Iranian protesters refuse to bow down to authority crackdown
Updated
Iranian protestors are refusing to bow to pressure, despite the brutal crackdown by police and paramilitary forces.
Instead, Iranians are finding novel ways to register their dissent. Traffic jams, industrial action, even the simple gesture of driving with the lights on are sending out their message that they want political change.. despite a threatening stance by authorities.
Presenter: Anne Barker
Speakers: Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, Government Spokesman; Farhang Jahanpour, Iranian Commentator; Hadi Ghaemi, International Campaign For Human Rights
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(Sounds of protest)
ANNE BARKER: Iran's protests movement is still managing to create havoc in the face of mounting threats from authorities, amateur video posted on the internet appears to show even a small band of demonstrators can bring traffic to a standstill on a busy road in Tehran.
It wasn't long though before the hated Basij militia moved in on their familiar motorbikes threatening to shoot any protesters still on the street. The main Opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi who hasn't appeared in public for days is using his website to find new ways of keeping the protest alive.
EXCERPT FROM WEBSITE (voiceover): Turning on the car lights, new method of showing protest, an unprecedented protest that prevents any chance of clashes with military and paramilitary forces.
ANNE BARKER: Activity on the twitter website too suggests protest organisers have called a national strike to try to distrust Iran's economy and cripple the Government although authorities had threatened to sack anyone who walked off the job
But as each day passes the protests in whatever form appear more futile, Iran's highest governing body the Guardian Council has released its final verdict on the presidential election.
Despite some minor voting miscalculations, its spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei says the final result will stand.
ABBAS-ALI KADKHODAEI (voiceover): Fortunately we have witnessed no major irregularities during the country's recent presidential election and therefore there is no reason to annul the election.
ANNE BARKER: But one man who won't have a bar of it is Iranian commentator Farhang Jahanpour in Britain, he says even one example proves the result was rigged.
FARHANG JAHANPOUR: Mr Karroubi the reformist candidate in his own native tongue received only 4 per cent of the votes and the rest went to Mr Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad got 15 times the number of votes in Karroubi in Karroubi's birth place; while in the last election Karroubi had got six times the number of votes of Ahmadinejad.
ANNE BARKER: Other figures too have been challenged, Iran's leaders claim 19 people have been killed in the recent protests and 100 or so injured. Human rights groups say it's more like 150 dead and at least 1000 injured.
One reformed candidate Mehdi Karroubi has proposed a national day of mourning tomorrow for the many victims.
