Ahmadinejad Steals Iranian Election !, Widespread Fraud In Terrorist Countrys' Vote Options

[loosescrews]

Clashes Erupt in Iran After Ahmadinejad Declared Winner of Presidential Election

Saturday, June 13, 2009



AP


TEHRAN, Iran — Supporters of the main election challenger to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tires Saturday as authorities claimed the hard-line president was re-elected in a landslide.

The rival candidate said the vote was tainted by widespread fraud and his followers responded with the most serious unrest in the capital in a decade.

Several hundred demonstrators — many wearing the trademark green colors of pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign — chanted "the government lied to the people" and gathered near the Interior Ministry as the final count from Friday's presidential election was announced.

It gave 62.6 percent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75 to Mousavi — a former prime minister who has become the hero of a youth-driven movement seeking greater liberties and a gentler face for Iran abroad.

Mousavi rejected the result as rigged and urged his supporters to resist a government of "lies and dictatorship."

"I'm warning that I won't surrender to this manipulation," said a statement on Mousavi's Web site. "The outcome of what we've seen from the performance of officials ... is nothing but shaking the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran's sacred system and governance of lies and dictatorship," it added.

Mousavi warned "people won't respect those who take power through fraud." The headline on one of his Web sites read: "I won't give in to this dangerous manipulation."

Mousavi and key aides could not be reached by phone.

The clashes in central Tehran were the more serious disturbances in the capital since student-led protests in 1999. They showed the potential for the showdown to spill over into further violence and challenges to the Islamic establishment.

Mousavi appealed directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to intervene and stop what he said were violations of the law. Khamenei, who is not elected, holds ultimate political authority in Iran and controls all major policy decisions.
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I hope the leader's foresight will bring this to a good end," Mousavi said.

But Khamenei closed the door on any chance he could use his limitless powers to intervene in the election dispute. He urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad in a message on state TV, calling the result a "divine assessment."

The demonstrations began Saturday morning shortly before the government announced the final results.

Protesters set fire to tires outside the Interior Ministry and anti-riot police fought back with clubs and smashed cars. Helmeted police on foot and others on buzzing motorcycles chased bands of protesters roaming the streets pumping their fists in the air. Officers beat protesters with swift blows from their truncheons and kicks with their boots. Some of the demonstrators grouped together to charge back at police, hurling stones.

Plumes of dark smoke streaked over the city, as burning barricades of tires and garbage bins glowed orange in the streets.

An Associated Press photographer saw a plainclothes security official beating a woman with his truncheon. Italian state TV RAI said one of its crews was caught in the clashes in front Mousavi's headquarters. Their Iranian interpreter was beaten with clubs by riot police and officers confiscated the cameraman's tapes, the station said.

In another main street of Tehran, some 300 young people blocked the avenue by forming a human chain and chanted "Ahmadi, shame on you. Leave the government alone." There was no word on any casualties from the unrest.

It was not clear how many Iranians were even aware of Mousavi's claims of fraud. Communications disruptions began in the later hours of voting Friday — suggesting an information clampdown. State television and radio only broadcast the Interior Ministry's vote count and not Mousavi's midnight news conference.

Nationwide, the text messaging system remained down Saturday and several pro-Mousavi Web sites were blocked or difficult to access. Text messaging is frequently used by many Iranians — especially young Mousavi supporters — to spread election news.

Mousavi's campaign headquarters urged people to show restraint.

Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli, who supervised the elections and heads the nation's police forces, warned people not to join any "unauthorized gatherings."

The powerful Revolutionary Guard cautioned Wednesday it would crush any "revolution" against the Islamic regime by Mousavi's "green movement." The Revolutionary Guard is directly under the control of the ruling clerics and has vast influence in every corner of the country through a network of volunteer militias.

Even before the vote counting began, Mousavi declared himself "definitely the winner" based on "all indications from all over Iran." He accused the government of "manipulating the people's vote" to keep Ahmadinejad in power and suggested the reformist camp would stand up to challenge the results.

"It is our duty to defend people's votes. There is no turning back," he said, alleging widespread irregularities.

Mousavi's backers were stunned at the Interior Ministry's claim that Ahmadinejad won after widespread predictions of a close race — or even a slight edge for the reformist candidate.

Turnout was a record 85 percent of the 46.2 million eligible voters.

"Many Iranians went to the people because they wanted to bring change," said Mousavi supporter Nasser Amiri, a hospital clerk in Tehran. "Almost everybody I know voted for Mousavi but Ahmadinejad is being declared the winner. The government announcement is nothing but widespread fraud. It is very, very disappointing. I'll never ever again vote in Iran."

At Tehran University — the site of the last major anti-regime unrest in Tehran in 1999 — the academic year was winding down and there was no sign of pro-Mousavi crowds. But university exams, scheduled to begin Saturday, were postponed until next month around the country.

Ahmadinejad planned a public address later Saturday in Tehran.

In the capital, several Ahmadinejad supporters cruised the streets waving Iranian flags out of car windows and shouting "Mousavi is dead!"

The election outcome will not sharply alter Iran's main policies or sway major decisions, such as possible talks with Washington or nuclear policies. Those crucial issues rest with the ruling clerics headed by Khamenei.

But the election focused on what the office can influence: boosting Iran's sinking economy, pressing for greater media and political freedoms, and being Iran's main envoy to the world.

Iran does not allow international election monitors. During the 2005 election, when Ahmadinejad won the presidency, there were some allegations of vote rigging from losers, but the claims were never investigated.

[Resigned]

The Associated Press is reporting that Iran officials, (spokesbeards for the mullahs), are declaring a landslide victory for Ahmadinejad. It's difficult to imagine that Mahmoud "the mullah's boy" Ahmadinejad would not have won. These Iranian "elections" are farcical in that the unelected religious authorities have unchallenged control over who is allowed to run for elected office as well as the eventual outcome of the elections.

These elections are a sham. One wonders why the mullocrats bother with them at all.

[tom]

i have my reservations. mousavi said "all indications from all over Iran" suggested he won the election. what are these indications? can he identify them? i doubt it. mark you, "turnout was a record 85 percent of the 46.2 million eligible voters". how did he know even those in the rurual areas have voted for him? dont forget the populations of the world (including iran) can be found in rural areas and more often they're in middle and lower level of the society. if he wanna based his claim on being a winner on internet or handset analysis, he has himself to blame for wanna being deceived. he claimed "the vote was tainted by widespread fraud". he may NOT be able to provide HARDevidences in iran per se but he should know how to tell the world how it's (the fraud) done via his supporters overseas over bbc, cnn, jazeerah etc.

no point pointing fingers or starting demonstrations etc. get the HARDevidence of fraud if there's any and go through the proper channel. mousavi should know what is/are the proper channel(s). quit whinning. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

Clashes Erupt in Iran After Ahmadinejad Declared Winner of Presidential Election
Saturday, June 13, 2009
AP

TEHRAN, Iran — Supporters of the main election challenger to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tires Saturday as authorities claimed the hard-line president was re-elected in a landslide.

The rival candidate said the vote was tainted by widespread fraud and his followers responded with the most serious unrest in the capital in a decade.

Several hundred demonstrators — many wearing the trademark green colors of pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign — chanted "the government lied to the people" and gathered near the Interior Ministry as the final count from Friday's presidential election was announced.

It gave 62.6 percent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75 to Mousavi — a former prime minister who has become the hero of a youth-driven movement seeking greater liberties and a gentler face for Iran abroad.

Mousavi rejected the result as rigged and urged his supporters to resist a government of "lies and dictatorship."

(delete)

[crystal_sword]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sl.gif) Dear Muslims

I like how random people on the internet seem to know what is going on in a country 1000's of miles away.

I really wonder sometimes, How DO you do it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dizzy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[mere_mortal]

no point pointing fingers or starting demonstrations etc. get the HARDevidence of fraud if there's any and go through the proper channel. mousavi should know what is/are the proper channel(s). quit whinning. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

i appreciate this viewpoint.
and i also wonder how possible it could possibly be for him to get that evidence and even "go through the proper channel".
it would be nearly impossible for most of us to know how fairly everything in this election has been handled, and if those previously in power have made it difficult for Mousavi to prove anything one way or another if things were in fact rigged, deliberately mishandled or just very poorly handled.

This post has been edited by mere_mortal: Jun 18 2009, 02:41 AM

[tom]

i appreciate this viewpoint.
and i also wonder how possible it could possibly be for him to get that evidence and even "go through the proper channel".
it would be nearly impossible for most of us to know how fairly everything in this election has been handled, and if those previously in power have made it difficult for Mousavi to prove anything one way or another if things were in fact rigged, deliberately mishandled or just very poorly handled.

likewise i appreciate your viewpoint. mousavi said the election was rigged. how did he reach that conclusion? - hot air allegation or should he have some kind of evidence(s) and what's the evidence? if it's too diffult for him to secure HARDevidence, then he should forget it and let the winner gloat rather than inciting young iranians to demonstrate for the sake of his ALLEGATION. sure demonstrations can bring change. but there're pros and cons. it can easily turn into tiananmen square tragedy. you cant bring change overnight. sure you must start somewhere. but not via demonstrations. and i dont think mousavi can bring the change young iranians desire. what they want is democracy 100%. i dont think mousavi wants that. he was once a prime minister and he knew its mechanism. what has he done when he was up there? no 100% democracy right dude? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[gill]

The leader of the not so free world speaks:

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sternly warned Friday of a crackdown if protesters continue their massive street rallies, escalating the government's showdown with demonstrators demanding a new presidential election.

