The Latest from Iran (17 April): Remember

1700 GMT: Taking Care of the Students. Iranian human rights activists report that from the beginning of academic year, more than 170 students at Tehran's Amir Kabir University were summoned to the Disciplinary Committee. About 40 face suspension and, so far, five others have been banned.

1645 GMT: In Case You're Wondering. In addition to the rhetoric at the opening of the Tehran conference on disarmament (see 1115 GMT) about US as "atomic criminal" who should be tossed out of the International Atomic Energy Agency, President Ahmadinejad has proposed that the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) should play a leading role in global nuclear disarmament.

1445 GMT: Labour Watch. In the run-up to May Day, Rah-e-Sabz reports on the dismissals of workers in Arak and the strike of Keshavarzi Bank employees in Tehran

1400 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Mojtaba Lotfi, a head of the information unit for the office of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, has been arrested and imprisoned again.

NEW Iran: Former Tehran Chancellor Maleki on Detention & Green Movement’s “Forgotten Children”
The Latest from Iran (16 April): Grounding the Opposition

1235 GMT: Tehran Friday Prayer in 3 Words. Apologies that, lost in the southeast US, I was unable to give you an immediate summary of Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi's Friday Prayer. Here it is....

Adultery Causes Earthquakes


Or, to be precise, Seddiqi said that reducing sins were necessary for preventing the occurrence of natural disasters. And it seems that many Iranian women who do not abide by the Islamic dress code lead youth astray: “They cause the spread of adultery in society which leads to the increase in earthquakes.”

1230 GMT: Students & Soft War. Khabar Online reports on the naming of committee members in a student organisation which will fight the "soft war" of the opposition and Green Movement.

1220 GMT: Tip of the Iceberg. Beyond the Fatemi Street corruption claims, Khabar Online is featuring insider information about "Buddies of the South" (bachehaye jonub), heads and employees of oil fields who allegedly form a lobby in Parliament and Government that is so influential it can change the Minister of Oil.

The website is also pressing claims against conservative MP Habibollah Asgaroladi over alleged purchases of shares in a Chinese bank (Asgaroladi has denied the story).

1200 GMT: Corruption Watch. Follow this carefully: Jahan News has reportedly given details on "The House in Fatemi Street" insurance fraud. The newspaper links the main person charged, Jaber Alef, with First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.

We'll need to check this, as the claim about Jahan's coverage has come to us from Peyke Iran, a strongly anti-regime website. However, it should be noted that Jahan is within the conservative establishment, linked to MP Ali Reza Zakani.

1155 GMT: Regime Failure. Visiting the family of detained student and women's rights activist Bahareh Hedayat, Mehdi Karroubi reiterated that the "project of violence" against people's demands had failed.

1135 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rah-e-Sabz has a summary of the concerns over the health of political prisoners such as journalists Emaduddin Baghi and Mehdi Mahmoudian, and labour activist Mansur Osanloo.

1130 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Fars News is pushing the claim that Iran's judiciary has issued a warrant for the arrest of Mehdi Hashemi, the son of Hashemi Rafsanjani. The website claims that Mehdi Hashemi, who is currently in London, will be taken into custody as soon as he enters Iran and that, in case he does not return, other “legal methods” of arresting him are also under discussion.

Fars has a follow-up interview today with a member of Parliament's National Security Commission.

1125 GMT: Claim of Day. Give credit to pro-Ahmadinejad member of Parliament Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash for an attempt to link the international with Iran's internal situation.

Bighash tells Khabar Online that the reason for President Obama's recent "insolence" towards Iran is the meetings of reformist MPs with Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, Mohammad Khatami, and Hashemi Rafsanjani.

1120 GMT: Azeris and the Green Movement. Frieda Afary in Tehran Bureau provides a valuable translation of a 21 February declaration by activists in Iranian Azerbaijan, "Our Standards Concerning the Democracy-Seeking Process and the Green Movement", putting forth 10 "principles and issues".

1115 GMT: Diversion Alert (see 1030 GMT). Here we go --- Agence France Presse reports:

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an opening message to a two-day nuclear disarmament conference hosted by Tehran, said the use of nuclear weapons was "haram", meaning religiously prohibited, and branded Washington as the world's "only atomic criminal."

Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went a step further and called for Washington's suspension from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) along with all other nations who possess nuclear arms.

"Only the US government has commited an atomic crime," said a message read out from the all-powerful Khamenei, who formulates Tehran's foreign policy, including its nuclear strategy.

"The world's only atomic criminal lies and presents itself as being against nuclear weapons proliferation, while it has not taken any serious measures in this regard," he said.

1100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. On a day of remembering, some possible good news. An Iranian activists' website is reporting that two charges against journalist Isa Saharkhiz, who has been detained since soon after the June election, have been dropped.

Meanwhile, 160 journalists, bloggers, and activists have addressed the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, in an open letter calling for the immediate release of journalist and human rights activist Kaveh Kermanshahi.

1030 GMT: In a few hours, the "mainstream" view of Iran is likely to be Tehran's conference on nuclear disarmament, with Iranian state media heralding Iran's leadership for peace (and no prospect of a militarised nuclear programme) and their non-Iranian counterparts looking for signs of challenge to the "West".

So be it. We're going a different route, starting this morning with an interesting interview with Dr Mohammad Maleki, the former chancellor of Tehran University who was detained from August to March until his release on bail. After describing the conditions of his imprisonment, Maleki makes a pointed call for the leaders of the Green Movement to "remember" and put forth the cases of young people who have become political prisoners.

Maleki's words are especially pertinent as the opposition continues to reshape itself after 22 Bahman (11 February) and the attempt by the regime to remove it from existence. Iranian journalist Reza Valizadeh, who has fled the country, writes of the "dubious derision of [the Green Movement's] popular slogans", in particular, Mir Hossein Mousavi's framing of the movement within rather than outside the Islamic Republic. It is also worthwhile to read the readers' responses to the piece, such as "[This is] criticizing those who, under the most difficult conditions, are trying their best to make Iran a better nation."

There is also some sniping from reformist MP Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, who is quoted by Khabar Online as saying that Mehdi Karroubi doesn't speak on behalf of his party Etemade Melli, given that it is "out of service".

Despite the tensions and despite the regime pressure that prevented him from going to a disarmament conference in Japan, Mohammad Khatami persisted with the message on Friday. He said the "goodwill call" for ameliorations and reforms remains, i.e., protests will continue, while reiterating his concerns over the treatment of political prisoners (see yesterday's last update for further details).

Iran: Former Tehran Chancellor Maleki on Detention & Green Movement's "Forgotten Children"

Mohammad Maleki, the former chancellor of Tehran University, was detained on 22 August. Suffering from ill health, he was finally released on bail on 1 March as he awaited trial.

Maleki, imprisoned before the 1979 Islamic Revolution for five years and arrested again in 2000, spoke with Radio Zamaneh this week:

MALEKI: Yesterday, I was told by my lawyers that they have met with the judge and have obtained his consent. They had taken with them documents related to my medical condition which proved the need for my ongoing treatment. Therefore, the judge agreed to postpone the trial and said that we will be informed of the new date.


RZ: You mean, during the time you were detained, you were not informed of your charges?

MALEKI: No, I did not see the charges. I have been charged with insulting the Supreme Leader and acting against national security, but I have not seen the indictment or its contents. The lawyers and the magistrate have said these are my charges.

RZ: Mr. Maleki, you have said that you will not take part in a closed trial. Are you not worried that this will have a negative effect on the case and will result in a heavier sentence? What are the reasons for your decision?

MALEKI: Attending or not attending will not make a difference. There should come a day, when this country at least respects its own constitution. Things cannot remain the same; 30 years after the Revolution one of the most important parts of the Constitution is still not respected. The Constitution says explicitly that political charges should be tried by jury in open trials with the presence of media.

Back in 2000, when I was arrested with national-religious activists, I said that I would not take part in the trial because I considered the trial to be illegal. Therefore, I think this matter should be resolved once and for all. We either have to respect the constitution in its entirety or just keep those articles that please us and guarantee the interests of the regime. The constitution has provisions that guarantee the rights of the people and must be respected.

I won’t even mention that these rights are not respected during arrests and interrogations under the usual pretext that political crime has not been defined by the law. Why should this be my problem as the accused? Since the Revolution I have been arrested 3 times for being anti-revolutionary. Anti-revolutionaries are those who break the law which, according to their own words, is the birth child of the Revolution. Therefore, how can I attend the trial? Yesterday, a hearing was supposed to be held and yet I have no knowledge of the indictment and have not been allowed to read what has been written against me.

RZ:Mr Maleki, when you were arrested you were in a bad physical condition; you were ill throughout your detention and were hospitalized for a while. How is your condition now?

MALEKI: My physical condition is the same. During the 6 months I was there, I was not able to receive the injections I need, and suffered burning and pain as a result. Since my release I have been injected twice and the burning and pain is reduced. I feel, however, that since I have come out my psychological condition is worse than before.

RZ: Can you tell us why your emotional state is worse now compared to when you were in prison?

MALEKI: Because I keep worrying for those kids; there are so many unknown and anonymous students in prison and no one is thinking about them. No one remembers that they are the children of this country. What crime have they committed? One day this matter must be addressed. Unfortunately, not only this is not the regime’s concern, but I have scarcely seen the Green Movement friends come strongly to their defence. Make a decision about them, they have a life and studies they need to go back to; their families keep waiting for them outside Evin. These are the things that hurt me more than cancer.

RZ: Mr. Maleki, you were not active during the election. You had said you did not believe in it and therefore did not participate. Yet, your arrest was related to post-election events. What is your current view of the election?

MALEKI: As you said, I was not at all active during the election because first of all, I was sick, and secondly, I don’t believe in an election where you have to vote for a few candidates chosen by the Guardian Council. I was arrested on 22 August, so I was in prison when most of those events happened. I was in solitary confinement for the first 3 months without access to newspapers or television. Until I was taken to the general ward, I was unaware of what was happening outside prison.

When I was taken there (to the general ward), I got some information, but since my release, I have come to the realisation that all the old problems continue to exist. The insider/outsider divide remains. No one is thinking about these kids. What I noticed about the supporters of the Green or reformist movement is that their behaviour towards others has not changed a lot. They have held on to their outsider/insider culture. They welcome those who are one of their own but others remain outsiders to them.

In the one and half months since my release, I have maybe gone out 10 times, mostly to the hospital or my doctor. I have tried to have little contact and have not been interested in what is happening. Our people have not fundamentally changed during this time, we are the same people we were before. Our elite have kept their egocentric and selfish culture.

RZ: Dr Maleki, it seems like you are disappointed with the green movement leaders.

MALEKI: I am extremely disappointed. Those imprisoned kids are not getting the attention they deserve, especially the unknown students. I know many of them and saw them in prison, but there is no mention of them on websites. They have been in prison for months and some of them have been handed 4-5 year prison terms for no reason.

Sometimes they (the Green Movement or reformists) refer to them, but they never defend them strongly. The type of defence Mr. Sahabi --- God bless him --- demonstrated a few days ago, I really enjoyed. His letter tells the painful story on behalf of all of us. We have some years behind us (a reference to being old) and have suffered both before and after the revolution. We have seen the Shah’s prisons as well as those of the Islamic Republic. These kids are our children. They haven’t come from another country. They are the children of this country who had something to say and said it. Even if they shouted their words inside or outside universities, this does not warrant the treatment they have received.

Iran: Mousavi to Students "Spring is Unstoppable"

“Spring is unstoppable, the arrival of spring is inevitable.”

That was the far-from-subtle message offered by Mir  Hossein Mousavi in a meeting with members of the student organisation Advar-e Takhim Vahdat, including recently-released activist Abdollah Momeni, in Isfahan.

Mousavi, joined by his wife Zahra Rahnavard, said that the people’s movement was not like a “painting” whose characteristics are known beforehand: “Despite its imaginable plot and overall design, it should be said that the pieces and details are formed gradually and in line with time and location.”



While reports of the meeting are sketchy on any detailed political discussion, Mousavi's general call was a bold challenge, in light of the regime's crackdown on dissent: “Our moral responsibility should be to realistically call black what is black, and to call white, what is white.”

