Saturday
Aug082009
The Latest from Iran (8 August): Regrouping
Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 6:22
The Latest from Iran (7 August): The Opposition Bounces Back
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0800 GMT: Among the Defendants Today. Clotilde Reiss is a 23-year-old French national who was a politics student and assistant teacher at Isfahan University. She was detained on her return to France after five months in Iran.
0610 GMT: The Iranian Students News Agency is reporting on the resumption of the Tehran trial in the Revolutionary Court, with the prosecution promising "justice and fairness" and declaring that the defendants have been able to meet with their lawyers.
0605 GMT: Confirmation? The website www.hashemrafsanjani.ir says that the former President will lead Tehran prayers on Friday.
0600 GMT: Mowj-e-Sabz says that lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah has been moved out of solitary confinement in Evin Prison after more than three weeks in isolation.
0525 GMT: Press TV's website has been almost desperate to contain Mehdi Karroubi. A couple of weeks ago, they mis-reported one of his call for "far-reaching party reforms" as a termination of protest against the result of the Presidential election. (In fact, Karroubi was pointing to possible long-term alliances with other opposition movements.)
Yesterday Press TV insisted that "Karroubi says he will accept the new circumstances and move on". The only problem for this interpretation is that the quotes offered indicate no such thing. Karroubi told members of his party Etemade Melli, “We should not allow the new circumstances to dispirit us. Our political activities should continue according to plan and within a legal framework."
The insistence on "legal framework" is standard rhetoric for Karroubi, who wants to avoid any impression that he and the opposition are upholding rather than undermining the Republic. And his views on protest were confirmed in the statement, “We should continue to work hard no matter how difficult the circumstances have become.”
0520 GMT: The wife of Abdollah Momeni, spokesperson for the Iranian Alumni Association, reports that her husband, detained in Evin Prison since his arrest almost seven weeks ago, is now "unable to move or speak".
Fatemeh Adinevand, who visited her husband on Thursday, said:
0500 GMT: A quiet start to the day (indeed, one of the quietest 24 hours in Iran since the start of the post-election crisis), but there are two events of note.
The first is about to begin in Tehran, with the resumption of the trial for almost 100 detainees. The hearings, which started last Saturday, were supposed to reopen on Thursday but were delayed for reasons never explained.
After last weekend's "confession" of former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, it is hard to see what showpiece the prosecution will feature today. Nor is it yet clear how the regime's persistence in featuring these "ruffians", amidst accusations of abuse and torture, will affect its political fortunes.
Those fortunes are at stake in the second development.
Salam News reports:
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Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis
0800 GMT: Among the Defendants Today. Clotilde Reiss is a 23-year-old French national who was a politics student and assistant teacher at Isfahan University. She was detained on her return to France after five months in Iran.
0610 GMT: The Iranian Students News Agency is reporting on the resumption of the Tehran trial in the Revolutionary Court, with the prosecution promising "justice and fairness" and declaring that the defendants have been able to meet with their lawyers.
0605 GMT: Confirmation? The website www.hashemrafsanjani.ir says that the former President will lead Tehran prayers on Friday.
0600 GMT: Mowj-e-Sabz says that lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah has been moved out of solitary confinement in Evin Prison after more than three weeks in isolation.
0525 GMT: Press TV's website has been almost desperate to contain Mehdi Karroubi. A couple of weeks ago, they mis-reported one of his call for "far-reaching party reforms" as a termination of protest against the result of the Presidential election. (In fact, Karroubi was pointing to possible long-term alliances with other opposition movements.)
Yesterday Press TV insisted that "Karroubi says he will accept the new circumstances and move on". The only problem for this interpretation is that the quotes offered indicate no such thing. Karroubi told members of his party Etemade Melli, “We should not allow the new circumstances to dispirit us. Our political activities should continue according to plan and within a legal framework."
The insistence on "legal framework" is standard rhetoric for Karroubi, who wants to avoid any impression that he and the opposition are upholding rather than undermining the Republic. And his views on protest were confirmed in the statement, “We should continue to work hard no matter how difficult the circumstances have become.”
0520 GMT: The wife of Abdollah Momeni, spokesperson for the Iranian Alumni Association, reports that her husband, detained in Evin Prison since his arrest almost seven weeks ago, is now "unable to move or speak".
Fatemeh Adinevand, who visited her husband on Thursday, said:
My children did not even recognize [him]....He would have fallen down if his brother and I hadn't held him up. He couldn't walk even one step....Abdollah's voice was severely shaking, and he couldn't even talk. The children were traumatized to see him like that and only cried, constantly asking, 'What happened to Dad?'....The person who we saw today wasn't [him] at all; he was just skin and bones who had lost his mental and psychological stability.
0500 GMT: A quiet start to the day (indeed, one of the quietest 24 hours in Iran since the start of the post-election crisis), but there are two events of note.
The first is about to begin in Tehran, with the resumption of the trial for almost 100 detainees. The hearings, which started last Saturday, were supposed to reopen on Thursday but were delayed for reasons never explained.
After last weekend's "confession" of former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, it is hard to see what showpiece the prosecution will feature today. Nor is it yet clear how the regime's persistence in featuring these "ruffians", amidst accusations of abuse and torture, will affect its political fortunes.
Those fortunes are at stake in the second development.
Salam News reports:
According to tradition, the prayers [in Tehran] of Friday, Mordad 23'rd [14 August] will be led by Ayatollah Rafsanjani, the head of the Assembly of Experts, in the presence of a large number of people from many backgrounds and many officials....Hopefully in this coming week, the public and the officials will benefit again from Ayatollah Rafsanjani's wise and prudent words and apply his advice for resolving the current problems....
Some unofficial reports have indicated that pressures from certain hardline groups upon the committee responsible for Friday has led to the postponement of Ayatollah Rafsanjani's slated speech. However, according to the tradition of many years, this week the position of the speaker of the Friday prayers belongs [our emphasis] to Ayatollah Rafsanjani. Only if Ayatollah Rafsanjani agrees shall a replacement be found for him.