Satellite TV The New "Satan" In Iran — Crackdown By Crackpots??

As reported in Reuters India, the head of Iran's judiciary called on Sunday for the prosecution of people working for increasingly influential anti-establishment satellite TV channels and websites, state television reported.

"The daily growth of anti-regime satellite channels and ... websites needs serious measures to confront this phenomenon," it quoted a circular issued by Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi as saying. Iran accused Western powers of interfering in its affairs, after the announcement that hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won a landslide victory in the June 12th election prompted protests in which at least 20 people were killed. The circular, addressed to branches of the judiciary, called for judicial personnel to be assigned to deal with such violations. "Those who cooperate with such websites and television channels will face prosecution," Hashemi-Shahroudi said.

For the first time in Iran, foreign-based satellite TV channels, particularly the BBC's Persian TV, and blogs played a big part in providing news and comment about the election. Iranians are more used to hearing political messages blared through loudspeakers on small trucks, seeing gaudy posters and being herded to campaign rallies.

The BBC launched its Persian TV service in January, funded with 15 million pounds ($25 million) a year of British government money. The BBC increased the number of satellites carrying the service after Iran interfered with transmission during the election. Iran expelled the BBC's correspondent in Tehran because of the broadcaster's election coverage, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called Britain the "most treacherous" of Iran's enemies.

thanks aza

Interesting (and disturbing) news AZA. It's a shame to see people controlled to the point they can't even watch tv. Bummer! Thanks for taking the time to post the story.

the media has always been good at making things more then they are, the US are good at talking about fixed elections haha thats a good one coming from them ... oh and half the important things are also never told in western media, i think they should stick their noses out of it. and now theres talk that israel wanna attack iran? they even talking about that even though iran developping nuclear bombs is a complete lie and israel have nukes? does anyone even really know what they read or watch on tv anymore?

well we can make them a deal we keep our tv out of there and they keep theirs out of here and we have more channel slots open for porn and movies then :) J/K

but seriously they can blame who they want, all gov'ts are corrupt but it wasn't BBC that made them riot in the streets. If that was the case then Israel could just beam a TV signal in telling all the Iranians to jump in a lake and then ust walk in when they are floating face down in the water.

Sorry but I find it hard to believe that so many people could just go ballistic simply because a game of Simon says gets out of hand.

thanks for the good read AZA.

no it was the media calling it a rigged election and getting the people going thats to blame but whatever .... its far from here i guess

no it was the media calling it a rigged election and getting the people going thats to blame but whatever .... its far from here i guess

well it probably was rigged but then everyone election everywhere is. I don't know where they draw the line in the sand when it comes to rigging votes but we have all seen it. If they have the money and run for office regardless how miserable they are they can usually find a way to discredit their opponents. They have no skeletons in the closet then the guy just resorts to mud slinging and name calling.

Politics is a dirty game whenever it is played. If you had one rich mofo run against Santa in an election here. Santa would lose as he would be accused of doing B & E's and being a pervert. The whole thing would be laughable if it wasn't so sad.

As long as people have free will you will never satisfy everyone. Gov't is a necessary evil I guess. People do not like being ruled by a democratic gov't, a dictator, a king, or any other title you want to give them and yet we can't survive on our own without someone setting down the rules. We really haven't come evry far since we learned to walk upright hehehe

A note on an elections everywhere:

"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."

Joseph Stalin




================"History tends to repeat itself"==================

Police arrest 26 AIDS activists at Capitol protest
Published: 7/9/09, 1:46 PM EDT
(What if there where hundred and thousand of people unlike Iran)only 26 sick people.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A group of AIDS activists was arrested Thursday for unlawfully demonstrating in the Capitol rotunda, a Capitol Police spokeswoman said.

Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said 11 men and 15 women each face a charge of unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct and loud and boisterous behavior. Their names and ages were not immediately released.

Schneider said the group entered the rotunda, located beneath the Capitol dome, and linked themselves together with a white chain at about 10 a.m. The area is usually crowded with tourists, but police restricted the traffic while they made arrests.

The activists carried signs in support of funding for needle exchange, HIV/AIDS housing and programs aimed at fighting AIDS. They chanted, "Fight global AIDS now," and, "Clean needles save lives." They marched in a circle before lying down on the floor.


Police bound the activists hands together and dragged some of the demonstrators to their feet as they arrested them.

The arrests came one day before President Barack Obama is to arrive in Ghana, where 320,000 people are HIV positive, according to the United Nations' AIDS fighting agency, UNAIDS.

The activists were part of a coalition of five AIDS groups from Washington, Philadelphia and New York. They included ACT UP Philadelphia, DC Fights Back, Health GAP, New York City AIDS Network and Housing Works.

Omolola Adele-Oso of DC Fights Back questioned why lawmakers were bailing out financial institutions instead of devoting more dollars to AIDS programs.

"HIV is not in a recession," Adele-Oso said in a written statement from the coalition about the demonstration.



Co