Monday
Jan182010
UPDATED Iran Video: CNN & Marandi on Detainee Abuses "Mortazavi to Blame" (17 January)
Monday, January 18, 2010 at 8:00
An interesting interview on CNN with Tehran University academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi over the Parliamentary report into detainee abuses, notably the violence and deaths at Kahrizak Prison. Below the analysis we have the video of CNN's report on Kahrizak and Mortazavi, accompanied by an extract of the Marandi interview.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXorJB-L-I8[/youtube]
Note how quickly Marandi invokes the name of Abdolhossein Ruholamini, the medical professor and advisor to Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, to declare "satisfaction" with the report and investigations by the Government, including the role of Ayatollah Khamenei. It was the death of Ruholamini's son Mohsen in Kahrizak that spurred "conservative/principlist" pressure for the closure of the facility, which was ordered by the Supreme Leader this summer, and then for an enquiry.
All of this, then, is to convert the stigma of the abuses into "legitimacy" by showing the Government's readiness to investigate and correct the post-election mistakes. However, that also means there has to be an official who is prosecuted/punished/sacrificed for that legitimacy.
Thus Marandi's pointed comment, again in the name of Ruholamini: "The problem was...the response of the judge, Mr Mortazavi, was slow, and he blames Mr Mortazavi for [the death of the Kahrizak detainees]." Indeed, Marandi claimed that the Supreme Leader ordered the closure of the prison before the killing of the younger Ruholamini and the other prisoners.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JcGmoBCDq8[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXorJB-L-I8[/youtube]
Note how quickly Marandi invokes the name of Abdolhossein Ruholamini, the medical professor and advisor to Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, to declare "satisfaction" with the report and investigations by the Government, including the role of Ayatollah Khamenei. It was the death of Ruholamini's son Mohsen in Kahrizak that spurred "conservative/principlist" pressure for the closure of the facility, which was ordered by the Supreme Leader this summer, and then for an enquiry.
All of this, then, is to convert the stigma of the abuses into "legitimacy" by showing the Government's readiness to investigate and correct the post-election mistakes. However, that also means there has to be an official who is prosecuted/punished/sacrificed for that legitimacy.
Thus Marandi's pointed comment, again in the name of Ruholamini: "The problem was...the response of the judge, Mr Mortazavi, was slow, and he blames Mr Mortazavi for [the death of the Kahrizak detainees]." Indeed, Marandi claimed that the Supreme Leader ordered the closure of the prison before the killing of the younger Ruholamini and the other prisoners.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JcGmoBCDq8[/youtube]
Reader Comments (17)
Prof. Marandi's remarks on Mr. Mortazevi remind one of the immortal line from The Maltese Falcon, "Give them the gunsel."
FRED A. REED
"This video contains content from CNN (Europe), who has decided to block it in your country." That's the message I got when I tried to play the video. No matter though, I know how Marandi is...blah, blah, lie, lie, blame Mortazevi, blah, blah.. Am I close?
Khabaronline reported on 10 January that doctor Pourandarjani did not commit suicide (in English): http://www.khabaronline.ir/news-29297.aspx
Obviously Mr Marandi is not able to read. He reminds me much of a vulture, pecking with relish at a half-dead body. But he is not aware that the flesh is filled with a Green poison. It will paralyse him and his fellow vultures dead slow ...
cnn europe has blocked this video in the USA...
LAME
If they charge Mortazevi, he will not go down quietly. He will implicate others.
Barry
Here's the workaround for those of you in the United States and Canada who want to see the Marandi video. For those of you elsewhere, this video contains additional segments on the prison situation in Iran, including interviews with Abdol-Hossein Ruholamini, Hooman Majd, and Karim Sadjadpour. Those all appear during the second half of the video; the first half is on Haiti.
Note: To download the video, hit right click, then then hit "Save Target As" or "Save Link As". If you prefer to play this directly in your browser, you can click the link normally - but you still will likely have to wait for the video to download in its entirety before it will start playing.
Video: http://bit.ly/7gncVH
"Things are going back to normal" you say???? Well, comical Ali....let us wait and see!
