The Latest from Iran (20 April): Intrigues and a Bombing

2045 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. It is reported that detained journalist Mehdi Mahmoudian, who helped expose the Kahrizak Prison abuses, has been taken to hospital in handcuffs.

2040 GMT: The Silenced Reformists? The Government may be putting out the story of the recommendation by "watchdogs" that reformist political parties shoud be banned. However, members of Parliament haven't suspended their criticisms.

Iran Document: The Speech Khatami Would Have Given at Japan Disarmament Conference
Iran Document: “Our Sons’ And Daughters’ Agony” (Sahabi)
The Latest from Iran (19 April): Stay Firm, Spread the Word

Dariush Ghanbari has said that the Government must pursue a reform of the media law and that rulers must recognize the opposition's rights to political activity.

Mostafa Kavakebian has asked why the regime only shuts down newspapers that are critical of the Government, while Jamshid Ansari criticises "parallel" intelligence services, saying that one makes arrests while the other remains uninformed.


2035 GMT: Today's Video Moment. A video has emerged of the Iranian New Year meeting of women's rights activists with Zahra Rahnavard, the prominent activist, academic, and wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi. ()

The video comes out as the Government announces a plan to create a "Women's Ministry".

2030 GMT: Seeking the Help of Clerics. Rah-e-Sabz writes that a report on torture in Iranian prisoners has been passed in an open letter to marja (senior clerics).

2015 GMT: Guess Who's Waiting for Mir Hossein? It's not unusual to see the question, "Will Mousavi's Green Manifesto be published soon?" After all, the the way forward for the Green Movement is a top subject of discussion.

It is a bit different, however, when the question is being asked by Ali Larijani's Khabar Online.

2000 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Even if a detainee is freed, his encounter with Iranian authority may be far from over. Green Voice of Freedom reports that the family of Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was imprisoned for months after the election, has been threatened.

1955 GMT: Academic Corner. The suspension or expulsion of "troublesome" professors, which we have followed in update, is summarised by Green Voice of Freedom.

1545 GMT: We'll be on an extended break today. Thanks to all readers for continuing to bring in news and comment.

1215 GMT: Breaking the Opposition? Following the recommendation by Iranian "watchdogs" for the suspension of two major reformist parties and the banning of Bahar newspaper, pro-Ahmadinejad MPs have maintained pressure. Ali Abbaspour has declared that Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have not stopped treasonous activities, while Ruhollah Hosseinian said the post-election role in "fitna" (sedition) by the Islamic Iran Participation and the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution justified their dissolution.

However, in a sign that not all may be running one way, Hosseinian was not present at yesterday's meeting of clerical MPs with the Supreme Leader.

1205 GMT: The Subsidy Battle. Despite reports of a settlement between Parliament and the Government over subsidy cuts and spending proposals, there is still some confusion over what exactly will be implemented. Pro-Ahmadinejad MP Iraj Nadimi has insisted that all is settled but chided reporters not to ask questions such as when when the cuts will start.

In that context, readers can interpret the latest statement of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani that the Government must enforce laws passed by the Majlis.


1200 GMT: A car bomb in Ilam has killed at least three people.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq_XPVPcyK8&feature=youtube_gdata[/youtube]

1130 GMT: Politics, Rights, and Deportation. Bita Ghaedi, an Iranian women who fled to Britain because of alleged domestic violence, is due to be deported today, despite fears of how she will be treated upon her return to Iran. Activists are publicising her case, protesting in London yesterday.

Beyond the bureaucratic procedures of Britain's Home Office, Ghaedi's case is complicated by her participation in a rally in summer 2009 over the treatment of Iranian residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq. Most of those residents are connected with the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran,  the political wing of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MKO) who have sought the overthrow of the Islamic Republic for more than 30 years.

For the moment, Ghaedi's deportation is held up because of a twist beyond politics: UK flights to Iran are grounded because of the ash cloud from last week's volcanic eruption in Iceland.

1040 GMT: The Uranium Swap Talks Are On? Agence France Presse reports on the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Tehran (see 1000 GMT):

Davutoglu...said that Turkey, which has resisted a US push for a fourth round of sanctions against Iran, "is ready to act as an intermediary in the issue of uranium exchange as a third country and hopes to have a fruitful role in this. We will continue to try our best to see what we can do for this nuclear fuel swap."

And Press TV, after its initial PR focus on Turkish support for Tehran, has now gotten to the heart of the matter, thanks to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki: "We think that if the other sides have this real will to materialize this nuclear fuel deal then this swap can be a multilateral confidence building for all sides including the Islamic Republic of Iran." (Curiously AFP misses the signal, claiming that Mottaki "did not explicitly react to Ankara's latest offer".)

1030 GMT: Academic Corner. Students at Elm-o-Sanat University in Tehran have written an open letter in support of lecturers who have been suspended from teaching.

1000 GMT: A quiet start to the day. We're now far enough away from the Washington and Tehran showpieces on nuclear disarmament for the often-diversionary headlines to fade, even though the real stories are still there to be evaluated.

For example, in Iran, Press TV's press release on Turkish Foreign Ahmet Davutoglu's visit --- "Turkey has always supported Iran's stance when it comes to the nuclear program" --- fails to approach the interesting questions about his discussions with Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki.

Given Turkey's persistent role in the uranium talks as broker and intermediary, do the talks point to a serious renewal of negotiations on a swap of uranium and possible "third party enrichment"? Press TV only offers, "On a UN-backed deal that would provide fuel for Tehran's research reactor, the top diplomat said that Turkey would be willing to act as a mediator and Ankara would 'do its best' to see what it could do for the fuel swap."

In the US, the curious aftermath lingers after this weekend's fuss over Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' three-page memorandum on US policy towards Iran. Unnamed officials used The New York Times to argue that the Secretary of Defense was blasting the Obama Administration for being indecisive and that he was looking towards military "containment" of Tehran.

Gates has quickly repudiated the claims: "The New York Times sources who revealed my January memo to the National Security Advisor mischaracterized its purpose and content."

Fine, but what exactly did Gates say in that memo to the head of the National Security Council, James Jones, if he wasn't criticising an Obama policy caught between sanctions, discussions with Iran, and the US military presence in the Persian Gulf? And who, if the Secretary of Defense is correct, was trying to misrepresent him through a Page 1 story? (Or the alternative: is Gates trying to back away, at least in public, from concerns that were in fact "correctly" expressed in the leak to the Times?)

The Latest from Iran (19 April): Stay Firm, Spread the Word

2045 GMT: Who's "Mohareb"? Ayatollah Dastgheib has repeated his denunciation of the Government's labelling of dissenters as "mohareb" (warriors against God), a charge which carries the death penalty: “The pious would never make baseless accusations.”

Dastgheib also implied that the real "mohareb" are those who have used violence against protesters: “Mohareb is a person who violates people’s right by pulling a gun, a knife or a weapon on them.”

1945 GMT: We've posted the English text of the speech Mohammad Khatami would have given at this week's disarmament conference in Hiroshima, Japan. Khatami was pressured by Iranian authorities not to leave the country.

NEW Iran Document: The Speech Khatami Would Have Given at Japan Disarmament Conference
NEW Iran Document: “Our Sons’ And Daughters’ Agony” (Sahabi)
Iran Document: The Supreme Leader on Nuclear Weapons (17 April)
Iran Analysis: And The Nuclear Sideshow Goes On…And On…And On
The Latest from Iran (18 April): Strike A Pose

1900 GMT: Nuke Talk. Back from extended break to find today's Iran Government uranium talking points in my Inbox.

It's Kazem Jalali of Parliament's National Security Commission putting out the line that the UN-hosted review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), held every five years, will follow up Iran's good work this weekend with its disarmament summit.

Jalali said of the May gathering, "Two fronts will battle out in New York: a US-led one will seek to limit non-nuclear states which are hoping to develop peaceful nuclear technology; the second front will consist of countries with no nuclear bombs that seek global nuclear disarmament."


