Iranian on FACEBOOK: (hat tip John Simpson):
URGENT! Prison massacre in Iran! State TV claims 14 dead; however death toll is put at 80 at least by independent sources. According to RAHANA, over 3000 inmates were chanting "Stop the executions!" before they were shot at with live ammunition!!
John followed up to confirm that comment, and found more new reports.
Two things to remember. First, the regime has been stepping up executions according to the UN and HR orgs. Second, the regime would keep the numbers low to make it look less savage than it really was.
Iran is doing what it does best: killing its own people -- I wonder how many of these "prisoners' were political prisoners arrested in their fight for freedom after the June revolution.
Rest assured, our dear leader will do what he always does when a crisis arises: play golf or take a vaca. Just ask our staunch allies that he routinely abandons..... ask Japan (we should have been there from day one with pumps to get water to those rods), or the people of Israel, the Fogel family, or those fighting a Chavez coup in Honduras, or our Eastern European allies rendered helpless when Obama abandoned missile defense in an act of craven surrender to Russia, or .... nevermind.
The weak horse in the White House loves chaos.
Fourteen killed in Iran prison violence Reuters
Reuters) - Fourteen prisoners were killed and 33 injured in an incident at an Iranian jail Wednesday, that state TV said was a brawl among inmates but which one news agency said was a foiled escape attempt.
State TV news reported that a brawl broke out at Ghezel Hesar prison in the city of Karaj, just to the west of Tehran, during a recreation period and was broken up by security forces after nine hours.
The semi-official Mehr news agency said the deaths were the result of clashes that ensued after an escape attempt by convicted smugglers who face the death penalty.
"Due to the powerful presence of officials and cooperation of some other prisoners who were against their actions, their effort to escape was in vain," Mehr quoted a prison official as saying.
The escape attempt involved sabotage and arson and prison guards were attacked, Mehr said, but it did not give details of any injuries among staff.
