The Latest from Iran (27 December): Threats

2115 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (German Edition): Confusion tonight over the situation with detained German journalists Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch....

Earlier this month, Iranian authorities had said they hoped it would be possible for the Germans to meet their families for the New Year.

Today the German Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Iran's Ambassador to Germany, Ali-Reza Sheikh-Attar, over the refusal to allow that visit.

Iranian authorities countered that they had extended the offer of a visit early on Monday but the families of the detainees have refused to travel to Tabriz, where the two are being held. The Iranians also deny that their ambassador in Germany was summoned, saying it was a pre-arranged meeting on other matters.

Hellwig and Koch were arrested in October as they interviewed and photographed the son and lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, condemned to death for adultery and complicity in murder.

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WikiLeaks Feature: US "Retaliation" Against Europe For Genetically-Modified Crops and Monsanto?

In December 2007, the US Embassy in France confronts opposition to genetically-modified crops in Europe. The intervention was prompted by a ban on GM corn produced by the agricultural company Monsanto.

The cable, sent to Washington and US missions in Europe in the name of Ambassador Craig Stapleton is blunt: "In our view, Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the Commission....Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices."

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Iran Feature: Subsidy Cuts --- The Product of Ahmadinejad's Genius? (Farokhnia)

UPDATE 1100 GMT: An EA correspondent comments:

The premises of this article are all wrong - the author is attributing to ahmadinejad what is entailed by the subsidy scrap plans devised since the mid Nineties. The issue here is not whether these recipes are good or bad - they are positive, but there are serious doubts as to whether the Ahmadinejad clique is able implement any of them correctly, given its penchant to antagonise, as they proceed, the critical economists.

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Iran Breaking: Family of Condemned Habibollah Latifi Arrested

1745 GMT: The Guardian of London now has an article on the arrest of eight members of Habibollah Latifi's family. Reciting the narrative we have posted, The Guardian adds that its conversation with Habibollah Latifi's sister Elahe on Friday was interrupted frequently by Iranian intelligence services.

The newspaper also has this detail on the suspension of Latifi's hanging:

PUK media, an official news website of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), reported that Jalal Talabani, the president of Iraq and the founder of the PUK, had intervened to persuade the Iranian authorities to stop Latifi's execution.

However, Iran's ILNA state news agency quoted Latifi's lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, as saying that "the claim that some officials in the countries of our neighbourhood have intervened to prevent the executions of some culprits including Latifi is not true".

1030 GMT: The youngest sister of Habibollah Latifi, the only family member not arrested in last night's raid by security forces, says she still does not know where her father, three brothers, three sisters, and sister-in-law are being held.

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Iran Special Report: The State of Civil Society...and What to Do About It (Razzaghi)

A democratic government necessitates a strong democratic society without which it cannot sustain itself.

- Expansion of the discourses of democracy, human rights, and peace for the creation of a healthy, vital and democratic society.

- Development of knowledge and skills on networking, advocacy, leadership, peace-building, and civil society building.

- Empowerment of the political, social, cultural, and digital environments as key strategies in the transition to democracy and strengthening of civil society. Empowerment of citizens through increasing awareness, education on rights and responsibilities, expansion of knowledge and skills to work within associations, and practice with democracy at the micro-level.

- Development and expansion of communications and relations with international civil society.

- Reconstruction of social networks both in physical and cyber space and expansion of cooperation and solidarity among civil activists; coalition among civil society organizations; and coalition-building with international civil society.

- Development of a strategy to combat the imposing culture of silence, stagnation, and limitations on the circulation of information;media-pluralism and free access to information among activists and organizations.

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Pakistan: At Least 43 Killed in Suicide Bombing on Saturday (Khan)

A suicide bomber, believed to be a woman, attacked a checkpoint in the northwestern tribal area on Saturday where people displaced by fighting were lining up for food.

At least 43 people were killed and about 100 wounded, officials in the Bajaur tribal region said.

One official said that a woman wearing a burqa was stopped at a security post in Khar, the main town in Bajaur. “She threw a hand grenade, and before the security force could respond, she detonated herself,” said the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

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Belarus Updates: Security Forces Raid Opposition Offices and Homes

1210 GMT: Viasna has updated its list of opposition candidates and prominent political detainees facing charges of "organising riots" and "hooliganism":

1. Vladimir Neklyaev  - presidential candidate
2. Andrei Sannikov - presidential candidate 
3. Ryhor Kastusiou - presidential candidate
4. Aliaksandr Atroshchankau - Press-Secretary of Sannikov's election headquarters
5. Ales Mikhalevich - presidential candidate

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WikiLeaks and Belarus 2008: Government Uses Real Estate to Suppress the Opposition

Two years after significant protests against the Government of Alexander Lukashenko and almost three years before this month's demonstrations against Lukashenko's re-election, the US Embassy in Belarus reports on how the Government is manipulating real estate and accommodation in an attempt to shut down the opposition, activists, and independent media.

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The Latest from Iran (26 December): The Battle Against the President's Men

1935 GMT: Economy Watch. More on the Parliamentary report criticising the Ahmadinejad Government's handling of the economy (see 1640 GMT)....

The report claims the Government did not transfer $1.58 billion in interest from oil income to the Treasury in 2006 and withheld $2,3 millions interest from gas income to the Treasury in 2007.

1925 GMT: More "Justice". Yet more extracts from the press conference of Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi....

The prosecutor admitted what had already been suspected about the detention last week of economist Fariborz Reisdana: the "crime" of the expert was commenting to BBC Persian about the government's subsidy cuts, calling them a "hallucination" that would not benefit the Iranian people.

On a different front, Doulatabadi confirmed the judiciary's line on the corruption case of 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi: the first set of findings has gone to court and the second is being prepared.

Doulatabadi insisted --- despite the declarations of Ahmadinejad aide Rahim-Mashai defying the judiciary --- that the President welcomed the investigation.

Leading MP Ahmad Tavakoli, an ally of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, has repeated his claim that the judiciary is under pressure to drop the Rahimi case. Tavakoli's allegation is carried in Larijani's Khabar Online.

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Iran Snapshot: The Delayed Execution of Habibollah Latifi

2130 GMT: The statement of Habibollah Latifi's sister Elahe on the delay of his execution:

Habib asked that we sincerely thank all the citizens who worked so hard on his behalf. He asked that I kiss your hands and your eyes. I want to thank every single one of my beloved country men and women who stayed up with us these past few nights, who supported us and never left our side. It was because you stayed up with us, because you felt our pain, because you contacted us and did everything in your power to help us, it was because of your pressure that Habib was not executed this morning.

All our efforts are to ensure that not only Habib’s death sentenced is overturned but that more importantly the death penalty in general is abolished in Iran. These efforts are not only for Habib but for all Iranian people. We call on the Iranian people to protest and not remain silent so that together we can ensure that the death penalty is abolished in Iran. There are so many other individuals on death row. Our goal is to ensure that their sentences are also overturned.

[Habib] was in great spirits. Today they allowed us to have a face to face visit at 9:00 a.m. Habib was well and asked us to thank all the citizens both in Iran and abroad who worked so hard to make sure that his death sentence did not take place this morning.

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