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Iran's Supreme Leader Calls for Halt to Protests; Iranian- American TV Station Uses High-Tech Tricks to Gather News; Iranians Organizing Protests Online

Aired June 19, 2009 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. It's -- it's time for us to push forward now. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM continue right now with Kyra Phillips.

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Tony, thanks so much.

The supreme leader has spoken. But will Iranians who feel cheated listen? We're pushing forward on the ayatollah's orders: knock off the protests, or else.

One year for child rape, an incredible sentence for an unspeakable crime. This hour, Oklahoma justice on trial.

And my other daily outrage: the market for "murderabilia." From the crime scene to the evidence room to your living room, if the price is right. I want to hear from you. Let the tweeting begin.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Don't fight the power. An unmistakable message from Iran's most powerful figure. That's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's unelected supreme leader and final word on issues of national importance.

But hours after his Friday sermon at Tehran University, it's far from clear whether his warning to protesters or his defense of Iran's presidential vote will put an end to a solid week of turmoil.

Khamenei called the re-election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a definitive victory and said Iranians who take their complaints to the streets, quote, "will be held responsible for the chaos and consequences."

Leading opposition figure Mir-Hossein Mousavi did not hear the ayatollah speak in person, but Ahmadinejad had a front-row seat. And so far, as we've seen or heard, Mousavi supporters have not held any new rallies. The ayatollah's argument for a fair and square election comes down to numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN (through translator): Seven-million vote difference. Sometimes there's a margin of 100,000, 200,000, but -- or 1 million maximum, then one can doubt maybe there has been some vote rigging or manipulation or irregularities. But there is a difference of 11 million votes. How can vote rigging happen?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Foreign journalists are still under tough limitations. Our man in Tehran, Reza Sayah, is limited to one report a day. And he filed it last hour. Reza checked in live with CNN's Hala Gorani.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Quite a scene today at Tehran University, the site of Friday prayers. This was a rare appearance by the supreme leader. Usually doesn't lead Friday prayers unless he has something to say.

Tens of thousands of people showed up to Friday prayers to see what kind of resolution, what kind of answers he had for this political turmoil that's been unfolding for the past week.

And he basically said, trust the vote. Trust the election results and trust the legal system. And he did say that this legal system includes the recount, the partial recount under way by the Guardian Council. But he said that recount is not going to make a difference because of the wide margin of 11 million votes, Hala.

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: And what about the opposition itself? There was a stern warning issued today, from the supreme leader of Iran, saying "stop these rallies." What will the Mousavi camp do?

SAYAH: Well, we spoke to an activist in the Mousavi camp, and he made it clear to CNN that he didn't like what the supreme leader had to say. He said it was a threatening tone. He compared it to a military-style rallying of the troops, and he basically said the supreme leader left no room to find common ground.

But this is such a stage -- a chess match and such a huge scale. This was the supreme leader's move today. He clearly backed the president. Now, it's Mr. Mousavi's move.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And also you should know that CNN is working this story through our sources in country, from online reports and videos from Iranian media and, of course, from CNN reporters.

Isha Sesay is on the Iran desk at CNN world headquarters. Dan Simon is at YouTube, a lifeline for Iranian dissidents right now. And Kara Finnstrom reports from an Iranian-American TV station that believes in the power of the pen. I'm also joined by Iranian-American broadcaster Sassan Kamali, an outspoken voice for change. We're going to talk with everybody.

First, though, Iranians with cameras and computers have been a priceless source of information, but an Iranian-American TV channel thought they could use some help. So, guess what they did? Double- oh-seven-type help.

CNN's Kara Finnstrom joins me now from Channel 1 in L.A.

It is truly James Bond what they've done, and I'm curious to know if it's working, Kara.

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is very much along the lines of 007.

First of all, let's stress, this is not your typical TV station. They have two missions here. One is to get information on the air to Iranians and to Iranian-Americans. And you can see the feeds going out from here, the images that go across.

Their second mission is to encourage democracy in Iran, and they are very transparent about that. The owner here supports a regime change, and they are very active in their community as far as supporting protests and even eliciting their viewers to get out and participate in these protests.

Now, this is what you're talking about, Kyra. And we're going to bring in here one of the folks with the station here to explain it to us. This is Mariam Azzizi (ph).

This pen, you have sent how many of these into Iran? And I'm going to show Kyra, it actually -- let me have you explain it a little bit while I show how it works.

