Iranians Using Twitter as the Voice of Protest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) June 25, 2009 --

Iranian citizens in protest of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidential re-election flooded the streets of Tehran after he was declared the winner over Mir Hossein Moussaui. Since the election on June 12, demonstrators in support of both candidates continue to crowd the streets of the capital city causing political and social unrest, mayhem and death. After Moussaui requested that vote counting cease due to what he called "blatant violations," Ahmadinejad was declared the winner, carrying 63% of the vote. Although supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had initially agreed to investigate the disputed election results, Ahmadinejad was given Khamenei's blessing after delivering a victory speech. Insisting that the margin of victory was too great to have been manipulated, Khamenei again endorses Admadinejad's win.

Iranian government has censored foreign media from covering the turmoil and journalists have been ordered to stay inside their hotel rooms. Although the government has attempted to block the use of computers, cell phones and websites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, tech savvy protesters have been able to circumvent the system and use Twitter to convey messages to others. Tweets sent via cell phone and computer warn Iranians of dangerous areas to avoid, tell of violent rampages in the streets and even instruct protesters on how to care for gun and knife wounds. Twitter is also being used to organize united protests and convey activity to followers. Those who have not been able to get in through the back door have used more conventional means of communicating and spreading information via land line phones and door to door messaging has also given Iranians a conveyor for messages.

When Twitter was scheduled to hold routine mainetenance on the site, the U.S. State Department requested that the site reschedule and keep service active so that citizens could continue to voice their opinions. President Obama was called a "meddler" by Ahmadinejad, but still expressed his feeling that the voices of the Iranians should not be surpressed. In the middle of all the turmoil and unrest, protesters continue to risk their lives to give their voices a platform and hope for the future of their country.