Sunday
Aug022009
The Latest from Iran (2 August): Assessing the Trial
Sunday, August 2, 2009 at 18:23
NEW Trials in Iran: The Latest from Mousavi
Latest Iran Video: The Abtahi "Confession" (2 August)
NEW Iran: Putting the Opposition on Trial
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2045 GMT: According to Mowj-e-Sabz, "principlist" members of Parliament have been warned not to criticise televised confessions.
1650 GMT: Muhammad Sahimi at Tehran Bureau offers a thorough summary and analysis of yesterday's proceedings. The article is particularly effective in depicting the prosecution's attempt to turn the trial into a demolition of opposition groups by linking them to "foreign agents" and, parallelling our own interpretation, exposing the lack of evidence for these assertions.
1630 GMT: Our correspondent Mani has noted the statement of former Vice President Dr Ebrahim Yazdi, who was detained earlier in the post-election conflict:
1615 GMT: Best Line So Far on the Tehran Trial. Mir Hossein Mousavi says the proceedings were "sufficiently ridiculous to make a baked tukey laugh".
1600 GMT: We wrote today, in a separate analysis, about the attempt to use the Tehran trial to portray Hashemi Rafsanjani as an enemy of the regime and of Rafsanjani's response via his leadership of the Expediency Council. A bit more on the Rafsanjani statement:
Besides calling the charges, as laid out in the testimony of Mohammad Ali Abtahi, "absolutely false", the Expediency Council's communiqué said, "In a meeting that happened after one of the deliberations of the Expediency Discernment Counci, Mr. Khatami postponed declaring his official postion until he had a meeting with his party the 'Association of Combatant Clerics'. Mr. Mousavi had already declared his position, and Mr. Rafsanjani had insisted upon all individuals following all legalities when they declare their postions or state their demand."
Therefore, Rafsanjani "has not supported any of the candidates and he has had no hand in the post-election events, and his opinion about resolving the current untoward conditions has not changed since his sermon in the Friday prayers 15 days ago." The statement ends by turning the allegations in the trial back against Rafsanjani's opponents, "God willing, all of us are not prone to appease a certain faction with statements and extraction of confessions at the cost of questioning the foundations of the establishment."
1555 GMT: The opposition website Mowj-e-Sabz has more on the Khatami statement, and this extract stands out. The former President is making an appeal to key members of the system to break from the politics of prosecution:
1530 GMT: More Reaction to the Trial. Mohammad Khatami, via his website, has said:
1510 GMT: Mir Hossein Mousavi’s close aides, Alireza Beheshti has stated that the Mousavi campaign has gathered the names of 1700 detainees whose whereabouts are unknown.
Afternoon Update (1440 GMT): Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, President Ahmadinejad's press secretary, has resigned from his post. Javanfekr stated that " there is a need for fresh blood to take over the responsibility, and one must make way for these individuals".
The Islamic Iran Participation Front, one of the reformist parties has responded to the trials via its news site Norouz:
Norouz states that a credible source located in the court has stated that none of the statements of Fars are true and the court is effectively a kangaroo court.
Latest Iran Video: The Abtahi "Confession" (2 August)
NEW Iran: Putting the Opposition on Trial
Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis
2045 GMT: According to Mowj-e-Sabz, "principlist" members of Parliament have been warned not to criticise televised confessions.
1650 GMT: Muhammad Sahimi at Tehran Bureau offers a thorough summary and analysis of yesterday's proceedings. The article is particularly effective in depicting the prosecution's attempt to turn the trial into a demolition of opposition groups by linking them to "foreign agents" and, parallelling our own interpretation, exposing the lack of evidence for these assertions.
1630 GMT: Our correspondent Mani has noted the statement of former Vice President Dr Ebrahim Yazdi, who was detained earlier in the post-election conflict:
We must ask: what has happened in the Islamic Republic of Iran, that prominent Iranians who have served as consultants, presidents, prime ministers, ministers, ambassadors and deputy prime ministers are now according to the prosecutor's claim ready to conspire with foreign powers to overthrow the Islamic Republic? The claim of the perseution is an attack and challenge to the integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the last 30 years. [Mani's comment: "This challenge is exactly what Rafsanjani means when he refers to 'the cost of questioning the foundations of the establishment'."]
This trial is a symbol of the existence of internal fighting in the Iranian government and has no goal other then the dominance of one part of the power structure over the others. The ones who are running this trial will be forced by public opinion to scuttle it.....Shia theological tradition explicitly states that coerced confessions from an imprisoned person is absolutely immoral and is against the foundations of islamic law and is therefore illegal.
1615 GMT: Best Line So Far on the Tehran Trial. Mir Hossein Mousavi says the proceedings were "sufficiently ridiculous to make a baked tukey laugh".
1600 GMT: We wrote today, in a separate analysis, about the attempt to use the Tehran trial to portray Hashemi Rafsanjani as an enemy of the regime and of Rafsanjani's response via his leadership of the Expediency Council. A bit more on the Rafsanjani statement:
Besides calling the charges, as laid out in the testimony of Mohammad Ali Abtahi, "absolutely false", the Expediency Council's communiqué said, "In a meeting that happened after one of the deliberations of the Expediency Discernment Counci, Mr. Khatami postponed declaring his official postion until he had a meeting with his party the 'Association of Combatant Clerics'. Mr. Mousavi had already declared his position, and Mr. Rafsanjani had insisted upon all individuals following all legalities when they declare their postions or state their demand."
Therefore, Rafsanjani "has not supported any of the candidates and he has had no hand in the post-election events, and his opinion about resolving the current untoward conditions has not changed since his sermon in the Friday prayers 15 days ago." The statement ends by turning the allegations in the trial back against Rafsanjani's opponents, "God willing, all of us are not prone to appease a certain faction with statements and extraction of confessions at the cost of questioning the foundations of the establishment."
1555 GMT: The opposition website Mowj-e-Sabz has more on the Khatami statement, and this extract stands out. The former President is making an appeal to key members of the system to break from the politics of prosecution:
I do not think that Ayatollah Shahroudi, the head of the judiciary, agrees with this trend [in the court], especially now that all the people are expecting the judiciary to act against the terible abuses against the detainees that has happened during the arrests and in many prisons,...especially since the supreme leader has ordered a serious response to these issues.
1530 GMT: More Reaction to the Trial. Mohammad Khatami, via his website, has said:
The trial on Saturday was a show and the confessions are invalid ... What was called a trial was a violation of the constitution. Such show trials will directly harm the system and will further damage public trust. These confessions have been taken under extraordinary conditions. The detainees were not informed in advance about the court session and lacked access to lawyers.
1510 GMT: Mir Hossein Mousavi’s close aides, Alireza Beheshti has stated that the Mousavi campaign has gathered the names of 1700 detainees whose whereabouts are unknown.
Afternoon Update (1440 GMT): Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, President Ahmadinejad's press secretary, has resigned from his post. Javanfekr stated that " there is a need for fresh blood to take over the responsibility, and one must make way for these individuals".
The Islamic Iran Participation Front, one of the reformist parties has responded to the trials via its news site Norouz:
The show goes on: Wholesale killings and suppressions, wholesale arrests and wholesale trial and sentencing. The trial of the political activists arrested after the presidential elestions has started. As it could have been expected and just as political activists and parties had warned the trial was held eschewing all legal presuppositions favoring the defendants.
The sole reporting news agency in the court was the pro-government and mendacious Fars news agency. Considering the track record of this agency in propagating falsehoods, it is obvious that none of the statements of this agency possess any credibility.
Norouz states that a credible source located in the court has stated that none of the statements of Fars are true and the court is effectively a kangaroo court.