Hillarysworld

There are signs now that the regime in Iran is expanding its crackdown and that the news this week could be increasingly grim: some dissidents have been arrested and the body of a key of Ali Habibi-Mousavi, opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s nephew, is now missing. News reports are saying “allegedly confiscated” but the odds are it is unlikely to be a case of allegedly.

The bottom line is this: Iran is now clearly poised to decide on one of two paths. One: opening itself up a bit and “stealing the thunder” of the Green movement by trying to defuse the opposition and making some concessions to the protesters in the streets. Two: a bigger clamp down, further represssion which will maintain power but rip to shred any of the rhetoric the regime has used to garner support over the years.

What appears to be happening now is the second road: the Iran regime is now morphing into what protesters thirty years ago claimed the Shah was, without the Shah’s jewels. The LA Times reports:

Iranian authorities intensified a crackdown against a budding opposition movement, arresting prominent political activists and allegedly confiscating the corpse of an opposition leader’s nephew in an effort to stem further protests.

At least eight people were killed in Sunday’s unrest, according to Iranian news outlets, with dozens of police and protesters injured and huge swaths of the capital littered with debris and ash from the unrest…..

According to the reformist website Parlemannews, the body of Ali Habibi-Mousavi, opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s nephew, went missing today after he was allegedly shot dead by security forces or allied militias during massive anti-government Ashura protests Sunday.

“Unfortunately, they have taken the body of my brother from the hospital, and however much we search, we can’t find the body,” his brother, Reza Mousavi, told the news website. “No one is accepting responsibility for the body or is accountable.”

The Times, citing a report by Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency, says the official line is that Habibi-Mousavi’s bodie and four other demonstrators shot to death by police were taken away by police for “investigation.” Why would this have an impact?

Removal of the bodies also might stymie potential political unrest associated with funerals and the religiously significant third, seventh and 40th days of mourning.

And the regime’s problems are increasing: it’s notable the number of cities where the are now protests — and the fact that in some areas security forces are refusing to fire on crowds.

More . . .

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There are many videos at this link. Caution: some are quite gory/graphic.

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Hillary Clinton returns from her short holiday break... to this mess.