Iran Breaking: Karroubi on Election Fraud; House Surrounded by Pro-Regime Crowd

UPDATE 1725 GMT: There appears to be a nasty escalation in tension. Fars News has declared that the Karroubi house is hosting meetings of plotters for "sedition". Karroubi's Saham News reports that the house has been surrounded by 50 "plainsclothes forces", preventing the cleric from leaving to attend religious cermonies.

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Mehdi Karroubi's statement in a meeting with young reformists on the anniversary of the birth of Imam Hossein. Translation by Negar Irani:

During these gatherings, our discussions often revolve around the families of those imprisoned, those who were harmed, injured, and martyred after the elections last year.

It is lamentable and disheartening to speak of all the faceless and nameless individuals who have paid such a heavy price during this past year. Individuals about whom most of us still remain in the dark and even if any information has been provided, though inadvertently, little attention has been given to their plight and the difficulties they have had to endure....

The elections that took place last June with unprecedented joy and excitement by the public were turned into unimaginable events. Even now, one and a half years later [sic], in August of 2010, no matter where you are you only hear discussion of those who have been imprisoned and those who have been martyred. It is a pity that an election in which the people were demanding the results of their vote turned into this. We witnessed what they [the ruling government] did to our citizens, whether they were well known individuals or ordinary citizens....

Some claim that there has been fraud, while others insist the contrary. We however continue to state that not only was there election fraud, but more importantly this fraud was massive and widespread. In other words, it was not just around one or two million votes, it was extensive and the results of the elections were pre-determined before the vote took place. The results were rigged in order to show that one individual [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] had received 25 million votes, while another [Mir Hossein Mousavi] a few million, and a third [Karroubi] only three hundred thousand votes. They wanted the opposition to be defeated. We have sufficient evidence regarding this matter and given the opportunity we will discuss and clarify all the facts.

These gentlemen claim that the Guardian Council oversees this issue and will look into any claims of fraud and that we must pursue our complaints through legal channels. The problem, however, lies in the fact this body is unfortunately not impartial. It is clear to everyone that they have rejected all objectivity and as such are implicated in the betrayal of the people's votes. If the Guardian Council is indeed impartial, then why do they not allow for a face-to-face meeting? I request that they set up a meeting at the location of their choice, a university, a mosque, at the IRIB, in which representatives of the current ruling government are also present, so that we can prove that not only has there been fraud, but that the results were rigged and pre-determined. It goes without saying that independent journalists would have to be present in order to publish the outcome of such a debate so that the discussion that takes place would be reflected in an honest and forthright manner.

We will also prove that the oversight committee behaves in a defensive and vindictive manner while the executive branch is busy giving speeches and spending exorbitant amounts of money promoting their personal agenda and for their own personal gain; neither of which have remained impartial and fair when reformist groups have tried to voice their complaints."

Some of these gentlemen behave as though they are in daily contact with Gabriel, receiving divine revelations. I am perplexed at the extent to which individuals are affected by power and the level to which they can be selfish. I am bewildered at the extent to which religious individuals lie and deceive, turning their back on the truth and reality. I have been committed to religion, the clergy and the Islamic Republic for many years, always seeking to protect and defend the right of the people and unlike claims by some, I have no regrets and am proud of my behavior and my past.....

The people of our nation are those who are dissatisfied across our land, in our streets and neighborhoods in our bazaars and places of business. They express their dissatisfaction in a peaceful manner....

The incidents at Kahrizak [Prison, site of post-election abuses and killings] were a disgrace for the ruling government. We have spoken at length about the atrocities that took place at Kahrizak. Instead of looking into these grave incidents in a just and correct manner, they chose to attack those of us who spoke out against them. They eventually admitted that crimes were committed and even named three of those who had lost their lives as martyrs. What then of all the others that lost their lives on that day and the days that followed, were they not martyrs too?...

A high-ranking member in charge of security has made certain claims and allegations [ in a recent "leaked" audio pointing to repression of the opposition before and after the elections]. These honorable gentlemen [seven detained reformists] have in return written a letter officially announcing their complaint regarding these unproven claims. Do we resolve anything by arresting them and sending them back to jail? Isn't sending them back to jail just a reaction?

They won't even allow for a few people to gather in one place. They forbid funeral services and fasting ceremonies. All comings and goings and visitations are controlled. If they would provide a permit and allow for us to organize a march, everything would become apparent. They [the ruling government] don't even dare to allow for us to organize a gathering in a mosque as it will only further demonstrate the support and opinion of the people regarding the movement. They fear our presence amongst the people. They are fearful of our discussions with the public. They are fearful of the fact that we tell the truth. Despite this fear, due to today's technological advances and social media outlets, they are no longer able to censure the news and prevent the truth from being told.

I have witnessed several elections after the Imam [Khomeini]'s death, including 5 parliamentary elections (4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th parliaments), six presidential elections (2 during the formative years, 2 during the reform period, and 2 during the current government's rule, whose supposed ideals and service to Iran speaks for itself!). I have also witnessed, analyzed and been active in 3 election cycles in relation to the Assembly of Experts. It is my intent to demonstrate how 20 years after the death of Imam Khomeini, events were put in motion with the intent to suppress, leading us to our current unfortunate predicament.

The Latest from Iran (14 August): Returning to the Streets?

1800 GMT: Economy Watch. Kalemeh reports that the unemployment rate has risen across Iran by 3.5% since last spring. In 26 of the country's provinces, the average is now 14.6%.

1745 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Labour activist Pedram Nasrollahi has been sentenced to four months in prison for “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the system by joining the women’s council”.

Kurdish painter Mokhtar Houshmand, the secretary of the Marivan Society of Visual Arts, remains in prison after his detention order was renewed for a month. His family has reportedly been denied a meeting or talking with him on the phone. The family has also been prohibited from talking to the media.

1735 GMT: The Hunger Strike. Kalemeh reports that five political prisoners who recently ended a hunger strike were threatened by the director of Evin Prison to six months in solitary confinement. Those warned were journalists Ali Malihi, Bahman Ahmadi Amouie, Keyvan Samimi, and Kouhyar Goudarzi and Ashura protester Gholamhossein Arashi. 4 of them are journos, Arashi is a Ashura protester, severely beaten in prison.

1725 GMT: Spinning Bushehr. Washington has tried to convert the news that Russia will supply the fuel needed to make Iran's nuclear plant at Bushehr operational --- finally, after repeated delays --- into a case that Tehran does not need to carry out its own uranium enrichment.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "Russia is providing the fuel, and taking the fuel back out....(This) underscores that Iran does not need its own enrichment capability if its intentions, as it states, are for a peaceful nuclear program."

1510 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man (cont.). How significant is the movement against Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai? An EA correspondent summarises:

*Javan News --- connected with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps --- now quotes Hassan Firouzabadi, chief of the General Staff, Habibullah Asgarowladi, secretary of the "conservative" Front of the Followers of the Path of the Imam, Ayatollah Kaabi, a member of the Association of Teachers and Researchers of Qom, and Hojatoleslam Moe'tamed as condemning Rahim-Mashai's statements about "the school of Iran," which they call "nationalist" and a threat to the international and Islamist character of the Islamic Republic.

*Jomhouriye Eslami writes in an editorial that "support of higher authorities [Ahmadinejad] for Rahim-Mashai makes the situation worse".

*Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi: "Once more Mr. Mashaei has involved himself in discussions not worthy of him and has made wrong and unsuitable statements....It is not to the benefit of the regime, the office of the Presidency and the person of the President --- who has always been in the line of the leader and a supporter of religious foundations --- that his chief-of-staff engages in expert discussions about issues about which he is ignorant and harms his own dignity and those related to him even more."

*Alef News accuses Rahim-Mashai of "eclecticism" and condemns his statements about "human beings having the capacity to become God".

* MP Ali-Reza Zakani warns of a "new discord", likening Mashaei's statements with statements of former Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan "who confessed that his conflict with His Holiness the Imam [Khomeini] was that we want Islam for Iran, but the Imam wants Iran for Islam".

1420 GMT: Shutting Down Green Media. A week after it was launched, the website of the new Green channel, Rasa TV, has been filtered by the Ministry of Intelligence.

1410 GMT: Challenges to the President (cont.): MP Ahmad Tavakkoli has criticised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for disregarding the laws ratified by the Parliament and the Expediency Council.

Tavakkoli accused the president of intransigence, and said, “I am sorry that the president values his personal interpretation too much.”

MP Parviz Sorouri also criticized the President, “Any law that is ratified should be implemented. The president is not in a position to say whether a particular law is correct or not."

1230 GMT: But Those Other Friday Prayers Might Be A Problem....

Away from Ayatollah Jannati's Tehran Friday Prayer, trying to deflect attention from problems for the regime, other sermons point to, well, problems for the regime.

In Qom, Mohammad Saeedi indirectly criticised the President while bolstering Ayatollah Khamenei, saying someone who manages the country has to follow the Supreme Leader as the representative of Prophets. Saeedi declared everyone has to abide to the laws ratified by Parliament and approved by the Guardian Council.

Elsewhere, alongside condemnation of US sanctions and praise of Lebanon's Sayyed Hassan Nasrullah for his stand against Israel, there were attacks on the President because of his aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai's "Iran principle", placing Tehran as a source of emulation ahead of Islam. In Mashhad, Ahmad Alamolhoda said any ruling against the Supreme Leader is obsolete. In Kashan, Abdolnabi Namazi directly said Rahim-Mashai's presence disturbed the Iranian clerics and people.

1200 GMT: International Front. Not sure what to make of this....

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of Parliament's National Security Commission, claims that the Vienna group (US, France, Russia, International Atomic Energy Agency) has accepted the Iran-Brazil-Turkey statement on uranium enrichment, so there is no necessity for Brasilia and Ankara to join talks with the "5+1" powers of the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany.

1155 GMT: Put-Down of the Day? Khabar Online claims a large banner with President Ahmadinejad's picture was removed from the Qur'an exhibition at Tehran's Grand Mossalla.

1145 GMT: Oil Squeeze. Alireza Mir-Mohammad Sadeghi, the deputy to Minister of Oil Mirkazemi --- a target of Khabar Online for "wrong policies: --- has allegedly said that 12,000 oil managers are on the verge of retirement.

