Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [6/12-6/18] major news events regarding Iran.

Iran's Presidential Elections:

Sunday

• Yahoo News reported the United States dismissed the upcoming Iran's presidential election as rigged and exhorting the Iranian people to rise up for democratic reform. HRW agreed as did the Times UK.
• Yahoo News reported that the relationship with Khamenei could be tricky for next Iran president.
• Reuters reported leading candidates in Iran's presidential election race pledged greater social freedoms.
• Reuters reported that Iran's interior minister asked security agencies to protect campaigners in Friday's presidential election.
• Times Leader reported in Iran, presidential hopefuls talk of restoring relations with U.S.

Monday

• Tehran Times reports that Iran warned U.S. officials to speak with caution on the upcoming presidential election in Iran.
• Reuters reported that Rafsanjani newest campaign ad angles for Iran youth vote.
• USA Today reported on how the Internet boom in Iran is altering the political process.
• Students inside of Iran told me that Rafsanjani is paying students $200 to place posters of him on their cars and drive through the city.

Tuesday

• The New York Times reported the reformist camp finds was facing a fork in the road: to vote or to boycott the ballot.
• The Christian Science Monitor reports that many Iranians said they would boycott the vote to delegitimize the result.
• Iranian blogger Jafar Rezaei explained why he would not vote in Friday's election.

Wednesday

• CNN played a dangerous game of softball with Rafsanjani. They failed to ask hard questions.
• Sify.com reported that Rafsanjani won the support from the oil and nuclear sectors.

Thursday

• The White House released a statement by the President Bush on the Iranian Elections.
• Ayatollah Medhi Haeri, WSJ says the election in Iran is a betrayal of Islam.
• The Jerusalem Post is calling Iran's election a sham.
• Kenneth R. Timmerman reported that the election turnout was expected to be around 27%.
  
• Michael Ledeen said the coming Iranian election is a farce.
• Defense & Foreign Affairs provided a special analysis of the 2005 elections in Iran, June 17th.
• Iran Focus reported that Mohsen Rezai Iran'’s ex-Revolutionary Guards chief abandoned the race.
• Iran Focus reported that Rafsanjani'’s publicity stunt turned into a flop.
• Iranian Blogger Windseed provided an election update.
• Iranian Blogger Mr. Behi on the election eve.
  
• Iranian Blogger Wishmeluck on the night before the election.
• Iranian Blogger Arash Jalali said To vote or not to vote, that seems to be the question.
• Iranian Blogger Hoder discussed Iran's Unreliable polls.

Friday

• The western media reported large turnout in the election in Iran . What is wrong with these reports? A lot! (Plus Photos)
• VOA News says no matter who is elected, major changes are not expected because hard-line religious leaders will continue to rule the country with an iron hand.
• The NY Times reported an unusual campaign season for Iran wound down Thursday and was also marred by extraordinary violence.

Saturday

• Reuters first reported that Rafsanjani was heading for a run-off vote against reformist Mostafa Moin. Then the government gave out new poll results.
• Reuters updated it's report saying, Rafsanjani now faces a run-off with his closest rival, hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• BBC Monitoring Service reported Iranian Candidate Speaks Of 'Organized Interference' in Elections.
  

• Iranian blogger: Iran Votes 2005 from what I have seen in Tehran and the news I have got from people elsewhere, it can be said that yesterday turn out was much lower than the 1997 election, and thus the real number seems to be much lower than the alleged 30 million.
• The Scotsman reported that low turnouts at some polling stations suggesting that calls for a boycott by pro-reformers had had some effect.
• An Iranian Student produced this translated compilation of online Iranian comments on the election.

Iranians vote in the US:

• We published a list of locations in the U.S. where Iranians can go to vote in the June 17th election.
  
• SMCCDI reported protest letters were faxed today, by the Movement, to several Hotel corporations in the U.S. following the use of several of their facilities as propaganda platforms by operatives of the Islamic regime.
• SMCCDI made a call for urgent action to shutdown Iranian polling places outside of Iran.
• SOSIRAN released a report on an altercation at the LA polling place.
• Bloggers produced personal counts of visiting Iranians polling stations in the US.

Iran a week rocked by explosions:

• The first explosions occurred in Ahvaz killing 8 and wounding 36. The regime blamed U.S. terrorists, and later said a new group calling itself the Ahwazi Revolutionary Martyrs' Brigades, claimed responsibility and demanded people boycott the election. Then Tehran was rocked with 3 explosions with 1 dead and 3 wounded. Already an Iran analyst and an Iranian blogger believe it was the work of the regime.
• NY Times discovered that similar bombings to those exploded in Tehran occured in Qom last week, but were the work of hardline vigilantes.
• NY Sun reported that the bombings in Iran could prove to be the work of the regime.
• The Financial Times reported that the bombs in Iran threaten to sway Iranian agenda.
• Iranian blogger, Windsteed, reported his thoughts on who was behind the recent bomb blasts.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran presidential candidate Moin hints at bombings are a “insider job.”
• Xinhuanet reported a bomb exploded in Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan, Iran.

Iran's trouble making outside of Iran:

• The Washington Times reported that some within the U.S. intelligence community think Osama bin Laden is in eastern Iran.

Iran's nuclear negotiations:

• The Telegraph UK reported that North Korea is helping Iran dig secret missile bunkers.
• Reuters reported that ElBaradei was reappointed head of UN nuclear agency.
• The New York Times reported that the UN's ElBaradei demanded access to an Iranian Military Site.
• The Washington Times claimed years ago, after the German federal intelligence service BND warned ElBaradei that Iran was gaining knowledge of the nuclear fuel cycle "that can be used to build nuclear weapons." Mr. ElBaradei responded by ordering his press spokesman to deny the existence of the information.
• The New York Times reported that Iran has admitted to experimenting with producing plutonium, much more recently than originally told the U.N.
• Times Online points out the dangers of a Rafsanji President and that few Iranians want an Iranian nuclear bomb. They fear that the possession of a nuclear bomb would entrench the hardline regime.
• IranMania reported that UN Nuclear Watchdog Chief Mohamed Elbaradei said, "Iran's nuclear dossier at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would be closed once all remaining questions would be promptly answered."
• The Scotsman reported that Rafsanjani admitted that Iran may in the past have deceived the IAEA and the West.

