Following the Iranian resistance to the recent election hijinx , several people have been distilling data from Twitter, news sites (the ones who bother trying to cover the uprising) and personal accounts/stories. There are rumors flying everywhere, so I want to do my part in putting out a synopsis of what I know from following the uprising over the past few days.
For an overview of the players in this political upheaval, and for an overview of what’s been going on, please see this Google update by Tatsuma originally posted through threads at fark.com, here
Atrocities are happening against unarmed civilians. So far, over ten people have been confirmed killed, some of them were helpless students in dorms. At Tehran University, the following students have been reported murdered by militia:
Fatemeh Barati
Kasra Sharafi
Mobina Ehterami
Kambiz Shoaee
Mohsen Imani
Videos of graphic violence, including murder of peaceful protesters have surfaced, and often are being posted on sites such as Liveleak
The death toll is probably higher. Tehran Bureau is reporting 32 deaths.
Here is a link I was given to a discussion of the death toll but I don’t read Farsi so cannot comment.
According to Twitter submissions from people in Iran, 50 professors resigned from Tehran University yesterday, and were asking for the bodies of the students that were killed. Apparently, the students were hastily buried by police forces, not returned to their families. There is a sit-in at Tehran University since yesterday. Eighty students were freed yesterday in front of the Tehran University dorms; it has been reported also that Basij have been surrounding TU dorms for the past two days, keeping hundreds of students trapped inside. There are other reports of students being killed at other Universities and schools.
Pictures of today’s protests (June 17 2009) can be found at a twitpic site
Some reports of wide-spread atrocities are emerging from inside Iran, Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic is providing a tracking of injuries and verified tweets from inside Iran (beware, a few bloody or disturbing pictures)
Twitter updates are emerging from citizen reporters in Iran. Members of Anonymous/4chan (of anti-Scientology fame) have created an offshoot of the Pirate Bay site (click on The Persian Bay) to help Iranians get their news out of the country by helping to set up proxies for the people to avoid government censorship.
Internet social networking and news sites have been shut down and censored from within Iran. TV satellite dishes have been apparently taken out from private homes in Tehran and radio is also censored. The country’s input from the world (and it’s ability to communicate) is shut down for all intents and purposes, but some information is getting out (see Tatsuma’s update above).
The mainstream media is not covering any of this in detail, except for BBC Persia, which is showing some clips of today’s protests, and the green armbands of the Iranian Soccer Team, who wore them in solidarity with the peaceful protesters back home.
Thanks for posting this. The events in Iran are amazing, shocking.
The mainstream media is not covering any of this in detail, except for BBC Persia…
Heard that CNN was crap and assumed that Fox was too. Is MSM in the US really so poor? I have been gripped by the reporting of events from people on the ground in Tehran via Twitter.
There are torrent videos from within Iran hosted by Anonymous…warning,some are very disturbing…at the Persian Bay
More updates as they come
There is now available a translation of an Iranian student account of torture
Thanks, Deanne, for posting these reports and links.
Stephen: Is MSM in the US really so poor?
Why yes, yes indeed it is. That’s why I download and listen to podcasts from Democracy Now! The War and Peace Report, and listen to BBC World Service. if I write anything more than this, I’m liable to be
scathingly and specifically honest in my criticismlibelous. ;-)What about NPR? (Is that mainstream or not? How are they reporting things?)
Eva: NPR is slowly catching up, but some of the numbers they were reporting seemed to be more like the Iranian government’s propoganda rather than reflecting the images and narratives coming out of Iran by the protestors (for instance, see the photo links from Kos in the latest post). BBC World Service and BBC Persia seem to be the closest we can come to full media coverage, though the US media has slowly been catching up the last few days. The biggest grievance many people have right now w/the MSM in regards to Iran, is how long it took the MSM (including NPR and the BBC) to cover the massive goings-on in Iran, given the photos, videos, and emails coming out of the country. I have no particular political inclination either way, but I feel for the students in Iran right now, they’re being targeted. I feel the MSM around the world has let them down.