MARIAM AZZIZI (ph), CHANNEL 1: OK. This is where actually you press. You press this part. And then the red light comes. And it does audio and video for about 20 minutes. Of video clips.

FINNSTROM: So, you take -- Kyra, what this is, it's a camera. It's a video camera, but it doesn't look like one. You take -- you take video, and then what you do is you open it up. It's got a port that you plug into your computer, and you can actually feed those images back to anywhere. They're hoping it comes to here.

And explain to us who you sent these pens to, some 10,000 of them. And what your hope is with them.

AZZIZI (ph): Actually, we sent out -- and a lot of the video clips that we received back, mostly comes from these. They let us know through the Internet, because once they send the clip, of course, it's a regular clip. But they let us know that they used this pen.

And this was used a lot by the Channel 1 viewers, where they hung the Mohasim (ph) flags in the different cities of Iran, all over. Today 117 flags of lion and sun with the Mohasim (ph) sign has been hung. The last one was on the day of the election.

And this is so -- this worked so well that -- that we are getting more. And we spreading more. And it's not very difficult, getting it to the people because, of course, it just looks like a pen.

FINNSTROM: And the pen actually works, as well. So you can write with it, too, so it's a functional pen. You can't tell that it's a video camera. AZZIZI (ph): It works wonders. And I guess sometimes as far as technology could be harmful, but in this case, this is very good. We use it very much here.

FINNSTROM: All right, thank you, Mariam.

I also want to quickly show you, Kyra, some of the images that are coming in here. And we've got one of them up here on the screen for you. Explain to us what this image is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here are two really moving pictures that I chose that we received a couple hours ago. The first one is the picture of this Iranian mom whose son has been killed in the -- in the process of the protest. And she's holding up a sign saying, "Tell my mom that her son is gone."

The second one is also a unique picture, which is saying -- which is this Iranian student who's holding up a sign which says, "God is with us. Are you going to filter him, too"?

FINNSTROM: So, a couple examples of the images that are coming in here, Kyra, obviously, you know, these images have not been vetted by CNN. They're coming in fast and furious, and we're just showing you a little bit of what's going across the air.

But very interesting in the way they actually are kind of soliciting this and bringing it in and then sharing it with their viewers.

PHILLIPS: And just real quickly, I'm surprised they're sharing with us the fact that they're using these pens to get undercover video, sound, whatever it is, and feed it back. Is there concern that those using these pens, it could put them in -- I don't know, a threatening situation?

FINNSTROM: We did ask them about that. They felt very comfortable sharing this with us. They've actually been in place for a little while now. And -- and it's just something that someone can easily carry around. It's also easier, they say, for them to get into the country. So, small, discrete, they can stick them in their pockets. They can carry it around, and again, easy to transmit.

PHILLIPS: They're like undercover reporters.

Kara Finnstrom, thanks so much.

FINNSTROM: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Now I want you to meet Sassan Kamali. He's an Iranian-American radio and TV host. He's also based in Southern California, and he says that the Iranian election was a sham. Sassan joins me live via broadband from Los Angeles.

And Sassan, you know, I want to ask you. Just put aside Ahmadinejad. Put aside the reformist candidate, Mousavi, and let's just look at all the people that are on the streets of Tehran right now. I mean, is this movement much bigger than politics?

SASSAN KAMALI, IRANIAN-AMERICAN RADIO/TV HOST: Yes, ma'am. This has gone beyond the expectation of the government and the system. They wanted to have people to come to the polls and show to the world that they are legitimate government. And they wanted these people to come. They wanted to have some friction. They wanted to have some against and for.

But it went out of hand. It went totally out of hand. And actually, it was hijacked by the students, who wanted freedom for many, many years. And they have been subdued. And now they are really out of their shell. And they are showing hope to the whole country. And that hope was alive until last night in the middle of the night, in Los Angeles.

However, in Tehran, Friday noon, all of a sudden, the supreme leader came with a tough speech which was unexpected. They thought he comes with a conciliatory note and said, "OK, I heard the voice of the revolution. We are going to do something about it."

But he came with such a force and such a brutality of his tone, and now we are actually waiting to see what is the reaction from the other camp, the green camp. The green has also gone out of hand. Now, the green is a symbol of resistance and freedom so...

PHILLIPS: So, Sassan, let me ask you for a second here, if I'm reading between the lines properly here.

KAMALI: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Are you saying that Mousavi is just an accidental leader, that really what we're seeing in Iran is...

KAMALI: Exactly, exactly, ma'am. Mousavi -- Mousavi was one of the players but one of the minor players. The government wanted him to be as a, you know, the window dressing. All of a sudden he became a leader. Because the reason he became a leader, because the follower wanted him to created the leader for themselves.

And now he's stuck in that position, and I think he's enjoying it. Because he doesn't have a very bright past. Now he's looking at the bright future. Even if he's a martyr, he wants to go with dignity. I think -- and he's a good symbol, and now everybody's looking up to him. And he showed some courage.

However, when yesterday on Thursday, actually, he said, "Let's watch in the street without the green and in black." It is a little iffy. I mean, he's -- because the black is for the mourning and because so many people have been killed brutally. But now some people said he's playing down the green color, because the government and Mr. Khamenei actually pushes him in that direction.

However, what Mr. Khamenei said today, that 11 million votes, it doesn't mean to count anything. That is totally frustrating, and people are not going to accept it. PHILLIPS: Well, you -- you definitely bring up an angle that we have to pay more attention to. Whether it's Ahmadinejad or Mousavi, there is definitely something else going on there...

KAMALI: Oh, yes.

PHILLIPS: ... that's not about a certain candidate. It's a movement going on among a younger generation that just wants change.

KAMALI: Yes. Definitely.

PHILLIPS: Sassan, you have a very popular morning show there on KIRN.

KAMALI: Yes.

PHILLIPS: And you actually did a morning radio show. We want to stay in touch with you and keep getting a gauge of what your listeners are staying with us. And so stay in touch with us, Sassan, will you?

KAMALI: Yes, I'm here.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it.

KAMALI: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Let's go ahead and go to the international desk now, where Isha Sesay is hearing rumblings that the anti-government protests are not over.

What exactly are you seeing via the Web?

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, we're now seeing that certainly, there's a lot of activity online, people reacting to that speech given by the Ayatollah Khamenei earlier on Friday.

We've been combing through the various Web sites here on the Iran desk with the entire team. And we've pulled out a couple of tweets with you that we want to share with our viewers, just to give you them sense of how they're responding to the ayatollah saying the protests need to stop.

This first one says, "Rally: Inglehouse (ph) Square at 4 p.m. Saturday. Revolt, revolt. Green revolution will go ahead no matter what."

The second one we want to show our viewers says, "I have one vote. I gave it to Mousavi. I have one life. I will give it for freedom."

Again, Kyra, just to remind our viewers, we're not sharing the Twitter feed or revealing any names so as not to endanger anyone. But this clearly shows that people feel that they still need to have their voices heard.

Octavia Nasr, senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs, says she has noticed that the change -- there's a change in the tone on the conversation on Twitter.

Another thing we want to show our viewers is this Web site that we came across. It's in Farsi, but we're working with a translator here on the Iran desk. She broke it down for us.

And essentially, it is stating that a rally will take place on Saturday in defiance of the supreme leader. It's an invitation to those who support freedom and change to come and join Mousavi, Khatami and Karroubi.

Now again, as I said, the ayatollah has made it quite clear those behind unrest will be dealt with in kind. So this caught our eye, this Web site, again in Farsi that we want to put up for our viewers.

And essentially, it's an eight-step guide, a how-to of what to do if you are shot, Kyra. So we just want to show you that, while it may be quiet on the streets of Iran right now, things are definitely heating up online, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And that's the -- that's the concern. That this could get increasingly violent and bloody.

And we'll follow that. We'll follow everything happening online with you, Isha. Thank you so much.

And it's hard to spread the word if you don't understand the word. So, listen to this. Google is now translating Farsi, also known as Persian, the language of Iran, of course. Google says that this is one more tool that Persian speakers can use to communicate directly to the world and vice versa. The service is free on the Google Translate Web page, by the way.

And we can't forget YouTube. It's been a window on the Iranian upheaval. Our Dan Simon actually live from the YouTube headquarters later this hour.

And a man pleads no contest to raping a 4-year-old girl, but get this: he's only sentenced to one year behind bars. How did this happen? And should the judge in the case be taken off the bench? We're pushing forward on this in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. We just got word on the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. You may remember that she had tripped and fallen at the State Department when she was on her way to the White House for a meeting and fractured her right elbow.

