This, on the very same day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down.
And days before the “Green Movement” in Iran plans to put on its own demonstration, in solidarity with Egypt’s pro-democracy movement, and a march to call for changes in Iran as well.
Iran’s Prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has rejected the request for that demonstration on Monday, calling it “a political act”. It’s unclear whether or not people will come out onto the streets anyway, to demand change. The police presence on the streets is intimidating, Iranians say. The security services have used force on a level much more severe than that which was employed in Egypt since Iran’s disputed elections in 2009, after which thousands of people were thrown into jail, some reportedly raped and worse. 500 still remain in prison, according to human rights groups, as a result of the protests that followed Iran’s elections.
Tehran’s hardliners have tried to say that the Egyptian movement is an Islamic movement, similar to Iran’s 1979 Revolution. President Ahmadinejad said a revered 9th century Shi’ite saint, the 12th Imam, or Mahdi, was behind the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.
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