Foreign media being murdered and imprisoned in IRAN

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his re-election was "real and free" and cannot be questioned — but that isn't stopping his campaign rival from appealing the results.

Reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi accused the government of voter fraud and many of his supporters have clashed with police in Tehran's streets.

"Today, I have submitted my official formal request to the council to cancel the election result," Mousavi said in a statement. "I urge you Iranian nation to continue your nationwide protests in a peaceful and legal way."

Ahmadinejad dismissed Tehran's worst unrest in a decade as "not important," comparing it to passions after a football match. He insisted Friday's vote was "real and free" and the results showing his landslide victory were fair and legitimate. Along Tehran's Vali Asr street — where activists supporting rival candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi held a huge pre-election rally last week — tens of thousands marched in support of Ahmadinejad, waving Iranian flags and shouting his name.

Iran restored cell phone service that had been down in the capital since Saturday. But Iranians could not send text messages from their phones, and the government increased its Internet filtering in an apparent bit to undercut liberal voices. Web sites linked to reformists' new hero Mir Hossein Mousavi, who declared himself the true winner of Friday's presidential race and urged backers to resist the government, were down. Social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter were also not working.


The U.S. has refused to accept Ahmadinejad's claim of a landslide re-election victory said it was looking into allegations of election fraud. There are no independent election monitors in Iran.

Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday he has doubts about whether the election was free and fair. He said the U.S. and other countries need more time to analyze the results before making a better judgment.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday she hoped the outcome reflects the "genuine will and desire" of Iranian voters.

The European Union also said it was "concerned about alleged irregularities" during Friday's vote.
Past Iranian elections were considered generally fair. In 2005, when Ahmadinejad was first elected, the losing candidates claimed irregularities at the polls, but the charges were never investigated.

Mousavi called on his backers to avoid violence, but he is still talking tough about pressing his claims of election fraud. He charges the polls closed early but has not fully outlined all of his fraud allegations.

As you can see in this video the Iranian police are beating protesters, as they protest the alleged re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Reports are coming out of Iran that foreign journalists have been beaten and hauled away by the Iranian police. They are confiscating tapes and camera equipment. They are not renewing press visa's which are renewable every 10 days. So in another 10 days there will BE NO FOREIGN PRESS LEFT IN IRAN. The govt has blacked out all media. the state run media is covering Iran winning a Tae Kwon Doe tournament. Facebook, twitter and other websites have been shut down in Iran keeping information from coming out about what is actually happening on the streets of Tehran. Most of the video that made it out of Tehran has been taken on cell phones and other small devices.