Sunday
Jul052009
The Latest From Iran (5 July): Treading Water
Sunday, July 5, 2009 at 21:26
The Latest from Iran (6 July): Covered in Dust
UPDATED Iran: Solving the Mystery of The “Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom”
UPDATED Iran: Joe Biden’s “Green Light” and an Israeli Airstrike
Iran: 12 More Martyrs
The Latest from Iran (4 July): Breaking the Reformists? Not So Fast….
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2015 GMT: A very quiet few hours, with only a few ripples of political activity that we're chasing. So we've taken the opportunity to work on a mystery: who are the "Association of Teachers and Researchers of Qom", who released a statement criticising the Government yesterday?
1400 GMT: A series of detentions and releases: Press TV reports that Iason Athanasiadis (Jason Fowden), a freelance journalist who reports for newspapers such as The Washington Times, has been released in a gesture of goodwill to Greece. The "mothers for mourning" demonstrators arrested in Laleh Park last week and supporters such as women's rights activist Zeynab Peyghambarzadeh have also been freed.
However, Jalal Mohammadou, another leading member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front Party, has been arrested, and there are reports that journalist Masood Bastani has been detained. Bastani's pregnant wife Mahsa Amirabadi, also a journalist, has been in prison since the early days of the crisis.
1200 GMT: A series of political developments: Mehdi Karroubi's latest statement says people must continue fighting despite the difficulties ahead. He notes that President Ahmadinejad has asked officials to find Neda Agha Soltan's killer while some of those same forces have killed at least 19 other people and attacked dormitories and houses."
The "reformist" newspaper Etemade Melli reports that Mir Hossein Mousavi is forming a new politcal party, while reformist advisor Alireza Beheshti has called on the Iranian Parliament to dismiss President Ahmadinejad.
There are also reports that politician Saeed Hajjarian, who is disabled and in poor health, has been transferred from Evin prison to a hospital in Tehran.
1030 GMT: Today's Washington Post finally catches up with the story, more than 24 hours old, of the criticisms of the election posted by the Mousavi campaign:
[blockquote] In a 24-page document posted on his Web site, Mousavi's special committee studying election fraud accused influential Ahmadinejad supporters of handing out cash bonuses and food, increasing wages, printing millions of extra ballots and other acts in the run-up to the vote.
The committee, whose members were appointed by Mousavi, said the state did everything in its power to get Ahmadinejad reelected, including using military forces and government planes to support his campaign....
The report released by Mousavi pointed out that the Interior Ministry, which counted the votes, is headed by Sadegh Mahsouli, a longtime friend of Ahmadinejad. The secretary of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, had publicly supported Ahmadinejad, as had six others on the 12-member council despite a law requiring them to remain impartial, according to the report.
"The law here was completely broken," said Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, a top Mousavi campaign official. "What these documents prove is that the two entities that organized the elections were biased and in favor of one candidate."[/blockquote]
1000 GMT: Reports, via British Foreign Office, that one local staffer of the British Embassy in Iran will be released but one will remain in custody.
0710 GMT: Press TV English Irony Watch.
Number of minutes given in morning news update to Israel's detention of former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney: 5.
Number of minutes given to Iran's detention of hundreds: 0.
0600 GMT: The pattern is now woven in Iran: the daily demonstrations continue, scattered and limited in size by the State's restrictions, but still very present. However, there is unlikely to be high-profile movement until Thursday, with the planned mass march in Tehran.
On Saturday, supporters and mothers of the killed and detained gathered in Laleh Park; at least one prominent women's rights activist, Zeynab Peyghambarzadeh, was arrested. At Kamran University, a non-violent protest was marred by the reported death of a faculty member shot in the head.
It was a quieter day for opposition leaders, with no significant statements. Support did come from the Association of Instructors and Researchers at the seminary in Qom, with their statement calling the Government illegitimate. Meanwhile, a lawyer for jailed reformist leaders said they would be tried on charges of threatening national security leaders.
The regime, including Ahmadinejad also kept a lower profile on Saturday. News continued to be dominated by Friday's threats to prosecute "enemies" from British Embassy staff to Mir Hossein Mousavi. President Ahmadinejad's reported national broadcast after the evening news, if it ever took place, has left no ripples. Instead, his rather silly challenge to President Obama --- let's have a debate at the United Nations --- filled Iranian media space.
So the most significant intervention came from former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, as he spoke to detainees' families. This was not a call for open resistance, but a more measured re-assertion that the election process had been corrupted. Rafsanjani's goal? Continue to avoid a conflict with the Supreme Leader while putting pressure on President Ahmadinejad.
