Ahmadinejad wins Iran presidential election

[IRC Chat]

 IRC Chat

Web interface
IRC

Blue AceMysticMulti_CEMBOmega_MobileOutlineOmega_TPTP_V097_Default Mult

[Submissive Bob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6uMrzdhk9E
 

[PeruvianSkies]

From the latest Green Brief -

7.   After US Vice President Joe Biden?s statement yesterday, that suggested the US would not interfere if Israel were to attack Iran?s nuclear facilities, Saudi Arabia was reported as offering Israel its airspace for any future attacks on Iran. However, Saudi Arabia today denied that it had made such comments. In the meantime, US President Obama has vehemently denied that Biden?s statements implied that the US had given Israel ?a green light? to attack Iran?s nuclear facilities.

I don't understand that. Why would Saudi want Iran to be attacked?


This is horrendous-

16.   Confirmed reports from Evin prison indicate that the torture of prisoners has intensified. A reliable source confirmed that hot water was being poured on prisoners, they weren?t allowed to sleep, and that many had been put in solitary confinement. We now confirmed instances of sexual harassment, and rape of male and female prisoners.

 

Someone has to interfere. This has gone far enough!

[PeruvianSkies]

I'll report the ways to help Iran as it is important -

[SIZE="3"]Read this if you want to help or get help![/SIZE]

Helpers:

A. Anonymous has been faithfully running this forum for the past three weeks besides their regular website. The amount of traffic and the extra content has added to their costs of running their servers. If you want to help monetarily, you can check out their donation page at: General Expense - Why We Protest   

B. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor: آنلاين Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: 

Gonzo Times � Torrents List (82 videos)

[J4m3z]

Is this the same Anonymous that campaigns against Scientology?

[PeruvianSkies]

I'm guessing so, their donation page talks about that church

[osmanthus]

From the latest Green Brief -

I don't understand that. Why would Saudi want Iran to be attacked?

It isn't so much that Saudi would want Iran to be attacked. It's that Saudi does not want to be attacked by Iran. Think about it. Iran is hardcore Shia. Saudi is hardcore Sunni. Not exactly the best of friends. Iran has an active nuclear program and is openly developing long range delivery systems. Ergo, from the Saudi point of view Iran is potentially a grave threat. If the Israelis bomb the crap out of Iranian nuclear facilities this would suit the Saudis perfectly, because they get two things out of it.

1/ Removal of the threat of Iranian attack.
2/ Another opportunity to grandstand to the ummah about the evil Israelis attacking Islamic nations.

For the Saudis it's a win/win situation. 

[PeruvianSkies]

Oh, that's crappy.

[J4m3z]

I'm guessing so, their donation page talks about that church

Lol, yes it is. I recognize the smartly dressed headless man symbol and the funny masks they wear at protests. Very attractive organization in my opinion. I was once up for joining them but then I suddenly lost interest.

[PeruvianSkies]

The Rape of Taraneh: Prison Abuse of Iran's Protesters
The names and stories of the Iranians who have been brutalized or killed in the aftermath of the post-election protests are gradually seeping into a memorial vault of the faces of suffering and endurance in the name of sociopolitical reform.

One by one, the faces of protest are providing an essential yearbook of the individuals who comprise the protest masses, and a catalogue of the Iranian government's treatment of political activists.

On Friday July 19, a large group of mourners gathered at the Ghoba mosque in Tehran to await a speech about the martyrs of the post-election protests by presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. According to one Iranian blog, 28-year-old Taraneh Mousavi was one of a group of people that was arrested by plainclothesed security forces for attending the gathering.

Taraneh, whose first name is Persian for "song", disappeared into arrest.

Weeks later, according to the blog, her mother received an anonymous call from a government agent saying that her daughter has been hospitalized in Imam Khomeini Hospital in the city of Karaj, just north of Tehran -- hospitalized for "rupturing of her womb and anus in... an unfortunate accident".

When Taraneh's family went to the hospital to find her, they were told she was not there.

