Monday, August 10, 2009
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the United States did a lot “behind the scenes” to show support for demonstrators contesting Iran’s disputed presidential election results.
“We did not want to get between the legitimate protests and demonstrations of the Iranian people and the leadership,” Clinton said in an interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday.“And we knew that if we stepped in too soon, too hard... the leadership would try to use us to unify the country against the protestors.”
“Now, behind the scenes, we were doing a lot,” Clinton said. “We were doing a lot to really empower the protestors without getting in the way. And we’re continuing to speak out and support the opposition.”
Clinton was asked about the case of Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist detained in Iran since June 21 on allegations he helped orchestrate protests against the election results that saw Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned to power.
The top US diplomat said she was “just appalled at the treatment that Mr Bahari and others are receiving.”She described the trial Bahari faces as “a show trial,” saying the process is “a sign of weakness.”
“It demonstrates, I think, better than any of us could ever say, that this Iranian leadership is afraid of their own people, and afraid of the truth and the facts coming out,” Clinton said. The secretary of state reiterated that the United States believes it would be “unacceptable” for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.
“If they believe that this would give them a more secure position, a greater capacity to influence events, to intimidate their neighbors, to expand the reach of their ideology, they were mistaken,” she said. “We do not intend to accept nuclear weapons by Iran.”
END
and next thing you know, as if to prove how right Hillary is about the evil Iranian terrorist regime that is ready to obtain nuclear weapons and wipe Israel off the map any minute now, the Jerusalem Post reports that some of the lawyers who helped the protesters that the US was 'behind the scenes' supporting were gruesomely killed by the evil Iranian regime...
Iran executes seven lawyers who defended protesters (via Pimpin Turtle)
MASHHAD, Iran - Seven lawyers representing young Iranians being held for protesting the recent presidential election have been killed, The Jerusalem Post reported on Friday.
According to anonymous Iranian sources who spoke with the Post by telephone, the killings took place in two cities - Tabriz and Mashhad.
The bodies of five of the lawyers, who were representing many of the young Iranians imprisoned by the government, were delivered to their families in Tabriz earlier in the week.
According to the sources, some family members were sentenced to three-year prison terms for "disrupting security" and "encouraging unethical actions" against the Iranian regime.
Three of the attorneys had been beaten to death, their swollen faces barely recognizable by their families.
The other two lawyers, who were well known in the community, were executed for alleged drug possesion.
"These men did everything they could to help those people who had been wrongfully detained," one source told the Post. "The two more prominent figures were made an example by the regime; hence the drug charges. They were both good Muslims and they were framed by the regime's local authorities," the source said.
In Mashhad, two other lawyers, both of whom had been representing student protestors, were hanged on trumped-up changes of drug trafficking, the sources told the Post.
"Why would lawyers traffic in opium? It doesn't make any sense. The government is targeting lawyers and as a result, many have stopped representing protestors," one source said.
One Tehran-based attorney was able to secure the release of his brother-in-law, who also practices law in Mashhad.
"I was able to get him out," the attorney said, "but I am not proud of how I did so. I am sorry to say that I had to turn over all of my files and cases. In addition, I had to sign an agreement not to take on any further cases [of protesters] in the future," he said.
This attorney said his well-being was a byproduct of his uncle's loyalty to the regime.
"After the revolution in 1979, he gave away most of his money to organizations supported and endorsed by [Ayatollah] Ali Khamenei," he said.
Nonetheless, if he ever agreed in the future to represent any of the protestors, "even I would be out of my uncle's reach. I need to be very careful," he said.
"Just last week, a lawyer friend of mine disappeared. His family does not know his whereabouts. I don't think it is a coincidence that he also represented some of those who were detained during the rallies," he said.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs qualified a statement he'd made at a Tuesday press conference.
Gibbs had been asked if the White House considered Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the legitimate president of Iran, to which he responded, "He's the elected leader."
On Wednesday, he told reporters aboard Air Force One that he wanted to "correct a little bit of what I said yesterday. I denoted that Mr. Ahmadinejad was the elected leader of Iran. I would say it's not for me to pass judgement on [that].
"He's been inaugurated, that's a fact. Whether the election was fair, obviously the Iranian people still have questions about that and we'll let them decide that. I would simply say he's been inaugurated and we know that is simply a fact," the White House spokesman said.
"It's not for me or for us to denote his legitimacy, expect to acknowledge the fact," Gibbs concluded.
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