The World According to M.I.S.S. Iran Election Still Causing Unrest

It’s been awhile since the Iran election and the fall out that happened directly after, but according to reports the unrest is still persistent. Security forces are said to have confronted some 3,000 protesters in various locations around Iran, first at a cemetery, a pray vigil, and government buildings. Protesters were mourning the loss of Neda Agha Soltan, the woman who at 26 was gunned down during post election protests on June 20 and who is now being rendered as the face of the Iran revolution.

The government has apparently cracked down on all the demonstrations, resorting to violence to control crowds.

The clashes between authority figures and mourners occurred when leaders of the post election movement tried to gather several thousand people join in a memorial for the slain Agha Soltan. The gathering was banned by law enforcement, but the restrictions were ignored by participants. There is religious significance to the gathering of mourners to this said grave. For Iranians the 40th day after a death marks the last official day of mourning.

A confrontation between women protesters and police also was seen. The women shouted, “Don’t beat up our young people. You, our Muslim brothers. It is a shame to beat up our young people.”

Uses of tear gas, and reports of multiple beatings have been reported beginning at the memorial, where it is said militia charged the gathering with batons, and as many as nine beatings were seen. People were also reportedly beaten as they ran from police.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said using force to “break up a group of people who were trying to exercise an important ritual in Islam, the mourning after 40 days,” is “particularly disturbing.”

The government has apparently cracked down on all the demonstrations, resorting to violence to control crowds. Arrests have been made, hundreds are being detained including about 50 political figures who are being accused of being key figures in the street demonstrations that turned violent.

The World According to M.I.S.S.: Two U.S. Journalists Sentenced to 12 Years in Korea.

Back in March two U.S. journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were detained by North Korean military personnel after allegedly crossing into North Korea from the People’s Republic of China. The journalists, on assignment for independent cable television network Current TV in San Francisco, were found guilty of illegal entry and plotting a ‘smear campaign‘ and in a closed trail were promptly sentenced to 12 years hard labor in a North Korean prison camp earlier this month.

“Laura and Euna are journalists who went to the China-North Korea border to do a job,” they said. “We don’t know what really happened on March 17, but if they wandered across the border without permission, we apologize on their behalf and we are certain that they have also apologized.”

CNN reported that the two women and the two unidentified men with them, were approached by North Korean military personnel after filming near the Tumen River area between the border of North Korea and China. Word has it that there is confusion as to if the journalists and their companions were actually on the Chinese side or the Korean side, because the border is not clearly marked.

As of now the Swedish ambassador has met with Ling and Lee three times, in March, May, and June 1st.

“Obviously, we are deeply concerned about the length of the sentences and the fact that this trial was conducted totally in secret with no observers,” she said June 8. “And we are engaged in all possible ways, through every possible channel, to secure their release.”

The State Department reports that the United States is working with the Chinese government on the case, and is currently communicating through the Swedish Embassy located in North Korea capital Pyongyang. Sweden is representing the U.S. in this endeavor seeing as the United States does not have a diplomatic relationship with the North. As of now the Swedish ambassador has met with Ling and Lee three times, in March, May, and June 1st.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee and her daughter Hannah.

Ling, the sister of journalist Lisa Ling, and Lee a Current TV reporter, have had their families pleading for their safe return. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton told reporters earlier this month that the U.S. is pleading with North Korea to free the journalists on humanitarian grounds.

“The families of Laura Ling and Euna Lee are grateful to the North Korean government for allowing the Swedish ambassador to visit Laura and Euna. We continue to appeal for their release on humanitarian grounds,” the statement read.

The relationship between the United States and North Korea has always been a tense one, especially with North Korea announcing is preparation to launch a missile the United States and other governments believe could be used to launch nuclear warheads. Such a launch would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.