Kangaroo Court

Today, Iran held trials for numerous individuals involved in protests after the recent Presidential elections. Those arrested include civillians active in the post-elections protests and prominent pro-reform politicians, indicating that anyone who opposes the government is not safe. No verdicts or sentences have been given yet, but the details and allegations from the trials that have already come out show that this is clearly no court of law.

The fifteen page indicment alleges that the defendants attacked government forces and buildings, have links to armed rebel groups, and conspired against the ruling system. More accusations allege that the groups that the pro-reform politicians represent took money from foreign entities (read: the West) in a year long plot to bring about a velvet revolution. Nevermind that the pro-reform parties might have real interests in changing the course of Iranian politics, they were clearly trying to overthrow the government by engaging in a peaceful, democratic elections process.

The gut check here is disgusting. Ahmadinejad's regime calls this a trial, but it's clearly all for show. The defendants weren't allowed access to lawyers. There are allegations that some were tortured to obtain false confessions. These people are being put on trial for what amounts to treason because Ahmadinejad's regime couldn't handle people questioning their legitimacy. Instead of addressing the questions of legitimacy with openness, they decided to kill a bunch of people, throw some more in jail and torture them. Now they're trying to politically manipulate the situation by having a "trial"? Don't think that this is a trial, or even a court of law, not for one second.

Crumbling Tower

Over the past couple of days, stories about what has happened to the protesters arrested in Iran have begun to emerge. Here in the US, we enjoy great freedom when it comes to protesting being that it is a guaranteed right under our constitution. We can assemble a protest on any sidewalk in any city and expect that the most that would be hurled at us would be insults. Not so in Iran where in the weeks after the recent election many protesters have been killed and many more have been jailed and beaten.

In the wake of the Presidential elections nearly two months past, Ahmadinejad's regime unleashed the Basij militia, it's own political dissent stomping machine, to round up protesters and engage in enough fear mongering to deter any more protesting. The bodies started to pile up early on in the violent crackdown. Despite Iran's complete reporting blackout of the protests, some protesters were able to get coverage out over user input sites like youtube, where the footage of the death of the Iranian girl dubbed "Neda" became the rallying cry of the opposition.

Official numbers from the Iranian government put the death toll at twenty, but independent reports suggest that the true number is over one hundred. Even more shocking news is that bodies showing signs of great abuse have been coming out of the detention centers where protesters are being held. Those who experienced the ordeal and lived through are affraid to tell their tale out of fear of reprisal. But, there are the brave few who have stepped forward to share their stories of horror.

Dark, putrid cells filled past capacity with detainees. Constant beatings from the guards. Various forms of psychological and physical abuse. The abuse got so bad that, once a prominent conservative politician's son was beaten to death, Ayatollah Khamenei had to step in and close the Kahrizak detention center. Instead of this helping the situation, however, the very fact that Iran's supreme leader had to intervene has galvanized the opposition and even sent some conservatives to the other side. The fact of the matter is that it should never have gotten to the point where a detention center needed to be closed.

The gut check here is interesting. Ahmadinejad's regime seems to have blinked and taken a step back. They realize that their brutal tactics are now turning the people against them and it certainly hasn't been long enough for people to forget about the accusations of corruption and fraud during the Presidential election. Iran is sure to get criticism from all sides, internationally, now that the details of protester abuses are coming out. The internal pressure is building and the political opposition doesn't appear to be letting up. Frankly, Ahmadinejad and Khamenei are out of options. They can't continue the violent crackdown because it will just turn more of their allies against them. They can't keep blaming foreign influences (read: the West) for their political turmoil because it's becoming clear that it is self-inflicted. They can't keep dodging questions of legitimacy because it's empowering the opposition. They have only one move left: start making concessions.