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August 3, 2009, 11:35 am
Four Years Ago in Teh ran, a More United Regime
By Robert Mackey
Last Updated (below) I 5:20 p.m. This post has been updated throughout the day as more information has
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become available on new protests today in Iran. Scroll to the bottom of this post for the latest updates.
As my colleagues Robert Worth and Nazila Fathi report , leading reformists boycotted a ceremony in Tehran on
Monday in which the country's ruling cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, officially approved a second term for
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Associated Press reports
that “Iran's main state TV channels did not offer live coverage of the ceremony in an apparent effort by the
country's Islamic rulers to avoid emphasizing the boycotts to domestic audiences,” but this video of the
country's supreme leader handing a decree to Mr. Ahmadinejad was apparently included in a news report on a
state channel:
Several reports have taken note of the awkward body language seen in the video between Ayatollah Khamenei
and Mr. Ahmadinejad, when there seemed to be some confusion about what sort of kiss would be exchanged.
(Readers who cannot access YouTube might be able to view this video of the ceremony on the BBC's Web
site.)
The A.P. notes that four years ago, during the same ceremony, Mr. Ahmadinejad kissed Ayatollah Khamenei's
hand “to show absolute loyalty,” but this time, after some hesitation, Mr. Ahmadinejad kissed the supreme
leader's shoulder instead. As The A.P. reports, this is “not a common gesture in Iran, where men often
exchange kisses on the cheeks.”
Some supporters of Iran's opposition suggested online that Mr. Ahmadinejad was trying to signal that he is not
subservient to the country's ruling cleric, but Hooman Majd, an Iranian-American journalist and the author of
“ The Ayatollah Begs to Differ, ” told The Lede that Mr. Ahmadinejad was criticized four years ago for kissing the
leader's hand, which no previous president had done. Also, Mr. Majd says, “Kissing the shoulder is a sign of
respect, certainly to a cleric.” Still, it is true that, as Matt Weaver points out on The Guardian's Web site, “the
supreme leader did not embrace the president as he did four years ago.”
According to the BBC , Iran's official IRNA news agency “later reported that MrAhmadinejad had not kissed
Ayatollah Khamenei's hand or cheek because he had a cold.”
This report from Britain's ITN includes video of the same point in the same ceremony from four years ago and
shows that two of Iran's former presidents, Mohammad Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who were
absent today, were prominent figures last time, near center stage when Ayatollah Khamanei embraced Mr.
Ahmadinejad:
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Iran's state-supported English-language broadcaster, Press TV, said that the ceremony was affected by the
absence of former President Khatami, since “the endorsement decrees are normally read by the previous
president — even for the second term of the new president in office.” Press TV added that both of the
opposition candidates who continue to contest the results of the June 12 election, Mir Hussein Moussavi and
Mehdi Karroubi, also missed the ceremony. In 2005, the defeated candidate, former President Rafsanjani, was
of course present.
This photograph, posted on Monday
by the Iranian blogger Mehdi Saharkhiz, shows more clearly the lineup of dignitaries from the government in
2005, with Mr. Khatami (directly under the portrait of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini), who was then the departing
president, standing beside the supreme leader, and Mr. Rafsanjani just one place farther away (third from left):
In this photograph of the same ceremony today, also from Mr. Saharkhiz's blog, the absence of the two
previous presidents is hard to miss:
This credit information for this photograph
on the English-language version of the semiofficial Fars news agency Web site says that it was provided by the
supreme leader's own Web site, Khamenei.ir.
The BBC has posted another comparison of photographs from the two ceremonies on their Web site.
According to Hooman Majd, “Rafsanjani's absence, more so than that of Khatami (who in this case did not
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precede Ahmadinejad and is now a private citizen),” was significant. As Mr. Majd notes, Mr. Rafsanjani, a hero
of the Islamic Revolution who still leads two powerful clerical bodies, is “very much a part of the government
apparatus.”
In another exercise in Kremlinology, Mr. Saharkiz also posted this photograph of the ceremony on his blog,
noting the presence, off to the side (circled in red), of Mo itaba Khamenei , the supreme leader's son, who has
reportedly played a large role in the crackdown on dissent in the aftermath of the disputed June 12 election,
which his father says Mr. Ahmadinejad won. Opposition supporters have claimed that Ayatollah Khamenei may
try to have his son appointed as his successor — which led to chants on Tehran's streets in recent weeks
wishing that Mojtaba might die before his father.
Update 112:09 p.m. Mojtaba Samienejad, an Iranian blogger still working from inside the country, reports on
his Twitter feed
that there have been protests in response to today's ceremony in Tehran — and clashes between opposition
supporters and the security forces. Mr. Samienejad wrote 5 minutes ago:
Confrontation for the past hour in Vali Asr. Sq and Knowledge Park, Basij and security forces using
tear gas.
