Tuesday
Aug102010
The Latest from Iran (10 August): An End to the Hunger Strike?
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 10:56 
1400 GMT: Let's Keep Trying This Foreign Overthrow (and Drugs to Our Schoolchildren) Shtick. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, may have taken some criticism for claiming a US-Saudi $51 billion plot, through the Iranian opposition, for regime change, but that hasn't fazed Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi.
Moslehi said Monday that foreign powers had invested $17 billion in unrest after the 2009 Presidential election. He put this in the context of a long-term campaign, "In the past 25 years, more than 80 centres and institutions for soft war have been founded and around $2 billion has been spent on them annually."
The minister said enemy methods included "fuelling ethnic and religious sensitivities especially in border areas,...(and) efforts to spread delinquency among students through satellite [channels], the Internet, (and) vulgar books", corrupting Iran's education system.
And there was more, Moslehi warned: evidence pointed to large-scale and costly efforts to wage "soft war" in the country by distributing dugs among schoolchildren.
1300 GMT: The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center has issued its latest report, examining the Iranian Government's effort to dismantle the women's rights movement.
1220 GMT: The Human Rights Lawyer. Persian2English has posted the translation of a Voice of America interview with lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei, who has fled Iran and is now in Norway. An extract:
VOA Correspondent: Why did you leave Iran?
Mostafaei: I never wanted to leave Iran. Any time someone wanted to leave Iran, I always objected and told them that there is nowhere better to work than Iran. Unfortunately [the regime] created an atmosphere for me that made me unable to fulfil my duty, but even this was bearable. What made me decide to leave Iran is solely the illegal actions of the interrogator in Branch 2 of the Shahid Moghaddas investigations office [in Evin Prison]. He illegally ordered the arrest of my wife [Fereshteh Halimi] and a bail amount of approximately $6,000. She was thrown into solitary confinement and was not set to be released until I was turned in. They held her captive for fourteen days. [The illegal processes] made be decide to leave the place I belong to and begin the difficult [journey] to another country.
1210 GMT: The Hunger Strike. Student activist Majid Tavakoli, who was said to have lost consciousness while on hunger strike, is reportedly out of critical condition.
0925 GMT: More from VP Rahimi, International Affairs Expert. Ali Akbar Dareini offers this correction to our report yesterday on 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi's diatribe --- he called Australians a "bunch of cattlemen", not shepherds --- and adds this substantial point....
"To fight sanctions, we will remove the dollar and euro from our foreign exchange basket and will replace them with (the Iranian) rial and the currency of any country cooperating with us," Rahimi said. "We consider these currencies (dollar and euro) dirty and won't sell oil in dollar and euro."
The Iranian Government has said recently that it would trade in currencies like the dirham (United Arab Emirates), but it is unclear whether trading partners will be receptive to the idea.
Rahimi also said, "We will increase tariffs by 200 percent. We will hike it so much so that no one will be able to buy foreign goods. We should not buy the products of our enemies. Students can force their parents not to buy foreign goods."
0910 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi may have granted a concession that contributed to the end of the Evin Prison hunger strike; however, according to Rah-e-Sabz, he remains defiant on other fronts.
Doulatabadi reportedly said the news from prisons is "total lies", as Iran's jails are acting completely within the law. Claims such as that of an "honour assault" on Alireza Tajik are "inventions".
Doulatabadi may want to consider the testimony of 17-year-old Ali Niknam, who claims he was abused by Revolutionary Guard intelligence officers after his arrest on 2 November: “The signs of electrical shock were visible on my shoulder, stomach, and kidney area and I suffered from bloody bowels and urine for days after my release.”
0910 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Reports indicate that Japan may consider cutting crude oil imports from Iran, having approved new sanctions in line with June's UN Security Council resolution. Tokyo, following meetings with US officials, has added 40 companies and an individual to a blacklist for freezing of assets.
0900 GMT: The Vice President Talks World Politics (Again). It looks like 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi has decided to step up and become the Government's international affairs spokesman.
After his diatribe against the US, Australia, and "England", reported in yesterday's updates, Rahimi gets literary again, in a meeting told Iran's heads of education that "South Koreans need a slap in the face" for their imposition of sanctions on Tehran.
0710 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man. More criticism of Ahmadinejad Chief of Staff and brother-in-law Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai....
