The Rooftops and Streets of Tehran

[babsbunny]

http://www.truthout.org/062809A

Sunday 28 June 2009

by: Matt Renner, t r u t h o u t | Report

At 10pm families gather on rooftops in Iran's capitol city to shout together, their voices echoing throughout the sprawling city's mostly empty streets.

This ritual, reminiscent of the 1979 Iranian revolution which led to the overthrow of the US-backed dictator Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, has become the "responsibility" of one young woman's family. This young woman Aamina has been risking her security to correspond with Truthout. Names and certain details are being withheld to protect her in light of the ongoing crackdown on journalists and activists in Iran. Aamina recently returned to Iran to be with her family.

"There used to be more slogans like 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein'," Aamina said, in support of presidential challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi. But the slogans have evolved as the crisis has. Now they shout "Alaho Akbar , down with the dictator and down with the liar." Aamina said that in the distance she even hears people shouting "down with Khamenei," the Supreme Leader of Iran.

[Kaleko]

1. Another excerpt...

Aamina made clear in her communications that the people of Iran who are defying the regime are hoping for support from the international community.

"What this Freedom movement is demanding from the Global Community is to limit this new government in every single way … People want the Global Community to put a stop to the sale of systems that allows this government to limit the gathering of information," Aamina wrote, adding, "Another issue is the number of Political Prisoners who were mostly Journalists or reformist activists who are being tortured or whom we have no news from. There is a possibility of slaughter, and that is what we are scared of. There are many students that have been lost for weeks and there are no indications of where they are or what has happened to them."

Thanks for this post.

[WillyT]

2. K & R !!!

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