Ahmadinejad on heads and ceilings

I had forgotten that Journalist Day in Iran falls in early August. Journalist Day is especially meaningful this year and finds Ahmadinejad explaining that his earlier comments about slamming heads into ceilings was only in reference to the bullying powers:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he will slam the heads of those countries which 'interfered' in the country's post-vote events “into the ceiling.”

Opposition newspaper, Etemad-e Melli last week reported that during a meeting with the Association of Basiji Scholars in the northeastern city of Mashhad the president had issued a warning to the opposition.

"Let the swearing-in ceremony occur," it quoted him as saying. "Then we will take them by the collar and slam their heads into the ceiling."

On Saturday, however, Ahmadinejad said his comments had been distorted by the media.

"After speaking at the meeting a number of media outlets reported that I was referring to my opponents, but I was in fact referring to the bulling and interfering powers," he said during a ceremony on the occasion of Journalist Day.

"Even after we informed them of their mistake they continued their physiological warfare against the new government," he added. [...]

"Physiological warfare"?? What is the World Arrogance up to now? Does this explain why Ahmadinejad turned green? Meanwhile, we learn at IRIB that "Western states, the UK in particular, played a key role in recent street riots aiming at soft overthrow of the Islamic system":

An indictment read by the deputy Tehran prosecutor in the second hearing session of the indictees of the post-election riots has said Western states, the UK in particular, played a key role in recent street riots aiming at soft overthrow of the Islamic system.

The indictment was read at the beginning of the second hearing for the accused charged with committing “organized and pre-planned offenses” to disturb public order and security with the participation of foreign powers.

The trial began at the 15th branch of the Revolutionary Court for a number of suspects including French national Clotilde Reiss, and an Iranian female staff of the French Embassy in Tehran.

The indictment accused Western states of “hypocritically supporting the human rights and using their radio and television networks to coordinate their public diplomacy against Iran.”

It also accused the Western states of “making efforts to trigger unrests in Iran by supporting the reformists, allocating lofty budgets to them, causing rifts between people and the Islamic establishment, training non-governmental organizations as well as journalists and human rights activists to mar the image of Iran to the outside world and create new websites” to move in this direction. [...]

According to Fars, Clotilde Reiss confessed and stated "I shouldn't have participated in the illegal demonstration and shouldn't have sent the pictures, I am regretful." A New York Times article featuring a picture of Reiss in the same garb that appears in the picture accompanying the Fars article is entitled "Iranian Official Acknowledges Torture of Protesters." That title doesn't refer to Reiss, but she is probably scared out of her wits anyway.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad