Fireback in Iran

There are many ways to be unpopular among your citizens, but Iranian Government seems to be determined to accomplish it in all of those ways. Including the bad taste.

According to information appeared today in Haaretz newspapers -who quotes the Wall Street Journal-, Ahmadinejad Government charged slain man's family $3,000 for the bullets that killed him. That is just another one of the many measures going on in Tehran to intimidate the opposition. As if with clubs and bullets it wasn’t enough.

Different reports and tweets indicate that Iranian authorities are banning the families of the deaths from mourning their relatives. All mosques in Tehran have been prohibited from holding memorials or publicly mourning the deaths of the riot victims.

It won’t be so easy. Despite the attempt to provoke a media blackout by expelling foreign correspondents, Internet has become a useful tool for Iranian citizens to display their disregards. Maybe nobody will be able to attend Neda’s funeral, but the video footage of her death has travel the world and in yesterday’s demonstrations, her image was at the top of the protesters.

Three of the four candidates called for the annulation of the elections, but in the streets it’s becoming a more personal matter since the riot police started to tear gas them and shoot them down. Political issues still are underneath, but the recent deaths have given a different angle to the protests. Moussavi -and other candidates’- supporters not only claim for democracy, but also for justice and human rights now.

Neda’s death, a martyr as the candidate Kharoubi said of her, can mean a huge impact on Iran. In a country of Shiite faith, a faith founded on the idea of self-sacrifice for greater purposes, it could mean an angrier response from the people, as it is happening now. It wouldn’t be the first time. During 1979 Revolution, the death of protesters fueled a cycle of outrage that led into the Shah overthrow.

The official Government, however, doesn’t get the message and continues in the hard line. Khomeini, the Supreme Leader, warned last Friday about a bloodshed; the Basij militias warned with a bloody response if protests continue; the Assembly of Experts recognized irregularities but didn’t agree on a general recount or a new election process, so Ahmadinejad will be sworn as President in August.

Meanwhile, five European citizens were detained today suspected of being “spies”, as so called by the regime. Europe has actively supported since almost the beginning the claims of the protesters. On Monday they announced they will open the gates of their embassies to Iranian citizens to protect them in the clashes with riot police forces. The answer from Tehran was think about calling back their ambassador in London.



Photo: AP

All posts on the Iran Presidential Elections 2009 in Worldwide, here.