1045 GMT: Getting Jannati's Line Right. Press TV gives the proper spin to Friday's Friday Prayer by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, after recent difficulties over his speeches. Jannati, without re-stating the "$51 billion" coup allegation, warned against the discussions with the US:

You have forgotten what they (Americans) have done, you think they have changed…. They are the same….When they flash a green light it is [always] chicanery and a scam.

Jannati continued:

They think the Iranian people will give in under sanctions and adversities.…but the West's problem is that they do not know the Iranian nation and do not know who they are dealing with.

1025 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man. The conservative Resalat devotes its main article to the "unacceptable statements" of Ahmadinejad Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

The newspaper says the comments provide a welcome excuse for conservatives to attack the Government and demands, "Mr Ahmadinejad, let the passengers without a ticket get off the (Government) train!"

Key MP and Government critic Ali Motahari goes farther and harsher, claiming that the thinking of the President and his followers about Islam is like the Forghan group who killed his father, Ayatollah Motahari, in 1979.

Motahari alleged that Ahmadinejad's and Rahim-Mashai's ideas do not comply with Islam. According to the MP, the President is neither a conservative nor a reformist, but because he is supported by the Supreme Leader, other clerics support him as well.

The Motahari's call for resistance: a MP must decide by himself, not according to the Supreme Leader's opinion. He strengthens the demand with the regret that MPs should have protested clearly against the Kahrizak abuse and the allegation that Ahmadinejad's refusal to implement laws is a sign of dictatorship.

1015 GMT: Three Islamic Revolution Guards Corps soldiers have been killed in clashes with members of the Kurdish separatist group PJAK.

1000 GMT: More on the "Jannati Line". Alongside Ayatollah Jannati's appearance at Friday Prayers, there is support for him from Esmail Kowsari, deputy head of the National Security Council, who claims the Majlis was informed about the documents for Jannati's claim of the $51 billion US-Saudi-opposition coup plan. Kowsari says the proof is in the Ministry of Intelligence.

MP Zohreh Elahian, a member of Parliament's National Security Commission, claims the documents will be given to prosecutors.

0915 GMT: Challenging Ahmadinejad. Khabar Online devotes its "headline" news to an analysis by Professor Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, who criticises the President's foreign policy.

Mojtahedzadeh claims Iran's "turn to the East" led to damage to its nuclear energy programme, as Russia delayed completion of the Bushehr reactor, and to a quadrupline of imports from China.

(Last night, Voice of America claimed the cost to Iran of the Bushehr reactor was now close to $1 billion.)

The professor adds a significant comparison: during the Presidency of Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989-1997), the east-bound policy was advisable, but it has now led Iran "to this mess". Instead of battling with one set of foreign powers (US, Europen Union) and making advances to another (Russia, China), Tehran should follow a balanced policy towards all.

0455 GMT: Execution (Ashtiani) Watch. Human Rights Watch has condemned the treatment of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death for adultery and presented on national TV on Wednesday with her "confession".

HRW women's rights researcher Nadya Khalife said, “The men who run Iran apparently have no shame at all, first pronouncing the barbaric sentence of death by stoning and then resorting to a televised confession. Under the circumstances there is every reason to believe that this so-called confession was coerced."

0430 GMT: We begin this morning with a look to the future, provided by an EA correspondent:

Roughly 3 weeks to Qods Day and a lot of chatter, whether Mousavi and Karroubi will invite the people to protests.

Another idea is going to the streets on the 27th of every month in accordance with Article 27 of the Constitution, assuring freedom of assembly.

Qods (Jerusalem) Day is the annual commemoration of Palestine. Last September, opposition supporters used the occasion to press their demands publicly in one of the largest post-election rallies.

Meanwhile....

47 Baha’is Currently In Prison
Following the recnet sentencing of seven Baha’i leaders in Iran to 20 years in prison each, Diane Ala’i, the representative of the Baha’i International Community has said that there are currently 47 members of the Baha’i Faith are inside Iranian prisons.

According to Ala’i, the Baha’is are not facing charges of mohareb (enmity with God), which carry the death penalty. They are accused of “acting against national security”, “participating in illegal groups", and “propagating the Baha’i Faith”.

Ala'i added that the seven leaders have been moved from Evin Prison to Rajai Shahr Prison in Gohardasht, Karaj. Families have been able to visit the prisoners once every two weeks for 10 minutes. They are allowed to see male relatives one week and female relatives the next, so the entire family cannot meet at the same time.

Ala'I said the verdicts for the seven Baha’i leaders have not yet been served in writing.

Cyber-Challenge

The Persian 30mail site, which features news roundups, has launched a competition for IT specialists to write a programme feeding news from Green sites to e-mail accounts and mobiles in Iran. Programmers selected in the first round receive $1000, and the finalist wins another $4000.

The Latest from Iran (12 August): Prisoners, Confessions, and the "War Diversion"

1745 GMT: Bazaar Battle Continues. Ahmad Karimi Esfahani, the Secretary General of Islamic Bazaar Association has complained about the announcement of the Consumer Protection Organization that guilds have debts of $24 million, asking why government debts are not published.

Esfahani claimed the announcement Is meant to incite people against the Bazaar and said the vendors won't accept this slander --- guilds are not responsible for high prices, instead it is due to the mismanagement of government, which then tries to pass the blame.

