[New York Post] Amir Taheri - By Saturday the identity of at least 19 "martyrs" had been established. A further 600 people have been wounded in clashes between demonstrators and the security forces in more than 20 cities. Opposition sources put the number of those arrested at around 3,000, including virtually all key aides to Mousavi and Karrubi. Among those arrested are the editors of two of Tehran's leading newspapers, 16 officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and dozens of mullahs and students of theology who have rallied to the opposition. Three of the six mullahs who form the highest echelon of Shi'ite clerical leadership in Iran have made statements of support for the protestors: grand ayatollahs Hussein Ali Montazeri, Yussuf San'ei and Abdul-Karim Mussavi Ardebili. Official censors have appeared in editorial offices, charged with the task of "purging" the media of "seditious material." As a result, on Saturday several newspapers appeared with large blank spaces on most pages, indicating the removal of material by censors.
2009-06-22 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive