Iran June 20, 2009

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/saturday-updates-on-irans-disputed-election/>

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June 20, 2009, 7:16 am
Saturday: Updates on Iran’s Disputed Election
By Robert Mackey
To supplement reporting by New York Times journalists inside Iran on Saturday, The Lede will continue to track the aftermath of Iran’s disputed presidential election online, as we have for the last several days. Please refresh this page throughout the day to get the latest updates at the top of your screen (updates are stamped with the time in New York). For an overview of the current situation, read the main news article on our Web site, which will be updated throughout the day.
Readers inside Iran or in touch with people there are encouraged to send us photographs — our address is: pix@nyt.com — or use the comments box below to tell us what you are seeing or hearing.
Update | 2:33 p.m. Confirming what we’d heard from Iranian bloggers earlier today, Reuters reports that an ally of Mir Hussein Moussavi says that the opposition leader addressed a rally in Tehran today and said that he is “ready for martyrdom.” Reuters adds:
Mousavi also called on Saturday for a national strike if he is arrested, a witness said. As darkness fell, rooftop cries of Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) sounded out across northern Tehran for nearly an hour, an echo of tactics used in the 1979 Islamic revolution against the Shah. [...]
“In a public address in southwestern Tehran, Mousavi said he was ready for martyrdom and that he would continue his path,” a Mousavi ally, who asked not to be named, told Reuters by telephone from the Jeyhun street in Tehran.
A witness to the address said Mousavi, center of protests unprecedented in the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic, appeared to anticipate action against him.
“Mousavi called on people to go on national strike if he gets arrested,” the witness told Reuters.
Mousavi demanded the elections be annulled.
“These disgusting measures (election rigging) were planned months ahead of the vote … considering all the violations … the election should be annulled,” Mousavi said in a letter to the country’s top legislative body.
Update | 2:22 p.m. The BBC reports that, “A BBC correspondent at Enghelab Square said he saw one man shot and others injured amid a huge security operation involving thousands of police.”
The BBC adds: “A column of black smoke is hanging over the city center, our correspondent says.”
Update | 2:19 p.m. The video of a young woman who was reportedly killed in Tehran today has been uploaded to many Web sites and Facebook pages this afternoon. One of our readers comments:
Make special note of that unarmed innocent Girl shot and bleeding from her mouth, nose, eyes, ears…..hundreds of copies just went up on Youtube.
The tide of the ‘79 revolution was turned overnight by a similar front-page photo of a Soldier at point blank range shooting an un-armed protester.
Update | 1:45 p.m. CNN has aired a very graphic and disturbing video clip which was uploaded to YouTube and Facebook on Saturday, showing a young woman who has been shot, bleeding profusely. (Please be advised before you click on the link below that these are truly horrifying images.)
On both Facebook and YouTube, the video comes with this explanation, written by someone who says that he was present when this video was shot and describes what it shows:
Basij shots to death a young woman in Tehran’s Saturday June 20th protests At 19:05 June 20th Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st. A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim’s chest, and she died in less than 2 minutes. The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St. The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me. Please let the world know.
Again, we have no way of knowing when or where the video was shot, or if this reader’s account is accurate, due to the intense restrictions on first-hand reporting imposed on the press inside Iran.
Update | 1:35 p.m. We are monitoring Press TV’s Web site, not its broadcast, so if any readers have seen what YouTube footage the Iranian satellite broadcaster is airing, please let us know.
Press TV’s Web site does have this report on what it called Saturday’s “illegal rally” in Tehran:
Despite warnings by Iranian police, protesters have staged an illegal rally in Tehran to cry foul over what they call ‘vote-rigging’ in Iran’s presidential election.
Police used batons and water canons to disperse the protesters who gathered near Tehran’s Enqelab Square on Saturday. Sporadic clashes were reported between security forces and the protesters.
Update | 1:11 p.m. The Iranian-American Web site Tehran Bureau reports that Iran’s Press TV is “reportedly showing YouTube footage of what it called “today’s rally.” Several news organizations, including CNN, the BBC and The Guardian have pointed to this YouTube video