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The Glenn Beck Documentary: "The Revolutionary Holocaust: Live Free...Or Die"

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The Doctor Who Defied Tehran

By FARNAZ FASSIHI

At the height of Iran's bloody civil unrest this year, a young doctor named Ramin Pourandarjani defied his superiors. He refused to sign death certificates at a Tehran prison that he said were falsified to cover up murder.

He testified to a parliamentary committee that jailers were torturing and raping protesters, his family says. He told friends and family he feared for his life.

And on Nov. 10, the 26-year-old doctor was found dead in the military clinic where he lived and worked.

The family of Dr. Pourandarjani, who occasionally treated prisoners in fulfillment of Iran's obligatory military service, says he was killed for his refusal to participate in a coverup at the notorious Kahrizak detention center, widely criticized for its unsanitary conditions.

In a series of interviews over three weeks, Dr. Pourandarjani's family spoke in detail for the first time about their son's mysterious death.

Iranian officials first blamed the doctor's death on a car accident, then a heart attack, then suicide and then poisoning, according to family members and government statements.

The controversy over his fate is transforming the doctor into a martyr for the opposition movement challenging the legitimacy of Iran's rulers. In a sign of his mounting symbolic importance, on Dec. 8 Iran's national prosecutor, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, was pressed by local reporters at a news conference for answers. He said the case remains under investigation.

Mr. Mohseni-Ejei couldn't be reached for comment. A spokesman for the Iranian Mission to the United Nations said the case is being probed and declined to answer questions.

"I sent off my young, healthy and beautiful son to military service, and I got his dead body back," says his mother, Ruhangiz Pourandarjani, who lives in the northwest city of Tabriz. "Anyone who says he committed suicide is lying and should be afraid of God."

In Iran, protestors now carry the doctor's picture in street marches and chant his name along with that of Neda Agha Soltan, the young woman whose shooting death in June was captured on video and broadcast world-wide. A popular new slogan at some marches: "Our Neda is not dead, Our Ramin is not dead, it's the Supreme Leader who is dead," a reference to Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mothers of individuals killed in Iran's antigovernment protests this year have formed a support group, Grieving Mothers, who march silently Sunday afternoons at Laleh Park in Tehran holding pictures of their dead children. This month, security officials arrested 15 members. They were freed a few days later when crowds gathered near the jail, demanding their release.

The opposition says more than 70 Iranians have been killed since June in a crackdown on the protests that erupted after the nation's disputed presidential election. The government says 17 people have died, including a dozen of its own security forces.

Iran denies allegations that jailed protesters were tortured or raped and blames the deaths in Kahrizak on a meningitis outbreak. The prison has been closed in the wake of torture allegations there.

An influential Iranian parliamentarian and former health minister, Masoud Pezeshkian, is pressing for a full investigation of Dr. Pourandarjani's death. The claim of a suicide by "someone who was a witness in Kahrizak, and has no background for mental illness, is suspicious," he told local news agencies.

More at WSJ

Iran cleric Montazeri dies

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, Iran's most senior dissident cleric, has died, official media has reported. Montazeri, 87, was an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership. He had been held under house arrest for several years. "Hossein Ali Montazeri passed away in his home last night," the official IRNA news agency said on Sunday. He lived in the city of Qom, which lies south of Tehran, and was referred to as the spiritual leader of the opposition after the country's recent disputed election. Ghanbar Naderi, an Iran Daily journalist, told Al Jazeera: "This is huge blow to the reformist camp, because he is unreplaceable and nobody is happy to hear about his sad demise. "He used to say that religion should be separated from politics, because in this way, we can keep the integrity of religion intact." In August, Montazeri described the clerical establishment as a "dictatorship", saying that the authorities' handling of street unrest after the disputed election in June "could lead to the fall of the regime". "I hope the responsible authorities give up the deviant path they are pursuing and restore the trampled rights of the people," he wrote. "I hope authorities ... have the courage to announce that this ruling system is neither a republic nor Islamic and that nobody has the right to express opinion or criticism," Montazeri said in August this year. Alireza Ronaghi, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tehran, said that Montazeri's statements were significant because he was once in line to succeed the late Ayatollah Khomeini as Iran's supreme leader. But Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a political analyst at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera in August that Montazeri has been "saying the same thing for around 25 years". "After his inner circle was discovered to be linked to Mujahedin terrorists based in Iraq, he was isolated by the reformists," he said. "He is not a major player and has always been very critical," Marandi said. Al Jazeera

Iran's slow revolution

Six months after Iran's disputed presidential election triggered widespread demonstrations, the country's pro-democracy movement is as strong as ever, experts say.

