Chinese Tycoon Silenced for Communist Party Criticism
LU STOUT: Now voters in Iran's capital are ushering in a new era of reform, electing moderate candidates to the national parliament. All 30 seats up for grabs in Tehran's province were won by reformists. They also secured all but one of the seats in the all important Assembly of Excellence (sic) that chooses Iran's supreme leader. And those election results continue to filter in. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Tehran monitoring results. He joins us now live. And Fred, reformists there are making gains in this election. And I know it's very early, but it is also raising the question what does this mean for the future of Iran and its relations with the world.</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNAITONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what it doesn't mean, Kristie, is that there's going to be largescale, or very fast reforms here in this country. We have to keep in mind that the reformists that were voted into parliament and also into the Council of Experts, that they are very moderate reformists. They still are very much in line with Iran's policies. However, if you look at President Hassan Rouhani and his policy so far, he has of course started to open up Iran very slowly towards the west on the one hand with the nuclear agreement, but also of course by letting companies invest here with that sanctions relief. Now, one of the things that people that we spoke to on the street told us is that they believe that the election results that they have received now will be very good for Iran's economy, but they also say they want to see the benefits of the nuclear agreement, of sanctions relief, of investment here in this country very quickly. Let's have a look.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): A lot of people voted and they gained a lot of votes to get into parliament. So we expect them to work hard and to fill their promises. And they should work hard so that that can be an answer to the conservatives.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We were not satisfied with the last parliament. And I hope that both parliament and the Assembly of Experts think and do something, especially for the young people.</s>UNIDENIFIED MALE (through translator): I think 100 percent there's going to be lots of changes. With my friends, we were partying. And we all believe that this is the best parliament that has ever been elected.</s>PLEITGEN: So as you can see, some very mixed results there when we were on the street. But what we can expect now is for these reforms to continue, for them to possibly accelerate somewhat, but not for very fast and very strong reform process to all of a sudden take place here in Iran. And one of the interesting things that's also happening, Kristie, is that even with these election results the way they are, and it looks like the moderates here in this country have indeed scored a lot of seats in parliament and also on the Council of Experts, the conservatives are saying not so fast. They say that in the rest of the country outside Tehran they think they are still pretty much even with the reformers. So there is sort of a back and forth. There is still this -- some controversy. Certainly we also haven't seen any celebrations here in the street yet. But by all accounts, it does appear as though this was a very, very important election for President Hassan Rouhani and the moderates here in this country.</s>LU STOUT: Yeah, and some push back on the election results coming in so far. Pivotal elections under way in Iran as we wait for the final, final outcome. Fred Pleitgen reporting live from inside the country. Thank you, Fred. Now, China appears to be again tightening its grip on political dissent. The government has deleted the popular social media accounts of a real estate mogul. Now Ren Jia Chiang (ph) is reported to have posted messages criticizing Chinese news media. He has long been known for his blunt comments on everything from property prices to politics. Nicknamed the Cannon, he had more than 30 million followers online. Now, CNN Money Asia Editor Andrew Stevens joins me now with more on the story. And Andrew, why did China feel compelled to silence this individual?</s>ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This individual who has, as you say, have been controversial. Interestingly, he is a veteran member of the Communist Party itself. And what he has done with his microblogs is basically to force the authorities to say he is sending illegal messages, which is having, quote, a vile impact. I mean, this is really strong language from the central authorities, to a Communist Party member. It all stems, Kristie, from the Chinese President Xi Jinping going to the state media, Xinhua, CCTV the television operator and the People's Daily Newspaper. He went late last week. And he had a very, very clear message at the end of his meetings with the editors there, which was the first and foremost, is you support the Communist Party no matter what. This is what he actually said. All news media run by the party must work to speak for the party's will and its propositions and protect the party's authority and unity. Now, Ren Jia Chiang (ph) had the temerity, if you like, to say in a very interesting quote what he says to his 38 million followers. News media is supposed to serve the people, not the party. It's is funded by taxpayers, it should be for taxpayers. And that has what has got him into very, very hot water. It's not only officially, unofficially supporters of the Community Party have been vicious in their attack of him, and as you say those blogs have been taken down very quickly. We don't know what's happened to him personally, but certainly he's -- he's not the most popular person in the Communist Party at the moment.</s>LU STOUT: Now Ren Jia Chiang (ph) is the tycoon likened to the Donald Trump of China for his outspoken views now silenced on social media. Andrew Stevens, we'll leave it at that. Thank you very much indeed for your analysis and the update on that story. Now, coming up here on the program, U.S. war veterans wounded in combat are now using their skills to take down child predators. We'll bring you that CNN Freedom Project report straight ahead.