Iran Assembly of Experts chaired by Rafsanjani issued statement backing election results?

[Hannah Bell]

The serious news, and probably the most decisive piece of news about the election since the returns were announced, Iran's elected Assembly of Experts, chaired by Heshemi Rafsanjani, has issued a statement backing the reported results of the election. (Google translation)

Edit: The previous links have gone down. The report also apparently was not signed by Rafsanjani, but by his deputy on the Assembly. It is still presented as a report of the Assembly of Experts, and still renders it implausible that there are reasonable and unexplainable indications of major fraud in the election as in that case the Assembly could and would have taken much stronger action against Ahmadinejad and any other guilty parties. New link here:

In a statement issued on Saturday the Assembly of Experts expressed its “strong support” for the Supreme Leader’s statements on the presidential elections on Friday.

The 86-member assembly stated in the statement that it is hoped that the nation would realize the current condition and by sticking to the Leader’s guidelines preserve their patience and manifest their unity.

http://mideastreality.blogspot.com/2009/06/serious-and-not-serious-ways-we-know.html

Some commentators out there saying "it's over"...

[Xipe Totec]

1. Was this issued before or after they arrested Rafsanjani's family?

Just asking....

:shrug:

[ananda]

2. Well, yes, that's what I was wondering.

Before or after the arrests of Rafsanjani's
family members?

[Xipe Totec]

3. As you can see, torture is not the only way to obtain cooperation

:sarcasm:

[Hannah Bell]

13. or you could just murder her, like mousavi did to his opposition.

[Xipe Totec]

14. Makes sense that Rafsanjani should pay for Mousavi...

After all, Iraq paid for the crimes of some Saudi Arabians.

Glad to see collective punishment is still the coin of the realm.

:eyes:

[Hannah Bell]

5. per reports, no one's in custody now but his daughter.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-arrests22-2009jun22,0,2269803.story

Iran "calm"

daughter looks to be in her 50s.

[Xipe Totec]

6. Ah well, then, I guess it's not so bad.

We can trust the statement, since it's just his daughter in custody and not his family...

[Hannah Bell]

9. better treatment than mousavi gave his political opponents in the 80s (murder of thousands).

she's at least in her 50s, & was out speechifying against the regime.

realpolitik, baby - you might get arrested or worse, those are the risks.

edit: reported by other sources she was released too:

2:44 PM ET -- Reports: Rafsanjani's daughter Faeza released. A reader says that's what Al Arabiya is reporting. Looking for more confirmation. Update: BBC Persia is also reporting this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

[Hannah Bell]

4. after, so far as i can tell.

"State-run Press TV reported that Rafsanjani’s eldest daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, and four other unidentified family members were arrested late yesterday. Today evening, it said the four others had been released but that Hashemi remained in detention."

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090622/jsp/foreign/story_11142623.jsp


June 21, 2009


Assembly of Experts expresses strong support for Leader’s guidelines
Tehran Times Political Desk


TEHRAN -- In a statement issued on Saturday the Assembly of Experts expressed its “strong support” for the Supreme Leader’s statements on the presidential elections on Friday.


The 86-member assembly stated in the statement that it is hoped that the nation would realize the current condition and by sticking to the Leader’s guidelines preserve their patience and manifest their unity.

The Qom Seminary Teachers Society also issued a statement on Saturday declaring strong support for the guidelines of the Supreme Leader.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=197201



I'd presume they were politically able to arrest rafsanjani relations because they had sufficient backing.

guessing this is endgame...for the time being.


i'm reading there's been much less street action today.

[Party Person]

7. no surprise

I always though Achmedinijed won, "leaked results" and Twitter false flag psy ops notwithstanding.

[tiny elvis]

10. How can

arresting Rafsanjani relations help to quiet protests?

3 June 2009
(Ahmadinejad asked)
“Where is all this heavy spending on advertising coming from?”

He named Faize Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s daughter, whose personal millions have helped to provide the Mousavi campaign with green headscarves, t-shirts and rubber bracelets. With this, Ahmadinejad had turned the excitement and vigor of the Mousavi campaign on its head.

http://tehranbureau.com/2009/06/04/the-ghost-of-elections-past/

[tiny elvis]

11. misses the point

of the essay linked.

[C_U_L8R]

8. Not so fast - only one "expert" signed it

this was "statement" was discredited yesterday.


----
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/where-is-rafsanjani.html#more

One of Nico Pitney's readers says this is not what it seems:
I just wanted to point out that the letter of support written by assembly of experts in support of Khamenei's sermon is only signed by the deputy leader of the assembly, who is a former head of the judiciary and a staunch supporter of ahmadinejad, as well as a rival of Rafsanjani for the assembly's leadership election. He is the only one signing the letter and the government sponsored news media are reporting it as a letter from the full assembly.

[Hannah Bell]

12. other source reports it as rafsanjani's deputy. i don't see that any of the reports

especially yours from an anonymous poster, should be taken as gospel.

[JI7]

15. delete

[JI7]

16. who cares, i don't see how this is such decisive piece of news

after what the ruling regime did to their own people this past week and are still doing, the people have a right to oppose them and demand something new even if Ahmadinejad had won(which is still very unlikely).

[annabanana]

17. Rafsanjani's relatives have been arrested.

As the Iranian capital settled into a tense calm Sunday, new statements by reformist leaders and the arrest of the daughter of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - a senior cleric and an architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution - suggested the political struggle among the nation's power brokers may be intensifying.

State-owned Press TV reported that Faezeh Hashemi, Rafsanjani's eldest daughter, and four other family members were arrested Saturday after she addressed supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. State media later said they were released.

The arrests were among growing indications of the divide between Iran's senior clerics over the direction of the country. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supports hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while reformers such as Rafsanjani back Mousavi. Rafsanjani heads the Expediency Council, which mediates disputes between parliament and the presidency, and the Assembly of Experts, which oversees the office of the Supreme Leader.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/06/22/MNSQ18B83E.DTL

[Hannah Bell]

19. released the same day.

[cali]

18. so what?

I don't think you get that this isn't about Mousavi or Ahmadinejad. Not at this point.

[Hannah Bell]

20. i beg to differ.