of Ashkan Sohrabi and Kyanosh Aasa at Sohrab A'rabi's house. He also met with the family of Masood Hashemzadeh. He asked each of the families for details about the death of their loved ones and asked the government to investigate the cases of the protesters who've been killed as well as the detainees.

11. The spokesperson for the US State Department on Thursday criticized the Iranian government for using force against peaceful mourners and protestors.

Government / International

12. A German firm which had warned its employees they could risk getting fired if they protested in Iran, in any way, has withdrawn the threat. Knauf Gips KG had issued a letter - written by Isabel Knauf - threatening all employees in Iran they would be dismissed if they took part in political demonstrations. German Firm Withdraws Threat to Fire Employees in Iran: http://iranquest.com/blog/?p=8695

13. Khamenei has supposedly ordered a commission to be formed to meet with the families of protesters who have been killed and detained in the past weeks. The commission will address the families' grievances. To date the commission has met with the father of Mohsen Rohulamini.

14. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday said that his relationship with Khamenei was like that between a father and a son and that it will not deteriorate. Ahmadinejad who is in Mashhad also said that Ejaie had reportedly not carried out some of his orders and indicated that it was part of the reason why Ejaie had been dismissed.

15. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, yesterday claimed that the West had directly interfered in Iranian affairs during the election. It blamed the UK especially and said that foreign countries had used their media outlets to instigate protests, which had shown protesters how to make explosives and commit violence.

16. In his Friday Sermon, Ayatollah Jannat warned those responsible for the protests that they will be prosecuted and that the situation was not going to remain the same forever. He blamed Mousavi and Karroubi for the death of protesters, asked them to apologize to the families of those protesters and to take the blame. He said that protesters who had committed violence will not be released and yet again called the elections free and fair, adding that the opposition couldn't see a man like Ahmadinejad be elected by the people.

Arrests / Releases / Deaths

17. Three American tourists were arrested by Iranian border guards in northwestern Iran after the tourists, who were on a hiking trip in Iraq, mistakenly crossed the border into Iran.

18. The government has confirmed the arrest of at least 50 mourners from Beheshte Zahra on Thursday. Detainees include at least one cleric, Hojjatul-Islam Dr. Soleimani - a member of the Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers.

19. It has now been confirmed that Ali Asghar Hadizadeh, a gold medal-winning para-Olympian and a former MP, has also been arrested from Enghelab Square on July 15.

20. The parliamentary commission assigned to report on the condition of detainees and their cases has not been allowed by the government to meet with political prisoners. The spokesperson for the commission, Mahdi Sanayee told ILNA that as of yet, he wasn't sure when the government would allow them to meet with political prisoners.

21. A political prisoner who was recently released from Evin recounts that they were interrogated specifically to get confessions that implicated a foreign hand in the recent unrests.

22. Maryam Khazayee, a children's rights activist, has been detained by intelligence agents. Her whereabouts are unknown at this point. Seema Nasrati, blogger and reporter, has been released from prison.

23. Mohammad Aowlyaee-fard, an prominent Iranian lawyer, stated in an interview that there are other clandestine detention centers where prisoners are being treated the same as they were being treated at Kahrizak. He said that they were looking into the matter and details would be released soon.

Media

23. Fars News has asked the government to detain and prosecute Rafsanjani, Khatami, Mousavi and Karroubi for instigating violence and disrupting the country's peace.

24. Keyhan Daily criticized Shirin Ebadi for her statements and actions during the post-election violence and called her a 'murderous hag'.

25. On Friday, IRIB finally stopped playing Shajarian's patriotic songs after several complaints by him and other organizations.

26. Fars News has published an outrageous report. It is so shocking that you just have to read the source: Fars News Agency :: Thousands of Inmates Freed in Iran after Amnesty by Leader.

Miscellaneous

27. Statues in Italy, adorned with green ribbons and bands:
IranianZ.com ~ PersianToronto.com

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****(A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs

*****A hearty thanks to Sahar joon and S joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

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The Green Brief #46 (August 1 - Mordad 10)

The Report on the Trial of Reformists is at the end of the Brief

In German: http://tinyurl.com/m8uxw2

In Hebrew: http://tinyurl.com/lp9xtp

Protests / Unrest

1. A protest has been planned for today at 11 AM Tehran time, in front of the Judiciary Chief Shahroodi's office. The protest is being held against the trial, by the Iranian government, of around 100 reformist leaders, political prisoners and journalists. The families of the detainees have released statements asking for the people of Iran, to stand by them, in this time of need.