As this week's protests show, opponents of Iran's regime have taken to using officially sanctioned demonstrations to turn out in large numbers and publicise their message.

But do not expect another revolution.

"This is a civil rights movement working through self-propelling acts of civil disobedience," Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian studies at Columbia University, says. "It will change the very political language of the region."

Asef Bayat, a sociologist and Middle East expert, agrees. Speaking at a panel discussion last week, he argued that Iranian society is beginning to shed its revolutionary tendencies.

"Iranians once saw liberation as simply overthrowing an unjust shah, without much thought as to what would come next," he said. "Thirty years later, that definition has grown to include concepts of individual civil liberties. This has led to a far more mature civil society, that seeks change in increments, not explosive revolution."

The so-called 'Green Movement' was formed after hundreds of thousands of supporters of Mir Hussein Mousavi, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's main rival in the presidential elections, took to the streets to protest the result of the poll.

They believed that Ahmadinejad had orchestrated a massive campaign of vote-rigging that returned him to power unfairly. The demonstrations were met with a brutal crackdown, sanctioned by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader.

Eventually the protests died down and the 'Green Revolution' lost its news value. The Iranian opposition disappeared from the mainstream media and went back underground, manifesting itself in postings on Facebook and Twitter and in snippets of mobile phone video posted to Youtube.

While it may not be visible, some believe it is effective. Behzad Yaghmaian, an Iranian author living in the US, says that a more politically mature and multi-layered movement is emerging, and that its strength derives in large part from its non-violent character.

Even Iranian children are setting an example, he says, recounting the story of a 12-year-old student who refused to step on an American flag before entering the classroom. "People of another country love this flag. Why should I disrespect them?" she asked her teacher.

Yaghmaian believes the grassroots movement has bypassed the limited political demands of Mousavi and other reformist leaders and has become a more profound movement fighting for human rights. There is, he says, little desire to work within the framework of a theocratic political regime.

For the first time in 30 years, people on the streets of Iran are openly rejecting the constitution of the Islamic Republic and demanding a secular republic.

"There's a call for political secularism emerging in Iran, a call that is coming out of the movement itself," he says.

In making that call, the demonstrators are taking a risk. Iranians are well aware of the regime's willingness to use force against them, and as a result, much of the political organising is done out of view of the authorities.

"They cannot have a fully fledged organised structured movement in the way that you have in Western countries, because they would easily be the target of appraisal and repression," Asef Bayat explains.

Instead, Iran's Green Movement operates through loose networks of friends, family, and colleagues, says Yaghmaian. The risks are enormous.

In the first half of 2009 alone, there were 196 executions in Iran. Former officials, intellectuals and journalists have received long prison sentences after brief televised trials and torture by the authorities is commonplace.

"The human rights situation has deteriorated considerably," says Hadi Ghaemi, a spokesman for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. "Capital punishment is on the rise and execution sentences for political prisoners has resumed. Torture and even rape of detainees have taken place."

Despites this, Ghaemi believes nothing will deter Iran's burgeoning civil rights movement. He says: "It will seize every opportunity to display its resilience."

Al Jazeera

Iran Update

These events have been reported to World Threats.

Dec. 11 - The head of the SSF, Ahmadi Moghadam, afraid of the spreading revolt threatened the people and said, “time of compromising with the course of hypocrisy (a religious term in this case dealing with people who claim to be Muslims yet do unislamic things) after the election is over and the SSF will not be easy with anybody.

