Via Iran Politik:
In a leaked video posted on the Facebook account of Iranian opposition figure Mohammad Nourizad, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Majour-General Mohammad-Ali Jafari can be seen discussing his organization’s response to the 2009-2011 Green Movement demonstrations in an open and frank manner with what appears to be members of that body’s senior leadership. Nourizad is a former journalist for the conservative Kayhan daily newspaper who was arrested after writing a critical letter about the crackdown on the Green Movement to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The video does not appear to have been taken in secret, although its authenticity has yet to be verified.
Nourizad used to be an extremist conservative, and he is now 100% liberal secular pro-democracy. Why does this matter? Because he is still connected to people inside Revolutionary Guard. They are dissatisfied with the regime like Nourizad but they are still in closet, and one of them has leaked it. I consider Nourizad the most credible source and the video is beyond doubt.
In the video Jafari makes clear that the IRGC viewed the election of a reformist and the return to power of the reform movement as anathema:
“The worry and concern which existed and the red-line that existed for the forces of the revolution was that the forces that were against the revolution and its values, which during the period of the Second of Khordad [Reform era, 1997-2005] had found an opportunity and had penetrated the regime, would once again come to power.”
He asserted that “In the election and the events afterward,” referring to the events of the Green Movement demonstrations, “it became clear why they [reformists] insisted so much that the IRGC and Basij, under the label ‘military forces’, should not interfere with the election so that they could carry out their plot and the IRGC and Basij do not bother them.”
This report fails to include the most revealing thing Jafari says in the video though. He clearly says “the election was going to go to the second round, and then it’s not clear what would happen there”, so we interfered.
So, to recap: reformists coming to power is the red-line, reformists didn’t want military intervention and if the military hadn’t intervened, the elections would go the second round (actually, Mousavi would win in the first round, but whatever).
So there you have it: an indisputable proof that election was rigged. This video will be used in a court somewhere somehow.
And then he goes on to narrate how protesters were suppressed:
“After that it was natural that we must not allow even what they themselves call ‘quiet demonstrations’ take place. It was predicted that when this approach was taken there would be one or two more days of demonstrations,” referring to the decision to crackdown, “however, fortunately with this approach from Saturday afternoon and after this ban came into place nothing happened anymore. And the reason was clear, because the majority of those who participated in the these demonstrations came from the [affluent] north of the city and they are not very accustomed to enduring difficulties and taking a stand. This was completely apparent.”
“Two very fundamental and strategic actions had an impact in clearing up this affair. One was the very widespread arrests which was carried out by the security forces, and partially the IRGC, at the level of planners and ideologues of this affair.”
“And then the confrontations,” referring to the second action taken to clear up the demonstrations, “which in a widespread manner, with the presence of the Basij popular forces and the IRGC, and with the assistance of the police and security organizations, took place for confronting this affair, including the most important one which took place on Saturday afternoon.”
The latter refers to the crackdown on the Saturday following Khamenei’s sermon, which led to a number of casualties, including the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, who became a symbol of the Green Movement.
“These two fundamental actions plus the cutting of their communications, meaning creating disorder in their communication systems, including internet networks, mobile networks, SMS, etc. had a big impact on messing up their plans.”
So everything the opposition has been saying has been true.
However, those north-Tehran people who didn’t want to suffer? They continued to come out after the crackdown (it’s clear that this video was taped in 2009 a little after the election), and they made fabricating elections so hard that they had to give up and let people cross their red line: guess who’s president now, a reformist.
Who got the last laugh?