₦airaland Forum

Iran's parliament speaker criticizes election authority
Story Highlights
Iran's speaker claims members of election body sided with certain candidate

Whispers of election fraud persist amid violent street protests in Tehran

Iran's Foreign Minister, Supreme Leader maintain Ahmadinejad won fair election

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's influential parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani implied Saturday that the election authority sided with a certain candidate as thousands of defiant anti-government protesters once again swept into the streets of the capital.

A stream of videos posted on social networking Web sites depicted tense scenes and chaos -- sounds of gunshots, images of helicopters whirring overhead and wounded men and women being carried away.

The extent of deaths or injuries remained unclear. The Ministry of Culture on Saturday banned international media from reporting on the demonstrations unless they had received permission from Iranian authorities.

Sources at one Tehran hospital confirmed 19 deaths in seven days of post-election protests.

"Although the Guardian Council is made up of religious individuals, I wish certain members would not side with a certain presidential candidate," Larijani told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) on Saturday, without naming whom he meant.

The comments were reported on government-funded Press TV and on another news Web site, Khabaronline, Sunday.

Followers of opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi have alleged that the council, which approves all candidates running for office and verifies election results, declared hard-line incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of the elections despite indications of ballot fraud.

Larijani's statement was in direct contrast to that of Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who considers the possibility of ballot irregularities in the presidential elections as almost nonexistant.

"The possibility of organized and comprehensive disruption and irregularities in this election is almost close to zero given the composition of the people who are holding the election," he told foreign diplomats on Sunday.

Mottaki blamed Britain for interfering in the elections, saying it had been planning against the vote for more than a year.

"We witnessed an influx of people from the U.K. ahead of the election," he said, without offering specifics.

Mottaki accused Britain of supporting followers of the Baha'i faith, a religion that originated in 19th-century Persia but which Iran does not recognize.

He also said the West expects a different model of democracy from developing countries.

"Our understanding of election rules is that one who secures the majority of the votes wins," he said. "Regarding developing countries, will democracy assume a new definition in developing countries?"

In a sermon Friday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared the elections a "definitive victory" for Ahmadinejad and rejected charges of vote-rigging.

"A majority of people are of an opinion separate" from that of a minority, Larijani said.

While Larijani and Ahmadinejad have had a tense relationship in the past, he is seen as being aligned with Khamenei.

For him to directly contradict the leader's statement amounts to another example of the public airing of rift among ruling conservatives.

Earlier last week, Larijani blamed the Interior Ministry for a bloody crackdown on civilians who have protested daily since the elections. The Interior Ministry is aligned with Ahmadinejad. Watch how unrest in Iran turned violent »

Larijani, who once headed the television station, asked it to tone down the rhetoric and called on the Guardian Council to look into the protester's allegations thoroughly.

Saturday's protests were in stark contrast to those earlier in the week when millions of Moussavi supporters marched in silence, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen told CNN.

Cohen said he witnessed women beaten with sticks and truncheons "staggering off the main street clutching their faces."

"I saw a young man who had been hit with what he said was a baton with an electricity shock," he said. iReport.com: Share images from Iran

One woman, Shahnaz, said riot police used batons and water hoses to keep her and about 300 other people from reaching Revolution Square in central Tehran.

CNN is identifying Shahnaz only by her first name for safety reasons.

Saturday's protests were held in open defiance of warnings issued by Khamenei and the country's Security Council. Both had said protest organizers, specifically Moussavi, would be held accountable if the protests led to bloodshed.

Moussavi seemed to be encouraging demonstrators to continue their protests with messages posted on his page on Facebook, the social networking Web site that has proven to be a key source of information in the absence of international media coverage. Watch how social networking Web sites spread word on Iran news »

"Today you are the media," said one message. "It is your duty to report and keep the hope alive."

Earlier on Saturday, Moussavi declared on Facebook that he was ready for "martyrdom." That message urged his supporters to "protest" and "not go to work."

CNN could not determine the authenticity of the messages.

