Andrew Apostolou is a Senior Program Manager at Freedom House.
**Iranian TV, which is state-controlled, is calling for people to attend prayers to demonstrate their support for the regime. Ayatollah Khamenei will lead prayers in Tehran. In West Azerbaijan province, which Musavi feels was stolen from him during the election, Khamenei’s representative will lead prayers. It’s a detail that suggests why Khamenei is so difficult to unseat: He has an entire shadow government under his control, with representatives in all ministries, provinces, and Iranian embassies abroad.
**Regime media are telling Iranians that the Musavi protests are being organized by foreign broadcasters, like the BBC and VOA. On state media and radio, the protestors are being called: “treacherous,” “ignorant,” “opportunistic,” “mischievous,” “simple-minded,” and “servants of global arrogance and the great Satan."
**Regime media are also claiming today that Israeli intelligence-linked terrorists have “confessed” to planning to bomb mosques and other public places on Election Day. The insinuation is that those who oppose the election “epic” that gave Ahmadinejad another term are acting just like terrorists.