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.