Wednesday, June 24, 2009
NZZ Online: Die iranische Führung fährt weiter eine harte Linie gegen die Proteste im Land. Das geistliche Oberhaupt der Islamischen Republik, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, bekräftigte am Mittwoch die unnachgiebige Haltung der Regierung und stellte sich erneut deutlich hinter Amtsinhaber Ahmadinejad.
Das geistliche Oberhaupt des Irans hat ein Einlenken der Regierung gegenüber der Opposition ausgeschlossen und damit die Tür für einen Kompromiss im Streit um den Ausgang der Präsidentenwahl praktisch zugeschlagen. «Weder das System noch das Volk werden dem Druck nachgeben, um keinen Preis», sagte Ayatollah Ali Khamenei im staatlichen Fernsehen mit Blick auf die Proteste gegen das amtliche Wahlergebnis.
Zuvor war auf der Website des offiziell unterlegenen Reformkandidaten Mir-Hossein Moussavi für Mittwochnachmittag auf dem Platz vor dem Parlament in Teheran zu einer Demonstration aufgerufen worden. Ungeachtet eines massiven Aufgebots von Sicherheitskräften versammelten sich am Abend auf dem Platz vor dem Parlament nach Berichten von Augenzeugen hunderte Menschen und trotzten dem von der Regierung verhängten Demonstrationsverbot. In den umliegenden Strassen sei es zu Zusammenstössen gekommen. Drei Augenzeugen berichteten der Nachrichtenagentur AP, Polizisten prügelten mit Schlagstöcken auf Demonstranten und gingen mit Tränengas gegen sie vor. Ausserdem seien Schüsse in die Luft abgefeuert worden.
Bei den Protesten der Moussavi-Anhänger, die von massivem Wahlbetrug sprechen, sind nach Regierungsangaben allein in Teheran mindestens 627 Menschen festgenommen worden. Die offiziellen Angaben zur Zahl der Todesopfer im Zusammenhang mit den Unruhen schwanken zwischen 17 und 27. >>> ap/sda/Reuters/afp/dpa | Mittwoch, 24. Juni 2009
YOU TUBE: Iranian Snipers Taking Out Protesters
YOU TUBE: Police Brutality in Iran
Hat tip: JihadWatch >>>
THE TELEGRAPH: Violence Flares Again on the Streets of Tehran
Violence has flared on the streets of Tehran after the wife of defeated Iranian presidential candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, called on Iranians to defend their right to protest.
Demonstrators and riot police clashed in the streets around Iran's parliament as hundreds of people converged in defiance of government orders to end their demands for new presidential election.
A video posted on YouTube showed a crowd of several hundred stone-throwing demonstrators confronting a police barricade. Security forces appeared to vastly outnumber the demonstrators and beat back crowds with batons and tear gas canisters and fired rounds of ammunition into the air.
One video showed men and women throwing rocks and pushing barricades in the street. Others shouted: "Death to the dictator."
Reports on the social networking site, Twitter, said there was deliberate brutality as police dispersed the crowd. "Just in from Baharestan Sq – situation today is terrible – they beat the ppls like animals," said one entry. Another added: "In Baharestan we saw militia with axe chopping ppl like meat – blood everywhere – like butcher."
In a sign that the authorities were increasingly targeting Mr Mousavi's inner circle, 25 staff at one of his newspapers were put under arrest. The newspaper Kalemeh Sabz (Green Word) was shut down by the authorities in the wake of the disputed election that returned Mr Ahmadinejad to power.
It came as Mr Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, a prominent professor, demanded the immediate release of people detained since the election and criticised the presence of armed forces in the streets. "It is my duty to continue legal protests to preserve Iranian rights," she declared on the campaign website.
The regime issued a series of statements reiterating its unbending resolve in the face of popular defiance. The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared the disputed election result would stand and Iran would resist foreign interference. "On the current situation, I was insisting and will insist on implementation of the law. That means, we will not go one step beyond the law," he said. "Neither the system nor the people will yield to pressure at any price. >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Wednesday, June 24, 2009
YNET NEWS: Hundreds of protesters gather near parliament building Wednesday afternoon, unofficial reports say. Rally violently broken off by Revolutionary Guard forces firing tear gas, live bullets at crowd. One woman reportedly wounded
Security forces in Iran violently clashed with protesters near parliament house in the capital of Tehran Wednesday afternoon, unofficial reports said.
