[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 94 (Monday, June 22, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6862-S6864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAN

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, there is a news report from the Associated 
Press entitled ``Iranian Police Use Force To Break Up Protest.'' The 
article reads as follows:

       Tehran, Iran--Riot police attacked hundreds of 
     demonstrators with tear gas and fired live bullets in the air 
     to disperse a rally in central Tehran Monday, carrying out a 
     threat by the country's most powerful security force to crush 
     any further opposition protests over the disputed 
     presidential election. Witnesses said helicopters hovered 
     overhead as about 200 protesters gathered at Haft-e-Tir 
     Square. But hundreds of anti-riot police quickly put an end 
     to the demonstration and prevented any gathering, even small 
     groups, at the scene. Iran says at least 17 protesters have 
     been killed in a week of unrest so far after the electoral 
     council declared hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 
     winner of the June 12 election.
       Severe restrictions on reporters have made it almost 
     impossible to independently verify any reports on 
     demonstrations, clashes, and casualties. Iran has ordered 
     reporters for foreign news agencies to stay in their offices, 
     barring them from any reporting on the streets.

  The story goes on. Demonstrations followed by repression, followed by 
murder in the streets. As these things seem to evolve, an event took 
place yesterday which may be the defining moment in the struggle of the 
Iranian people to be able to peacefully disagree with their government, 
in this case, because of a corrupt and fraudulent election, without 
being killed in the streets and beaten and imprisoned.
  It has to do with a woman named Neda. I quote from an ABC news story 
dated June 22, 2009.

       She sinks to the ground--and a few minutes later she is 
     dead. A video that has been repeatedly posted on the Internet 
     purports to show the last moments of Neda, a young Iranian 
     woman shot in the heart by government sharpshooters. 
     Overnight she has become a symbol of the opposition. [Her] 
     shaky

[[Page S6863]]

     blurred images: A young woman collapses onto the pavement, a 
     dark pool of blood spreads beneath her body. Two men kneel 
     next to the woman and press on her chest, screaming. The 
     camera phone which is filming her zooms in on her face. Her 
     pupils roll to the side. Blood streams out of her nose and 
     mouth.
       ``Neda, don't be afraid! Neda, stay with me. Neda, stay 
     with me!'' [cries one man.]

  Another man beseeches someone to take her in a car. Then the footage 
stops.
  The video footage appeared on the social networking sites Facebook 
and Twitter on Saturday evening. It immediately became a viral 
sensation, being forwarded repeatedly. User groups were determined to 
get around YouTube's attempts to block the immensely graphic film. They 
posted the clip so often it became impossible for YouTube to remove it.
  So we have seen, as we have in cases of other brutal repressions 
throughout history, a living example or the dying example of martyrdom. 
By Sunday morning, Neda became the fifth most common topic on Twitter. 
She had already become a kind of Joan of Arc.
  ``It took only one bullet to kill Neda, it will take only one Neda to 
stop Iranian tyranny'' was one posting from Tehran on Twitter.

       Neda died with open eyes. Shame on us who live with closed 
     eyes.

  ``They killed Neda, but not her voice'' was another.
  During the day, thousands of people replaced their profile pictures 
with tributes to the young woman such as ``I am Neda,'' or ``Neda 
forever.'' Others posted images of a broken heart in green, the color 
of the opposition movement.
  So a debate has been going on as to how much the United States of 
America, its President, the Congress, and the American people should 
speak out in favor and in support of these brave Iranians--the average 
age in Tehran is 33 years of age--and their quests for the fundamentals 
of freedom and democracy that we have enjoyed for more than a couple of 
centuries.
  Today, I and all America, pay tribute to a brave young woman who was 
trying to exercise her fundamental human rights and was killed in the 
streets of Tehran. All Americans are with her, our thoughts and our 
prayers for her, her family, and her countrymen.
  I ask unanimous consent to have two news articles that I quoted 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  [From abcnews.go.com June 22, 2009]

                    Neda, Is She Iran's Joan of Arc?


     Neda Has Become a Symbol and Martyr for the Iranian Opposition

                            (By Ulrike Putz)

