trial

Highlights from today’s show trials were just aired. I didn’t recognize any faces or names, and I don’t think any of the confessions were from anyone important, just regular people who’d been arrested at protests.

One youngish guy seemed genuine in his sentiment when he accused the opposition leaders of tricking the youth, saying he’d been under the influence of their propaganda.

Another young guy said he’d just rioted and burned a building because he’d been under the influence of shishe, which I think is crystal meth. He thanked the court for arresting him--he hadn't had any drugs since going to jail and was clean now. Then his lawyer gave a speech to the judge about the dangers of drugs.

One of the young guys they featured (it was all clips strung together, not live of course) seemed fairly ballsy in saying that he hadn’t hurt anyone or done anything illegal, and that he wasn’t under the influence of foreigners or propaganda, and then that he would read his confession from a piece of paper. He raced through reading it in monotone—I didn’t understand much but I think basically he confessed to attending unpermitted protests—and then his lawyer gave a much more obsequious speech asking forgiveness for his client.

I also liked one defiant old guy who said he’d participated in just 2 protests (didn’t say riots) and had the bad luck to have his picture taken, but didn’t really confess to anything.

Then the judge asked about his affiliation with Leftist groups. He said with a touch of humor/disbelief/defiancy that 30 years ago he’d been Tudeh.

After the trial, playing now, is what reminds me of a post-State of the Union address when opposition leaders get to respond directly to the camera, except it's a mustachioed chubby guy talking about foreign meddling in the protests and now listing all the historical grievances of Iran against the English, American imperialists, complete with black and white photo slideshow.