maandag 15 juni 2009

Coup d'etat in Iran


Ik ben niet echt gekwalificeerd om uit eigen waarneming veel te zeggen over de Iraanse verkiezingen en de 'verplettterende' overwinning van Ahmadinejad. In zijn blog in The Nation interviewde Robert Dreyfuss vanuit Teheran de vroegere Iraanse minister van buitenlandse zaken Ibrahim Yazdi die sprak van een çoup' (hier). Hieronder nog een andere reactie van de Iraanse wetenschapper Shiva Balaghi, die is gebaseerd op door haar vergaarde informatie. Het is een deel van een email die door haar werd rondgestuurd aan vrienden om te worden verspreid. Een eerder artikel van haar over de 'culturele revolutie' die schuilging onder de door bijna iedereen verwachte overwinning van Mir Hossein Mousavi verscheen in Merip.

By Shiva Balaghi; Received by email communication)

Date: June 13, 2009

Dear friends,

Below, I've compiled some information on what's happening in Iran today from various sources...

Something's happening here. And by now, it's pretty clear what we are witnessing in Iran. No one can claim that the elections for President of Iran are indicative of a genuine democracy. Still, within the very narrow field of candidates that are allowed to run for office within highly regulated elections, there has been some fluidity. This allowed the IRI to have a safety valve, allowing some modicum of participatory government. This completely rigged election that reinstated a highly
unpopular president has now shown deep cleavages within the ruling classes of Iran.

Long before it could have been feasible to actually count votes, Ahmadinejad claimed a landslide victory in the June 12 presidential elections. Iranian presidential elections are determined by simple majority. Hours before the last polls closed (in LA), the official count was giving Ahmadinejad an insurmountable lead in the 60%s.

The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei issued a public statement that with nearly 80% of the electorate casting votes, the winning candidate has received 24m votes in this magnificent and beautiful presidential elections. This is a genuine celebration that our enemies are seeking to undermine; they want to steal the sweetness of this victory from our people, so our dear youth must be completely alert and all candidates must refrain from any provocative words or actions. Given that the Supreme Leaders is the final power over Iran's judiciary and military forces, his statement essentially blocks off any appeal process and signals whose supporters will be receiving the butt end of batons.

The Ministry of Interior is charged with overseeing the election process. Last night, according to news reports, several officials of that ministry protested the way election results were being announced; however, links to these Iranian press reports were blocked on the internet.

Mousavi's spokesman claims he received word from the Ministry of Interior that he had won the elections and had already begun preparations for a large celebration on Sunday. His campaign offices in north Tehran were attacked and several of his campaign workers were hospitalized. He has announced a press conference at 2 pm Tehran time, but it is unclear if he will be allowed to do this. The director
Mohsen Makhmalbaf announced from Paris that he was the spokesperson for Mousavi outside of Iran. By some estimates, Mousavi gained 80% of overseas votes with Iranians voting in England, N Korea, Iraq, US, Australia, etc.

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