Anonymous Iran

CurtMonash

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/wo...05iran.html?hp

The Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum has put out a statement saying all the right things, apparently.

But the NYT, hampered by reporting restrictions, obviously isn't at all sure what is really going on.

I'm curious whether the figure of 20 for protesters' deaths is sloppy NYT reporting, or if it's echoed directly in the clerics' statement ...

Visionary

Hmm, I think this thread could use a bit more of a descriptive heading to draw a little more attention to such an important declaration.

But I'm glad to see this article, especially since most of the media blogs are not covering much this weekend.

CurtMonash

The article didn't feel that reliable to me. I hope other people can evaluate it better, based on superior knowledge about Iran to mine.

Unregistered

The NYT article cited the Persian BBC. Has any Persian speaker reading this seen the original report? Did it seem credible?

Unregistered

The original story from the Persian BBC website is here. A Google translation into english is here.

CurtMonash

Thanks.

It is, of course, hard to get nuance from a translation.

But the figure of 20 protester deaths -- i.e., the official government figure -- is not in the BBC story. I doubt it's in the whole statement, either; it sounds as if it was, in line the general style of such things, much vaguer than that.

Unregistered

Right, I found the original (I think): فارسی/english.

The statement would seem to mention 'dozens' killed rather than a number of 20, so you're probably correct that it was conflated by hasty writing, i.e., twenty deaths that Nazila Fathi could confirm as having occurred became the number mentioned in the statement.

CurtMonash

The story is getting high placement on the NY Times site -- top left. So they take it seriously, sloppy reporting or no.

lordkoos

Front page on the NY Times... many clerics are saying the election is no good.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/wo...ef=global-home

Ray Murphy

"CAIRO — The most important group of religious
leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential
election and the new government illegitimate on
Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s
supreme leader and the most public sign of a major
split in the country’s clerical establishment."

It's only a matter of several weeks before the the coup fails and fair elections are held.

Attached Images