Ahmadinejad’s Collapse Will Bring More Bloodshed!

After many conservative media and political figures warned Ahmadinejad and Mashaei about the Minister of Intelligence Heidar Moslehi’s resignation and questioned Ahmadinejad’s loyalty towards wilayat, the pro-Ahmadinejad website “Dolatyar” warned that if the wave of criticism against Ahmadnejad and his allies continue and critics formulate a plan to destroy his government, they should expect “bloody and unleashed chaos”. “Dolatyar” candidly said:

“If this wave of destruction against the government continues this way, and if the media dissent turn into street protests, and the scoundrels march toward Pasteur Street, then it will not be long before this country will fall into bloody and unleashed chaos.”

Many conservative and unquestionable defenders of the wilayat-e-faqih have criticized Mashaei’s and Ahmadinejad’s behavior and their zero recognition of the wilayat. After issuing specific warnings to everybody, “Dolatyar” addressed friends and supporters of the wilayat:

“This is not a warning. We advise you not to throw yourselves into those obstinate groups’ abyss of destruction. Don’t do something that would make the Doctor (Ahmadinejad) spill the beans or else he will be violent with the people such that your strife will take them to the streets.”

In continuing these threats, the Mashai-backed newspaper “Mahrameneh News” disputed the unprecedented criticism coming from the most famous Shiite chanters in Iran loyal to the Supreme Leader. In the past few days, the chanters have sharply criticized Mashaei’s attack against them. Mahramaneh wrote:

“What happened, Mr. Chanter and other gentlemen? Are they cutting your hands off from the people’s wealth? Are they showing your treachery to the people?”

Mahramaneh News in defending Mashaei and Ahmadinejad called the current government as the “government of Imam Zaman”, labeling conservative critics of the government “Sufyanis”:

“Beware you deceived chanters and those hiding behind the curtains striking at the root of this Imam Zaman government! You’re following the example of this duped man (Saeed Haddadian).”

In a move just like “Dolatyar”, “Mahramaneh” at the end also warned critics of Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader that:

“Beware you Sufyanis, the great Islamic Revolution of Iran has pass through many plots, strife, and villainy worse than this….what happened that the chanters in Iran have turned into politicians, teachers of ethics, economists, philosophers, jurists, and in the end clowns?”

Among pro-Ahmadinejad sites coordinating their moves with Ahmadinejad allies,

“Mahramaneh” mounted the harshest attack, singling out the Ahl-ul Bayt and wilayat-e-faqih chanter Saeed Haddadian as:

“The ugly clown who with his clownery and debauchery makes people laugh! What happened? An Ahl-ul Bayt chanter who has turned into the Devil’s plaything? If the people know how some are so corrupted and criminal, be sure that your mansions will fall one after another.”

Apparently, among these media quarrels it seems that the Ahmadinejad team has lost financial support from conservative and Supreme Leader groups who currently are critics of the government. We also see a similar article in the site “Dolatyar” that states:

“There have been increasing attacks against the Ahmadinejad government during the past few weeks because the government refrained from giving money to special conservative groups. This group of conservatives has reached the conclusion that if the Ahmadinejad government in any way continues, they must pack their suitcases and think about leaving.”

Regarding the state media Voice and Vision (one of the institutions under the Supreme Leader’s control) “Dolatyar” called it as one of the main institutions that “by adding more fuel to the Hezbollahi youths’ pure feelings, they have stood up against the government.”

This is the first time that Ahmadinejad’s media team threatened Supreme Leader supporters and anti-government critics with “bloody chaos” and expressed its worry about the collapse of the Ahmadinejad government. 

