Monday, October 24, 2011 at 12:46 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2023 GMT: According to NTC officials, Muammar Qaddafi and his son Muatassim will be buried in a secret location, with Muslim clerics present, likely sometime tomorrow.
2010 GMT: A very large crowd in Dael, Daraa, forms a human "SOS," a call for help:
See also Iran Video Interview: Ahmadinejad Puts Out His Standard Lines to CNN's Zakaria
The Latest from Iran (23 October): Qaddafi Visits the Supreme Leader
1835 GMT: No-Irony-at-All Elections Watch. A leading member of the Islamic Constancy Front, Morteza Agha Tehrani, has urged authorities to safeguard the coming elections and ensure that “votes are not stolen and there is no cheating".
The Constancy Front was established earlier this year by supporters of President Ahmadinejad and his allies. It has been at odds with other conservative factions who have sought a unified front for next March's Parliamentary vote.
In a meeting on Saturday in Qom, Agha Tehrani said: “If you truly want competent people to be elected to office, do not steal or buy votes and do not cheat.”
1605 GMT: CyberCrime. Minister of Communications and Technology Reza Taghipour has declared that the use of VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) and proxies is a “crime": “Now VPNs have been cut off in the country because their use is a legal violation.”
With a VPN, Internet users can get access to internet providers outside Iran by using ISPs within the country. Iranians have been using the VPNs and proxies to circumvent strict censorship by the Islamic Republic of foreign and domestic websites.
I found CNN's highly-promoted interview with President Ahmadinejad is of little consequence, apart from some ripples around the President's remarks on Syria calling for reform and condemning killings by all sides.
And there is the cringe-worthy moment when Zakaria reduces the human rights issues in Iran to a request to see opposition figure and 2009 Presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, held under strict house arrest since February. Ahmadinejad flatly repeats the line he has often used, "In Iran we do not have political prisoners. The Government has never arrested and imprisoned these people." Zakaria repeats his request, to be given the irrelevant response, "The judiciary is never under the influence of the Government", and regarding the house arrest, "These are your claims." Stymied, Zakaria drops the topic, (See Comments for further discussion of the possible significance of this exchange.)
Viewers are invited to put forth what they found of interest on the standard run of topics --- the nuclear programme, Iran's standing in the Middle East --- complemented by the hot issues of Libya and the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the US.
The calm inside the mosque quickly turned to mayhem as the first victim of a deadly attack on a protest march was brought in on a stretcher. The young man grasped at his abdomen with bloodied hands.
Soon there were dozens of gunshot victims, clutching wounds as they were rushed into the room designed for prayer and reflection, but now functioning as a field hospital for protesters gunned down by their government.
“What are the reasons to kill people? You can’t justify this,” said Ghada Qassim, a doctor, overwhelmed by the scene before her. “They have no weapons. It is a disaster.”
I believe there are two reasons why demonstrations will significantly diminish: first, the violent oppression by the authorities recently and second, the increase in the number of armed operations by groups opposed to the authorities such as “The Free Syrian Army”. This is why I expect more bloodshed in Syria. Moreover, I worry that if we fail to reach a homegrown settlement of the conflict very quickly, we will clearly witness different aspects of a civil war in the near future.
Facing this reality and looking back at the past seven months, I am afraid both the regime and the leadership of the opposition did not prove at all they are up to their responsibilities at the national level. This is why each of them is throwing the ball to the other’s court, and both proved unable to introduce serious and realistic initiatives. I am disappointed, and I blame the leaders of the opposition who did not dare to try to lead the street, instead preferring to proudly act merely as an echo of the voice of the street.
Occupy Dame Street, the main Occupy movement in Dublin, Ireland, posts video of Billy Bragg's appearance at Saturday's rally, intercut with statements from demonstrators:
And this is the full video of Bragg's statement and the song, "There is Power in A Union":
After 42 years of absolute power in Libya, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi spent his last days hovering between defiance and delusion, surviving on rice and pasta his guards scrounged from the emptied civilian houses he moved between every few days, according to a senior security official captured with him.
Under siege by the former rebels for weeks, Colonel Qaddafi grew impatient with life on the run in the city of Surt, said the official, Mansour Dhao Ibrahim, the leader of the feared People’s Guard, a network of loyalists, volunteers and informants. “He would say: ‘Why is there no electricity? Why is there no water?’ ”
Today's protest, in front of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, declaring "The End of Wall Street">
See also Iran Special: How Bahrain's Foreign Minister Fed "The Plot" to Top Washington Post Columnist
2000 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Ehsan Mehrabi has been freed after completion of a one-year prison sentence.
Mehrabi was Mehrabi charged with propaganda against the regime after he gave an interview to BBC Persian.
Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 11:40 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran See also Tunisia Latest: Today's Election
Tunisia Video: What Happens If No One Votes? The Return of Ben Ali.....
Syria Video Essay: The Military Assault on Homs
2020 GMT: The lawyer for five political activists accused of insulting the leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has said that his clients spent years serving their nation and that their alleged "crimes" are rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
The five men, arrested in April for urging public protests and disrupting public order, have been on trial since June, with a verdict expected on 17 November.
"The defendants are among the experts who served this country," said attorney Mohammed al-Roken. "There is no legislation that forbids peaceful gatherings. On the contrary, there's an article in the constitution that guarantees the right of citizens to hold public gatherings."
The defendants include economist Nasser bin Ghaith, a lecturer at the Abu Dhabi branch of France's Sorbonne University. He published an article criticising attempts to avoid political reform by buying off citizens with generous government spending programmes.
Another defendant, Ahmed Mansoor, is a communications engineer and poet whose works were published by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. He is accused of running a website that provided a platform for the rest of the defendants to express anti-regime views.
1950 GMT: Braving gunfire that injured several people, protesters in Hodeidah in Yemen continue a march:
See also Tunisia Latest: Today's Election
There have been a series of Get Out the Vote videos for today's Tunisian elections, the first after the fall of long-time ruler Zine El Abedine Ben Ali in January. This clip offers a warning to Tunisians what could happen if they do not participate --- the return of Ben Ali:
