2009 Iranian presidential election, Campaign, Debates
From 2 to 8 June 2009 Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported nightly debates on TV channel IRIB 3 between two candidates at a time, with each candidate facing the others once. This was the first time Iran had held televised debates between candidates. Each debate lasted for around one and a half hours. During the debate on 3 June between President Ahmadinejad and reformist rival, former Prime Minister Mousavi, Ahmadinejad made accusations regarding former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the Iranian Revolution. Rafsanjani responded to these charges on 9 June in an open letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei requesting that he stepped in to rebuke Ahmadinejad for his comments at the debate.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Campaign, Polling
The opinion polls within Iran were considered unreliable. A number of polls conducted between relatively small voting groups, like university students and workers, were reported as election propaganda. More general polls reported in the media did not state the polling organization nor the basic facts about the methodology. The results showed a high variance and depend heavily on who was reporting the poll. In 2002, the polling organization Ayandeh and another polling organization was closed and its directors were arrested. The director of Ayandeh, Abbas Abdi, spent several years in prison.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Campaign, Polling
Mousavi's and Karroubi's campaign posters in Tehran claimed that a high turnout would reduce Ahmadinejad's chance of winning the election. Karroubi's campaign manager, Gholamhossein Karbaschi, claimed that the chance of Ahmadinejad losing the election would be over 65 percent if over 32 million people voted, but less than 35 percent if less than 27 million people voted.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Campaign, Polling
An independent poll, conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow: The Center for Public Opinion, a nonprofit institute that researches attitudes toward extremism, found that Ahmadinejad was leading by a margin of 2 to 1. 34% said they would vote for Ahmadinejad, 14% favored Mousavi, 2% favored Karroubi, 1% favored Rezaee and 27% were undecided. The poll was taken from 11 to 20 May. The poll was carried out by a company whose work for ABC News and the BBC in the Middle East has received an Emmy award. Polling itself was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Campaign, Polling
Writing in The Washington Post, pollsters Ken Ballen and Patrick Doherty have used this to suggest that Ahmadinejad's apparent victory might reflect the will of the Iranian people. The poll was quoted by Reuters, Khaleej Times and Jim Muir of BBC News. However, the Irish Times, while quoting the poll, also pointed out that it was taken three weeks before the election, and electoral campaigning in Iran is only allowed for a period of 30 days prior to the election date, which means this poll was conducted only one week into the campaigning.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Campaign, Polling
Another critic of the poll, Mansoor Moaddel, pointed out that of "1,731 people contacted [by the poll], well over half either refused to participate (42.2%) or did not indicate a preferred candidate (15.6%)." For comparison, the average response rate in US for such telephonic surveys does not exceed 30%, while the minimum response rate for an opinion poll to be considered scientific by many leading academic journals is 50%.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Campaign, Polling
A post-election national poll was conducted in late August and early September 2009 by the American polling agency, World Public Opinion, which is affiliated to the University of Maryland. Of the initial 46% respondents of the poll, 27% did not state their chosen candidate, 55% said that they had voted for Ahmadinejad. Both Mr Karroubi and Mr Rezai received minimal support. 87% of respondents replied that they had voted compared to 85% according to the official figures, which is within the margin of error provided. Also, the survey found that 62% of Iranians had "strong confidence" in the election result whilst 64% expressed a similar feeling towards the incumbent president. This finding almost exactly matches up with the proportion of the vote that Ahmadinejad received.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Irregularities, Pre-election violence
On 1 June, a campaign office of Ahmadinejad's primary opponent, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, was torched. The office was located in the city of Qom. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. At the same time, it was reported that an assassination had been attempted against former president Mohammad Khatami by means of a bomb placed on an aircraft he was to board.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Irregularities, Blocking of communications
Mobile phone communications were interrupted in Tehran on election day and the BBC has stated that "heavy electronic jamming" was being used to halt their broadcasts. On 23 May 2009, the Iranian government temporarily blocked access to Facebook across the country. Gulf News reported that this move was a response to the use of Facebook by candidates running against Ahmadinejad. PC World reported that Mousavi's Facebook page had more than 6,600 supporters. Access was restored by 26 May 2009.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Irregularities, Alleged vote rigging or coup attempt
The New York Times quoted an unnamed employee of the Interior Ministry claiming that "the government had been preparing its fraud for weeks, purging anyone of doubtful loyalty and importing pliable staff members from around the country." The New Yorker stated that "dissident employees of the Interior Ministry... have reportedly issued an open letter" saying that the election was stolen. The Guardian has also mentioned "reports of a leaked interior ministry figures allegedly suggesting Mousavi had won", although the article questioned the credibility of the report.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Irregularities, Alleged vote rigging or coup attempt
The Guardian reported on 17 June 2009 that an Iranian news website identified at least 30 polling sites with turnout over 100% and 200 sites with turnout over 95%. On 21 June 2009, a spokesman from the Guardian Council (an organ of the Iranian government) stated the number of votes cast exceeded the number of eligible voters in no more than 50 cities. The Council argued this was a normal phenomenon, which had also taken place in previous elections, as people are not obliged to vote where they had been born/registered.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Irregularities, Alleged vote rigging or coup attempt
On 18 June, Iranian film makers Marjane Satrapi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf appeared before Green Party members in the European Parliament to present a document allegedly received from a member of the Iranian electoral commission claiming that Mir-Hossein Mousavi had actually won the election, and that the conservative incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad had received only 12% of the vote.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Result, Analysis
According to Reza Esfandiari and Yousef Bozorgmehr, the election data is consistent with a natural outcome in a statistical sense, allowing for some possible fraud at the local level.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Result, Analysis
Mohtashami, former interior minister of Iran, who was in the election monitoring committee of Mousavi's campaign claimed that according to official censuses, the number of counted votes in 70 municipalities were more than the number of eligible voters who lived in those regions. In all those cities Ahmadinejad won by 80% to 90% However, "excess votes" have been common in all Iranian elections partly due to the way eligible voters are counted. For example, the Interior Ministry based their calculation of eligible voters on birth certificate registrations. Iranians do not register to vote and hundreds of thousands regularly vote outside their own regions. Shemiran, which had the highest excess voter turnout (13 times the number of eligible voters), overwhelmingly voted for Mousavi.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Result, Analysis
On 17 June, Tabnak, the news agency close to defeated candidate Mohsen Rezaei whose official vote tally was 678,240 votes in the election, stated that "Mohsen Rezaei, until yesterday afternoon, found evidence that proves at least 900,000 Iranians, who had sent in their national ID card numbers, voted for [him]." However, there is no way of independently verifying whether those who disclosed their ID numbers had actually voted for Rezaei.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Result, Analysis
BBC Iranian affairs analyst Sadeq Saba found abnormalities in the way results were announced. Instead of results by province, the "results came in blocks of millions of votes," with very little difference between the blocks in the percentages going to each candidate. This suggested that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did equally well in rural and urban areas, while his three opponents did equally badly in their home regions and provinces as in the rest of the country. This contradicted "all precedent in Iranian politics", where Ahmadinejad had been very popular in rural areas and unpopular in the big cities, where ethnic minorities had favored anti-establishment candidates, and where candidates had tended to carry their home provinces.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Result, Analysis
Another anomaly, according to British-based researcher Ali Alizadeh, is that a large turnout did not favor the opposition, since in elections, both in Iran and abroad, "those who usually don’t vote, i.e. the silent majority, only come out when they want to change the status quo."