Gholam Hossein Nasseri Killed from Being Tortured

Disturbing reports indicate that the brother of the former mayor of Anbaran, Alireza Nasseri, has been murdered

According to the Green Fall for Freedom, Alireza Nasseri (El Dayaghi), an Azerbaijani political activist and former mayor of Anbaran, last year was arrested at his workplace by plainclothes officers and taken to an unidentified location

The reason for his arrest apparently was a speech about Azerbaijan. Before the elections of 2005, he was a critic of Ahmadinejad. Nasseri delivered many speeches about Ahmadinejad’s background and poor performance as governor of Ardebil province

There has been lately no news of him but it is said that he has been sentenced to ten years in prison and indefinitely barred from doing any government service  

A Green Call for Freedom reporter received information that Nasseri’s brother, Gholam Hossein, after inquiring about brother’s condition was arrested and killed in prison

Because of his investigations, Gholam Hossein Nasseri was arrested five months ago by the Intelligence Bureau. Sometime later, they notified his family that he died. Afterwards they threatened his family to abstain from clarifying any news otherwise they would execute the other brother Alireza

Legal medical reports indicate that Gholam Hossein died from torture and electric shocks at the Intelligence Bureau’s Detention Center

His crime was that he wanted to know where his brother Alireza was imprisoned and whether he was dead or alive

14 Iranians accused in the assassination of Rafik Hariri Tribunal

When the case of Rafiq Hariri’s assassination was presented to the UN International Criminal Court in February of this year, informed sources report that 14 Iranians have second and third degree charges filed against them.

Among those listed are Ali Khamenei and Commanders of the IRGC and the Quds Force at the time of the 2005 assassination, the Iranian Foreign Minister, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon and employees at the Iranian embassies in Lebanon and Syria, as well as two Iranian businessmen in the grain industry who sent explosive materials and cars to Lebanon via shipments from East Asian countries.

It is said that an informed source at The Hague, whose first name is Fash, told Iran Briefing that since a few months ago Iran and another European country have been negotiating to have the Supreme Leader’s name as well as those of elite Iranian military commanders to be erased from the court’s list of suspects.

Based on this report, Ali Khamenei and Head Commanders of the IRGC and the Quds Force are accused of supporting and planning this assassination. 18 Hezbollah members in Lebanon and three Lebanese police officers are listed as those who carried out the assassination.

Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was killed in a car bomb attack on his motorcade in Beirut on February 14, 2005.

From the very beginning, Syria and the Lebanese Hezbollah were the prime suspects. Because of growing pressures Syrian security and police forces left Lebanon two months after the assassination of Rafiq Hariri. The Lebanese Hezbollah also faced heavy pressure.

From the very beginning, Hezbollah responded very aggressively against these accusations, considering the arrest of 18 members as an American and sold-out legal move.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, in a meeting with the Emir of Qatar responded to the accusations and investigations made by the Hague, saying that the UN court in order to pursue the case of Rafiq Hariri, “is an officious court whose every verdict is rejected.” His statement came after when Hezbollah Leaders said that they expected the UN Court to “lie” in accusing the Hezbollah members of murdering the former Lebanese prime minister. These claims until today have been provoked by international response.

It is said that more than ten witnesses from different countries such as Syria, Lebanon, France, Iraq, and Iran were present at the court to testify about the terrorist activities of Hezbollah and the IRGC Qud Force in Lebanon.

As the Lebanese newspaper al-Diyar wrote in December 2010, two former IRGC members are among the witnesses.

Al-Diyar claimed that these two former IRGC members had information about the IRGC’s and the Lebanese Hezbollah’s involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. These two Iranian witnesses are Alireza Asgari, elite IRGC commander and deputy to the former Iranian Defense Minister, and former member of the Quds Force Amir Farshad Ebrahimi. 

Plainclothes Attack Against Dariush Mehrjui’s “Study”

Agents famously known as the “plainclothes” who claim to be the “followers of wilayat” attacked the theater where the play Study was being performed, shouting pro-regime slogans and slogans against “leaders of strife”. The play stopped half-way.

According to news agencies and the attackers themselves, this incident happened because it became known that former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami was watching the play at the Iranshahr Theater.

The play Study, written by Eugene Yonesko and directed by the famous filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui, debuted at the Iranshahr Theater.

Ahmad Masjed Jamei (Khatami-era Minister of Guidance) and Fereydoon Amoozadeh Khalili (reformist journalist and writer) as well as close friends of Mohammad Khatami such as Bahareh Rahnama and Payman Ghasem Khani (screenwriter) had accompanied the former Iranian president.

