The Latest from Iran (8 August): Regrouping

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:

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.

Iran and the Facebook-Twitter Cyber-Attacks

A source close to Enduring America offers the compelling hypothesis that the recent attacks on Facebook and Twitter may have been aimed at the Green Movement.

“Judging by my past IT experience and the way things developed yesterday, it appears that Facebook administrators put the pages of Karroubi, Mousavi, Zahra R, etc offline in order to stabilise the flow of the entire system, as the DDOS would ostensibly cease once the sites were seemingly knocked off air. This is why FB did not entirely go off air – the pressure on it abated once the reformists page were suspended. Twitter on the other hand was a free for all target, and had to withstand more damage. Another thing that lends credence to this theory is that fact that none of the the suspended pages have lost content or have been defaced. However, all this is speculation until FB and Twitter officially announce what went on yesterday.”

Edit: Facebook have subsequently confirmed to the BBC that the strike was actually aimed at a pro-Georgian blogger known as Cyxymu. In an interview with The Guardian, Cyxymu blamed the Russian Government for instigating the cyber attack.

The Latest from Iran (6 August): Getting Past Ahmadinejad

Video: The Inauguration Protests (5 August)
The Latest from Iran (5-6 August): The Inauguration

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2200 GMT: Ahmadinejad appears to be trying to give Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai greater influence by giving him responsibilities traditionally reserved for the vice president.

2145 GMT: Opposition Resumed. The Facebook pages of Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Zahra Rahnavard can once again be accessed.

2110 GMT: Closing the Evening with an Urgent Question. Last night we reported the breaking news that Hashemi Rafsanjani would be leading Friday prayers in Tehran on 14 August. Tonight there is doubt. Seyed Reza Taghavi, the head of the committee responsible for Friday prayers, has stated, "The presence of Ayatollah Hashemi is not yet clear and depends upon his health and the queue before him."

2045 GMT: Ayatollah Dorri-Najafabadi, the chief prosecutor of Iran, has stated that the recent televised confessions, "although collected legally, will have little effect upon the outcome of the court and sentencing". Dorri-Najafabadi also claimed, "[Detained politician Mostafa] Tajzadeh is in good health"

The chief prosecutor made clear that he would have preferred to have court proceedings behind closed doors. "If we were consulted about having these open trials, we may have had a different opinion."

2025 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Payoff for Moscow? The Russian mobile phone operating company Megafone, which is alleged to belong to the wife of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has reportedly obtained a license to open a branch in Tehran. Initially the UAE company Etisalat won the auction to be the third mobile operator in Tehran but then suddenly the Kuwaiti company Zain was put in its place. Now it is alleged that Megafone is going to be the operator.

This news is entirely unconnected, of course, to the fact that Russia was the first country to give significant recognition of Ahmadinejad's "re-election", receiving him at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit a few days after the 12 June vote.

1950 GMT: We're just adding footage of a "Death to the Dictator" protest in Vanak Square, Tehran, this evening.

1940 GMT: The Facebook pages of Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, still cannot be accessed. A source close to Enduring America believes attacks on Facebook pages "almost confirmed" as coming from Iran and attacks on Twitter "probably" as well.

1930 GMT: Twitter filled with reports of protests and clashes across Tehran.

1715 GMT: Roozonline reports that yesterday the Iranian Association of Journalists' headquarters was sealed.

1700 GMT: The BBC carries an apparent eyewitness account which describes a massive security presence at an opposition demonstration yesterday:

Anti-riot police were out in force, and there was a severe security crackdown. At the top of every street there were Basijis and plain clothed guards - in extraordinary numbers. I think out of every ten people, three of them were security personnel.

0535 GMT: The Helicopter Controversy. President Ahmadinejad's travel to his inauguration has provided a bit of entertainment. The reformist press claim that he dropped in by helicopter. His conservative supporters respond, "Reports of travelling by helicopter is a part of psychological warfare....The President travels with no ceremony and his travels cause no limitation to the flow of traffic".

