Four years ago, when hundreds of thousands of young Iranians flooded the streets of Tehran to protest outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection, the Iranian government shot at them with live rounds. The protests were brutally repressed, with participants rounded up, imprisoned, and reportedly raped and tortured, damaging the regime’s standing not only among Iranians, but also among the millions of young Arabs across the Middle East and North Africa who would soon rise up to demand their social and political rights.
四年前，几十万年轻伊朗人涌向德黑兰街头反对内贾德连任总统，伊朗政府朝他们开了枪。示威遭到了残酷镇压，参与者被逮捕、入狱并且据说遭到了强暴和虐待，不但让伊朗政权在国内斯文扫地，也让千百万中东和北非阿拉伯青年感到失望，很快他们就奋起要求自己的社会和政治权利。