2009 Iranian presidential election, Result, Analysis
According to modern Middle Eastern and South Asian historian Juan Cole, there were several anomalies in the election results. Official reports gave Ahmadinejad 50% of the vote in Tabriz despite the fact that this was the capital of Mousavi's home province, Eastern Azerbaijan, where Mousavi's rallies were well attended and which has traditionally given good turnouts for even "minor presidential candidates" who came from the province. Ahmadinejad also won Tehran province by over 50%, but crucially lost to Mousavi in the actual city of Tehran and was also soundly beaten in the affluent suburb of Shemiran to the north of the capital.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Result, Analysis
Statistical analyses of the official election results were published in Journal of Applied Statistics, an online note, in blogs and in The Washington Post.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Protests
Clashes broke out between police and groups protesting the election results from early morning on Saturday onward. Initially, the protests were largely peaceful. However, as time passed, they became increasingly violent. Some protesters began to get violent after the results of the election were announced. Angry crowds in Tehran broke into shops, tore down signs, and smashed windows. Civil unrest took place as protesters set fire to tyres outside the Interior Ministry building and others formed a human chain of around 300 people to close off a major Tehran street.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Protests
The demonstrations grew bigger and more heated than the 1999 student protests. Al Jazeera English described 13 June situation as the "biggest unrest since the 1979 revolution." It also reported that protests seemed spontaneous without any formal organization. Two hundred people protested outside Iran's embassy in London on 13 June. Ynet stated that "tens of thousands" protested on 13 June. Demonstrators chanted phrases such as "Down with the dictator", "Death to the dictator", and "Give us our votes back". Mousavi urged for calm and asked that his supporters refrain from acts of violence.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Protests
Ynet reported on 14 June that two people had died in the rioting so far. That day, protests had been organized in front of the Iranian embassies in Turkey, Dubai, Paris, Berlin, London, Rome, Sydney, Vienna and The Hague. In response to the reformist protests, tens of thousands of people rallied in Tehran on 14 June to support the victory of Ahmadinejad.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Protests
On 15 June, Mousavi rallied, with anywhere from hundreds of thousands to three million, of his supporters in Tehran, despite being warned by state officials that any such rally would be illegal. The demonstration was Mousavi's first public appearance after the election. Protests focused around Azadi Tower, around which lines of people stretched for more than nine kilometers met. Gunshots were reported to have been fired at the rally, where Mousavi had spoken to his supporters saying, "The vote of the people is more important than Mousavi or any other person." All three opposition candidates appeared.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Protests
Competing rallies for Mousavi and for Ahmadinejad took place on 16 June. The pro-Ahmadinejad protesters, chanting the phrases "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel! ", outnumbered their opponents, but they did not match the numbers of opponents who had protested the day before. Reports from the state media and elsewhere stated on 16 June that seven people have died in all of the protests so far. However, The Times quoted a Rasoul Akram Hospital nurse that day who asserted that 28 people have suffered from "bullet wounds" and eight have died so far. Over half a million reformist Iranians marched silently from Haft-e-Tir Square to Vali Asr Square on 17 June. That day, the Iranian opposition group, "Human Rights Activists News Agency", stated that 32 people had died protesting during the events of 24 and 25 June.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Arrests
On the weekend of 13 and 14 June, in a series of raids across Tehran, the government arrested over 170 people, according to police officials. Among them were prominent reformist politicians, including MIRO founder Behzad Nabavi, IIPF leader Mohsen Mirdamadi, and former president Mohammad Khatami's brother Mohammad-Reza Khatami, who was later released. Also arrested were Mostafa Tajzadeh and Mohsen Aminzadeh, whom the IRNA said were involved in orchestrating protests on 13 June. Anonymous sources said that the police stormed the headquarters of the IIPF and arrested a number of people. Iranian journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin claimed that Mousavi was put under house arrest, although officials denied this. An estimated 200 people were detained after clashes with students at Tehran university, although many were later released.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Arrests
Acting Police Chief Ahmad-Reza Radan stated via the state press service on the 14th that "in the interrogation of related rebels, we intend to find the link between the plotters and foreign media". A judiciary spokesman said they had not been arrested but that they were summoned, "warned not to increase tension," and later released. Intelligence minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehei linked some arrests to terrorism supported from outside Iran, stating that "more than 20 explosive consignments were discovered". Others, he said, were "counter-revolutionary groups" who had "penetrated election headquarters" of the election candidates.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Arrests
On 16 June, Reuters reported that former vice-president Mohammad-Ali Abtahi and former presidential advisor Saeed Hajjarian had been arrested. Human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani, who had been demanding a recount of all votes, was also arrested on the Tuesday according to Shirin Ebadi, who said that security officials had posed as clients. Over 100 students were arrested after security forces fired tear gas at protesters at Shiraz university on the same day. Reporters Without Borders reported that 5 of 11 arrested journalists were still detention as of 16 June, and that a further 10 journalists were unaccounted for and may have been arrested.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Arrests
On 17 June, former foreign minister and secretary-general of the Freedom Movement of Iran, Ebrahim Yazdi, was arrested while undergoing tests at Pars hospital in Tehran. He was held overnight in Evin Prison before being released and returning to hospital, where according to Human Rights Watch he remained under guard. In Tabriz, other Freedom Movement activists and eight members of the IIPF were arrested, with reports of at least 100 civic figures' arrests. The total number of arrests across Iran since the election was reported as 500.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Arrests
Aaron Rhodes, a spokesman for the international campaign for human rights in Iran, stated that "Iranian intelligence and security forces are using the public protests to engage in what appears to be a major purge of reform-oriented individuals whose situations in detention could be life-threatening". In Isfahan Province, prosecutor-general Mohammadreza Habibi warned that dissidents could face execution under Islamic law.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Censorship allegations
According to the Telegraph, on 14 June "Iran's regime was doing its utmost to choke off the flow of news from its capital." Reporters from the Italian public television broadcaster RAI stated that one of its interpreters was beaten with clubs by riot police and the officers then confiscated the cameraman's tapes. The Al Arabiya's offices in Tehran were closed on 14 June for a week by Iranian authorities, who gave no explanation for the decision. Meanwhile, the director of BBC World Service accused the Iranian Government of jamming its broadcasts to the country.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Censorship allegations
Peter Horrocks said audiences in Iran, the Middle East and Europe had been affected by an electronic block on satellites used to broadcast the BBC Persian Television signal to Iran, adding: "It seems to be part of a pattern of behaviour by the Iranian authorities to limit the reporting of the aftermath of the disputed election".


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Censorship allegations
Al Jazeera English leveled allegations of direct media censorship by the Iranian government, stating that "some of the newspapers have been given notices to change their editorials or their main headlines". BBC correspondent John Simpson was arrested, his material confiscated, and then released. NBC News offices in Tehran were raided, with cameras and other equipment confiscated. ABC News reporter Jim Sciutto also has had material taken. People from the German public broadcasters ZDF and ARD have been harassed as well, with men carrying batons and knives reportedly storming the ARD's Tehran office. A BBC corporate official has referred to the network's conflict with the regime as 'electronic warfare'.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Censorship allegations
On 13 June 2009, when thousands of opposition supporters clashed with the police, Facebook was filtered again. Some news websites were also blocked by the Iranian authorities. Mobile phone services including text messaging also stopped or became very difficult to use. Specifically, all websites affiliated with the BBC were shut off, as were ones with The Guardian. Associated Press labeled the actions "ominous measures apparently seeking to undercut liberal voices". The restrictions were likely intended to prevent Mousavi's supporters from organizing large-scale protests. The protesters used phone calls, e-mails and word of mouth to get around the measures.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Censorship allegations
Ahmadinejad has responded to concerns by saying, "[d]on't worry about freedom in Iran... Newspapers come and go and reappear. Don't worry about it." In response to the crackdown, anti-regime activists have repeatedly taken down Ahmadinejad's and Khamenei's websites. According to CNN, the United States State Department has worked with Twitter to expand the website's access in Iran.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Recount
Due to opposition protests, the Supreme Leader approved a partial vote recount. This was random, counting 10% of ballots. In order to create transparency, a 12 member council showed the recount on TV and concluded President Ahmadinejad led Mousavi after the recount. The Guardian council certified the election and concluded no evidence of irregularities, closing the election's dossier.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Scapegoats
The Iranian government blamed the unrest on a variety of targets, including the Baháʼí Faith who served as "canaries in the coal mine of Iran’s theocracy" as Iran's largest religious minority by their state sanctioned persecution and as "scapegoats".


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, Government actions, Scapegoats
Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, a Member of Parliament (and previously the Speaker of Parliament) even claimed that BBC stands for Baháʼí Broadcasting Company and made other allegations of Baháʼí involvement with outside parties like the Israeli, British and American governments, though some claim that these accusations had little to do with the religion and rather seemed to be a part of an Islamic repertoire of what a heresy is supposed to look like, and are "categorically rejected" by the Baháʼís.


2009 Iranian presidential election, Aftermath, International reactions
Many western countries expressed doubt about the result and/or reacted in favour of protestors. Other countries, namely Brazil and some other Asian countries, amongst others, welcomed the result.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests
Protests against the results of the highly controversial 2009 Iranian presidential election, a disputed victory by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, occurred in major cities nationwide from 2009 into early 2010. The protests were titled the Iranian Green Movement (Persian: جنبش سبز Jonbesh-e Sabz) by its proponents, reflecting Mousavi's campaign theme, and Persian Awakening, Persian Spring or Green Revolution, reflecting the "Persian identity" of Iranians and the so-called "colour revolution" theme.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests
Protests began the night of 12 June 2009, following the announcement that incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won nearly 63 percent of the vote, despite several reported irregularities. However, all three opposition candidates claimed the votes were manipulated and the election was rigged, with Rezaee and Mousavi lodging official complaints. Mousavi announced he "won't surrender to this manipulation", before lodging an official appeal against the result to the Guardian Council on 14 June. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered an investigation into the claims of electoral fraud and irregularities, as requested by Green Movement leaders. Ahmadinejad called the election "completely free" and the outcome a "great victory" for Iran, dismissing the protests as akin to little more than "passions after a soccer match".


2009 Iranian presidential election protests
Due to the sporadic cases of violence present at the protests, the government had the police and paramilitary Basij violently suppress them; protesters were beaten, pepper sprayed, arrested and tortured, and even shot in some cases. The most widely known firearm victim was Neda Agha-Soltan, whose last moments were uploaded to YouTube and broadcast around the world. Opposition groups also reported thousands more were arrested and tortured in prisons around the country, with former inmates alleging mass rape of men, women and children by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, in prisons such as Kahrizak and Evin.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests
The Iranian government confirmed the deaths of 36 people during the protests, while unconfirmed reports by Mousavi supporters allege at least 72 deaths (over twice as many) in the three months following the election. They claimed relatives of the deceased were forced to sign documents citing death by heart attack or meningitis. Iranian authorities closed universities in Tehran, blocked websites, cutoff mobile signals and banned rallies.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests
The creation of the Iranian Green Movement developed during these protests. It was also termed the "Twitter Revolution", due to protesters' reliance on Twitter and other social media to communicate.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Prior to 2005
Since 1980 following the collapse of the Shah's regime in 1979. The government is based on the concept of Velayat-e Faqih, which is a system of governance in which a faqih was to serve as the Supreme Leader. However, following calls that this idea was undemocratic, the system was moderately altered into the current "Islamic Republic", in which a council of clerics, who are elected by the people, choose the Supreme Leader who, per the constitution, has to be a cleric (though this was altered in 1988).


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Prior to 2005
The Supreme Leader, in turn appoints the members of the twelve member Guardian Council, who approve laws and candidates for elections, even at the presidential level. The President of Iran is not the commander-in-chief, and the control of the military, police, and the parallel Revolutionary Guards is under the control of the Supreme Leader. The Revolutionary Guards is a constitutionally protected paramilitary force that operates alongside the regular Armed forces, whose primary function is to protect the Islamic Republic. The Revolutionary Guards also have an auxiliary wing called the Basij, who provide support in enforcing religious laws and suppressing dissidents.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Prior to 2005
They are not considered full members of the Revolutionary Guards, and lack the training given to full-time members, although they can be called up at any time to assist the regular forces in times of trouble. Though Ayatollah Khomeini and his successor Ayatollah Khamenei, claimed that this system was democratic and the Revolutionary guards are necessitated to protect the government from military coups and foreign interference, critics contend that this system only serves to keep like-minded conservatives in power and marginalize any opposition, while using the Revolutionary guards to silence any dissidents.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Prior to 2005
The Islamic Republic has not escaped popular opposition in the past. During the 1980s, the Marxist-Islamist, Mojahedin Khalq was instrumental in opposing Ayatollah Khomeini through large protests and bombings against politicians such as Mohammad-Ali Rajai, Shahid Beheshti, and Khamenei himself, who escaped an assassination attempt that left his right arm paralyzed.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Prior to 2005
Following the 1981 Hafte Tir bombing, Ayatollah Khomeini declared the Mojahedin and anyone opposed to the Islamic republic, "enemies of god" and pursued a mass campaign of torture, rape, and execution against members of the Mojahedin, Fadaiyan, and Tudeh parties as well as their families, close friends, and even anyone who was accused of insufficient Islamic behavior, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Iranians who were usually tried in secret kangaroo courts run by hard line clerics.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Prior to 2005
Following Operation Mersad in 1988, Khomeini ordered all prisons to execute those still in captivity, resulting in an estimated 3,000 to 30,000 dead. Since then, no organized opposition has surfaced in Iran and following this experience, the Iranian Government usually employs heavy handed tactics to marginalize any attempt at regime removal and usually justifies this with the "enemy of god" classification.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Prior to 2005
In 1997, following the unexpected victory of a before-little-known reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami, there was a revival of a moderate faction within the government whom the public believed had the ability to reform and curb the power of the conservatives and make the system somewhat democratic, and that Khamenei was willing to trust this faction in the hopes that it could recover the country after the eight-year war with Iraq, which Rafsanjani and the conservatives had failed to do.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Prior to 2005
However, rather than promoting a reform of the system, the reformists began questioning the concept of the Islamic republic itself and following the exposure of the murders of dissidents by the intelligence services in reformist newspapers (which were run by former Revolutionary Guards and intelligence agents now turned reformists), the government began to distrust Khatami and his faction, a conflict which reached the breaking point after the 1999 student protests, after which hardliners such as Mohammad Ali Jafari, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Qasem Soleimani were promoted to take control of the Revolutionary Guards and the Security Services to crack down on most reformist movements.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Prior to 2005
Despite reformists gaining a majority in the Majlis in 2000 and Khatami winning the 2001 election as well, Khamenei would oppose any attempts at liberalization of the government or society. Most Iranians and observers in general have regarded the reform movement to have been a failure with Saeed Hajjarian, the main theorist behind the movement, declaring in 2003 that "the reform movement is dead. Long live the reform movement".


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Ahmadinejad's first term
In 2005, Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected to the presidency, defeating now reformist Ali-Akbar Rafsanjani, placing the conservatives in charge of the government once more. Ahmadinejad would focus his presidency on confronting Israel. His speeches gained international infamy, which usually called for the destruction of Israel and claimed that the Holocaust was fabricated. The funding of anti-Israeli groups went up exponentially, particularly towards Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been labeled as terrorist groups by the United States.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Ahmadinejad's first term
Despite Iran's huge oil and gas reserves, those sectors have been relatively neglected in favor of a nuclear energy program that has cost billions of dollars and has been condemned by Israel and the United States, who claim that the program is a cover up for a much larger nuclear weapons program. As a result, the United Nations has placed sanctions on the Iranian government, which has had a heavy impact on the economy, reducing the value of the rial from a low of 8,000 to the dollar in 2005 to 10,000 to the dollar in 2009.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Ahmadinejad's first term
Iran has been experiencing high birth rates since 1988, both due to an increase in standard of living and government encouragement of large families, with an estimated 60 percent of the country being under the age of 30. However, the economy has failed to keep pace with the number of people entering the job market and Iran has been experiencing high unemployment rates since early 2000. Ahmadinejad began a campaign of privatization of state enterprises, but most companies ended up in the hands of government-connected officials and foundations (bonyads) operated by wealthy clerics and the Revolutionary Guards.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, Ahmadinejad's first term
Estimates by the Los Angeles Times suggest IRGC has ties to over one hundred companies and annual revenue in excess of $12 billion, particularly in construction. The Ministry of Petroleum awarded IRGC billions of dollars in contracts as well as major infrastructure projects. Most government-issued contracts were awarded to these companies, and private enterprise in Iran has been struggling heavily against these groups.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, The election
The election of the president of Iran in 2009 was preceded by many Iranian surveys and a survey by the US-based Terror Free Tomorrow organization. The Terror Free Tomorrow opinion poll, conducted from 11 to 20 May 2009, predicted the high participation and showed similar ratios for the candidates to the later official result, with over a quarter yet undecided. The many Iranian surveys show a wide range of differing results. An opinion in the New York Times claims that this is due to the high fluctuation among voters during the campaign season.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, The election
The election for presidency took place on 12 June 2009. Unlike the election in 2005, the 2009 election featured high participation. The results of the elections were announced only 2 hours after the end of the votes, which may seem impossible. The official results were rejected by all three opposition candidates, who claimed that the votes were manipulated and the election was rigged. The last presidential election had already been controversial, but this time it escalated. Candidates Mohsen Rezaee and Mousavi have lodged official complaints. Mousavi announced that he "won't surrender to this manipulation" before lodging an official appeal against the result to the Guardian Council on 14 June.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Background, The election
According to an analysis by Professor Walter R. Mebane Jr. from the Department of Statistics of the University of Michigan, considering data from the first stage of the 2005 presidential election produces results that "give moderately strong support for a diagnosis that the 2009 election was affected by significant fraud". The UK-based think-tank Chatham House also suspected fraud in the voting process for a number of reasons:


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Timeline
On Saturday 13 June after election results announced that Ahmadinejad had won, supporters of Mousavi took to the streets to protest. The next day, protests grew, as did violence. On the night of 14 June the pro-Ahmadinejad Basij paramilitary group raided Tehran University, injuring many. On 15 June millions of protesters marched on Azadi street and Mousavi made his first post-election appearance.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Timeline
On 16 June, protests continued, and the Guardian Council announced a partial recount would be conducted; however, the vote was not annulled. On Wednesday 17 June another large protest occurred; some members of the Iranian national football team wore green wristbands in support of Mousavi during their game against South Korea. On Thursday, 18 June more than 100,000 protesters held a candlelight vigil in Tehran following Mousavi's call for a day of mourning for those killed in protests. The Guardian Council invited the three major challengers to meet to discuss their grievances. Several protesters supporting Moussavi swapped their green clothes for black attires in honor of protesters who lost their lives, according to CNN.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Timeline
On Friday, 19 June, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini spoke during religious services, saying the election was legitimate and called the large voter turnout and resulting victory (for Ahmadinejad) a "divine assessment" and that protests would no longer be tolerated. However, the opposition did not accept this and the protests occurred, albeit on a smaller scale. The next day, 20 June, fewer protesters took to streets. At the protests that did occur, said to number in the tens of thousands of people, much violence occurred, causing many would-be protesters to stay in their homes the next day, Sunday, 21 June.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Timeline
On 20 June, a young Iranian woman, identified as Neda Agha-Soltan, was shot and died in front of cameras on Kargar Avenue in Tehran. Highly graphic amateur videos of the killing rapidly spread viral across the Internet after being posted to Facebook and YouTube. On 22 June, riot police broke up the main rally in Tehran with tear gas and live fire into the air.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Timeline
During Friday, 26 June, prayers were broadcast live on television, and Ahmad Khatami is reported to have said that "Anybody who fights against the Islamic system or the leader of Islamic society, fight him until complete destruction" and called for the execution of leading demonstrators as they are "people who wage war against God".


