The Latest from Iran (16 April): Grounding the Opposition

1910 GMT: Khatami Grounded but Still Speaks. Former President Mohammad Khatami may have been halted from leaving Iran, but he has not been silenced. Khatami has spoken out against government pressure on newly released Iranian political prisoners “to denounce their connections with certain movements and public figures”.

Khatami claimed that the newly released prisoners “are being forced to make public confessions against their actual opinions and beliefs and they have been told that their limited freedom will be taken away from them if they do not do so".

1830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A court of appeal has confirmed a six-year prison sentence for journalist Masoud Lavasani as well as a ten-year ban on any journalism. Lavasani was originally sentenced to eight years after his detention in late September.

Mohammad Reza Lotfi Yazdi, a Mashhad student activist, has been released from Evin Prison after a six-week detention. Ali Sepandar and Behzad Parvin, two members of the Central Council of the Islamic Association at Birjand University, have also been freed.

Iran: A View From Tehran “The New Year Challenges”
Iran: A Note About the Voice of America, NIAC, and the “Journalism” of The Washington Times
The Latest from Iran (15 April): Accepting Authority?

1825 GMT: The Labour Front. Back from an extended break to find a useful summary by Iran Labor Report of developments, including economic downturns, protests over unpaid wages, and strikes.


1145 GMT: The Banning of the Reformists? We are watching this story carefully to see if it develops into the effective suspension of "legal" political activity by reformists in Iran:

The members of Article 10 Commission of Iran which monitors the activities of political parties in the country held a session yesterday asking the Judiciary to ban two reformist parties, Islamic Iran Participation Front (Party) and Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization.

They also submitted a letter to Tehran's Public Prosecutor's Office and requested for issuing a decree on the dissolution of both pro-reform parties. The decision was made through observing their background and actions taken by them.

1155 GMT: Recognising Activism and New Media. Iranian blogger, journalist, and women’s rights activist Jila Bani Yaghoub has been awarded the Reporters Without Borders Freedom of Expression prize for her blog “We are Journalists” at the 6th international “Best of the Blogs” event in Berlin.

Bani Yaghoub and her husband Bahman Ahmadi Amoui were detained last year during the post-election crisis. After her release, she wrote a moving open letter to her still-detained spouse and "Mr Interrogator".

1110 GMT: A Discussion. Seyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, has met Grand Ayatollah Yusuf Sane'i to consider "the problems of the country".

1055 GMT: Not Forgetting. Golnaz Esfandiari summarises the attempts by Iranian websites and bloggers to ensure that the cases and situations of "lesser-known" political prisoners are not forgotten.

1045 GMT: Corruption Watch. Rah-e-Sabz claims that the Supreme Leader has intervened to order a halt to the corruption investigation of First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi. Several high-profile members of Parliament have led the call for the inquiry against Rahimi, connected with the "Fatemi Avenue" insurance fraud.

1040 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Green Voice of Freedom claims it has a letter from a group of detainees in Evin Prison, announcing their plan to fast from 21 April until the anniversary of the election on 12 June. They make five demands: annulment of post-election sentences for political prisoners; release of all detainees on bail until trials are held; respect of Article 168 of the Constitution regarding political and press offences; investigation into illegal and unjust judicial procedures and interrogations at all levels; improving recreation, health and hygiene in all prisons and detention centres in the country.

The letter to the “Great Iranian Nation” states:

You know better than anyone, that thousands of your children who supported reformist candidates during the June 2009 presidential election and [identified with] the Green Movement were arrested at their workplaces or homes --- even in the middle of the night --- and taken to known and unknown detention centres and prisons on baseless grounds and accusations that mostly lacked (and still lack) legal justification. [Their imprisonment] clearly went against the constitution and the country’s current laws and citizen rights.

1035 GMT: The Court in Evin Prison. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has called for the closure of a recently-established “special court” at Evin Prison.