Police officers are said to have used live ammunition against the crowd attending a rally protesting the disputed election results. According to one report, a young woman has been shot by security forces and could not be evacuated to a hospital.
Other protesters have been beaten with batons and the cellular network in the area has been completely cut off, to prevent participants from reporting about the violence or send images to others.
Sources in Tehran said that the protesters attempted to move towards Baharestan Square near parliament while holding hands. Many were wearing black bracelets in memory of Neda Soltani, the young woman who was shot to death by security forces last Saturday and became a symbol for the opposition's struggle. Other carried pictures of Soltani, or candles. >>> Dudi Cohen | Wednesday, June 24, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Riot Police Crush Protests in Tehran Amid Allegations of Brutality
It was a far cry from the massive demonstrations of last week. Today, just a few hundred protesters converged on Baharestan Square, opposite the Iranian Parliament, and they were brutally repulsed.
It was an exercise in courageous futility, not a contest. Thousands of riot police and militiamen flooded the area. They used teargas, batons and overwhelming force. Helicopters hovered overhead. Nobody was allowed to stop or to gather, let alone exercise their constitutional right to protest.
A video clip posted on YouTube showed young men and women, their faces concealed behind bandanas, throwing stones by a burning barricade and chanting “Death to the Dictator”.
Twitter was flooded with lurid messages. “They pull away the dead — like factory — no human can do this,” said one. “They catch people with mobile — so many killed today — so many injured,” said another. “In Baharestan we saw militia with axe chopping ppl like meat — blood everywhere,” said a third.
There was no way of confirming such reports. It was unclear how many people were injured and arrested, or whether anyone was killed. The handful of foreign reporters left in Tehran are barred from rallies, and all but the bravest Iranians now steer well clear of them.
All that can be said for certain is the regime has finally recaptured the streets through strength of numbers and the unrestrained use of violence. Thirty years after the Iranian revolution it no longer rules with consent, but with military might, and it is cracking down with all means at its disposal.
“Neither the system nor the people will give in to pressures at any price,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, declared on state-controlled television today. “I will insist on implementation of the law.”
Saeed Mortazavi, an Iranian prosecutor notorious for his abuse of prisoners, has been put in charge of arresting and investigating dissidents. >>> Martin Fletcher | Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Yasmine Etemad Amini was born in Tehran, Iran on July 26, 1968. Her family left Iran in the late 1970's in response to the turmoil that plagued the country. Her early years were spent in California in the U.S. with her parents.
In 1986 she met Prince Reza Pahlavi. Following a brief courtship, they were married on June 12, 1986. Despite the many responsibilities of her new role, Princess Yasmine continued her education, receiving a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in political science from George Washington University in Washington DC - Consequently, she received her doctorate in jurisprudence (JD) from George Washington University and was admitted to the Bar in 1998.
Princess Yasmine's professional career culminated in a position as an attorney at The Children's Law Center. This exceptional organization provides legal protection to abused children. The Law Center is recognized for its important work in protecting some of the most vulnerable members of society.
Princess Yasmine Pahlavi lives in the United States with her husband and her three daughters, Princess Noor, born on April 3, 1992 and Princess Iman born on September 12, 1993 and Princess Farah, born on January 17th, 2004. As the spouse of Prince Reza Pahlavi the well being of her compatriots in her homeland is a matter close to her heart as it is to many of the members of the Diaspora. She has also dedicated her life to her own children, as well as the children in her motherland, and those in her immediate community, reflecting her personal and profound commitment to future generations and the opportunities for civil and peaceful coexistence for all people. [Source: The Foundation for the Children of Iran] | Undated
REZA PAHLAVI (رضا پهلوی):It seems somewhat unlikely that a resident of Potomac will be the next ruler of Iran. But Reza Pahlavi, son of the shah and the country's former crown prince, is not ruling out anything.
As Tehran's streets fill with death-to-the-dictator chants, Pahlavi went to the National Press Club yesterday and, in front of 17 television cameras, said he would serve if elected.
"My sole objective is to help my compatriots reach freedom," Pahlavi said. But if and when that happens, he went on, "I'd like to be able to be in my country one day, come behind such a podium, talk to my people and every other candidate . . . let the people decide."
