Let's Not Forget About Iran

In all the brouhaha over health care reform and the economy; let's not forget about Iran and what its people are going through.

In typical agenda setting fashion, the media has turned its attention away (for the most part) from Iran and the aftermath of the elections. By doing so the topic has lost its "top of mind awareness" and when that happens Americans tend to think the problem is over. It is not over. The media has simply gotten bored with it. They are setting the agenda for what we are to think about, not exactly what to think mind you but certainly what to think about. The famine, for example, in Ethiopia hasn't gone away simply because we haven't seen it in the news lately.

Those arrested in Iran are facing trials that are travesties of justice. Some of the clerics on the ruling council are calling for the execution of those who have taken part in the protests, people are being killed while in custody, women are being raped and now Mr. Ahmadinejad is saying the other candidates in the election should be arrested for the trouble they have caused and will continue to cause if they aren't.

Human Rights Watch has weighed in: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/08/14/iran-investigate-security-chiefs-post-election-abuse calling for an investigation of post election abuse.

The United Nations has received reports and complaints of at least 300 instances of torture: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/08/13/un.iran.torture/index.html?eref=rss_world of those in custody.

A good source (perhaps a bit skewed) for what is going on is Mr. Mousavi's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/mousavi?ref=nf a great deal of the postings are not in English but they are doing a good job of getting the translations up fairly quickly.

There are plenty of online sources for information, despite the Iranian government's efforts to block information from getting out. People are still posting to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and so on. These are people on the ground there, people who live there, Iranians who want the world to know what is going on.

Not every leading cleric is buying into the "party line" either. Every so often one of them stands up and speaks out against the administration. They know the world is watching.

We need to continue to watch.

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