{"id":277470,"date":"2011-02-23T13:18:23","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T13:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/"},"modified":"2011-02-23T13:18:23","modified_gmt":"2011-02-23T13:18:23","slug":"ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div readability=\"68.9148155302\">  <!-- start feedback link --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/feedback link -->       <!-- Tracking values --><\/p>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_start --><!--startclickprintinclude-->   <!--endclickprintinclude--> <!--startclickprintexclude--> <!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/p>\n<div readability=\"50.8817204301\"><!-- google_ad_section_start --><!-- CONTENT -->  <!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--><!--===========CAPTION==========--><\/p>\n<div readability=\"7\">\n<p>President Ahmadinejad has advised Middle East leaders to let their peoples express their opinions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--===========\/CAPTION=========--> <!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- \/REAP --><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><b>STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/b><\/p>\n<ul><!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<li>He asks the leaders to refrain from creating &#8220;blood baths&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Ahmadinejad sidesteps the simmering unrest at home<\/li>\n<li>In Iran, security forces have reacted with deadly force to demonstrations<\/li>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--endclickprintexclude--> <!--startclickprintinclude--> <\/p>\n<p><b>(CNN)<\/b> &#8212; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday urged Middle East leaders to listen to the voices of citizens who have taken to the streets in masses to demand a change in government &#8212; though such protests in his own country have been crushed with brute force.<\/p>\n<p>Ahmadinejad &#8220;strongly recommended such leaders to let their peoples express their opinions,&#8221; the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He further urged those leaders of regional countries who respond to the demands of their nations and their revolutionary uprisings with hot bullets to join their peoples&#8217; movements instead of creating blood baths.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Anti-government protests that toppled the regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have spread across a swath of the Middle East and North Africa, including in Iran. There, opposition to the ruling clerics has simmered since the 2009 election, when hundreds of thousands of people filled Tehran&#8217;s streets to denounce the re-election of Ahmadinejad as fraudulent.<\/p>\n<p>  <!--startclickprintexclude--><\/p>\n<p><!--endclickprintexclude--><\/p>\n<p>The demonstrators have been met with force in major Iranian cities. Security forces have opened fire in some cases and arrested hundreds of protesters in others. Opposition leaders are regularly detained and their homes and offices raided.<\/p>\n<p>Hard-line members of the Iranian parliament have demanded the execution of opposition leaders and former presidential candidates Mehdi Karrubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi.<\/p>\n<p>But Ahmadinejad, in his remarks, altogether sidestepped the simmering unrest at home. Instead, he held up Libya, saying the world was &#8220;bewildered&#8221; by the actions of the President Moammar Gadhafi.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The president said it was a wonder that the ruler of a country could kill his own people using guns and tanks, and even stress that he would kill anybody who utters a word against him,&#8221; the news agency said.<\/p>\n<p>Reporting from Iran has been difficult in recent weeks &#8212; foreign journalists were denied visas, accredited journalists living in the country were restricted from covering the demonstrations and internet speed slowed to a crawl in an apparent attempt to both limit protest organizing and restrict information from being transmitted out of the country.<\/p>\n<p><!--endclickprintinclude--><!-- google_ad_section_end --><br \/>\n<!-- \/cnn_strybtmcntnt --><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/cnn_strycntnt --><\/p>\n<div>   <span><\/p>\n<p>    <span id=\"_fw_container_medium_rectangle_companion\" class=\"_fwac\"\/><br \/>\n    <span><br \/>\n        <!-- LEAVE THIS AREA EMPTY --><!-- ADSPACE: middle_east\/mmst\/rgt.336x850 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- CALLOUT|http:\/\/ads.cnn.com\/html.ng\/site=cnn&cnn_pagetype=mmst&cnn_position=336x850_rgt&cnn_rollup=world&page.allowcompete=yes&params.styles=fs|CALLOUT --><\/p>\n<p><\/span><br \/>\n<\/span> <\/p>\n<div readability=\"4.68298555377\">\n<div readability=\"3.76923076923\">\n<p>Part of complete coverage on<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div readability=\"4.66666666667\">\n<div readability=\"5.44444444444\">\n<p>CNN gives the key data on each nation experiencing unrest with updates on what&#8217;s happening where.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div readability=\"5.93157894737\">\n<div readability=\"7.62631578947\">\n<p>As unrest continues to unfold across much of North Africa and the Middle East, fears of growing sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shiites Muslims have risen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div readability=\"5.99425287356\">\n<div readability=\"7.70689655172\">\n<p>CNN examines how common internet, mobile phones and social media sites are in the Mideast and African nations that have seen unrest in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div readability=\"5.80136986301\">\n<div readability=\"7.45890410959\">\n<p>In the Middle East or North Africa? Then send your iReport photos, videos. Don&#8217;t do anything that could put you at risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div readability=\"5.59171597633\">\n<div readability=\"7.18934911243\">\n<p>Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi claims he is still in charge of the country, as witnesses in Tripoli report a food shortage and gunfire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div readability=\"5.21604938272\">\n<div readability=\"6.41975308642\">\n<p>Tuesday promises to be a pivotal day for Bahrain as the country continues to buckle under the weight of anti-government protests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div readability=\"6.39344262295\">\n<div readability=\"8.52459016393\">\n<p>For full coverage in Arabic of events in Egypt, Tunisia and the rest of the region, head to CNN Arabic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div readability=\"5.43710691824\">\n<div readability=\"6.69182389937\">\n<p>Groups of men guarded streets in eastern Libya on Monday as opposition leaders appeared to be in firm control of much of the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/cnn_strycrcntr --><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/cnn_strycntntrgt --><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Excerpt from:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/rss.cnn.com\/~r\/rss\/cnn_world\/~3\/dlcZoVzXVus\/index.html\" title=\"Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> President Ahmadinejad has advised Middle East leaders to let their peoples express their opinions. STORY HIGHLIGHTS He asks the leaders to refrain from creating &#8220;blood baths&#8221; Ahmadinejad sidesteps the simmering unrest at home In Iran, security forces have reacted with deadly force to demonstrations (CNN) &#8212; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday urged Middle East leaders to listen to the voices of citizens who have taken to the streets in masses to demand a change in government &#8212; though such protests in his own country have been crushed with brute force. Ahmadinejad &#8220;strongly recommended such leaders to let their peoples express their opinions,&#8221; the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"President Ahmadinejad has advised Middle East leaders to let their peoples express their opinions. STORY HIGHLIGHTS He asks the leaders to refrain from creating &quot;blood baths&quot; Ahmadinejad sidesteps the simmering unrest at home In Iran, security forces have reacted with deadly force to demonstrations (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday urged Middle East leaders to listen to the voices of citizens who have taken to the streets in masses to demand a change in government -- though such protests in his own country have been crushed with brute force. Ahmadinejad &quot;strongly recommended such leaders to let their peoples express their opinions,&quot; the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-23T13:18:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/\"},\"wordCount\":580,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/\",\"name\":\"Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-23T13:18:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"President Ahmadinejad has advised Middle East leaders to let their peoples express their opinions. 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Ahmadinejad \"strongly recommended such leaders to let their peoples express their opinions,\" the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change","datePublished":"2011-02-23T13:18:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/"},"wordCount":580,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/","name":"Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-23T13:18:23+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/23\/ahmadinejad-mideast-leaders-should-heed-calls-for-change\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}