Wednesday
Aug042010
The Latest from Iran (4 August): The President and The Plots
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 11:27 
1830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Farah Vazham, a female protestor detained during the Ashura demonstrations in December, has been sentenced to 15 years on charges of affiliation to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MKO).1755 GMT: Deportation Update. Mission Free Iran reports that the threat to deport Iranian activist Jamal Saberi from Japan has been lifted.
NEW Iran Breaking: Grenade Attack on Ahmadinejad?
NEW Iran Feature: The Activism of the Women’s Movement (Mouri)
Iran Analysis: Saharkhiz & Abtahi Dent the Government’s “Fear Factor” (Shahryar)
Iran Feature: Did Ahmadinejad Chief of Staff Reveal the Bomb?
The Latest from Iran (3 August): Explosive Words
1705 GMT: Economy Watch. Iran's inflation rate dropped to 9.1% in the month to 22 July, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Mahmoud Bahmani, has said. The previous month's official rate was 9.4%.
1700 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Esmail Sahabeh, a member of the reformist, Islamic Participation Front, has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.
Judge Salavati, in charge of the case, was absent during the hearing and handed down the ruling without hearing Sahabeh’s defence.
Sahabeh was arrested during a religious ceremony held in support of political prisoners in October 2009. He was released on bail after two months in prison.
1500 GMT: The Pressure on the Supreme Leader. Geneive Abdo and Arash Aramesh write in The New York Times of "The Widening Rift Among Iran's Clerics". Their provocative conclusion:
Khamenei’s success is the result of his ability to forge alliances with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, some clerics, and traditional conservatives. Although his ties to hard-liners and the Revolutionary Guards may seem stronger today, he still needs the support of the clerical establishment.
Khamenei’s idea of the Islamic Republic is certainly less republican and not necessarily more Islamic. With republican institutions in Tehran weakened and his religious authority challenged in Qum, the future of the Islamic Republic and the fate of velayat-e-faqih remain uncertain.
1450 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. The office of the Islamic Women's Sports Federation, headed by Hashemi Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh Hashemi, has been closed, purportedly because of lack of payments from Iran's Olympics Committee.
1410 GMT: An explosion at a petrochemical plant has killed five people at Asalouyeh in southern Iran. The new phase of the plant, which was the largest producer of ammonia in the region, was opened only a week ago in a ceremony with President Ahmadinejad.
1355 GMT: Crime and Punishment. The former head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Mohammad Jafar Behdad, has been sentenced to 7 months for slandering the Larijani brothers and Hashemi Rafsanjani.
1350 GMT: Economy Watch. Aftab News claims that, over the past five years, prices have risen 220%.
1200 GMT: Parliament v. Government. A buffet of challenges from the Majlis....
Hojatoleslam Ali Asghari, the Parliamentary liaison with Strategic Studies Center, criticises "economic stalemate" with "political unrest and radicalism" leading to sanctions and a weakening Majlis leading to "dictatorship".
MP Ali Akbar Oulia declares that the Majlis will not allow the Government to continue its refusal to implement laws, as the delay is harmful to the Iranian people and continues the "chaos" in the country.
Reformist MP Nasrullah Torabi chides the "low language" of Government officials for giving the impression that all Iranian representatives are also "low".
Reformist MP Mohammad Reza Khabbaz claims that some Iranians are now spending three-quarters of their income for rent.
"Hardline" MP Ezzatollah Youssefian Mola says Iran's central bank, Bank Markazi, cannot be trusted as it does not present real data on cases of financial corruption.
1145 GMT: Someone's Looking for Trouble. Ahmadinejad chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, according to Aftab News, has pronounced, "From now on we present the world the way and principles (maktab) of Iran, not of Islam."
So who is making mischief here: Rahim-Mashai or Aftab?
1130 GMT: Today's All-is-Well Alert: Member of Parliament Abdollah Kaabi has insisted that sanctions will lead to Iran's self-sufficiency in producing energy.
1125 GMT: The Campaign of the Politician Prisoners (Rafsanjani Annex). A twist in the story of the letter to the Supreme Leader from Hamzeh Karami, a former political prisoner alleging abuse (see 0635 GMT)....
Rah-e-Sabz claims former President Hashemi Rafsanjani took the letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, insisting on delivering it directly to the Supreme Leader.
1122 GMT: OK, I Was Wrong. Just to admit the error in my assertion (0825 GMT) that the "Iran Has 4 S-300 Missiles" would be the big story in the non-Iranian media today.
1109 GMT: The Campaign Against Jannati. More from Mr Verde on the growing movement against the head of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, fed by his claims that opposition leaders were paid $1 billion for causing trouble last year and offered a further $50 billion by the US and Saudi Arabia to overthrow the regime.... are not just causing problems for him, but are embroiling the Supreme Leader too.
