Iran Updates

From Atlas Shrugs:

1:06: There's been a lot of speculation that former President Hashemi Rafsanjani is very much a player behind the scenes............. in support of the revolution. Must be some truth to it. They arrested his daughter

Daughter of former Iranian president arrested‎

Iranian state television says authorities have arrested the daughter of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani together with four other family members for taking part in unauthorized protest rallies.

State TV has shown pictures of Faezeh Hashemi, Rafsanjani's eldest daughter, speaking to hundreds of opposition supporters last week.

Rafsanjani has made no secret of his distaste for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose re-election victory in a June 12 vote was disputed by opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

12:57: CNN is showing amateur video of Tehran. The streets are packed with protesters.

12:25pm Twitition (twitter petition): Since the Iranian government is blocking internet access, Google should update the satellite images so people can follow the movement of protesters.

Here's a new photo gallery and video montage from the Tehran protests.

12:16: Obama inspired poster .......of Neda, the young girl, standing with her father, shot in the heart by the Basij. (poster h/t DJM)

12:05pm: Over at Boston.com: PARIS—Iranian authorities have arrested 23 journalists and bloggers since post-election protests began a week ago, according to a media watchdog that says reporters are a "priority target" for Iran's leadership.

11am: (hat tip Kenneth via the Guardian)
The man who leaked the real election results from the Interior Ministry - the ones showing Ahmadinejad coming third - was killed in a suspicious car accident, according to unconfirmed reports, writes Saeed Kamali Dehghan in Tehran.

Mohammad Asgari, who was responsible for the security of the IT network in Iran's interior ministry, was killed yesterday in Tehran. Asgari had reportedly leaked results that showed the elections were rigged by government use of new software to alter the votes from the provinces.

Asgari was said to have leaked information that showed Mousavi had won almost 19 million votes, and should therefore be president.

We will try to get more details later. The Guardian is reporting:

As the Iranian authorities continue their crackdown on opposition rallies, foreign journalists, and the internet, what next for the protest movement? Follow live updates on the aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential election

The youth draw on videos like this for inspiration before they hit the streets and put their lives on the line.

Supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi protest in the streets of Tehran. Somayeh Soheily/The Guardian

7.45am:
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni has condemned the protests as "vandalism", according to state TV.

But he also endorsed the guardian council's decision to conduct a partial recount of Friday's ballot.

"Those in charge of supervising the elections are always trustworthy people, but this should not prevent an investigation into possible problems and clarifying the truth," Khamenei is quoted as saying.

7.50am:
We reported yesterday that Twitter had delayed an upgrade to its network because of the vital role it is playing in the Iran protest. It has now emerged that the US state department requested the delay, according to the Washington Post. This despite Barack Obama's stance of not meddling in Iranian affairs.

8am:
On the subject of Twitter, we face a tricky dilemma.

We have been contacted by a number of people urging us not to link to individual Twitter users in Iran. They claim that this puts people in real danger, although Twitter users in Iran have not repeated this concern.

On the other hand Twitter users are providing vital updates on the situation at a time when foreign journalists are facing severe restrictions. Linking to tweets (which are of course published on the internet) helps readers to asses the veracity of what is being reported. If we don't link won't this simply help silence opposition and citizen journalism in Iran?

It's a difficult issue.

11:50 AM ET -- Peaceful demonstrations on Sunday. Video from a blogger in Iran. (hat tip Nico)