 RFE/RL Iran Report 02.07.2009 A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about Iran.For more stories on Iran, please visit and bookmark our Iran page . |
| 'We Are Not Living In The Middle Ages' E-mails and voicemails sent to Radio Farda on July 2. More  Student Leader: 'First They Kill, Then They Count' The Iranian government has reacted to the protests over the June 12 presidential election results with increased repression and force. Over the past two weeks more than 1,000 reformist figures, political activists, journalists, students, and critics have been arrested. Others have been forced into hiding. One of them, a student leader, discusses the postelection crisis and the future of the "Green" movement with RFE/RL. More  Azerbaijani Tempers Flare Over Iranian TV's Criticism Iran has lashed out at the international media in recent weeks for its coverage of the controversial June 12 elections and the massive street protests that followed. But Iran's own media is now coming under criticism in Azerbaijan, where a recent visit by the Israeli president prompted Iran's Sahar TV to launch a stinging attack on the Azerbaijani government -- in Azeri. More  Cleric Says Many Colleagues Critical Of Vote Process In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL, prominent Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Mohammad Ali Ayazi describes the deep divisions in the Iranian establishment and the significance of the clergy's growing criticism. More "Allah Akbar" from the rooftops in Tehran. More  New Avenues For Dissent Nearly three weeks after Iran’s disputed presidential vote, mass protests have waned amid a crackdown by authorities that has left at least 20 dead. Warnings, arrests, and a media clampdown have limited the opposition’s options. But people inside Iran are still finding ways to be heard. More  Swedes Launch EU Presidency With Plea To Iran The EU's new Swedish Presidency has outlined its priorities at the start of its six months at the helm. Stockholm called on Tehran not to "polarize" itself in the wake of protests over disputed presidential elections, while calling for urgent action on the issue of climate change, one of its top priorities. More  'Iranians Have Inspired People Around the World' Iran's postelection crisis and the protests by many Iranians calling for change have generated a lot of media interest around the world, especially in the United States, where a number of popular websites have been live blogging the events in Iran. One of these websites is "The Huffington Post," on which news editor Nico Pitney has been posting videos and pictures about the protests, violence, and acts of civil disobedience by Iranians. RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari spoke to Nico Pitney about his experience. More  U.S. Human Rights Activists Urge Action Against Tehran Hundreds of human rights activists, intellectuals, civil society leaders, opposition political activists, students, and journalists have been detained in Iran since the disputed presidential election. A group of prominent human rights activists in New York has urged the international community, and specifically the United Nations, to try and persuade Tehran to stop the crackdown. More E-mails and voicemails sent to Radio Farda, and postings on Radio Farda's Facebook page. More  Wexler Says U.S.-Russia Relations 'Not Zero-Sum Game' U.S. Congressman Robert Wexler (Democrat, Florida) was in the Czech Republic this week to attend an international conference on the assets of Holocaust victims. During his time in the Czech capital, Prague, Wexler visited RFE/RL's headquarters, where he sat down for a broad-ranging interview with correspondent Gregory Feifer. More  You Don’t Carry Tear Gas When You Go To A Party Iranian state television has aired interviews with some members of the Basij force who have said they were beaten up by protesters in Iran's postelection violence. More Voicemails sent to Radio Farda on June 29. More  Obama’s Mission To Moscow Last week, on June 24, the Hudson Institute held a panel discussion on the challenges President Obama will face when he visits Moscow on July 6. More Artists all over the world are youtubing their support for the Iranian people. Watch Joan Baez singing part of the legendary protest anthem "We Shall Overcome" in Farsi here: More  Basij 'Impostors' Blamed For Havoc As officials prepare to slam the door shut on any effort to revisit the June 12 election, they appear to be going on the offensive over allegations of thuggery and killing on the part of security forces. More  Jon Bon Jovi, Andy Perform 'Stand By Me' For Iran More Voicemails left with Radio Farda on June 26. Many listeners decline to leave their names: More More  'From The Ashes A Fire Shall Be Woken' In an effort to keep would-be protesters on their couches, Iran's Channel 2 has been airing Peter Jackson's nine-and-a-half-hour trilogy "The Lord of the Rings." "Time" magazine has an anonymous on-the-couch report saying that Iranians are associating their recent political struggles with the analogy-rich fantasy movie. The author points to the politically-charged Farsi dubbing of the film. More  What Are The U.S. Options On Iran? On June 24, the Brookings Institution held an interesting event, "Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy Toward Iran." More  What Happens To Iran's Detained Youths? At least 450 people have been arrested for disputing Iran’s presidential election results. Many put the count in the thousands. To those arrested 10 years ago, in Iran’s last great wave of student demos, what the new detainees face next is clear. Ali Fathi was one of those students arrested in 1999. This is his story. More E-mails and voicemails sent to Radio Farda on June 24. More  A Legal Dead End The law permeates every aspect of the current crisis in Iran, including the legitimacy of Khamenei's postelection decisions, the lawfulness of the opposition protests and the resulting violent response, and, crucially, whether the authorities' calls to dispute the result through "legal channels" are merely a publicity ploy. More  State TV Airs Protesters' Confessions Iranian state television has begun to broadcast confessions by some of the hundreds of people arrested in the protests that have rocked Tehran. The confessions follow a similar storyline: the protesters were provoked to act by VOA or the BBC. More  Obama Seeks To Silence Critics The White House approach has prompted some critics, mostly Republicans, to accuse Barack Obama of staying on the sidelines and not being tough enough. But at a press conference this week, the U.S. president significantly hardened his administration's position toward Iran, condemning the violence and telling the protesters they are "on the right side of history." More  Tehran Takes Media Jamming To New Levels Authoritarian governments often try to block public access to uncensored news during a crisis. But Tehran has gone a big step further -- jamming international satellite frequencies that normally carry Western government-sponsored newscasts in Persian. More |