2. Protests are also planned for August 3 - the day of Ahmadinejad's official appointment by Khamenei, as Iran's president, August 5 - the day of Ahmadinejad's inauguration - and August 7 - Imam Mahdi's birthday celebration.

3. A group of students from Tehran's San'ati Sharif University, held a candlelight vigil to mourn the death of protesters during the violent crackdown by government forces.

4. People are planning to overload electricity during the times when IRIB will be broadcasting the 'confessions' of the detained reformists.

5. There were reports of an extremely loud explosion in the southwestern city of Ahvaz today. The cause could not be confirmed.

6. People again climbed on their roofs and chanted Allah o Akbar, continuing their nightly ritual. Tonight, chants of "Free Political Prisoners!" could also be heard.

7. A new petition in support of Human Rights has been created. 28,000+ have already signed it. (Including me)
Here's the link if you want to join the petitioners: http://bit.ly/DRrQa

Opposition

8. In an interview with GhalamNews today, Mousavi said that the Sea of Green had no contact with foreign elements. He also denounced propaganda aimed at connecting the Sea of Green with foreign countries. He said the Sea of Green was a public uprising, aimed at getting their deserved rights, guaranteed to them by the constitution. Mousavi added that people's demands were within the framework of the Islamic Republic's constitution and laws.

9. Conservative MP Emaad Afroogh said today, he was curious as to how the government intended to prove that a 'Velvet Revolution' was being planned. He added that calling people's legitimate demands a 'Velvet Revolution' was an insult to the Iranian people and anyone propagating such insults should be prosecuted.

10. Hashemi Rafsanjani's office today dismissed Mohammad Ali Abtahi's 'confession' which implicated him in the 'Velvet Revolution'. According to the office, Rafsanjani had not made a pact with Karroubi, Khatami and Mousavi that he would not support them in any 'revolution'. They further asserted that Rafsanjani had, at no point, been involved with the protests and had not declared his support for any candidate during the elections.

10. Khamenei's brother Hadi Khamenei, today criticized the government's actions in the post-election violence. He said the cases of detention centers that have been closed, because of the inhumane conduct with detainees, needs to be investigated and the people involved violating human rights should be prosecuted. In a meeting with freed prisoners, Hadi Khamenei - who is a member of the Imam's Way faction of parliament - said that the Guardian Council had erred in supporting a specific candidate and that the killing of peaceful protesters must end.

12. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Rafsanjani has moved out of Tehran to a safer area close to the city. This has been reportedly done to ensure his safety.

13. Members of the Imam's Way faction of MPs will be holding a meeting with Mahdi Karroubi tomorrow.

Arrested / Released / Killed

14. It has now been confirmed 3 American hikers, have been arrested by Iranian border guards, after they mistakenly entered Iranian territory while hiking in Northeastern Iran. The Iranian media ran the story saying that the hikers repeatedly ignored warnings by the guards. The US has asked the Swiss Embassy in Tehran - which carries out diplomatic ties on behalf of the US with Tehran - to intervene and secure the release of the hikers as soon as possible.
(This might not seem relevant to the Iran Elections - yet we all know that this COULD become ugly if Iran decides to use the hikers to blame the US of intervention in Iran.)

15. Behazad Mohajer is the latest protester whose death has been confirmed. His body, which was kept at Kahrizak's morgue, was handed over to his family yesterday. He was 47.

16. One of Mousavi's close aides, Alireza Beheshti - the son of Ayatollah Beheshti - has stated in an interview they have so far gathered the names of 1,700 detainees - the whereabouts of some are unknown at this point.

17. Reports from Mashhad indicate that during the protests on Thursday, more than 30 people were arrested.

18. The Association for the Defense of Children's Rights have sent a letter to Ayatollah Shahrodi - the head of Iran's Judiciary - asking him to investigate the cases of underage detainees who were arrested in the post-election turmoil. The association has also shown a willingness to represent these children in court, if they were put on trial.

Media

19. Keyhan Daily has published a report claiming evidence of Mousavi and Khatami's betrayal of Iran has been gathered and will be published soon.

20. Press TV published an article today, citing government sources, saying that the Sea of Green was planning on planting bombs to create an atmosphere of unrest and violence in the country.
(Don't worry, this is the least bit of shocking news you'll get.)

Picture of the day (Front Page of Keyhan Daily): http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...g?t=1249226639
(The large red circle says: "Evidence of Mousavi's Betrayal of Iran Exposed!" while the small red circle says: "Evidence of Inhuman Torture of Detainees by Americans in Bagram Prison [Afghanistan]).

Report on the Trial of Reformists

Trial Proceedings

Today, the Iranian government put more than 100 detainees on trial, who according the government, were responsible amongst other things for sabotage, anti-government activity, subversion and the instigation of a 'Velvet Revolution' with help from foreign elements. Prominent reformists were among the detainees, including:

- Mohammad Ali Abtahi: A former Vice President of Iran and a close associate of former President Mohammad Khatami. He is a member of the central council of Association of Combatant Clerics (Majma'e Rowhaniyoon-e Mobarez).

- Mohsen Mirdamadi: Leader of the Islamic Iran Participation Front.

- Behzad Nabavi: A former Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Iran and one of the founders of the reformist party Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization.

- Mohsen Aminzadeh: Deputy Foreign Minister under Khatami.

- Abdollah Ramezanzadeh: A former spokesman and secretary of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran under Muhammad Khatami.

- Mohammad Atrianfar: The head of the "Policymaking Council" of the daily newspaper Shargh, a member of the Executives of Construction Party, a senior political advisor to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former elected a member of the City Council of Tehran from 1999 to 2003 and the Vice Minister of Interior in Politics under Minister Abdollah Noori as well as a vice president in Defence Industries Organization of Iran and a former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Hamshahri.

Other detainees included prominent political activists, reporters and other important Iranian personalities. The presiding judge was Judge Salavati of the 15th circuit of the Revolutionary Courts (could not find his first name). The government had previously announced that only 20 people would be put on trial on similar charges. It is worth noting that the lawyers of many defendants were not present during the trial. Saleh Nikbakht, who's been appointed by the families of Abtahi, Nabavi, Safaie Farahani and Aminzadeh to represent the defendants, later claimed he had not been allowed to be in court for the trial.

The government's prosecutor quoted a 'spy' the government had apprehended and that could not be named because of 'security' reasons. According to the prosecutor, the spy had entered Iran recently. The prosecutor then continued to explain how the spy was involved in planning a 'velvet revolution'. (I cannot confirm the name of the spy at this point as only one source has made a claim about his identity.)

The prosecutor then talked about 'velvet revolutions' that were held in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. He named some prominent politicians, activists, feminists and reporters who had taken part in the planning and attempts at executing the said 'revolution'.

Some of specific charges against the defendants were:

- Attacks on Military Installations with firearms and bombs.
- Attacks on government buildings and setting them on fire.
- Destruction of public and private property.
- Creating fear amongst the populace.
- Establishing contacts with militant organizations.
- Beating of ordinary citizens.
- Distributing leaflets against the government.
- Beating security forces.

The prosecutor also connected the defendants with George Soros - a billionaire who regularly helps fund 'revolutions' according to the prosecutor - and the US State Department. He said that the connection was established to coordinate the 'revolution'.

It was claimed, during the initial trial, that some of the defendants had acknowledged the accuracy of the elections' results and had denied that any fraud had taken place. Later, during 'confessions', Abtahi and Atrianfar declared that no fraud had taken place during the election. Abtahi also said that Rafsanjani, Khatami, Karroubi and Mousavi had made a pact to back each other up to discredit Ahmadinejad, in case he won the election.

He also went on to say that the 'velvet revolution' had agents who were to incite women, minorities, human rights activists, laborers, NGOs and students to take part. He blamed Shadi Sadr and Shirin Ebadi for inciting women. Nowsheen Hamadani Khorasani, an unknown individual, was also blamed for inciting women.

He further blamed, as being the 'brains' behind it, Hadi Qayemi - spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign in Iran - Mansoor Asanlo in charge of the Laborers wing, Sohrab Razaqi and Baqer Namazi of the NGOs wing and Abdul Kareem Sorosh.

Later, four of the defendants, Abtahi, Atrianfar, Tajbakhsh and Mazyar Bahari (an Iranian-Canadian journalist) faced the government media for questions. Some read their 'confessions'.

Excerpt of Mohammad Ali Abtahi's media 'confession:

"After the election [Mohammad] Khatami and Rafsanjani had sworn to have each other's back, and I don't understand the point of it, knowing the difference [in votes between Ahmadienjad and Mousavi] was 11 million....Hashemi wanted to take revenge on Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader....

Mousavi probably did not know the country, but Khatami, with all due respect... knew all the issues. He was aware of the capability and power of the leader, but he joined Mousavi and this was a betrayal, ...I see myself as a reformist but stated that Khatami did not have the right to force [this] on Mousavi. I did not agree with Ahmadinejad's presidency but believe in people's votes, and congratulated as people's choice as the president.

It was wrong of me to take part in the rallies, but [Mehdi] Karroubi told me that we cannot call the people onto the streets with such a meager number of votes, so we had better go to the streets ourselves to demonstrate our protest."

Abtahi's full confession in Farsi: YouTube - Mohammad Ali Abtahi press confession...
The prosecutor also accused many defendants of participating in 'terrorist' activities against the state of Iran. He also accused them of being in touch with the MKO - a leftist Iranian paramilitary organization. He claimed they had been trained at Ashraf Camp in Iraq with American Forces. They had received logistic and financial support from America together with intelligence. Reza Khademi, Naser Abdolhosseini, Mohammad Noori, Hossein Shermohammadi, Azra Saadat Qazi, Naseh Fareedi, Amir Hossein Fotoohi, Mahdi Shirazi, Hassam Salamat, Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani, Ahmad Karimi and Hamed Rohinezhad were all accused of taking part in these 'terrorist' activities.

Government Reaction

The only government reaction came from Tehran's representative in the parliament, Hamid Rasayee, who said that the trial had paved the way for the government to prosecute the real leaders of the riot (this is only partially confirmed at this point).

Opposition Reaction

Mousavi's statement:

"It is being said that the sons of revolution have confessed to planning to overthrow the Islamic Republic and the role of foreigners in this. I personally and carefully examined their words and did not find any truth to any of them... What we saw and you saw is nothing but an unskilled preparation for the start of the government's term. They want a court that is fraudulent to find instances of fraud in the elections."

He added that the defendants should know that people know the confessions were only made to save the lives of the defendants.

The IIPF released a statement which says, "The coup d'�tat led by the totalitarians has entered a new phase by the comedy show they have staged - disguised as a snazzy courtroom to put a number of the detainees on trial".
Full Statement here: IIPF Statement - Why We Protest - IRAN

Abtahi's wife said that Abtahi had been forced to take psychoactive medication, to break him down and to force him to say whatever he was told. Her statement was corroborated by Mohammad Reza Tabesh - a reformist member of parliament. He also condemned the trials as a sham. Abtahi's wife called the trials inhumane and senseless.

Mohsen Mirdamadi's wife said that family members of defendants were not allowed to talk to them, before or after the trial and they were taken away just as soon as the session was adjourned. She said that her family were not even allowed to be present during the trial.

Sayed Mohammad Khatami said the trials were against the constitution and that such acts were deeply endangering the regime.

Rafsanjani's office dismissed allegations of Rafsanjani's participation in any 'velvet revolution' and called all statements against Rafsanjani ludicrous.

Famous Iranian lawyer Mohammad Hossein Aghasi spoke to Voice of America from Iran and said that the trial could not be called one. He added that it was like 'a theatre act' staged by the government.

International Reaction

Reporters Without Borders released a statement calling the trial a joke and condemned it.

Iranian Media

Reformist media outlets were completely barred from attending the trial and the only news coming out was through government-run media.

Fars News reported a statement attributed to Abtahi which was markedly different from what he actually said in court.

Keyhan News used the trial for its front page headline. It accused reformist leaders of attempting to hold a 'velvet revolution' and called the confessions proof of what had actually occurred.

For a compilation of videos related to the trial: Video Blog...

(Excerpts were also used from Enduring America and Fereshteh Ghazi's report on the trial.)

*Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_46 ; Create it if it doesn't exist.

**If you wanna republish the Green Brief, please visit this page: For Bloggers, News Sites and Forum who want to republish the Green Brief Plesae Read! - Why We Protest - IRAN

***For Radio Broadcasters: Green Brief Pronounciation Guide - Why We Protest - IRAN

****(A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs

*****A hearty thanks to Sahar joon and S joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

The Green Brief #47 (August 2-3)

Yesterday's Report on the Trial of Reformists is at the end of this brief as well.

In Spanish: http://informeverde.blogspot.com/200...de-agosto.html

In German: http://tinyurl.com/nnlbla

Protests / Unrest

1. On August 2, there was a gathering of detainees' families in front of Khamenei's house. The number of people gathered was estimated at a few hundred.

2. The Sea of Green will be holding protests August 3 and plan on increasing power consumption at 9 PM. Chants of Allah o Akbar are continuing. (By the time this is out, protests will have already taken place.) On August 5 - the day of Ahmadinejad's inauguration - there will more gatherings and protests. Locations cannot be disclosed at this time, as previous policy.

3. August 3, approximately a thousand people gathered in front of Judiciary Chief Shahroodi's office. The protesters went to show their opposition to the trial of reformists.

4. August 1, several dozen members of the Mourning Mothers group held a gathering at Laleh Park.

5. Iran's national cell phone company sent an SMS to all of it's customers that services will be disrupted for the next 72 hours.

6. Checkpoints are being set up in Tehran by Basijis and police, yet again.

7. Partially confirmed reports indicate that at least 10 more protesters were being put on trial today. Need full confirmation.

8. Reports suggest that when news of the trial of reformists, reached Evin Prison, dozens of prisoners started to chant Allah o Akbar to show defiance against the regime.

9. Protests are being held in Paris August 3 and 4 against the Iran regime. For further details: Where is my vote? - Paris

*85 year old protester demands her vote be given back and says she wants to take it back from Khamenei: http://bit.ly/pAP3k

(If you, your friends or your organization are holding events, protests or doing something else related to the Iranian elections internationally, please send me an email with details and I will give you coverage. (Will only cost you 10 million dollars!) My email is: dbosca@gmail.com - I am also curious if anyone is doing something for the day of Ahmadinejad's inauguration OUTSIDE Iran.)

Opposition

10. Mahdi Karroubi on Sunday said that the confessions of political prisoners in court had no value. He asked the government to find a solution the current problem and asked them to stop trials, arrests and creating panic and fear among the people.

11. Shirin Ebadi today said that the trial was not held for the defendants; but for legitimizing Ahmadinejad's government by forcing people to say that there was no fraud during the elections. She added that the trials held no legal merit.

12. It has been confirmed that Hashemi Rafsanjani may have left Tehran for Kerman in order to avoid participating in Ahmadinejad's confirmation by Khamenei.

13. Mohsen Rezaie today asked that if reformists could be put on trial, then the government should also put on trial members of security forces, who violated Iranian laws during the post-election unrest.

14. Ebrahim Yazdi - the Secretary-General of the Freedom Movement of Iran - today said that the prosecutor's claims, during the trial of reformists, was an attack on the integrity of the regime. He called the confessions immoral and said that it was an example of the in-fighting amongst various factions of the regime.

Government / International

15. The confirmation ceremony of Ahmadinejad by Khamenei was held today in Tehran. The ceremony was attended by Ayatollah Hashemi Shahrodi, Ali Larejani, Ahmad Jannati, Mohsen Rezaie, Ayatollah Golpaygani, Mojtaba Khamenei, Ahmad Najafi, Afshin Ghotbi, Hossein Rezazadeh, Hamid Reza Saakit, Jahangir Almasi, Mohammad Reza Sharifinya, Mohammad Saleh 'Ala and Mahmood Khosravi Wafa. During the ceremony, Ahmadinejad did not kiss Khamenei's hand as he normally does and instead planted a kiss on the Supreme Leader's shoulder.

16. Neither Khatami nor Rafsanjani - two former presidents of Iran - attended the ceremony. It had been speculated that at least Rafsanjani might attend, but he has left Tehran and is reportedly in Kerman. No member of Imam Khomeini's family attended the ceremony either.

17. IRIB did not broadcast the appointment ceremony live. Some government-run news outlets, however, did report the ceremony as it went along.

(Picture Courtesy of Enduring America: The top shot shows the confirmation from today while the shot below is from Ahmadinejad's confirmation 4 years ago.)
http://enduringamerica.com/wp-conten...uguration3.jpg

18. Ali Akbar Javanfekr, who is a senior advisor to Ahmadinejad on media affairs - resigned on Monday.

19. The office of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Court has warned people to not comment on or criticize the trial of reformist leaders, reporters and other detainees. It added that anyone who did so would be prosecuted. The warning came after not only reformists, but even some conservative Iranian members of parliament openly criticized the trial and questioned its legitimacy.

20. Members of Iran's Parliament have asked Ahmadinejad to provide answers as to why he sacked two distinguished and high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Intelligence last week. The two officials are Haji Habibullah and Khazayee. The MPs want to know why their sacking was undertaken without consultation with the parliament first.

21. Partially confirmed reports suggest that Iran's Police Chief, claimed today, that they had discovered books and other material on how to wage a guerilla war campaign, from the election offices of reformist candidates. Full confirmation is still unavailable.

22. Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked the Iranian regime to release all political prisoners and respect the civil and political rights of the citizens of Iran. He also harshly criticized the trial of reformists that was held two days ago and reminded Iran it had to remain committed to its international commitments of respecting human rights.

23. Hashemi Rafsanjani's son, Mahdi Hashemi said today that the trial of detained reformists was going to weaken the regime and the Supreme Leader. He called it a show trial and laughable.

Arrested / Released / killed

24. New reports indicate that 103 additional protesters have been moved to Evin that were arrested on Thursday. This number does not include the 50 protesters that the government announced it had detained.

25. New reports emerging from Evin suggest that Behzad Nabavi and Mohammad Ali Abtahi may have been tortured psychologically. The reports suggest that Behzad Nabavi was stripped naked and then taken to Abtahi's cell and Abtahi was told to perform fellatio on him. Full confirmation is unavailable.

26. Pooya Maghsood Beigi is the newest victim whose death has been confirmed. He was arrested in Kermanshah on June 20 and died after suffering extreme torture in Kermanshah Prison. He died a few days after being released. Now reports have emerged that his mother, Zahra Nowrozi was arrested from Kermanshah yesterday.

27. Iranian media today reported that the three American hikers who were arrested from northwestern Iran, are being held on charges of espionage and were working for the CIA.

28. The commission for investigating the rights of detained protesters and other people who've been arrested in relation to the recent unrests, has confirmed the death of at least 62 people that they are aware of during these unrests.

29. The only good news from the past two days is the release of Masood Kordpour.

*A responsible twitter - @NedaAgain - has focused my attention to the issue of the veracity of Abtahi and other detainees' confessions on August 1. His evidence and similar evidence provided by other Iranian sources seem to make it doubtful that Abtahi's confession was from August 1. Facts reported by Iranian media say that Abtahi and other detainees were brought to court and after the trial session, immediately met with reporters and then were taken to prison. However, pictures and video show that while he was wearing prison uniform in court, he had on a crisp new shirt during the confession. Does it make sense to anyone else?

Picture during trial on right: http://i29.tinypic.com/25inm6g.jpg

Video of Confession: YouTube - Mohammad Ali Abtahi press confession...
Mohammad Ali Abtahi press confession August 1 2009

Important Correction: The Green Brief reported yesterday that: "One of Mousavi's close aides, Alireza Beheshti - the son of Ayatollah Beheshti - has stated in an interview they have so far gathered the names of 1,700 detainees whose whereabouts are unknown." Another journalist covering Iran, Fintan Dunne observed and corrected the statement which is rather misleading. The correct statement was that they had collected the names of 1,700 detainees, yet did not know the location and status of an unspecified and undetermined number of those detainees. Thanks Fin!

To Helpers

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- Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_47 ; Create it if it doesn't exist.

- (A list of all the Green Briefs: http://ded1.hybrid-optix.com/greenbriefs.html[/url]

- A hearty thanks to Sahar joon and S joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.