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: Protesters advised to carry roses as weapons: Via Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times .

Keep quiet under all circumstances, the circular advises those planning to march in Thursday's unauthorized demonstrations in Iran cities.

"The heaviest weapon to carry is one rose in the hand," it says. 

As Iranians prepare for what could be another violent day of confrontations Thursday between demonstrators and security forces, including pro-government plainclothes Basiji militias, supporters of opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi have distributed instructions to try to keep any anticipated violence to a minimum.

One video making its way around the Internet shows demonstrators how to make devices to disable the motorcycles used by truncheon-wielding Basiji and Ansar-e-Hezbollah militiamen. 
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IRAN: Ten days of anguish, abuse inside Tehran's prison archipelago: Via Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times.

All 33-year-old Ali-Reza wanted to do was stop pro-government Basiji militiamen from beating up a man lying on the ground. Instead the engineer said he wound up in the clutches of the capital's security archipelago, where he was himself beaten for days.

The east Tehran resident's story is among the tales of abuse and detention surfacing from Iran's weeks-long crackdown against dissidents and protestors in the wake of the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a vote marred by allegations of massive vote-rigging. 

Ali-Reza said he was near Tehran's Fatemi Square on June 13, a day of riots and unrest just after the election, when he spotted the plainclothes Basiji fighters beating a man "in a very bad way," he said.

"Do not beat him!" he protested to the Basijis.
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IRAN: Leadership 'more divided than ever,' analyst says: Via Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times.

In a new commentary, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies think tank in Washington, D.C., considers Iran’s political future after today’s address by the nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“Khamenei has always had uncertain credentials as a religious scholar and he now has uncertain credibility as a leader. Everyone in Iran, the Middle East, and the world now has reason to question the legitimacy of every element of Iran's leadership and the Iranian revolution. The Iranian leadership now has to realize that it is more divided than was ever apparent before and that Iran's people and the world know it.”

Cordesman’s full commentary follows.
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