1255 GMT: No More "Legal" Reformists? Iranian state media are repeating the news, which we reported a few days ago, that Iran's major reformist political parties, the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, have been banned.

The leading reformist newspaper Bahar, which only recently resumed publication, has again been suspended by Iranian authorities.

An EA correspondent notes concisely, "Seems like it's a case of repression, and more repression, considering the definitive sentences slapped on [reformist politicians] Mostafa Tajzadeh and Mohsen Mirdamadi."

1245 GMT: On the theme of "Stay Firm", we've posted a letter from veteran Iran politician Ezzatollah Sahabi, "Our Sons' and Daughters' Agony".

1050 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist and human rights activist Davood Khodakarami has been arrested in Zanjan, while journalist Rahim Gholami was imprisoned in Ardebil last week.

According to EA colleagues who are maintaining a list of  those imprisoned or on heavy bail but under the threat of re-arrest, the total is now 78 journalists. We hope to post the updated list soon.

1045 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. So did Hashemi Rafsanjani meet with the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, to discuss the possible criminal prosecution of Rafsanjani's son, Mehdi Hashemi?

The judiciary have strongly denied the claim, which Khabar Online says is being spread by Elyas Naderan, the "conservative" MP who is a sharp critic of the Ahmadinejad Government.

At the same time, pro-Ahmadinejad legislator Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash has insisted that Mehdi Hashemi and Rafsanjani's daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, must be prosecuted for "acting against the basis" of the Iranian system.

1040 GMT: Staying Firm. Seyed Hadi Khamenei, the brother of the Supreme Leader, has said that, despite Government pressures and restrictions, the demands of the Iranian people are only increasing.

1030 GMT: Nuclear Shocker --- Iran Proclaims, Media Jumps. Today's ritual declaration in state media of Tehran's nuclear advance comes from Ahmadinejad advisor Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi: "The president has confirmed the designated location of a new nuclear site and on his order the building process has begun."

My reaction is that the 25th or 35th or 235th time the same announcement of new sites --- whether it is 1, 10, or 20 --- is made, it ceases to become news and moves into the category of chanting. Reuters, however, is undeterred from announcing for the 25th or 35th or 235th time, "[This is] part of a big expansion of its nuclear program which has contributed to fears in the West it aims to build a bomb."

1025 GMT: Mystery Aide Contest. Khabar Online reports that a group of clergy who serve in the Parliament will meet the Supreme Leader on Monday to discuss Government-Parliament issues, raising criticism of a close ally of Ahmadinejad for "anti-cultural" moves.

So to whom is Khabar Online, the site linked to Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, referring?

1020 GMT: Subsidy Battle. The Government may have won an apparent victory with Parliamentary concessions allowing greater spending from subsidy cuts, but the criticism continues.

Khabar Online features the commentary of Professor Hassan Sobhani, who maintains that the Ahmadinejad subsidy cuts will not raise people's purchasing power but reduce it.

1000 GMT: Following Mir Hossein Mousavi's statement to reformist students calling for all in opposition to be "new media" --- for every blog closed, let 100 spring up --- Mehdi Karroubi, in a meeting with activists and families of political prisoners, has declared:

Has our government become so desperate and weak that even the funeral ceremonies of people, either political or non-political, face problems?....Why are you trying to make our strong and powerful system seem weak in the minds of nations and governments? ....Unfortunately it seems like instead of trying to attract most and repulse least, we are trying to achieve the most repulsion and the least attraction.

The government prefer their own views and methods of ruling to the strict rulings of Islam. People have become more cautious and their movement is growing. Stay firm on your legitimate and legal demands and insist on them.

Iran Document: "Our Sons' And Daughters' Agony" (Sahabi)

Ezzatollah Sahabi, former minister and member of Parliament, editor of the banned journal Iran-e Farda, and leader of Iran's Nationalist-Religious political alliance, writes in Rah-e-Sabz (translated by Khordaad 88):

In the name of God,

To whom can I speak of my sons’ and daughters’ agony?

