In Bellevue, Iran election news just a tweet away from Tehran

Another tweet arrives from Tehran, crossing 6,700 miles to the Bellevue home of Al Garman.

He's hearing almost in real time about what is going on in the streets there.

A twitterer going by the name Jadi is typing from Iran's capital: "This Blood in my veins will stop the coup."

It is Monday afternoon, 1 p.m., in Bellevue.

It is early Tuesday, 12:30 a.m., in Tehran, where tens of thousands have been protesting the presidential-election results.

Jadi's signoff message says: "good night. viva freedom. viva truth. Hope a better coverage by media. That's our only support."

It's now been 12 years since the Garman family left Iran to find a new life in America.

They've done well, with a four-bedroom home on a quiet street in Newport Hills, dad running a one-man cabinetmaking business, mom working as a corporate trainer, one daughter just graduating from Western Washington University with a degree in communication sciences and disorders and another still in high school. They're finally getting their green cards after waiting for years.

But you never forget your roots, especially in a time like this. So Garman's BlackBerry these days is set to update tweets every 10 minutes, many of them coming from Iran.

More than 5,000 people of Iranian descent live in the Puget Sound area, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. A handful contacted for this story said tweets and the Internet provide them news from Iran.

"Many of the tweets are ahead of the news organizations. The stories in the news organization come after the tweets," Garman said. "They are right there. The reporter might be in another part of the city."

The tweets come from parhamdoustdar, huti_421, Mirriaam, persiankiwi and numerous other Iranians, all part of the Twitter family of more than 19 million worldwide users who can post messages limited to 140 characters each.

Iran's government cracked down on Internet usage beginning on Election Day last Friday.

The New York Times reported that text-messaging services were shut down in what opposition supporters said was an attempt to block one of their most important organizing tools. Cellphone transmissions and access to Facebook and some other Web sites also were blocked over the weekend.

But Garman said the tweets just kept coming through, as Iranians got around government blocks.

Garman is 52. The tweets and the faces of the protesters from Iran are from a much younger generation. The median age in Iran is 27.

Garman was a college student in 1978 as the revolution began that deposed the Shah of Iran. Garman was part of those protests, he says, because he wanted democracy. "It had nothing to do with theocracy," he said.

He remembers protests in those pre-digital days.

To get the word out, Garman said, "somebody had to get a bunch of pieces of paper and take them in a sack or a briefcase to people you knew."

Now, his BlackBerry is set on vibrate when the latest tweet comes in.

Jadi sends this message: "An automatic robot, randomly calls homes and says 'we know you were in the protests, do not repeat this,' to frighten people."

Maybe that bit of news will show up in a mainstream news site after it's been verified.

Garman tends to believe Jadi.

"I've been reading his blogs for a few months," Garman said. "He tends to be fair. It's like hearings news from someone you trust."

Garman read 120 Iran-related tweets Monday. Today will be the same; there's still plenty of news from the streets.

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times researcher Gene Balk contributed to this report.