It will act decisively about those who break the law. Some people ruin their past and act in the course of the enemies’ goals while apparently showing that they are supporting revolution and imam. The SSF must act so that hooligans and wrong-doers always fear police forces.”

Reacting to the slogans “death to Khamenei” and “Khamenei is a murderer, his leadership is void” he said, “these days in gatherings and unrests some people offend the sacred issues and values of Islam by their slogans.”

Dec. 11 - Reports from Gohardasht Prison in Karaj say that political prisoner Adel Akbari Jahed, 35, died of blood cancer having been deprived of treatment for the last five years.

Dec. 11 - Mullah Sedighi, the regimes Tehran Friday Imam of Tehran, mourned Khomeini’s torn picture and said while crying, “How they offend Imam’s picture too. Our sacred issues have gone under question.” He also emphasized that Iran would not stop its nuclear activities at any price. He called the international community’s attempts to stop Iran’s nuclear activities “repeating and fussing propaganda of the Western World” and added, “West has imposed lies by media war and has come to the field full force”.

In Uromieh Mullah Hassani, the Friday Imam, shouted, “to tear Imam’s (Khomeini) picture is really being shameless and we the lovers of Velayat (Supreme Leadership) cannot bear it anymore. Are you offending the sacred realm of Imam by tearing his picture? shame on those who play with the system’s prestige.

He threatened, “we have sworn to be loyal to the Supreme Leader. We are ready to die for that and we are armed ready to shoot you one by one in the head. We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the Islamic Republic. We have asked the judiciary to count the organizers of these movements as hypocrites and monarchists and to act decisively against them. He talked about the fact that Khomeini’s picture was torn on Dec. 7 and said that the clerical school in Qom should close on Saturday Dec. 12 and march against this act.

Dec. 12 - At noon approximately 1000 students form Sharif Industrial University in Tehran gathered in protest in front of the university’s dining hall. They boycotted the meal and chanted “death to the dictator” and “until Ahmadinejad is out of power it will be like this every day.

Dec. 12 - at about 3:00 PM 400 to 500 students gathered in front of the engineering building at Tehran University and chanted slogans. People in Enghelab Square wave their hands for the students. At 1530 some pro-Khamenei student raised pictures of Khomeini and Khamenei in front of the Engineering building. Protesting students pulled them down. Some people are gathering in Enghelab Square to support the students, The SSF is dispersing people who have gathered in front of Tehran University to support the students.

Analysis . The students are obviously not giving up and the government is slowly losing control of the people. When this revolution goes to open armed conflict is anybody’s guess right now.

Without more reporting by independent news agencies is is difficult to establish the depth of the revolution across Iran. The amount of press suppression and communications disruption indicate that the revolution is more widespread than the government wants the people or the outside world to know.

At some point this internal struggle will be reflected in external affairs. Perhaps Iran’s suggestion of a swap of 400 kilos of 3.5% enriched uranium for an equivalent amount of 20% enriched uranium on Kish Island has something to do with trying to reduce the external pressure in the face of another round of sanctions. Continued reduction in the supply and increases in the cost of essential goods will not help the regime maintain stability. Another round of sanctions will only increase the discontent.

Notice also how the regime continues to couch everything in religious terms. The people wanting their freedom are called hypocrites. Being labeled a hypocrite can get you the death sentence under Islam. It is somewhat akin to excommunication with extreme prejudice. If the regime has gone beyond using civil terms and is using religious terms, they are not feeling secure at all.

World Threats

Iran Begins Second Cultural Revolution

I wrote for Pajamas Media a few months ago that a leaked videotape of a secret high-level meeting chaired by Ahmadinejad showed that he was planning a second Cultural Revolution aimed at cleansing the universities of dissident elements. This is indeed happening.

The New York Times reports on a few recent developments:

It is implanting 6,000 Basij militia centers in elementary schools across Iran to promote the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, and it has created a new police unit to sweep the Internet for dissident voices.

A company affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards acquired a majority share in the nation’s telecommunications monopoly this year, giving the Guards de facto control of Iran’s land lines, Internet providers and two cellphone companies. And in the spring, the Revolutionary Guards plan to open a news agency with print, photo and television elements.

The IRGC also took over most of the duties of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security and is now in charge over almost all domestic security forces.

World Threats

A Moderate Muslim RevolutionThe extremists are losing the war within Islam.

By Ryan Mauro

The war on terror is largely a result of a civil war within Islam. The extremists use terrorism, oppress those who don’t agree with them, and establish states based on strict Sharia law. The moderates, who may disagree with U.S. foreign policy but stand for freedom and democratic principles while opposing terrorism, may not have as powerful of a voice, but they are decisively winning this conflict, making advances in almost every part of the Islamic world.

The Middle East is where the turnaround is the greatest. When the Iranian regime rigged the elections in favor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on June 12, the population began a peaceful uprising and today protests against Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader, and chants calling for democracy and human rights are commonplace. The regime is today facing the greatest challenge to its very survival since its creation in 1979. This instability has already caused problems for terrorists relying upon Iranian support and when the regime one day inevitably falls, it will have positive consequences across the world. Read more ...

Source: PJM

The Long Hard Slog – A Woman’s Revolution

By Bill Siegel

In his powerful election night acceptance speech, President Barack Obama announced, “[I]t’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.” And this notion of “change” as something that occurs by a mere election sells easily to his adoring devotees. It readily fits modern American intolerance for delayed gratification.

Unfortunately, real “change” is not magical. It typically takes long periods of hard work, suffering, setbacks, step by step advancement until some “tipping point” opens up. And this “change” is what we are seeing manifest in the streets of Tehran today.

Following the Iranian presidential election in which the large margin cited for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over apparent victor Mir Hossein Mousavi suspiciously suggested fraud, protests began to flare up. While many Iranian dissident sympathizers held out great hopes for the opening the Islamic Republic regime had seemed to create, most of the American liberal press had made up its mind that it was too difficult to mount any credible opposition to the overwhelming power the regime has secured for itself. Rigged elections were a staple for Iran – mostly through restricting the candidates in the first place but, if need be, through voter count. Read more ...

Source: FSM

Walid Phares: Iran's Fear of a Velvet Revolution

February 03

PRESS TV, the Iranian-government-owned English-language web and television broadcasting company, recently published a report contending Iran’s intelligence ministry had uncovered and publicly disclosed details regarding an alleged “’US-backed’ spy ring which had plans to topple the Tehran government.”

According to the report:
“Following the arrest of four Iranian nationals on charges of plotting to overthrow the government with Washington’s support, head of the counterespionage department in the Intelligence Ministry said Monday that the group intended to build social and political tension in the country.”

The official, whose name was not revealed, added “organizing anti-government public rallies and creating ethnic division in the country” were among the tactics to be employed by the network.”

In our ongoing conversations with Dr. Walid Phares – director of the Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies who now also serves as secretary general of the Trans Atlantic Legislative Group on Counter Terrorism — we asked for his interpretation of any underlying message within the report.

We know what the report says. What are the Iranians not saying?

DR. WALID PHARES:
First, the Iranian regime has always conducted arrests among its opposition. It has done so since coming to power in 1980. The regime has – for all intent and purposes – physically eliminated Iranian citizens – thousands of them – by labeling them as being “U.S.-backed” and/or “Zionist” elements inside the country.

If you look at the archives of the various international human rights organizations, or country reports in various foreign ministries; and of course, if you review the information collected from the many Iranian opposition groups, you’ll easily discover a continuous and systematic suppression of freedoms in Iran for the last 30 years.

The arrest campaigns have covered nearly every sector of Iranian society: students, women, labor, artists, but also ethnic minorities such as Arabs, Kurds, Baluch, Azeri and others. Also, religious minorities such as Christians, Jews and Bahais have also been persecuted.

The news regarding arrests of Azeri ethnics in Iran is not unusual. We’ve been reading open sources reports about Bahais arrests in recent weeks, as well as arrests of Ahwaz Arabs over the past several months, and women over the last year. So, the reports by the Iranian regime about a “U.S. conspiracy” is neither strange nor exceptional.