Overseas, a bit of disturbing silliness is going on. The Israelis are stirring up the image of the Iranian nuclear threat, with the prominent spokesman (now Ambassador to the US) Michael Oren talking of a Tehran bomb wiping out Israel "within seconds", and The Sunday Times of London --- a regular channel for Tel Aviv's propaganda --- claiming that Saudi Arabia has sanctioned an Israeli attack on Iran by allowing the use of its airspace.
UPDATED Iran: Solving the Mystery of The “Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom”
UPDATED Iran: Joe Biden’s “Green Light” and an Israeli Airstrike
Iran: 12 More Martyrs
The Latest from Iran (4 July): Breaking the Reformists? Not So Fast….
Receive our latest updates by email or RSS- SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
2015 GMT: A very quiet few hours, with only a few ripples of political activity that we're chasing. So we've taken the opportunity to work on a mystery: who are the "Association of Teachers and Researchers of Qom", who released a statement criticising the Government yesterday?1400 GMT: A series of detentions and releases: Press TV reports that Iason Athanasiadis (Jason Fowden), a freelance journalist who reports for newspapers such as The Washington Times, has been released in a gesture of goodwill to Greece. The "mothers for mourning" demonstrators arrested in Laleh Park last week and supporters such as women's rights activist Zeynab Peyghambarzadeh have also been freed.
However, Jalal Mohammadou, another leading member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front Party, has been arrested, and there are reports that journalist Masood Bastani has been detained. Bastani's pregnant wife Mahsa Amirabadi, also a journalist, has been in prison since the early days of the crisis.
1200 GMT: A series of political developments: Mehdi Karroubi's latest statement says people must continue fighting despite the difficulties ahead. He notes that President Ahmadinejad has asked officials to find Neda Agha Soltan's killer while some of those same forces have killed at least 19 other people and attacked dormitories and houses."
The "reformist" newspaper Etemade Melli reports that Mir Hossein Mousavi is forming a new politcal party, while reformist advisor Alireza Beheshti has called on the Iranian Parliament to dismiss President Ahmadinejad.
There are also reports that politician Saeed Hajjarian, who is disabled and in poor health, has been transferred from Evin prison to a hospital in Tehran.
1030 GMT: Today's Washington Post finally catches up with the story, more than 24 hours old, of the criticisms of the election posted by the Mousavi campaign:
[blockquote] In a 24-page document posted on his Web site, Mousavi's special committee studying election fraud accused influential Ahmadinejad supporters of handing out cash bonuses and food, increasing wages, printing millions of extra ballots and other acts in the run-up to the vote.
The committee, whose members were appointed by Mousavi, said the state did everything in its power to get Ahmadinejad reelected, including using military forces and government planes to support his campaign....
The report released by Mousavi pointed out that the Interior Ministry, which counted the votes, is headed by Sadegh Mahsouli, a longtime friend of Ahmadinejad. The secretary of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, had publicly supported Ahmadinejad, as had six others on the 12-member council despite a law requiring them to remain impartial, according to the report.
"The law here was completely broken," said Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, a top Mousavi campaign official. "What these documents prove is that the two entities that organized the elections were biased and in favor of one candidate."[/blockquote]
1000 GMT: Reports, via British Foreign Office, that one local staffer of the British Embassy in Iran will be released but one will remain in custody.
0710 GMT: Press TV English Irony Watch.
Number of minutes given in morning news update to Israel's detention of former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney: 5.
Number of minutes given to Iran's detention of hundreds: 0.
0600 GMT: The pattern is now woven in Iran: the daily demonstrations continue, scattered and limited in size by the State's restrictions, but still very present. However, there is unlikely to be high-profile movement until Thursday, with the planned mass march in Tehran.
On Saturday, supporters and mothers of the killed and detained gathered in Laleh Park; at least one prominent women's rights activist, Zeynab Peyghambarzadeh, was arrested. At Kamran University, a non-violent protest was marred by the reported death of a faculty member shot in the head.
It was a quieter day for opposition leaders, with no significant statements. Support did come from the Association of Instructors and Researchers at the seminary in Qom, with their statement calling the Government illegitimate. Meanwhile, a lawyer for jailed reformist leaders said they would be tried on charges of threatening national security leaders.
The regime, including Ahmadinejad also kept a lower profile on Saturday. News continued to be dominated by Friday's threats to prosecute "enemies" from British Embassy staff to Mir Hossein Mousavi. President Ahmadinejad's reported national broadcast after the evening news, if it ever took place, has left no ripples. Instead, his rather silly challenge to President Obama --- let's have a debate at the United Nations --- filled Iranian media space.
So the most significant intervention came from former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, as he spoke to detainees' families. This was not a call for open resistance, but a more measured re-assertion that the election process had been corrupted. Rafsanjani's goal? Continue to avoid a conflict with the Supreme Leader while putting pressure on President Ahmadinejad.