Mousavi, as he has increasingly done since last autumn, focused on the inclusiveness of the opposition movement, gathering people with different views and systems of thought inside and outside Iran, and emphasised the creation of social networks and media.

Mousavi declared that the people’s post-election protests were already a significant victory: even the memory of massive demonstrations will be a constant affirmation that  the Iranian nation is awake and alive.

Iran: The Green Movement in Transition (Rafat)

Ahmad Rafat writes for Gozaar:

If we consider the unrest and violence that followed the Tenth Presidential Elections of the Islamic Republic in 2009 the starting point of the Green Movement and the new wave of the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom, then this movement and wave have just entered their eleventh month.

The Latest from Iran (10 April): Look Over There!

The first anniversary of any movement is a propitious moment in which to take stock of what that movement has accomplished and what lies ahead of it. Perhaps it is necessary first to ask what exactly was the trigger point of this outpouring of the people’s obviously longstanding seething anger? Was the precise point of departure for this movement June 13, when the election results --- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election to a second term as president --- were announced?


There is no doubt that what is now known as the Green Movement came about as a result of the dismal record of the 31-year rule of the Islamic Republic, a regime that has not been able to meet the needs of the ethnically diverse citizenry of Iran in the political, economic, cultural, and social arenas. The social transformations of the last three decades, spanning growing urbanization, a growing number of the under-25 segment of the population, and active participation of women in the cultural, economic, and political spheres—have played a significant role in the birth of this movement.

These transformations have deepened the existing gender-based, social, economic, ethnic, and religious schisms and have brought about a deep schism between a society in search of modernism and the regressive and repressive regime that rules it. Of course, in this connection, the role played by the latest technological advances in communications cannot be ignored. Without the transformations brought about in people’s daily lives by the Internet and telecommunication satellites, perhaps a large movement with such content could not have been born.

Despite the expected ups and downs it has encountered in its path as well as the suppressive instruments at the disposal of the ruling regime, this almost virtually self-propelling movement, which reached its apogee in late May to late June 2009, has demonstrated a remarkable resilience and has had significant accomplishments in various arenas.

On the international level, one of this movement’s accomplishments is its pattern of building trust. In the course of its first six months, the Green Movement was successful in winning the support of public opinion but was not able to gain the trust of the governments and statesmen in the Western countries. However, in recent months we have witnessed the large-scale attention given to the Iranian people’s movement for freedom by such governments and statesmen, especially in Europe. We can consider the decision of the governments of Germany and Italy to limit their economic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as the decisions of the governments of France, Germany, and Italy to open their doors to the opponents of the Ahmadinejad government, as the starting point of a trend towards official recognition of the Green Movement and, beyond it, of the sources and forces of protest in Iran.

Clearly, this trend requires the Green Movement to take on new tasks and means that those who claim to be its leaders must shoulder new responsibilities. Given the various viewpoints that have existed within it from its beginning, the current movement for freedom inside Iran has been able to bring about political transformations that could potentially change this movement’s destiny in the coming months.

The Green Movement came into being in the months preceding the 2009 Presidential Elections with a plan to resurrect reformism, despite the fact that even then there were major differences between the platforms of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The demands put forth by Mousavi lay within the realm of fundamentalism and reformism while Karroubi’s election platform had a more radical tone and content and was able to bring the opponents of the regime itself into the arena of the election struggle.

Following the election and the occurrence of violence at the hands of the regime’s leaders, Mousavi was forced to accept the stances of the reformists, but Karroubi acted outside the customary framework of the regime and the Constitution. Today, not even the most conservative segment of the Green Movement believes in the regime’s rhetoric and the possibility of effecting changes from within the existing constitutional framework.

If the freedom movement wishes to remain loyal to certain beliefs, such as negation of use of violence in any form and belief in progressive changes, it must remain --- structurally speaking --- as it stands now and, before it searches for more coherent leadership or organization or think tanks, it must take steps towards encouraging individual initiatives and towards strengthening the movement. If the slogan “Every soldier is a leader and every leader a soldier” --- which thus far, has been able to guarantee the pluralism of this movement --- changes, this will result in the movement’s disintegration.