W. THOMAS SMITH JR.:
The Iranian press reported the unnamed intelligence official as saying “the group” had been successful in fomenting dissent among Azeri people in the Azerbaijan Province. Why the regime’s focus on this province?

PHARES:
This is very telling in that anti-Khomeinist sentiment is spreading in the northwestern part of the country and among the single largest ethnic minority in Iran. Azeris are the second group after the Persians, and they form a contiguous group settling the entire northwestern part of Iran in what is known as southern Azarbaijian.

It is historically a part of the Azeri nation and they speak a Turkic language. Traditionally the Iranian Azeris have been loyal to the Iranian nation, and many among them have served in Iran’s military. But with the radicalization of the regime and the economic crisis now underway in Iran, many ethnic minorities are protesting bad socio-economic conditions in their areas.

They mainly accuse the Mullahs in Tehran of concentrating wealth among their own elite in the center while letting the provinces decay. The Azeris aren’t happy with the state of affairs in the so-called ‘Islamic republic.’ Hence we’re witnessing the rise of local opposition movements in their areas. The regime responds with preemptive arrests, and of course labels any protest as a ‘pro-American’ conspiracy: Classical Khomeinist narrative.

SMITH:
Why would the Iranian press quote ‘Intelligence officials’ and not the justice ministry?

PHARES:
Because most likely when the opposition is widening, the regime unleashes its strongest arm, the intelligence services. If anything this is an indicator that the Azeri movement, and all other movements are getting stronger with time.

SMITH:
The report states:

“Tehran’s Islamic Revolution Court sentenced the four suspects without announcing the length of their sentence.

‘They have confessed to trying to distance the people of Iran from the government and introduce the United States as their sole savior,’ the court said in a statement.

“Two of the detainees are internationally renowned doctors Arash and Kamyar Alaei, who specialize in HIV/AIDS.

“In the Monday press conference, the top Iranian counterespionage official said that the US intelligence agencies had resorted to ‘soft overthrow projects’ over the past decade, as there is no international statute law against such measures.”

What are we to deduce from such arrests?

PHARES:
It means the middle class in Iranian Azarbaijian is fed up with the Mullah regime. When the Khomeinists begin striking out at citizens – doctors as in this case, or professors and bloggers as in other cases – we’re talking about a serious development.

When educated people are accused of political ‘incitement’ against the regime – which translates to political opposition – it means that many more activists are mobilizing civil society, and that of course is a red line to the regime.

SMITH:
The report also mentions the U.S. having spent $32 million on “soft overthrow projects,” a means by which the U.S. could “infiltrate elite and expert circles” and therein gain access to information regarding national “infrastructure, microbiological achievements, and defensive capacity.” They also named names of Americans. Why?

PHARES:
It is an act of desperation. It shows the regime is angry and wants to send a message to the U.S. government, which by the way is preparing to open dialogue with Tehran.

By naming names and agencies, the Iranian Pasdaran [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and intelligence services are sending a message to the Obama administration telling them that if they want to open dialogue, they will have to shut all these ‘democracy operations.’ What is ironic is that the Bush administration was criticized for doing so little to help the Iranian democracy movement.

If indeed the Iranian regime is complaining about $32 million spent allegedly by the U.S. on democracy activities, this is peanuts compared to the billions of dollars spent on the war on terror and the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the war of ideas. This amount is ridiculous: Yet the Iranian regime wants Washington not to spend a penny on any program that would help democracy groups in Iran. This pressure is aimed at preempting the Obama administration.

SMITH:
The report said “Iranian intelligence operatives had been able to infiltrate the network and ‘launch an intelligence war with the CIA by leaking false information.’” It also said the UK and Israel were involved.

PHARES:
Typical of the regime to try to frame all three governments of the U.S., UK, and Israel in one giant conspiracy. For by linking alleged Israeli activities to alleged U.S. and British activities against the regime, they would create a ‘radioactive’ environment in the region.

