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BALLS: This Iranian Student Has Them

google.com — A college math student has become an unlikely hero to many in Iran for daring to criticize the country's most powerful man to his face. Mahmoud Vahidnia has received an outpouring of support from government opponents for the challenge — unprecedented in a country where insulting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is a crime punishable by prison.

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  • siggyfawn, on 11/07/2009, -8/+379He won't have them for long.
  • nomadxx7, on 11/06/2009, -0/+254Yeah that does take some balls to throw down at the leader and not get your head chopped off.
  • sb66, on 11/07/2009, -0/+196Hopefully he won't "disappear" in a while once this is forgotten.
  • ParadiscaCorbas, on 11/06/2009, -4/+111Great big shiny ones, yup.

    And hopefully the Iranian government will listen to their own people.

    It's a dream, but lots of great things began with just a dream.

  • L0NER, on 11/07/2009, -0/+78This guy deserves more diggs.
  • GregLoire, on 11/07/2009, -0/+75Looks like Iran learned a lesson about their inability to keep information from spreading in the digital age. They had to make a decision between going after the student or using the confrontation as an example of being lenient, and they chose the latter -- likely because they know what would happen in this day and age if they had chosen the former.
  • transapien, on 11/07/2009, -0/+70" "I thought it was a hoax, to show us that we have freedom here," said one young Iranian woman who has participated in the opposition demonstrations. She asked not to be identified for fear of getting into trouble with authorities."
    ....Wow
  • drex8, on 11/07/2009, -0/+59"..where insulting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is a crime punishable by prison."
    I think it's more likely death. First prison, then torture, then death.
    Many of the early Iranian protesters have already been sentenced to death. http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/10/11/iran.dea ...
  • valarking, on 11/07/2009, -0/+54yeah, we would all get pissed but then completely forget about it when a celebrity dies
  • ketedford, on 11/07/2009, -4/+50Once what's forgotten?
  • swantamer, on 11/07/2009, -0/+37Gutsy moves. Guy's a hero.
  • baja01, on 11/07/2009, -0/+36someone needs to read up on iran's history.

    the whole reason they have a ***** govt right now is becase we overthrew their democraticish govt, replaced it with a dictator we liked and they had a religious revolution and overthrew our dictator.
  • 3nder99, on 11/07/2009, -0/+31Sadly that is exactly what I think is most likely to happen. He will be lucky if all they do is turn him into a eunuch.
  • Onion575, on 11/07/2009, -2/+33Sadly this article won't get as many diggs as the recent Cy&H or XKCD...
  • fadeout, on 11/07/2009, -2/+32.... as you type that from your country where it is legal to pretty much say anything, anywhere, unless it's a threat on someones life?

    At least you managed to avoid the word "sheeple" and it wasn't in all caps?
  • ryanonfire, on 11/07/2009, -0/+29Holy crap that *****'s real http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bil ...
  • adrianscholl, on 11/07/2009, -27/+54Please don't change headlines. This is a digg-worthy story, but the altered headline is extremely distracting to the seriousness of the story.
  • JaredMonkey, on 11/07/2009, -0/+26FTA: "In Italy, at least two parliament members have issued calls for their government to offer Vahidnia asylum if necessary."

    Also, he can crash at my house if need be.

  • DifferentAngle, on 11/07/2009, -3/+29in a freak accident...
  • bated321, on 11/07/2009, -0/+25No. Go back to 4chan
  • nailbunny, on 11/07/2009, -0/+24penis: where is it?
  • anonymousmedic, on 11/07/2009, -0/+24Because that's exactly what they want. By forcing NATO or any western nation to get involved in Iran, we legitamize all their wacky conspiracy theories. The Iranian Regieme has demonized the west, expecially their intelligence services, as responsable for every problem in Iranian/Persian Society today. A water main breaks? It was a bomb planted by a CIA Agent. Civil unrest over disputed Elections? Western Agents inciting violence.

    The best thing the west can do is let this play out. If we get invovled now, we'll become the evil demon they make us out to be in the world's eyes.

    This isn't our fight, and until it becomes it, we can't get involved.
  • joejitsu, on 11/07/2009, -0/+21Comparing the Iranian government to the American government is kinda a stretch.
  • crazzy88ss, on 11/07/2009, -9/+30http://pictureisunrelated.com/2009/11/06/thats-a-l ...
  • FormerBabby, on 11/07/2009, -0/+21Soviet levels of distrust going on.
  • dlan4327, on 11/07/2009, -0/+19Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.
  • MtheoryX, on 11/07/2009, -3/+21Not changing headlines frequently results in stories getting buried or lost in the upcoming section.