Iran's Economy:

• The Financial Times reported that Iran is expected to sell India a significantly smaller-than-expected amount of liquefied natural gas than India wants.
• The Associated Press reported the Securities and Exchange Commission has sent letters to U.S. companies requesting they disclose any business dealings with terror-supporting states.
• VOA News reported that two members of Congress want to ban gasoline shipments to Iran.
• The Financial Express said the US cautioned India that it would be making a mistake if it went ahead with the gas pipeline project with Iran.

US Policy and Iran:

• The White House released a statement by the President Bush on the Iranian Elections.
• Reuters reported the United States accused Tehran of deceiving the U.N. nuclear watchdog about its atomic ambitions.

Human Rights/Freedom of the press inside of Iran:

• The NY Times reported, Hundreds of Women Protest Sex Discrimination in Iran. For the first time since the revolution, a coalition of 30+ Women's rights groups inside of Iran staged a demonstration in Tehran. Photos.
• SMCCDI reported on the successful gender apartheid demonstration at Tehran University.
  

• Payvand reported that the "Union of Advocates of Democracy" gathered in front of Evin prison calling for an end to detention of lawyer Nasser Zarafshan.
• Reuters reported that Police on Wednesday broke up a protest outside Tehran's Evin prison by more than 100 people demanding the release of all political prisoners.
• Reuters reported that a group of leading international human rights organizations said the Iranian judiciary should immediately release prisoners of conscience, particularly those in urgent need of medical treatment.
• Shirin Ebadi Muhammad Sahimi, WSJ said, Turning a blind eye to human rights abuses, when the vast majority of Iranians desire mutually respectful relations with the West, would only increase their suspicion of the West's underlying motives.
• Adnkronos International reported that Iranian police have manhandled the wife and brother of jailed journalist and dissident, Akbar Ganji, during the ninth straight day of protest in front of the notorious Evin prison

• Iran Focus reported that State Security Forces destroyed numerous homes in northeast Iran as part of a new campaign to silence dissent. Photo.
• Committee to Protect Bloggers pleads for help for an Iranian blogger faces court date with no legal representation.

Popular struggle for freedom inside of Iran:

• SMCCDI violent clashes rocked, yesterday evening, several areas of the Iranian Capital.
• Dow Jones Newswires reported that some 300 Iranian Kurds celebrating the election of their leader to office in Iraq clashed with police in northwestern Iran.
• The Financial Times reported that exiled Iranian opposition activists say they are studying and training in the techniques of "non-violent conflict."

Popular struggle for freedom outside of Iran:

• The major Iranian opposition broadcasters in a unique display of unity in broadcasting the same feed into Iran calling for a boycott of the elections tomorrow.
• Iran va Jahan reported that four young Iranians in London staged a hunger strike in front of the Islamic Republic Embassy, includes the text of their brochure.

• Ekbatan Observer Blog reported on his recent meeting with Reza Pahlavi.
• Ekbatan Observer reported that the former Shah's wife sent a message of solidarity to the Iranian people.
• CNN and the son of the former Shah, Reza Pahlavi, discuss the Iranian election. Video.
• Iran-Shahr Blog published an interview with Reza Pahlavi: The Regime is Archaic.

• The Guardian reported that four terrorist suspects arrested in north London are believed to be linked to a dissident group plotting against the Iranian government.

Sean Penn in Iran:

• Iranian blogger Afshin Molavi offered his opinion on Sean Penn in Iran.
• Iranian blogger Hoder wanted to meet him.
• Reuters reported that actor Sean Penn quizzed Rafsanjani.
• Editorial & Publisher reported that actor Sean Penn had his video camera confiscated for a time.
• Reuters reported that actor Sean Penn told a film student during a visit to Iran's Film Museum in Tehran Monday that the "Death to America" slogan chanted each week at Friday Prayers hurt Iran-U.S. relations.
• Stephen Schwartz worked as a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle for exactly ten years and looks at the Chronicles decision to send Sean Penn to Iran.
• Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi reported on Sean Penn in Iran. Valuable insight into the thinking of the far left on Iran.

Must Read reports:

• Christopher Hitchens takes a looks at Mind over Mullahs.
• Trita Parsi in a Part One Debate: Opinon - Sean Penn and the Neocons.
• Eli Lake in a Part Two Debate: Opinion - Anti-neocon rhetoric versus reality.
• The New York Times had an analysis why Rafsanjani is not our man in Iran.
• Boston.com reminds us of the French philosopher Michel Foucault and the Ayatollah Khomeini.

The Experts:

• Michael Ledeen said the coming Iranian election is a farce.
• Ken Timmerman's new book on Iran, Countdown to Crisis was released this week. The book will include more than forty pages of previously unpublished documents and photographs.
• Congressman Curt Weldon's new book on Iran is creating quite a stir. The media is reporting his claim on Meet the Press that Osama bin Laden 'in and out' of Iran in recent years. Dan Darling has a fascinating discussion on this. Michael Ledeen and Eli Lake weigh in.
• Gene Sharp, author of some of the finest work on non-violent regime change methodology is being forced to close his Albert Einstein Institution due to lack of funding.

Photos and cartoons of the week:

• Iran before the coming election
• Akbar Ganji returning to Evin Prison
• Women's Rights demonstration in Tehran
• Women protesting against gender apartheid.
• Women being arrested at the event.
• Cox and Forkum cartoon of Sean Penn.
• A demonstration in front of the infamous Evin Prison
• Iran moving to the right
• Another cartoon from Iran.
• Sean Penn, Iran next president?
• Torn election posters in Iran.

And finally, The Quote of the Week:

BBC Monitoring Service, Monsters and Critics. Excerpt from statement issued by reformist candidate Mostafa Mo'in, after the election results:

"Today, anyone can clearly see the effect of this organized interference on the election results. I declare that what happened was an extra-legal move to deprive one candidate of his right and to pull up another candidate.I declare that with this move, the warning bell has sounded for our fledgling democracy."