After the plainclothes supporters of the regime who forced the play to stop half-way, the prominent director Dariush Mehrjui went on stage and dedicated this play to Mohammad Khatami.

Police officers stationed outside the performance hall had full knowledge of the plainclothes’ attack, their slogans and disruption of the play. The police officers did not make any effort to kick the rioters out.

The play’s producer Reza Darmishian said, “Study had 22 successful performances late February to early March. According to official statistics published by the Iranshahr Theater it’s been the most profitable play of the winter season, and it was able to debut at the Professor Samandarian as the most sold-out play in one run.”

Imprisoned Blogger Faces Possible Death Sentence

Based on reports from “Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran”, the Karaj Court intends to sentence the imprisoned blogger Mohammad Reza Pourshajari to death.

Pourshajari, who has serious charges brought against him, is supposed to hear his sentence on 1 Tir at the 109^th Circuit of the Karaj Court. The Karaj Public Prosecutor, the Karaj Revolutionary Court Cross-Examiner, and the Ministry of Intelligence Interrogator beforehand told his family that he will be executed.

This blogger has been in solitary confinement in Section 6 of the Karaj Gowhardasht Prison for seven months. Since his time of arrest, he is not allowed to have visits or telephone his family. His family has no news of Pourshajari’s condition.

Pourshajari is the only political prisoner who has been in solitary confinement for months at Section 6.

Ministry of Intelligence interrogators until now have opened two cases against him. In the first case, he has been sentenced to three years in prison.

As for the second case, according to statements from the Ministry of Intelligence interrogators and the Karaj Public Prosecutor, they intend to sentence him to death.

An individual with the alias Mohammadi, an interrogator at the Mashhad intelligence office, has threatened and psychologically pressured Miss Mitra Pourshajari, the daughter of Mohammad Reza Pourshajari, with his phone calls and summons to the intelligence office. In his latest summons, he threatened to arrest her.

Mohammad Reza Pourshajari is physically very ill; he suffers from kidney problems, hip pain, and sinusitis, but Ministry of Intelligence interrogators are preventing him from receiving any medical treatment.

Conditions at the Section 6 of the Karaj Gowhardasht Prison are horrible and unbearable. It is one of the torture zones of the prison. 

Libyan woman who claimed Gadhafi militiamen gang raped her recounts ordeal

Since Iman al-Obeidi burst into the hotel housing foreign journalists in Tripoli and accused pro-Gadhafi militiamen of gang-raping her, she says many people on the streets of the capital have recognized her and praised her bravery. Supportive cab drivers have refused to take her money and in the rebel-held east, she is hailed as a hero

Recounting her story in graphic detail for the first time alone with two female reporters, al-Obeidi claimed she was brutalized for two days and wept as she recalled the ordeal. She said she was repeatedly raped by 15 different men — one of them a cousin of Gadhafi — who were drinking alcohol that they poured in her eyes, nose, mouth and vagina. She said she was sodomized with a Kalashnikov rifle

Al-Obeidi spoke to The Associated Press and another reporter at her home. It was a rare interview without Libyan government minders, who keep almost constant watch over dozens of foreign journalists the regime has invited in to cover its side of the uprising against Gadhafi's 42-year rule of this North African Arab country

Al-Obeidi, 28, came to the attention of the world's press when she burst into the Rixos hotel in Tripoli on March 26 and told scores of foreign reporters that she had just escaped from a gang rape by drunken Gadhafi militiamen. Visibly distraught, she claimed they had tied her up and defecated and urinated on her and showed reporters scratches on her face and a bloodied thigh

As she tried to tell her story that first day, government minders inside the hotel attacked her in a chaotic scene where journalists tried to jump in and protect her, and ended up getting punched themselves and having their equipment smashed by the minders

Al-Obeidi said after that, she was detained for three days when she was beaten and left to lie on the floor with no food or drink, then released. Since then, she has been living with a friend in a modest apartment that her sister pays for

She said she begins every day the same way — by going to the prosecutor general's office to follow up her case. But she said she is depressed because judicial officials not only ignore her pleas, but have turned the case on its head and accused her of committing a crime by naming her attackers. She is also scared

Her body still bears marks of violence — fading bruises on her upper arms, scratches on her thighs and her eyes bloodshot from crying. During the interview, she was casually dressed without her veil in a red striped T-shirt and beige Bermuda shorts, her shoulder-length brown hair tied back with a flowered clip. Her face was sober, and she wringed her hands as she spoke.