0530 GMT: The medical examiner's office has said that it is investigating the deaths of some of the recent detainees.

0500 GMT: And More Pressure from Mehdi Karroubi. Speaking to a group of politicians, Karroubi denounced the "widespread fraud" in the Presidential vote and expressed his concern about the strain that it had placed on the Islamic Republic and Constitution. He criticised the Guardian Council and pro-Ahmadinejad figures such as Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi for statements that had contributed to the post-elections problems.

0445 GMT: More on Ayatollah Sanei's denunciation of the treatment of detainees, shich we mentioned yesterday alongside the criticisms of Ayatollahs Bayat-Zanjani and the statement of Ayatollah Montazeri. Sanei has said that those involved in extracting confessions are involved in "criminal acts".

The Latest from Iran (5 August): The Inauguration

NEW Video: The Inauguration Protests (5 August)
Translation: Ayatollah Montazeri’s Response to Tehran Trials
Iran’s American Detainee: The Case of Kian Tajbakhsh
The Latest from Iran (4 August): A Day Between Protests

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2300 GMT: Ayatollahs Sanei and Bayat Zanjani have echoed Ayatollah Montazeri's statements denouncing the trials held last Saturday.

2200 GMT: A third journalist working for the Etemade Melli newspaper has been arrested. Mehdi Yazdani Khorram, the editor of the literature and art section, was arrested by plainsclothes officers at 2030 GMT.

2130 GMT: An important clarrification. Although Rafsanjani is scheduled to deliver a sermon at next week's Friday prayers, it is far from clear that he will take up this opportunity. It should be remembered that Rafsanjani turned down several opportunities to speak at Friday prayers before his last appearance on June 17.

1725 GMT: The resumption of the Tehran trials, scheduled for tomorrow, has been delayed until Saturday. The reason is unclear.

1715 GMT: Even the choice of Ayatollah Emami Kashani, a "conservative" cleric, to lead this Friday's prayers is far from a firm guarantee of support for the President and the regime. In  a sermon at Jamkaran Mosque, the ayatollah admitted, "The brightness of velayat-e-faqih (supreme leadership) has diminished....[Since the supreme leadership can not solve the problems of the country] may you [Mahdi, the 12'th Imam] reemerge and solve the country's problems."

1700 GMT: Friday's prayers will be led by Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani. That, however, is just a preliminary to the big news:  next week's will be led by Hashemi Rafsanjani.

1450 GMT: A summary of today before we return to our vacation. Riz Khan of Al Jazeera posted a question which, for Riz Khan, is remarkably ill-phrased: "As Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes his oath, Will Iran again spiral into another cycle of violent demonstrations?"

The issue, as demonstrated again today, is not another ominous spiral into violence. Gatherings today, which persisted despite the state's attempt to close down visible opposition to the inauguration, continue to express clear concerns and demands (and, notably, without violence). Ahmadinejad's speech, which has already faded into a lack of significance, does nothing to check those concerns.

So the inauguration in fact becomes a sideshow, one boycotted by some politicians and attended by others with ill humour. With the Tehran trial resuming tomorrow, and more importantly with opposition politicians and clerics renewing their challenge, we'll get back to serious business.

1448 GMT: Mir Hossein Mousavi has posted a statement on his website declaring:

These hectic trials just reflect the deep problem which exists in our country. It is definitely not a source of pride to publicly expose such personalities in a mass trial. We made a [Islamic revolution in 1979] revolution so that trials were against criminals. We wanted trials with lawyers, trials with rights for the defendants, trials where the judge acts independently and trials which make the people feel justice prevailing.

Mousavi again denied any links between the opposition and foreign countries, asserting that the problem was an attempt to limit political views: "We have to learn to face other standpoints, listen to what they say, elaborate our own viewpoints and pay attention to their elaborations as well."

1445 GMT: The Islamic society of  engineers, of which Ahmadinejad is a former member, has sent a letter to Ayatollah Rafsanjani. The head of the society, Seyyed Hasan Sobhani-nia, commented that "This letter asks about recent events and Ayatollah Rafsanjani's position regarding them. This letter also states the concerns and worries that this society has regarding the future of individuals attached to the revolution who have played a crucial role in its formation. The society has requested Mr. Rafsanjani to clarify his position regarding these recent events."  The society had previously sent a letter to Ahmadinejad, which Enduring America also posted, asking for his own clarrification.