Kalemeh reports that Rasool Montajebnia, a cleric who was close to Ayatollah Khomeini and a founding member of Mehdi Karroubi’s Etemade Melli party, has written that the Supreme Leader should now step in and address Jannati's accusation with “precision, transparency and decisiveness” so that “everyone could know if these allegations are true or lies”.
Mr Verde notes:
The timing of Jannati's claims, so soon after his reappointment to the Guardian Council, is allowing the reformists to push for the Supreme Leader's intervention. If Jannati is misinformed to such an extent, is lying, or is incapable of thinking straight, then Ayatollah Khamenei has made an enormous mistake by reappointing him to the Council. This wouldmean that Khamenei’s judgment cannot be trusted, which in turn could become a reason for him being unfit to hold the position of Supreme Leader.
And another “minor” point: if Jannati’s recent claims about the payments are false, then how can one accept that the Guardian Council was correct in “verifying” Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election last year?
Making these claims, Jannati was probably providing excuses for the actions of the regime over the past year. Instead he seems to have provided a good opportunity for attacks on Khamenei. This is another example of remarks or events spiralling out of control.
1105 GMT: Mousavi Watch. On the eve of Journalists Day, Mir Hossein Mousavi has met with editors, reporters, and families of imprisoned journalists. Mousavi said:
Our voice should reach our imprisoned friends who are on hunger strike to gain their very basic rights;,so that they know that the Green Movement, freedom-seekers, and all layers of the nation are supporting them to achieve their rightful demands....
The great number of imprisoned journalists proves the legitimacy of the path that the Green Movement has chosen, because the knowledgeable, wise, and justice-seeking members of the society are in prison due to their protest against the re-eruption of tyranny.
1040 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Peyke Iran claims Iranian security forces have attacked families of political prisoners who are on hunger strike. The families were demonstrating in front of the office of Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi (see 0800 GMT).
1035 GMT: The Missing Lawyer. The United Nations' refugee agency has confirmed human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei is in Turkey.
Mostafaei, whose clients include Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death for adultery, has been in hiding after Iranian security forces tried to detain him. His wife and brother-in-law are in prison.
1030 GMT: We have been busy with a separate entry following this morning's story of a possible attack on President Ahmadinejad's motorcade in Hamedan in western Iran.
0845 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Detained teacher Rasoul Baddaghi has been sentenced to six years in prison.
0830 GMT: We have posted a feature, "The Activism of the Women's Movement".
0825 GMT: Today's Tough Talk. Expect this story to take over in non-Iranian press today....
Fars News is claiming that Iran has obtained four S-300 surface-to-air missiles despite Russia's refusal to deliver them to Tehran. The agency claims two came from Belarus and two from an unspecified source.
There has been no immediate official confirmation of the report.
Russia signed a contract in 2007 to sell S-300 missiles to Iran, but has delayed delivery amidst its manoeuvring between Tehran and Washington. The S-300 system can shoot down aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missile warheads at a distance of more than 90 miles and altitudes of about 90,000 feet.
0815 GMT: Mousavi on Oppression in the Name of Islam. Green Voice of Freedom has a full summary of Mir Hossein Mousavi's speech, which we noted yesterday, to veterans of the Iran-Iraq War:
Tyranny and oppression are bad regardless of the circumstances and the time, regardless of whether it is during the Pahlavis [the dynasty of the Shahs] or the Islamic Republic. In fact, oppression under the Islamic Republic is worse because it is done in the name of Islam. Does Islam accept the violation of a human being or obtaining confessions from him by forcing his head down the toilet?
Mousavi's reference to forced confessions is drawn from the experience of Hamzeh Karami, who has written to the Supreme Leader about the abuse in prison (see 0635 GMT).
0800 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. According to IRNA, Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi met with 17 prisoners, some or all of whom are reportedly on hunger strike, and their families on Tuesday.
After hearing the concerns and demands, Doulatabadi reportedly ordered that families be allowed to meet with the detainees, denying that there had been any restrictions.
0645 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The Washington Post picks up on the US formal announcement of sanctions against 21 "front companies" for the Iranian Government, including firms in in Belarus, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Luxembourg.
An EA source points us to background on two of the sanctioned German companies: Breyeller Stahl Technology and IFIC Holding AG.
0635 GMT: The Campaign of the Political Prisoners. Yesterday, Josh Shahryar offered a sharp analysis of the impact of revelations by journalist Isa Saharkhiz, detained in Evin Prison, and former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, held for months after the election and forced to appear in a show trial.
There's a significant sequel. Hamzeh Karami, the manager of the reformist Jomhouriat website and a senior official at Islamic Azad University, has written to the Supreme Leader of his treatment in detention: "They put my head in a dirty toilet 20 times to make me give a false confession. When I screamed "Ya Allah". they said, "We are your God today and will do to you whatever we want."
In the "confession" that he gave at the Tehran mass trial last August, Karami implicated Mehdi Hashemi, the son of Hashemi Rafsanjani, claiming that Hashemi had been involved in fraud and manipulation of the Presidential election.
0615 GMT: We open today with some political theatre from President Ahmadinejad (Drama? Comedy? Farce? You decide.):
We had noted yesterday that the President had criticised current United Nations sanctions, connecting them to the "cup of poison" that Ayatollah Khomeini had to drink when accepting the 1988 UN resolution for a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq War. He had denounced Western media such as the BBC and CNN. But there's more....
According to Raja News, a fervent backer of the Government, Ahmadinejad told his audience at a conference on international broadcasting that the recent "spy swap" between Russia and the US affects Tehran. In the deal between Washington and Moscow, the released Russian agents will pose as nuclear scientists and accuse Iran of plans for a military capability.
Iranian sources claim that official media were so embarrassed that, except for Raja, they censored this section of the speech.
Meanwhile, Pedestrian has posted a clip of Ahmadinejad's speech on Monday to a conference of the Iranian diaspora, offering this interpretation: "The Iranian political libido is going berserk."
tagged Abbas Jafari, Abdollah Kaabi, Aftab News, Ali Akbar Oulia, Arash Aramesh, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, BBC, Breyeller Stahl Technology, CNN, Doulatabadi, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Ezzatollah Youssefian Mola, Faezeh Hashemi, Farah Vazham, Fars News, Geneive Abdo, Green Voice of Freedom, Hamzeh Karami, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hojatoleslam Ali Asghari, IFIC Holding AG, Iran, Islamic Republic News Agency, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Islamic Women's Sports Federation, Jamal Saberi, Kalemeh, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud Bahmani, Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mission Free Iran, Mohammad Jafar Behdad, Mohammad Mostafaei, Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, Mr Verde, Mujahedin-e-Khalq, Nasrullah Torabi, New York Times, Pedestrian, Peyke Iran, Rah-e-Sabz, Rasool Montajebnia, Rasoul Baddaghi, Russia, S-300 Missile, Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, Washington Post in Middle East & Iran
Abbas Jafari, Abdollah Kaabi, Aftab News, Ali Akbar Oulia, Arash Aramesh, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, BBC, Breyeller Stahl Technology, CNN, Doulatabadi, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Ezzatollah Youssefian Mola, Faezeh Hashemi, Farah Vazham, Fars News, Geneive Abdo, Green Voice of Freedom, Hamzeh Karami, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hojatoleslam Ali Asghari, IFIC Holding AG, Iran, Islamic Republic News Agency, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Islamic Women's Sports Federation, Jamal Saberi, Kalemeh, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud Bahmani, Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mission Free Iran, Mohammad Jafar Behdad, Mohammad Mostafaei, Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, Mr Verde, Mujahedin-e-Khalq, Nasrullah Torabi, New York Times, Pedestrian, Peyke Iran, Rah-e-Sabz, Rasool Montajebnia, Rasoul Baddaghi, Russia, S-300 Missile, Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, Washington Post in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (17)
Expressing serious concern over increasing islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan that has its support in its army and the intelligence, a bipartisan Congressional independent panel has warned that the South Asian country is "vulnerable" to an Iranian style revolution.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/843232_Paki-vulnerable-to-Iranian-style-Islamic-revolution-" rel="nofollow">http://www.ptinews.com/news/843232_Paki-vulnera...
RE: 0815 GMT: Mousavi on Oppression in the Name of Islam. Green Voice of Freedom has a full summary of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s speech,
I think Payvand News has outdone them and published what looks like a more extensive version translated from http://Kaleme.com" rel="nofollow">Kaleme.com. I don't have time to compare them in detail, but that's my impression: http://www.payvand.com/news/10/aug/1028.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.payvand.com/news/10/aug/1028.html
This repeats some of what he's said in previous interviews, but for what it's worth....
In an interview with RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari, former Iranian political activist and prominent journalist Houshang Asadi recounts his experiences in both the Shah's and the IRI's prisons in his new book, "Letters To My Torturer: Love, Revolution And Imprisonment In Iran."
http://www.rferl.org/content/In_New_Book_Asadi_Recalls_His_Torture_And_Sharing_A_Cell_With_Irans_Supreme_Leader/2117371.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rferl.org/content/In_New_Book_Asadi_...