Whatever the Iranian demonstrators are seeking, there is little evidence from their Twitter feeds that they are seeking the restoration of the monarchy -- and Pahlavi, who was a teenager getting flight training in Texas during the Islamic revolution, was shrewd enough not to propose it. "This is not about restitution of an institution," he said. But should a democratic Iran "choose to have me play a more prominent role," he added, "let that be their choice."
That will be for another day. Yesterday, the 48-year-old son of a dictator was merely voicing his hopes that what his countrymen have begun over the last 10 days will become a revolution. "However, I often don't use the word 'revolution,' because I think revolution has a very negative connotation in everybody's collective memory."
Particularly Pahlavi's. His family had lived a life of great extravagance until Ayatollah Khomenei deposed the shah in 1979, a year after Jimmy Carter hailed the monarch as "an island of stability." Even yesterday, the former crown prince was defensive about those days. "They had orders not to hit -- fire on people," he said of his father's troops, who, whatever their orders, managed to kill thousands.
The Pahlavi family's love of the ballot box also is somewhat recent; his father, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was installed in a CIA coup in 1953 in place of Iran's democratically elected government. But the younger Pahlavi spoke yesterday of the good old days of his father's rein. Before he came out to speak, somebody fiddled with the Iranian flag behind him to reveal the pre-revolution lion symbol. Pahlavi talked about how, under his father, Iran would have had nuclear fuel and reactors by 1983. "The regime is responsible for us having lost that right, and only them," he said.
Still, there could be no doubting the former crown prince's passion. As he spoke of Iran's "cry for freedom and democracy," he was himself, within minutes, crying for his beloved country. "No one -- no one -- will benefit from closing his or her eyes to knives and cables cutting into faces of mouths, of our young and old," he said, and then, choking up, he took a sip of water. "Or from bullets piercing our beloved Neda," he went on, before a sob escaped his mouth at the mention of the girl shot in the protests. Some in the audience applauded to buy him time as he took out a handkerchief to wipe his face. Finally, gripping the lectern determinedly, he vowed that "a movement was born" that "will not rest until it achieves unfettered democracy and human rights in Iran."
The exiled prince accused Iran's supreme ruler of "an ugly moment of disrespect for both God and man," and he spoke, perhaps a bit prematurely, of "this sinking Titanic that the regime is." The Revolutionary Guard Corps, he claimed, is becoming sympathetic to the demonstrators. "This is well beyond elections now," the optimistic exile said. "The moment of truth has arrived in Iran." >>> Dana Milbank, Washington Post | Tuesday, June 23, 2009
NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: Iran has shown that a regime that is not afraid to use violence against its own citizens can crush a protest even when it has broad popular support.
Iran's supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was categorical: the protests against the controversial outcome of the presidential election had to stop, he said in a speech after last Friday's prayer.
That was all the Revolutionary Guard and the Baseej street fighters needed. When supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi took to the streets again on Saturday, they were mercilessly bludgeoned into submission or even shot dead.
The Iranian authorities have acknowledged that at least ten people - "terrorists" they called them - were killed on Saturday. Unconfirmed reports suggest the real death toll may be higher.
For the powers that be in Iran, namely ayatollah Khamenei, who has the last word in the Islamic republic, and his protege Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the situation is crystal clear. The people have spoken - even if they disagree about what they said - and they have chosen Ahmadinejad over Mousavi with 63 to 34 percent. This result, Khamenei said in his speech, cannot be questioned.
And so anyone who disobeys the order of the supreme leader, can now be beaten off the street or arrested. The events of the past weekend show that a regime that is not afraid to use violence against its own citizens can indeed crush a protest - even when it has broad popular support. There are historic precedents in the region: in Syria in 1981, president Hafez al-Assad ordered the town of Hama bombed to quell a revolt by Islamic fundamentalists there. Thousands of people were killed, but the rebellion was crushed. >>> Carolien Roelants | Monday, June 22, 2009
BBC: A meeting between Israel's prime minister and a senior US envoy has been cancelled amid growing differences over settlement building in the West Bank.
Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot said the US put off the meeting in response to Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to heed US demands to halt settlement activity.
But Mr Netanyahu's aides say it was the prime minister who cancelled Thursday's meeting with George Mitchell in Paris.
They said "more professional work" was needed, without adding further details.
Instead, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is now scheduled to travel to Washington on Monday to meet Mr Mitchell.
Mr Netanyahu has arrived in Paris from Rome, on his first trip to Europe since he took office.
