Source:
The New York TimesTEHRAN —
The leading candidates are accusing each other of corruption, bribery and torture. The wife of the strongest challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to sue him for defaming her. And every night, parts of the capital become a screaming, honking bacchanal, with thousands of young men dancing and brawling in the streets until dawn. The presidential campaign, now in its final week, has reached a level of passion and acrimony almost unheard-of in Iran.
In part, that appears to be because of a
surge of energy in the campaign of Mir Hussein Moussavi, a reformist who is the leading contender to defeat Mr. Ahmadinejad in the election, set for Friday. Rallies for Mr. Moussavi have drawn tens of thousands of people in recent days, and a new unofficial poll suggests his support has markedly increased, with
54 percent of respondents saying they would vote for him compared with 39 percent for Mr. Ahmadinejad. But many Iranians say the campaign’s raucous tone is due largely to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s unexpectedly fierce rhetorical attacks, which have infuriated his rivals and their supporters, and drawn some blistering ripostes.
-snip-
Many people say a critical moment was last Wednesday’s
nationally televised debate, in which the president opened with a furious attack on Mr. Moussavi. Mr. Ahmadinejad seemed to spare no one, accusing his conservative and liberal opponents of being corrupt.
But the most shocking thrust, to some viewers, was when he held up a document with a small picture of Mr. Moussavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard, and asked him in a derisive tone, “Do you know this woman?” Mr. Ahmadinejad then accused Ms. Rahnavard — a respected professor of political science — of entering a graduate program without taking the entrance exam and other, lesser violations of university policy.
-snip-
But the attack on Ms. Rahnavard struck a nerve.
She has taken an unusually public role in her husband’s campaign, and many liberal Iranians feared that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s attack was code for a broader effort to deny women a public role. -snip-
Another woman, who gave her name as Parvaneh, said:
“Look at me — I am shaking. I am speaking on behalf of my friends who lost their rights. We love our religion, but they have used it as a tool to take people’s rights.”
On Saturday, at a stadium rally for Mr. Moussavi just outside Tehran, thousands of young women screamed angry slogans in unison, in a deafening roar that often drowned out the rowdy young men on the playing field below.
“Ahmadinejad is crazy, he’s an idiot,” Maryam Massoumi, a 27-year-old consultant, shouted above the din. “He’s making this country into a place everyone wants to leave.”
Nearby, the
crowds chanted: “Ahmadi, shame on you, leave Mir Hussein alone!” and “We don’t want a police state!” Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/world/middleeast/08iran.html?hp
Sounds crazy. It would really be awesome if Ahmadinejad gets his ass kicked and it sounds like he very well might. :)
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