1730 GMT: The Battle Within. Another challenge to the President, this time from the Ansar Hizbullah daily Yalthareth....

The newspaper notes that Ahmadinejad protested against a seven-month prison sentence for former IRIB chief Mohammad Jafar Behdad for slander against the Larijani brothers and Hashemi Rafsanjani and asks, "Would he do the same for a normal journalist if he had insulted the President? Would he defend a nobody?"

The newspaper continues, "For some justice has no meaning and they allow themselves to mock and humiliate judiciary, because they disagree with a court ruling."

Behdad is a member of the President's Council for Policy-making and Propagation.

1545 GMT: All the President's Men (cont.). The "conservative" Jomhooriye Eslami daily has attacked Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, declaring that his number of offices is unprecedented in the past 30 years and asserting that he has made stupid statements on every matter from heaven to earth, inciting the anger of the people and political figures.

The newspaper continued that, instead of Rahim-Mashai being disciplined, his superiors praise him and repeat his words, which makes the situation even worse. Jomhooriye Eslami says that such a person should be reminded once and for all that he should "talk in his own realm" and refrains from inciting protests amongst the people.

MP Gholam-Hossein Masoudi Reyhan has stated that 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi's words are "an insult to science and professors", criticising the Vice President's assertion that all Iranian universites are of poor quality.

1540 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Reformist Mohsen Safaei Farahani has declared that he will not withdraw his complaint over unjust and abusive treatment and will return to prison.

Farahani was arrested on June 20, 2009. Sentenced to five years in prison, he is currently on leave

1330 GMT: The Battle Within. A interesting summary, "The Clerics Turn Away; Iran in Fever" by R. Chimelli in Süddeutsche Zeitung last Friday:

The opposition movement has lost the battle on the streets. Organized demonstrations do not come about, because police, militia and thug forces are too powerful, and --– maybe more importantly --– because of the horrible accounts of torture and illegal detention centers, given by those arrested during the protests. Censorship has never been as repressive as today and reaches out to the print media as well as the internet. Iran’s most renowned journalists and its best-known student leader are currently on hunger strike in prison. Hardly noticed abroad, smaller or larger labor disputes are arising everywhere in the country, (but) union leaders like the head of Tehran’s bus driver union, Mansur Osanloo, have been jailed for several years....

However, Ahmadinejad and the spiritual leader Khamenei could not win people’s hearts or minds. There is not a single renowned writer, artist or filmmaker who would take sides with the country’s rulers. The regime is creating a climate of intellectual poverty, and more and more leading clerics are turning their backs to the regime --– sometimes so visibly that they are answered with violent attacks.

Chimelli notes the significant incident --- which we covered closely on EA --- where the Supreme Leader's office approached Grand Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi for the "I am the Rule of the Prophet" fatwa. (Makarem-Shirazi declined, unless Ayatollah Khamenei put the pronouncement in the form of an answer to a question from a follower.)

1300 GMT: Britain Does Not Recognise Foreign Affairs Greatness of 1st VP Rahimi. This week we have been noting the emergence of 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi as a commentator on international relations and events.

Unfortunately, it seems there is one observer who has failed to give due regard to this. The UK Ambassador to Iran, Simon Gass, said comments about the English as “a bunch of thick people” were “illogical and worthless” and showed “a lack of respect for human dignity”.

Mr Rahimi, in a speech on Monday, called Australians “a bunch of cattlemen” and said South Koreans should be “smacked in the face until they become human”. But his finest remarks were reserved for the land of Queen Elizabeth II:

England has nothing. Its inhabitants are not human, its officials are not responsible, and it doesn’t even have any natural resources. [They are] a bunch of thick people ruled by a mafia. They have plundered the world in the last 500 years and the young lad in charge now is even more stupid than his predecessor.

1200 GMT: Karroubi Watch. More from Mehdi Karroubi's e-mail interview with The Guardian of London:

Karroubi said he believed the Green movement had not been defeated: "It's no longer possible for the opposition movement to pour out en masse into the streets ….But we also do not think it's necessary any more to do this....People were out in the streets to inform the world of what is really happening inside Iran, and they succeeded in doing so. Now the world knows what is the problem in Iran."

Karroubi added his conception of the Islamic Republic: "I should make it clear that we are a reformist movement, not a revolutionary one … We are seeking nothing more than a free election."

The cleric, asked about the notion of leadership in the opposition responded, "In my opinion, it's an advantage that no specific person is the leader. I think that the only reason the Green movement has not been stopped yet is because it doesn't have one leader or unified leadership. If it had, then by arresting that leader they could have controlled the whole movement."

1145 GMT: Mystery Solved. Last week non-Iranian heads were scratched over President Ahmadinejad's aphorism, in the middle of a speech to the Iranian diaspora conference, "The bogeyman snatched the boob."

Iranian commentators went as far as to suggest there might be a bit of Viagra in the water of Tehran's politicians, but Golnaz Esfandiari has offered the explanation, "The expression is one used by mothers in Iran when they are weaning their children off breast milk."

Thus, for an Ahmadinejad scoffing at Washington's efforts to punish Iran over its nuclear programme, "the bogeyman snatched the boob" from the Americans.

0930 GMT: All the President's Men (cont.). Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has brought Gholamhossein Elham, who failed to be re-appointed to the Guardian Council, back into government by naming him as his legal advisor.

An EA source says there is a rumour that Elham will soon replace the controversial Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai as Chief of Staff.