Overseas, a bit of disturbing silliness is going on. The Israelis are stirring up the image of the Iranian nuclear threat, with the prominent spokesman (now Ambassador to the US) Michael Oren talking of a Tehran bomb wiping out Israel "within seconds", and The Sunday Times of London --- a regular channel for Tel Aviv's propaganda --- claiming that Saudi Arabia has sanctioned an Israeli attack on Iran by allowing the use of its airspace.
tagged Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, Alireza Beheshti, Assembly of Instructors and Researchers, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Etemade Melli, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iason Athanasiadis, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Israel, Jalal Mohammadou, Jason Fowden, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mahsa Amirabadi, Medhi Karroubi, Michael Oren, Mohammad Khatami, Neda Agha Soltan, Press TV, Sadegh Mahsouli, Saeed Hajjarian, Saudi Arabia, The Sunday Times, Washington Times, Zeynab Peyghambarzadeh in Middle East & Iran
Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, Alireza Beheshti, Assembly of Instructors and Researchers, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Etemade Melli, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iason Athanasiadis, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Israel, Jalal Mohammadou, Jason Fowden, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mahsa Amirabadi, Medhi Karroubi, Michael Oren, Mohammad Khatami, Neda Agha Soltan, Press TV, Sadegh Mahsouli, Saeed Hajjarian, Saudi Arabia, The Sunday Times, Washington Times, Zeynab Peyghambarzadeh in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (5)
It is very interesting, because I put a message in Press TV' Site about the item that you noticed too, I told them now that we have numerous innocent prisoners in our prisons, you are searching the whole world for finding American prisoners in Israel. I told them that I am very sorry for you and your directors, but they did not publish my comment.
"In a 24-page document posted on his Web site, Mousavi’s special committee studying election fraud accused influential Ahmadinejad supporters of handing out cash bonuses and food, increasing wages, printing millions of extra ballots and other acts in the run-up to the vote." If we consider all of these calims as true still they don't contribute to Mousavi's being the winner. what is he saying after all? first he claims he has won with the majority of votes and now he says indirectly that the votes have been bought for Ahmadinejad! His words show nothing but confusion, i think he doesn't believe in his own words even.
as for printing extra ballots, in iran people do not register for voting and they can vote in any place, regardless of their hometwon and place of living so it is not too predictable how much ballot is needed in every voting place, so there should be some extra ballots and as the turnout was expected to be high it is not that much surprising they printed too much extra ballots.
m.s.,
I agree that the the allegations are not that dramatic and do not prove "fraud". Have you seen the original Farsi text of the document?
S.
To the last two commenters:
Obviously the filed complaint only lists the *observed*, *legal* infractions that are impossible to deny, it would be silly to list things that the government has been denying. The point of the document is to reveal technical violations that would undermine the credibility of Ahmadinejad's and GC's claims. He doesn't need to stop believing that he won the majority of the votes in order to document illegal activities.
This is easy to understand, and I can't help but think that m.s.'s statement is disingenuous. I certainly don't agree that there is any sign of "confusion" on the part of the opposition, they have been very consistent in asking the government to take substantive measures to improve the people's confidence in the election, and this report is just another example out of many of their efforts. They have certainly been more consistent than the ministry of interior or the GC.
Scott,
Yes i have read it in farsi.
l.f.,
Beside on "observed" and "legal" proofs, on what other basis can a person prove his claim, not only in Iran but also in any other country? One cannot expect other people to believe in his sixth sense. Just one hour after the election stopped Mr Musavi claimed victory based on what he called "witnesses and proofs". OK what were these proofs and how was he able to monitor all the cities through his "witnesses" while even the mobile phones were not working since the day before( this is while they suspect the statistics by the interior ministry and say how they have managed to count the votes that early!)? so first they claimed they won the majority based on the votes in the boxes, the reason he claimed victory in the first place. Then they say that Ahmadinejad and his friends have bought the votes, meaning the vote in the boxes gave A'd the majority. Doesn't it show a kind of confusion? I can't say that all of Musavi's claims are a hundred percent wrong but I believe he should bring forward his arguments on strong bases, if there is any. the opposition campaign accuses the interior ministry and Mr Mahsouli of being close to the president; it's really funny, in every government those who work as secretaries or minister are close to the president. i mean every president chooses the people with whom he can work best. I agree that when it comes to situations like elections everybody, inside or outside the government, should act fairly and unbiased; if they didn't we should have strong proofs for it. can you accept the newest claim that Mousavi is an American agent because just somebody believes it, may be even deep in his heart, but may not be able to prove this claim? I’m sure you don’t and that’s why I also don’t accept Musavi’s claim just easily.