Gathering the news about Iran's 2009 National election in one place.

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Top Revolutionary Guard Official Wants Moussavi and Khatami Tried (VoA)

Top Revolutionary Guard Official Wants Moussavi and Khatami Tried: Via Voice of America.

The political chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard force says opposition political leaders should be put on trial for inciting violence during weeks of unrest after Iran's disputed June 12 presidential elections.

Iran's smoldering political rift is intensifying, after a key figure in Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard demanded Iran's top opposition leaders be put on trial for inciting unrest, following the country's disputed June 12 presidential election.

Iran's official news agency (IRNA) reports that Yadollah Javani, the head of the Guard's political bureau, wants opposition leader Mirhossein Moussavi, former President Mohammed Khatami, and defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi to be tried for inciting violence.
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EU, Britain, France Condemn Iran Trial (VoA)

EU, Britain, France Condemn Iran Trial: Via Voice of America.

Iran faces international condemnation after opening its second mass trial of political detainees charged with provoking unrest during protests against Iran's disputed presidential election.

Those on trial Saturday included a French woman lecturer and Iranian employees of the French and British embassies in Tehran.

The European Union and Britain condemned Iran for putting on trial French lecturer Clotilde Reiss and the two embassy employees.

The Swedish-led EU presidency said actions against one EU country, citizen or embassy staff member are considered an action against the entire bloc.  It demanded the detainees be released immediately.
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Ahmadinejad sworn in as police 'block' protestors ( PressTV.ir )

Ahmadinejad sworn in as police 'block' protestors: Via PressTV.ir .

Editor: They appear to be a bit confused about the details of the story. Read the highlighted section.

Amid a heavy security presence around Parliament blocking out opposition protests as Iran's president takes the oath of office, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad begins his second term.

Nearly two months after the election that sparked mass protests in Iran over its official result, President Ahmadinejad was sworn in on Wednesday.

According to a Press TV correspondent, thousands of security and Basij forces with their motorcycles were present in the areas around Baharestan square, near the Iranian Parliament.
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Trial Begins for Iran Election Protesters (VoA)

Trial Begins for Iran Election Protesters: Via Voice of America.

About 100 Iranian activists and political moderates went on trial Saturday to face charges related to massive protests following the controversial presidential election. The semi-official Fars news agency published images of defendants sitting in a packed Tehran courtroom, some handcuffed in pairs.
 
Former reformist vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi took the witness stand Saturday in a trial that is accusing key opposition figures of plotting to overthrow the government and fomenting violence.

Abtahi looked almost unrecognizable after having spent over a month in prison. He was dressed in gray pajamas and slippers as he took the witness stand.

Iranian TV said Abtahi admitted that opposition claims that the presidential elections had been rigged were "lies."
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Iran at the Crossroads - (NYTimes/Op-Ed Abolhassan Bani-Sadr)

Op-Ed Contributor - Iran at the Crossroads - NYTimes.com: Via NYTimes/Abolhassan Bani-Sadr.

Editor: Abolhassan Bani-Sadr was the first president of Iran after the 1979 revolution.

PARIS — In the weeks since the Iranian election, the government of the Islamic Republic has been publicly divided, delegitimatized and grown increasingly more weak. The current situation offers parallels with the political unrest leading up to the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ended the rule of the shah.

Historically, the Iranian government has enjoyed four sources of legitimacy: its competence in managing state affairs, its official religious authority, its commitment to Iran’s independence, and its ability to provide a stable base of social support. All of these have now been irretrievably undone.

The massive vote rigging on June 12 brought President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s ability to run the state’s affairs under intense public scrutiny, and the spontaneous uprising in its wake removed the government’s political legitimacy.

Shortly afterwards, in a speech at Friday prayers, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, threatened a violent crackdown unless the official election results were accepted. This removed the last vestiges of the regime’s religious legitimacy as well.
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Iranians defy authorities to mourn those slain in the unrest (LATimes)

Iranians defy authorities to mourn those slain in the unrest: Via Los Angeles Times.

Thousands flood a Tehran cemetery on the 40th day since the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan. Their defiance sets the stage for protests next week, when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in.

Reporting from Tehran and Beirut -- Protesters swarmed Tehran's main cemetery and fanned out across a large swath of the capital Thursday, defying truncheons and tear gas to publicly mourn those killed during weeks of unrest, including a young woman whose death shocked people around the world.

The protests marked the 40th day since the shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan was captured on video and posted on the Internet. For Shiite Muslims, the 40th day has religious importance, often an occasion for an outpouring of emotion and grief.
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Iran police arrest 50 protesters on mourning day ( PressTV.ir )

Iran police arrest 50 protesters on mourning day: Via PressTV.ir .

At least 50 Iranians were arrested when thousands of people gathered in Tehran and other cities to commemorate those killed in the country's post-election unrest, a senior police official says.

Mourners swarmed Tehran's main cemetery, Behesht-e-Zahra, on Thursday on the 40th day since the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman whose death shocked Iranians and people around the world, and a number of others.

A vast deployment of anti-riot police, who used tear gas and batons, were on the scene to maintain order after former presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi arrived at the cemetery to visit the victim's graves and offer prayers.

He, however, was barred by the police from leaving his car, turning the gathering violent.
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Clinton Deplores Reported Iranian Prisoner Abuse (VoA)

Clinton Deplores Reported Iranian Prisoner Abuse: Via Voice of America.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she deplores the reported abuse in custody of Iranians rounded up in protests of the country's disputed June 12 presidential election. Clinton discussed the situation in Iran with visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

The comments by Clinton at a press appearance with her British counterpart were the first by a senior U.S. official on the multiple reports from Iran this week that detainees in the crackdown by the Tehran government may have been tortured, and some killed, while in detention.

Clinton hailed what she termed the "incredible courage" of Iranian election protestors in standing up against what they viewed as an infringement of their rights, and said the alleged abuse of prisoners is deplorable.
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Iran: Feisty Opposition Starts New Protest Campaign

Iran: Feisty Opposition Starts New Protest Campaign: Via TIME Magazine.

Phase 2 has begun. Six weeks after millions took to the streets to protest Iran's presidential election, their uprising has morphed into a feistier, more imaginative and potentially enduring campaign.

The second phase plays out in a boycott of goods advertised on state-controlled television. Just try buying a certain brand of dairy product, an Iranian human-rights activist told me, and the person behind you in line is likely to whisper, "Don't buy that. It's from an advertiser." It includes calls to switch on every electric appliance in the house just before the evening TV news to trip up Tehran's grid. It features quickie "blitz" street demonstrations, lasting just long enough to chant "Death to the dictator!" several times but short enough to evade security forces. It involves identifying paramilitary Basij vigilantes linked to the crackdown and putting marks in green — the opposition color — or pictures of protest victims in front of their homes. It is scribbled antiregime slogans on money. And it is defiant drivers honking horns, flashing headlights and waving V signs at security forces.
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Iranian Opposition Leaders Call on Clerics, Launch New Charges (VoA)

Iranian Opposition Leaders Call on Clerics, Launch New Charges: Via Voice of America.

Opposition leaders in Iran are calling on the country's top clerics to help end the crackdown that followed massive protests of Iran's June 12 elections.

Defeated presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, along with former president Mohammad Khatami, sent a letter to clerics in the holy city of Qom Saturday, comparing the crackdown to the violent methods employed by the former shah before the 1979 Islamic revolution.  

A statement posted by Karroubi on his Internet site went even further, accusing Iranian security agents of using tactics more brutal than those he said were employed by the Israelis against the Palestinians.
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