Twitter Saves the Day
Since Friday’s Presidential election, the Iranian government has blocked access to several social networking sites, such as Facebook, and cut off cell phone services. But updates have continued to stream in from Iran via Twitter. While these updates are only 140 characters or less– they are certainly packing a punch.
Recent tweets read:
“Demo spread from Azadi sq, to streets and hwys around it. Cars honking horns, smaller groups marching. False hopes?”
“Dispersed fights in Tehran; sound of shooting heard”
“Tho today’s protest is illegal, police not moving in. Possibly too big to handle, or images of attax beg. to embarrass ldrs”
Follow the election protests on Twitter here. The Atlantic has a page called “Live-Tweeting the Revolution” with Twitter updates, as well. Other sites, such as Flickr, are constantly uploading photographs from these rallies.
It almost seems like 24-hour news networks just can’t keep up– they’ve even been accused of falling behind on coverage by bloggers!
Update: Twitter has pushed back its scheduled down time due to how important it has become for communication with Iran over the past few days.
Samah Choudhury contributed to this post
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Tags: amnesty international, human rights, internet, iran, Iran Election, Iran Human Rights, twitter
June 16th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
peace for the world
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June 16th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
And may Iran achieve true democracy
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June 17th, 2009 at 6:54 am
dear sir/ madam
i am mehwish aleem daughter of hector aleem. my father has a ngo named peace worldwide i have been trying everybody to help us but nobody is helping us. my father hector aleem is in jail for a balsphemy offence but he did not do blasphemy he is being trapped i continuously wrote to amnesty intl UN IJM and other orgsanizations but nobody is helping us. i want everybody to pressurze the government of pakistan to release my dad i want amnesty intl to take action my father has worked a lot for human rights he has received a peace award from the government of Pakistan. but when he is helpless nobody is helping him. now different cases are being lodged against us so that we could not go after him so please help us
mehwish aleem
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June 17th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Mehwish,
We’re so sorry to hear of your father’s troubles. Please contact Amnesty International’s headquarters right away to let them know more about your situation: http://www.amnesty.org/en/contact
Best of luck!
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June 17th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
امروز در تهران یک سر تظاهرات خاموش مردمی در خیابان آزادی بود و سر دیگرش در خیابان تخت طاووس.
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June 19th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
[...] week we’re able to see in real-time how critical the Internet is for Iranians as a forum for protest and communication. In China, the Internet is equally vital in voicing dissent and discussing justice and rights. If [...]
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June 23rd, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Hello. Great job. I did not expect this on a Wednesday. This is a great story. Thanks!
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June 25th, 2009 at 2:11 am
rebellion
Iran must reach freedom
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