0825 GMT: All the President's Men.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has publicly defended his embattled aide, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai:

Mashai is the president’s Chief of Staff and I have full trust in him. The atmosphere of criticism is a necessity and nobody should be condemned for voicing his viewpoints and not every difference of opinion should lead to a fight.

And then this interesting twist, given that Iran's head of armed forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, said on Monday that Mashai’s remarks on Iran and Islam are a “crime against national security": Ahmadinejad claimed that the attacks against Mashaei are the work of “certain political groups" who are trying to undermine the government.

0805 GMT: Parliament v. Government. President Ahmadinejad has refused again to allocate $2 million for the Tehran metro.

The initial authorisation by the Parliament was refused by the Guardian Council. The Majlis passed the bill to the Expediency Council, which confirmed it, only to meet Ahmadinejad's refusal.

The President has now announced that he has reported "all critical issues" to the Supreme Leader, who has handed the matter back to the Guardian Council, which in turn has established a special group to solve the problems.

EA correspondent Ms Zahra analyses: "This is a bad situation for all. The Supreme Leader has proven that extant institutions are worth nothing and has put himself in opposition to the Majlis. The Majlis will be a joke if the Guardian Council refuses again. The position of Hashemi Rafsanjani, as head of the Expediency Council, is weakened. Ahmadinejad is losing the support of hardline MPs."

0800 GMT: Karroubi's International Comment. Mehdi Karroubi has written, in an e-mail interview with The Guardian of London: "On the one hand, the government's mishandling of the economy has resulted in deep recession and increasing inflation inside the country... On the other hand, we have sanctions which are just strengthening the illegitimate government."

Karroubi added:

Look at Cuba and North Korea. Have sanctions brought democracy to their people? They have just made them more isolated and given them the opportunity to crack down on their opposition without bothering themselves about the international attention....Because Iran is getting more isolated, more and more they are becoming indifferent to what the world is thinking about them.

0745 GMT: Iran-US. Another signal from Washington that resumed talks with Tehran are being considered....

National Security Advisor James Jones has told CNN that President Obama may meet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad if discussions resume over Iran's nuclear programme: “Ultimately if we find a convergence of paths all things are possible.

Jones indicated that a gesture from Tehran over three Americans, detained for more than a year, would be helpful: “One thing they might do is return our three hikers. That would be an important gesture. It could lead to better relations.”

Barack Obama 'may be prepared to meet Iranian president’:

Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Gen James Jones, has indicated the President may be prepared to meet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad if the regime resumed negotiations over its nuclear programme. ...
However, in an interview with CNN, Gen Jones said “the door’s open” if the Iranians agree to resume talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency. When asked whether Mr Obama may meet the Iranian leader, Gen Jones said: “Ultimately if we find a convergence of paths all things are possible.
“One thing they might do is return our three hikers. That would be an important gesture. It could lead to better relations.” However, the President’s national security adviser said there would be “no point in a theatrical meeting.” It is unlikely that the Iranians will agree to the American’s demands as the regime has repeatedly circumvented previous attempts to rein in its nuclear programme.

0740 GMT: Execution (Ashtiani) Watch. Following Brazil's formal offer of asylum to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, condemned to death for adultery, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim has told a conference of university students, "Who can say that a humanitarian gesture won't be good for Iran, for its image in the world?"

0715 GMT: The Torture Files. Perisan2English has posted a translation of the report --- noted by EA earlier this week --- in Khodnevis of the files of 22 political prisoners, allegedly abused, delivered to the Supreme Leader.

According to Khodnevis' source, Khamenei rejected the claims in the letters, but after an agreement with Hashemi Rafsanjani, a five-person committee was set up to investigate the cases. Two former Ministers of Intelligence, Younesi and Mohseni-Ejei, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are among the members of the committee.

0650 GMT: Anything You Can Threaten, We Can Threaten Better....

Israel might have Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, but Iran has an array of media outlets for this week's posturing.

The naval commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Ali Fadavi, said Wednesday, “The IRGC’s navy is been fully positioned in Bandar Abbas (in southern Iran) and has the capability to carry out its assigned functions and can respond to threats of extra-regional enemies....The IRGC’s naval force will respond to naval-based enemy threats with full preparation and absolute force, striking the enemy from all positions and from all sides in case of war.”

Fadavi's declaration followed an announcement on Sunday by the Minister of Defence of the positioning of military equipment, including four submarines capable of launching missiles, at IRGC and army bases in southern Iran.

And he head of Iran's Joint Chief of Staff, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, responding to remarks by Admiral Mike Mullen, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: “Our foreign minister told Mr. Mike Mullen that if the US attacked Iran, it would be in worse shape than it is after its attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq. America will be finished if it attacks Iran. America is not in a good situation. It can neither tolerate the heavy costs (of another war) nor tolerate fighting against Iran’s Basiji heroes.”

0640 GMT: Mousavi Watch. Mir Hossein Mousavi has met with youth from Iran's provinces to discuss the social, economic, and political situation, including unemployment and the rise in drug addiction, as well as continued activism despite regime pressure.

Speaking about the recent hunger strike in Evin Prison, Mousavi said, “The meaningful and inspiring strike by prisoners will eventually shows its effective outcomes, and I’d like to congratulate these brave prisoners who ended their strike and witnessed its results.”

Mousavi asserted that the Green Movement had the capacity to resolve the “moral” concerns of the country: “We must remember that the social deviances are the results of the wrongdoings, flawed ways of thinking, and deceptive ways and lies created for the nation by the hardliners, and for this reason I believe that the supreme and honourable goals of the Green Movement can control the deviations [from the right path] in society."

Demanding the rights of assembly and protest, Mousavi said, “Neglecting parts of the Constitution, especially the nation’s rights, renders the rest of its articles as meaningless too. How can those who are not even prepared to mention, for once, the rights of citizens or the right of the people to control their own destiny, make any claim about the covenant between the people and the state? Violating this covenant will lead to the illegitimacy of the state."

0545 GMT: We begin this morning with three features.

EA's Josh Shahryar, writing in The Huffington Post assesses the significance of the recent hunger strike by political prisoners and its impact beyond the jail cells: "The Uprising Continues".

We have highlighted in a separate entry the Iranian regime's response to criticism of the death sentence for adultery imposed upon Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and the harassment of her lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei: putting Ashtiani on a prime-time national TV programme to "confess".

And Scott Lucas --- briefly, because there are more important matters to consider today --- takes apart the "analysis" that may well dominate US-based chatter today: Jeffrey Goldberg's lengthy projection of high-level Israeli opinion on a aerial attack on Iran.

The Latest from Iran (11 August): Coded Messages

1245 GMT: The President's Man. Definitely looks the battle within is escalating....

Ahmadinejad Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai has hit back at the criticism of Iran's military chief, General Hassan Firouzabadi, that the aide's remarks on Iran and Islam "are a crime against national security" (see 0650 GMT).

Rahim-Mashai announced in a meeting with IRIB managers and editors of state broadcasting that he will file a suit against Firouzabadi to enlighten the public: "I'm forced to follow these ugly accusations by judicial means."

1235 GMT: The Human Rights Lawyer (cont.). Mohammad Mostafaei has rejected the allegation of financial fraud, made by the Tehran Prosecutor General (see 0900 GMT): "If they want to sue me because of the accounts of my clients, they have to do the same with all marjah (senior clerics) who have charity accounts."

1210 GMT: MediaWatch. Green Voice of Freedom has launched a Turkish edition.

1200 GMT: The Hunger Strike: A relative has said Keyvan Samimi will continue his hunger strike in Evin Prison until the 15 who have taken food are transferred to "general" Ward 350. Families have still not been allowed to visit the detainees.

1145 GMT: More on "Election Manipulation" Revolutionary Guard Audio. A follow-up to our feature on Tuesday....

In an interview with Rah-e-Sabz, Alireza Alavi-Tabar assesses the divisions between "pragmatic" and "radical" hard-liners in light of the audio.

0945 GMT: Calling the Broadcaster to Account. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has launched a campaign against the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, accusing him of cooperation with Iran's intelligence service and violating human rights.

ICHRI's Hadi Ghaemi said Ezatollah Zarghami should be dismissed because he worked with Government interrogators in the production of televised confessions and trials and the "Fitna" (Sedition) series against leading opposition figures and activists, as well as the distortion of cases of post-election victims such as Neda Agha Soltan.

0925 GMT: Culture Corner. The Supreme Leader has reportedly cancelled conference on “Pursuit of Job Security and Social Welfare for Cinema Professionals”.



A prominent cinema director told Rooz, “Agents from the Intelligence Ministry have called for the cancellation of the gathering through threatening phone calls. Finally, they told us that the office of the Supreme Leader was against this gathering” and that, if the event went on as scheduled, it would be confronted harshly.

The Supreme Leader is not having much luck, however, with his recent proclamation against music.

Melody and Safoura Safavi, two sisters from the Iranian band Abjeez (Persian slang for sisters), have responded with less than enthusiasm. Safoura Safavi said, "I think it's -- I'm sorry to say this, to use this word -- but it's ridiculous. I mean, you can't prohibit something like music. And of course, it's a way to control because, in a way, saying that, it shows how strong the force of music is [in Iran]...."

0920 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Last week, there were reports that Farah Vazehan had been sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, a reliable source has told RAHANA that Vazehan has been sentenced to death for mohareb (war against God).

0900 GMT: The Human Rights Lawyer. Mohammad Mostafaei, the lawyer forced to flee Iran because of possible arrest, may be in Norway, but the Iranian authorities haven't forgotten him....

Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi has said that Mostafaei is accused of "financial fraud."

0830 GMT; Shortages and Violence. Rah-e-Sabz claims that people in Ahwaz in southern Iran are trying to stage protests in front of the Governor's office because of bad water, rising youth unemployment, and unpaid wages. A seven-member Government commission has been sent from Tehran to the port offices of Abadan and Khorramshahr amidst accusations of fraud and corruption.

Three days of clashes between security forces and residents in Dahdez in Khuzestan in southwestern Iran have allegedly killed seven people. The protests are over shortages and problems in basic services.

Turkey, despite claims of increasing supplies, reduced its gasoline exports to Iran by 73 percent in July, according to data from the Istanbul Exporters Association of Chemical Materials. Turkey supplied 2.5 percent of Iran's total gasoline needs during the month.

Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation has suspended auto exports to Iran indefinitely to avoid any potential repercussions in the US market. Toyota exported about 4,000 automobiles to Iran in 2008, but only 250 in 2009.

0840 GMT: Iran-US Talks? Set aside Ahmadinejad's rhetoric, and the interesting passage in his interview with The New Yorker is his renewed call for discussions with the US on regional issues in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Mixed, even confusing, signals continue from the Supreme Leader's office on the possibility. Former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, the foreign policy advisor to Ayatollah Khamenei, has denied a report that he "welcomes" nuclear talks with the US. However, Iran has never rejected talks, and "negotiations with other countries such as P5+1 member states (the US, Russia, France, Britain, China, plus Germany) and the Vienna group (the US, Russia, France, and the International Atomic Energy Agency) -will be carried out while considering the Islamic Republic's rights".

0710 GMT: Washington's Human Rights Intervention. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday called on Iran to release all political prisoners, expressing alarm about the fate of several specific detainees who are "in danger of imminent execution". She specifically named Jafar Kazemi, Mohammad Haj Aghaei, and Javad Lari.

0820 GMT: The Regime's Backfiring Culture of Fear. Writing in The National, Michael Theodoulou considers how the regime efforts to quash the opposition through allegations of foreign-supported regime change --- recently through the statements of the head of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati --- have run into difficulties.

0800 GMT: The Brazil Front. Brazil has accepted UN sanctions against Iran, despite concerns over measures and its proposal with Tehran and Turkey on talks over uranium enrichment.

Brasilia has also made a formal offer of asylum to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death for adultery.

0730 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Agence France Presse has picked up on the claimed ending of the hunger strike by 16 detainees in Evin Prison.

A Revolutionary Court has sentenced reformist journalist Badrolsadat Mofidi to six years in prison and banned her for five years from journalism. Mofidi was convicted of "conspiring to commit crimes and propaganda against the regime".

Mofidi, the secretary of the Iran Journalists Association, was imprisoned for more than five months after the June 2009 election before being released on bail.

A website has described the abuse of Kurdish activist Ahmad Bab, who was detained last September.

0705 GMT: Opposition Messages. Former President Mohammad Khatami, marking Nationalist Journalists' Day, has said that the real sedition in Iran is spreading awkward lies. He compared the rigged election to the CIA-backed coup of 1953 and declared, "We should learn from this oppression."

Mehdi Karroubi has issued a message for the holy month of Ramadan, "Let us pray to God to save our valiant prisoners, held by the rule of oppressors."

0700 GMT: Talking Tough. Former Revolutionary Guard commander General Hossein Kan'ani Moghadam has said that Iran has dug mass graves to bury U.S. soldiers in preparation for an American attack.

0650 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man. Hmm, this is getting interesting....

Khabar Online reports --- passing on news or making mischief? --- the alleged comment of Iran's head of armed forces, Brigadier General Hassan Firouzabadi that the remarks of Ahmadinejad Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai "are a crime against national security".

0620 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Uncoded Message. Meanwhile, Press TV and Khabar Online has picked up on the President's interview with The New Yorker, featured in EA yesterday.

Press headlines Ahmadinejad's claim, "US Worst Suppressor of Media, People", but adds his offer to “help bring the US out of the crises” it has created in Iraq and Afghanistan: “Iran is ready to help them, based on justice and respect....I hope there is someone with an ear among US politicians to understand this and brings no more deaths to the people in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as US soldiers.”

Khabar --- Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani's outlet --- features Ahmadinejad's claim that western politicians "have no idea about Iran" as "all my opponents are free". The President is also quoted as saying that Iran's people are friends of Jews, but Europe should take back its Jews, or give them a place in Alaska, the USA, or Canada.

0600 GMT: We begin this morning with several intriguing, if sometimes coded, messages.

The easiest to decipher is a letter from Mir Hossein Mousavi, issued last Thursday and now translated by Khordaad 88. Mousavi, referring to Iran's Constitutional Revolution in the early 20th century, makes clear that the "dictatorship" of authorities is not acceptable, even when it is carried out in the name of religion. We post the text in a separate entry.

We have also posted an analysis of a more mysterious intervention from former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. In a section of his memoirs which has "randomly" appeared on his website, Rafsanjani recalls how the first President of the Islamic Republic, Abolhassan Banisadr, was forced to step down. But could the passage also be a reference to Iran 30 years later?

And then an EA correspondent re-reads a statement by Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf on the recent "I am the Rule of the Prophet" fatwa by the Supreme Leader. Earlier this week we noted this as a defence of Ayatollah Khamenei amidst the pressure on him.

Our correspondent, however, thinks that Qalibaf may have amore complex message, supporting the Supreme Leader but also pointing out limits on his authority. He notes these passages from Qalibaf's interview:

In my view, the Exalted Supreme Leader is not articulating authorities that go beyond the boundaries of religious jurisprudence, and the ceiling for these authorities is the limits of the religious law (canon), the expediencies and the preservation of the Islamic system and public interests....

The meaning of this fatwa is that, if a person obeys and follows the Supreme Leader's governmental rulings but based on his own reasoning and personal understanding questions the correctness of those rulings, according to the Supreme leader's own fatwa we cannot accuse that person of being against velayat-eb faqih. In fact, the Supreme Leader has emphasized that the standard is not to embrace every view expressed by the Supreme Leader. We can only call a person anti-velayat-e faqih when that person opposes the vali-ye faqih's (i.e., the Supreme Leader's) governmental rulings, not when he does not subscribe to every view that is articulated by the Leader. This fatwa guarantees the rights of the citizen under the Islamic system. Therefore, a person who follows another source of emulation should only follow those fatwas that have been issued by that source of emulation....