Why is he interviewed all time by CNN ! everybody knows who is he anf his support for regime ! is he so credible for CNN !!?
@ange paris ....
I think the current government has made him spokesperson for foreign media. One of the CNN reporters said that they tried to get in touch with other pundits in Iran but they were not able to do so. This guys everywhere really.
Hes like the Mark Regev of Israel except he does a better job at justifying the actions of the government.
@ Danial
Ditto! I've always thought of Marandi as the Iranian Marc Regev - but it's hard to say which one is more intellectually dishonest. I'd love to see an edition of Aljazeera's Inside Story discussing some point of contention between Israel and Iran with these two bullshit artists pitted against each other and bullshit artist busters Nick Clark or Kamahl Santamaria presenting/moderating.
Thanks for posting it via the youtube links. I saw that segment via Amanpour's program -- while at a friend's house. Maybe they had CNN International. (what few Americans get -- loud jeers to CNN's arrogance & assumption that Americans are just too "dull" to want to watch international news....).
Perhaps just as interesting -- if not more compelling - was CA's discussion afterwards, with Houman Majd and Karim Sadjadpour. The former was impressive, sober, cogent.
The latter was still blathering about "getting on the side of history" -- and trying to settle scores (in his own mind) about analysts who didn't see how serious the divides were in Iran as of July. (Alas, people in glass houses oughta be careful before throwing stones -- we can pull out the analyses of KS pre-elections too)
None of this is yet on the Amanpour/CNN web site. Puzzling again:
http://www.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/amanpour/
Danial
I am surprised because Mrs Amanpour , as an iranian journalist living abroad, reflects only the thoughts of the regime in her reports, it's the "one side" show and there is never people belonging to iranian opposition or even a mere man or woman from the demonstrators ; they could hide his or her face during the interview !! it's very odd for me !
Dear Picard, ie Scott Harrop from University VIrgina:
Your personal obsession w/ Karim Sajjapour is quite interesting. Every time his name it is mentioned you attack him. Very petty no? It seems YOU are the one who has a score to settle w/ him, no?! Especially interesting that you ignore Marandi in the process of attacking Karim!!
Hi Scott Harrop / Picard:
Nonwithstanding my love for all the interesting variants of "Scott" (and "Kevin") posting on EA, and the fact I like your posts very much (better than Elham77 does), why do you post as both yourself and "Picard"? I find it somewhat confusing when people adopt more than one persona on the same site.
If you scroll up in the comments a few spots, I posted a direct link to the video feed. I really don't know what the issue is with the temporary blackout here on social media. It may have something to do with the programs appearing on air in Europe before they go on TV here. (?)
Thx, Kevin
Arshama,
No one should have any doubt that regime murdered the young Kharizak prison doctor. Proving an untimely death is not that difficult. Autopsy followed by toxicology tests determines conclusively cause and manner of death.
The hearing in Majlis is really a dog and pony show to fool the public. If regime was seriously interested in determining the cause of Dr. Pourandarjani’s death, they could have brought a team of independent coroners (Tabebe Ghanoni) and toxicology experts, to conduct autopsy with video camera recording the entire process, and sending his liver tissues, brain tissues, hair sample, blood, and tissues from other organs (if necessary) to a toxicology lab. Heck, they could have even sent the toxicology samples to a lab outside the country if they did not have capability and expertise in Iran. Instead, like always they do not even give access to family members to see the body, their own employees prepare the body for burial and burry the body. They do not even allow the families mourn as they wish and if that is not the proof of a cover up of a crime, I do not know what else is.
Unfortunately, this regime will continue its murderous path. Those who are in state of coma watch, deny, accept, forget and continue with their lives like walking deads and those who rise up will be poisoned, shot, bombed, raped, and beat to death or manage to flee the Islamic Fascist and live in exile. And the World continues to watch the show….
[edited by moderator]
Thanks for small blessing; I could not access the video of Marandi.... I wait for the day of reckoning and the video in which we see and hear someone describing Marandi’s follies and cover up for crimes of Islamic Fascist regime in Iran.
I swear it's Baghdad Bob's kid...