Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Iranian writer on poll result. Azar Nafisi is best known as the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, an often harrowing portrait of how the Islamic Revolution in Iran affected one professor and her students. Her new book, Things I’ve Been Silent About, is a memoir of growing up against the background of Iran’s political revolution. She is a visiting professor and the executive director of Cultural Conversations at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC. Dear CNN, Please Check Twitter for News About Iran. Note: This post was written at midnight PST last night, at which point CNN.com was hours behind much of the rest of online media in prioritizing the big news in Iran.
The site has since focused on Iran but we believe this post remains relevant in discussing concerns about what sources are first in covering important events. For really good journalism on these events, see Robert Fisk's account. The western world's most feared government is shaking with insurrection in the streets after a contested election and the leading name in news, CNN, is shockingly absent from the story. Twitter, meanwhile, is how Iranians are communicating with the outside world. It's the best place to follow events going on in that country and CNN's failure to engage with the story is one of the hottest topics of conversation there. Mousavi's Announcment - 24 June 2009.
What Happened in Iran? - MideastAnalysis.com. Let us begin by acknowledging that Iran is a complex society with an unusually opaque political system.
Few outsiders genuinely understand the place. That makes understanding the country’s presidential campaign – and interpreting the events of the last 24 hours – particularly tricky. As designed by the Ayatollah Kohmeini three decades ago the system of veliyat-e faqih, or guardianship of the jurists, consists of broadly democratic political institutions that are overseen and regulated by clerics. The clerics are charged with preserving the system’s adherence to the norms of Shia Islam as they, the clerics, define it. Withhold Recog. Danger of Extreme Violence—a “Tehran Tiananmen” (13 June 2009) The international community should not recognize the results of Iran’s 12 June 2009 presidential election, which gives all signs of having been manipulated by government authorities to produce a massive victory for incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
The Campaign further recommended that the existing results be voided and new elections held in order to establish legitimacy. As the Campaign reported earlier, the leading challenger to Ahmadinejad, Mir Hossein Moussavi, was informed by Iran’s Interior Ministry at 23:00 on 12 June that tabulated results showed him to be victor, and he was asked to wait on celebrations until Sunday. A few hours later, the Ministry inexplicably reversed itself declaring a massive victory for Ahmadinejad. At this time, Iran has been thrown into an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy. World leaders hail Ahmadinejad win amid Israel fury. Twitter Users Shame CNN For Not Covering Iran Elections, Riots. CYBERSPACE – Twitter users were posting “#CNNfail” on thousands of tweets Saturday night saying that their coverage of important news like the Iranian elections were downplayed by the cable network.
Here are some of those tweets: clickmomukhamo: OMG! Major developments in Iran yet CNN isn’t breaking into Larry King who’s interviewing some bikers! #cnnfail lifeonqueen: CNN is screwing the pooch on this one – top story on web is Six Flags bankruptcy not Iran. Iran rounds up more than 100 reformists. An Absurd Outcome - Page 1. Maps of places you’ve never been, maps of paper routes, maps of desktops: artists and writers conjure directions for heretofore uncharted Xanadus.
Maps are their own narratives of space. Who draws them, and who names them, holds immense power to determine not just Where You Are, but How Things Are. Subjective or empirical experience in conflict with the map’s own assertions can leave you nowhere, or somewhere unknown, as anyone who has tried to navigate, say, Venice by map will know. Have they purposefully drawn it up to bear no resemblance to its actual layout in order to confuse visitors into spending more money on alcohol and sequined masks? Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Reformists held after Iran ri. Reformist leaders who supported defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi have been detained following violent protests over the results of Friday's presidential election.
Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran, fighting running battles with riot police, after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the conservative incumbent, was declared the winner of the polls. Ahmad Reza Radan, Tehran's deputy police chief, told the official IRNA news agency that at least 60 people had been detained over the rioting and more arrests would be made soon. Tthere were reports of renewed clashes in Tehran on Sunday as police confronted about 200 stone-throwing protesters. "Forces used tear gas in some areas to stop the unrest. The situation is under control," Radan said. 28.JPG. US hopes Iran vote shows `genuine will and desire'. Woman beaten. Updated: Breaking Mousavi Arrested: Rafsanjani Resign. UpdateIII: Link Telephone communication between Tehran and the rest of Iran has been completely disconnected.
This corresponds with the beginnings of the arrests of the opposition. It is suspected that this is being orchestrated by Mojtaba Khamenei son of The Supreme Leader, Ali. It's true. We are unable to telephone people in Tehran we spoke to an hour ago. Update II: Pyknet: Mousavi has been place under house arrest. Update I: Sianat az ara (Protectors of Votes) Iran' Election Commission, have called the result fraud and are calling for new election. They pointed to the suspension of text messaging Thursday night and the disruption of phone service for the campaigns and others, and ballot shortages.
Sianat az ara is a group of election monitors chosen by the four candidates. It is almost 9:30pm in Iran. Photos here. Peiknet.com is reporting; Translation - Wishful thinking from Tehran. I have been in Iran for exactly one week covering the 2009 Iranian election carnival.
Since I arrived, few here doubted that the incumbent firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad would win. My airport cab driver reminded me that the president had visited every province twice in the last four years – "Iran isn't Tehran," he said. Even when I asked Mousavi supporters if their man could really carry more than capital, their responses were filled with an Obamasque provisional optimism – "Yes we can", "I hope so", "If you vote. " So the question occupying the international media, "How did Mousavi lose? " Hamas congratulates Ahmadinejad on re-election. Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Iran poll result 'harms.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in Iran's presidential election is likely to be a blow to hopes for US rapprochement with Iran.
Washington has had no official ties with Tehran since shortly after the Islamic revolution in 1979, but Barack Obama, the US president, has expressed his openness to dialogue since coming to power in January. Analysts said on Saturday that victory for Ahmadinejad, who has crossed swords repeatedly with the West over Iran's nuclear ambitions and his criticism of Israel, could stall any attempts at improving relations. "In Washington there was a severe wish to make sure Mousavi [Ahmadinejad's reformist rival] would be the winner because of the atmospherics and the comfort level in not dealing with Ahmadinejad and dealing with him," Trita Parsi, the president of National American Iranian Council, told Al Jazeera. 'Robust debate' "This tells us that Tehran is not Tennessee, there is a difference in how things happen.
Mutual respect Israeli reaction. Iran elections (UPDATED) Leading Iranian opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi issued a statement warning of "tyranny" Saturday after a tense night in Iran in which state organs proclaimed that incumbent hardline Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won a "landslide" victory by a two-to-one margin, a statistic that defied the belief of many analysts.
Voter turnout was an unprecedented 84%. Meantime, reports from western-based Iranians late Saturday said that several people had been arrested in Iran, including the campaign manager for another reformist presidential candidate Mehdi Karoubi, and the brother of former reformist Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, Reza Khatami. Mousavi's Twitter account said he had been put under house arrest overnight Sunday: "Dear Iranian People, Mousavi has not left you alone, he has been put under house arrest by Ministry of Intelligence," it posted at 740pm EST Saturday. Why We Were (Not) Naive.