The Latest from Iran (19 April): Stay Firm, Spread the Word

Enduring the past nine months and seeing the torment experienced by the sons and daughters of this land has been unbearable for this old man – seeing the nation’s potential melt away in the hands of our incapable rulers; seeing the atrocious treatment of the nation’s righteous and courageous children, both in the streets and in prisons. But the pain has gotten worse lately and I do not know how to handle it or object.


These days, I keep hearing that my dear Badressadat Mofidi, Hengameh Shahidi, Shiva Nazarahari, and many more are under intense pressure [during] interrogation. [I hear that] they are subjected to constant insults with the goal of making them break down and forget about everything they are fighting for. The situation is so unbearable that some of these ladies have wished for death.

Government officials visiting the prisons reported that the intensity of verbal abuse makes some prisoners complain about that even more than they do about bthe violent beatings.

I am also constantly hearing that in recent weeks, Ahmad Zeidabadi, Mansour Esanloo, Masoud Bastani, and others, who are as dear to me as my own sons and who are clearly imprisoned because of their beliefs and political ideas, are illegally and unethically kept with prisoners who have committed heinous crimes (though some of the felons are, of course, victims of this unjust system). [My friends] are exposed to direct pressure and pain. Some of them are in danger of serious and irreversible damage being done to their physical and mental health.

It is so sad for me to see political prisoners of a regime that I helped create experience such unjust, cruel, and unethical treatment. [I am referring to] cruelty such as keeping the political prisoners with murderers on death row or insulting women in such a way that they break down and admit to false and shameful crimes on national television. I have been imprisoned and interrogated both before and after the [formation of] the Islamic Republic. [I can guarantee that] the situation is much worse than before.

I do not understand why our rulers have completely forgotten about ethics and religion, resorting to any means [necessary] to protect their short-lived worldly powers. We have not forgotten the days before the Islamic Revolution, when we criticized others by saying that the end does not justify the means.

I am a religious person who understands ethics to be the main pillar as well as the main goal of religion. [I am also a person] whose prophet – a prophet common to all of us – was chosen to raise the standards of ethics. As such, I am ashamed to live in times where the sons and daughters, the men and women of this society are arrested and tortured under the worst physical and psychological pressure and women are treated with the most shameful disrespect. [This is] all [done] to force them into false confessions and to find them guilty because of the facts they speak and the truth they seek; all in the name of God and religion.

Alas, “to lie,” which, in our culture, is recognized both nationally and religiously to be among the worst of sins, has now become a dominant trend. Our authorities lie with the greatest exaggeration. They seek to stamp their hollow (national and international) ambitions into the minds of the people merely by repeating them over and over again, every day and every night. Those people would not be deceived by such trickery and lies and in the seminary schools of Qom, religious leaders further unmask the liar. But unfortunately, they are still forcing male and female prisoners to lie in order to avoid more intense pressure and/or exile. Dear Almighty, where do I go to counsel my pains and concerns; who can I go to?

I hope that there is someone left among the Judiciary or the establishment who will hear my cries and change either the conditions of the prisoners I named or any of the other nameless ones – if only for the sake of God and their own afterlife, so that the families of victims can be spared the torment that they have to bear each day.

Dear God, as you witnessed, the [main] promise of the Revolution was the governance of justice, like the justice created by Imam Ali, the first Imam of the Shi’ites. His governance was strict with the people closest to him, and his mercy reached [even] his enemies who were furthest from him.

This was the promise. However, the ‘justice’ our government perpetuates today, in the name of Ali, is easy-going on political and financial corruption, as well as any theft or murder that those close to the authorities commit in banks, other financial institutions, universities or Kahrizak and Evin prisons. They impose their severity on blindfolded, handcuffed and innocent men and women, who are [merely] insisting on [seeing] the goals and desires of that very Revolution [that created this government in the first place]. Oh dear Almighty, O Saviour of hearts and minds, O Guide of night and day – either transform our days, or else give me death.

