The Latest from Iran (12 July): Holidays?

1010 GMT: Trouble in Lebanon. Green Voice of Freedom claims that followers in Lebanon of the late Grand Ayatollah Fadlallahttp://www.irangreenvoice.org/article/2010/jul/12/5221, the head of the Guardian Council, from holding the prayer of the dead (namaz-e mayyet) in South Beirut, interrupting the ceremony and causing the body to be transported to another place. Fadlallah's faithful shouted at Jannati: "Let him rest in peace, he was innocent" and "You did wrong to him, let him sleep in peace."

NEW Iran’s Haircuts Special: The Revenge of the Mullets
Iran Special: A Response to “The Plot Against Ahmadinejad” (Verde)
The Latest from Iran (11 July): Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

1900 GMT. And There's Larijani. Well, well, looks like Ali Larijani is making public allusions again: Speaking in Karaj, he said, "Whenever there is a revolution, some opportunists claim the heritage."

Now who could he mean?

1830 GMT: Parliament v. President. It may be a Government-declared holiday but that does not mean a cessation of criticism of President Ahmadinejad.

Hassan Sobhani alleged that the Government has ignored the approved laws by Parliament for two months and has trampled upon the Constitution. The educational commission of Parliament has sent two letters to Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and has complained about the breaking of law by Minister of Education Hamid-Reza Haji Babai and Minster of Science Kamran Daneshjoo.

MP Mostafa Kavakebian has criticised the President for his statement (see 0955 GMT) that the country should only have one political party, the Velayat Party. Kavakebian said, "I am ready for debate with Ahmadinejad any time and anywhere, to prove to him to improve democracy in Iran is the expansion of parties."

Parliament's Research Department has released a report criticising the Government's handling of the economy,  noting in particular the increase in  the unemployment rate.

The Department is run by Ahmad Tavakoli, a Larijani ally and alleged central figure in talks to limit Ahmadinejad's authority or even remove him from power.

1810 GMT: The Bazaar Strikes. Activists are claiming, from BBC Persian, that the Government has resolved the dispute with Bazaar vendors by reducing the tax hike from 70% to 15%.

1750 GMT: Rahnavard's Statement. The Facebook page supporting Zahra Rahnavard has posted her interview with Rooz (see 0715 GMT) and an English extract:

Lack of criticism leads to stagnation. Everyone needs to be criticized. We welcome all criticism that stems as a result of friendship and interest in the Green movement....All those who believe in change towards freedom, free elections and non interference by the government in people's personal lives are Green.

1745 GMT: The Bazaar Strikes. Back from long break for teaching in Dublin to find the reminder that, while it is quiet today, all is far from peaceful. Reuters catches up with the story that Iran's bazaars may be entering a second week of strikes.

0955 GMT: Political Move of Day. President Ahmadinejad has declared that "Iran needs only one party, the Velayat Party", and has spoken again of taking over Islamic Azad University.

0835 GMT: The Bazaar Strikes. The chatter is over  "Statement #3 of Bazaari Guilds", announcing a continuation of the Tehran Bazaar strike for Tuesday. Other bazaars from Tabriz, Mashhad, Qazvin, and Kermanshah have reportedly announced they will join the strike.

0715 GMT: Rooz Online has posted an interview with Zahra Rahnavard, activist, academic, and wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi.

0630 GMT: The Bazaar Strikes. Rah-e-Sabz is claiming that Haj Kashani, a famous fabric merchant, was killed last week by Basij militiamen who tried to disrupt the Tehran Bazaar strike.

0435 GMT: Nuclear Talk. The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, is putting out the message that Tehran now has 20 kilogrammes of 20% enriched uranium.

0430 GMT: The Labour Front. Tehran Bureau features the translation of an interview with Sohrab Behdad, carried out by Deutsche Welle, on "The Green Movement and the Working Class".

0425 GMT: We may have a lighter day on the news front, partly because EA staff are on the road, partly because Iran is in its extra two-day holiday, supposedly because of the high temperatures across the country.

So we open the morning with an easy-going chuckle, we hope, looking at the continuing story of Iran's guidance on men's hairstyles and an apparent counter-attack: The Revenge of the Mullets.

Comments

[Catherine]

We're having a heat wave.... we're having a heat wave....

It's now official: 'Tehran registers record heat in summer'
Tehran Meteorological Office says the summertime heat wave will continue to sweep across Iran after causing record high temperatures in the capital.

Temperatures in Tehran topped 42 degrees centigrade (107.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday, forcing authorities to close most government agencies on July 11 and 12.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=134403§ionid=3510212" rel="nofollow">http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=134403&sec...

[Catherine]

Dissident Cleric Ayatollah Boroujerdi Protests Harsh Prison Conditions

On Wednesday July 7, a representative of Clerics’ Special Prosecutor and Ahmadi, the judge supervising Evin prison, made a visit from Evin clerics special ward.

