Tom's Corner of the World

In case you haven’t heard, there was a national election in Iran on Friday and Ahmadinejad was declared the winner by a landslide right after the polls closed. Then people started noticing that the results were announced before it was even possible to count all the votes. The people there have been protesting on the streets since, while the opposition leader that ran against Ahmadinejad is under house arrest. The Iranian government has been attempting to stop all news reports and images from coming out of the country, but in today’s world, that’s a tall order. Videos have made their way to the internet that shows just how big the protests are:

It will be interesting to see if this is the start of real change in Iran away from theocracy or if this is another Tienamen Square where the government just cracks down ever worse afterwards.

Tom News iran, protest

Omidreza Mirsayafi

I asked: When will we understand the meaning of freedom?
I answered: When our wisdom can be delivered from ignorance, selfishness and foolishness.

-Mirsayafi

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12116017

An Iranian blogger who posted “insults against Iranian leaders” died in prison, after being administered tranquilizers and never being taken to a hospital.  It’s stories like these that make me sad for those countries that don’t have the freedoms that we all take for granted here in America.  At the same time, it’s uplifting to see the rest of the Iranian blogs rally around his death.  It’s one of those moments where you wonder at what point will the people of this country show their leaders that this oppression can’t go on any longer.  Hopefully soon.

Tom News blogger, iran