Saturday's Daily Briefing on Iran - Election in Iran

DoctorZin reports, 6.18.2005:

Iranian Candidate Speaks Of 'Organized Interference' in Elections

BBC Monitoring Service, Monsters and Critics:

Excerpt from statement issued by reformist candidate Mostafa Mo'in after the announcement of the results of the first round of the Iranian presidential elections...

Now the election results have been announced. Despite the warnings that were given by the honourable president and the honourable Interior Ministry, as well as by political parties and groups, a particular, organized inclination targeted the soundness of these elections. In the final days before the elections, suddenly, a powerful will entered the arena bent on the victory of a particular candidate and the elimination of the other candidates and opened the way to the organization of some military bodies and the support of the election supervisory apparatus, so that the self-evident rights of the other candidates could be targeted. Today, anyone can clearly see the effect of this organized interference on the election results.

I declare that what happened was an extra-legal move to deprive one candidate of his right and to pull up another candidate.

I declare that with this move, the warning bell has sounded for our fledgling democracy. READ MORE

This statement is one of the first public challenges to the legitimacy of the elections. In the next few days we can expect a chorus of similar statements, both inside and outside of Iran.

Next Friday, when the runoff election is being held, we need to see the international journalists having the freedom to travel and report from wherever they choose in order to get a true and clear picture of the election and its turnout.

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• Reuters first reported that Rafsanjani was heading for a run-off vote against reformist Mostafa Moin. Then the government gave out new poll results.
• Reuters updated it's report saying, Rafsanjani now faces a run-off with his closest rival, hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• Al Jazerra reported that Iranian voters woke up a day after pivotal elections to find their country facing a run-off following results which defied all predictions.
• Iranian blogger: Iran Votes 2005 from what I have seen in Tehran and the news I have got from people elsewhere, it can be said that yesterday turn out was much lower than the the 1997 election, and thus the real number seems to be much lower than the alleged 30 million.
• The Guardian reported that four terrorist suspects arrested in north London are believed to be linked to a dissident group plotting against the Iranian government.
• BBC News reporter discussed Iran's electoral handshake test.
• The Scotsman reported that low turnouts at some polling stations suggesting that calls for a boycott by pro-reformers had had some effect.
• Guardian reported that President Bush said Iran's election was designed to keep power in the hands of a few rulers ``through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy.''
• UPI reported that President Bush's denouncing of Iran's electoral system was seen by Iranian opposition groups as a sign of encouragement and support.
• An Iranian Student produced this translated compilation of online Iranian comments on the election.
• Bloggers produced personal counts of visiting Iranians polling stations in the US.
• SOSIRAN released a report on an altercation at the LA polling place.
• SMCCDI made a call for urgent action to shutdown Iranian polling places outside of Iran.
• And finally, Iran-Shahr Blog published an interview with Reza Pahlavi: The Regime is Archaic.

Iranians surprised by election run-off

Firas Al-Atraqchi, Al Jazerra:

Iranian voters woke up a day after pivotal elections to find their country facing a run-off following results which defied all predictions.

Mohammed Ali Saki, political editor of the English-language daily Tehran Times said the runoff surprised not only the Iranian voters but the government of the Islamic Republic itself.

"All the polls and predictions must have been wrong," he told Aljazeera.net. READ MORE

"Given these results, it is hard to predict who will emerge as the winner in the second round next week."

Early on Saturday, a spokesman for the Guardian Council supervising the elections said all candidates had failed to garner the needed 50% of votes required to avoid a run-off.

Former Iranian President and influential cleric Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani managed nearly 21%, with his closest rival, Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad - considered a hardliner - coming in a close second just with over 20%.

Western analysts closely monitoring the Iranian elections had predicted a win for Rafsanjani.

"They were all wrong," says Saki.

"It was always too close to call … close competition between all camps – the conservatives, the moderates, and the reformists."

But Mansour Siraty of Iran's popular Sharbe newspaper believed Ahmadinejad's gains would likely mean Rafsanjani could very well lose next week.

"No, I do not think Rafsanjani will win. I think … Ahmadinejad," he told Aljazeera.net.

Above-average turnout

While Iranian media touted the higher than expected turnout – some 65% of the electorate voted in Friday’s elections – government officials were thumbing their noses at what they called "Western nations".

"This run-off is proof that we don’t tamper with election results, we don't suppress the voice of the people, and we don’t bow to foreign interests," said a government official on the condition of anonymity.

"Iran is democratic. What is happening in Iran proves it."

Saki agreed saying the Unites States should stop "making noise".

Both were reacting to White House statements on Thursday criticising the Islamic Republic for "suppress(ing) liberty at home and spread(ing) terror across the world".

Iranian media quoted officials saying the deadline for polling stations to close was extended by two hours in most districts throughout the Islamic Republic to account for the large turnout.

Early Saturday figures showed 32 million Iranians had voted.

Victory for Iran

Whether a conservative, reform party member or moderate emerges a winner next week, the government is calling the elections a victory for the Islamic Republic.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, considered one of the more conservative of the influential clerics in Iran, said any vote on Friday indicated faith in the Islamic system and the electoral process.

"Some of our enemies do not like to see an Islamic system which can both maintain its religious nature and rely on the votes of its people at the same time," Khamenei told reporters shortly after casting his vote.

Reformist cleric Mehdi Karoubi came in third place with 17.57% of the vote.

Mostafa Moin, also a reformist once touted as Rafsanjani’s most determined challenger was in fourth place on Friday evening, but was slightly overtaken by Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf early on Saturday.

