Iran Bans Foreign Journalists From Rallies
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Four days after Iran's election and the protests seem to be growing more violent, foreign journalists banned, and recounts by the very government accused of rigging votes in the first place. Has anybody thought about this? What if Ahmadinejad really did win? Are Western media outlets getting this thing all wrong?</s>HOLMES: Decades ago, they say they were beaten as boys. Now they are men, facing their accused childhood tormentor and looking for justice.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you spanked these boys with this leather strap, did you use all of your power?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.</s>HOLMES: A CNN exclusive -- you will see it right here.</s>DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": I would like to apologize.</s>HOLMES: And Letterman says he is sorry to the Palin family. Is this very public spat finally over? Your national conversation for Tuesday, June 16, 2009, begins right now.</s>HOLMES: And good afternoon, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Rick Sanchez. We have been following, of course, the developments we have been seeing in Iran over the past several days. We will continue that coverage today. But it is a little more difficult for us right now. It's a little trickier. Why? Because, today, there is no foreign press coverage allowed there. The Iranian government has shut us down, CNN and other foreign media, non-Iranian news agencies banned from coverage anything related to this election, CNN reporters and producers not allowed to leave their hotel rooms, some online services blocked, text and video services on the Internet blocked. We are, however, still able to get some video, get some things out of there through some other ways and other means. This is some video we have seen that was taken today. This was at a march for supporters of the opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi. He is still disputing the election results. Those results that we saw of course that were put out by the interior ministry saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won, and won in a landslide pretty much. We have also seen some pictures that maybe Iran's leaders might not want the world to see. Take a look at what we are talking about here. What you are seeing here, amateur video, this was shot yesterday on a cell phone camera. This is in Tehran near Freedom Square. You have heard that several times over the past few days, where a lot of these demonstrations have been happening. We are told those were gunshots you were hearing there. We don't know if this scene is related to the death of seven people in Tehran, who allegedly attacked a military base. Now I want you to listen to President Obama today explaining why for now his position on Iran is watch and wait.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling, the U.S. president meddling in Iranian elections. What I will repeat, and what I said yesterday, is that when I see violence directed at peaceful protesters, when I see peaceful dissent being suppressed, wherever that takes place, it is of concern to me and it's of concern to the American people. That is not how governments should interact with their people.</s>HOLMES: Well, I want to turn now to Octavia Nasr, who is here with me to join this discussion. She's our senior editor for Mideast affairs. We just got a bit of information here across the AP. You and I were just talking about it before we sat down, that the supreme leader now bringing in all sides and is calling for unity. Again, this is according to the AP we are just getting. Why would that be such a significant development?</s>OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: Because things got out of hand. All of those images that we are looking at, Iranians do not want this. Iranians wanted their vote to be counted. That's simple. And, right now, where things -- what's going on is that you have two sides inside Tehran, one side supporting President Ahmadinejad, another side supporting Mr. Mousavi. And what they're doing, they are demonstrating. The demonstrations were peaceful in the beginning, and then violence occurred. And then violence escalated. And Iranians are looking at this and saying, no, this is not acceptable. Now, for the supreme leader</s>HOLMES: Yes.</s>NASR: ... that means they are trying to find some kind of unity, some kind of resolution. They want to stop the bloodshed.</s>HOLMES: And, obviously, the people's movement, a grassroots movement, if you will, has been able to make their voices heard loud enough to force action by the supreme leader.</s>NASR: Absolutely. This is a cyber-revolution. If you look at it, it -- it happened on the Internet. It mushroomed on the Internet. We watched it develop. We watched it develop during the campaign and then on Election Day and then after that. And we are watching it grow so fast and so bloody that it's making people very worried, very concerned right now. And when you talk about the all the stuff you have been reporting, a crackdown on the media, not allowing us, for example, to leave our hotel room, how are we going to report about what's going on in Iran? If all the reports coming out of Iran are filtered by the Iranian government, how do you trust those reports? So, what the opposition is doing, they are resorting to social media. They figured out a way to take pictures on their cell phones. That's why most of the video is either taking on a cell phone, amateur video. And they are uploading it on sites such as our own site, CNN's iReport, on YouTube, on Facebook, on Twitter, you name it. They're having all kinds of conversations online with people. You know, the Iranian government also blocked the Internet.</s>HOLMES: Yes.