The Latest from Iran (20 August): Regime's Cyber-Warriors "We Don't Get No Respect"

US citizens Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, shown with fellow hiker Sarah Shourd, who were convicted today of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison (see 1350 GMT)

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1422 GMT: Some People are So Ungrateful Watch. The head of State broadcaster IRIB, Ezzatollah Zarghami, has declared that he said to the "losing" candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi after the 2009 Presidential elections, "You got these 13 million votes only with the help of IRIB."

The official returns, challenged by millions of Iranians in the days after the ballot, showed President Ahmadinejad with 24 million votes v. Mousavi's 13 million.

Zarghami said IRIB, with the permission of the Supreme Leader, had shown campaign ads for Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, even though Karroubi's ads "crossed red lines" by showing "prohibited persons".

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The Latest from Iran (30 July): Watching Out for Enemies

1700 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch (cont.). And for the most distinctive source of criticism today, consider the head of Iran's armed forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, who has told Fars, "Subsidy refunds and justice shares should not be abused for campaigning."

That is a pointed jab at President Ahmadinejad, accused of using "justice shares" --- dividends from state holdings handed out to the public --- to influence votes in the 2009 Presidential election, and his allies, accused of wanting to do the same in the 2012 and 2013 Parliamentary and Presidential ballots.

1600 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Even amidst the frequent criticism of the President these days, this blast from Ahmad Salek of the Society of Militant Clergies is rather special:

Hopefully the djinns around Ahmadinejad aren't British, Israeli, and Russian....Obama & Netanyahu supported him because Ahmadinejad shares the same beliefs....Ahmadinejad sat at home with 25 million votes [in the disputed 2009 election], but people didn't support him because the Islamic Republic has its own management."

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