"Many people — young men and women — come up to me in the street when they know I am Iman al-Obeidi and tell me they admire my courage," she said in the interview on Monday. She said that support from her people and the international media and from women everywhere has seen her through

Al-Obeidi has maintained that she was targeted by troops because she is from the city of Benghazi, the de facto capital of the opposition which took control of the eastern half of the country shortly after the uprising against Gadhafi began in February

In the east, she has been held up as a hero and a symbol of the brutality of Gadhafi's regime. Women in Benghazi have marched through the city carrying her picture, while local papers have provided emotionally charged coverage of her story. One eastern paper ran a front-page story about a man who offered to marry al-Obeidi and dispatched a group of friends and relatives to discuss the matter with her parents in the eastern city of Tobruk

Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim has confirmed that al-Obeidi was a rape victim but alleged she was a prostitute with a criminal record of petty crime and indecency, allegations al-Obeidi firmly denies. She said she was a graduate student in law before the assault

There was no way to independently verify al-Obeidi's account as journalists' movements in Tripoli and what they can see and report are tightly restricted by the regime. Government officials could not be reached immediately for comment on her latest account

In a time when dissent is being crushed in the capital, it remains unclear why al-Obeidi was released from jail after embarrassing the regime in front of the world's media. Foreign journalists, who have succeeded before in evading the Libyan government minders, were able to reach her home with no interference in a sign that it may not be tightly monitored or officials are not trying to prevent reporters from talking to her

She said she was returning from a friend's house on the evening of March 24 when her taxi was stopped at one of the many checkpoints that now control movement around the capital at night. Al-Obeidi said she was forced to climb into the militia's car when they discovered her ID card showed she was from the rebel-held east

"There were a number of militiamen in the Toyota and another girl they had captured and stuffed on the floor of the car under their feet," she said

They were taken to a large home that looked like a palace and that's when she claims two days of rape and torture began

"I kept fighting back. I hit back a lot and I kept fighting," she said. "They eventually tied my arms and legs together."

Tied naked and left on the floor of a room inside the huge house, al-Obeidi said a total of fifteen drunk men took turns raping her, sometimes three at a time. They would choke her, cover her head while raping her, and kick her when they were done, she said

"My neck turned blue from being strangled," she said

She claimed that the ringleader was a cousin of Gadhafi and son of a government minister. She said she recognized him because her sister worked for his father, and they knew his family.

On the third morning of her captivity, an escape route opened. Another girl who had been captured with her had not been tied up because she wasn't fighting the rape, al-Obeidi said. She helped her cut the rope from her legs.

Naked and hysterical, she said she jumped out of a window and threatened the African guards at the gate with a metal rod.

"I could see fear in their faces when they looked at me — my hair was wild, I was naked and screaming," she said.

Once they opened the gates to the street, she ran for her life.

"I ran down the side of the house screaming and crying and the (rapists') car was chasing me," she remembers. "Neighbours started to come out to look and they protected me."

Women in the neighbourhood brought her clothes and paid for her taxi.

"They asked if I wanted to go to the police station, but I didn't go because that's not where I would find justice," she said.

Instead, she headed straight for the Rixos hotel where she knew the foreign journalists were staying.

"I wasn't scared. I wanted to show the world what the Gadhafi brigades are really like and I didn't think about myself or my family," she said.

Al-Obeidi has decided to press her case even though she has little hope for justice, in hopes it will keep international pressure onLibya.

Lately, Obeidi said she wants only one thing — to go home to her family in opposition-controlled eastern Libya. She said she had tried two weeks ago to cross the Tunisian border to meet with family there, but was brought back by the militia and told never to leave Tripoli. She alleged that the regime is refusing to allow her to leave the capital.

"They are trying to punish me, as if I am some sort of enemy and so I am scared and I want to just go home," she said.