Mousavi's car 'attacked' on way back from funeral

[demoleft]

Source: reuters

REUTERS - The car of Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi was attacked by "plainclothes men" on motorbikes on Monday and one member of his entourage was injured, the reformist Kaleme website reported.

Kaleme said the incident happened when Mousavi was on his way back to Tehran after attending the funeral of a leading dissident cleric in Qom. It said the car's back window was smashed in the attack.

Kaleme said the group on motorbikes insulted Mousavi and those accompanying him and several times stopped his motorcade and prevented it from resuming its journey.

"One of the assailants shattered the back window of the car carrying Mousavi," Kaleme said, adding that one of the attackers was also injured in the incident.


Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20091221-iran-opposition-leader-mirhossein-mousavi-car-attack-funeral-kaleme

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. Plainclothes on bikes sounds like Basiji

If so, this is a very dangerous escalation for AN's administration.

[jberryhill]

2. Anyone know where Tiger Wood's wife is?

"One of the assailants shattered the back window of the car carrying Mousavi"

I'd be looking for a golf club somewhere nearby...

[demoleft]

3. "Iran - Censorship and arrests as Ayatollah Montazeri is buried" - rsf

As with all recent events likely to prompt opposition demonstrations, the authorities also took draconian measures to control the flow of information via new-generation media. Immediately after the announcement of Montazeri's death, Internet connections slowed right down in many cities while telephone communication was disrupted, especially in Najafābād (Montazeri's birthplace) and Isfahan. Journalists were arrested during demonstrations in homage to Montazeri.

A BBC television programme about Montazeri was jammed yesterday shortly after it began being broadcast. It included an exclusive interview he gave to the BBC shortly before his death. It was the first time in more than 20 years that he had appeared in a TV interview. The jamming affected all the programmes carried by the Hotbird 6 satellite. It was nonetheless widely broadcast and accessible on the BBC Persian website.

Iranian journalists working for the BBC have been constantly harassed ever since the British broadcaster launched its Persian language TV station. The harassment was stepped up after the disputed 12 June presidential election and those who have not been arrested have fled the country.

Ayatollah Montazeri was one of the theoreticians of the Islamic revolution and one of the drafters if the Islamic Republic's constitution before being sidelined in March 1989 following his revelations about the executions of large numbers of political prisoners on Ayatollah Khomeiny's orders.

source: rsf, http://www.rsf.org/Censorship-and-arrests-as.html