Iran Mobilizes to Stifle Opposition Protests - WSJ.com: Via Wall Street Journal / WSJ.com .

BEIRUT—Iranian authorities deployed in force across Tehran Wednesday to conduct last-minute security sweeps and warn residents to refrain from joining antigovernment protests planned for Thursday.

The government typically orchestrates large, carnival-like rallies and demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the Islamic Republic. For this year's events on Feb. 11, the day marking the culmination of the annual celebrations, opposition leaders have called for protesters to demonstrate against the regime. That has set the stage for clashes between authorities and demonstrators, who have taken to the streets repeatedly to protest the outcome of presidential elections in June.

Government officials, meanwhile, ratcheted up threats against any protests Thursday, vowing to confront demonstrators on the streets and calling for government supporters to turn out in large numbers. Iranian officials have branded protesters as agents of foreign powers.

The Iranian judiciary has handed down a number of harsh sentences against protesters arrested in previous demonstrations, including at least 10 pending death sentences.
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S.F. techie helps stir Iranian protests: Via San Francisco Chronicle.

But for the past few days, Heap, an IT director in San Francisco, has been on the virtual front lines of the crisis in Iran, helping people there protest the presidential election, which opponents of the incumbent regime maintain was fraudulent.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets since Saturday, organizing and sharing news on sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The Iranian government, in response, has blocked those sites, along with mobile phone service and other communications tools.

But Iran has the highest number of bloggers per capita in the world, said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University, and they were undeterred. "People used Twitter, and people used their cell phones and used all kinds of mechanisms."
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Protesters Gather Again, as Iran Panel Offers Talks: Via NYTimes.com .

TEHRAN — Tens of thousands of black-clad, candle-bearing protesters massed quietly in central Tehran on Thursday for another day of protest over last week’s disputed presidential election, even as the Iranian government made its first move toward some form of dialogue to defuse the outrage.

The move came in the form of an invitation from the country’s powerful Guardian Council to the three major challengers to meet to discuss their grievances.

The exact motives, timing and conditions of the proposed meeting, reported by state media, remained unclear. The offer, from a legal panel largely controlled by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was widely seen as a government effort to buy time in the hopes of dampening the momentum of days of enormous protests taking place in open defiance of the government’s authority.
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