Iran Votes 2005 Update

Iran Votes 2005:

Iranian state news agencies and Kayhan claim that more than 30 million people have casted their votes. I do not want to dismiss this claim readily but I believe that it must be dealt with extreme caution. Let's not forget that the regime wanted to use this election to display its popularity. And Khatami and his Ministry of Interior are part of this regime. They would do anything to save a reputation for the regime even if it takes lying to their own people. There is no doubt that those who had advocated a boycott on this election, have been stunned and disappointed by yesterday turn-out. However, from what I have seen in Tehran and the news I have got from people elsewhere, it can be said that yesterday turn out was much lower than the the 1997 election, and thus the real number seems to be much lower than the alleged 30 million. READ MORE

Ahmadi Nejad is reportedly among the top three at present. If people have chosen him as their favourite president, no one has the right to dispute why they have done so, although it would be necessary to investigate why people had shifted from a man like Khatami to someone like Ahmadi Nejad - with the kind of background and personality that he has and we all know about it. However, there are reports that in some poll stations, Sepah and its mitilias (Basijis) overtly interfered in the voting process by writing Ahmadi Nejad's name for those who were unable to write or those who were still undecided as to whose name they were going to put in their vote. Obviously one of the contenders - Karoubi - has been informed of this intereference and will hold a press conference soon to give more details on it.

Furthermore, this was Kayahan's headline this morning: "Rafsanjani in the first rank, Ahmadi Nejad second". How on earth could Kayhan know that Ahmadi Nejad was second at 7 o'clock in the morning (the time when it gets published and distributed), while first official results were only announced at 8am? Besides, Ahmadi Nejad has not yet come up higher than the third (not the second) place. So it is not known where Kayhan had got its 'results' from. Also, one unprecedented thing that has happened is that the Guardian Council is now announcing its own version of results!!!, whereas the law says the Ministry of Interior is the sole body in charge of announcing election result. What a mess! That's all that I can say for now.

They also have an interesting online poll here and photos here and here.

Four Linked to Iran Terror Plot Arrested

Rosie Cowan and Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian:

Four terrorist suspects arrested by armed police in dawn swoops in north London yesterday are believed to be linked to a dissident group plotting against the Iranian government, according to police and anti-terrorist officials. READ MORE

The men, aged 31, 37, 58 and 63, were being questioned last night at the high security police station at Paddington Green.

A Scotland Yard source said they were believed to have links to terrorist activity in the Middle East.

The men were said to be Iranians or part of a group opposed to Tehran.
They were not linked to any al-Qaida network nor planning terrorist attacks in the UK, anti-terrorist officials said.

Officers from the Metropolitan police's S013 anti-terrorist branch seized two of the men in a car in Barnet, in the early hours of yesterday.

They were supported by armed officers in case the men had guns.

The police did not recover any firearms, although the road was closed for some time while forensic examinations were carried out.

The operation was led by the police, with the support of MI5.

Two other men were arrested at residential addresses, and officers were searching three properties, two in Barnet and one in Finchley.

A source said they did not expect to discover any bomb-making equipment, but hoped to find computers and documents revealing the men's plans.

A number of items were seized.

The men are being held under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, on suspicion of preparing, instigating or commissioning acts of terrorism.

The operation, which took place a stone's throw from Barnet police station, closed off a half-mile stretch of the high street for more than an hour, witnesses said.

Iran's Electoral Handshake Test

Gavin Esler, BBC News:

Iranians have cast their ballots to elect a successor to reformist President Mohammad Khatami, but assessing the election race itself is not the only way of gauging the political temperature among voters.

Here is a top tip for travellers to Iran: be careful how you shake hands.

I made a big social gaffe... or perhaps it was a serious political statement. I will let you decide. READ MORE

I have been spending time with the man nicknamed The Shark, the former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

He is now 70 but desperate to get back his old job as president of the Islamic Republic.

It had taken three months to negotiate an hour of his time for a BBC interview, and the Rafsanjani campaign workers were keen to show me they could run an election with as much skill as any Western politician. They can.

'Figure hugging'

The Rafsanjani supporters were mostly from well-to-do Tehran families, and I was not quite sure what surprised me the most: the hairstyles of the men - stiff and sticking-up with hair gel much like 20-year-olds in Britain - or the changing fashions of the young women.

In Iran what is permitted - or tolerated - in women's dress has become a way of taking the political temperature.

The old black shapeless jilbabs and black headscarves, or hijabs, were still in evidence for some - mostly older - women.

But the Rafsanjani campaign workers were dressed as if for a date with plenty of make-up, hijabs well back on the head to show flowing hair, sunglasses perched on top, and the jilbabs now shorter and elegantly tailored.

In some cases they were figure-hugging.

A couple of young women, with trousers cut fashionably to mid-calf and shirt sleeves half-way up their arm, reminded me that just a couple of years ago, religious activists carried cans of black paint to spray the arms of the supposedly un-Islamic shameless hussies of Tehran. But not today.

Things have changed.

Campaign spirit

One older woman asked where I was from. "The BBC," I said.

She looked at me, and then very politely but insistently told me that all the troubles of Iran were caused by the English, the Americans and the Israelis.

"Ah the English," I replied. "Well, I'm Scottish and they've been causing us trouble for years, especially on the football pitch."

There was a flicker of a laugh.

The young Rafsanjani campaign workers plied me with tea and hospitality, stuck bumper stickers on cars, put up posters, and handed out T-shirts with slogans in English - remarkably - tapping into young Iranians' anxieties about unemployment and a corrupt political system.

"Just Work," was one slogan. Another read: "No More Talk."

Bad reaction

The Rafsanjani workers then suggested I might like to see the hi-tech end of the campaign.

I was taken to a modern office block where a dozen young workers sent out e-mails and prepared well-produced web pages full of pictures and lively comment.

This is where I met the young woman and the handshake problem. In perfect English she asked if I would like to see the daily blog she prepares for her readers.

"I want to show you the website," she said excitedly, and told me her name. I introduced myself, held out my hand and said: "Pleased to meet you."

She jumped back as if I had slapped her.

"In the Islamic Republic," she lectured me sternly, "it is not permitted."

True, it is not permitted for a man to shake a woman's hand.

Neither of us took offence and we chatted amicably for a while, but when later I told other female students of this encounter they laughed and immediately stretched out their hands in a series of handshakes which - they informed me - was just another rebellion against the unelected mullahs who, no matter how the students may vote, really run the regime.