1440 GMT: A Twitter activist has created a Google map showing the locations of protests across the capital today.

1430 GMT: Gooya. com are reporting that "tens of thousands" of security forces were out on Tehran streets today, especially near Parliament building. Shops in the area were closed.

1415 GMT: The lawyer for detained politicians Behzad Nabavi, Mostafa Tajzadeh, and Mohsen Mirdamadi says he will not attend tomorrow's trial because it is illegal.

1355 GMT: Another Arrested Journalist. In addition to last night's seizure of Mir Hamid Hassanzadeh, the head of Ghalam News, Reza Nourbakhsh, the chief editor of the newspaper Farhikhtegan, was arrested. His office was searched, and some material was taken. 

1330 GMT: Reports that women's rights activist Haleh Sahabiwas arrested in Baharestan Square today.

0800 GMT: BBC World is leading with the story of Ahmadinejad's inauguration. The footage is telling: there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm amongst members of Parliament.

The BBC also has some images of protest outside the Parliament building.

The analysis is not as useful. Jon Leyne, expelled from Iran earlier in the crisis, is saying, somewhat bizarrely, that "most" of the President's speech was directed "at the outside world".

0645 GMT: It appears that the pattern of protest will be repeated today. Instead of a mass gathering, which will be disrupted if not prevented by security forces, there will be a number of "flash" gatherings across Tehran. We'll be back later to give a full assessment.

0627 GMT: More on the "boycott" in Parliament (see 0612). Parleman News revises its report: 57 of the 70 members of the Imam Khomeini Line walked out as Ahmadinejad started his speech.

0616 GMT: Mehdi Karroubi, in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais says that he and Mousavi will never work with Ahmadinejad's Cabinet and that protests will continue. Karroubi said:

We do not want to destroy the government; however, we criticise the actions of the government and we have no intention to help this government....The reality is that the majority of the people do not accept the methodologies and language of Mr. Ahmadinejad. We consider this government to be illegitimate.

0615 GMT: Kazem Jalali, the head of the special Parliamentary committee investigating the conditions of detainees, has resigned, and there are reports that other committee members have quit. No official reasons for the resignations have been given, but there is speculation that the lack of cooperation from judiciary and security officals may be a key factor.

0612 GMT: Parleman News reports only 242 of the 290 members of Parliament attended the inauguration. This suggests that all 46 "reformist" MPs stayed away.

0608 GMT: There is heavy Twitter chatter of protesters demonstrating at the main Tehran Bazaar, effectively trying to shut it down. Cellphone service has reportedly been cut off in central Tehran.

0600 GMT: Even as Ahmadinejad was speaking, the text scroll on the screen announced the next battle within the Establishment. The President has two weeks to assemble the names of proposed Cabinet Ministers and put them before Parliament. Given the furour over his recent choice of First Vice President Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai and his effective takeover of the Ministry of Intelligence, that will not be an easy process.

0555 GMT: Live coverage by Press TV English is available. They are assessing Ahmadinejad's speech, which made claims to "social justice".

0545 GMT: Opposition activists are pointing to images inside the Parliament of empty seats, which would indicate that (as on Monday, when the Supreme Leader confirmed Ahmadinejad) many have stayed away from the ceremony, and of growing demonstrations elsewhere in Tehran.

Morning Update (0535 GMT): Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been inaugurated as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran for a second term, despite a disputed election result almost eight weeks ago.

The President was not deterred by such questions in his acceptance speech, claiming the mandate of 25 million votes (even the suspect official tally gave him "only" 23 million).

Reuters is reporting a demonstration of "hundreds" in Baharestan Square in front of the Iranian Parliament building.

The Latest from Iran (4 August): A Day Between Protests

NEW Iran Analysis: The Supreme Leader’s Warning to Ahmadinejad
NEW Iran’s American Detainee: The Case of Kian Tajbakhsh
Iran Video: The Khamenei-Ahmadinejad “Non-Kiss” (3 August)
Iran Video: The Abtahi “Confession”, Roohul Amini, and Tehran Trial (2-3 August)
The Latest from Iran (3 August): Trials and Inaugurations

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2000 GMT: Potentially serious development: Mir Hamid Hassanzadeh the person in charge of Ghalamnews during the elections has been arrested and his computer confiscated.