In reaction to Khamenei's address hours later, cries of "Death to the dictator!" and "Allahu akbar!"—"God is great!"—resounded from rooftops throughout Tehran after dark—similar to other nights this week following rallies supporting reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

AP

[Resigned]

The opening paragraph written in an ARTICLE published in the TimesOnline neatly peels away the veneer of lies that would otherwise describe Iran as anything but yet another Islamic fear society.

you can't post links until you reach 50 posts_www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/c...icle6544249.ece

Iran's dictator gives up pretence of democracy

Just before noon on Friday, June 19, the Islamic republic died in Iran. Its death was announced by its "supreme guide", Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had come to praise the system but buried it instead. Khamenei was addressing supporters on the campus of Tehran University, transformed into a Masjid for the occasion. Many had expected him to speak as a guide, an arbiter of disputes – a voice for national reconciliation. Instead, he spoke as a rabble rouser and a tinpot despot.

In the Arab/Islamic world, fear, oppression and xenophobia - while not necessarily prevalent on the inside of a society - is an intrinsic part of the body politic when it comes to Islamic fear societies. They are the polar opposite of Western democracies and it's the antithesis of pluralism, which is the true Western liberal value that we demonstrated with ongoing events in Iran.

Term such as democracy and representative elections, like other words thrown around carelessly, can sometimes lose all resemblance to its original, intrinsic meaning. Nowhere is this more evident than in the abnormal of the Arab/Islamic world where armed terrorists are allowed to roam the streets, genocidal jihad groups participate in governance, bearded old men holding to a 7th century worldview rig the electoral process and "elections" are made into a total mockery.

[disabled0335]

Salaams peeps,

This opening paragraph neatly peels away nothing.

In the Arab/Islamic world, fear, oppression and xenophobia - while not necessarily prevalent on the inside of a society - is an intrinsic part of the body politic when it comes to Islamic fear societies. They are the polar opposite of Western democracies and it's the antithesis of pluralism, which is the true Western liberal value that we demonstrated with ongoing events in Iran.

Pluralism? Is this the reason Western democracies interfere, invade, and kill other societies because they do not conform to their vision of what is acceptable? This, I believe is a paradox.

Term such as democracy and representative elections, like other words thrown around carelessly, can sometimes lose all resemblance to its original, intrinsic meaning. Nowhere is this more evident than in the abnormal of the Arab/Islamic world where armed terrorists are allowed to roam the streets, genocidal jihad groups participate in governance, bearded old men holding to a 7th century worldview rig the electoral process and "elections" are made into a total mockery.

Yes, I recall in the UK when Parliament voted on whether military action would be taken in Iraq, democracy was revealed for what it was. 80% of the population were against the war, and as such 80% of the members of parliament should have gone in and represented the opinions of their constituents. But alas, this was not the case and military action got the majority vote. Term such as democracy and repre3sentative elections, like other words thrown around carelessly, can sometimes lose all resemblance to its original, intrinsic meaning. Nowhere is this more evident than in the hypocritical Western world where armed terrorists are allowed to invade other sovereign nations, genocidal Zionist groups participate in governance, clean-shaved old men holding to a capitalist worldview mock the electoral process and "elections" are made into nothing more than popularity contests.

Peace

[gnuneo]

there appears to be questions regarding some districts, where a turnout of over 130% has been reported.

amazing that, almost like ahmedinadjad took lessons about democracy from Bush & the neo-cons in the US.


it is a great shame that the ayatollah has taken the side of ahmedinadjad, for it seems that a very large proportion of Iran are absolutely NOT happy about this religious dictator (ahmedinadjad) continuing in his role. Whether or not he won this election, that HAS to be taken into account in any country serious about democracy. (obviously i am not including the US in that category.).

my advice to Iran would be to hold another election - and request international observers. It is no surprise to me that the US has demanded such, because that makes it far less likely to happen. Perhaps the UN should now be given powers to enforce such rules - even over powerful countries such as the US/Russia.

would make a better world, so that is unlikely to happen.

peace and love. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

[Grants1]

I hope the US stays out of this completely. We are already having this turned around on us. If people are martyred at the hands of their government we should let them be. It's none of our business. Anything that happens should be the actions of Iranians.

[Kab]

Salaam

I think i do need to clear a few things up as I have been watching press tv news which tends to give the news from the other side. With regards to more than 100% vote in certain towns then this is actually possible, because firstly the high overall turnout and secondly people can come from out of town to vote. As the guardian council has mentioned they did not note any significant fraud and infact the opposition leader had thousand of his observers during the election and none of them had raised any concerns about the election. First of all i am relaying the information I have heard and secondly another point to note is that the western media only really got an idea of how the educated english speaking people would vote not the poor desolute people and hence there information was skewed towards the opposition. It was also mentioned that the president had made several visits to the poor regions during his compaigns which has not happened much before which probably also led to strong support over there.

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam

[Vercingetorix]

Salaam

I think i do need to clear a few things up as I have been watching press tv news which tends to give the news from the other side. With regards to more than 100% vote in certain towns then this is actually possible, because firstly the high overall turnout and secondly people can come from out of town to vote. As the guardian council has mentioned they did not note any significant fraud and infact the opposition leader had thousand of his observers during the election and none of them had raised any concerns about the election. First of all i am relaying the information I have heard and secondly another point to note is that the western media only really got an idea of how the educated english speaking people would vote not the poor desolute people and hence there information was skewed towards the opposition. It was also mentioned that the president had made several visits to the poor regions during his compaigns which has not happened much before which probably also led to strong support over there.

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam

1. You don't watch Press TV to find out what is happening in Iran. Watching Press TV for that is like reading Pravda (a couple decades ago) to find out what is happening in the Soviet Union. You don't get much. Its the version of what's going on that the Iranian government wants to believe, and they never have been above making up horrific lies to counter dissent and give some of the more thuggish basij members reasons to murder or cause traumatic injury to protestors.

2. The facts of the election are a lot more complicated than you think. This link is quite descriptive of some of the creepier, behind-the-scenes stuff going on in Iran. Tehran Bureau in general is an informative site on the goings-on in Iran, even if it is, I think, hosted in Tehrangeles (were it actually hosted in Iran, it seems it would have been shut down and its owners and journalists would have been tortured in Evin Prison).

This post has been edited by Vercingetorix: Jun 27 2009, 09:27 PM

[Vercingetorix]

it is a great shame that the ayatollah has taken the side of ahmedinadjad, for it seems that a very large proportion of Iran are absolutely NOT happy about this religious dictator (ahmedinadjad) continuing in his role. Whether or not he won this election, that HAS to be taken into account in any country serious about democracy. (obviously i am not including the US in that category.).

my advice to Iran would be to hold another election - and request international observers.

The part about Iran holding another election is what the protesters have wanted. They know the Council of Guardians will not give a proper recount. But then, its also a bit much to ask the Council of Guardians to annul the selection...they won't do anything to help the protesters, only attempt to appease them.

[Vercingetorix]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8122263.stm

Iran militia raids 'target homes'

Human Rights Watch has accused Iran's volunteer Basij militia of carrying out night-time raids, destroying property in private homes and beating civilians.

The New York-based group says the raids are an attempt to stop the nightly rooftop chants against the government.

Most people are chanting "Allahu Akbar." (also other slogans such as "marg bar dictator," death to the dictator.) Great idea, trashing houses and arresting people who are shouting from their rooftops that God is great. Shows how seriously these basij take their religion.

[Kab]

Salaam

Thank you for your link, it is certainly interesting. To be honest with you i tend to believe that the truth is probably somewhere in between what press tv and the western media presents, both by their very nature are propoganda machines. I am a fan of press tv just because i can see alternate views, it does not mean that I will believe everything they say, and its refreshing after so many years of just western media.


Wassalam

[Vercingetorix]

I understand the annoyance with western media, which is why I only watch it at the gym.

Most of what I have gleaned about the events over there has come from people with sources in Iran involved with the protests or possibly just watching them, and a few of my own whose posts I have to run through the google farsi translator. NiteOwl's daily green briefs (posted at a forum hosted by Anonymous) are probably the most informative media out there at this time about the protests. He is unabashedly pro-protester, but if something doesn't sound right to him, he will make sure to let you know he questions its veracity.

[IranBurns]

What are 'proper channels' in Iran. one of the most repressive regimes in the world ? They allow NO international observers, censor the media, internet and cellular service and fix the WHOLE THING IN THE FIRST PLACE because the Mullahs decide who can run for office and who can't. The whole mess was fixed before it started. And this 'gnuneo' creep with his 'everything bad MUST be because of the U.S. somehow' drool. The U.S. stated they'd like to see new elections, so, of course, using their 'evil' reversed psychology , they'd trick Iran into NEVER holding new elections !! WOW, YOU'VE FIGURED IT ALL OUT !!