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Timeline
On Monday, 29 June, the Guardian Council certified the results of the controversial election. This set off a wave of protests, disregarding the Iranian government's ban on street marches. The Iranian intelligence chief alleged that western and "Zionist" forces were responsible for inciting the protests. Four of the nine British officials arrested on 28 June 2009 remain in custody under those charges. According to Aljazeera, the arrest of the British officials was described by the Britain as harassment and intimidation, as well as urging their release.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Timeline
Late July, protest had reportedly entered a "Phase II", using tactics such as the boycott of goods advertised on state-controlled television; attempting to deny power to state-run TV evening news broadcasts by turning on all electric appliances just before the news; "blitz" street demonstrations "lasting just long enough to chant 'Death to the dictator!' several times", but not long enough for security forces to arrive; identifying paramilitary Basij vigilantes linked to the crackdown and putting marks in the opposition color green, or pictures of protest victims in front of their homes; scribbled anti-regime slogans on money. The new protest is reportedly based on the idea of Mohandas Gandhi that "even the most powerful cannot rule without the cooperation of the ruled." Iranian authorities, in an attempt to stop Moussavi's supporters from hosting a news conference, sealed off his campaign headquarters, according to the BBC.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Timeline
On 5 August, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in for his second term as President of Iran in an official inauguration in Tehran. Protests were held outside the Parliament during the inauguration, with protesters chanting "death to the dictator".


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Timeline
Major protests would continue after the inauguration as well. Among the largest were protests that were held on Iranian holidays, such as Quds Day on 18 September, 13th of Aban on 4 November and Iranian Students Day on 7 December. According to The Guardian, it was projected that more than 500,000 people participated in the 2009 presidential election protest. According to the Associated Press, it is speculated that the protests may be connected to the country's economy and corruption.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Timeline
Another wave of protests occurred following these election protests across Iran in 2011.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
On the weekend of 13/14 June, in a series of raids across Tehran, the government arrested over 170 people, according to police officials. Among them were prominent reformist politicians, including MIRO founder Behzad Nabavi, IIPF leader Mohsen Mirdamadi, and former president Mohammad Khatami's brother Mohammad-Reza Khatami, who was later released. Also arrested were Mostafa Tajzadeh and Mohsen Aminzadeh, whom the IRNA said were involved in orchestrating protests on 13 June. Unidentified sources said that the police stormed the headquarters of the IIPF and arrested a number of people. Iranian journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin claimed that presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi was put under house arrest, although officials denied this. An estimated 200 people were detained after clashes with students at the University of Tehran, although many were later released.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
Acting Police Chief Ahmad-Reza Radan stated via the state press service on 14 June that "in the interrogation of related rebels, we intend to find the link between the plotters and foreign media". A judiciary spokesman said they had not been arrested, but that they were summoned, "warned not to increase tension", and later released. Intelligence minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehei linked some arrests to terrorism supported from outside Iran, stating that "more than 20 explosive consignments were discovered". Others, he said, were "counter-revolutionary groups [who had] penetrated election headquarters" of the election candidates.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
Relatives of several detained protesters have confirmed that the interrogation of prisoners is now being headed by Saeed Mortazavi, a figure already known for alleged involvement in brutal interrogations and torture.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Ayatollah Khamenei, has emerged as one of the driving forces behind the government's crackdown, diplomats and observers said. He is reported to have a strong influence over his father and is talked about as his possible successor. Mojtaba is affiliated with former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
On 16 June, Reuters reported that former vice-president Mohammad-Ali Abtahi and former presidential advisor Saeed Hajjarian had been arrested. Human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani, who had been demanding a recount of all votes, was also arrested on that Tuesday according to Shirin Ebadi, who said that security officials had posed as clients. Over 100 students were arrested after security forces fired tear gas at protesters at Shiraz University on the same day. Reporters Without Borders reported that 5 of 11 arrested journalists were still in detention as of 16 June, and that a further 10 journalists were unaccounted for and may have been arrested.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
On 17 June, former foreign minister and Secretary-General of the Freedom Movement of Iran, Ebrahim Yazdi, was arrested while undergoing tests at the Tehran hospital. In Tabriz, other Freedom Movement activists and eight members of the IIPF were arrested, with reports of at least 100 civic figures' arrests. The total number of arrests across Iran since the election was reported as 500.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
Aaron Rhodes, a spokesman for the international campaign for human rights in Iran, stated that "Iranian intelligence and security forces are using the public protests to engage in what appears to be a major purge of reform-oriented individuals whose situations in detention could be life-threatening".


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
In Esfahan Province, prosecutor-general Mohammadreza Habibi warned that dissidents could face the death penalty under Islamic law. He also accused the protesters of being a "few elements controlled by foreigners [who were] disrupting security by inciting individuals to destroy and to commit arson" and urged them to stop their "criminal activities". It was not clear if his warning applied only to Isfahan or to the country as a whole.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
On 20 June, Committee to Protect Journalists reported that LIFE Magazine photographer Amir Sadeghi was arrested by Iranian authorities. According to a CPJ report, he was released from Evin Prison on 28 June.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
On 21 June, Iranian officials detained Iranian-born, Canadian citizen, and Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari. He was later forced to confess in a series of trials for the detained protesters.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
On 22 June, The Guardian's live blog reported that at approximately 1:30 pm, General Ali Fazli, the newly appointed commander of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran province, had been arrested for refusing to carry Khamenei's order to use force against demonstrators.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Arrests
On 11 August 2009, the Iranian government confirmed that 4,000 were detained in the protests


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence
Basij members were filmed firing into crowds and breaking into houses. A number of hospital staff protested after people were transported to the hospitals dead or in critical condition with gunshot wounds. The IRGC and the Basij also attacked Universities and students' dorms at night and destroyed property.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence
The Los Angeles Times reported that militiamen from the hard-line Iran-based Ansar-e Hezbollah group "warned that they would be patrolling the streets to maintain law and order".


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence, Casualties
While the death of Neda attracted widespread media attention, The Guardian is also maintaining a list of numerous other people who have ostensibly been either killed or arrested since the election. The government has issued very little official information on who has been killed or arrested (except Neda Agha-Soltan, whose video circulated quickly on the Internet). Hospitals were prohibited from registering the dead bodies or injured people, as a medical student at Rasoul-Akram hospital witnessed on the night of 15 June: "Nine people died at our hospital and another 28 had gunshot wounds...


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence, Casualties
[the government] removed the dead bodies on back of trucks, before we were even able to get their names or other information... No one was allowed to speak to the wounded or get any information from them." Hospital staff protested due to the restrictions. The government admitted to at least 27 fatalities in Tehran, while CNN and other news organizations reported 150 unconfirmed casualties from 20 June protests. International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran counted 34 of them, claiming to have eyewitness reports of much higher numbers. Human rights activists in Iran called for independently collecting information about the killed, injured, and arrested people.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence, Casualties
Among those who were killed by the government forces, names such as Sohrab Aarabi, Naser Amirnejad, Masoud Hashemzadeh, and Mohammad Kamrani are confirmed. Among them, the death of Sohrab Aarabi received special news attention, after Mousavi and Karroubi visited his family.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence, Casualties
The families of those who died were allegedly subjected to penalties and bureaucratic red tape, such as being asked to sign paperwork that they do not have complaints against the government prior to being allowed to claim bodies. When the death was due to gunshot wounds, some were reportedly asked to pay a $3,000 fee, ostensibly for the bullet used by security forces. Restrictions on burial locations have also been reported, and the Iranian government did not permit a memorial service for Neda Agha-Soltan. Time speculates that the Shi'ite cycle of mourning on the third (23 June), seventh (27 June), and 40th (30 July) day after a person's death may give the protests sustained momentum, similar in fashion to what occurred during the 1979 Iranian Revolution.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence, Torture of prisoners
Opposition leaders have claimed that the prisoners have been tortured and raped in prison. Opposition leaders and world leaders condemned the abuse. However, Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, denied that prisoners were abused.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence, Torture of prisoners
Former chairman of Iranian parliament Mehdi Karroubi stated that male and female prisoners have been raped in the prison and their genitals were torn, but it is not yet proven. He asked the head of the assembly to investigate the issue in a letter to the head of Assembly of Experts. Iran's police chief, Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, acknowledged that the prisoners had been abused and raped.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence, Torture of prisoners
Additionally, several of the detained died while in prison. Authorities claimed that the deaths were caused by "pre-existing conditions". However, examinations of the bodies showed signs of torture, including broken bones, finger nails torn off, and rape.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence, Torture of prisoners
Iranian film maker Reza Allamehzadeh made a documentary about Azar Al-Kanan, a prominent Iranian human rights activist and former political prisoner in Iran who became one of the victims of torture, sexual abuse, and finally, rape. The documentary was released after ex-chairman of Iranian parliament Mehdi Karroubi called for investigation of sexual abuse of protesters in prisons by Iranian police and the judicial system, both under the responsibility of the Supreme Leader.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence, Torture of prisoners
Karroubi's letter angered conservatives and the head of Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, and senior cleric and representative of the Supreme Leader, Ahmad Khatami, denied the reports of sexual abuse. Following the denials, on 16 August 2009, Fereshteh Ghazi, in an article in Rooz, wrote her story and described the torture and sexual violence in Iranian prison.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Militia violence, Torture of prisoners
Testimonies from victims of rape by the Iranian regime's agents in jail can be downloaded here:


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, News media
According to the Telegraph, on 14 June "Iran's regime was doing its utmost to choke off the flow of news from its capital". Al Jazeera English has leveled allegations of direct media censorship by the Iranian government, stating that "some of the newspapers have been given notices to change their editorials or their main headlines". The Al Arabiya's offices in Tehran were closed on 14 June for a week by Iranian authorities, who gave no explanation for the decision. NBC News offices in Tehran were raided, with cameras and other equipment confiscated.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, News media
Meanwhile, the director of BBC World Service accused the Iranian Government of jamming its broadcasts to the country. Peter Horrocks said audiences in Iran, the Middle East, and Europe had been affected by an electronic block on satellites used to broadcast the BBC Persian Television signal to Iran, adding: "It seems to be part of a pattern of behaviour by the Iranian authorities to limit the reporting of the aftermath of the disputed election". A BBC corporate official has referred to the network's conflict with the regime as 'electronic warfare'.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, News media
On 15 June, Belgian national television reporter Jef Lambrecht from the Flemish public television broadcaster VRT and his sound technician, Vandervorst, were arrested in Tehran. They had been doing a story on the riots and had gotten caught in the middle of the violence. While Lambrecht had taken a punch, Vandervorst was arrested by riot police. When Lambrecht went to check where Vandervorst was being taken, he was promptly arrested as well. Both were taken to the Ministry of Information and detained in the basement. They were both released after two hours with strict instructions not to make any photos or film recordings of the protests. At the same time, two Dutch reporters from Nova were also arrested and deported.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, News media
On 16 June, the Ministry of Culture issued a directive banning all foreign media from leaving their offices. This directive stipulated that international news outlets could still talk about rallies in their live reports, however, they were not allowed to leave their hotel rooms and offices to witness the protests. Iranian government-run television was not affected by the restrictions. On 20 June, the Ministry of Culture intensified the restrictions by banning international media from reporting on the demonstrations altogether unless they received permission from Iranian authorities.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, News media
On 5 August, the Association of Iranian Journalists was forcibly closed when its offices in Tehran were raided by government security forces. The International Federation of Journalists released a statement criticizing the Iranian government for the forcible closure of the Association of Iranian Journalists and calling for freedom of the press.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, News media
BBC correspondent John Simpson was arrested, his material confiscated, and then released. Reporters from the Italian public television broadcaster RAI stated that one of its interpreters was beaten with clubs by riot police and the officers then confiscated the cameraman's tapes. ABC News reporter Jim Sciutto has also had material taken. People from the German public broadcasters ZDF and ARD have been harassed as well, with men carrying batons and knives reportedly storming the ARD's Tehran office and taking the technician for further questioning (who was released the day after).


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, News media
Ahmadinejad responded to civil liberties concerns by stating Iranians enjoyed "absolute freedom" of speech. "Don't worry about freedom in Iran ... Newspapers come and go and reappear. Don't worry about it."


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, News media
On 5 July 2009, the Sunday Times reported that the Iranian state media have been transmitting "confessions" by demonstrators against the alleged rigging of the presidential vote claiming they did so under the influence of the Voice of America, the BBC, and other foreign media agencies. Their faces have been obscured in the TV broadcasts, which the newspaper claims, after speaking to witnesses, is due to facial bruising resulting from torture whilst in custody, which included several instances of male rape.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, Internet censorship
On Saturday following the elections, Mir-Hossein Mousavi's supporters started DDoS attacks against president Ahmadinejad's site and exchanged attack tools through sites such as Facebook and Twitter. After the attacks, the government stopped Internet access. On 13 June, as the election results were being announced, Iran shut down all Internet access for about 45 minutes, then restarted it apparently with lower bandwidth; this may have been in order to set up filters to block sites like YouTube that could be used for political purposes. When thousands of opposition supporters clashed with the police on 13 June, Facebook was filtered again.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, Internet censorship
Some news websites were also blocked by the Iranian authorities. Mobile phone services including text messaging also had stopped or had become very difficult to use since the day before the election. Specifically, all websites affiliated with the BBC were blocked, as well as those affiliated with The Guardian. Iranian Internet users used social media to trade lists of open web proxy servers as a means of getting around the restrictions, but the Iranian authorities monitoring these media gradually blocked these proxies, so that after two weeks very few proxies were still working in Iran.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, Internet censorship
Associated Press labeled the actions as "ominous measures apparently seeking to undercut liberal voices". An anti-censorship software, Freegate, developed by Global Internet Freedom Consortium, was widely used and proven effective. The software was developed by oversea Chinese scientists to allow mainland Chinese users to break through the "great firewall" in China, and was also found to be very effective in Iran.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Government reaction, Censorship, Internet censorship
Iran was known to operate one of the world's most sophisticated Internet filtering systems, with widespread blockades on specific websites. During the protests, operation of this system dramatically intensified. Yet, Iranian Green Movement online activists continued their political activism and resisting online repression by adopting different strategies such as: "(1) de-identification, (2) network reformation, (3) circumvention, (4) self-censoring, and (5) being inconspicuously active".


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Alleged foreign involvement
On 26 August, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei released a statement through Iranian state television. He said that although he did not believe opposition leaders were working as agents of foreign governments, he did believe that the protests were organized and planned, possibly without the knowledge of the Iranian political opposition. He said that "This plot was defeated, since fortunately our enemies still do not understand the issue in Iran", specifically pointing to foreign involvement in the protests.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Alleged foreign involvement
On 16 June, Der Spiegel cited Voice of America as reporting that the Iranian government had recruited as many as 5,000 Lebanese Hezbollah fighters to clash with protesters. On 19 June, CNN reported that, according to media reports and online chatter, the Basij "seem to have added some Arabic-speaking members – suspected of being [Lebanese] Hezbollah fighters." In response, a spokesman for Hezbollah denied any involvement with the turmoil in Iran and stated that Hezbollah is not taking sides in what it considers to be an internal Iranian affair.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Alleged foreign involvement
On 17 June, The Jerusalem Post quoted two Iranian protesters who claimed that "Palestinian forces" (which the article states are members of Hamas) were working with the Basij in helping crush the protests.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Hunger strike
A number of Iranian intellectuals organized a three-day hunger strike in front of the United Nations. The invitation was signed by 42 scholars. The event was scheduled for 22–24 July 2009. Iranian journalist and writer, Akbar Ganji, spearheaded the strike to call for the release of all those who have been arrested in Iran following the protests.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Hunger strike
Among the intellectuals that signed the invitation are: Abdolkarim Soroush, Hamid Dabashi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abdol Ali Bazargan, and Janet Afary. Among the supporters of the initiative are Reza Baraheni and pop singers Ebrahim Hamedi, Googoosh, and Shohreh Aghdashlou. U.S. citizen Noam Chomsky was present at the hunger strike.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Hunger strike
A number of Iranians organized a two-day strike at Brandenburger Tor in Berlin, Germany. The event was scheduled for 24–25 July 2009. The invitation had a list of over twenty people as strikers so far and a considerable list of supporters. Among the strikers was Daryush Shokof.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Hunger strike
The number of cities joining the Iranian global hunger strike reached over fifty with Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, as well as Italy, Australia, and Ireland. The hunger strikes are for freedom of all Iranian political prisoners and for "not" recognizing the presidential elections and its president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Hunger strike
Robert Redford joined and supported the hunger strike in Washington on 20 July.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, International response
BBC News has described the overall reaction by the international community to the 2009 Iranian presidential election as "muted". Mir-Hossein Mousavi has not asked for any kind of foreign assistance or called on other leaders to comment. His spokesperson, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, has criticized U.S. President Barack Obama for maintaining that the difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi "may not be as great as has been advertised." Makhmalbaf retorted, "Does he like it himself [when someone is] saying that there is no difference between Obama and [George W.] Bush?" He also said that other nations must "not recognize the government of Ahmadinejad as a legitimate government" and that "it's not only an internal matter- it's an international problem".


