Iran's Tumultuous Election and Its Aftermath
Who would have thought that hope would spring from an election marked by fraud, censorship and bloodshed? In June, after incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of Iran's presidential election by an implausibly wide margin, millions of Iranians massed in Tehran to shout anti-regime slogans and protest a rigged election. Bedecked in green, they turned out day after day, many donning sneakers in case they were forced to flee from the thuggish Basij paramilitary force patrolling the demonstrations and clubbing dissidents. Thanks to a media crackdown, social media spread the gruesome news, making household names out of victims like Neda Agha-Soltan, whose murder was caught on a video that ricocheted around the globe. There was no happy ending for the protesters: Ahmadinejad's win was certified. But though the crowds went home, they coalesced intermittently around anniversaries to protest again and again, leaving the country in a political quagmire as reformists and heavyweights in the conservative theocracy battle it out behind closed doors.