Today, 7:30 a.m. this morning, she went into surgery. It took about two hours. And doctors at G.W. University Hospital say that they are expecting she'll make a full recovery, that there will be no lasting damage. The surgery went well. She's home now and will be spending the weekend with her family.

All right, new media, like all media, have a place for the silly and the serious. YouTube is the place to send clips of your cat playing the piano, but it's also playing a very pivotal role right now in the opposition uprising in Iran.

CNN's Dan Simon is actually at YouTube headquarters there in San Bruno, California.

Busy time, Ed [SIC] -- or Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's very busy. And just to let you know where I am, I'm standing on the indoor putting green inside YouTube. Just what you might expect to find at this company, giving -- given the nature of all those quirky videos, Kyra.

But we're going to walk over to the political section here, where we find Ricardo Reyes. He's the director of communications for YouTube. And the first thing we're going to look at, Kyra, and I hope this shows up well on the screen, is Google Earth. And Ricardo's going to explain what we're seeing here.

RICARDO REYES, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, YOUTUBE: We're seeing a map of the globe here. And what you'll see with Google Earth, we're going to do a quick travel over to Iran and to Tehran specifically.

And what you'll see pop up are the YouTube logos, and these YouTube logos represent videos uploaded from Tehran that were marked as being uploaded from Iran or Tehran. And many of these videos contain the very protest videos we've been talking about.

SIMON: So are you seeing that, Kyra? That's actually pretty amazing that when you look at that monitor, every little icon you see here, every little YouTube icon represents a video that has actually been uploaded from Iran.

And that leads to the next question, because we keep hearing that the Iranian government, Ricardo, is restricting YouTube, is restricting social networking sites, also, like Facebook and Twitter. How are Iranian citizens able to get this content on YouTube?

REYES: Well, you're right, Dan. What we've seen is we've seen traffic go down about 10 percent since the elections last week, and people are getting around it by basically mirroring their image, their computer. And they're going -- using computers from within Iran and mirroring it then mirroring that image with computers outside the country, to put it in a non-technical way.

SIMON: Right. And my producer was just suggesting that we do something. I don't know if this will work. But if you click on one of these icons, will that actually pull up a video?

REYES: It will.

SIMON: Go ahead and do that. Let's just see what we see.

So, this is one of the typical videos that you will actually see on YouTube. This appears to be some kind of rally, people walking through the streets.

Ricardo, when you look at the phenomenon that this has caused all over the world, seeing these videos, or being able to see firsthand what's happening in Iran, thanks to a lot of these YouTube videos, what do you make of it?

REYES: It's -- I think it's amazing, the way that news reporting has gone into the streets themselves and what people have done is, as we've seen journalists leave, people armed with a cell phone that has -- that can take video or video cameras, seeing, witnessing firsthand what's going on and actual participants showing what they're -- what they're feeling and what they're going through.

SIMON: and we also talked about this last hour, that a lot of these videos are very graphic, but YouTube is allowing them to continue, allowing them to still be on the site.

REYES: Well, they have documentary value, and for documentary value. Obviously, YouTube's not a shock site, but these have historic and, I think, very much documentary value, so we keep them up.

SIMON: OK, thanks a lot, Ricardo.

REYES: Thank you.

SIMON: Kyra, there's really no way to tell exactly how many videos we're actually seeing coming from Iran, but just to give you an idea, in terms of the volume that they see in general at YouTube, one hour you get -- I'm sorry, what was it, Ricardo?

REYES: Every minute, 20 hours of video at YouTube.

SIMON: Every minutes, 20 hours of video at YouTube. So just a tremendous amount of videos coming in every day here.

PHILLIPS: It's pretty amazing to watch.

And if you remember the intro, I think we'd like to see that video a lot more right now than, as the writer put, the cat playing the piano. I understand that got quite a number of hits, Dan. We'd like to have a little serious approach to YouTube.

All right. Dan, thanks.

Well, all right, North Korea, what are you up to? Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that anti-missile systems are in place in Hawaii, ready to shoot down whatever might be coming.

The Japanese media reporting that North Korea is getting ready to launch a missile over the Pacific. And we've learned the U.S. military is tracking a North Korean ship believed to be carrying illicit weapons or technology. A senior defense official describes this ship as a repeat offender.