As they have done all week, videos -- many taken with cell phone cameras by people on the streets-- told the story Saturday. See images of the clashes Saturday »

One captured a woman trying to protect a man being beaten and kicked by protesters near a motorcycle in flames.

Others showed that the unrest had spread beyond the capital to the cities of Isfahan and Shiraz, where police clad in riot gear dispersed a crowd at a university, beating screaming women with their batons.

In a story posted on the Press TV Web site, Iran's deputy police commander said 400 police personnel had been wounded since the opposition rallies began last weekend.

Demonstrators gathered in major cities in France, the United States and Germany to condemn Iran's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tehran.

In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama urged the Iranian government to stop the violence against its citizens.

"The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching," Obama said in a written statement. "We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people."

On Saturday night, the Iranian state-run news agency IRINN said an attacker had been killed earlier in the day outside Tehran at the entrance to the mausoleum that holds the body of Ayatollah Khomeini. The agency said the man "carrying the bomb" was killed, and there were no other casualties.

Press TV reported that the bomber was the sole fatality, and that three other people were wounded at the shrine to Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Revolution that swept the Shah of Iran from power in 1979. Khomeini is regarded as the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In a related development, a witness reported a fire near the French Embassy, apparently caused by nearby debris that had been set ablaze.

Meanwhile, the Iranian government said Saturday it is ready to randomly recount up to 10 percent of "ballot boxes."

The Guardian Council said it had received more than 600 complaints of irregularities from the three candidates.




All AboutAyatollah Ali Khamenei • Iran • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad • Mir Hossein Moussavi


 

 
Links referenced within this article

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/mahmoud_ahmadinejad
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/ayatollah_ali_khamenei
Watch how unrest in Iran turned violent »
#cnnSTCVideo
iReport.com: Share images from Iran
http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=270440
Watch how social networking Web sites spread word on Iran news »
#cnnSTCVideo
See images of the clashes Saturday »
#cnnSTCPhoto
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Ayatollah_Ali_Khamenei
Iran
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Iran
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad
Mir Hossein Moussavi
http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Mir_Hossein_Moussavi



Find this article at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/21/iran.election/index.html

lojik:
To all of you girls who dates married men and take away the joy of loving wives, this is for you:

Thine time shall approach thee with numerous kokolets passing thine loved husband around and deriving from him what belongs to you financially and emotionally. Thou shall be lonely at odd hours with no man to make you warm in thine succulent marriage years. Thine womanhood shall be thus of little value before thine hubby for this is the seed thou hast sown in thine early years of womanhood.

ladysex:
are you indirectly calling on Owi1 to start derailing this thread with the dude?
why dont you shut the fu****k up and keep moving.

MrCrackles:

And for fuc.k sake, can someone get rid of the vuvuzelas or vuvuphelas!

Dem bee sounding device has to be the worst invention ever!

stamma:
1 What is the weight of an African elephant?

2 What country in Africa has the largest population?

3 Who built the first airplane?

4 Who was the first pope?

stamma:
No Longer At Ease Chinua Achebe.


From where is Obi Okonkwo originally?

(A) England
(B) Lagos
(C) South Africa
(D) Umuofia

A

What religion is Obi's family?

(A) Ibo
(B) Jewish
(C) Christian
(D) Yoruba

C
What did Obi obtain a scholarship to study?

(A) Law
(B) Literature
(C) Medicine
(D) Religion

B

To what did Obi change his course of study?

(A) Law
(B) English
(C) Political Science
(D) Education

 
Where does Obi go to college?

(A) In Umuofia
(B) In Lagos
(C) At the Progressive Union
(D) In England

D

For what offense is Obi being tried?

(A) Injuring his wife
(B) Theft
(C) Taking a bribe
(D) Committing adultery

C
How do we know Obi was nostalgic for Nigeria while in England?

(A) He calls home often
(B) He almost decides to leave his studies because of homesickness
(C) He writes poems about Nigeria
(D) He continuously tells Clara how much he misses home

C
Where did Clara and Obi meet?

(A) In Lagos
(B) At the hospital where she was a nurse
(C) At his office, she was his secretary
(D) In London

D

What is Clara's occupation?