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, International response
However, in international popular culture, the protest has "morphed in the global consciousness, to the point that U2 and Madonna have adopted the cause of Iranian democracy," according to The New York Times Protesters have gathered in cities all over the world to protest the violence and election results. One of the largest protests was organized by United For Iran and held on 25 July 2009 in over 100 cities all over the world.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, International response
Although the 2009 Iranian presidential election was widely disputed, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent a traditional congratulatory message to Ahmadinejad upon his inauguration. He kept silent over the request of Shirin Ebadi to visit Iran after the crackdown on peaceful post-election protests by the Iranian police. During the election protests, more than 4,000 were arrested and nearly 70 were killed (with some sources, including Mohsen Kadivar, citing hundreds of killed), some while being held in prison. In another incident, prominent activisit Akbar Ganji went on a hunger strike for three days in front of the UN. The incident was followed by an official request by more than 200 intellectuals, human rights activists, and reformist politicians in Iran for a reaction from the UN. Ban, however, took no action to help end the violence in Iran.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, International response
About eight players in the Iran national football team playing in their World Cup qualifier wore green wristbands in support for Mousavi for the first half of their game. During the break, they were ordered to remove them, seven of the eight complied. They were subsequently suspended. Likewise, Italian footballer Francesco Totti sent a message of greeting to the Iranian youth during the protests.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, International response
A group of Iranian "artists and writers in exile" published an open letter in support of the protests. Significant protests have been held in major cities all throughout the world. Demonstrators in Los Angeles have protested daily calling not only for election reform but complete regime change. Demonstrators have been seen holding signs stating, "No Ahmadi(nejad), no Mousavi, no Islamic Republic!," "No more Islamic Republic."


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Use of religion
The Economist reported that supporters of Mousavi have enlisted religious symbolism on their side. This directly appeals to the notion of injustice and redemption at the heart of Shia Islam.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Use of religion
For Iran, one of the links of communication exist solely because of the ideology the revolutionary movement was based upon Islamism (Poursaied, p. 136). The religious institutions were used to communicate from one revolutionary group to another. These institutions consist of "mosques, ritual centres, and even charity funds, and these venues allowed people to gather right under the nose of the government in order to become organised.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Use of religion
Protesters have deliberately dressed modestly. The marches in Tehran saw women in chadors and turbaned clerics, some of whom were seen thronging Mousavi's car during the 15 June rally at Revolution Square. According to Anna Johnson of Associated Press, conservative women in black chadors have joined the liberal youth for the common goal of trying to get their voices heard. The Time reported that some protesters believed they had a religious duty to protest.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Use of religion
Protesters have also made use of slogans such as "Allahu Akbar" (a common Islamic Arabic saying that translates to "God is great") from the revolutionary era. Protesters on Twitter have urged marchers to carry copies of the Qur'an with them, citing its verses bringing about peace. When mourning the deaths of slain protesters, the marchers chanted "Peace be upon (Prophet) Mohammed and his family."


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Use of religion
A bystander, Neda Agha-Soltan, who was killed by authorities, has been mythologised by the opposition as a martyr. The status of a martyr is revered in Shia Islam. To prevent this from happening, the authorities have tried to call off funeral services for her, which according to Shia Islam, must be held on the third, seventh, and 40th day after the martyr's passing. Robert Tait and Matthew Weaver of The Guardian noted that it was funeral processions on the 40th day of mourning of fallen protesters in 1979 that created momentum in toppling the shah's regime. The idea of martyrdom resonates deeply amongst the Shiite Muslim population of Iran. The Shiite faith was founded on the idea of self-sacrifice in the cause of justice.


2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Legacy
According to the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at the time of the protests—General Mohammed Ali Jafari—the problem of the election was not that the reformers had been denied victory but that they had challenged the tenets of the Islamic Revolution, and that the system of the Islamic Republic could no longer depend on popular support. In a leaked video of a meeting of the leaders of the Revolutionary Guard he stated, "It was a blow that weakened the fundamental pillars of the regime. ... Anyone who refuses to understand these new conditions will not be successful".


2009 Iranian university dormitory raids
The 2009 Iranian university dormitory raids took place on 14 June 2009 (or 24 Khordad in the Iranian calendar) at various university dormitories throughout Iran. The raids were carried out by the state-sponsored Basij militiamen against students suspected of having participated in the ongoing election protests.


2009 Iranian university dormitory raids, Raids
The dormitories of the University of Tehran, the largest general university in the Islamic Republic of Iran, were raided by Basij militiamen. At least 3 men and two women, were reported to have been killed or wounded by the Basij.


2009 Iranian university dormitory raids, Raids
Unrest between students and Basij also took place at Amir Kabir University in Tehran, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Razi University in Kermanshah, and University of Mazandaran; Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, in particular, was the scene of violence between students and members of both the Basij and the Ansar-e-Hezbollah.


2009 Iranian university dormitory raids, Reaction
119 members of the University of Tehran faculty resigned en-masse on 15 June 2009 in protest of the raid. Ali Larijani, speaker of the Iranian Majlis, condemned the raid and blamed the Interior Ministry for the raids; the Interior Ministry, in turn, ordered a probe into the incident.


2009 Iranian university dormitory raids, Reaction
The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) wrote a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemning Iranian officials for the university raids and arrest of students.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections
Governorate or provincial elections were held in Iraq on 31 January 2009, to replace the local councils in fourteen of the eighteen governorates of Iraq that were elected in the 2005 Iraqi governorate elections. 14,431 candidates, including 3,912 women, contested 440 seats. The candidates came from over 400 parties, 75% of which were newly formed.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Legal framework
In February 2008, the Iraqi Parliament passed a Provincial Powers Act by a majority of one, with many members of parliament not present at the proceedings. It included giving the Prime Minister the power to dismiss a governor of a province, a measure that would have left considerable power in the hands of the Shi'a dominated central government in Baghdad. The Act required a Provincial Elections Law to be passed within the next 90 days and for elections to be held no later than the beginning of October 2008.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Legal framework
The Presidency Council initially referred the law back, saying it did not comply with the constitutional rights of governorates. It was reported that vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, whose Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council party is strong in many southern Iraqi governorate councils, particularly objected. However, the Council reversed its position following protests from the Sadrist Movement, saying they would instead seek changes to the law before it came into force.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Legal framework
In July 2008 the Iraqi Election Commission proposed postponing the elections until December because delays in passing the election law had left too little time to prepare.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Legal framework
The Provincial Elections bill was eventually approved by the Council of Representatives on 22 July 2008 despite a walkout by members of the Kurdistani Alliance over a clause making Kirkuk Governorate council a power-sharing arrangement. The next day the Presidency Council of Iraq, consisting of President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, Vice-President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shi'ite Arab, and Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Arab, unanimously agreed to reject the bill because of the Kirkuk clause, and send it back to the Council of Representatives to reconsider.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Legal framework
The second draft was ratified by the Presidency Council on 7 October 2008, who stated that a minority clause may be added later. A minority clause was added on 3 November.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Kirkuk Governorate
The original draft proposed delaying the election in Kirkuk Governorate until after the referendum to decide its precise status has been held. However, a group of Turkmen and Arab MPs proposed a power-sharing clause, establishing a provincial council consisting of ten Kurds, ten Arabs, ten Turkmens and two Assyrians. This clause was included in the draft election bill put to the Iraqi Council of Representatives in July 2008, and led to the Kurdish parties walking out in protest, complaining "If you already pick the seats before the election, why vote?" The law was nonetheless approved on 22 July 2008. However, President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, and Vice-President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shi'ite Arab, have agreed they would reject the bill, and hence it would be sent back to the Council of Representatives to reconsider.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Kirkuk Governorate
Parliamentary summer recess started on 30 July 2008, but a special session was called for 3 August 2008 to find a solution to the Kirkuk issue. At that meeting, no solution was reached; at another meeting on 4 August 2008, lawmakers postponed the session to 5 August 2008, and on that date to 6 August 2008. It was then postponed to 9 September 2008, with a committee working on a compromise solution until then. At that session, no resolution was reached, and negotiations continued on 10 September 2008 in the form of a special six-member panel formed for this occasion.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Kirkuk Governorate
The law was finally passed on 24 September 2008 and the election is expected to be held by 31 January 2009; the compromise was that Kirkuk would be dealt with separately, and elections in Kirkuk and the three Kurdish autonomous provinces will be held at a later time. A special panel was to work on a solution on Kirkuk and report back by 31 March 2009.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Kirkuk Governorate
The United Nations Special Representative for Iraq, Staffan de Mistura proposed holding elections in all governorates except Kirkuk, and deferring the Kirkuk elections for six months in order to find an acceptable compromise. A draft bill based on this proposal was debated on 6 August and accepted by the Kurdistani Alliance but opposed by the Iraqi Turkmen Front, Iraqi Accord Front and Sadrist Movement who objected to the draft law's reference to the Kirkuk status referendum and insisted on delaying the entire elections until a solution was found.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Minorities
Under Article 50 of the draft Elections law, religious minorities such as Christians and Yazidis would be reserved a number of seats in the provincial assemblies. This clause was removed in the final draft, with legislators citing a lack of census data for determining the appropriate number of seats. Five thousand Christians demonstrated in Mosul against this change, saying it was a "marginalisation of their rights" and the head of the Assyrian Church of the East wrote to the Presidency Council asking them to veto the law.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Minorities
Prime Minister al-Maliki said he was concerned and called on parliament and the Iraqi High Electoral Commission to "remove all the concerns, injustice and the sense of exclusion felt by some segments of Iraqi society".


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Minorities
Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman called on the Presidency Council of Iraq to use its review process to force an amendment to include a minority quota, saying "The rule of the majority means there should be protection of the minorities" A Sadrist leader also said Christians should be allowed to "contribute to the building of the Iraqi state" and the removal of this clause "threatened the unity of Iraq" The UN Special Envoy also criticised the removal of the minorities clause.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Minorities
A minority clause was added on 3 November 2008, although it only provided for six special seats (three for Christians, one each for Yazidi, Mandean and Shabak) instead of twelve as recommended by the UN. The Christians got a seat each in Baghdad, Nineveh, and Basra, the Yazidi and Shabak in Nineveh, and the Mandeans in Baghdad.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Female quota
Original drafts of the Election law included a guarantee that the elected councils would contain at least 25% women. However, the law passed stated instead that there would be "a woman at the end of every three winners". The Electoral Commission has interpreted this to mean that where a list wins more than two seats in a particular governorate, the third seat will be awarded to a woman on the party's list. Given the large number of parties contesting the election, many of whom are expected to win one or two seats, female MPs raised concerns that the change in language has weakened this provision.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Electoral system
The previous Governorate and national elections in Iraq have been held under a "Closed list" electoral system, whereby voters select a party or coalition and the party or coalition selects the individual parliamentarian.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Electoral system
The new election will be held under an "Open list" system, whereby voters may select either a party or an individual candidate; the candidates elected from a list will be those that get the most individual votes from among that list.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Electoral system
The system also promotes the representation of women, for if the top two people elected from a list are men, the subsequent person elected will be the woman with the most votes.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Militias
In March, the government of Nouri al-Maliki moved against militias allied to the Sadrist Movement in Basrah Governorate. Sadrists accused Maliki of trying to weaken them ahead of the polls, but Maliki claimed he was just targeting "criminal gangs".


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Militias
Following this, Maliki said he would disqualify any parties from the election who refused to disband their militia. In April the cabinet agreed on a draft elections law, which included a clause banning parties with militias. The Sadr Movement however, still ran in the elections.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Campaign
The security situation in this election was much better than in previous elections. Security was provided by the Iraqi security forces with the Multinational force in Iraq playing no role for the first time. Candidates felt safe enough to canvass for votes, while the 2005 elections saw little public campaigning. Nonetheless, eight candidates were killed during the campaign, borders were closed for voting and curfews and vehicle bans were put in place. However, this compared favourably to the 2005 elections when over 200 candidates were killed.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Campaign
Early voting took place on Wednesday 28 January for 614,000 soldiers, police, prisoners, patients and internally displaced people.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Campaign, Sunni Arab areas
The current Governorate councils were elected in the 2005 Iraqi governorate elections, which were boycotted by Sunni Arabs, resulting in several Sunni Arab-majority provinces such as Nineveh Governorate and Saladin Governorate being run either ethnic Kurdish parties, or multi-ethnic parties of Shia faith. As Sunni Arab parties have since decided to participate in elections, these elections are expected to give them more representation.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Campaign, Sunni Arab areas
The elections are also expected to develop electoral competition within the Sunni Arab population between the pro-government Iraqi Accord Front and the new political groups formed out of the anti-al-Qaeda Awakening movement militias. A leading member of the Awakening movement in Baghdad, Abu Azzam al-Tamimi, has formed the Iraqi Dignity Front to contest the elections. The Awakening movement in Anbar has formed the National Front for the Salvation of Iraq. These parties are expected to sweep the Sunni Arab vote in Anbar, Salahuddin, Diyala, and Baghdad.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Campaign, Sunni Arab areas
In Ninawa, the Sunni Arab-majority al-Hadba party—which is also backed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki—complained of being targeted by Kurdish security forces. A candidate for the Sunni Arab "Iraq for Us" coalition in Ninawa was killed by a gunman who walked into a café and shot him.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Campaign, Shiite Arab areas
One senior government official said the elections would "redraw the political map of Iraq" while Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi described them as a "major rehearsal for the parliamentary elections" due in 2009–2010. An expert from the International Crisis Group predicted a "big shift", with the existing parties established by exiles losing ground to more recently formed parties of people who stayed in Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Campaign, Shiite Arab areas
There is also expected to be significant electoral competition between two main Shiite Islamist parties in the government—the Islamic Dawa Party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council of Vice-President Adil Abdul-Mahdi. Following the Battle of Basra (2008), the Prime Minister created "support councils" to help with security in the southern provinces and Maliki was accused of using these support councils to build a political base. The Presidency Council of Iraq publicly criticised the Prime Minister in November 2008, saying these support councils were illegal, should be suspended and the money used to support the regular Army and Police.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Campaign, Shiite Arab areas
Competition is also expected between the government Islamist parties and the opposition Sadrist Movement, with some commentators saying Sadrists were expected to win a majority of seats in southern Iraq and parts of Baghdad. The Sadrist Movement supported the Blamelessness and Reconstruction (376) list and the Independent Trend of the Noble Ones (284)


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Campaign, Shiite Arab areas
Some commentators predicted there would be a backlash against the incumbent religious parties in favour of more secular parties.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Campaign, Shiite Arab areas
Shortly before the election, an initiative was started in Basra Province to convert the province into a Region. The initiative failed to reach 10% of eligible voters in the specified period, meaning it fell.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Results
There were 15 million eligible voters, but hundreds of thousands of voters were omitted from the ballot lists. Mithal al-Alusi, an Arab nationalist MP, complained that there were "many mistakes" by the Commission and Iranian diplomats had been allowed entry to polling stations.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Results
There were international observers in every one of the 712 constituencies—the first election since the 2003 invasion of Iraq to be fully observed.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Results
Unlike the 2005 election, there was no boycott by any significant political movement; however, turnout was down on the previous election at slightly over 51%. ISCI blamed the election day vehicle ban, which meant voters often had to walk long distances to the polling centres.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Results
Official results were not expected until days after the election. The Islamic Dawa Party turned as largest party in Shi'a south.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Results, Karbala Governorate
Note: While Youssef al-Haboubi got the most votes, he stood as independent candidate, thus only winning one seat for himself.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
After the elections, the National Reform Trend said it has formed an agreement with the State of Law Coalition to ally in all provinces where they had won seats.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
In Al Anbar, Qasim Al-Fahdawi, an independent from the Sahwa list was elected governor, he formed an administration with all parties in Anbar (most important being his own Sahwa list and al-Mutlaq's NIPG), except the Iraqi Islamic Party, which previously ruled the local government.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
In Diyala the winning Iraqi Accord Front joined into a coalition with the Kurdistan Alliance, together holding a 15-seat majority out of the governorates 29 seats, they were also backed by the National Diyala Alliance, an ISCI affiliated list which held 2 seats. The Accord Front member Abdulnasir al-Muntasirbillah was elected as governor while Taleb Mohammed Hassan from the Kurdistan Alliance was made chairman of the provincial council.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
In Saladin, where Tawafuq also came out first they tied in number of seats with the Iraqi National List, which forged an alliance with State of Law and the National Iraqi Project Gathering, they were however eventually forced to include Tawafuq into this alliance in order to get a majority. Tawafuq member Mutashar al-Aliwi became governor while an INL member became chairman.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
In Muthanna were State of Law and ISCI's al-Mehraab list each won 5 seats both parties created their own alliance forming blocs of 13 seats. State of Law formed a Coalition with the National Reform Trend (3 seats), Sadrists (2 seats) and the Middle Euphrates Gathering (2 seats) while ISCI created an alliance within the al-Jumhur List (3 seats), the Gathering for Muthanna (2 seats), and the Independent National List (2 seats). The Independent Iraqi Skills Gathering which had 2 seats was split between these two blocs.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
However Ibrahim Salman al-Miyali, an independent which ran as part of the State of Law Coalition left and joined ISCI's block because Maliki hadn't nominated him for any important position. This gave the ISCI block a 14-seat majority and led to his election as governor and ISCI member Abd al-Latif Hassan al-Hassani being elected as chairman.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
In Maysan and Wasit, the State of Law Coalition formed a coalition with ISCI. Though in most governorates State of Law tried to leave ISCI out of local governments in Maysan where they won an equal amounth of seats they decided to align with them electing Muhammad al-Sudani of the Dawa Party as governor and Hashim al-Shawki of the Iraqi Hezbollah (which was part of ISCI's List) as chairman. In Wassit, State of Law first tried to create an alliance with the Sadrists but after this broke down, they formed an alliance with ISCI. Sadrist governor Latif Hamid Turfa was re-elected as governor and ISCI's Mahmoud Abdulrida Talal was made chairman.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
In Basra, State of Law's clear cut majority allowed them to form an administration on their own, appointing Jabbar Amin, as chairman and Dr. Sheltagh Aboud Sherad as governor, both were members of the Da'wa party (although Jabbar Amin belongs to the Iraq Organisation branch). However, despite their 20-seat majority in the 35-seat council, they reached out to other parties including all other parties which won seats in the Basra local council in a local unity government.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
In the remaining five Shi'a governorates, State of Law succeeded in creating coalitions without ISCI. In Babil State of Law created a broad coalition with the Sadrists, the National Reform Trend, the Iraqi National List, al-Mutlaq's bloc and local parties, ISCI forming a 7-seat opposition bloc with the 2 man Independent Ansar Bloc. To create this alliance however, State of Law gave Hasan al-Zarqani and Kadum Majid Tuman, two Sadrists, the positions of governor and chairman.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
In Dhi Qar State of Law aligned itself with the Sadrists and the National Reform Trend, creating a 24-seat majority in the 31-seat council, ISCI and Fadhila being left out. A Dawa member: Taleb al-Hassan was appointed governor and NRT member Qusai al-Ibadi became chairman.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
In Karbala, the only Shi'a province were SOL did not come out first place, they aligned themselves with al-Haboubi an independent which won the most votes, the second place Hope of Al-Refedein and the Independent Free Movement, two Sadrist blocs which together took 13 seats, only ISCI's 4-seat bloc was left out of the local government. Amaleddin Majeed Hameed Kadhem of the Dawa party became governor while Mohammed Hamid al-Musawi, a Sadrist was elected chairman.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Coalitions
In Najaf, SOL and ISCI tied with 7 seats each however SOL managed to create a 15-seat majority bloc with the NRT and two local parties, leaving the Sadrists and ISCI in the opposition. SOL member Fayad al-Shamari was appointed chairman and despite strong opposition, Adnan al-Zurfi from one of the local parties became the new governor, prompting Asaad Abu Gulal the former ISCI governor to start a legal battle against al-Zurfi. In al-Qadisiyah SOL formed a bloc with the Iraqi National List, leaving ISCI, Fadhila and the Sadrists in the opposition. Da'awa members Salim Hussein and Jubeir al-Juburi were appointed governor and chairman.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Fraud allegations
Allegations of election fraud came from both Sunni and Shi'a political parties. The most complaints came from Ayad Allawi's al-Iraqiya list which claimed election fraud had taken place, mostly in Baghdad, Salahaddin and al-Anbar, a spokesman of the group: Ali Nesaif claimed that "Some boxes were stolen from polling centers in Salahaddin as well as Diyala," while Kadhim Turki another Allawi ally said that they were not satisfied with the final results—particularly in Baghdad and Basra." They accused the counties powerful parties of vote rigging.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Fraud allegations
The Sadr Movement also complained about the election results, Amir Tahar al-Kinani a Sadrist spokesman released the following statement: "We have been mistreated in this election. IHEC was not fair—it was biased in favor of other lists, in the final results, we dropped to third position, while SIIC took second place. How can that happen? Our bloc and SIIC won an approximately equal number of votes in Maysan—yet we only got seven seats, while they got eight."