The Latest from Iran (18 April): Strike A Pose

2030 GMT: A Swap --- But Inside or Outside Iran? Amidst all the posturing at disarmament summits, here's the key Iranian statement on talks:

Iran plans to hold talks with all members of the United Nations Security Council over a nuclear fuel swap deal, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said.

"We plan to hold direct talks on nuclear swap with 14 member states of the UN Security Council and indirect talks with the 15th member [the United States]," Mottaki told reporters in a Sunday press conference in Tehran.

And here's the question which, after weeks, still remains: when Iran refers to a willingness for discussions, does that include consideration of the exchange of uranium stock outside the country?

2025 GMT: Irony Alert (Because Hypocrisy is a Not-Very-Nice Word). Press TV reports with a straight face and no reference to recent pronouncement of Iranian authorities on the fighting of "soft war":

Schools in the US State of Pennsylvania have used lent-out laptop computers with spy cameras and "buggy" software to "monitor' students, reports say.

US investigators are probing spying cases of the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvanian, where school officials have been implicated in receiving unauthorized images of students that borrowed "doctored" laptops from their schools, US media reported on Saturday.

2015 GMT: Picture of Day. It comes from the most recent meeting of women's activists in the Green Movement.

NEW Iran Document: The Supreme Leader on Nuclear Weapons (17 April)
NEW Iran Analysis: And The Nuclear Sideshow Goes On…And On…And On
Iran: Former Tehran Chancellor Maleki on Detention & Green Movement’s “Forgotten Children”
The Latest from Iran (17 April): Remember

2000 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Iranian Students News Agency reports that three prominent reformists --- Mohsen Mirdamadi, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, former Deputy Minister of Interior Mostafa Tajzadeh, and Davoud Soleimani have been found guilty of harming national security and propaganda against the regime. Each has been sentenced to six years in jail and barred from involvement in politics or journalism for 10 years.



1730 GMT: Iran's Women Are Needed. Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has declared that Iran's "unfinished democracy project" must be fulfilled through the significant presence of women in political movements.

1725 GMT: Attacking the Clerics. A group of plainclothes men have again attacked the offices of Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Dastgheib in Shiraz, vandalising the site by spraying paint.

In December, pro-regime crowds laid siege to the offices in a Shiraz mosque, temporarily forcing Dastgheib, a vocal critic of the Government, and his staff to leave.

1700 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Khabar Online repeats the claim, which we heard a few days ago, that Hashemi Rafsanjani has met judiciary head Sadegh Larijani to discuss the criminal case against Rafsanjani's son, Mehdi Hashemi.

1615 GMT: Laying Down the Law. The head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has issued a wide-ranging statement. Like his brother, he has seized the nuclear line of criticising the US and "West" for lies.

At the same time, Larijani tried to position himself as the guardian of the law, emphasising his will to persecute corruption. And he took time to warn people of wearing inappropriate outfits.

1515 GMT: The Subsidy Battle. Is the economic feud between Parliament and the President over?

Yes. And No.

Rah-e-Sabz repeats the news that Parliament, in a secret meeting, has accepted the Government's demands for extra revenues from subsidy cuts.

Gholam-Reza Mesbahi Moghaddam, the Majlis Economic Committee member who was critical of Ahmadinejad, said laws were not violated in the agreement. However, he continued to blame the President for insulting MPs as "economic nuts", declaring to Ahmadinejad, "I was the teacher of your ministers and advisors."

1220 GMT: More on the Mousavi Statement. Speaking to the student committee of the reformist Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution, Mousavi called on supporters of the Green Movement to find “ways to expand the media and spread information". They should counter the attacks on the freedom of the press by replacing every banned weblog with “tens of weblogs for defending the people’s rights”.

Declaring that the Green Movement is “limitless” and can “open numerous new windows” for every blocked “opening”, Mousavi said that the opposition should “include every one of the 70 million people of the country, even our opponents".

1130 GMT: Mir Hossein Mousavi has issued a new statement reiterating his long-declared theme, "We All Must Be Media". We will be looking for an English translation.

