Word: prayerfulness
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...camaraderie of resistance was visible at the July 17 Friday prayer sermon given by former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani at Tehran University. Nonreligious Iranians turned up for political reasons. The devout showed them how to carry out the rituals, with strangers handing out newspapers as substitute prayer mats for overflow crowds. Men and women prayed together, a regime taboo. When Rafsanjani referred to detainees, the crowd interrupted by roaring, "Political prisoners must be freed!" Calling for support of Iran's Supreme Leader, who backed the crackdown, another prayer official intoned, "We are all your soldiers, Khamenei! We await your...
...anniversary of Neda Agha-Soltan's death, which will occur at the end of July, and the inauguration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term. The date for the swearing-in has not been announced for fear of triggering a mass gathering on the scale of the Friday prayer last week, when former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani spoke for the first time since the election and condemned the government's response. Until then, protesters, even the more timid who choose to stay indoors, seem to be sticking to their tried-and-true form of dissent...
...when word spread that Rafsanjani would deliver the keynote address at Friday prayers July 17 at Tehran University, one of the country's highest-profile platforms, many opposition supporters hoped his speech would provide new impetus to the protest movement. Mousavi himself, rarely seen in public these days, attended the prayer service. Taking no chances, security forces deployed in force hours before the event, and authorities filled the prayer hall with government supporters. (See pictures of Iran's presidential election and its turbulent aftermath...
...enough to satisfy those who keep risking their lives to confront the regime in street protests. Surprisingly large crowds of opposition supporters gathered outside Tehran University despite the heavy security presence Friday. Plainclothes officers harassed opposition presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, who nevertheless managed to make it into the prayer hall, according to an account posted on an opposition news website by Karroubi's son. Eyewitnesses say that government supporters shouting "Death to America" were met by opposition protesters chanting "Death to Russia" and "Death to China" - two countries that have recognized Ahmadinejad's re-election. Before the speech, protesters called...
...first five-year term wasn't syncopated by the constant drumbeat of political and economic scandals that had marred previous Presidents' tenures. Yet the electoral outcome served as much as a vote of confidence for Indonesia's emerging democracy as a referendum on S.B.Y. (Read "A Call to Prayer...