According to another Iranian blog which claims to have original information about Taraneh from her family, Iranian security forces contacted Taraneh's family after the hospital visit warning them not to publicize Taraneh's story and not to associate her disappearance with arrests made at post-election protests, claiming instead that she had tried to harm herself because of feeling guilty for having pre-marital sex.

Witnesses have come forward to the various Internet sites who are covering Taraneh's story, stating that she was mentally and physically abused in Tehran's notorious Evin prison and also that a person who matches her physical description and injuries had been treated at the Imam Khomeini Hospital, was unconscious when witnessed and was later transferred out of the hospital while still unconscious.

Taraneh's is not the first allegation of brutal raping of a post-election protester -- according to the UK Guardian, an 18 year old boy in Shiraz was repeatedly gang raped by prison officials while in detention after being arrested for participating in the protests on June 15. That boy's father won't let him back in the family home.

Despite its agitations for reform, Iranian society remains traditional, according to Iranian-British blogger Potkin Azarmehr, and it's the stigma of rape that is being used as a weapon against the protesters. "By killing protesters, the government makes martyrs of them, but by raping them and allowing them to live, it makes them shunned in society," Azarmehr said.

Not that the stigma of rape is exclusive to Iran and other more traditional societies. A friend of Azarmehr's who is presently in Iran told him that he's "sick of hearing that people like Taraneh are better off dead" from friends abroad, just because they "can't handle the fact that she's been raped."

The psychology of threatening protesters and political activists is not a new science. The strategies and ultimate goals are the same for any kind of torture: to humiliate, disembody (through denying the victim authority over his/her own physical self), extract confessions (whether true or false) and ultimately permanently terrorize the victims to prevent further 'disturbances'. The last part often fails spectacularly, as victims tend to feel even more antagonism toward the perpetrators, and even more of a 'do or die' mentality about agitating for change at any cost.

Prison abuse and torture is also about marking these victims as defiled human beings -- it's like a scarlet letter of social isolation against them, to deny them the community support and strength which they need to move past those memories and not be defined by them. This is where others can step in and change the very attitudes toward abuse which so many institutions count on when they commit these crimes.

The story of Taraneh's condition is still unfolding and there are no certain confirmations of its details beyond the reports of bloggers who are obliged to remain anonymous for safety reasons -- but the idea that political prisoners are being mistreated in this way is not new to Iran and is a significant element of a program of terror which has sustained the current system in Iran.

Taraneh's story must be told and it must be heard. Perhaps her life can still be saved.

I feel sick.

[PeruvianSkies]

Green Brief #29

I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter - and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons (CC). So use it freely and post it wherever you wish to.)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Wednesday, July 15 . (A list of all the Green Briefs: http://ded1.hybrid-optix.com/greenbriefs.html)


Protests / Unrest

1.   The main lawyers? association of Iran announced on Tuesday that a new rule for lawyers devised and about to be implemented by the Judiciary was infringing upon their freedoms and was against the constitution. Today, 52 prominent Iranian lawyers released a statement calling upon the government to respect people?s rights. They asked the government to charge people within 24 hours of their arrest or set them free.

2.   Families of more than 30 political prisoners rallied in front of the Islamic Courts in Tehran, asking for the immediate release of their loved ones. The Mourning Mothers group has asked on the people of Iran to join them in their upcoming rally which is to be held next week. On Thursday, prayer sessions will be held across Iran for the safe return of detained protesters across Iran.

3.   Isfahan?s governor announced today that anyone who supports Mousavi is an enemy of Islam. It has been reported that electricity and water supply have been cut off in many main bazaars in Iran?s Kurdish areas because they held wide-spread strikes. This can only be partially confirmed. There were also reports of a bomb explosion in Sanandaj in Kordestan province. Reportedly the bomb exploded inside a government building. This remains unconfirmed at this point.

4.   There are rumors that protests are being planned for Friday ? none could be confirmed. After reports surfaced that pro-Mousavi people should wear a green band or green clothes to signify their support for him during Friday prayers, twitter sources quickly claimed that it was a government ploy to identify protesters. Many bloggers have explicitly asked people to not wear any green for the Friday prayers in Tehran. A new form of protest by the people of Tehran is to write ?Death to the Dictator? on banknotes. The practice is gaining ground and the plan is to have it written down on all banknotes circulating within the country.


Opposition

5. Mahdi Karoubi today visited Sohrab A?rabi?s family. He also announced today that he will continue to fight for the rights of detainees and people whose property has been damaged by the government. He stressed that the government needed to let people know about the whereabouts of their loved ones. The families of several political prisoners also met with A?rabi?s family.

6. Mir Hossein Mousavi announced today that he will be joining the Friday prayers in Tehran this week. There were rumors yesterday that he might not attend and that the statement was a ploy by the government to lure protesters in. His announcement entails that he is joining after repeated requests by his supporters.

7. A source close to Hashemi Rafsanjani claims that Rafsanjani will defend people rights in his Friday prayer sermon and show his discontent with the post-election violence. The source, Ghoratullah Alikhani, a member of the Imam?s Way faction of the parliament, claimed that it was a tipping point in the post-election unrests and Rafsanjani was going to make important pro-protester announcement. Rafsanjani announced yesterday that his relationship with Khamenei was that of two lovers and it would never be broken. It is worth mentioning, however, that Alikhani is a staunch pro-reform MP and videos of him defending Mousavi and lampooning the election in a speech inside the parliament emerged right after the election.


Government / International

8. Government-owned media and several prominent pro-Khamenei and pro-Ahmadinejad politicians are pushing the government to prosecute Mousavi, calling him the instigator for of the current unrest in Iran.

9. After the airline accident in Iran that killed 168 people ? all aboard -, Iranian President-Select Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced  today that Iran?s airlines were the safest and most secure airlines in the world. The Russian-made plane was traveling from Tehran to Yerevan, Armenia when it crashed near Ghazvin, northwest of Tehran.

10. Reports have confirmed that Ahmadinejad?s new cabinet to be introduced in August will be composed mostly of staunch conservatives. Reports of him forming a compromise government with reformists aboard have been vehemently denied. Today, Vietnamese President Nguyễn Minh Triết called Ahmadinejad and congratulated him on his historic selection as Iran?s president. Nguyễn joins a small number of heads of state that have called and congratulated Ahmadinejad.


Arrests / Releases / Deaths

11. The International Human Rights campaign in Iran announced today that the number of people killed in recent unrests in Iran were far higher than what the government was reported. According to a report published by the organization, last month more than 34 bodies were brought to a morgue in Tehran in a single day while the government claims that no more than 20 people have died in all. According to the report, the bodies were brought to three hospitals in Tehran on June 30. 19 were brought to Imam Khomeini Hospital, 8 to Rasoole Akram Hospital and 7 to Loqmane Hakeem Hospital.

12.  It has now been confirmed that several students that have been missing from Birjand University in Southern Khorasan province are currently being held in detention. Among these students are Amin Ostadi and Milad Garajian. It has also been reported that the people in charge of interrogating prisoners at Evin Prison are Saeed Mortazavi, Hasan Zareh Denvai-Heydarifar and Hosseini Rasikh.

13. The Ministry of Information announced today that prisoners held at various prisons in Iran were being interrogated and the police were investigating their crimes. He also claimed that several detainees had confessed to their roles in the unrests in the country and that they also had other evidence to implicate them in violent acts.

Miscellaneous

14. Farhad Fakhreddini, the director of the national Orchestra of Iran quit today over what he called the government?s mistreatment of peaceful protesters.


(I promise to get better and report on time starting tomorrow.)

*A hearty thanks to Sahar joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who're spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

[SIZE="3"]Read this if you want to help or get help![/SIZE]

Helpers:


A. You can retweet this link and help others know what is going on in Iran.

B: If you would like to help out with compiling all the news stories from Iran in a geo-spatial context, please request for sub-editorship at #iran.aic - WebIRC - AnonNet - Check out the website for the project at: Iran Map | Iran Map or email me at dbosca@gmail.com.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor and the Iranian Election - Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian's Brain

Farsi:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor: آنلاين Tor

Get video torrents and help on Tor here: 

Gonzo Times � Torrents List (82 videos)

[PeruvianSkies]

Iran hangs 13 members of rebel Sunni Muslim group
TEHRAN, Iran -- Authorities in southeastern Iran on Tuesday hanged 13 members of a Sunni Muslim rebel group convicted of bombings and killings in the area, the official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday.
The report said Abdulhamid Rigi, brother of Abdulmalik Rigi, leader of the group known as Jundallah or Soldiers of God, had been scheduled to be hanged along with the 13 men on Tuesday but his execution was postponed. It gave no reason for the postponement.
Earlier on Tuesday, state radio reported that Abdulhamid Rigi was one of 14 men hanged.
There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
The executions, according to the state radio, took place in the city of Zahedan, some 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) southeast of Iran's capital Tehran and scene of some of the deadliest attacks blamed on Jundallah, which has carried out bombings, kidnappings and killings in the area in recent years.
The group is composed of Sunnis from the Baluchi ethnic minority who complain of persecution by the overwhelmingly Shiite and Persian Iranian government.
IRNA said all 13 men were supposed to be hanged in public but authorities changed their mind at the last minute and decided to execute them inside Zahedan's main prison. The state radio had earlier reported that the executions took place in public.
The area in southeast Iran where Jundallah is active also is a key smuggling point for drugs - mainly opium - and is the scene of frequent clashes between police and traffickers.
Iranian authorities say Jundallah has close ties to "foreign forces" in neighboring Afghanistan, a possible reference to the al-Qaida terror network.
Iran has faced several ethnic and religious insurgencies that have carried out sporadic, sometimes deadly attacks in recent years - though none have amounted to a serious threat to the government.
In May, a suicide bombing targeting a Shiite mosque in Zahedan killed 25 worshippers. In 2007, a car bomb killed 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards near Zahedan, capital of the large Sistan-Baluchistan province and home to about a million of Iran's five million Sunni Muslims.
The remainder of Iran's 70 million people are mostly Shiite Muslims.

[PeruvianSkies]

I'll post some important info from some of the previous recent green briefs-

#28
10.    New reports have emerged that the Iranian government has stored the bodies of hundreds of protesters killed during the unrest in Southwest Tehran - instead of giving them to their loved ones. Norooz - an online Iranian news service - claims that one family was taken to a building and shown pictures of hundreds of dead detainees in order to identify their loved one. It should be noted that the building they were taken to was one that stored frozen fruit. If the above-mentioned claim of ?hundreds of bodies? is true, it would lend credibility to the claim that the number of people killed in the post-election unrest is far higher than what has been reported so far. (In the Green Briefs 4 and 5 we speculated that the number of people that had been killed by then was likely over a hundred.)

#27
2.   Kordestan province and many other Kurdish areas in Iran?s northwest observed a strike today. The strike was held in rememberance of Kurdish political activist, Dr. Abdorrahman Ghasimlo and in protest of the elections. All shops were closed in Saqez, Mahabad, Bokan and Sardasht as well as a few areas in Urumieh. The general strike was so wide-spread in Saqez that even rural areas around that city closed all shops in a show of solidarity. Transportation was completely jammed. No taxis could be seen on the streets of Saqez.

4.   Shirin Ebadi ? Iranian human rights activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 has asked Germany to question Nokia and Siemens executives in connection with the companies? sale of surveillance equipment to the Iranian government. Nokia admitted to selling phone-surveillance equipment to the Iranian government two weeks ago.

About the Nokia one, I've managed to find these sources-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8112550.stm
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/nokia-siemens-boycott/

I think it's a good idea to boycott them.

