Police disperse Iranian protesters with tear gas
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: The Independent
14February2011 1:43pmEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: (AP) – Clashes between Iranian police and tens of thousands of protesters wracked central Tehran today with security forces beating and firing tear gas at opposition supporters looking to evoke Egypt's recent popular uprising.
The opposition called for a demonstration today in solidarity with Egypt's popular revolt that a few days earlier forced the president there to resign after nearly 30 years in office. The rally is the first major show of strength for Iran's cowed opposition in more than a year. (read full report)
Iran court to target 'media crimes,' spurring fears of fresh crackdown
SOURCE: CNN
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Iranian officials said Sunday that the Middle Eastern nation will create a court focusing on "media crimes," according to state-run media reports, a move that has fueled fears Tehran is further intensifying its crackdown on journalists.
Abbas Zagholi, the head of Iran's Government Employees Court, said the new judicial branch "was necessitated by the special media crimes," according to a report in Khabar, a conservative publication run by backers of parliamentary Speaker and Tehran Mayor Ali Larijani.
"For certain reasons, such as great developments in mass media, the Tehran prosecutor felt the need to create a more independent court to deal with media affairs," Zagholi said.
Omid Memarian, a native Iranian and U.S.-based freelance journalist who said he talks regularly with journalists in Iran, said the new apparatus could spell greater attention, and prosecution, of those who don't mimic Tehranian government positions. (read full report)
Iran: West Is Conspiring in Demonstrations
SOURCE: Newsmax
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE:
TEHRAN — Western spies are conspiring to ignite an uprising in Iran by recruiting a candidate willing to set himself on fire in an anti-regime protest, the Islamic republic's volunteer militia warned on Sunday.
Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naghdi's accusation came as Washington and Tehran engage in a war of words over Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's ouster under the weight of a popular uprising.
"Western intelligence agencies are searching for a mentally challenged person who can set himself on fire in Tehran to trigger developments like those in Egypt and Tunisia," Naghdi said, quoted by Fars news agency.
"They (the West) are very retarded and think by imitating such actions they can emerge victorious," said the powerful Islamist volunteer militia's commander. (read full report)
'This may be the first spark of revolution in Iran’
SOURCE: JPOST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: The protesters of Egypt, who brought down Hosni Mubarak over the weekend after 18 days of sustained demonstrations, have given the Iranian public a clear lesson, according to Menashe Amir, the veteran Israeli expert on Iranian affairs: When you take the streets, don’t go home again.
Amid minor, but spreading clashes in Iran on Monday afternoon, with news agencies reporting Iranian forces using sticks and tear gas as several thousand people headed into major squares, the question of the hour is whether Iranians have learned from the Egyptian precedent and are willing to try and replicate it. Monday’s protests were initiated by Iranian opposition figures in ostensible solidarity with the popular protests in Egypt and elsewhere, but were plainly intended, after months of relative quiet, to revive the anti-regime demonstrations of 2009, and the Iranian authorities did their best in recent days to discourage them. (read full report)
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