With this fatwa, the Supreme Leader has in fact expanded the insiders' geography and gave it a greater depth....We now understand what the Supreme Leader means when he talks about the people who fall inside the system. We now understand and have become more convinced that his approach is one that is geared toward attracting the maximum number of individuals.

And Qalibaf also may have also had a message for those who tried to use the Supreme Leader's words to go after political opponents, inside as well as outside the Iranian system:

The same people who until today would accuse anyone that they wanted of being anti-velayat-e faqih (clerical authority)...were using that label as a political tool to strengthen or weaken other actors or eliminate them from the political scene altogether.

Iran Document: Mousavi on "Constitutional Monarchy" Movement

Mir Hossein's letter of 5 August, published in Rah-e-Sabz and translated by Khordaad 88:




We are marking the anniversary of the "Constitutional Monarchy" movement that has echoed the necessity to condition power for more than a hundred years.

Aside from demands for justice, freedom, and establishment of law, the placing of conditions on power is the result of our ancestors' struggle and self sacrifice. The institutions that rose with the movement were constrained by the so-called modernising movement of Reza Pahlavi [the next-to-last Shah of Iran] and finally stopped developing despite the many lives lost. The movement that put people first stopped, and the dark era of the first and second Pahlavis overshadowed the fundamental values of the movement. However, these values that came about with great sacrifice continued to live on through people’s continual struggle to free themselves from despotism and authoritarianism and through people’s inclinations toward freedom, justice, and their demand to control their own destiny.

The martyrdom of those like Sattar Khan, the General of the People, and the brave representative of people in the Parliament, Modarres, and the killings and imprisonment of many other freedom-seeking activists are facts in our history that can testify today how hard has it been on this path where people have never given up. The movements that later nationalized the oil industry, the Rising of People on the day of 5 June [1963], and the tight struggles of the two decades that followed all show that what was achieved in the movement to condition power 100 years ago did not fade away from the sight of people. Instead it has always been looked upon by the people in their struggles.

The victory of the Islamic Revolution with the leadership of Imam Khomeini in February 1979 was the result of 100 years of ups and downs of our nation in its history. Today, witnessing signs like chauvinism, escape from the rule of law, and establishment of lies instead of laws indicates that despotism is reproducing itself and that the path that we have walked has not achieved its aims yet.

Oppression is doomed to falsity whether it happens during the Nasser-al-Din Shah a 100 years ago, during the Pahlavi Dynasty, or during the Islamic Republic. Oppression during the Islamic Revolution is even worse and darker because it is committed though the name of Islam.

We all know how even in those early years during the "Constitutional Monarchy" movement, intellectuals and religious scholars considered religious despotism as the worst kind of despotism. The experience of the last 100 years and what went on during the last year indicates that, from among all the key concepts of the movement of "constitutional monarchy" like freedom, justice, and rule of law, the concept of the conditioning of power has the most important effect on our destinies.

Today our nation is constantly asked to obey the systems of power in the name of religion without any allusion to the right of people to control their own fate or any talk of the respect for the innate human dignity and the basic rights of citizens. There are no mentions of arguments like those of Imam [Khomeini]’s when he spoke with the utmost clarity in speech and logic about the rights of people to choose their own destinies....

Instead of answering to the atrocities they committed on the streets on days of 25 and 26 of June [2009] and the day of Ashura [27 December] and in the universities and prisons, insteading of responding as to why the evade the law, the authoritarians only seem to get angrier. They become more and more involved with violence, insulting and accusing others of lies. They close down the newspapers and turn the national television to their own tool for propaganda.

They create armies to fight the freedom available on the virtual space that has risen out of the creativity of our youth...They can’t even tolerate this last remaining hole in their wall to block freedom and they close it down against all the rules and laws.

If we look carefully, we would easily notice that today there are no obstacles in the way of development of despotism. That is why the "constitutional monarchy" movement teaches us that the most important tool that can condition power is the non-violent struggle that our nation has recently started. Some of the demands of the Green Movement clearly reveal this side of the resistance against despotism.

Rights like the right to free demonstrations, freedom of press, and acceptance of national pluralism are facing serious opposition by the authoritarians, because they clearly limit their illicit influence. Moreover, their reluctance to fully abide to the Constitution, demonstrates the extent of the difficulty for those in power to abandon their thrones and assume accountability to the public.

We all know that the first step in agreeing to implement the Constitution would be for the rulers to declare that they recognise the people’s right to choose their own destiny. To ignore such a right is in fact to turn one’s back on everything that the nation of Iran has accomplished, with great struggle, throughout the past 100 years, especially during the Islamic Revolution.

Among all of the demands and resolutions that would lead to the people’s sovereignty over their fate and entailing accountability and restrictions on power, laying the ground for a free and competitive election is the most important: an election that would not compromise our national legacies with the prohibitions of the Guardian Council and their illicit supervision. It is for this reason that anyone who believes in pluralism in Iran must campaign for a free and competitive election.