Reward for Iranian protesters: torture and rape
From the London Times, reports of the torture and beatings of many protesters:
Ardeshir — not his real name — is one of scores, perhaps hundreds, of detainees who have been raped and tortured by their jailers in the past three months in what appears to be a systematic attempt to break their will. Mehdi Karoubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated presidential candidates, accused a regime, which claims to champion Islamic values, of raping opposition supporters.
Times continue to be tough for those seeking reform, as reported by Dr. Fatemeh Keshavarz of Windows on Iran. The battles include cyber-battles, as reported by Dr. Keshavarz, who provided this information in a mass emailing to which I subscribe:
All signs point to the fact that difficult - and decisive - days may be ahead in Iran. But the good news first. For years, Iranians who are ranked as number four bloggers in the world, have been prevented from visiting the sites that the Iranian government has considered containing information contrary to its interests and filtered. Those who devised creative ways to break the filter and get into such sites, are usually in danger of being found and subjected to jail and other punishments. What is most amazing is that the Iranian government considers the existence of undesirable websites as “foreign interference” in its internal affairs.
From the banner of "Windows on Iran"
But there is also some good news of a new work-around to avoid detection and capture (and, often, torture):
Well, this state of affairs may have been ended once and for all. Using Google, an Iranian by the name Mehdi Saharkhiz has come up with an internet tool which he has called the “Green Machine.” The Green Machine! Good News for the Greens in Iran
Here is the site that gives you instruction for downloading the Green Machine. According to Mr. Mousavi’s facebook, after you download the Green Machine, you can visit any website - filtered or otherwise - without being detected.
- When “Iranian” weapons in Iraq turn out not to be Iranian, the White House is silent
- Confessions provoked by torture are OK, as long as the US is doing the torturing
- The next generation of protests continues in Iran
- Shout from your rooftop in solidarity with the people of Iran
- Iraq journalism applied to Iran
Live television coverage of an Iranian football match was blacked-out because sections of the crowd were chanting anti-government slogans and waving green emblems in support of the country’s political opposition, it was claimed yesterday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/20/iran-tv-football-protest