That, they said, has to change.

Call to action

Everywhere I went I heard that Iran is on the cusp of a potentially profound political shift.

One Iranian with top level political contacts told me it was like 1978 all over again, the year before the Islamic Revolution which toppled the Shah.

This time, from monarchists to republicans to devout Muslims, appalled at the corruption of some of their supposedly holy leaders, most of the people I met said they wanted change, and they wanted it now.

Mr Rafsanjani told me he could do business with the West if we were ready to do business with him.

With bombs going off in Tehran and on the Iraqi border during my stay, plus demonstrations, arrests, and claims of beatings by the security forces, change will be painful and, I suspect, often violent.

But Persian culture is 2,500 years old. Twenty-six years of the Islamic Republic has been a blink of the eye.

Young Iranians often now call their country Persia again, not Iran, and the future of their Persia rests with those who wished to shake my offered hand.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 18 June 2005, at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

Iranian Candidate Speaks Of 'Organized Interference' in Elections

BBC Monitoring Service, Monsters and Critics:

Excerpt from statement issued by reformist candidate Mostafa Mo'in after the announcement of the results of the first round of the Iranian presidential elections, reported by Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) web site

[Passage omitted] Knowing Iranian nation!

Now the election results have been announced. Despite the warnings that were given by the honourable president and the honourable Interior Ministry, as well as by political parties and groups, a particular, organized inclination targeted the soundness of these elections. In the final days before the elections, suddenly, a powerful will entered the arena bent on the victory of a particular candidate and the elimination of the other candidates and opened the way to the organization of some military bodies and the support of the election supervisory apparatus, so that the self-evident rights of the other candidates could be targeted. Today, anyone can clearly see the effect of this organized interference on the election results.

I declare that what happened was an extra-legal move to deprive one candidate of his right and to pull up another candidate.

I declare that with this move, the warning bell has sounded for our fledgling democracy.

Let us be vigilant, for these kinds of complicated, creeping efforts will ultimately lead to militarism, authoritarianism and narrow-mindedness in this country. This trend is a threat to civil society and an impediment to the path of reform. READ MORE


Honourable people of Iran!

We must take seriously the danger of fascism and the disappearance of the role of the people and the danger of the elimination of republicanism under any name or organization. I warn that moves of this kind have henceforth brought into question not just the structure of free and fair elections but also their soundness. We must believe that this structural deviation is far more harmful than the danger of offences, cheating and problems in elections.

I warn that this organized military and supervisory interference in the elections has consequences beyond the violation of the rights of people who voted for me and the likes of me. I declare that this is a threat to the people's choice and free elections, and, even more, a threat to Iran's national interests and to the elevation of the system of the Islamic Republic.

Those who, instead of relying on the democratic power of the people in these elections, relied on the organization of a paramilitary [body] and the use of a partisan and extensive supervisory network and who provided a pretext to the true enemies of democracy in Iran and the world, are the ones who are answerable for this.

Throughout this period, thanks be to God, I have benefited from an explosion of human sentiments throughout the country. From now on, too, I shall rely on these two [God and the nation] and will speak to you, the people, again.

"[Fighting is prescribed for you and ye dislike it.] But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you. And that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But God knoweth and ye know not." (Baqarah, 216 [Verse from the Koran])

Your humble servant

Dr Mostafa Mo'in

84.3.28 [18 June 2005]

Source: Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA), Tehran, in Persian 1627 gmt 18 Jun 05

BBC Mon Alert ME1 MEPol nm

This just the beginning of the challenges to the legitimacy of the elections. In the next few days we can expect a chorus of similar statements, both inside and outside of Iran. Next Friday when the runoff election is being held we need to see the international journalist having the freedom to travel and report from whereever they choose inorder to get a true and clear picture of the election and its turnout.

Reports of Iranians voting in the US

Robert Mayer of PublisPundit has just released his length and valuable report on the polling station in Tuscon. It includes photos and a fascinating with the poll watcher and his views of America.

Will of Willisms produced a two similar reports from Houston, Texas. One, Two. Photos included.

Finally, SMCCDI published a report of their success in closing down the LA polling station.

Aryo B. Pirouznia, the SMCCDI Coordinator, and several other Iranian political activists were wounded by Islamists and mercenaries hired by Islamic republic regime. These aggressions took place, yesterday, in front of Commerce Hotel located in the City of Los Angeles.

Pirouznia and several colleagues, such as, Firoozeh Ghafarpoor, Morad Moalem, Dokhi Abdi and Nasrin Mohamadi were admitted to the emergency service of Beverly Hospital as suffering of extensive use of pepper gas and wounds inflicted by regime's mercenaries.

Tens of Sheriffs, Policemen and FBI agents rushed to the area along with several paramedic and firefighting crews. This quick deployment avoided more harm to the activists and the immediate closure of the illegal ballot box in this only Los Angeles location.

Arrests of some of brutal agents have been made and legal complaints are to be introduced against the hotel, security company hired by Islamic regime and the theocratic regime itself.

Reporters of several local TV stations and news agencies, such as, Fox News, Channel 5, Reuters and AP covered the fiasco witnessed by the regime which had deployed several Iranian agents and members of a Mexican gang.

Other clashes have been reported from cities, such as, San Jose (CA), Toronto (Canada) and Frankfurt (Germany) where activists were attacked by regime's men and mercenaries. Canadian police and government had to intervene in order to get the release of a freedomfighter held captive by regime's 'diplomats' inside its embassy.

Tens of other protest demos took place in most N. American and European cities where the regime had organized ballot boxes. These actions were made in support of Iranians who boycotted massively the sham Presidential 'elections'.

Boycott hits Iranian election

Colin Freeman, The Scotsman:

COUNTING began in Iran's presidential elections last night, with low turnouts at some polling stations suggesting that calls for a boycott by pro-reformers had had some effect.

In the wealthy suburbs of northern Tehran, where opposition to the country's theocracy is strongest, some polling stations closed with only a fraction of their ballot papers used.