Now, I can understand that wanting to get the psychology of serial killers could be interesting. But wanting to get a piece of them? What is going on online? The stuff that you can buy will literally turn your stomach.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We've been talking all morning about the speech that took place in Iran with its supreme leader and how everyone was going to react, all those protesters out on the street. I understand we're getting the first reaction from the White House now to the ayatollah's speech. Suzanne Malveaux joining us there with more.

What are they saying, Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, it's very telling that you have the reaction to the ayatollah is not the president himself coming out and doing a tit-for-tat, if you will, but rather four senior administration officials on the record but on background, off camera, essentially saying that it's been made very clear to them, and I'm going to quote this here, some of these officials saying that the U.S. does not want to be a foil for anyone. This is a debate among Iranians in Iran about Iran.

They go on to say here that it is easy to stake out a strong, tough position but that this is not about the United States. That the president has told his top officials not to get sucked into this thing, not to be anyone's foil.

I asked specifically, does it help or hurt to have the ayatollah come out and make these kind of statements, to mention Obama by name, to essentially accuse him of being hypocritical? They say that this is a significant statement. It is meant to be significant, but the real issue is what is going to be the result of this.

They say it would not be smart for the United States not to pay attention to the ayatollah's statements. But at the same time, they are not going to engage this way. They believe that that would not be the right course of action.

We asked about this House resolution that's calling for tougher language, perhaps even a tougher position against the Iranian regime because of what has happened there, and they said that they welcome the House resolution, that it is pretty straightforward, echoing of the administration's position.

How is that possible? A lot of people asking for the president, "Hey, tougher language here." They say, look at the broad language of the resolution. They're all essentially saying the same thing. And that is, to let the Iranian people really move forward and dictate what is going to happen in their own country.

They also went on to say, Kyra, that they think there is something bigger that's going on in the region. They say look at the region as a whole from Lebanon as well as outside of Iran, that this is movement, they say, that has taken on a life of its own, and it must play out there on the ground without U.S. interference.

They go on to say as well, addressing the question, is there any pressure on this president, on these administration officials, to be tougher on this -- at least in the language and the tone of the president looking at those demonstrations that are taking place on the ground. Several senior administration officials saying, "I don't feel pressured to talk about it differently. We think that we are in the right place."

And then they go on to talk about the nuclear threat, saying that the nuclear clock was ticking before the elections. It will continue to tick after the elections.

So, what you're hearing from this administration is they are trying to downplay the ayatollah's rather controversial, if you will, statements that he made earlier, addressing President Obama directly. And essentially kicking this back to the Iranians, refusing to weigh in here in any kind of significant or meaningful way, saying, "We are going to let this play out on the ground, amongst the Iranians themselves" -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, appreciate it so much.

So why do we want to hear from the White House, and why do we want to pay attention to this speech that was made this morning? Because Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the true power behind Iran's theocracy.

Few Americans really know much about him, other than he's the ayatollah. Khamenei is 69 years old and became a political dissident ahead of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He's ruled Iran since 1989. And that's when Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the revolution, had died.

Khamenei served as Iran's president during the turbulent 1980s when Iran was at war with Iraq and has maintained his predecessor's hard line, often calling the U.S. the Great Satan.

Well, meet Iran's Guardian Council. These are the guys who are promising to check out complaints over last week's election. We'll see what they're up to.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's a sickening crime story. A man convicted of raping a 4-year-old girl in Oklahoma. You would think a low-life like that would spend the rest of his life in prison, right? But that's not what happened. Last month, 64-year-old David Harold Earls pleaded no contest to raping the little girl. The sentence was 20 years. But as part of a plea agreement, he will only serve one year behind bars.

In fact, due to time he already spent in jail awaiting trial, he'll get out in three months. So, how can Earls, a man convicted of raping a 4-year-old girl, get such a sweet deal? The district attorney's office says it's all because the young rape victim behaved erratically in court. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA DIRDWELL, PITTSBURG CO. ASST. D.A.: There were some problems in her testimony, even at that point. She was able to say enough to get qualified that brought a little bit that -- what he did, but it also at that time when the defense attorney got to ask her some questions, which he's entitled to do, she said she forgot. We lost the little girl's testimony. We lost the majority of our evidence. It was out the window.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, talk about karma, because David Harold Earls now has terminal cancer. In addition, he will have to register as a sex offender, and he will be monitored while a free man. But how does a judge go along with the plea deal that allows a rapist to go free in just a few months? here's what Judge Thomas Bartheld said about his decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE THOMAS BARTHELD, OKLAHOMA DISTRICT COURT: They told me that they were in agreement, that the victim's family was in agreement, the advocates were in agreement, and the defendant was in agreement. So, I took the plea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHLLIPS: So, what do you think? Should the judge be fired? Well, pushing forward, a couple of Oklahoma lawmakers are trying to get the judge removed from the bench. And just this week another development -- the rapist's, 43-year-old's daughter, Denise Earls, says her father is a monster and that she raped her when she was a child. Denise joins me live from tulsa, along with Oklahoma State Representative Mike Ritze, he wants Judge Thomas Bartheld fired and taken off the bench.

