Iran

Iran: 22 Bahman: Liveblogged

Today, Iranians are marching for their freedom.

The Regime is terrified:

Iranians have reported widespread service disruptions to Internet and text messaging services, though mobile phones appeared to be operating normally Wednesday.

Iran’s telecommunications agency announced what it described as a permanent suspension of Google Inc.’s email services, saying instead that a national email service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out. It wasn’t clear late Wednesday what effect the order had on Google’s email services in Iran.

Google didn’t have an immediate comment about the announcement.

Police have also confiscated satellite dishes from residential roof tops, according to opposition Web sites. Some pedestrians have been quoted on opposition Web sites saying that their mobile phones were searched and, in some cases, taken by police patrolling areas of the capital where protests have erupted in the past.

Iranian authorities tasked with upholding Islamic values have also been scouring the streets, harassing people wearing green, the trademark color of the opposition, according to witness accounts posted on opposition Web sites.

Basij forces, the mostly volunteer corps of progovernment militia, have distributed flyers to homes in many neighborhoods, saying that progovernment supporters “will confront the enemies of Islam” in any protests Thursday.

In south Tehran, Basij members came in a caravan of 15 motorbikes, according to several opposition sites, whose accounts corroborated with each other. They knocked on doors and handed out flyers, or threw them over the street-side walls of residential compounds, the reports said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country’s elite security force, has deployed its troops along routes planned for the opposition demonstrations on Thursday.

Although we may see fewer pictures from this demonstration, there are two liveblogging sites worth following.

The Guardian

A Street Journalist

Don’t forget Oxfordgirl. (interview here)

There is also a demonstration in London outside the Iranian Embassy, from 2 pm today.


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UPDATE

This is what they will be protesting about:

I said, “Execute me if you want and get it over with.” I received a kick to my stomach and when I fell to the ground more kicks in the stomach, until I started throwing up blood. Another man said, “Take this faggot and make him pregnant, so he won’t be a smartass again.” That man grabbed me violently and pulled me to another location. He tied my hands and feet and pulled down my underwear and […] while he was raping me he said, “I was so wrong to enjoy 12 and 13-year-old girls before. You little faggots are so much better. You can’t even defend your own ass, how do you want to start a velvet revolution?” I threw up blood and passed out.

When I regained consciousness I found myself in what looked like a clinic. I was throwing up blood and I was bleeding with excruciating pain in my anus.

It took 16 or 17 hours until someone came and said to the doctor, “Doctor, is he going to die by himself or should we waste him ourselves?” That guy replied, “He is in a very bad shape. Let him go or he will become trouble for us, like the other two did.” They transferred me to a location, which I believe was the same room as the one I had been in before. On June 30 they left me on Sabalan highway after driving me around blindfolded for a few hours.

Why not join your Iranian comrades?