The Latest from Iran (6 February): Eyes on the Real Prize

2200 GMT: And The Pace Accelerates. Hard to keep up tonight --- Mehdi Karroubi's Etemade Melli party has now made another move for 22 Bahman, following up the cleric's declarations today with a list of proposals for reconciliation. We have posted them in a separate entry.

2100 GMT: An Extraordinary Offer? We have posted what we think might be a significant move by the "conservative opposition" to the President: an open letter to Mir Hossein Mousavi with the offer, "Back Khamenei and We Can Move Against Ahmadinejad".

1950 GMT: Another Attack on Ahmadinejad's Camp. Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani has effectively asked for the President's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, to be put on trial. Once again, the challenge is circulated through the pro-Rafsanjani Ayande News.

NEW Iran: The “Reconciliation” Proposals of Karroubi’s Etemade Melli Party
NEW Iran: “Conservative Opposition” Offer to Mousavi “Back Khamenei, We Sack Ahmadinejad”
NEW Iran Space Shocker: Turtle-Astronauts Defect to West
NEW Iran Document: Karroubi’s Open Letter for 22 Bahman (6 February)
NEW Iran: Quick! Look Over There! The Nuclear Distraction
NEW Iran Document: Iranian Journalists Write Their Overseas Colleagues About 22 Bahman
NEW The Netherlands: Court Throws Out Ban on Iranian Students
Latest Iran Video: Claimed Protest in Southern Iran (1 February)
Latest Iran Video: What Does the Iranian Public Really Think? (4 February)
Iran Analysis: The Missing Numbers in the Economy
The Latest from Iran (5 February): Into the Tunnel

1800 GMT: We're taking a break for a while, so we have posted a Saturday Special: "Iran's Turtle-Astronauts Defect to West".

1650 GMT: Not Us. Both Iran's head of police, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam and his Tehran counterpart Ahmad-Reza Radan have declared they had no role in the Kahrizak Prison scandal.

1645 GMT: A Less Upbeat Approach for 22 Bahman. The Kargozaran Party, fostered by Hashemi Rafsanjani in the 1990s, has put out a different, pessimistic criticism of the Government, noting that the revolutionaries of 1979 are either without hope or in jail. It states that these are difficult times for the country and the people, whose rights are ignored, and difficult times for political parties who are under pressure. They have restated Ayatollah Khomeini's slogan "Islamic Republic, not a word less or more".

1640 GMT: No Conciliation from Khamenei. Reformist websites are featuring the claim that the Supreme Leader turned down a request from Ayatollah Mousavi-Ardebili to free top Mousavi advisor Alireza Beheshti, saying that he would not interfere in the case and was leaving it to Iran's judiciary.

1630 GMT: For What It's Worth. I suspect that --- at this point --- this is no more than posture, but Iran's Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has announced that a second group of members of Parliament has sued Mir Hossein Mousavi.

And another warning from Sobh–e-Sadegh, the magazine of the Revolutionary Guard, which has condemned the Green movement leaders and asked them to repent before 22 Bahman or face being "confronted and punished harshly". (English-language summary)

1610 GMT: We have now posted Mehdi Karroubi's open letter, published today: "The common face of this movement is holding to the right to vote, free elections, a free press, the unconditional freedom of political prisoners, the reform of the work of governing and legislating and respect for the people’s civil rights."

1550 GMT: And From the Other Corner. After 72 hours of relative quiet, the "reformist" opposition has revved up today. Former President Mohammad Khatami has made another call for 22 Bahman (original in Parleman News):

We should not think that after the victory of the Islamic Revolution on 11 February everything is done, but the fact is that 11 February is only a beginning of the hard efforts of the people in order to achieve the goals and demands of the revolution.

Reform is nothing separate from this path and that is why we believe that it has deep roots and cannot be eliminated.

And here comes Mehdi Karroubi with a double declaration: we are about to post the full text of his latest statement on his website Saham News. Meanwhile, he has given an interview to the German magazine Der Spiegel, restating his defense of protest and condemnation of the Government in recent weeks:

The political prisoners must be set free, we need freedom of the press and freedom of assembly, our electoral law must be changed and a free election must take place. But then the current government would hardly be able to hold on to power.

1540 GMT: Now This is Getting Interesting (cont.): First there is Speaker of Parliament's Larijani assault on the President, then there is his deputy Mohammad Reza's Bahonar's criticism, as he warned Ahadminejad supporters, "At least for the sake of your own benefit do not condemn the previous Presidencies."

And there's more: Bahonar claimed that the Presidency of Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989-1997) was the "best and most productive time for the country since the Revolution". eras.

1525 GMT: Larijani Fights Back Against Ahmadinejad. Now this nuclear business is getting interesting. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, speaking at Tehran University, has put out a series of criticisms of talks on uranium enrichment: the claim of the "West" to be concerned about Iran's nuclear programme is just "political fraud"; its manoeuvres are “double-sided and prejudicial”; “Iranians are not so gullible" as to believe the negotiations are genuine.

A heads-up, however, to Western news agencies who headline: "Iran's Larijani Blasts West Over Nuclear Deal". It's not the West who is his primary target, but the one Iranian who is too "gullible" in this affair: a Mr. M. Ahmadinejad.

1205 GMT: Once Again, With Feeling. Iran's police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam has issued another warning that protest on 22 Bahman will be put down:

Now that the different dimensions of the sedition are clear, we won't show any more tolerance. Police will act firmly to defend the society's security and those who break the law will be dealt with severely.

Moghadam also returned to his declaration that Iran's police would take control of the Internet and mobile-phone texting to break the demonstrations: ""The new technologies allow us to identify conspirators and those who are violating the law, without having to control all people individually."

1155 GMT: Back in Iran. Ahh, here comes the fight-back on Ahmadinejad's nuclear move. Ayande News passes on the objections of the "hard-line" Kayhan to any swap of Iran's uranium stock outside the country.

1125 GMT: And the Sideshow. Almost all media are now jumping the nuclear cliff, jumping into the phase of "Western" reaction to Foreign Minister Mottaki's statement last night. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates takes the soundbite lead, "I don't have the sense we are close to an agreement" (watch to see if the Turks, whom Gates was meeting in Ankara, are as dismissive). The BBC adds more cold water from the German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, and the European Union's head of foreign policy, Catherine Ashton.

1010 GMT: The Main Event. Despite Iranian Foreign Manouchehr Mottaki's attempt to put attention on the nuclear issue (see separate entry) at the Munich Security Conference, the post-election crisis made the agenda during Mottaki's public discussion with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

Mottaki insisted that most Iranians accepted the result of the June Presidential election "except a very few people who started violations, who did crimes, who burned houses and buses and damaged anything in the streets". He challenged the audience, "Are you tolerant in your countries to violations and crimes?"

Bildt asked Mottaki for a promise that nine political prisoners condemned to death would not be executed ---"that would clearly have the most detrimental effect on the other aspects of the (EU-Iran) relationship" --- but Mottaki returned to the refrain of an 85 percent turnout in the election and an Ahmadinejad victory by 11 million votes. The remark brought hisses and boos from the audience.

(This exchange was noted by The Earth Times. We're still looking for a sign that Western "mainstream" media, led by the nuclear issue, have taken any notice. Meanwhile, credit to the German television station which did put forward questions on the internal situation, as well as the nuclear matter, to Mottaki in an interview.)

0945 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? We apologise: it's not all nukes for the Iranian Government today. President Ahmadinejad visited a girls' school today to declare that more than 1200 educational and sports projects have been launched around Iran.

0940 GMT: The Committee on Human Rights Reporters updates on prominent writer and literary critic Khalil Darmanki, detained for almost 40 days in ward 209 of Evin Prison.

0935 GMT: We've split off our first update --- noting the Iran Government's effort, using a "deal" on the uranium enrichment issue, to turn eyes away from the forthcoming 22 Bahman protests --- as a separate entry.

0925 GMT: The International Human Rights Campaign in Iran highlights the case of seven students arrested after a protest at Tehran University, condemning the execution of Ehsan Fattahian, on 16 November. The whereabouts of Pakhshan Azizi, Amanj Heidari, Leila Mohammadi, Ahmad Ismaili, Sarveh Veisi, Abdullah Arefi, and Hajhar Yousefi are still unknown. Sources say three of the students have been on hunger strike amidst torture, intimidation, and threats of rape by Ministry of Information agents.

0915 GMT: 40 Nobel Prize laureates have taken out an advertisement in The New York Times denouncing "the repression of the Iranian people" by the Ahmadinejad Government.

0855 GMT: No! Look Over Here! More from Iran's state media: Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi opened two new missile production plants on Saturday, just three days after Iran fired a rocket carrying live animals into space."

0840 GMT: Non-News of the Day (So Far). Despite heated and anxious rumours across the Internet, the regime did not carry out the executions of nine political prisoners (four pre-election, five post-election) sentenced to death for mohareb (war against God).

0835 GMT: Some of the News that the Iran Government Would Prefer You Not Notice. We've posted an open letter from Iranian journalists to their overseas colleagues, urging them to cover the most important stories --- rather than the State set-pieces --- on 22 Bahman (11 February).

Amnesty International has published a statement, "Unite for Human Rights in Iran on February 11th", declaring:

Since blogs and websites like Twitter and YouTube were virtually the only way the Iranian people could expose the horrific treatment being inflicted on them in the days following the contested Presidential election, we expect that Iranians will turn to the Internet once again to carry their messages. That is why we are asking everyone to show their solidarity online on February 11th – whether it’s on your blog, website, or social networking profile.

Iran Document: Karroubi's Open Letter for 22 Bahman (6 February)

UPDATE 2200 GMT: Tonight Karroubi's Etemade Melli party has issued a series of proposals for reconciliation. We have posted them in a separate entry.

From the Flying Carpet Institute, drawing from Karroubi's website Saham News:

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Great and proud nation of Iran:

Now that we are on the threshold of 22 Bahman (11 February) and the anniversary of the victory of the glorious Islamic Revolution led by the Imam, I consider it necessary, while commemorating this day and paying my respects to the martyrs who sought independence and freedom mingled with the Islamic Republic, to raise a few points with you, the rightful possessors of this Revolution, system, and country, as a minor servant who had an active presence throughout the ups and downs of this past half century, in the hope that the esteemed officials, especially those who are concerned about the system, would sensibly, justly, fairly, and refraining from the political favor or malice of currents or factions take note.

The Latest from Iran (6 February): Eyes on the Real Prize

In particular, Mehdi Karroubi, due to his age, is no longer in any condition to alter his behaviour for political reasons and to reach worldly post or rank or office. If I were after such a thing, I would have made reclusion my guide and abandoned the wild steed of Iranian politics and spoken no more of the people’s rights and what the realm and the people have suffered and passed my time pleased with the treasury of my memories, at ease and without fanfare and put up for sale my Islamic, Revolutionary, and popular accumulation of fifty years, providing myself with an easy life thereby and be respected by the lords of power.

But such behavior is far from gallantry and unfit for a Muslim and I consider my life and death to be bound up with Islam, Iran, and the people. I know Iran and the people. My greatest pride is that I have been and will remain a servant of God, a son of Iran, and a soldier of the people. Therefore, I not only consider silence and separation from the people and ignoring the national interest to be unjust, but, based on religious values and the lofty aspirations of the people and the Imam as manifested in the Constitution, I have and will continue to devoted myself to the defense of the people’s rights under the sharia and the law and their legitimate freedoms.

This is Mehdi Karroubi’s unshakable pledge to the great people of Iran. I now draw the attention of my dear brothers and sisters to a few important points.

1) We will all participate together, with strength and calm, in the procession for the anniversary of 22 Bahman, which is the commemoration of the manifestation of the noble people of Iran’s religious belief and national determination and a turning point in our country’s proud history. On this day, we will strive to demand the hope-inspiring achievements and aspirations, some of which have either been forgotten or perverted, with patience and firmness, refraining from violence in word or deed.

