Twitter's @Oxfordgirl Takes On Iran

Anonymous tweeter helps mobilize protesters from afar
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 10, 2010 5:03 PM CST
Twitter's @Oxfordgirl Takes On Iran
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, looks on, at the presidency in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 25, 2010.   (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

From the quiet English village of Oxfordshire, an anonymous Twitter user has become an important figure in the opposition movement. Tweeting from her handle "Oxfordgirl," the remote revolutionary has made use of contacts from her time as a journalist in Tehran to spread news of the movement. Since the contested election in June, she has posted 12,000 updates, establishing her as one of the most trusted sources of anti-government information, reports the Guardian.

"At one point I was almost coordinating people's individual movements," she says. "'Go to such and such street,' or 'Don't go there, the Basij militia are waiting.' It was very strange to be sitting in Oxford and coordinating things like that." She's had such an effect that she's been the object of a smear campaign on Twitter by Ahmadinejad cronies. As for tomorrow's protest on the revolution's anniversary: "It's going to be a big day for the Persian psyche. It won't topple the regime, but it's part of the process of showing the resistance won't go away." (More Iran stories.)

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