       Beirut.--She sinks to the ground--and a few minutes later 
     she is dead. A video that has been repeatedly posted on the 
     Internet purports to show the last moments of Neda, a young 
     Iranian woman shot in the heart by government sharpshooters. 
     Overnight she has become a symbol of the opposition. They are 
     shaky, blurred images: A young woman collapses onto the 
     pavement, a dark pool of blood spreads beneath her body. Two 
     men kneel next to the woman and press on her chest, 
     screaming. The camera phone which is filming her zooms in on 
     her face. Her pupils roll to the side, blood streams out of 
     her nose and mouth. ``Neda, don't be afraid! Neda, stay with 
     me. Neda, stay with me!'' cries one man. Another man 
     beseeches someone to take her in a car. Then the footage 
     stops.
       It cannot be confirmed if the 40-second film, which was 
     posted on the Internet on Saturday, really shows the death of 
     a young Iranian demonstrator. Like almost all the video and 
     photo material coming out of Iran these days, it is 
     impossible to verify its authenticity. However, even if it 
     may never be certain if these images really show the death of 
     a young woman named Neda, she has still become an icon, a 
     martyr for the opposition in Iran. Neda has given the 
     regime's brutality a bloody face and a name. Overnight ``I am 
     Neda,'' has become the slogan of the protest movement.
       The video footage appeared on the social networking sites 
     Facebook and Twitter on Saturday evening. It immediately 
     became a viral sensation, being forwarded repeatedly. User 
     groups were determined to get around YouTube's attempts to 
     block the immensely graphic film. They posted the clip so 
     often that it became impossible for YouTube to remove it. The 
     first postings were furnished with a commentary. A supposed 
     eyewitness described what was happening. He gave details, 
     presumably in order to underscore the clip's veracity. The 
     incident occurred on the Karekar Avenue, at the corner of 
     Khoravi Street and Salehi Street in Tehran at 7:05 p.m. local 
     time, he reported.


            Could Neda Change the Course of Iran's History?

       A young woman, watching the protests together with her 
     father, the commentary said, was shot in the heart by a 
     sharpshooter with the Basij, the government militia. ``I am a 
     doctor, so I rushed to try to save her,'' the man says. ``But 
     the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet 
     blasted inside the victim's chest and she died in less than 
     two minutes.'' ``The film is shot by my friend who was 
     standing beside me,'' he continues. ``Please let the world 
     know.'' Persian-speaking Internet users quickly supplied a 
     translation. The screams, ``Stay with me, Neda!'' are said to 
     have come from the young woman's father. By Sunday morning 
     ``Neda'' was the fifth most commented topic on Twitter. She 
     had already become a kind of Joan of Arc. ``It took only one 
     bullet to kill Neda. It will take only one Neda to stop 
     Iranian tyranny,'' was one posting from Tehran on Twitter.
       ``Neda died with open eyes. Shame on us who live with 
     closed eyes,'' was one entry. ``They killed Neda, but not her 
     voice,'' was another. During the day thousands of people 
     replaced their profile pictures with tributes to the young 
     woman, such as ``I am Neda'' or ``Neda forever.'' Others 
     posted images of a broken heart in green, the color of the 
     opposition movement. Many blogs, including that of the New 
     York Times, are now speculating if the footage could change 
     the course of history. There are parallels being drawn to the 
     images that became iconic during the Islamic Revolution. The 
     film could become as much as a symbol as those now historic 
     images from 1979 which showed the Shah's troops shooting on 
     unarmed demonstrators.
                                  ____


              Iranian Police Use Force To Break up Protest

                   (By Nasser Karimi and Jim Heintz)

       Tehran.--Riot police attacked hundreds of demonstrators 
     with tear gas and fired live bullets in the air to disperse a 
     rally in central Tehran Monday, carrying out a threat by the 
     country's most powerful security force to crush any further 
     opposition protests over the disputed presidential election.
       Britain, accused by Iran of fomenting post-election unrest, 
     said it was evacuating the families of diplomats and other 
     officials based in Iran--the first country to do so as Iran's 
     worst internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution 
     escalated.
       Witnesses said helicopters hovered overhead as about 200 
     protesters gathered at Haft-e-Tir Square. But hundreds of 
     anti-riot police quickly put an end to the demonstration and 
     prevented any gathering, even small groups, at the scene.
       At the subway station at Haft-e-Tir, the witnesses said 
     police did not allow anyone to stand still, asking them to 
     keep on walking and separating people who were walked 
     together. The witnesses asked not to be identified for fear 
     of government reprisals.
       Just before the clashes, an Iranian woman who lives in 
     Tehran said there was a heavy police and security presence in 
     another square in central Tehran. She asked not to be 
     identified because she was worried about government 
     reprisals.
       ``There is a massive, massive, massive police presence,'' 
     she told The Associated Press in Cairo by telephone. ``Their 
     presence was really intimidating.''
       Iran says at least 17 protesters have been killed in a week 
     of unrest so far after the electoral council declared hard-
     line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winner of the June 12 
     election. His main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, charged 
     the election was a fraud and insists he is the true winner. 
     His followers have been staging near-daily rallies, at least 
     one of them drawing a massive crowds of hundreds of 
     thousands.
       Severe restrictions on reporters have made it almost 
     impossible to independently verify any reports on 
     demonstrations, clashes and casualties. Iran has ordered 
     reporters for foreign news agencies to stay in their offices, 
     barring them from any reporting on the streets.
       The country's highest electoral authority, the Guardian 
     Council, acknowledged on Monday that there were voting 
     irregularities in 50 electoral districts, the most serious 
     official admission so far of problems in the election. But 
     the council insisted the problems do not affect the outcome 
     of the vote.
       Earlier Monday, the elite Revolutionary Guard issued its 
     sternest warning so far in the post-election crisis. It 
     warned protesters to ``be prepared for a resolution and 
     revolutionary confrontation with the Guards, Basij and other 
     security forces and disciplinary forces'' if they continue 
     their near-daily rallies.
       The Basij, a plainclothes militia under the command of the 
     Revolutionary Guard, have been used to quell street protests 
     that erupted after the election result was announced.
       The Guard statement ordered demonstrators to ``end the 
     sabotage and rioting activities'' and said their resistance 
     is a ``conspiracy'' against Iran. On Sunday, acting joint 
     chief of the armed forces Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid issued a 
     thinly veiled warning to Mousavi, saying ``we are determined 
     to confront plots by enemies aimed at creating a rift in the 
     nation.
       Mousavi vowed Sunday night to keep up the protests, in 
     defiance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds 
     ultimate