Pro-reform candidates had urged voters to cast their ballots regardless, fearing that a mass boycott could give the appearance of an enhanced majority for their conservative rivals.

But simmering anger at the vetoing of candidates by clerics on the country's all-powerful guardian council looked set to bring about a repeat of last year's parliamentary contests, when turnout dwindled to just above 50 per cent.

As the polls closed last night, the clear favourite remained Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, a 70-year-old cleric and former hardliner who has sold himself as a pragmatic conservative.

Using a combination of "poacher-turned-gamekeeper" tactics, he has built an unlikely powerbase among the nation's youth, who believe that only an insider is now capable of enacting real change.

Over the past decade, more openly reformist politicians have had their modernising programmes stymied by the mullahs.

None of the seven candidates, however, is expected to get the 50 per cent support needed to win outright, meaning the top two will likely meet in a runoff vote within the next two weeks.

Other main contenders are Mostafa Moin, a reform-minded former education minister, and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a former policeman and hardline conservative.

Whoever wins will have a tough job. As well as managing the demands of a population increasingly chafing against clerical rule, there are crucial diplomatic issues: in particular Iran's much-condemned nuclear ambitions, and relations with the US-sponsored democracies in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan.

In an attempt to undermine the boycott, Iran's unelected ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on the nation's 41 million voters to turn out to prove that the country is a working democracy.

But at a polling station in a school in Vasnak, an affluent suburb of northern Tehran, only 150 voters had arrived by mid-afternoon. "We have been given 1,000 ballot papers, so it seems the turn-out has been a lot lower than expected," said Mohsen Jannati, the school's headmaster, who supervised the voting.

"This is because it is not a democratic system and people have stayed at home as a result. I will not be voting myself either, as long as the guardian council filters the candidates that we are allowed to choose."

However, in the southern suburb of Shahreh-Rey, a working-class district composed of miles of high-rise slums, the polls did brisk business. READ MORE

Voters put in a surprise show of support for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a little-known figure until he was chosen by hardliners as Tehran's mayor last year.

Security forces across Iran were on high alert after a wave of bombings killed eight people in the southern city of Ahvaz, but as of last night all seemed calm. Results are due today.

This is one of the few reports that thus far have reported low turnouts. It is amazing to me that the mainstream media hasn't demanded more proof of the official figures being reported or at least qualifying the reported totals are those released by the government.

Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad top Iran election

Parisa Hafezi, Reuters:

Centrist cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani narrowly clinched top spot on Saturday in Iran's nail-biting presidential election, but now faces a run-off with his closest rival, hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. READ MORE

An Interior Ministry source said pre-election favorite Rafsanjani had won 20.8 percent of the 28.85 million votes cast, a turnout of 62 percent, while Ahmadinejad got 19.3 percent.

The source, who asked not to be named, said the results did not include ballots cast by Iranians abroad but added that those were not expected to alter the top positions from Friday's vote.

As no one in the seven-strong field secured at least 50 percent of votes cast, Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad will fight the Islamic republic's first run-off election on Friday, June 24.

Whoever wins, unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will keep the last word on state affairs and hard-liners will retain key levers of power such as security and the courts.

Rafsanjani is a veteran politician who wants better ties with the West and would be likely to pursue a pragmatic reform program, liberalising the economy and preserving social freedoms without antagonizing the powerful clerical elite.

Ahmadinejad, a staunch ally of the hardline establishment, appeared to have won votes among Iran's pious poor, trading on his credentials as a former instructor with the Basij militia, the zealous enforcers of Islamic revolutionary principles.

In a campaign where others broke taboos by advocating better ties with arch-foe America, Ahmadinejad said this was "not the key to all our problems."

DIRTY TRICKS?

Third-placed reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi accused state bodies of manipulating the vote in favor of a hardline rival.

"Some centers of power are violating the law and are trying to get more votes for a particular person with the help of the Guardian Council," he told a news conference.

He did not mention his competitor by name, but the official IRNA news agency said he was referring to Ahmadinejad.

The results confirmed the shaky reputation of Iranian opinion polls. Most political pundits were also wrong.

The opinion polls had made Rafsanjani clear favorite, though short of the threshold for a first-round win. But most forecast that reformist Mostafa Moin or hardline ex-police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf would be his closest rivals.

"It has been a completely unpredictable election," Deputy Interior Minister Mahmoud Mirlohi said during the vote count.

Rafsanjani's campaign portrayed him as an experienced leader with the political savvy and clout to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff with the West and repair ties with Washington.

"I have promised people to continue reforms and I am sure I can deliver my promises," he said after voting.

Ayatollah Khamenei congratulated Iranians on the respectable turnout, which he took as a repudiation of U.S. criticisms that the poll was unfair because the unelected Guardian Council had barred many candidates from standing. "With your wise participation in the elections, you have once again announced your strong will to be independent, defend Islamic values and have an Islamic democracy," he said.

Outgoing reformist President Mohammad Khatami described the poll as "totally healthy" and said the result would not derail the changes he initiated because "reforms belong to the people."

The election was the climax to a vibrant campaign that featured Western-style television clips and exuberant street rallies that flouted normally strict Islamic moral codes.

Even conservative candidates adopted the language of reform and ditched open hostility to the West to appeal to Iran's mainly young voters eager for an end to isolation. Half the population is under 25 and anyone over 15 can vote. (Additional reporting by Hossein Jasseb and Amir Paivar).

Reza Pahlavi: The Regime is Archaic

Ramin Parham, Iran-Shahr Blog:

An interview with Reza Pahlavi, the elder son of the Shah of Iran and of Empress Farah Diba living in exile in the US, by Michel Bole-Richard, from the French daily Le Monde, June 18, 2005, Paris - France. This interview, conducted in French, was translated into English for Iran-Shahr, from the print version of Le Monde. READ MORE

You have qualified the presidential elections as a "masquerade". Why?

A regime that has a Constitution which denies the sovereignty of the people and where candidates are selected by the regime and the Parliament can not vote into laws its own proposed bills, is not a system representative of the people. This regime interprets divine laws as it pleases and elections are like those held under the Soviet or Saddam's regime. All this is to make the world believe that they enjoy a certain degree of legitimacy. Elections must be boycotted. To vote for this regime is to prolong its survival. Not to turn out will be the demonstration that the people rejects this theocracy. What the people is asking for is a secular Constitution based on the Universal Charter of Human Rights. Reformists couldn't do anything. We have lost ten years. Time has come for change.

What turnout rate would you consider as a victory?

We can expect a turnout of 30%, not more. A boycott by 2/3 of the voters would be a very good sign. But the regime can manipulate the results and put pressure on the citizens by the obligatory electoral stamp on ID cards. Having said that, I don't think that the regime is in a situation where it can threaten our compatriots. Fear and apprehension are increasingly dissipating. It is a collective movement which is increasingly taking root and propagating. Furthermore, it is no longer emanating from an intellectual elite alone. It is increasingly rooted within the people.

Are you calling for a popular uprising?

The free world must put pressure on Iran. It should no longer give in to the nuclear blackmail of a terrorist regime that is seeking to acquire the [atomic] bomb. The outside world should play the card of Iranians themselves, talking, no longer to the jailers, but to those who are jailed. One should no longer fall into the trap of changing seats for the cards are the same even if different ones are put on the table every now and then. What is necessary is a democratic civil disobedience campaign supported by the international community. From now on, the confrontation is inevitable.

Is it going to end up into violence?

Violence is useless. Civil disobedience is a necessary and effective tool to get the job done. The system must be paralyzed and national reconciliation facilitated. A police State can not control a massive uprising. Iranians, in particular the youth, are aware of what is going on in the world. The regime is archaic. The country is on the brink of explosion. But this should not happen in anarchy. What we want is a democratic and peaceful implosion. If the champion of reforms, Mohammad Khatami, couldn't do anything, it is not Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, the most detested and most corrupt individual in the country, who can bring about change. What we have is a paralyzed mafia regime.

Are you in favor of a Restoration of monarchy?

The word Restoration has a negative connotation. Iranians must be able to freely choose their future. My mission will end the day we will get to free elections. From that day, I will be ready to serve my country. I am not preoccupied with my own personal future.

Iran's Elections

Claude Salhani, United Press International:

President Bush's denouncing of Iran's electoral system a day before the Islamic Republic went to the polls to choose a new president was seen by Iranian opposition groups as a sign of encouragement and support. READ MORE

Vowing that "America would support those seeking freedom," Bush called the Islamic Republic's electoral system "undemocratic."

"Today, Iran is ruled by men who suppress liberty at home and spread terror across the world," he said in a statement released by the White House. "Power is in the hands of an unelected few who have retained power through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy."

"The June 17th presidential elections are sadly consistent with this oppressive record," added Bush.

Opponents of the regime in Tehran welcomed the president's comments.

"This is a rare recognition by any Western country that Iran's election process is neither free nor fair," said Alireza Jafarzadeh, an Iranian activist living in Washington who is president of Strategic Policy Consulting. "Rather it is designed to keep the ruthless clerics in power."

Jafarzadeh sees Bush's statement as having the following ramifications:

1. It offers the Iranian people a view that the United States is serious in recognizing their right to determine their own future.

2. Opposition groups in Iran will view Bush's statement as a signal to step up their efforts to unseat the regime of the clerics.

3. The American president's statement will be viewed by countries of the European Union as a warning that the United States is serious on Iran and is tightening its political screws on the regime of the mullahs.

4. It sends a signal to "rogue states" and "Tehran-sponsored terrorist groups" that the world is increasingly intolerant of their activities.

Jafarzadeh said this message is "particularly timely, because there were reports Thursday that Iran had lied to the International Atomic Energy Agency about its production of plutonium," a fissile material that can be used to build nuclear bombs.

As for the actual results of the presidential race, Jafarzadeh, and Iran's opposition, claim "it would make no difference who would actually win the presidential election in Iran," given that the country will remain under the rule of the mullahs.

In the running are seven candidates:

Seventy-year old Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the front-runner who claims he can "solve the country's problems." He is a Shiite Muslim cleric who served two previous presidential terms. Formerly known as a hard-liner, Rafsanjani now casts himself as a reformer. His hope is to mend relations with the West and even with the United States.

Other candidates are Ali Larijani, who was the head of Iranian State TV and Radio from 1994 to 2004. Before that, Larijani served as the minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance under Rafsanjani, taking up the post from current President Mohammad Khatami.

Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf is one of five candidates who previously held top Revolutionary Guards posts. Qalibaf, a former commander of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Air Force, stepped down as the chief of the paramilitary police force, the State Security Forces, to run in the upcoming elections.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was until recently the mayor of Tehran. He is seen to be an ultra-conservative, having also been a top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the regime's ideological army. Following the 1979 Islamic revolution, he became a member of the Office for Strengthening Unity. He belonged to the ultra-conservative faction of the OSU. According to other OSU officials, when the idea of storming the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was raised in the OSU central committee by Mahmoud Mirdamadi and Abbas Abdi, who later became leading figures in Khatami's faction, Ahmadinejad suggested storming the Soviet embassy at the same time.

Hojatoleslam Mehdi Mahdavi-Karroubi, a mid-ranking cleric, member of the State Expediency Council and an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Karroubi was Majlis (parliament) Speaker from 1989 to 1992. He took up the same post again from 2000 to 2004, replacing a leading conservative, Ali Akbar Nateq Nuri, who was appointed an adviser to Khamenei.

Mohsen Mehralizade, perhaps the most obscure candidate in the race, is a vice president in the present administration and serves as the head of the National Sports Organization.

And Mostafa Moin, who served as chancellor of Shiraz University from 1981 to 1982 and has been a member of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council since 1983. Moin was a deputy in the Majlis from 1982 to 1984, and again from 1988 to 1989. He served as the Culture and Higher Education minister from 1989 to 1993 and served as Higher Education minister from 1997 to 2003. Students and professors in Shiraz University in the early 1980s have signed a petition against Moin, saying that as chancellor, he actively purged dissidents and all those who did not conform to the dominant Islamic fundamentalist ideology. His candidacy is supported by the Islamic Iran Participation Front.