Denise, I want to go ahead and start with you, when you heard about this 4-year-old girl being raped by your father you, as his daughter, also now someone that has now come forward and said he raped you as well when you were a child. What was your reaction when you heard about this case?

DENISE EARLS, DAUGHTER OF RAPIST: Well, I was completely outraged, because it brought back all the memories that I went through as a child. And just to know that he only got a year when I have a life sentence to deal with this. It's been very difficult. It's just knowing that someone else is -- not only myself, that it happened to me three times when I was a child, but now someone else is going through this. And it's very hard to -- to deal with. My heart goes out to them. My -- my father is a monster and he needs to stay -- he needs to stay in prison.

PHILLIPS: Let me ask you, why did you wait until now to come forward?

EARLS: Well, I am adult. I did confront him in the last time in 1992. I was 26 years old. I did tell him that -- I would never see him again. You know, like I say, I was an adult. The statute of limitations had run out and I wanted to just -- I was married, I have a daughter, I have family. And I just wanted to move on with my life.

PHILLIPS: What did he say to you when you confronted him, Denise?

EARLS: I said, you know, you have to admit this. You have to -- we have to talk about this, I said, because I'm having a hard time dealing with in my life. And he said, well, I don't remember. I was drunk. And I said, you know what, that is unacceptable? I said this is the last time that you will see me.

PHILLIPS: I did want to say, too, that we did call the jail where your dad is. He and his lawyer said no interview -- no comment. Also I want to point out the Oklahoma attorney general is now speaking with you. Listening to your accusations, and, quote, looking to see if there is any remedy to this plea deal that has just happened. Also looking in to possible criminal charges against your father for your accusations.

And so Representative Ritze, let me ask you, why did you get involved in this case? Did your constituents hear about this and complain to you?

Yes, ma'am. We had a public outcry from our constituents. I wear two -- three different hats. I'm a physician. I'm also a child abuse examiner, state medical examiner, police pysician, and now state representative. And I lecture to law enforcement all the time. So, I know the laws. I have a master's in forensic science and our constituents were contacting us. We were deluged with hundreds of e- mails and phone calls and regular mail.

And as a result Representative Mike Reynolds from Oklahoma City and myself and other representatives around the state decided to invoke a resolution from Oklahoma statutes article seven, where we can actually bring it to the attention of the Oklahoma state house of representatives, which limits it to the trial, the judiciary as a jurisdiction or a hearing process. We also have contacted the supreme court of Oklahoma. The attorney general, the governor, none of them would -- have talked to us as of yet. But now that the media is exposing us -- exposing this locally and nationally, they're starting to talk.

PHILLIPS: So, tee did try to get in touch with the judge. We also got a no-comment and a no-call from his office as well. Do you really think you can get him taken off the bench?

RITZE: Well, at this point in time we're going through the process. The Oklahoma law is very clear that any member of the House of Representatives can petion this resolution or invoke this. And then it's taken over by an actual hearing process or what we would refer to like a grand jury process by the -- a special court for trial judges. And as a result, we feel like that the process must move forward.

Unfortunately we just finished our legislative session. And we will not be back in session until february of this next year. But, the supreme court, the governor, the attorney general, they can do something immediately, and that's what we're asking for.

PHILLIPS: And that's where the pressure needs to be. Denise, are you worried about your father back on the streets, that he will rape again?

EARLS: Yes, absolutely. And that does concern me very much. So, because they set a release date of September the 24th. Knowing my father's history, just with myself and now with -- with this new story, he will definitely do this again. The man does not need to get out. That's why I am speaking out today, because this must be stopped. This man has to be in prison for the rest of his life.

PHILLIPS: Final thought, from the representative -- Representative Ritze, the District Attorney Jim Bob miller, you know, he came forward and said this, quote, this is the best deal we could do. Why not go after the DA as well?