[[Page S6864]]

     power in Iran. In a sermon to tens of thousands on Friday, 
     Khamenei said demonstrators must stop their street protests 
     or face the consequences and he firmly backed Ahmadinejad's 
     victory.
       ``The country belongs to you,'' Mousavi's latest statement 
     said. ``Protesting lies and fraud is your right.''
       Mousavi's Web site called Monday for supporters to turn on 
     their car lights in the late afternoon as a sign of protest.
       Mousavi's latest statements posted on his Web site also 
     warned supporters of danger ahead, and said he would stand by 
     the protesters ``at all times.'' But he said he would ``never 
     allow anybody's life to be endangered because of my actions'' 
     and called for pursuing fraud claims through an independent 
     board.
       The former prime minister, a longtime loyalist of the 
     Islamic government, also called the Basij and military ``our 
     brothers'' and ``protectors of our revolution and regime.'' 
     He may be trying to constrain his followers' demands before 
     they pose a mortal threat to Iran's system of limited 
     democracy constrained by Shiite clerics, who have ultimate 
     authority.
       Mousavi ally and former president Mohammad Khatami said in 
     a statement that ``protest in a civil manner and avoiding 
     disturbances in the definite right of the people and all must 
     respect that.''
       Britain's Foreign Office said it was pulling staffers' 
     dependents out because ``the families of our staff have been 
     unable to carry out their lives as usual.''
       In Washington, President Barack Obama said he does not want 
     to become a scapegoat for Iran's leadership as the 
     postelection upheaval continues, but Republicans continued 
     criticizing him for being overly cautious.
       The Czech EU presidency summoned the Iranian charge 
     d'affaires to reject claims by Iran that the 27-nation bloc 
     has been interfering in its internal affairs.
       Iran state media reported at least 10 people were killed in 
     the fiercest clashes yet on Saturday and 100 were injured.
       A graphic video that appears to show a young woman dying 
     within minutes after she was shot during Saturday's 
     demonstrations has become the iconic image seen by millions 
     around the world on video-sharing sites such as YouTube.
       Police said Monday that 457 people were arrested on 
     Saturday alone, but did not say how many have been arrested 
     throughout the week of turmoil.
       The country's highest electoral authority agreed last week 
     to investigate some opposition complaints of problems in the 
     voting. The Guardian Council said Monday it found 
     irregularities in 50 voting districts, but that this has no 
     effect on election outcome. Council spokesman Abbas Ali 
     Kadkhodaei was quoted on the state TV Web site as saying that 
     its probe showed more votes were cast in these constituencies 
     than there were registered voters.
       But this ``has no effect on the result of the elections,'' 
     he said.
       Mousavi has demanded that the election result be annulled 
     and a new vote held.
       Khatami said ``taking complaints to bodies that are 
     required to protect people's rights, but are themselves 
     subject to criticism, is not a solution''--effectively 
     accusing the Council of collusion in vote fraud.
       The government has intensified a crackdown on independent 
     media--expelling a BBC correspondent, suspending the Dubai-
     based network Al-Arabiya and detaining at least two local 
     journalists for U.S. magazines.
       English-language state television said an exile group known 
     as the People's Mujahedeen had a hand in the street violence 
     and broadcast what it said were confessions of British-
     controlled agents.
       The exile group, also called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, is the 
     military wing of the Paris-based National Council of 
     Resistance of Iran. The council says it is dedicated to a 
     democratic, secular government in Iran, but the military wing 
     has been blacklisted by the United States and the European 
     Union as a terrorist organization.
       The Foreign Ministry lashed out at foreign media and 
     Western governments, with ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi 
     accusing them of ``a racial mentality that Iranians belong to 
     the Third World.''
       ``Meddling by Western powers and international media is 
     unacceptable,'' he said at a news conference shown on state 
     TV, taking particular aim at French President Nicolas 
     Sarkozy.
       ``How can a Western president, like the French president, 
     ask for nullification of Iranian election results?'' Qashqavi 
     said. ``I regret such comments.''

                          ____________________