A Quick Update on the Situation in Iran
There have been a few new developments 24 hours in regards to the uprising in Iran. Here's a brief recap.
- In one of the more heartbreaking stories to come out of this whole mess, reports emerged yesterday that the Iranian government was charging "bullet fees" to family members of anyone shot during the protests and demonstrations by Iranian forces. One man said that he had to pay the equivalent of $3000 in order to retrieve the dead body of his son from a local morgue. [Wall Street Journal]
- In an effort to prevent him from speaking to his millions of supporters, Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has been placed under 24-hour guard by the Iranian secret police. [Independent]
- Iran announced that it has no intention of overturning the results of the recent presidential election there. [VOA News]
- Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei granted Iran's Guardian Council five additional days to review complaints of fraud in the country's recent presidential election, though it's doubtful that this is anything more than a symbolic gesture. [Reuters]
- Iranian newspapers sympathetic to that country's hardline leadership are calling for the government to prosecute Mir Hossein Mousavi for causing the deaths of many of the young people killed in the uprising there. [Telegraph]
- Iranian forces raided a downtown Tehran building on and arrested a number of people accused of organizing protests against the government and its leadership. [Yahoo]
- Iran's parliament announced it would inaugurate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president by mid-August. [LA Times]
- The Iranian government has instituted lifetime bans on members of the Iranian soccer team who wore green wristbands in support of the protesters. [Guardian]
- Prior to the Iranian election, the Obama administration reached out to the Iranian Supreme Leader, only to have him ridicule their efforts publicly. [Washington Times]
- The Iranian government is airing interviews on state television of protesters saying they were coerced by Western governments and the Western media into going out and causing trouble in the streets. [MSNBC]