Not negating and formally recognizing the existence of different viewpoints and actual differences within the movement as it stands now may be the way to guarantee the movement’s survival. Embracing the principle that meaningful change will take place only in phases and through the use of democratic instruments such as elections, referenda, and plebiscites is another of this movement’s features which must be emphasized in the coming months. Concurrently, it must be emphasized that even those who oppose the regime itself and demand fundamental changes will have the right to participate in the free elections called for by Mousavi and Karroubi. The chasm between “insiders” and “outsiders,” for 31 years a distinguishing feature of the current regime, must be excised from the political vocabulary of Iran, both rhetorically and actually, forever.

If we were to put forth a list-like action plan for the future of the Green Movement, we could put the following at the top of that list: the wearing out of the increasingly insupportable regime and creating schisms among the regime’s supporters, in combination with concurrent efforts towards the establishment and strengthening of national solidarity.

Needless to say, the Green Movement has had other shortcomings, which it must rectify as it enters its second year. At the top of the list of shortcomings is the need for the geographic expansion of the Green Movement. The lack of participation in the Green Movement by residents of regions within Iran which include other --- that is, non-Persian --- ethnicities is one such shortcoming. If not properly addressed, lack of attention to the specific needs and demands of ethnic and religious minorities is another issue which could place countless roadblocks in the path of the movement. The Green Movement must make allowance for the participation in it of ethnic minorities a priority. Needless to say, these ethnic minorities’ political representatives must have a realistic view of this process and not expect to accomplish in one day what would normally take a century to accomplish.

Giving due attention to heretofore marginalized social classes must be on the Green Movement’s agenda too. Inattention to such marginalized elements and postponement of the demands of the various ethnicities and classes within society, alongside negligence towards foreign policy, have been two important reasons why the freedom movement did not expand more quickly last year. Geographic expansion of the Green Movement is the only way for it to address the existing asymmetry in the balance of power between the regime and the people and to change it to its own advantage.

Iran Snap Analysis: Playtime's Over

No doubt about it. Politics, conflict, and manoeuvring are back in Iran. After the New Year’s holiday, almost all the players were on court yesterday — the Supreme Leader, the President, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mir Hossein Mousavi, reformist MPs.

This re-surge of politics, marked by the fight over Ahmadinejad's subsidy cut and spending proposals and the meeting of reformists with Mousavi, Rafsanjani, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami, has even caught the eye of journalists who have written little since the supposed bust of the Green Movement on 22 Bahman (11 February).

The non-Iranian media has only a limited view, however, and are scrambling for explanations: The New York Times, for example, decides that the Supreme Leader has come down strongly on the side of Ahmadinejad in the subsidy battle --- a fair hypothesis, but the "proof" comes from the declarations of the Islamic Republic News Agency and Press TV. (The Times article also takes no note of the Mousavi-Rafsanjani-Karroubi-Khatami meetings with reformists.)



What does all this mean? A proper analysis will take some time and will also need to be flexible to take account of the rush of developments, but here are some starting points:

1. This conflict has always been more than just the Green Movement v. the regime. Some coverage of 22 Bahman (11 February) fed that misleading view; the events yesterday demonstrate that we can now put away the narrative of "it all ended on that day".

2. Rafsanjani, Mousavi, and the reformists all signalled that they want to work within the framework of the Islamic Republic, and Rafsanjani in particular made it clear that there should be no challenge to the Supreme Leader. At the same time, all also stated firmly that the Government has distanced itself from the people, the marker of continuing and possibility escalating challenge to Ahmadinejad.

3. The meetings with the reformist coalition of MPs emphasised the importance of Parliament in the Iranian system. That is not just deference to those were in attendance; it is a sign that the Majlis is seen as the site of a move against the President. That in turn points to an attempt to work with the conservative "opposition within", including Larijani, in the battle on the budget and economic legislation.

4. But it's not just economics. There are a series of unresolved issues that the Parliament could take further, notably the investigation of the Government's post-election abuses.

Playtime is over.