    Stop bitching about trivial, insignificant crap on a social news site.
  • transapien, on 11/07/2009, -2/+19Except replace "Kinda sounds like" with "That's"
  • skiingpowder10, on 11/07/2009, -2/+19Mahmoud is a ***** hero! ...here is a gold medal winner mathmatician about 20 years old sticking his finger in Khamenei eyeball and getting away with it and at the same time making this false prophet ***** his pants and go quickly away before he even said the final ending prayer. What a pussy Khamenei is , The Emperor has no clothes!
  • PiKo85, on 11/07/2009, -3/+20Kinda sounds like what they yell at those tea parties.
  • btschul, on 11/07/2009, -4/+21If I can get a majority of people in the US to say that they want the government to pay them to sit at home and watch TV all day and not have to go to work, does that mean that the government has to do it?
  • Chalks777, on 11/07/2009, -0/+16funny trumps serious every time.
  • drex8, on 11/07/2009, -1/+17Frankly speaking, your comment is not relevant to the article in question.
  • VinnieDaMac, on 11/07/2009, -3/+19RIP
  • MtheoryX, on 11/07/2009, -0/+15It's funny because it's true.

    Actually, it's not funny at all :(
  • EverTheCynic, on 11/07/2009, -10/+24"The night of the encounter, fellow students gathered, shouting, "God is great" and "death to the dictator" in support of their colleague, according to video footage posted on pro-reform Web sites."

    So these are meant to be the less extreme Muslims in Iran? I would have expected them to yell something less insane.
  • ayeroxor, on 11/07/2009, -0/+14...have we been sowing them indecently?
  • LetterQ, on 11/07/2009, -0/+14If they kill him, five more will appear in his place. Something has changed in Iran. The people want to be heard. They have had enough oppression. The world is watching. The tide has turned, and it won't be long before they get the freedom they want and deserve.
  • grinsy, on 11/07/2009, -0/+14Use 'em or lose 'em.
  • sonnybobiche, on 11/07/2009, -0/+14If you'd been keeping up with the anti-Ahmedinejad protests these past months, you'd know that "Allahu Akbar" was a cry of solidarity for the protesters. It's the one thing that the government would have a very difficult time getting anyone to stop saying without looking ridiculous, because the country is officially Islamic. Of course, they tried to do it anyway.

  • mitikomon, on 11/07/2009, -0/+13We say something else here, in Tehran, when we decide to go to protest : "A bitter end is better than a never ending bitterness".
    the "bitter end" refers to being beaten till death in streets, prison or just being lucky and died instantly.
    The "never ending bitterness" refers to living under a theocratic dictatorship AKA living here.
  • laggemawrf, on 11/07/2009, -2/+15Not really.
  • elliotys, on 11/07/2009, -1/+13@nullcodes,
    What? Should we put the Shah back in power? If you look at the history of the CIA in Iran, you would be surprised how much of the responsibility for ***** that country up is on our shoulders.
  • desertDenizen, on 11/07/2009, -1/+13For such a small thing to be so huge is really a sign of how ***** up Iran really is.

    Congratulations, Iran, you just went from -1000 to -999.

    Have a beer on me.
  • CaptainCool53, on 11/07/2009, -0/+12"Balls," said the Queen, "If I had them I'd be King."
  • inactive, on 11/07/2009, -0/+11Shut up, troll.
  • terminal157, on 11/07/2009, -1/+11"God is great" is no more significant an outburst for a muslim than "thank god" is for a Christian. As for the other one, would you not call for the death of a dictator you were forced to live under? I would do more than call for it, I'd actively seek it. That sounds as American as apple pie, to me.
  • Chalks777, on 11/07/2009, -0/+9um. I guess I should have known by the url (thats-a-lot-of-balls) but... NSFW.
  • tehknotte, on 11/07/2009, -0/+9shut up. its really not the same thing.
  • transapien, on 11/07/2009, -0/+9Thanks for the link. This is genuinely sickening... It's such a shame that dictatorship can be made out of a pseudo-democracy. Calling their executive their supreme leader is kind of a bad start though.
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