(A) She is a nurse
(B) She is a writer
(C) She works for the Public Service Commission
(D) She is a dancer

A

What kind of work does Obi obtain once back in Nigeria?

(A) He becomes a teacher
(B) He works for Radio
(C) He becomes a writer
(D) He becomes Secretary to the Scholarship Board

D
Who is Mr. Green?

(A) An "old African" like Mr. Omo
(B) Obi's good friend
(C) Obi's boss, whom he does not like
(D) Obi's secretary at the civil service

C

Why does Clara say she cannot marry Obi?

(A) Because she is Ibo
(B) Because she is already married
(C) Because she is an osu—an outcast
(D) Because she wanted to dedicate her life to her work

C
What does Obi's mother say she will do if Obi marries Clara?

(A) Kill herself
(B) Take their first-born daughter
(C) Never speak to Obi again
(D) Divorce Obi's father

A
What does Clara have to tell Obi when they break up for the last time?

(A) That she loves him
(B) That she is not an osu
(C) That she is pregnant
(D) That she is in love with Christopher

C

What are the terms of the scholarship given to Obi?

(A) That he must pay back the money
(B) That he must study in Nigeria
(C) That he must study medicine
(D) That he must study English

A

How much extra time does Obi get to begin to pay back the scholarship loan?

(A) Four months
(B) Until he gets married
(C) He does not, ultimately, receive any extra time because he is too proud
(D) Six months

C

How does Obi feel about bribery when he is first given his position?

(A) He finds it terrible and corrupt
(B) He thinks it is okay to do because everybody else does it
(C) He thinks it is okay as long as it is done in the right place
(D) He thinks it is good because it helps him pay his debt

A
When does Obi get caught taking bribes?

(A) When he arrives at his new post in Nigeria
(B) After he quits his job
(C) After already having taken several bribes
(D) After the first and only bribe he ever took

C

How is Obi's financial situation?

(A) He is very rich, given that he works for the government
(B) He finances are poor, and he is in debt
(C) He has just enough money
(D) He is okay because the Scholarship board gave him four months to begin paying his debt

C

What does it mean to be an "Old African" to Obi?

(A) To be submissive to the colonial rulers
(B) To fight against the oppressors
(C) A man like Mr. Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, is an "Old African."
(D) Ironically, it means to be an old Englishman

C

Who is Mrs. Marie Tomlinson?

(A) Obi's lover
(B) Clara's friend
(C) Mr. Green's Secretary
(D) Christopher's girlfriend

C
For whom does Mr. Green pay for schooling?

(A) For Obi
(B) For Marie
(C) For his steward's children
(D) Only for his own children

C
How old is Obi?

(A) Twenty-six
(B) Fifty-five
(C) His age is never mentioned
(D) He is very old, looking back on his life

C
How does everything end with Clara?

(A) Clara and Obi get back together
(B) Clara had said final goodbye and moved to another city
(C) Clara leaves Obi's life
(D) Clara forgives him, but said she still cannot marry him because she is an osu.
D

Who was Miss Mark?

(A) The first girl who offered Obi her body as a bribe
(B) Clara's older sister
(C) Obi's sister
(D) A classmate of Obi's from college

A

chiogo:
Na wa oo. Can we keep it one question at a time?

Dude, you posted a whole book here. Besides, I thought the questions were supposed to be based on general topics in math, science, world history, English, not literature. . .many people have not read that book. Chinua Achebe's most popular book is 'Things fall apart' in my opinion. I know I read it in school here in the US.

My question:

Who among the following was the first black president of South Africa after the abolishment of apartheid?

A. Thabo Mbeki

B. Barack Obama

C. Nelson Mandela

D. Jacob Zuma

SadGal:
how can i love again?

I have discussed with my relation and he insists he cannot take her back for not coming down when his mother was ill - he believed she would abandon him shd he fall into difficult times. The wife is seriously pleading that I should help her reconcile them both. She recognises her mistake but my brother would none of it. As a christian, I don't accept 2nd wife and I told my brother so. He replied that he was not bound by such beliefs, moreso as he was only married traditionally.