1120 GMT: Parliamentary Sniping. Gholam-Reza Mesbahi-Moghaddam, who has been a leading actor in the battle with the President over subsidy and spending proposals, has attacked on a new front. He has derided Ahmadinejad's suggestion of paying $1000 to parents for every new child. Mesbahi-Moghaddam said, "[The] president is not the system's strategist. Rather he [is tasked] to implement laws and macroeconomic policies."

1110 GMT: The "Realist" Solution. Kayhan Barzegar of Harvard University captures the spirit of the movement in Washington amongst some Government officials and analysts for a grand settlement with Iran not only on the nuclear programme but on regional issues:

Obama's attempts to convince actors like Russia, China, or Saudi Arabia to impose new sanctions or political pressure are all short-term solutions and will not change Iran's nuclear policy. The United States needs to find a sustainable solution in dealing with Iran, based on a genuine change that can resolve existing strategic issues and in which zero-sum game solutions are finally put to bed.

What is striking is not Barzegar's specific argument but the fact that it has been picked up and featured in Tehran by Iran Review.

1105 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist and filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for "spreading propaganda" and insulting the country's leaders.

Nourizad was arrested in November after writing the Supreme Leader, urging him to apologize to the nation for the post-election suppression of dissent.

(Given my grumpiness about the "Western" media this morning, credit to the Associated Press for picking up and disseminating the news.)

1055 GMT: The Corruption Story. Arshama3's Blog has an invaluable summary, in German, of the dramatic claims in the Iranian press of the "Fatemi Street" insurance fraud, linking the accused to First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.

1045 GMT: Soft Power Corner. Want a useful alternative to all the nuclear news? Try this from Reuters' Golnar Motevalli:

The television in the corner of the port-a-cabin reception room where Ali Tavakoli Khomeini receives guests outside the Afghan city of Herat is tuned to Iran's state 24-hour news channel.

Large maps of Iran and Afghanistan adorn the walls, and a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hangs alongside one of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. An Afghan cook arranges a spread of Persian cuisine.

While the United States will soon have 100,000 troops in Afghanistan waging war against the Taliban, Iran is quietly exerting influence on its neighbor in a subtler way: through bricks and mortar, railways and road.

Tavakoli, an Iranian engineer, has built some 400 km (250 miles) of highway and railroad in western Afghanistan over the last six years, paving the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.

His firm is building a dam in rural Herat, and has just finished laying foundations for a railway that could one day link south and east Asia to the Middle East and Europe, reviving some of the most important ancient overland trade routes in the world.

1030 GMT: We're Great, You Suck. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani scales the nuclear high ground (can't let his rival Mr. Ahmadinejad steal all the applause, can he?) with a statement to the Majlis:

The [Washington] conference not only eluded the issue of disarmament but audaciously prescribed the use of atomic weapons. In fact, all the nuclear conference in the US did was weaken the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty]. The use of other weapons of mass destruction was permitted under the pretext of concerns about 'nuclear terrorism'."

1015 GMT: OK, as we need after an extended break to catch up with news inside Iran, let's get the chest-puffing diversions out of the way.

We've got a special analysis on the latest sideshow of Tehran's disarmament conference complemented by US Government spin, put out through The New York Times, on the threat of Iran's nuclear programme. And this morning, the poses just keep a-comin':

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran had the military might to deter attacks, his comments coming as Western pressure mounts on the Islamic state to dispel fears it is developing nuclear arms.

Speaking at a military parade that marked Iran's armed forces' day, Ahmadinejad said the "unrivalled" power of Iranian military secured stability in the Middle East....

"Iran's armed forces are so strong today that the enemies will not even think about violating our territorial integrity," Ahmadinejad said in a low-key speech at the parade.

Low-key in comparison to his Saturday opening salvo at the Tehran disarmament conference, I guess --- let Iran lead the global way for an end to nuclear weapons, chuck the US out of the International Atomic Energy Agency --- but obviously not low-key enough to avoid being splashed as Breaking News by Reuters.

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).