Word: ashura
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...agree on is that the massive crackdown on Revolution Day was at least a tactical victory for the government. While the opposition had in the past been able to mount at least symbolic challenges to the regime on state-sanctioned holidays like Jerusalem Day and religious events such as Ashura, despite the superior power of state security forces, this time the government was much more successful at preempting activism. In the run-up to Feb. 11, the government arrested scores of would-be activists and organizers, scared off many more by promising swift retribution and executed two opposition supporters...
...order to stage simple national and religious holiday celebrations, the government has had to mobilize hundreds of thousands of supporters, many from outside the capital, and deploy massive force, which belies its claims that the opposition is just a disaffected élitist minority. "By attacking the people on Ashura, the government lost its religious legitimacy," says Mohsen Sazegara, one of the founders of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. A former aide to Ayatullah Khomeini, Sazegara now posts videos on YouTube from his home in suburban Virginia giving advice to the Green Movement. Moreover, the costs of such military-style operations...
...least eight people were killed and hundreds more arrested in the most violent antigovernment protests in Iran since those that followed June's disputed presidential election. Authorities accused foreign governments of backing the demonstrations, which were held as Iran marked the major Shi'ite holiday of Ashura. Among those killed was 43-year-old Ali Mousavi Khamane, nephew of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi...
Pakistan's minority Shi'ite community was rocked by a suicide attack on a religious procession in Karachi during the holy festival of Ashura. The Dec. 28 bombing, which killed at least 40 people, was the third in a week to target Shi'ites. Sunni extremist groups were accused of orchestrating the attack, and government officials have asked Shi'ite clerics to delay upcoming processions for safety reasons. Critics of President Asif Ali Zardari pointed to the events as evidence of his inability to combat increasing sectarian violence in the country...
...heart of Shi'a Islam is a 1,400-year-old passion play of political succession: the hero is Hussain, grandson of the Prophet; the villain is Yazid, the usurper of the Caliphate; and each year on the holy day of Ashura, their bloody conflict is re-enacted as a Shi'ite cri de coeur. Iran, the pre-eminent Shi'ite nation, commemorated Ashura amid its own power struggle. Tens of thousands took to the streets, chanting, "We are the army of Imam Hussain ... supporters of Mir-Hossein." Hussain had become Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the declared loser in last June...