That the Iranian President can be describing as somewhat loony is not all that difficult. More troublesome is how the Iranian authorities have dealt with those protesting what is generally agreed - at least outside Iran - as a rigged presidential election some months ago. It will be recalled that there was much protesting in the streets by large numbers of Iranians.
The NY Times reports in "Iranian Protester Flees After Telling of Torture" on the experience [horrendous is a word which immediately comes to mind] of one vocal protester:
"When he eagerly joined the mass street protests that followed Iran’s tainted June 12 presidential elections, Ibrahim Sharifi, 24, hoped only to add his voice to the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators demanding that the government nullify the results. He never imagined that he would eventually have a far greater impact, as the only person willing to speak publicly about the brutal treatment he was subjected to in prison, including rape and torture.
Ibrahim Sharifi, 24, said he was beaten and raped during his detention in a Tehran prison. He is now living in Turkey.
Mr. Sharifi, who recounted his ordeal to the opposition leader and former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, and then released a video account last month on opposition Web sites, is now in Turkey. He said he fled Iran after a stranger stopped him on the street to tell him his family would be killed if he testified before a parliamentary committee that was investigating the torture and rape accusations."
The NY Times reports in "Iranian Protester Flees After Telling of Torture" on the experience [horrendous is a word which immediately comes to mind] of one vocal protester:
"When he eagerly joined the mass street protests that followed Iran’s tainted June 12 presidential elections, Ibrahim Sharifi, 24, hoped only to add his voice to the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators demanding that the government nullify the results. He never imagined that he would eventually have a far greater impact, as the only person willing to speak publicly about the brutal treatment he was subjected to in prison, including rape and torture.
Ibrahim Sharifi, 24, said he was beaten and raped during his detention in a Tehran prison. He is now living in Turkey.
Mr. Sharifi, who recounted his ordeal to the opposition leader and former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, and then released a video account last month on opposition Web sites, is now in Turkey. He said he fled Iran after a stranger stopped him on the street to tell him his family would be killed if he testified before a parliamentary committee that was investigating the torture and rape accusations."
Comments