Again, Tehran is trying to build a big bargaining chip for the day of dialogue. Thus the Iranian negotiators hope to be in a position of strength: Hold the high ground and lead with other subjects before the discussion of the most relevant ones, i.e. the nuclear issues.

SMITH:
The report mentions the claim by Mohammad-Javad Zarif, the former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, that “the White House is taking essential measures to orchestrate a ‘Velvet Revolution’ in Iran.”

PHARES:
It is a reminder of the last decade of the Soviet Union when Soviet citizens invited to the West were eager to learn about open and free societies. They were often punished by Moscow for concocting revolutions against the Communist regime.

The Iranian establishment lives in the paranoia of a similar situation. They spy on their own citizens when they travel and accuse them of being recruited by the West. When the Khomeinists start talking about a so-called ‘American support’ of a so-called ‘Velvet Revolution’ inside Iran, it means they are indeed afraid that seeds have already been sown for such a revolution.

In fact, what worries the regime are not these scientific conferences but the narrative on many Iranian web sites talking about ‘democratic revolution.’ Ali Khamenei’s Pasdaran can feel the sentiment inside Iran’s civil society. Thus they want to suppress these sentiments by connecting them to an alleged American and Western activity.

[Dr. Phares, who has provided similar analysis to U.S. government – and who regularly conducts Congressional and State Department as well as European Parliament and UN Security Council briefings – has been providing exclusive analysis to us for nearly five years.]

[The Iranian Press TV report also states: “Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed in July that U.S. Congressional leaders had secretly agreed to President George W. Bush’s $400-million funding request for a major escalation in covert operations inside Iran.” Our sources coordinating with the Iranian opposition groups, have informed us that members of those opposition groups “are wondering why Hersh is leaking such information, which is in turn used by the regime against them.”]

Source: Europe News

A Nonviolent Iranian Revolution?

By Jamie Glazov

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Roozbeh Farahanipour, an Iranian journalist, democracy activist and former political prisoner in Iran. He was a student leader in the 1999 uprising.

FP: Roozbeh Farahanipour, welcome to FrontPage Interview.

Farahanipour: Thank you Jamie.

FP: As the Iranian nuclear threat clearly grows, the question of some kind of possible regime change becomes increasingly urgent. I would like to talk to you today about the prospects for a nonviolent revolution in Iran. Before we get to this issue though, let’s begin with a bit of history to give us a background to the possibility.

Farahanipour: First of all, I would like to bring your attention to the fact that, in Iran’s history, violence has been forced onto the people by dictatorial regimes led by kings and mullahs.

In 1906, the famous Constitutional Revolution succeeded in establishing a Parliament, limiting the powers of the king, allowing for the participation of some sectors of the society and introducing the elements of modernism and liberalism, by non-violent means. Soon after, a violent military coup by the successor to the throne necessitated an armed revolution which succeeded in saving the Constitution but yielded a two pronged occupation of the country by the Csarist Russians and the British, the eruption of the first World War adding a third occupying force, the Ottomans, and a major revolution in neighboring Russia. A long civil war followed in Iran. The country was divided between revolutionary movements, tribal and ethnic warlords and corrupt princes of the ruling dynasty.

This situation lasted until the early 1920s when the first Pahlavi king, then a general, pacified the country by military means, a coup and the establishment of a new dynasty that basically ended all political activities, focusing only on major reconstruction, unification and secularization of the society.

The Allied occupation of Iran in 1941 and the exile of the increasingly pro-German king, began a 12 year period of relative political freedoms which enabled the society to produce its political parties, free press and to revive the Parliamentary process, leading to the Oil Nationalization movement under Prime Minister Mosaddegh, targeting the British dominance of the country and the Shah’s pro British rule. This movement also succeeded in a non-violent manner, in nationalizing the oil and pacifying the King.

Once again, however, a series of Western supported moves and coups, finally succeeded in overthrowing the Prime Minister, ending all the remaining political freedoms and activities, violently imposing a dictatorial monarchy and imposing a political mood of violence, radicalism and even terrorism upon a whole new generation of revolutionaries. Read more ...

Source: FrontPage Magazine