Iran has stepped up security measure as the opposition march proposed for February 14 draws near.
Opposition websites report that the government has blocked Google searches of the word “Bahman.”
That’s the name of the current month on the Iranian calendar but it’s also part of the name of the Facebook page launched for the proposed opposition rally: Bahman 25, which corresponds with February 14.
Opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have applied to the ministry of the interior for a permit to hold a march on February 14 in support of the recent Arab revolts.
Opposition websites now report a growing number of arrests all across the country. Karroubi has also been put under house arrest since Thursday, and yesterday his phones ere also cut off.
Iran’s prosecutor, a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guards and other top Islamic Republic officials have warned against the march, calling it divisive.
The White House criticized the Islamic Republic’s response to Egypt’s uprising, saying Iran’s government has revealed that it is frightened by the will of its people. Noting Iran’s crackdown on opposition leaders and the blocking of news media, Robert Gibbs, the outgoing U.S. press secretary, called on Iran’s government to allow its people to demonstrate peacefully.