Attorneys for detainees say their work has become "impossible” with the newly established court. One of them, Nasrin Sotoudeh, summarises:

The judges are residing in a space that is under the strict control of the Ministry of Intelligence and during preliminary investigations, which are the most difficult time during a suspect’s prison term, case judges only receive information from intelligence officers, and neither the suspect’s lawyer nor his or her family can provide any information to the judges.

Another defense attorney, Farideh Gheyrat, said she is highly concerned about the inaccessibility of her clients’ files and claims that now even extracting the old “simple and incomplete” pieces of information about cases has become impossible.

1030 GMT: Labour Watch. A Street Journalist provides an English summary of a Deutsche Welle story, reported in EA earlier this week, of workers' protests and strikes in Khuzestan in southwest Iran.

1020 GMT: Economy Watch. As a sign of Iran's economic troubles, Rah-e-Sabz reports a sharp decline in employment in the town Asalouyeh in the south of the country. State companies have not paid wages for several months, and the Government owes owes 40 billion toman (more than $40 million) to private companies, for example in the electricity sector.

The website also reports that Iran's social security organisation is in deep trouble with a large deficit building from 2007. It claims that the head of the organisation has gone to Qom to seek help from clerics.

1015 GMT: A Subsidy Compromise? Khabar Online reports that the Parliament and Government have reached an agreement allowing President Ahmadinejad to take in and control more revenue from subsidy cuts.

Parliament had set the extra revenue at $20 million, half of the President's demand, but according to Khabar, "this week the Parliament gave a free hand to the government in arranging a schedule for implementing the plan, to define new prices for subsidized goods and above all adding tax incomes to the 200 trillion rials ($20 billion) budget".

EA's sharp readers will already note the double-edged sword for the Government if this compromise has been struck: it may indeed take in more money but only by raising prices --- through the subsidy reductions --- further on basic provisions such as food and energy.

1000 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Ayatollah Javadi Amoli has taken a swipe at the Government with the declaration that society must be governed with respect and fed so it can stand on its own feet. It is not difficult to govern with mercy.

Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani has added that the majority must be kept satisfied. If the Iranian people have reasonable demands, they should be addressed.

0950 GMT: And Take This, Opposition. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati has issued a forceful denunciation of those challenging the regime. He claimed that they wanted to weaken the system of velayat-e-faqih (ultimate clerical authority) after the Ahmadinejad victory last night. The culprits included monarchists, Baha'i, reformist parties such as Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution and Islamic Iran Participation Front, National Front, communists, and secularists. (An EA reader wonders, "Is there anyone left who is not an opponent?")

0930 GMT: We return from extended break to follow up on yesterday's report that former President Mohammad Khatami was planning to attend a global disarmament conference in Japan next week.

EA readers quickly wrote us that the Iranian authorities intervened to prevent the journey. Parleman News wrote that Khatami, who was supposed to leave the country on Wednesday night, was not blocked at the airport or had his passport has not been withdrawn, but he succumbed to pressure and cancelled the trip at his own initiative.

Khatami remains a major international figure for his approach of "global dialogue", which he promoted in the late 1990s as an alternative to the notion of a clash of civilizations. More immediately, his presence in Japan would have deflected from Iran's own attempts to take the nuclear high ground with its own conference on nuclear disarmament, scheduled for Saturday and Saturday.

Comments

[Arshama]

Pardon me for unrelated posting, but the US Health Care issue is off the radar, and EA's last entry was made 2 weeks ago: http://enduringamerica.com/2010/03/29/health-care-a-beginners-guide-to-the-non-sense-of-us-health-care/

Hannah Levin claims on Seattle Weekly that "Alex Chilton's Death (Was) Tied to a Lack of Health Insurance" http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2010/04/yet_another_musicians_death_ti.php

The rest of her story is not less troubling: "Most music industry professionals (if not most people) I seem to know don't have health insurance (myself included) ...
Locally, we do have one decent resource for preventative care for artists of all disciplines, namely the voucher program through the Artists' Trust. Though funding caps at $150 per person, it's still better than nothing. The program is set to expire in June of 2010, so definitely check it out soon if you want to take advantage of it."