Ayatolllah Mesbah Yazdi, in a meeting with Revolutionary Guard commanders on Monday, said, "Those who put principles (maktab) of Iran shamelessly before maktab of Islam do not belong to us! We only support those who support Islam and are loyal to the Supreme Leader."
0705 GMT: The New Battle --- Another Larijani v. Ahmadinejad.
Voice of America picks up on our featured story from Monday, the criticism by Iran's head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
One Washington-based analyst, Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute, claims Ayatollah Khamenei is now involved: "The Supreme Leader is giving Ali Larijani the tools to stand up to the president."
0700 GMT: The claimed message from the political prisoners who have ended their hunger strike:
We will continue to insist on our human rights and the basic rights of all prisoners. We pledge to continue to fight until all prisoners who are part of our beloved nation gain access to their full legal rights.
0650 GMT: The Hunger Strike. Kalemeh is carrying the message of an "anonymous loyal support of the Greens" that all but one hunger striker has ended the protest. There are no further details.
Another website made the claim on Sunday. It is unclear whether the same anonymous source is behind both that report and Kalemeh's article.
0545 GMT: We begin today with two features and a disturbing piece of news.
In the features, Jon Lee Anderson of The New Yorker gets a 10-day visit to Iran and meets the public, with their discontent over the election, as well as President Ahmadinejad. And Arash Aramesh of insideIRAN writes about the audio that may point to Revolutionary Guard interference in the June 2009 election.
The news, from RAHANA, is that student activist Majid Tavakoli --- one of 16 or 17 political prisoners in Evin Prison --- has lost consciousness and is now in the prison infirmary.
More updates to follow...
tagged Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi, Ali Akbar Dareini, Ali Larijani, Ali Niknam, Alireza Tajik, Arash Aramesh, Australia, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Ayatollah Khameini, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, England, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Evin Prison, Heydar Moslehi, Iran, Japan, Jon Lee Anderson, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Majid Tavakoli, Mohammad Mostafaei, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Persian2English, RHANA, Sadegh Larijani, Shahid Moghaddas, South Korea, The New Yorker, United Arab Emirates, United Nations Security Council, United States, Voice of America, ah-e-Sabz in Middle East & Iran
Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi, Ali Akbar Dareini, Ali Larijani, Ali Niknam, Alireza Tajik, Arash Aramesh, Australia, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Ayatollah Khameini, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, England, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Evin Prison, Heydar Moslehi, Iran, Japan, Jon Lee Anderson, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Majid Tavakoli, Mohammad Mostafaei, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Persian2English, RHANA, Sadegh Larijani, Shahid Moghaddas, South Korea, The New Yorker, United Arab Emirates, United Nations Security Council, United States, Voice of America, ah-e-Sabz in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (36)
Majid Tavakoli is no longer in critical condition, Madyar reported on Twitter (unconfirmed). Our brave students!
Oh my god ! what a unsubtle behavor ! they are exaggerating !!!!
" Iran digging graves for US troops if they attack "
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_us_2" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_re_mi...
Hunger strike...of iranian people in Greece :
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100004_10/08/2010_118954" rel="nofollow">http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_p...
Yesterday I saw a documentary about them; it's a very terrible situation; when they arrive in Greece, they are directly carried to prison and it lasts few months before to be heard; one of them has had sewed lips not to eat and drink !
I ask all the leaders , all over the world, to help them; it's their rights and your obligations to give them asylum because they can't do anything else; they wish to go back to Iran after the change of political situation ; so you can give them a temporary asylum until this time ; thank you !
Leader Calls For Unity Among Muslim Nations
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=520244" rel="nofollow">http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php...
In other words, he calls for "Djihad" !!!
Physical and Psychological Torture: An Interview with an Iranian Refugee in Germany
29 year old Ali Kantoori is a supporter of the opposition in Iran. He fled his home country, first to Turkey, then to Germany. Two weeks ago he arrived in the Federal Republic. ARTE Journal met him for an interview.
http://persian2english.com/?p=13438" rel="nofollow">http://persian2english.com/?p=13438
OMID Advocates for Human Rights
Report on the Situation of Iranian Refugees in Turkey:
Post June 12th 2009 One Year Later
A publication of OMID Advocates for Human Rights
June 2010
http://www.omidadvocates.org/uploads/2/4/8/2/2482398/report_on_the_situation_of_iranian_refugees_post_june_12th_one_year_later.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.omidadvocates.org/uploads/2/4/8/2/24...
Good analysis of economic versus political effect sanctions against Iran can have by The Hindu
Take-away bit:
While Iran may be prepared to face the economic hardship, it is the political challenge posed by the sanctions that may make it uneasy. Notwithstanding the dismissive rhetoric, it is unlikely that Tehran would have missed the political signal sent by the sanctions — that the West may be running out of non-military options to curb its nuclear programme. The latest round of sanctions, in other words, may have brought war closer to Iran's doorstep than ever before.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article561231.ece?homepage=true" rel="nofollow">http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article561...
Economic crisis exacerbating the political crisis in Iran
Former Iranian President Abolhassan Bani Sadr, who lives in exile in Paris, says the deteriorating Iranian economy is exacerbating Mr. Ahmadinejad's struggle with other top leaders.
Iranian-born analyst Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute in Washington also says Iran's political quarrels are likely to make things more difficult for U.S. President Barack Obama to achieve a possible rapprochement with Tehran.
(See second 1/2 of article) http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Tensions-Escalate-Among-Top-Iranian-Leaders-100284629.html" rel="nofollow">http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-eas...
Steve Clemons in The Washington Note has an opinion/analysis piece in which he argues against Denii Ross & Co. that 'Israel/Palestine and Iran: Linkage Should be Hard Wired by Obama Team'
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2010/08/israelpalestine_2/" rel="nofollow">http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2010/...
Football Watch
After changing headgear, Iranian football girls finally made it to Youth Olympiad in Singapore: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Sport/Story/STIStory_564220.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Sport/...
Bacheha hamleh konid!
Barry,
Re: 0925 GMT: More from VP Rahimi
Please accept my apologies for the remarks of this idiot!
Missing the cute kangaroo ;-)
Regards,
Arshama
Iran plans help to Lebanon army, as U.S. blocks aid :
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100810/wl_nm/us_lebanon_army_iran_1" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100810/wl_nm/us_le...
Is , our skillful president, heading our country in the wrong way ?? are, the other rulers in our country, deaf and blind ?? au secours !! help !
"A new popular opinion survey conducted by ISPA, Iranian Students’ Polling Agency, shows that residents of Tehran believe that the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been unsuccessful in moving forward Iran’s nuclear case and in selling the government’s message to the public." Arash Aramesh on Inside Iran: http://www.insideiran.org/featured/poll-favorable-opinion-among-iranians-on-nuclear-program-declines/" rel="nofollow">http://www.insideiran.org/featured/poll-favorab...
More bites: "What is interesting is the level of distrust of foreigners in this poll. The majority of respondents do not believe that Turkey and Brazil are reliable partners for Iran."
"There is also a sense of apathy that comes across in this poll. On a number of questions, over 20 percent of respondents said they did not know anything about the case."
Activists report commotion in Iran capital: Saturday night, government opponents set fire to a large garbage bin in Qazvin Street in Tehran, activists say. Security forces arrived at the scene after the bin was completely burned. The same day and on Friday, activists continued their campaign of writing political graffiti on walls. Slogans included: "Death to Khamenei" (Iran's Supreme Leader), "death to the principle of the velayat-e faqih", "support international sanctions".
http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21360:activists-report-commotion-in-iran-capital&catid=32:tehran-grapevine&Itemid=47" rel="nofollow">http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=co...
For what it's worth: this section on Iran Focus is called "Tehran Grapevine"...
RE 09.25: Cattle... "Some of the funds allocated in the Iranian government’s budget for the purchase of livestock from abroad have gone missing and are believed to have been stolen by government officials, Iran Focus has learnt." - "A senior source in the Ministry of Agriculture has told Iran Focus that the money has been pocketed by officials in the ministry linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The officials have purchased sick cows from Venezuela at very low prices - or “practically free” as the source says - stealing the rest of the money set aside in the budget."
An 'exclusive' by http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21359:exclusive-sick-livestock-imported-budget-diverted-in-iran-ministry&catid=29:exclusive-reports&Itemid=42" rel="nofollow">http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=co...
"The willingness by a senior source in the ministry to provide the information indicates a high level of tension among top officials in this and other ministries."
"Brazil formalizes asylum offer for Iranian woman sentenced to stoning": CNN. Hmmm, after having been called 'too emotional' and 'not informed enough' by the Iranian side, president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva apparently still wants to save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Interesting... End of a lovely friendship?
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/10/brazil.stoning.asylum/index.html?section=cnn_latest#fbid=X-9bZXLJlyS&wom=false" rel="nofollow">http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/10/b...
Hi Mike,
This is my long promised piece on the current conflict in Kurdistan. It talks about how the Kurds are, once again, in the crossfire in an international battle for political influence in the region as the U.S. draws down in Iraq.
Kurds and the Way to Peace - A Quiet War in Northern Iraq http://www.dissectednews.com/2010/08/kurds-and-the-way-to-peace.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.dissectednews.com/2010/08/kurds-and-...
I have heard in VOA or in the daily statement of Mr sazegara ( I have forgotten) that in fact, usually, they don't request a permission to execute the prisoners, but with all international pressures about people executed in Iran, he wanted to see if he was right to kill them !
Iran set to execute 18 year old on false charge of sodomy :
Ebrahim Hamidi, who is not gay, was sentenced to death for lavat, or sodomy, on the basis of "judge's knowledge", a legal loophole that allows for subjective judicial rulings where there is no conclusive evidence.
Hamidi had been represented by human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei, who has since been forced to flee Iran after bringing to international attention the case of another of his clients, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=11098" rel="nofollow">http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?...
"Iran Forces' Chief of Staff Criticizes Ahmadinejad Aide Over Islam Remarks". Ali Sheikholeslami reports for Bloomberg that General Hassan Firouzabadi, said comments by Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei that suggested Iran was superior among the world’s Muslim countries were a “crime against national security.” Mashaei said yesterday that “without Iran, Islam would be lost,” according to Mehr news. “Countries are scared of Iran, because the truth of Islam is here,” the aide said." (...)
“Talking of an Iranian school of thought is divisive for the Muslim world,” Firouzabadi was cited as saying today by the state-run Fars news agency in response to Rahim-Mashaei’s remarks."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-10/iran-forces-chief-of-staff-criticizes-ahmadinejad-aide-over-islam-remarks.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-10/iran-f...
Iranian’s fingerprints match in Chechen leader’s murder: expert
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2010/August/theuae_August308.xml§ion=theuae&col=" rel="nofollow">http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?...
What a surprise !
We have already seen about this subject, but it's intresting what has AN said to Jon Lee Anderson ( the New Yorker ):
When the interview turned to internal politics, Ahmadinejad denied the numerous reports about his government's repression of reformists, journalists, and human-rights activists. "One of the problems of the leaders of the West is their lack of information about the issues of the world," he said. "Show me a country in the West where eighty-five per cent of the people participate in Presidential elections! There aren't any! Iran is the record-holder in democracy. ... Today you can see that all my rivals and the so-called 'opposition' are free." He compared the violence against the Green Movement's demonstrators with the unrest at the recent G-20 summit. "If someone sets fire to a car or a building in America, what will they do to him?" He said he had been "shocked" by TV images showing riot police beating demonstrators, "all because they were against the failure of the West's economic policies." He told me, with an earnest look, "Iran would never behave in that way toward people."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/08/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-in-conversation/61260/" rel="nofollow">http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archiv...
Mr AN, people in the world are not stupid; you have been insulting people of the whole planet !
Interesting history :
Sole Survivor: A Kurdish Rebel and the Strength of the Iranian Regime:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/08/sole-survivor-a-kurdish-rebel-and-the-strength-of-the-iranian-regime/61213/" rel="nofollow">http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archiv...
He has said, "the PJAK threat was an asymmetric one, with some of the traits that have confounded the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran has crushed it most severely. The defeat seems to me another piece of evidence that the Iranian state remains robust, with a functioning immune system that destroys its internal enemies efficiently, and that shouldn't be underestimated by those who think anything as simple as Twitter-mobs will bring it down. "
Media Watch
Turkish Section of GVF launched! http://www.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/aug/10/6201" rel="nofollow">http://www.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/aug/... (FA)
Executions Watch
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday called on Iran to release all political prisoners and expressed alarm about the fate of several specific detainees.
Clinton said the U.S. believes that several Iranians are in danger of imminent execution for speaking out against the disputed June 2009 presidential election. She named three: Jafar Kazemi, Mohammad Haj Aghaei and Javad Lari. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_iran" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_go_ca...