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Fraud allegations
Kinani also said their votes in Baghdad suspiciously dropped after the final results came in and he accused the Independent High Electoral Commission of making late changes to the law which benefited Maliki. He also claimed that: "There are huge differences between results announced by the electoral commission and the figures we have from our observers in some provinces."


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Fraud allegations
The Iraq Awakening Coalition alleged election fraud in al-Anbar province claiming they had hundreds of documents to prove the fraud. Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi called for a vote recount in al-Anbar.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Fraud allegations
Meanwhile, radical Arab Nationalist and Sunni MP Mithal al-Alusi claimed that hundreds of thousands of voters had been denied the right to vote. This was confirmed by Ahmad Challabi who claimed it was not intentional but "a shortcoming in the electoral commission's preparations". Al-Alusi however also alleged Iranian diplomats were allowed into Iraqi polling stations and accused them of interfering in the polls.


2009 Iraqi governorate elections, Fraud allegations
Both the al-Iraqiya list and the Sadr Movement contested the results in court while the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council contested the results in Baghdad while the Awakening Movements contested the results in Al Anbar. In total election commity officials received 1,000 complaints of irregularities, including 20 serious allegations of fraud and that serious violations had been reported in Anbar, Diyala, Mosul, Muthanna and in Baghdad. He however claimed that most lists provided no proof for their fraud allegations. Some voters however claimed to have witnessed fraud at the polling stations.


2009 Irish Classic
The 2009 Irish Classic (often known as the 2009 Lucan Racing Irish Classic for sponsorship and promotion purposes) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 24 and 26 July 2009 at the Celbridge Snooker Club in Kildare, Republic of Ireland.


2009 Irish Classic
Joe Swail won in the final 5–0 against Fergal O'Brien.


2009 Irish Greyhound Derby
The 2009 Irish Greyhound Derby took place during August and September with the final being held at Shelbourne Park in Dublin on 12 September 2009.


2009 Irish Greyhound Derby
The winner College Causeway won €175,000 and was trained by Pat Buckley, owned by the Mike & Vincent McKenna and bred by Frank Culloty. The race was sponsored by the Paddy Power.


2009 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
College Causeway (a 2008 semi-finalist) broke the track record setting a new mark of 29.21 in the first round and is cut from 16-1 to 8-1 to win the competition. Defending champion Shelbourne Aston went out in round two. The challenge of Scottish Greyhound Derby winner Cabra Cool ended in round two and Champion stakes winner Fatboyz Nodrog was eliminated in round three but Easter Cup champion Droopys Joel made it to the quarter finals.


2009 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
Three of the quarter finals were won by Royal Tornado, Cashen Legend and Oran Classic with Droopys Noel managing only fourth. College Causeway continued his winning ways and securing a fourth successive victory in 29.47, the best of the round.


2009 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
In the semi-finals College Causeway beat Shaneboy Lee and Oran Classic; Slip the Lark was eliminated as was Mid West Blue who went out at the same stage as he did the previous year. Cashen Legend defeated Faypoint Man and Belvedere Champ in the second semi-final in a time of 29.87.


2009 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
When the traps opened in the final Oran Classic from trap two forged out a good lead by halfway, Cashen Legend was prominent but College Causeway was positioned last out of the second bend before slipping inside some of the field by halfway. Oran Classic had a good lead but by the fourth bend College Causeway was making ground. College Causeway went passed Oran Classic on the run-in to complete an unbeaten campaign. Buckley dominated throughout the derby having 5 of the 8 heat winners in the 3rd round while College Causeway remained unbeaten throughout the derby and broke the track record in the opening round.


2009 Irish emergency budget
The 2009 Irish emergency budget refers to the delivery of an emergency government budget by the Government of Ireland on 7 April 2009, its second in six months. It was also the second overall budget to be delivered by Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan as Minister for Finance. The emergency budget announcement involved significant tax rises and a decrease in public spending. Prior to its unveiling, it was predicted to be the most severe budget in decades, with The Independent suggesting in its aftermath that it was the most severe in the country's history.


2009 Irish emergency budget, Background, 2008 emergency budget
The Irish government budget for 2009 was delivered on 14 October 2008, as the first budget in the tenure of Brian Lenihan as Minister for Finance and the first of the Taoiseach Brian Cowen's tenure. It was brought forward from its usual December date due to the global financial crisis. The budget, labelled "the toughest in many years", included a number of controversial measures such as a proposed income levy which was eventually restructured and the withdrawal of previously promised HPV vaccines for schoolgirls. Other results of the budget included a new income levy being imposed on all workers above a specified threshold and the closure of a number of military barracks near the border with Northern Ireland.


2009 Irish emergency budget, Budget summary
The April 2009 emergency budget introduced a number of new measures. The announcements included:


2009 Irish emergency budget, Details
The cabinet met on the afternoon of 6 April 2009 to finalise the emergency budget. The budget was preceded by an announcement that all twenty of Ireland's Ministers of State were to resign to be replaced by fifteen within a fortnight. A proposal was also announced which would see the transfer of approximately €80–90 billion of bad loans from Irish banks to a new National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) The Department of Transport announced a reduction in funding of €315 million.


2009 Irish emergency budget, Details
€150 million would be deducted from the €448 million earmarked for local and regional roads, with a further €150 million deducted from funds set aside for public transport infrastructure. The typical person on the minimum wage of €17,500 per annum would have to pay 2% taxes, a person on €50,000 per annum would have to pay 4% taxes and a person on €300,000 per annum would have to pay 9% taxes.


2009 Irish emergency budget, Details
The Taoiseach Brian Cowen called the budget one of the toughest in several years but insisted that the emergency measures were necessary. He defended the taxation increases by stating that high earners would pay a significant amount of the new taxes. Brian Lenihan said "fairness means you cannot shuffle off responsibility to somebody else."


2009 Irish emergency budget, Details
In its analysis, The Irish Times compared the budget to that of Ernest Blythe, who served as finance minister in W. T. Cosgrave's first government in 1923 and attempted to cut the old age pension, as well as to Lenihan's own October 2008 budget which led to him retracting his attempts to abolish automatic free healthcare for over seventies.


2009 Irish emergency budget, International reaction
The 2009 emergency budget received widespread international coverage. The Times featured a brief video clip on its website, describing what the "bust budget" would mean for the economy of the United Kingdom. The economics editor of the BBC reported that there were lessons for the United Kingdom to learn from this emergency procedure. The Financial Times stated that the increased taxes contained within the budget would mainly affect the "middle classes" of Ireland. Reuters reported that the European Commission viewed the budget as a form of "decisive action".