He is promoting his hawkish line on Iran, seeking harsher sanctions over its nuclear programme.
US State Department officials confirmed that the bilateral talks in Paris had been postponed, but they did not explain why it was necessary for their envoy to see Mr Barak on Monday instead. >>> | Wednesday, June 24, 2009
ZEIT ONLINE: Das demokratische Schwert Internet ist zweischneidig: Öffentlichkeit ist für Proteste wichtig. Gleichzeitig bedeuten Fotos eine Gefahr für jene, die darauf zu sehen sind
Im Juni 2001 veröffentlichte die Berliner Polizei Fahndungsplakate, auf denen die Fotos von 85 Steinewerfern der Maikrawalle abgedruckt waren. Zum ersten Mal nutzte sie damit die Bilder, die Videoteams der Polizei während der Einsätze gedreht hatten, für eine öffentliche Ermittlung der Gefilmten. So erfolgreich war das Konzept, dass die Berliner Staatsanwaltschaft trotz Protesten seit dem jedes Jahr solche Plakate drucken lässt.
Auch im Internet hat die Berliner Polizei schon versucht, Fotos für die Fahndung zu finden. Doch wie wirksam und bedrohlich diese Idee tatsächlich ist, zeigt gerade die iranische Regierung. So groß ist die Flut der Fotos und Filme, die via Plattformen wie flickr oder YouTube in aller Welt verbreitet werden, dass sie eine gigantische Datenbank der Protestierer darstellen. Eine Datenbank, die einerseits die Brutalität des Regimes belegt, die Öffentlichkeit herstellt für die Proteste und Zusammenhalt erzeugt unter den Demonstranten. Die aber andererseits genauso gut dafür benutzt werden kann, Oppositionelle zu identifizieren und zu verfolgen.
"In staatlichen iranischen Medien werden Videos aus dem Netz gezeigt mit dem Aufruf: Wenn Sie diese Person kennen, melden Sie sich, sie ist ein Terrorist", sagt Anja Viohl von Reporter ohne Grenzen. Eingeblendet werde dazu die Nummer der Polizei. Auch im Netz selbst soll es "Steckbriefe" von Fotografierten geben, die entsprechende Seite aber ist derzeit nicht erreichbar. >>> Von Kai Biermann | Mittwoch, 24. Juni 2009
TAGES ANZEIGER: Die Unruhen im Iran haben Machthaber Ayatollah Khamenei ins Rampenlicht gerückt. Doch was macht ein Ayatollah genau? Und wie wird man das? Tagesanzeiger.ch /Newsnetz beantwortet die wichtigsten Fragen.
Was ist ein Ayatollah? Ayatollah bedeutet «Zeichen Gottes» und ist ein hoher Rang in der Hierarchie der schiitischen Rechtsgelehrten. Im Iran gibt es rund zwei Dutzend Ayatollahs in der führenden Geistlichkeit, Machthaber Ali Khamenei ist auch einer. Die Schiiten glauben, der verschwundene zwölfte Imam – ein Nachfahre des Propheten Mohammed – werde als Retter wiederkehren. Bis dieser «Verborgene Imam» zurückkehrt, sind die islamischen Geistlichen sozusagen seine Stellvertreter. Die Aufgabe der Ayatollahs ist es nun, islamisches Recht zu interpretieren und auszulegen. Sie sind jedoch nicht unfehlbar, ihre Entscheidungen gelten nur zu Lebzeiten und könnten von den Nachfolgern revidiert werden.
Wie wird man Ayatollah? Anders als im Christentum sind die islamischen Geistlichen keine Priester mit Weihe, sondern Gelehrte. Ihr Studium besteht zu einem grossen Teil aus Rechtskunde. Im Laufe der Zeit, mit wachsendem Ansehen, steigen die Rechtsgelehrten die Hierarchieleiter hoch; und nach jahrzehntelangem Studium können sie sich Ehrentitel erwerben. Der erste nennt sich «Autorität des Islams und der Muslime», die nächste Stufe ist der Rang des Ayatollahs. Für die Vergabe dieser Würden gibt es jedoch keine Regeln: Der Geistliche wird von seinen Anhängern sogenannt, und die Anrede setzt sich durch oder nicht. Letztlich wird die Stellung eines Rechtsgelehrten bei den Schiiten von den Gläubigen bestimmt. Je mehr Anhänger er hat, desto einflussreicher ist er. >>> Von Claudio Habicht | Mittwoch, 24. Juni 2009
TIMES ONLINE: The United States is to appoint a new ambassador to Syria after a gap of four years, the strongest sign yet of President Obama’s desire to re-engage the pariah state and draw it away from the influence of Iran.