[Catherine]

RE Khatami, Homylafayette has this to say, amongst other interesting information not found in other news reports on the subject:
"The veracity of the Parleman News report cannot be confirmed. This blog has been unable to find a nuclear disarmament conference taking place in Hiroshima in the near future.

Whatever the truth -- the Khatami camp will have to issue a denial or confirmation in time -- this is the first instance that a news source which is not close to the regime has reported that such an unprecedented step has been taken against the popular former president. "
http://homylafayette.blogspot.com/2010/04/former-president-khatami-prevented-from.html

[Catherine]

Interview with Austin Heap, director of the Censorship Research Center, which has developed "Haystack," software that lets web users access filtered websites. Recently, the U.S. government approved the export of antifiltering software designed to help Iranians defy the censors.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Interview_Helping_Iranians_Beat_Internet_Censorship/2013410.html

[Catherine]

RE 1035 GMT: The Court in Evin Prison
In adition......
According to the Campaign report, “the formation of a court for political prisoners within the confines of Evin prison, where the suspect is held, informed of his charges, tried, and sentenced, is reminiscent of 1980s courts where thousands of political prisoners were tried without fair investigation, and families and lawyers of prisoners were not allowed to influence the cases in any way.”
http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/04/iranian-lawyers-claim-new.html

Read this example of the illegal and unconstitutional court proceedings against Mahdieh Golroo, a women’s rights activist and expelled Allameh University student: http://persian2english.com/?p=9427

[Catherine]

RE the new subsidies bill

Rooz Online conducted an e-mail interview with Abbas Abdi on the bill to enact targeted subsidies, which raises new issues on the subject. Abdi says, “The government intends to include all revenues into the government’s treasury and thus put itself at the head of all expenditures.” This money will in fact make people more dependent on the current government, and strengthen the administration’s position in future.” He further says, “The administration is aware that it will be confronted on this by the Majlis. The re-channeling of this money in provinces that have just one Majlis representative will have a huge impact a major impact on the position of the representatives themselves, as the administration tries to take control of the legislative branch. So this is the time to make things clear to the opposition lawmakers.”

He says a lot more too, giving insights into the exact workings of the bill, its political ramifications, and how the government really should/shouldn't tackle its economic problems.
http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem/article/2010/april/16//the-administration-strives-to-act-as-the-mother-of-expenditures.html

[Catherine]

On the broader subject of website filtering:
Do web filters hinder free speech?
By Jillian York and Robert Faris
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/04/20104148453888255.html

[WitteKr]

@catherine #2:
"RE Khatami, Homylafayette has this to say, amongst other interesting information not found in other news reports on the subject:
“The veracity of the Parleman News report cannot be confirmed. This blog has been unable to find a nuclear disarmament conference taking place in Hiroshima in the near future."

Khatami is mentioned as a participant at the 28th Annual Plenary Session of the InterAction Council in Hiroshima, Japan - 18 - 20 April 2010 on this website http://www.interactioncouncil.org/pressrelease/pressrelease10.html

More from the site:
The InterAction Council was established in 1983 as an independent international organization to mobilize the experience, energy and international contacts of a group of statesmen who have held the highest office in their own countries.

On the 65th anniversary of the first atomic bomb dropped on humankind, the InterAction Council will hold its 28th Annual Plenary Meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, from April 18 to 20, 2010. “Given the connection between increasing nuclear proliferation and failure of the nuclear-armed states to disarm, as well as the increased global political momentum for a world free of nuclear weapons, that the Council meets in Hiroshima—the first city to have borne the brunt of direct nuclear attack—is very appropriate and well-positioned,” said Honorary Chairman Helmut Schmidt, former Chancellor of Germany and part of a group of four prominent Germans (along with Richard von Weizsäcker, Egon Bahr and Hans-Dietrich Genscher) that recently released a paper advocating for a nuclear free world.
The 28th Plenary Session will be Co-Chaired by the Honorable Ingvar Carlsson, former Prime Minister of Sweden, and the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister of Canada. They will be joined by 20 other former heads of state and a number of the world’s leading academics and political minds.