RITZE: Well, at this point in time we are looking in to that. If he keeps raising these options and we certainly will look in to that as legislators. If there is a mechanism that we can plug -- a loophole here, we're going to look at that very carefully. I know many judges, many people in law enforcement, that would have never taken this plea to a judge. And once you take it to a judge, I know many judges that would have never accepted a plea like this.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's sickening to think that he could be back on the streets. Denise, we sure appreciate you talking with us. It can't be easy for you.

And Representative Ritze, if you don't mind, we'd like to follow up on your efforts, and indeed see what happens to this judge.

RITZE: Anytime. Thank you, ma'am.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Thank you both.

Well, we wanted to reiterate that we called David Harold Earls at the Pittsburg County Jail to get his response to his daughter's accusations. He says he does not want to give any interviews right now.

And like I said, we also reached out to Judge Thomas Bartheld to get his response to the resolution to remove him from the bench. And we still have not heard back from him.

So what do you think about this case? Should the judge or anyone else involved in it be removed? Get in touch with us on our blog, cnn.com/newsroom. Click on "Kyra." You can also tweet me at KyraCNN.

We'll have some of your comments later in the NEWSROOM. I want to hear from you.

And a victory for Iran, whether your guy won or not. That's how Iran's supreme leader is telling his countrymen and women to look at last week's election - or else. The ayatollah gave a long-awaited speech during Friday prayers at Tehran University. And re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had a front-row seat. The question we're pushing forward now: Will supporters of defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi stand down? As far as we can tell, nobody's marching today, but a rally set for tomorrow is still on.

Back in Washington, the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Tehran's crackdown on dissent on the streets and online.

Now, Iran's Guardian Council is supposed to be investigating claims of voting fraud and plans to meet tomorrow with all three losing candidates. What exactly is the Guardian Council, and what exactly can it do?

CNN's Ivan Watson investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one of the most powerful institutions in Iran's Byzantine system of government: a group of 12 cleric and legal experts charged with overseeing elections and approving new laws.

Council members all also happen to be either directly appointed by the supreme leader, or by his deputies, says Iran expert Karim Sadjadpour.

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CARNEDIA ENDOWMENT FOR INTL. PEACE: Historically, the Guardian Council is supposed to have been an objective political entity in Iran. The problem is, is that in the last decade or so, under the reign of Ayatollah Khamenei, they've become much more an arm for president - for Supreme Leader Khamenei to assert his power.

WATSON: Over the past two decades, the Council has disqualified thousands of candidates from competing in president and parliamentary elections. In 2004, more than 80 reformist lawmakers staged a three- week protest in Iran's Parliament against a Council decision to disqualify more than 2,000 candidates from running in the 2004 parliamentary elections.

In the end, more than 120 lawmakers resigned in protest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, the Council says that limited recounts at specific polling sites are possible. But at least two of the losing candidates want all-new elections.

Picked on at school for something that he can't control. Little Jaylen knows the agony of being bullied, and he thinks he knows why kids do it. We're going to tell you what he's doing to battle back - no fists involved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, his difference makes him a target, but they've taught him a lot, too.

A little Florida boy is working hard on his summer vacation battling bullying.

This story now from Melissa Sogegian of our affiliate Bay News 9.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA SOGEGIAN, BAY NEWS 9 CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It takes Jaylen Arnold awhile to type an e-mail. The 8-year-old is often interrupted by uncontrollable ticking.

JAYLEN ARNOLD, 9-YEAR-OLD ANTI-BULLYING ACTIVIST: And it makes you do all different things that you can't control.

SOGEGIAN (on camera): Mm-hmm.

J., ARNOLD: Your brain does.

SOGEGIAN (voice-over): He has Tourette's syndrome, a neurological disorder many other kids don't understand.

J. ARNOLD: The people who have Tourette's syndrome are just ticking (ph), and why you people are looking (ph), I just wanted the regular people to know that they can't control it. And not to make fun of them.

SOGEGIAN: Diagnosed at age 3, he's gotten used to the laughing, odd looks and mimicking.

ROBIN ARNOLD, JAYLEN'S MOTHER: They bully because they're not aware; they don't know what it is. It's something different. And no one likes anything different.

SOGEGIAN: Jaylen doesn't let bullies bring him down. This summer break, he's using the Internet to launch an anti-bullying campaign called "Jaylen's Challenge."

