Iranian government forces are moving with increasing ferocity to clamp down on dissident activities as presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi urges his followers to gather for the "largest March of Sea of Green" later this week.
The protest, planned by the opposition to be the largest ever held in the Iranian capital, is being billed in part as a memorial to Neda, a 27-year-old woman who bled to death after being shot during the weekend protests by the Basij militia. The young woman's death was filmed and broadcast on the video-sharing YouTube website, where tens of thousands of people saw it within hours.
Neda has become a symbol for those protesting the Ahmadinejad regime; at many subsequent demonstrations, protestors have been carrying signs proclaiming, "I am Neda."
In the above video, Basij militiamen search for victims and rampage through the streets of Tehran. Email readers, please click here to view the footage.
Younger demonstrators are growing somewhat more cautious in the face of the militia brutality. It is impossible to know how many people have actually been shot to death by the government forces; media reports and civilian "Tweets" on the Twitter social networking mini-blogging internet site have put the number between 19 and "dozens."
Many more have been wounded in the ongoing violence; government forces have used tear gas canisters, water cannons, gunshots and batons to batter the protestors into abandoning their efforts.
UN Secy-Gen: Stop Violence Against Civilians
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered his criticism of the Iranian government's actions against the protestors in a statement issued Tuesday by his spokesman.
“The Secretary-General has been following with growing concern the situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran and is dismayed by the post-election violence, particularly the use of force against civilians, which has led to the loss of life and injuries,” the statement said.
“He calls on the authorities to respect fundamental civil and political rights, especially the freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of information,” the statement continued.
”The situation in Iran is of concern to the international community, and the Secretary-General calls on the Government and the opposition to resolve peacefully their differences through dialogue and legal means. He urges an immediate stop to the arrests, threats and use of force. The Secretary-General reiterates his hope that the democratic will of the people of Iran will be fully respected.”
Ayatollahs: Admission of Guilt
Meanwhile, a member of Iran's Guardian Council acknowledged Sunday that voting irregularities took place in at least 50 polling locations around the country.
Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei tried to play down accusations that the election was rigged, saying that the claims that fraud had taken place in more than 80 cities were not true.
Israel: 'Leave All Options on the Table'
Israel's President Shimon Peres noted that the massive protests signaled a threat to Ahmadinejad's intended drive toward nuclear weapons -- and possibly his oft-repeated vow to wipe the Jewish State off the map.
"I don't know what will disappear first -- their enriched uranium or their poor government," Peres told a gathering of world Jewish leaders this week in Jerusalem. "Hopefully, the poor governement will disappear."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday in a televised interview on NBC that both the United States and Israel should "leave all options on the table" in terms of dealing with the continued Iranian nuclear threat.
Government Crackdown on Media Continues
Worldwide solidarity demonstrations against the violence were held Saturday in New York, Los Angeles, and in front of the White House in Washington D.C., as well as in a number of cities in European countries, including Brussels and Paris.
All foreign journalists have been banned by the government from the streets of Iran and all reports on the violence by foreign media on the scene have been censored.
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent Jon Leyne was ordered on June 21 to leave the country within 24 hours, a fact confirmed by the news agency. The journalist was accused of "dispatching fabricated news and reports" and "ignoring neutrality in news," as well as "supporting rioters and trampling the Iranian nation's rights," Reuters reported. Iranian state radio accused Leyne of "distortion of news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran and particularly news pertaining to the election."
Despite the government's efforts to jam satellite signals and block the internet, local bloggers who managed to post on Twitter noted that "all staff & journalists at Kalame Newspaper were arrested last night."
Bloggers Desperately Search for Holes in the Net
Some bloggers offered links to a system called the "Tor" anonymity network which allegedly enables its users to communicate anonymously on the internet – thus protecting them from Iranian government trackers. "Bypass internet blocking using this…" suggested one blogger.
Still, there were signs that the government's efforts were becoming more successful.
"Many asking why fewer Tweets from Iran. Ans. Is internet access more and more restricted," explained several bloggers in "re-Tweets" that were forwarded from one to another through Twitter.
Claims of torture also surfaced: "political prisoners being tortured to deny support for Sea of Green – prison source," wrote one blogger. "Militia all over Tehran on motorbike (sic) beating pedestrians for no reason – to frightened people," another warned.