Amidst a spiraling crackdown, Mir Hossein Mousavi now warns the world that Iran fast approaches a point of heightened militarization, a "near-coup d'etat atmosphere" which threatens to supplant the theocratic republic.
If the tweets are to be believed, the major prisons are all executing the young, and then detaining the fathers, brothers and daughters of the protesters and leaders alike.
Officially, we've heard that 20 protesters were shot dead, but human rights groups allege there are more casualties. You can see video of yet another one of these protestors being killed here.
This is to say nothing of the protesters seized and treated to the paramilitary's punishment system.
Via StopAhmadi@ twitter:
# Another man, Mohammad Khalesipour was hanged in a prison in the city of Semnan on Wednesday #iranelectionabout 3 hours ago from web
# One man hanged in Fars Province on Thursday in a prison in town of Estahban, accused of sexual assault #iranelectionabout 3 hours ago from web
# Four men, id'd as Reza, Gholamhossein, Javad, & Hossein were hanged on Wednesday in a prison in Qom #iranelectionabout 3 hours ago from web
# Two men, id'd as Esmaeil 23 & Moslem 25, were on Wednesday hanged in Isfahan main prison #iranelectionabout 3 hours ago from web
Zahra Rahnavard now says her 62-year old brother's been arrested. The charismatic wife of Mousavi and former dean of al-Zahra University in Tehran was known to stump with her husband on the campaign trail wearing her conservative black veil, but she says her brother is "apolitical" and was "detained only to put pressure on her and Mousavi."
Link here: http://ow.ly/...
Mousavi, meanwhile, sharply criticized what he called the increasing power of security forces in the postelection crackdown. Iran was "heading in the direction of becoming more militarized, more security-dominated, something no one will welcome," he said.
On June 16th, I criticized Setrak's infamous diary that declared the Islamic Republic of Iran "may be dead" as a member of the "reality-based community." My warning came in light of the changing facts on the ground and thus sounds similar to Mousavi's:
Paradoxically, the mullahs' power may be "dead" as Setrak put it, but even worse things may happen should the Greens fail.
The next week, I wrote:
Meddle in a fight between militant nationalists and money-loving clerics and a military dictatorship could prevail.
Back to Mousavi:
"The security forces must move in the framework of the constitution to minimize the loses in this near-coup d'etat atmosphere," he said Wednesday, according to ILNA. He said he would release a political platform soon calling for "activating neglected parts of the constitution" that ensure the people's voice is heard and that security forces' powers are kept in check. He did not elaborate.
Let's hope no more students die before such an effort succeeds. The nationalists are so belligerent they're arresting the relatives of the dead:
On Thursday, members of the pro-government Basij militia arrested the father of a 27-year-old teacher of the santour — a traditional Iranian instrument like a dulcimer — who was killed during a June 20 protest, the pro-Mousavi Norooz news Web site reported. Basijis arrested the father of Masoud Hashemzadeh from his Tehran home and collected black signs of mourning at the house's entrance, it said. Pro-reform Web sites have reported that families of slain protesters have been intimidated not to mourn publicly.
We now know that were Iran to hold a fair election or even just a slightly manipulated one, they couldn't stop a registration of all-encompassing outrage. In the long-term, the nationalists are screwed, having alienated much of the country and even former supporters from the polls. In the short term, they could create so much more terror. But what don't we know: how many have they executed?