More Death in Iran as People Want Change they can Believe In

Neda the Iranian who was shot dead when she wasn't even involved in the protests for democracy in June this year was last week named Times person of the year.

The news from Iran today is that eight more people have lost their lives protesting against the Government. Of the four shot dead in Tehran today one was the nephew of the former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi stepped aside instead of contesting the run off election after many were killed over allegations that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had rigged the results in the elections.

In the worse day for deaths at the hands of the Iranian regime since June four others died at Tabriz. Last week the leading opposition cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri died at the age of 87 nd tensions have been boiling under ever since. He had been a leading light in the 1979 revolution at at one time had been set to be Supreme Ruler of Iran.

As it is the crowds who took to the streets at the end of the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura were chanting "this is the month of blood" and "Khamenei will be toppled" in reference to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On the anniversary of the start of Israeli attacks on Gaza last year and at the end of a religious festival the people are standing in defiance again.

Just What Diplomatic Message to Iran?

The number two from the British Tehran embassy yesterday attended the endorsement ceremony of President Ahmadinejad by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This was the disputed election that Iran has also heavily accused Britain of leading the populist opposition against in June.



The FCO seem to think that sending the number two, Patrick Davies the deputy head of mission instead of the Ambassador Simon Glass was enough to show the regime that this was not business as usual, claiming that we need to talk to the regime about its nuclear programme, human rights and other issues. But others think it was too much, Menzies Campbell said:

"The Government has been vociferous on behalf of human rights and individual freedoms in Iran but at a time when a show trial is taking place it surely would have been prudent to preserve coolness and meet only the most perfunctory diplomatic niceties."

And shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said:

"Under all the circumstances, representation at this event should have been kept at the minimum level possible. Other countries seem to have done that more effectively than the Foreign Office."

Although around the EU however the message was similarly confused. Sweden who currently hold the Presidency of the EU sent their Ambassador, France and Italy, one of Iran's biggest trading partners, like Britain sent their number two, whereas Germany sent one of their lowest ranking diplomats.



However, it was boycotted by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, the defeated candidates, and by the former presidents Mohammed Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Also noticeable in their absence was any member of family of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini the leader of the 1979 revolution.



So it is possible to send a message more strongly, while keeping up the pretense of diplomacy? The FCO say they have yet to decide who to send the the swearing in ceremony on Wednesday, but seeing as Iran singled out eight local Embassy staff at the British mission during the protests against the election, which we protested, surely we have some case for not sending high ranking officials.



The current show trial that is going on at the same time as the swearing in process is continuing may not act as a suppressor of protest by as a stimulus for a continuance. The people are speaking and unlike the Star Trek episode where Gul Dukat says that the Cardassian people like to watch pre-determined 'justice' being enacted over and over again, the Iranian people may be smart enough to see that the trials going on are a mask to cover up the real issue of just what did go on between the people voting and the count being declared. Many are saying that is where the real crime took place, the crime is theft, distortion and fraud, not to mention of an undisclosed number who happened to disagree, and a few who were innocent.

Clerics Declare Ahmadinejad Illegitimate

There is a revolution going on in Iran, and it is coming from the largest group of clerics.

Ayatolleh Khamenei has already declared that the re-election of President Ahmadinejad last month was legal and legitimate and made clear he would not tolerate any more challenges to that 'victory'. However, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom, the largest grouping of clerics in the country have issued a statement to the contrary. The fact that it is such a sizable group of the clerics that has spoken out is a blow to the Spiritual leader of the country.

In a rebuke to the regime it declared on its website:

"Candidates’ complaints and strong evidence of vote-rigging were ignored . . . Peaceful protests by Iranians were violently oppressed . . . Dozens of Iranians were killed and hundreds were illegally arrested . . . The outcome is invalid."

It called on other clerics to speak out, demanded the release of all those arrested in the past three weeks, and directly challenged the authority of the Guardian Council, a body of 12 senior clerics that has openly backed Mr Ahmadinejad and his patron, Mr Khamenei. "How can one accept the legitimacy of the election just because the Guardian Council says so?", they asked.

The top end of the regime is losing the battle to maintain the charade of a fair election. Khamenei has lost the backing of those he is supposed to lead in the clerical realm. The people know that there is an issue with their own votes. The top tier of leadership in Iran is all that is holding Ahmadinejad in power, Iran and the rest of the world realises that.

Houssein Mousavi, along with former Presidents Mohammed Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and fellow 'defeated' candidate Medhi Karoubi and now the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom there is a new political front former. A new movement that is going to carry on the challenge of Government legitimacy.

One analyst said:

"The fact that anyone dares to condemn the election when people were calling for Mousavi and Karoubi’s heads is remarkable. It shows there is depth to Mousavi’s support. They have not been bullied into silence, there are factions forming and this is not over."

The people need to keep calling for their vote to count, their voice to be heard, their preferred leader to the President. The world is watching, waiting for Ahmadinejad to realise what is the right thing.