Acabo de ler a notícia de que quatro dos sete jogadores da seleção do Irã que usaram uma faixa verde nos pulsos no jogo contra a Coréia foram banidos - "aposentados" do futebol pelo governo do Irã.
According to the pro-government newspaper Iran, four players - Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka'abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 - have been "retired" from the sport after their gesture in last Wednesday's match against South Korea in Seoul. They were among six players who took to the field wearing wristbands.[...]É uma demonstração lastimável não só da interferência indevida do governo no esporte mas especialmente de intolerância e falta de democracia.Most of the players obeyed instructions to remove the armwear at half-time, but Mahdavikia wore his green captain's armband for the entire match. The four are also said to have been banned from giving media interviews.
The fate of the other two players who wore the wristbands is unknown.
Um outro fato marcante foi a presença de mulás, líderes religiosos tradicionalmente conservadores, nos protestos de hoje em Teerã, informa a CNN. O interessante, segundo a CNN, não é saber em quem estes clérigos votaram, ams na demonstração de desrespeito e desobediência ao Aiatolá, figura religiosa suprema no país.
"Whether these clerics voted for Ahmadinejad or one of the opposition candidates is unknown. What is important here, is the decision to march against the will of Iran's supreme leader who called the results final and declared demonstrations illegal.In the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mullahs rule supreme. They are the country's conservative clerics; the guardians of the Islamic revolution and its ideologies. They're loyal only to God and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei."
Uma notícia ainda sob suspeita é a de que Mousavi estaria sob constante vigilância de agentes de segurança, outros ainda dizem que o caso é prisão-domiciliar, desde a manhã de hoje. O The Independent recolheu esta informação do cineasta Mohsen Makhmalba:
"Mr Makhmalbaf, 52, an informal spokesman abroad for the protest in Iran, said that Mr Mousavi was not under arrest but "he has security agents, secret police with him all the time. He has to be careful what he says."
In a telephone interview, Mr Makhmalbaf, the director of the 2001 film Kandaha, denied suggestions that the protests against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were losing steam.
"The regime, arguably, is losing ground, not the protests," he said. "Ordinary Iranians are openly rejecting the legitimacy and power of Ayatollah Khamanei. That is entirely new, unheard of.""
Mais interessante ainda é a declaração do cineasta de que o governo supostamente tenha empregado árabes na vigilância/prisão de Mousavi, por nãoconfiar mais no povo iraniano.
"Mr Makhmalbaf, a friend of Mr Mousavi for 20 years, said that there were reports from Iran that some of the militia deployed to suppress protest were "speaking Arabic". "That is unconfirmed but it suggests that the regime is unable to trust its own security forces to repress the Iranian people," he said. "It suggests that people are being used from abroad.""
O The Atlantic fas uma cobertura excelente do que sai do Twitter, vale à pena dar uma olhada. Dentre as msg's uma confirma uma passeata amanhã, 4pm (hora local) com a presença de Mousavi.
Finalmente, uma interessante discussão vem sendo travada no blog do Hugo Albuquerque, o Descurvo, vale à pena ler o post e os comentários.
