Sunday, June 21, 2009

Sunday Developments in Iran

There are reports that there were demonstrations today in Iran, but that they were largely peaceful after yesterday's demonstrations that resulted in Iranian Security forces brutally cracking down on protesters. Here is some of the latest:

Iran's Guardian Council has announced on Iran's state-controlled Press TV, that the tallied votes in 50 Iranian cities exceeds the number of registered voters in those cities. Even though this effects around 3 million votes:

"it has yet to be determined whether the amount is decisive in the election results,"


There is also a report that a photojournalist who runs TehranLive.org, has gone missing:

A NOTE TO OUR READERS: We are saddened to report that the Iranian photojournalist, whose pictures appear in this gallery, is missing. He has not been in contact with us; this morning we received the following email from one of his relatives. We will update this space when we have more details.


A journalist for Newsweek also has reportedly been detained:

A Canadian journalist working in Iran for Newsweek magazine was detained without charge by Iranian authorities Sunday, the magazine said, adding that Maziar Bahari had not been heard from since.

"Newsweek strongly condemns this unwarranted detention, and calls upon the Iranian government to release him immediately," the New York-based weekly news magazine said in a statement.

It said Bahari, who has been living and covering Iran for the past decade, was "detained without charge by Iranian authorities and has not been heard from since."

"Mr Bahari's coverage of Iran, for Newsweek and other outlets, has always been fair and nuanced, and has given full weight to all sides of the issues. He has worked well with different administrations in Tehran, including the current one," it said.


Earlier today, I posted the horrifying video of the death of a young girl named Neda who was shot and killed yesterday during demonstrations. Another video has now been posted that shows Neda and her father participating in the protests a little while before she is shot and killed. She is in the jeans and standing next to her father who is in the blue and white striped shirt. Her father later tried to help keep her alive after she was shot:



An Iranian-American who makes documentaries and music videos, recently made a music video at the request of her cousin who lives in Iran. He and his friends reportedly were watching it before going out to protest and the Iranian-American who made the video submitted it to the Huffington Post. Here is the music video:

No comments: