Iran Video: The BBC Documentary on Human Rights and Post-Election Repression

A 30-minute edition of the BBC documentary series Panorama on "Living with the Ayatollah" --- included are interviews with Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was jailed for more than three months after the 2009 election, and with Mahsa Amirabadi, who was detained and whose husband, journalist Masoud Bastani, is still in prison. The programme also considers stoning and the cases of condemned women such as "Parvin" and Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani:

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Iran Snapshot: Growing Anger over Rising Energy Prices (Erdbrink/Serjoie)

Iran’s parliament has warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that resentment is building over sharp increases in the price of natural gas, which has risen at least 10-fold on average in recent weeks, and that public protests could follow.

Official media have reported on crowds complaining in the offices of the National Iranian Gas Co. since a two-week national holiday ended April 4. In Tehran, many people are refusing to pay their bills.

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The Latest from Iran (12 April): Questions Without Answers

1930 GMT: Curbing Parliament. A 23-member commission in the Parliament is effectively recommending restrictions on their colleagues through a new bill establishing five punishable offences: three cover "activities against national security, and other clandestine [activities committed by MPs] from the law enforcement perspective".

The new bill also provides a "legal" process for the judiciary to arrest Majlis deputies. This would override article 86 of the Constitution, which gives immunity to the deputies from prosecution.

The interesting question is whether the measures are aimed solely at reformists or whether priciplist critics of the Government --- including Ali Motahari, Elyas Naderan, and Ahmad Tavakoli, a relative of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani --- come be caught up by the "punishable offences".

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Defiances

1915 GMT: More confusion over the situation of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak....

Egyptian State TV is reporting that Mubarak suffered a heart attack during questioning over corruption charges. However, the prosecutor's office has denied that Mubarak was interviewed today.

Mubarak was hospitalized at Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital, state media reported.

1855 GMT: Bahraini officials are claiming that three shotguns and Molotov cocktails were found in a mosque in Malikiya today.

1850 GMT: Claimed footage of an anti-regime protest in Syria today:

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Bahrain Snapshot: An Activist Writes President Obama "I Will Go on Hunger Strike"

Abdulhadi Al-KhawajaZainab al-Khawaja --- @angryarabist on Twitter --- writes an open letter to President Obama about the situation in Bahrain, including ;ast week's detention of her father, activist Abdulahdi al-Khawaja, her husband, and two other relatives:

Mr. President,

I write to you from Bahrain, after living through horrible injustice that I would never wish upon anyone in the world. Security forces attacked my home, broke our doors with sledgehammers, and terrified my family. Without any warning, without an arrest warrant and without giving any reasons; armed, masked men attacked my father. Although they said nothing, we all know that my father's crime is being a human rights activist. My father was grabbed by the neck, dragged down a flight of stairs and then beaten unconscious in front of me. He never raised his hand to resist them, and the only words he said were "I can't breathe". Even after he was unconscious, the masked men kept kicking and beating him while cursing and saying that they were going to kill him. This is a very real threat considering that in the past two weeks alone three political prisoners have died in custody. The special forces also beat up and arrested my husband and brother-in-law.

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Iran Feature: How the Internet Became a Platform for Opposition (Rahimi and Gheytanchi)

Although their 2005 electoral triumph provided the hardliners with a golden opportunity to inhibit dissent, it failed to solve most of the inherent flaws of the Islamic Republic and, consequently, left the root of dissent very much intact. As a result, in the context of mounting economic and social problems, including ongoing tension with the United States, Iran’s theocracy continues to face an increasingly dissatisfied population. Indeed, as the state continues to deny the public’s aspirations for civil rights and democracy, Iranian dissident groups have persisted in fighting back, using alternative forums of communication, such as the Internet, to facilitate their expressions of discontent.

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UPDATED Afghanistan Feature: How Did A US Drone Manage to Kill 23 Innocent Men and Boys? (Cloud)

UPDATE 0635 GMT: US military officials have said that a Marine reservist and a Navy corpsman were killed in a Predator drone airstrike in Afghanistan last week in an apparent case of friendly fire.

A Marine unit under fire called in a drone attack on "hot spots" moving in their direction. Those "hot spots" turned out to be Marine reinforcements, including the two US troops killed in the strike.

This is believed to be the first time that US personnel have been killed by a Predator.
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Nearly three miles above the rugged hills of central Afghanistan, American eyes silently tracked two SUVs and a pickup truck as they snaked down a dirt road in the pre-dawn darkness.

The vehicles, packed with people, were 31/2 miles from a dozen U.S. special operations soldiers, who had been dropped into the area hours earlier to root out insurgents. The convoy was closing in on them.

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Israel-Gaza Analysis: Why the Talk is Now of a Cease-Fire

So now it is said that the exchange of hostilities between factions in Gaza and the State of Israel will not bring another war. After the concern of recent days that West Jerusalem might repeat the attack of 2008/9, Operation Cast Lead, suddenly the talk  from Hamas and then from Israel was of a cease-fire.

So what happened? 

The surface reading had been that an escalation of tension on the Gaza border was useful for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as this took attention away from any need for concessions in talks on the other Palestinian front --- the West Bank --- ahead of Israeli elections. Indeed, even Washington's statement that it was“deeply concerned” about the construction of another 942 housing units of Israeli settlements in the West Bank could be put aside.

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Ivory Coast Breaking: Former President Gbagbo Arrested

Video on State television of the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo

Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone have been detained by forces loyal to Alassane Ouatttara, who won last November's president election but has faced Gbagbo's refusal to step.

United Nations peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said, "The chief of Gbagbo forces ... called us to say that he wants to surrender the weapons. I hope that is going on while I speak."

Ivory Coast: The Battle for Abidjan
Ivory Coast: An Introduction to the Conflict (Purefoy) 

Gbagbo's persistence in holding office, despite the electoral result, re-ignited internal conflict that claimed more than a thousand lives and uprooted a million people.

Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Cease-Fire?

2115 GMT: The New York Times summarises the context of the three-year sentence handed down today to blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad by an Egyptian military court.

And this is the post in March that got Nabil Sanad into trouble, as he queried whether the Egyptian military --- which he accused of torturing protesters --- was really on the side of the people.

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