"A Very Physical Presence"

Lara gets a letter from Tehran:

When I was at the Ghoba mosque thing on Monday, a large number of [the demonstrators] were religious, chador-wearing women. middle aged, wearing wrist bands. to them that's like going against the leader, who is the prophets deputy. It's interesting that they have continued to go for the civil rights thing versus the religious decree thing.

My friend's neighbor's son was arrested. He was younger. And they beat him really badly, to the point that now that he's at home he has nightmares, wakes up screaming really badly in the middle of the night, etc. So they do of course beat up. But the waterboarding? I had never heard before. Apparently they use hot water, too. and a towel, not a plastic bag. 

It feels like martial law. There are checkpoints, they randomly pull over cars. They check the whole thing for cameras. Even if you're carrying a camera, they take that. So you're on edge because its not a normal--the forces are everywhere. It's a very physical presence.

Read the rest here.