1425 GMT: The Times of London reports on the controversy yesterday sparked by Britain sending its second most senior diplomat in Tehran to yesterday's endorcement ceremony. The attendance of Patrick Davies, the British Embassy’s deputy head of mission, was criticised by opposition politicians. The Foreign Office defended its decision, arguing that it had to keep talking to the regime about its nuclear programme, human rights and other pressing issues, and that “to do this, communication channels have to be open”.

1300 GMT: Just in from our correspondent, Mani. Ayatollah Mohaghegh-Damad ( professor of Islamic law and philosophy) in an open letter to Shahroudi has slammed the legality of the recent televised trials and the performance of the judiciary. Ayatollah Damad characterized these televised trials as "an infamous blot on Islamic Jurisprudence".

1245 GMT: Tangential Editorial of the Day. Initially I thought The Washington Post meant well in its comment on the Iran situation, even if it immediately resorted to Cold War language: "Borrowing a page from Stalin's Russia, Iran's increasingly wobbly regime has embarked on a contemptible spectacle of show trials."

By the end of the editorial, however, I realised the Post didn't care that much about those in the streets and on trial: "These are dangerous days in Tehran, which only underscores the dilemma the Obama administration faces as it clings to a strategy of engaging Iran to contain its nuclear ambitions: Who is there to talk to?"

Leave aside for the moment that the question "who to talk to?" is almost abstract, given the current internal situation (as we noted yesterday). How many Iranians consider Iran's "nuclear ambitions" their pressing priority? And, if the answer is "not many at all", doesn't the Post's Cold War rhetoric say more about a US-centric agenda than any concern with freedoms and rights?

1215 GMT: Rabble-Rousing Headline of the Day. From Bloomberg.com: "Pentagon, Eyeing Iran, Wants To Rush 30,000-Pound Bomb Program".

Afternoon Update (1200 GMT) : Ebrahim Yazdi, former Foreign Minister and Secretary General of the Freedom Movement, has warned that Iran is on its way to becoming like the former Soviet Union: "the strongest totalitarian regime with very efficient but corrupt secret police".

Speaing to the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat, Dr Yazdi expressed his fears for the fate of the 30-year-old revolution: "The Soviet Union collapsed because the leaders move to reform the system and respond to people's demands came late, and I believe that Iran is going down the same road." Dr Yazdi added:

The difference is that Iran is not an empire to disintegrate into republics, and the collapse of the Soviet Union marked the end of the Marxist ideology. But unlike Marxism, Islam will not disappear;
it is part of our identity and culture and I am not worried about Islam. Islam has God to protect it; but I am worried about the republic and democracy in my country.

Morning Update (0630 GMT): We have a special feature on the American academic Kian Tajbakhsh, detained now for almost a month in the post-election crisis, but The New York Times updates this morning on the three American hikers who have fallen foul of Iran's authorities:

The identities of the three young Americans arrested by Iran last week while hiking near the country’s border with Iraq were confirmed Monday by Kurdish officials, who said they were planning to meet for a second time with their Iranian counterparts to discuss the case.

Swiss diplomats representing American interests in Iran, meanwhile, were trying to confirm the detentions with the Iranian Foreign Ministry and were seeking consular access to the detainees.

The newspaper Etemade Melli, associated with Mehdi Karroubi) has been warned by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, "Due to printing untruths and reports that place serious doubts on the legality of the 10th presidential election...the Ministry has given the newspaper a written warning." Those in charge of the newspaper are admonished to "remember to obey legal frameworks" and consider "what may or may not be to the advantage of the country and establishment" when they prepare their articles.

The deputy prosecutor of Tehran says that, when trials of almost 100 defendants resume after the Presidential inauguration, there will be legal representation: "On Thursday each of the accused will get an individual indictment.... and therefore they can introduce their attorneys to the court."