UNHCR says human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafei is safe - in Turkey!
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=w4119255" rel="nofollow">http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=w411...
In Turkey - I *knew* it!
The article doesn't say 'safe' but rather 'detained' - however, with the UNHCR closely monitoring the case, I do hope he will be safe.
RE: 1145 GMT: Someone’s Looking for Trouble. Ahmadinejad chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, according to Aftab News, has pronounced, “From now on we present the world the way and principles (maktab) of Iran, not of Islam.”
For more idiotic remarks from messieur Mashai, see Rooz Online's report on what Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb had to say to the gathering of Iranian expats in Tehran last Saturday: http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem/article/2010/august/04//millions-of-tomans-for-a-message-to-obama.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem...
Moussavi on the eve of Journalist's Day (17 Amordad): multitude of imprisoned journalists proves the legitimacy of Green movement, information is most important tool to restrict [abusive] power, GM follows a peaceful path, we are not happy about the pressure on our country, many things remain to be said about Iran-Iraq war, first post-revolutionary decade cannot be criticised completely, GM is powerful because of its ethics, we insist on our demands for a free parliament and free elections: http://www.kaleme.com/1389/05/13/klm-27824" rel="nofollow">http://www.kaleme.com/1389/05/13/klm-27824
RE: 0825 GMT: Today’s Tough Talk. Expect this story to take over in non-Iranian press today….Fars News is claiming that Iran has obtained four S-300 surface-to-air missiles
What a difference a day makes,
Twenty-four little hours... :-)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100804/wl_nm/us_iran_president_instantview" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100804/wl_nm/us_ir...
Heavy explosion (no, not Hamedan) of gas tube at Pardis Petrochemical compound in Assalouyeh area caused several casualties, injured and damages: http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2010/08/108639.php" rel="nofollow">http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2010/08...
Second phase of this petrochemical compound was inaugurated last week by AN and oil minister.
For banks, oil companies and other big businesses around the world, from India to Japan, Russia and Germany, the US now has a clear message: you’re either with us or with Iran. BBC posted by Free Iran
Great slogan !
http://www.irannewsdigest.com/2010/08/03/us-gets-serious-on-iran-sanctions/" rel="nofollow">http://www.irannewsdigest.com/2010/08/03/us-get...
An Iranian trading firm with close links to the country’s revolutionary guards is under investigation in Austria after a director of the company was killed in a dispute over its future. Baghaollah Vossough, a former Tehran University lecturer, was killed last week at the offices of Cerag International, a company that has supplied Iran’s oil industry with equipment for years.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/7921138/Iran-trading-firm-under-investigation-after-director-killed.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europ...
RE all Mousavi: I'm intrigued by the headline of the Facebook page supporting Mousavi - about his speech on the eve of the Journalist Day. "Mousavi: [My] administration at the time had no role in mass executions of 1988" - NOTE: Full English translation will be available soon.
I don't find any reference to this in the translations made so far...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4641081&id=551011459#%21/notes/mir-hossein-mousavi-myr-hsyn-mwswy/mousavi-my-administration-at-the-time-had-no-role-in-mass-executions-of-1988-mws/414974662605" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4641081&i...
1500 GMT: The Pressure on the Supreme Leader
"Khamenei’s idea of the Islamic Republic is certainly less republican and not necessarily more Islamic."
That's a joke! Kham's ideas are neither republican nor Islamic -- just tyrannical!
GREAT NEWS!!!! "August 4, 2010: Jamal Saberi is Free!"
http://missionfreeiran.org/2010/08/04/august-4-2010-jamal-saberi-is-free/" rel="nofollow">http://missionfreeiran.org/2010/08/04/august-4-...
Full translation Mousavi declaration on Journalist Day is now out: the headline has been changed to "Mousavi: Our main current goal is to restrict power".
That explains a lot...
http://www.facebook.com/mousavi#%21/notes/mir-hossein-mousavi-myr-hsyn-mwswy/mousavi-our-main-current-goal-is-to-restrict-power-with-full-english-mwswy-mhmtr/414974662605" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/mousavi#!/notes/mir-hos...
RE: Families of hungerstrikers, protesting in front of Tehran Prosecutor General's Office, were attacked, menaced and dispersed by anti-riot forces today:
Here is a report in English: Gathering by Families of Political Prisoners Leads to Violent Reponse by Security Forces
http://www.rhairan.us/en/?p=6152" rel="nofollow">http://www.rhairan.us/en/?p=6152
RE: Kham's ideas are neither republican nor Islamic -- just tyrannical!
In other words, self-preserving - that's all dictators end up trying to do: save their skin.