Iran bans mourning services

Screen grab from private video posted on YouTube that shows attempts to save the life of 26-year-old Neda Soltan, who now is hailed as a martyr after her apparent murder during a protest in Tehran

TEL AVIV – In a new level of crackdown against daily protests, the Iranian government reportedly has issued orders prohibiting all mosques in Tehran from holding memorials or publicly mourning the deaths of riot victims.

The order comes as amateur video released Saturday capturing the violent death of a female protester has become an iconic image in Iran and abroad, prompting scores of mosques to schedule memorials for 27-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan.

The 40-second video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube.com, shows Soltan walking with her father among demonstrators before she is filmed on the ground with blood coming from her nose and mouth as attempts are made to save her life.

People around Soltan are heard screaming. A white haired man is seen pleading with her: "Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid!"

The image is now being compared to the picture of an unnamed man standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square in 1989 that came to symbolize the protests against China's communist regime.

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The banning of memorials for Soltan and others apparently represents another way the Iranian government is working to combat the opposition movement demonstrations, aside from shooting live ammunition and tear gas at protesters.

'Bullet fee'

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported the family of an Iranian teenager killed in a demonstration was ordered by the government to pay the equivalent of $3,000 for the bullets that took his life.

According to the report, the government refused to release the body of Kaveh Alipour, 19, who was shot in the head in downtown Tehran Saturday, until the money for bullets was sent.

Officials reportedly finally delivered the body without full payment after the family argued it did not have that much money. But the government instructed the man could not be buried within the city limits.

WND reported yesterday Iran is preparing a massive "bloodbath" crackdown on protesters in the near future if the demonstrations continue to escalate in the coming days, Israeli security sources estimated.

"What we have seen so far is a fraction of Iran's capabilities in suppressing the uprising," said one security source.

"The Islamist regime cannot afford for the protests to be successful. They know the world is watching, but they are still preparing for a bloodbath of proportions that we have yet to witness if it comes to that," the source said.

A second security source added President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters in the Islamic theocracy could come out stronger and more authoritarian than ever if they successfully violently quell the protests and afterward still engage with the international community over issues of Iran's nuclear program.

Thus far, ordinary police as well as the Basij, a plainclothes militia under the command of Iran's notorious Revolutionary Guard, have been used to attempt to hold back the streets protests that erupted after the presidential election results were announced.

If Revolutionary Guard soldiers are called in, stronger measures are expected.

Protests continued yesterday despite strong warning by Iran's security forces against any more rioting. Security forces reportedly attacked hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas and fired live bullets in the air to disperse a rally in central Tehran.

Witnesses there told news agencies police were not allowing anyone to stand still, asking civilians to keep on walking and separating people who were walking together in attempts to quell the protests.

"There is a massive, massive, massive police presence," a witness reportedly told the Associated Press by telephone. "Their presence was really intimidating."

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