Bush lamented the fact that more than 1,000 presidential candidates were not allowed to run and criticized the regime for shutting down "independent newspapers and Web sites."

"Across the Middle East, hopeful change is taking place," said Bush. "People are claiming their liberty. And as a tide of freedom sweeps this region, it will also come eventually to Iran."

Bush accused Tehran's regime of jailing "those who dare to challenge the corrupt system."

"America believes in the independence and territorial integrity of Iran," Bush said. "America believes in the right of the Iranian people to make their own decisions and determine their own future. America believes that freedom is the birthright and deep desire of every human soul. And to the Iranian people, I say: As you stand for your own liberty, the people of America stand with you."

About 47 million of Iran's 68 million people -- all Iranians over the age of 15 -- are eligible to vote. Turnout in the 2001 presidential election was close to 67 percent.

"The outcome of Iran's presidential race will undoubtedly be important for the legitimacy of the country's current clerical regime, now embroiled in a thorny diplomatic dispute with the United States and Europe over its nuclear program," writes Ilan Berman in the June 16 issue of Foreign Policy Alert, in an article titled "Reading Iran's Elections Right."

"Yet, for all of its fanfare, the Iranian presidential election is just a sideshow," says Berman. "No matter their political affiliation, all of the approved candidates have passed muster with the regime's vetting authority for political appointments, known as the Guardian Council."

This, explains Berman, "means that irrespective of who wins the Iranian presidency, the Islamic Republic will not roll back its efforts to acquire a nuclear capability. Nor will it change any of the other troubling policies (such as sponsorship of terrorism and opposition to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process) that characterize its core ideology. In the end, if there is a change in Iranian policies, it will be one of style, not substance."

(Comments may be sent to Claude@upi.com.)

White House Questions Trends in Iran

Barry Scheid, Guardian:

As Iranians choose a new president, the Bush administration is deploring anti-democratic trends in the country. President Bush said Friday's voting was designed to keep power in the hands of a few rulers ``through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy.'' His secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said, ``The sad thing about Iran is it is moving backwards not forward.'' ... READ MORE


``Democracy isn't a single-day event,'' she said. ...

Friday's election in Iran is to choose a successor to President Mohammad Khatami, who is limited constitutionally to his current second term.

None of the seven candidates, including former two-term president and front-runner Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, was expected to capture at least 50 percent of the vote. That would force a runoff election between the two top vote-getters.

Bush, on the eve of the balloting, said Iranians deserve a genuinely democratic system in which elections are honest and their leaders answer to them.

``To the Iranian people, I say: As you stand for your own liberty, the people of America stand with you,'' the president said.

Rice, meanwhile, took a skeptical view of trends in Iran, saying the system was more open a few years ago, but many moderate members of parliament are no longer able to run for office.

``When you have a system in which somebody arbitrarily sits and hand-picks who can run and who cannot run, it's a little hard to see that producing an outcome that is going to lead to improvement in the situation,'' she said.

Iran's election feed back - Iranian student reporting

An Iranian Student produced this translated compilation of online comments on the election. I understand that most of these appeared on the Persian version of the BBC. It is obviously a selective compilation but interesting nonetheless.

• Reza from Tehran: This is 10 am in northern part of Tehran. There is no body in the site and I hope officials would announce the number of voters truly.
• Hasan from Qom: IRIB (TV & RADIO) is just showing certain places where people go to vote. Most polls are empty here in our city.
• Amir from Kashmar (east of Iran): No body is around, especially in the morning.
• Sam from Tehran: I did vote to save my country from likes of Rafsanjani. I voted for Mr. Moin
• Mehdi from Shiraz: I have counted 10-12 people in this poll in our area. Most of them were forced to vote.
• Majid from Tehran: I voted for Imam Zaman to come and save us from the regime.
• Fardin from Switzerland: Regime thugs attacked those of us who were protesting against the regime in front of one of the polling stations.
• Mohsen from Moscow: Here, only embassy staff will vote.
• Ehsan from Mashad: There aren't many people voting today. Most polls are empty
• Farzad from West of Tehran: No body is at polls now in Shahrake Gharb. We voted once and we saw the outcome. That was enough
• Razaghpour from Central Tehran: Most people here are voting for Moin
• Ali from Velenjak north of Tehran: I check the local poll 3-4 times today and there were no body at the polls. This is not a true election.
• Mohamed from Tehran: IRIB is doing its best to get people out of their houses. The regime media cast lots of great music which were once banned to encourage people to vote.
• Hadi from Esfehan: Poll stations are not crowded here. All of us know this is regime's game.
• Shida from Tehran: I just voted to have an official seal in my ID card. I needed that.
• Artin a christian guy from Orumiya: The regime had to shut some polling stations down due to lack of people to vote.
• Aidin from AzarShahr: I made a mistake by voting today again. But I voted for Moin. I hope he is not going to be another "Khatami". I hope the regime doesn't interpret our votes as vote to the regime.
• Sahar From Tehran: We will not be fooled again. No body is voting here today.
• Ehsan from Shiraz: As an Iranian, I never vote for an Anti-Iranian regime
• Masoud from Tehran: Wherever IRIB (state run media) is present, polls are crowded. People would like to see themselves on TV.
• Hadi from Najaf Abad: Thanks to people, we have boycotted this illegitimate election
• Elham from Tehran: As far as I know, no body has voted here.
• Mehdi Dehgah from Yazd: People have voted very well here.
• Shahin from Tehran: IRIB shows previous election videos.
• Ebrahim from Tabriz: People have done well to boycotte this sham election
• Hamid from Canada: I have come back to Iran to see my family. It seems that the regime is begging people to vote.
• Mahnaz from Tehran: it is 11 am here and no body is around
• Ahmad from Ghom: I believe it is gonna be a run off between Moin and Rafsanjani
• Tara from Kurdistan: We will not be cheated again. We never believe their lies.