The move to a fully staffed embassy will be an important boost to Syria, which has suffered years of diplomatic isolation because of its strong trade and strategic ties with Iran.
The US Administration hopes that engaging with Damascus will encourage it to further pursue peace talks with Israel, most recently held under the previous Israeli Government of Ehud Olmert.
George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, has described Syria as playing and [sic] “integral role” in the peace process. Syria has called for America to act as mediator in any future direct talks between it and Israel, in which it is demanding a return of the Golan Heights, a strategic border plateau captured by Israel in 1967.
Syria is still under US sanctions over its support of Islamist insurgents crossing into Iraq to fight the US-backed Government there. Washington withdrew its last ambassador in 2005 after the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, in which Syria was believed to have played a role.
The new Administration believes that wooing Syria back into the diplomatic fold may encourage it to withdraw its support to insurgents in Iraq, loosen its ties with Iran and prevent the flow of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah, the Shia militia that operates as a state-within-a-state inside Lebanon. The US also hopes that forging ties with the Syrian Government may put pressure on the Hamas leadership in exile in Damascus. >>> James Hider, Middle East Correspondent | Wednesday, June 24, 2009
YNET NEWS: Islam faces internal clash that may fundamentally change region
With the end of the cold war in late 1989, marked by the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the bipolar world order, two major, yet contrasting, views of the paradigm to come were raised.
One view advocated "The End of History," whereby the world would be immune from ideological wars and future conflicts would be very limited, effectively posing no substantial threat to Western civilization. Others advocated the view that ethnically volatile regions previously viewed as stable satellite entities of the Soviet Union would inevitably erupt, leading to a "Clash of Civilizations."
Future historians will eventually conclude which thesis was more accurate, but today - with the pictures coming out of Iran and from other Middle East areas - it seems that Islam is more in clash with itself than it is with other civilizations.
"Moderates" are clashing with "Militants" in the Islamic world, as civilians who seek liberty, personal freedom, peace and prosperity clash with regimes that prop up the Islamic pillar of jihad.
We have recently witnessed a potentially fundamental shift in the region, with the election results in Lebanon and the yet-to-be-settled aftermath of the Iranian vote. This does not mean that we have reached "the end of history" but it does mean that change may be on its way. It would seem that people do indeed have the power. >>> Ophir Falk | Tuesday, June 23, 2009
MAIL Online: Shopping in Harrods last week, I came across a group of women wearing black burkhas, browsing the latest designs in the fashion department.
The irony of the situation was almost laughable. Here was a group of affluent women window shopping for designs that they would never once be able to wear in public.
Yet it's a sight that's becoming more and more commonplace. In hardline Muslim communities right across Britain, the burkha and hijab - the Muslim headscarf - are becoming the norm.
In the predominantly Muslim enclaves of Derby near my childhood home, you now see women hidden behind the full-length robe, their faces completely shielded from view. In London, I see an increasing number of young girls, aged four and five, being made to wear the hijab to school.
Shockingly, the Dickensian bone disease rickets has reemerged in the British Muslim community because women are not getting enough vital vitamin D from sunlight because they are being consigned to life under a shroud.
Thanks to fundamentalist Muslims and 'hate' preachers working in Britain, the veiling of women is suddenly all-pervasive and promoted as a basic religious right. We are led to believe that we must live with this in the name of 'tolerance'.
And yet, as a British Muslim woman, I abhor the practice and am calling on the Government to follow the lead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and ban the burkha in our country.
The veil is simply a tool of oppression which is being used to alienate and control women under the guise of religious freedom.
My parents moved here from Kashmir in the 1960s. They brought with them their faith and their traditions - but they also understood that they were starting a new life in a country where Islam was not the main religion.
My mother has always worn traditional Kashmiri clothes - the salwar kameez, a long tunic worn over trousers, and the chador, which is like a pashmina worn around the neck or over the hair.
When she found work in England, she adapted her dress without making a fuss. She is still very much a traditional Muslim woman, but she swims in a normal swimming costume and jogs in a tracksuit.
I was born in this country, and my parents' greatest desire for me was that I would integrate and take advantage of the British education system.
They wanted me to make friends at school, and be able to take part in PE lessons - not feel alienated and cut off from my peers. So at home, I wore the salwar kameez, while at school I wore a wore a typical English school uniform.
Now, to some fundamentalists, that made us not proper Muslims. Really?
I have read the Koran. Nowhere in the Koran does it state that a woman's face and body must be covered in a layer of heavy black cloth. Instead, Muslim women should dress modestly, covering their arms and legs.
Many of my adult British Muslim friends cover their heads with a headscarf - and I have no problem with that.
The burkha is an entirely different matter. It is an imported Saudi Arabian tradition, and the growing number of women veiling their faces in Britain is a sign of creeping radicalisation, which is not just regressive, it is oppressive and downright dangerous.
The burkha is an extreme practice. It is never right for a woman to hide behind a veil and shut herself off from people in the community. But it is particularly wrong in Britain, where it is alien to the mainstream culture for someone to walk around wearing a mask. >>> Saira Khan | Wednesday, June 24, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Muslim leaders in Britain have warned that President Nicolas Sarkozy's calls for the burqa to be banned in France risk fuelling hostility towards Islam.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said Mr Sarkozy's claim that the head-to-toe garments worn by Islamic women signify subservience were "patronising and offensive".
Its criticism comes after Mr Sarkozy used a policy speech on Monday to declare the burqa was "not welcome" in France.
In a move which threatens to reignite the debate over religious clothing in the country, Mr Sarkozy said: "The burqa is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience.
"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity."
The MCB reacted by calling on Mr Sarkozy to "desist from engaging in and promoting divisive politics" towards France's Muslim population.
Dr Reefat Drabu, assistant secretary general of the MCB, said in a statement: "It is patronising and offensive to suggest that those Muslim women who wear the burqa do so because of pressure or oppression by their male partners or guardians."
Speaking for the umbrella group of more than 500 Muslim organisations including mosques, charities and community groups, she added: "Such suggestions can legitimately be perceived as antagonistic towards Islam.
"Instead of taking a lead in promoting harmony and social cohesion amongst its people, the French President appears to be initiating a policy which is set to create fear and misunderstanding and may lead to Islamophobic reaction not just in France but in the rest of Europe too."
Mr Sarkozy's presidential address to a joint session of France's two houses of parliament stood in stark contrast to comments made by US President Barack Obama earlier this month. Muslim leaders condemn Sarkozy over burqa ban >>> Murray Wardrop | Wednesday, June 24, 2009
L’EXPRESS.fr: Après avoir dénoncé l'ingérence occidentale dans le mouvement anti-Ahmadinejad, Téhéran cible Londres, promu ennemi numéro un du régime.
Aux grandes heures de la Révolution islamique, en 1979, l'ayatollah Khomeini dénonçait le "Grand Satan" américain. Si la rhétorique n'a pas évolué, la cible est mouvante. Désormais, son successeur Ali Khamenei s'emporte contre l'"Angleterre diabolique". Dans son prêche à l'Université de Téhéran, le 19 juin, le Guide suprême s'en est ouvertement pris au gouvernement britannique, qu'il accuse de téléguider les manifestations.
"Ils montrent leur vraie hostilité envers l'Etat islamique iranien, et le plus mauvais d'eux est le gouvernement britannique", s'est-il offusqué. Dans l'assistance, les "Marg bar Ingles" [mort à l'Angleterre, ndlr] ont vite résonné dans une clameur. Dans un élan de conspirationnisme décati, il a renchéri: "[Ce sont] des loups affamés en embuscade, prêts à retirer le masque diplomatique de leur visage. Ne négligez pas ces gens-là!".
Talion diplomatique
Loin d'être une surprise, cette escalade verbale ne fait que raviver des plaies toujours ouvertes entre les deux pays. Depuis plus de 50 ans, l'Iran et le Royaume-Uni nourrissent un ressentiment partagé. De la lutte pour le contrôle du pétrole à la fatwa lancée par Khomeini contre Salman Rushdie, leurs relations bilatérales sont au mieux exécrables, au pire inexistantes.
Comme un écho à la "chasse aux bouc-émissaires étrangers" que déplore le Guardian, le régime a commencé à expulser en début de semaine les sujets de sa Majesté un peu trop entreprenants à son goût. >>> Par Olivier Tesquet | Mardi 23 Juin 2009
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