Khatami was one of the 20 former heads of state...

[Bijan]

Catherine -

Thanks for the information at Post #3. I have been waiting to see if Haystack was an "approved" software to be used to open up communciations.

[Rev. Magdalen]

In other news, it's actually April and not March! Less than two weeks until May Day as well! ;-)

[Bill]

Rev,

I think Scott is a little preoccupied watching cars aimlessly go round and round a circle wasting copious amounts of fuel!!!! We should give him a pass on the "March" date. :) LOL

Bill

[M.Ali]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5736/an_american_in_tehran

[Catherine]

No One Knows About Persian Cats opened yesterday in New York. Here's the NYT review:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/movies/16noone.html?nl=movies&emc=mua3

[Catherine]

I wonder when Scott is supposed to fly back. He might get 'ashed-in' :-)

Reporting live from the clear blue and airplane free skies of the Netherlands...

[Catherine]

Breaking Friday Prayer news!
'Adultery reason for increase in earthquakes'

The leader of Tehran’s Friday prayers has suggested that “women who do not have an appropriate appearance cause the spread of adultery in society which leads to an increase in earthquakes.”
Read it yourself: http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/apr/17/1693

Not to be outdone, Labor Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said the best way to prevent an earthquake in Tehran is to pray and seek repentance.

Referring to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent remarks about the possibility of an earthquake in Tehran, Mahsouli said, "We can't invent a machine to prevent earthquakes from happening but God has invented such a machine and that is abstaining from sin, prayer, repentance, helping the impoverished, charity, altruism and forgiveness."

"This formula is the best formula for averting disasters. In other words, by becoming Islamic we can have the power to cause change."
http://www.fararu.com/vdcc0iq0.2bqp48laa2.html

[Catherine]

Iranian Official Says Filmmaker Detained For Security Reasons

An Iranian government official has ruled that the detention of renowned filmmaker Jafar Panahi is for security reasons, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.

Iranian Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hosseini made the decision in Tehran on April 14. Such a designation means his trial could be held under stricter conditions.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Iranian_Official_Says_Filmmaker_Detained_For_Security_Reasons/2015498.html

[Catherine]

@ WitteKr post 7
Thanks for finding that (I see Homylafayette has also included your info). Here's more:
Why Was Khatami 'Recommended' Not To Leave Iran?

Khatami's lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabayi told the ILNA news agency today that there is no judicial order banning Khatami from traveling outside Iran, but that Khatami cancelled his trip on April 15 following "the recommendation of some organs."

The move seems to be part of the Iranian establishment's campaign of pressuring opposition leaders and their supporters. Behind the government's "recommendation" that Khatami not travel abroad is likely an attempt to prevent the reformist and charismatic ex-president from getting international media attention.

That effort has evidently backfired, as the pressure on Khatami is itself making headlines.
More: http://www.rferl.org/content/Why_Was_Khatami_Recommended_Not_To_Leave_Iran/2015767.html

[Catherine]

RE The Hijab-Adultery-Earthquake Link I posted about above (post 14)

Curiously, President Ahmadinejad said on April 11 that at least five million Tehran residents need to relocate elsewhere because the city is threatened by earthquakes:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hcw-Pv2u0I3pkSd9Y4XPpIjUxijg

but without mentioning the REAL REASON for the threat!

[Catherine]

Iranian judiciary issues arrest warrant for Mehdi Hashemi, son of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani

The judiciary has announced that Mehdi Hashemi will be taken into custody as soon as he enters Iran and that other “legal methods” of arresting him, in case he does not return to Iran, are also under discussion.

Mehdi Hashemi left Iran following the disputed June presidential election in 2009 and is currently residing in Great Britain.
More: http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/04/iranian-judiciary-issues.html