[osmanthus]

Despite its agitations for reform, Iranian society remains traditional, according to Iranian-British blogger Potkin Azarmehr, and it's the stigma of rape that is being used as a weapon against the protesters. "By killing protesters, the government makes martyrs of them, but by raping them and allowing them to live, it makes them shunned in society," Azarmehr said.

Not that the stigma of rape is exclusive to Iran and other more traditional societies. A friend of Azarmehr's who is presently in Iran told him that he's "sick of hearing that people like Taraneh are better off dead" from friends abroad, just because they "can't handle the fact that she's been raped."

This is exactly the same tactic that was used by Serbian forces against Bosnian Muslim women during the war there. It ended up backfiring to a degree because although these sort of cultural attitudes aren't affected by the situation of isolated women it becomes a different matter when the majority of women have been raped. You can't shun or kill them all without destroying your own society and thereby handing your attackers victory on a silver platter. There was a government-backed push to declare the rape victims war heroes, although I don't know if it resulted in any lasting changes in attitudes.   

Anyway the fact that such tactics are still seen as effective in Iran is an indictment of Iranian society in general, and of the security forces in particular.

[osmanthus]

Cleric says Iran in crisis, police fight protesters

TEHRAN (Reuters) - In apparent defiance of Iran's supreme leader, a powerful cleric declared the Islamic Republic in crisis after a disputed election, and tens of thousands of protesters used Friday prayers to stage the biggest show of dissent for weeks.

Clashes erupted in central Tehran between police and followers of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, who still contests official results that showed hardline President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad had been re-elected by a wide margin.

"Police fired teargas and beat supporters of Mousavi in Keshavarz Boulevard," a witness said, adding that protesters were carrying hundreds of green banners -- Mousavi's campaign color -- and chanting "Ahmadinejad, resign, resign."

State television showed footage of police firing tear gas to disperse protesters, chanting "Death to dictator" and "Mousavi we support you."

Some demonstrators shouted "Death to Russia" in protest at Moscow's declared recognition of Ahmadinejad's election win.

Protest cries of Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) were heard from Tehran rooftops again overnight and they were longer-lived than on previous evenings in the capital.

Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a moderate who backed Mousavi's election campaign, said many Iranians had doubts about the official result of the June 12 vote.

"I hope with this sermon we can pass through this period of hardships that can be called a crisis," said the influential cleric, leading prayers for the first time since the poll.

Live state radio broadcasts of Friday prayers at Tehran University, with a dual religious and political sermon delivered by a top cleric, have been a staple of revolutionary Iran.

Rafsanjani did not go as far as Mousavi and reformist candidate Mehdi Karoubi in denouncing the conduct of the vote, but his remarks still posed a clear challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has upheld the election result and accused foreign powers of fomenting the unrest.

Karoubi was physically beaten at the prayers, the state news agency IRNA quoted Tehran's governor Morteza Tamaddon as saying, blaming the beating on "the elements behind this suspicious event."

<snip>

Rafsanjani, who heads the Assembly of Experts -- a powerful body that can in theory dismiss the supreme leader -- attacked the way authorities had handled the poll and its aftermath.

"When people are not in the scene and their votes are not there, that government is not Islamic," he said, referring to opposition charges of vote-rigging. "Today is a bitter day."

Rafsanjani said it was vital to restore voters' faith in the system. "That trust cannot be brought back in a day or a night ... We have all been harmed," he added, calling for unity.

He criticized the Guardian Council, a clerical body which vets candidates and considers election complaints, for failing to do its job even though it was given five extra days to make its assessment. The council has denied any irregularities.

Using harsh language against the use of security forces to quell protests, Rafsanjani, who was a close aide to Iran's late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, said:

"We knew what Imam Khomeini wanted. He didn't want the use of terror or arms, even in fights (for the revolution)."

The election stirred the most striking display of internal unrest in Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, since the 1979 revolution and exposed deep rifts in its ruling elite.

"If the Islamic and Republican sides of the revolution are not preserved, it means we have forgotten the principles of the revolution," said Rafsanjani, who was enraged during the election campaign when Ahmadinejad accused him of corruption.

Full story here.
Looks like the authorities' tactics are backfiring on them. Couldn't happen to nicer people.

[PeruvianSkies]

From the lastest green brief-

21. I can now confirm the gang rape and death of Taraneh Mousavi. She was a leftist reformist student and was detained by Basijis a few days ago. She was raped repeatedly and her charred body was found in Ghazvin two days ago. Another detainee reportedly died on July 9. The cause of death cannot be ascertained at this point.

[J4m3z]

how does "green brief" know these things?

[SmartAssmodeus]

I'll post some important info from some of the previous recent green briefs-

About the Nokia one, I've managed to find these sources-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8112550.stm
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/nokia-siemens-boycott/

I think it's a good idea to boycott them.

It's a waste of time.  Here in the States, we have something called CALEA - "Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Agencies".  In essence, it requires that all communications networks in the USA be wiretap friendly and arranged in such a way that a Fed sitting in his office can pick up a special phone, dial the number he wants to tap, and it happens.  England, China, and many other countries have the same abilities and enabling laws.

[aife]

 a bit of pressure on some of these firms wouldn't go amiss , but there would need to be some serious organisation to arrange anything that would really affect the multi nationals . To some extent it's true that these features are part of the standard package these days , but many major companies have shown that they have absolutely no scruples when it comes to complying with questionable regimes -

              http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10023104-71.html

              http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4221538.stm

              http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/060130-080248


           The bottom line is -  THERE IS NO PRIVACY . People need to be aware of that , whether they're blogging , chatting on their mobile , or even swiping their tesco cards . This is the world we live in now ( and it's not just the government and big business that you have to worry about either ...)

[PeruvianSkies]

It's a waste of time.  Here in the States, we have something called CALEA - "Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Agencies".  In essence, it requires that all communications networks in the USA be wiretap friendly and arranged in such a way that a Fed sitting in his office can pick up a special phone, dial the number he wants to tap, and it happens.  England, China, and many other countries have the same abilities and enabling laws.

Considering Iran's history Nokia could simply have left this out of the package.

how does "green brief" know these things?

Twitter. It says at the top of every brief that it's sources are twitter reports. Of course twitter is full of false information and NiteOwl does his best to sort through it, he adds to his disclaimer that his information is not 100%.

[PeruvianSkies]

18.   Disturbing news continues to emerge from Evin Prison. Released detainees claim that prisoners are chained to walls within the prison?s halls - in hot and overcrowded conditions. Prisoners are frequently beaten while other prisoners are forced to watch. Sleep-deprivation is common. Food and medication are hard to come by. Other sources also report of continued use of sexual assault as a torture tactic (we have already confirmed that many prisoners have been raped).

Those sick bastards!

[J4m3z]

It just seems to be one report that will make readers furious after another. And I mean that to be critical of the sincerity of these reports.

[PeruvianSkies]

It's hardly news that these people are being beaten and raped. It's been on the news but considering Iran's mass censorship Twitter is the best way for the Iranians to report what is heppening. Whether you find them to be authentic or not is up to the reader. As I said NiteOwl does mention that his reports may contain false information, however if it was completely untrue I'm quite sure some Iranians would have flagged him for it.

[J4m3z]

What is this latest "Twitter" craze? I keep seeing that word everywhere but no idea what it is. Is it like that "Youtube" word? And what is "NiteOwl"?

[PeruvianSkies]

lol! You are so behind the times Twitter is another service like facebook, but it's worse than facebook. It's good at providing news though. Basically it's like facebook's status updates, and you can attach reports to it. You can see the twitter updates from Iran in sites like this one- http://iran.twazzup.com/

NiteOwl is the user doing the Green Briefs on the Anonymous Iran forum.

[J4m3z]

Ah so I'm not missing much then?  And don't worry I know what youtube is