Monday 21 December 2009

Iran continued...

1010 GMT: Andisheh-ye No (New Thought), one of five papers warned this weekend for not paying due attention to “large” pro-Government rallies on Friday has been banned from publishing. 1005 GMT: Iran Mediawatch. It looks like Mehr News has defied the Government command to ignore the crowds for Montazeri. It has photos of the gathering and of prominent figures paying condolences. It may be a sign of demand for confirmation of events or, alternatively, Internet restrictions in Iran that Mehr’s website appears to be overloaded.
0940 GMT: Images of Mourning. Photos have been posted of Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi paying their respects inside the Montazeri house. We have also posted the first videos of mass demonstrations in Qom and Najafabad.
0910 GMT: Press TV just posted a short report on the funeral of “leading clerical figure Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri”. It mentions the Supreme Leader’s condolences, omitting the criticisms of Montazeri.

There is no mention, however, of the crowds in Qom.
0905 GMT: The View from the Other Site — Montazeri & “Terrorists”. One of the few remarks from an Iran-based commentator in non-Iranian media is in Al Jazeera English’s coverage. It comes from Tehran University academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi:
[Montazeri said] the same thing for around 25 years….After his inner circle was discovered to be linked to Mujahidin terrorists based in Iraq, he was isolated by the reformists….He is not a major player and has always been very critical.0855 GMT: Iranian Mediawatch. Press TV’s website has nothing on the funeral (now see 910 GMT). The Iranian Labor News Agency’s English site has a short item that “thousands of mourners converged” on Qom and that Mir Hossein Mousavi attended. ILNA also uses the title “Ayatollah” for Montazeri, who was “one of the leaders of the 1979 Iranian Revolution along with the founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini”.
ILNA also emphasises, via the word of Montazeri’s doctor, that the cleric died of natural causes.

0850 GMT: New Entries. We have posted the video and translation of an interview given by Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s son Saeed yesterday on his father’s last words and views: “I think one of the main reasons [for his death] was his grief for the post-election events which troubled my father a lot.”
And, on another front, we have posted a view from Tehran of the current Iranian position in the nuclear talks with the “West” and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

2 comments:

  1. 2pedram/
    Yeah, but there has been talk of Mousavi etc getting arrested soon so...you have to remember that the fall of the Shah was a long battle too.
    Regards/

    ReplyDelete