R. ARNOLD: Jaylen drew his own logo. Jaylen prepared everything.

SOGEGIAN: There are message boards, facts about Tourette's, even this video.

(JAYLEN BARKING)

SOGEGIAN: His mother taped him ticking to show others how severe the condition can be.

Since his Web site launched last month, an average of 5,000 people visited each day. He personally responds to every e-mail. And when not online, he tries to raise awareness with these yellow and blue bracelets.

J. ARNOLD: Yes, I gave them away at school.

SOGEGIAN: Jaylen hopes to one day see his bullying no-way bracelets around the wrists of famous folks.

J. ARNOLD: The president. Oprah.

SOGEGIAN: He's aiming high. While he can't always control his body, he hopes he can help people think twice before they make fun of someone else.

Melissa Sogegian, Bay News 9.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right. How cut is Jaylen? This entire team is now getting bracelets.

For more on his efforts, you can go to jaylenschallenge.org. Check out his mission statement and find out how you can help beat down the bullying as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And we're pushing forward on Iran next hour and covering angle. We've heard plenty from the opposition, but voices on the other side are just as strong. I'll talk with one of them, and neither of us will hold back.

Plus, our troops and veterans need help and they need it now. Repeated deployments, traumatic stress, alcohol abuse. It is time to act.

Letters, photos, clothing, even the hair from their heads auctioned off online. Not celebrity stuff, folks - convicted killers.

It's been dubbed "murderabilia." It's easy to find and it's disgusting. We've come a long way from John Wayne Gacy's clown paintings folks: Rape cards with handwritten descriptions of a sex killer's crime; a female murder's underwear. Can you believe this crap pulls an estimated $250,000 a year? What is wrong with people?

In 2007, an anti-murderabilia bill was introduced in the Senate, but it went nowhere. So we asked you for your thoughts on all this garbage. Let's check out some of the tweets that we got.

@PIMIS - PIMIS_THE_SHIZ - you got to love that name - asks, "What gruesome motivation do the buyers of this memorabilia have for making these purchases?"

@LESLEYBRAVANNEL says that they should, "Crack down on those vile peddlers as they do with pedophiles trafficking kiddie porn."

And from @CURIOUS1966, "I guess some people are into looking at the minds of killers, what they did, what they used to kill. SICK! NO ONE should profit from it."

We're going to have more in this next hour. I'm going to talk to the man who actually coined the term "murderabilia," and who's been trying to get rid of this garbage for over a decade. Well, the Air France mystery: It's a locked door with a key maybe five miles below the ocean surface. Time's running out to find it, too.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, Air France is saying that today it will give the families of each victim on Flight 447 an advance of about $24,000. The money may help but it's not an answer to what happened. Time now joins size, depth and distance as the enemies in the search for why.

Batteries powering the signal from voice-data recorders have less than two weeks left.

Here's CNN's Paula Newton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Atlantic currents give up more and more pieces of Air France Flight 447, the voice and data recorders are still submerged and undetected.

More than 400 pieces of wreckage have been collected, all crucial to the investigation. But it's still the data recorders that matter most. The company that made them says it's confident they will be found.

PAOLO CARMISSI, HONEYWELL AEROSPACE: We have 100 percent recovery rate of all the black boxes that we have installed that unfortunately may have involved in accidents. So we hope that we will be able to maintain our records in being able to shed some light on what happened.

NEWTON: As search teams continue to sift through clues, Brazilian medical examiners have told French investigators the autopsies performed on some of the 50 bodies recovered so far show signs of fractures, to arms, legs and hips. And few had any clothing.

All of this, aviation experts say, points up to a midair rupture at about 35,000 feet. But still, no explanation as to why.

YANN COCHENNEC, FRENCH AVIATION ANALYST: I think they will be able to - to collect more debris, more parts of the aircraft. And maybe they - from that, from the analysis of those debris, or parts of the aircraft, they may be able to draw a scenario, a potential scenario, because it's - of possible scenarios.

NEWTON: French investigators have pleaded for people to stop speculating. But with fear building among passengers around the world, and the Brazilian government releasing more and more information, all eyes are now on the French agency leading the investigation.

The Brazilian military will continue to look for debris and bodies, and the search for the voice and data recorders will go on for at least another two weeks. But as time passes, the pressure increases on French investigators to come up with some answers as to what brought down Flight 447.

Paula Newton, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And we're pushing forward.