I have just been to The Atlantic where Andrew Sullivan has been live blogging from Twitter. The news that I have seen is not good at all. It has been reported that the following people have been arrested:
- Persiankiwi
- Mohammedali Abtahi
- Saeed Hajariyan
- Ali Mosleh
- Somaye Tohidloo
- Ahmad Zeydabadi
These people have not committed any crime. The only thing that they have done is to get news out to the the outside world about what is taking place inside Iran. It is not good news that they have been arrested because the regime is known for its harsh treatment of political prisoners. Some of them turn up in the Tehran morgue marked as unidentified so that they will not release their badly beaten bodies to grieving relatives. This was the fate of one student activist murdered by the regime.
People are being arrested for doing things like visiting the site where Neda was murdered by a member of the Basij, or for going to her gravesite, and carrying a green sign. There have been several women arrested. These women need our prayers and our help because if they end up in Evin prison or elsewhere they will be tortured. The fact that they have been arrested means that they now have a criminal record, which will put an end to their studies or jobs.
Even worse than refusing to hand over the body to grieving relatives is the demand for a bullet tax for thousands of dollars so that grieving relatives can bury their dead. On top of that insult, the regime is demanding that their is no public mourning, and in the case of Neda’s parents, they were told to move from their apartment.
It is up to us, in the free world to start putting on the pressure on our own governments to at least stop dealing with Iran in an effort to see an end to the violence and bloodshed. There is no doubt that the Khamenei-Ahmadinejad regime in Iran is illegal. There is no doubt that there was, as one ex-Iranian guard member has stated that there has been a military coup after the election was held and before Ahmadinejad, the defeated President of Iran, was declared the winner. It must be kept in mind that Ahmadinejad planned this coup back in 2005, and that it had the approval of Khamenei and the Guardian Council. It is all about power.
This regime is now totally discredited and it is now up to the leaders of all the free world governments to announce sanctions against this illegal Iranian regime. Any sanctions imposed will support the people in their struggle to be freed from the tyranny of these old mullahs. We need to start putting on the pressure for the sake of those young and not so young lives, for all who have been prepared to seek that regime change.
