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Sockit2Ya
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Iran shuts down 5 Web sites for 'poisoning' public opinion
February 14, 2008 - 08:44 PM
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TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian authorities banned five Web sites that comment on current events for "poisoning" public opinion ahead of the crucial mid-March parliamentary elections, the state radio reported on Thursday.
The move is the latest in an election period which has seen the Interior Ministry, run by hard-liners close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, disqualify more than 2,000 prospective candidates — most of them reformers.
About 280 of those candidates were reinstated Tuesday by the Guardian Council, Iran's hard-line constitutional watchdog. But reformists have complained the reversal was insufficient to ensure a fair election.
In the past, the authorities have occasionally closed down some of the hundreds of private Web sites that comment on Iranian news and politics. But this was the first time they closed down five at once — a reflection of growing tension ahead of the vote.
The radio said Tehran General Prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, ordered the ban because the Web sites were "poisoning the electoral sphere." It did not name any of the sites, but a report by Web site of state broadcasting company identified one of them as Nosazi, which in Farsi means Reconstruction. The site is considered hard-line and reflective of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's stance.
Earlier in February, Nosazi criticized Hassan Khomeini, a grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, for his opposition to barring pro-democracy candidates from the election.
Calls placed to Iranian officials related to the Web shutdown were not immediately returned on Thursday, due to the start of the Muslim weekend in Iran.
Tuesday's reinstatement of candidates came amid growing criticism by both reformists and conservatives that a wide ban on eligible candidates would risk a low election turnout and undermine the polling.
The disqualification was reminiscent of 2004, when the Council barred thousands of reformists from running in that year's parliament elections, allowing hard-liners to regain control of the 290-seat legislature. Reformists denounced the elections as a "historic fiasco."
Key members of the council are hand-picked by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080214/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_election_disputes
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Luke Lieberman
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Re: Iran shuts down 5 Web sites for 'poisoning' public opinion
February 15, 2008 - 12:07 PM
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These "elections are such a farce - what is th point of the charade I wonder?
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Arslan Jumaniyazov
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Re: Iran shuts down 5 Web sites for 'poisoning' public opinion
February 15, 2008 - 12:50 PM
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Luke,
Even the most totalitarian governments (not all) in the 20th century claimed to be democratic or being on the way to democracy. There is nothing surprising in all this. But at the same time, I think we should acknowledge the fact that there are democratic movements in Iran that are, unfortunately, being suppressed.
Arslan
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Luke Lieberman
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Re: Iran shuts down 5 Web sites for 'poisoning' public opinion
February 15, 2008 - 04:44 PM
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Indeed - I think MOST people would want more democracy - but the regieme has such a grip on power - how can the reformers make change?
they are barred from running for office - their websites are shut down - their leaders often imprisoned...
What I will say - is "those who make peaceful change impossible make violent revolution inevitable."
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al-kafir
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Re: Iran shuts down 5 Web sites for 'poisoning' public opinion
February 15, 2008 - 07:37 PM
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The term democracy, like any other word thrown around carelessly, can sometimes lose all resemblance to its original, intrinsic meaning.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the new abnormal of Mahmoud "Arafat 2" Abbas and his "Palestinian Authority", where armed terrorists are allowed to roam the streets, genocidal jihad groups participate in governance, and "elections" are made into a mockery by both.
Pluralism, dissent, and free expression are what democracy is made of. But those qualities clearly don’t exist in such Islamic M.E. “democracies” as the “Palestinian” authority, Egypt or Iran.
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Arslan Jumaniyazov
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Re: Iran shuts down 5 Web sites for 'poisoning' public opinion
February 17, 2008 - 03:48 PM
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300 Candidates Are Reinstated in Iran
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: February 17, 2008
TEHRAN (Agence France-Presse) —
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/world/middleeast/17iran.html?_r=2&ref=world&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Iran on Saturday reinstated an additional 300 mainly reformist candidates who had been disqualified from standing in next month’s parliamentary elections, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The Guardians Council, Iran’s hard-line vetting body, which has the final say on who is permitted to run in the March 14 polls, had already reinstated 280 of them.
They had been disqualified in the first stage of the qualifying process by either Interior Ministry executive committees or the Guardians Council supervisory committee. The reinstated candidates were among about 2,400 contenders who were disqualified early in the process.
Prominent conservative and reformist figures had complained bitterly about the number of original disqualifications; the reformist former president, Mohammad Khatami, had called the move a “catastrophe.”
Reformist leaders have said the candidates’ chances have already been ruined because they have lost valuable time in preparing their campaigns.
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Luke Lieberman
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Re: Iran shuts down 5 Web sites for 'poisoning' public opinion
February 17, 2008 - 08:52 PM
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There are still 2000 who can't run - I am sure they are the 2000 that really want to change things.
doesn't it strike you as strange that the Interior Ministry has a voice in who is allowed to run - that is the definition of facism.
Its just... wrong - and according to my girlfriend it has demoralized the reformist movement to a great degree - they don't even bother to show up at the polls... what is the point - clearly the rulers has no intention of allowing anything to disturb the status quo.
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