Boroujerdi pointed out that Evin was turning into a concentration camp and
mentioned a number of tortures withstood by prisoners, such as high number of prisoners in crowded cells, poor and unhealthy nutrition, old and rusty equipments, severe shortage of sanitary and medical facilities, lack of hot water, ban of face-to-face prison visits for political detainees and prisoners of conscience, forcing prisoners into hard labour and tranferring them into unsafe and dangerous wards.
http://www.rhairan.in/en/?p=5415" rel="nofollow">http://www.rhairan.in/en/?p=5415

[Catherine]

Iran's Judiciary Halts Stoning of Woman for Now
the head of the Justice Department in East Azerbaijan province, Malek Azhdar Sharifi. said Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's stoning sentence is not being carried out "for the time being." However, he added that the death sentence will be carried out whenever the judiciary chief deems it expedient, regardless of what he termed Western media propaganda.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Irans-Judiciary-Halts-Stoning-of-Woman-For-Now-98203444.html" rel="nofollow">http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-eas...

[Catherine]

It's not just the Bahai's who are being arrested right, left and center. Christians are coming under increasing pressure, too: http://www.rhairan.in/en/?p=5421" rel="nofollow">http://www.rhairan.in/en/?p=5421

[Arshama]

@ 0955 GMT: Rumour of Day

Obviously no rumour, Scott, because this news has already been published on VoA, Sabzlink, and several other sites: http://www1.voanews.com/persian/news/Ahmadinejad_Hezbevelayat-2010-07-12-98223389.html" rel="nofollow">http://www1.voanews.com/persian/news/Ahmadineja...

Mohsen Sazegara already compared it with the Shah's infamous "Rastakhiz" party. In any case soon we will need no more elections, because everything is clear.
If only I could see the faces of Larijani and all our fearless hardliners, bravely "defending the people's rights" ;-)

Arshama

[Catherine]

Iran and Israel take their tussle to Africa
Arch foes Iran and Israel have taken their diplomatic rivalry to Africa, courting the continent with everything from trade to security ties in their search for support in the United Nations.

Both nations are sending politicians and business leaders across the continent to forge or revive contacts, clinching a string of deals ranging from arms and agriculture to promises of dams, oil and protection.
http://af.reuters.com/article/maliNews/idAFLDE6661ZM20100712?sp=true" rel="nofollow">http://af.reuters.com/article/maliNews/idAFLDE6...

[WitteKr]

Re 0835 The Bazar Strikes: Gold and textile merchants in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar yesterday ended their strike in protest at proposed tax increases after what is believed to have been intensive behind-the-scenes lobbying between the representatives of their guilds and government officials.
The officials have not given any details about the agreement that ended the strike in the city’s trading hub. Guild representatives have also kept silent on the issue.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=40011" rel="nofollow">http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=4...
Some observers, however, say the strike had more to do with fears of increased government oversight than any new taxes. The bazaaris, as the merchants are known, were motivated by their desire to keep tax officials from prying into the sources of their merchandise when inspecting their accounts and records for taxes, businessmen familiar with the merchants’ practices say. “Other businesses pay tax too but they don’t protest so much.Paying tax can’t be their only problem,” a businessman who declined to be named said. “Most of the gold and textiles traded in the bazaar, and consequently in the country, are smuggled from abroad. I suspect that a lot of money laundering may be involved in these businesses, too,” he said. “They just want to show their power and make tax officials stay away from them”.

[WitteKr]

While the announcement of the Hejab and Chastity Conference has apparently created quite a stir internationally, here in Iran the event seems to have passed unnoticed, which may be by design.
The conference coincides with two days of impromptu public holidays -- officially attributed to unbearably hot weather, more likely called to lessen the impact of growing strikes within Tehran's bazaar.

The event, designed to promote supposedly proper Islamic hairstyles and fashions, has been all but ignored by state-controlled media, although it was scheduled to take place on the grounds of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Generally when such events coincide with nonreligious public holidays, the doors are opened to the public and the proceedings filmed as propaganda opportunities to demonstrate the popularity of the regime and its policies. This time no such public invitation was made, though the conference addresses an issue claimed as an ideological pillar by the Islamic Republic.

The fact that the conference is receiving little coverage domestically may mean that authorities have chosen not to stoke the public's frustration.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/07/hejab-and-chastity-conference-passes-quietly.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranb...

[Amir_in_Tel_Aviv]

Russia: Iran moving closer to nuclear weapons

President Medvedev says Islamic Republic nearing possession of potential to build atom bomb

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2C7340%2CL-3918751%2C00.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-39187...

[Haaroon]

Regarding story at 1810. If the government can't even raise taxes on the Bazaaris now, how do they plan to make up for the hundreds of billions of dollars in budget shortfalls that will come as oil exports decline over the next few years? Clearly the Khamenei is not as immune to economic troubles (and sanctions) as they would have you believe.

[Mbsegall]

Iran's state run radio announced that the Ministry of Commerce, the Traders Association, and the Tax Department have signed a final agreement on the way to set new tax rates for merchants. The managing director of the tax affairs department, Ali Asgari, said that based on the agreement, the tax for trade transactions made in the year 1388 (year starting March 2010) will have a 15 percent increase compared to the previous year. Asgari said the decision was made in order to "facilitate the work for taxpayers and to remove ambiguities created in the society which have caused concerns for traders." (IRIBVOIRI July 12 1930 GMT)