Al Arabiya: i pasdaran di Amhadinejad hanno isolato la casa e le linee telefoniche a Teheran di Moussavi, il capo dell’opposizione (a destra nella foto, l’altro è Karroubi)
. In città girano armati sulle loro moto per cercare di stroncare in tempo ogni manifestazione. L’opposizione aveva annunciato proteste in favore dei fratelli egiziani. L’articolo della tv araba:
TEHRAN (Agencies)
Iranian police Monday blocked access to the house of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and cut his telephone lines to prevent him attending a rally in support of Arab revolts, his website said.
Witnesses said anti-riot police on motorbikes armed with riot shotguns, tear gas, batons, paintball guns and fire extinguishers were deployed in parts of the capital to prevent gatherings which could turn into anti-government demonstrations.
“Security forces have sent police vans and vehicles to the alley where the house of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard is located” in Tehran, Kaleme.com reported.
“From today the police have blocked the alley where their house is located…There is no possibility of coming and going” to the house, it said.
The report said all telephone lines at the house, including the mobile phone connections of Mousavi and his wife, have been severed.
Kaleme.com said the latest “illegal and restrictive measures and pressures were adopted to prevent Mousavi from taking part in a rally in support of the people of Tunisia and Egypt.”
Mousavi and fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi had sought permission from Iran’s interior ministry to hold a rally on Monday to express their solidarity with uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
Iran has backed the Arab uprisings but the interior ministry refused to permit the opposition rally as officials believe it is a ploy to stage fresh anti-government demonstrations as seen in 2009 after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Despite the ministry’s refusal, several groups claiming to be linked to the opposition movement have said they will stage a rally later Monday to support Arab uprisings.
On Sunday, opposition websites renewed the call for the rally, defying pressure tactics employed against the opposition, such as the placing of Karroubi under house arrest since Wednesday.
“Increased pressure on Karroubi and Mousavi … shows weakness and fear of the rulers over Iranians’ most peaceful, civil and political moves,” Kaleme said.
Karroubi’s website, Sahamnews, said “a new wave of arrests has started as we are getting close to Monday’s rally”, publishing a list of detained 18 activists.
Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said the “recent arrests were made over security-related issues”.
Similar to 2009
Opposition leaders say the pro-democracy revolts in Egypt and Tunisia mirror the anti-government demonstrations that shook Iran in 2009, and not the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew the shah, as maintained by the authorities.
Most opposition groups in Egypt, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, have stressed the secular nature of their protests.
Unrest erupted in Iran after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election in June 2009, a vote that the opposition says was rigged. Iranian authorities deny this.
The protests, the worst unrest since the Islamic Republic was founded, were quelled by the elite Revolutionary Guards. Mass detentions and trials followed and two people were hanged and scores of detainees remain in jail.
The opposition’s call has gained momentum on social networking websites like Facebook, with more than 48,000 people pledging to participate on one protest group’s Facebook page.
The Revolutionary Guards have repeatedly warned the opposition not to create another “security crisis”.
The last major opposition protest, in December 2009, led to clashes with security forces. Eight demonstrators were killed.
The government has taken extraordinary measures in the past few days, deploying security forces to the main squares in Tehran and erecting checkpoints in various parts of Tehran.
The authorities have portrayed the opposition movement as a foreign-backed plot to undermine the Islamic establishment, an accusation denied by opposition leaders.
They say the pro-democracy movement is alive in Iran and argue that the rally is a test for both the Iranian government and its opponents.