</s>NASR: So, they tried to hack these people, tried to stop them from communicating with the outside world. They figured out a way. As a matter of fact, today, for example, one way I have been talking to my contacts inside Iran is through GTalk or through Google messenger.</s>HOLMES: Yes.</s>NASR: And those -- both those are down today. But my contacts told me that they used a proxy in order to get around the blockage. And we were able to talk. We were able to communicate, and they were telling me what's going on today. So, Iranians are -- are very savvy.</s>HOLMES: Savvy.</s>NASR: And they are really using this technology to their advantage. Another thing, T.J., that is important is that the world is embracing this cyber-revolution, if you will.</s>NASR: The world is standing there in support. You go to Twitter, for example, you see many people changed their profile pictures to green in solidarity with the green movement of Mousavi in Iran.</s>NASR: You see people telling each other, please don't use names. Don't use user names. And, of course, CNN is going to definitely do that.</s>NASR: We are going to protect people. We are not here to expose them or say their names on air or anywhere else.</s>HOLMES: You know, no matter what, it is remarkable what we have been seeing on the air and in pictures as well.</s>NASR: It is. It sure is.</s>HOLMES: And we want to go now live to Iran, to Tehran. Our Reza Sayah is there for us right now, Reza, of course, one of the -- one of the many who have -- I guess, Reza, your movements have been restricted pretty much by the government there. So, we have been seeing these pictures, these protests, demonstrations and some violence over the past several days. Tell us what today was like and tell us what, I guess, is happening, is still possibly happening, even though it is late there right now.</s>REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot happening today, T.J., several major developments. One of them is not good news for CNN and other members of the foreign media, the Iranian government today pointing the finger to CNN and other foreign media outlets, saying, you are no longer allowed to cover these rallies, you are no longer allowed broadcast images of these rallies. Of course, it has been largely the foreign media outlets, including CNN, over the past few days that have shown pictures of the violent and oftentimes brutal crackdown against the supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the disgruntled presidential candidate. And, basically, today, the Iranian government said they have had enough. They have made it no secret that they weren't happy with the coverage, calling it biased and one-sided. And, today, they pulled the plug, making our job very challenging,</s>T.J. HOLMES: Challenging, as you say, there. Is there any sense that today was much different than what we saw the past several days, which, of course, was several clashes? But does it seem like maybe -- and the word we are just getting now with the supreme leader maybe having conversations with all sides in the election, that maybe people are starting to wanting to move past, I guess, what we have been seeing in the streets the past few days?</s>SAYAH: Well, I think the two sides want to move past the situation here, but in different directions. Indeed, the supreme leader did meet with representatives of all four candidates. And, earlier this week, he did call on the Iranian Guardian Council, the highest legislative body in Iran, to carefully review the vote. And Guardian Council did agree to do a recount, a partial recount, but that certainly not satisfying the Mousavi camp. They don't want a recount. They want a new vote. And, today, we did see more rallies on both sides. You had a pro-Ahmadinejad camp coming out with a very large rally. A couple of hours later, you saw the Mousavi supporters with a huge rally. And for a moment there, it had the makings of a very volatile, explosive situation, possibly, people feared, a collision course between these two rallies. But that didn't happen. So, what was different today, based on what we were able to observe, we were able to able to hear, not as much violence as we have seen in the past few days.</s>HOLMES: All right. And we will take that right now. Reza Sayah, again, one of our journalists, our -- our reporters who is there in Tehran, but, again, like so many other foreign media, being restricted in what he can and can't do and where he can and can't move. Reza, thank you so much. Meanwhile, we are, of course, as always, here on Rick's show, want to share with you some of the video we're getting, some of the comments we are getting from you as well. Do want to head now -- we do have a comment up on Twitter from James Bowen, if we can turn there to that Twitter page and show you this, saying: "What if Ahmadinejad -- win? What if he did win? Then he is who we talk to. That's all. Also, To the right there, someone else on MySpace, on Rick's MySpace, commenting, saying: "This is awful. People should be able to voice how they fear without fearing for their lives. Sad, very sad." Thank you for sending your comments in. Continue to send them in. And our thanks once to Reza Sayah there in Tehran and also our Octavia Nasr, who has been -- who is sitting here with me, for her comments and really her reporting on what is happening there in the Middle East, specifically in Iran. Well, stay with us here. The massive protests, we're talking about, the international concerns, Iran's elections has sparked all of that. But what -- what if the results announced are accurate? Is that even possible? That's not necessarily what a lot of people are talking about right now. But I have got a guest coming up who says, not only is it possible that Ahmadinejad won; it is likely. And he has got numbers to back it up. Also, later, systematic, continual beatings at school, that's what a group of men say they were subjected to as children. Now, decades later, they're taking on the man they say was responsible.