Two Iranian bloggers working from outside Iran, Mehdi Saharkhiz and Omid Habibinia , have also reported
hearing of clashes in Tehran on Monday. We will bring you more information on the reaction to today's
ceremony as we gather it.
Update I 1:55 p.m.
Several short video clips, apparently shot surreptitiously on mobile phones, have been uploaded to YouTube on
Monday showing what Iranian bloggers say are opposition supporters protesting the ceremony in which
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the June 12 presidential election today in Tehran.
According to a reader of The Lede, the anonymous videographer who shot this video , apparently while
pretending to speak on his mobile phone, says that it was shot in Vanak Square and shows opposition
supporters “gathering, using the excuse of catching a ride,” despite the presence of “lots of plain-clothes
policemen.” Three Iranian bloggers also say that this video was shot today in Vanak Square.
At the very start and then again after about 40 seconds of this video, also apparently shot by someone not
wanting their phone camera to be obvious, the chant “Marg bar Diktator!” (“Death to the Dictator!”) can be
heard:
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In this video , which appears to have been shot from a bus stopped in traffic, the chant “Allahu Akbar!” (“God
is Great!”) can be heard. Although it is not clear exactly where the chant is coming from, the person who
uploaded this video to a channel which has collected video of opposition protests says that it was filmed near
Vanak Square on Monday.
The Iranian blogger Mehdi Saharkhiz, the son of a leading reformist who was detained during the protests,
writes that the people honking their car horns in this video were doing so earlier today in protest, and that this
video shows an opposition supporter being arrested in Tehran today:
Update I 3:46 p.m. The BBC reports :
After the ceremony, witnesses said hundreds of people had attempted to hold a demonstration in
Vanak Square in the north of Tehran, but that they were dispersed the Revolutionary Guards, the
Basij militia and police.
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One protester called Maryam told BBC Persian the protest had been peaceful and that they were
attacked indiscriminately. “Plain-clothed officers started attacking people from the middle of the
crowd,” she said. “People were chased away and many were beaten up. Electric batons and tear
gas were being used to displace the crowd.”
There were also reports of a demonstration being prevented by riot police in Vali Asr Square. Mr.
Karroubi is also said to have appeared at one rally.
Update I 3:48 p.m. Lara Setrakian of ABC News writes on Twitter :
A supporter says Karroubi was at today's #iranelection protest, at Beheshti & Valiasr. Fars News
wrote he participated in “illegal protest.”
As Ms. Setrakian says, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported on Monday that Mr. Karroubi, an opposition
leader, had taken part in a protest in Tehran. Oddly, the Fars report was illustrated with a photograph that was
not shot today but taken earlier this month, when the cleric was jostled on his way to the Friday Prayer sermon
given by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Ms. Setrakian also writes that a source in Tehran told her that on Monday “the buildup of forces around Vanak,
Valiasr, Fatemi & Enghelab Square was unprecedented... fearsome.” She adds that her source told her that
“columns of smoke were visible from here and there in N. Tehran. Random gunshots fired, cell networks in busy
areas shut down.”
Update I 4:20 p.m.
The Iranian blogger Omid Habibinia, working from Switzerland, says that this video, uploaded to YouTube
today, shows opposition supporters protesting in central Tehran on Monday:
If any readers familiar with Tehran's geography can help us say where this video was shot, we would appreciate
hearing from you. (Also, if anyone has seen this video posted online before today, please let us know.)
The anonymous video blogger who uploaded the video above also posted the video below, and says that it
shows protesters marching along Vali Asr Boulevard in Tehran on Monday:
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The Iranian expatriate Web site Goova News has posted several photographs of what it says are protests today
in Tehran, which seem to depict similar scenes to those shown in the videos immediately above. In fact, the
photograph below, featuring a man with a green ribbon tied around his wrists, seems to have been taken within
seconds of the video directly above, which also seems to show this same man in the same location:
Farhad Rajabali/Gooya News
Update I 4:49 p.m.
The Iranian blogger Mehdi Saharkhiz, working from outside Iran, says that this video was also shot today in
Tehran, showing protesters marching and chanting ‘Marg bar Diktator!” (“Death to the Dictator!”):
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Update I 5:09 p.m. Among the photographs published on the Gooya News Web site are these images,
apparently showing members of the security forces or pro-government militias on the streets of Tehran on
Monday:
Farhad Rajabali/Gooya News
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• “Farhad Rajabali/Gooya News
Update I 5:20 p.m. The blogger Mehdi Saharkhiz says that this video shows women protesting on Monday
night in Tehran, taking the nightly ritual of shouting “Allahu Akbar!” (“God is Great!”) to the streets. The
opposition uses this rallying cry to remind the regime's leaders of the protests against the Shah's regime in the
1970s, which used the same slogan.
Mr. Saharkhiz also says that this video shows the heavy security presence at different times of the day on
Monday on Vali Asr Boulevard in central Tehran:
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