These legal demands are the people’s right, the promise made by the Islamic Republic in the revolution of 1978 and which today the people in power have concealed in the storage house of power. 22 Bahman, in a word, is the day of the people.

The martyr Ayatollah Modarres had these eloquent words to say about the oath between people and government which arose after the declaration of the next in line to the stewardship of the Prophet and the Immaculate Ones (the Shi'a Imams) who had a direct charge from God:

There is one case such as our times, when that ruler is from the people. In this case, his duty is to execute the instructions which the people give him, and any instruction, from improving the land to safeguarding the people of this nation.…The constitution is an instruction which the nation gives to that individual, and if that ruler does not act in accordance with it, he is an oppressor and a transgressor and must be deposed.

2) We are going to greet this year’s anniversary of 22 Bahman under circumstances in which the twin pillars of the republican and Islamic character of the system have come under severe question. The tenth presidential elections were accompanied by an engineering of the people’s votes. The answer to the people’s simple question in the great silent march of 25 Khordad (15 June), as well as those to come, “Where is my vote?” was met with violent repression, causing the walls of trust between the people and the government to collapse. This created the context in which Imam Khomeini’s inheritance and that which has been bought at the cost of the martyrs’ blood to be faced with its greatest difficulty of the last three decades.

The people knew well and the officials themselves have known that the solution to these difficulties was neither in covering the problem up, nor in torturing with brand and awl. The people should be taken seriously in issues facing the country and demanding their rights, and they should cooperate with the people for the sake of their demands and interests and well-being. Repressing, arresting, and the mass imprisonment of political activists, journalists and students and show trials, executions and harsh punishments and creating a police atmosphere is not an appropriate policy to deal with what has happened and is happening. Giving in to the nation’s demands and recognizing their rights is the way out of the current crisis.

I appeal to the great Sources of Emulation and the distinguished clergy and the centers or religious scholarship and all the credible figures and personalities, social, political, and cultural, as well as the great minds of the people out of concern, to come to the aid of Islam and the people by preparing realistic plans which shun pointless verbal sparring before it is too late. The splendid Sources of Emulation know that what is happening to this country, to this people today, whether we like it or not, is in the name of Islam and Shiism and the clergy. Therefore, everyone must defend Islam’s honor and the people’s rights to the extent of their abilities. Let those in charge, for their part, change their policies and know that neither our silence and retreat nor their threats and intimidation and violence will not solve the problem.

3) These days, the people, these rightful possessors of the revolution, are living in difficult circumstances for numerous reasons, including economic, political, security, and, above all, a lack of concern for their civil rights. Denying these conditions does not change the truth or reality, even though some call it a fitna (sedition) and others call it a crisis or attach other words to it.

One of the country’s biggest difficulties today is precisely the denial of difficulties or being satisfied with attaching different names to them. Their Excellencies not only try to ignore the problem and not accept it, but try to turn the bitter existing realities upside down through unworthy and childish analogies. Therefore, not a step is taken to deal with them. While they are perplexed as to how to administer the country’s simple affairs, they claim to administer the word’s affairs. The rising economic, cultural, political, and moral troubles have caused their allies and those with whom they are in agreement in the Majis to raise their voices and, despite the slogan, “Justice and kindness and service to God’s creatures,” there is galloping inequality and discrimination in society. Discrimination and government corruption have reached the point that, according to the latest international figures, our country has taken the significant fall to the rank of the 168th country in the world in this regard.

4) Regrettably, despite the teachings of Islam, society’s atmosphere is filled with pretention, sycophancy, lying, and widespread flattery. On the one hand there are the vile sycophants and on the other hand worthless extremists throw themselves in to field and restrict it for scholars and the learned and the sensible. The market for insult and slander and abuse has become so hot that the pillars of the system, the revolution and the Imam’s loyal friends, are not safe from it. Fools, with eyes closed and mouths open, in complete security, recklessly sell themselves as eulogists and, by spreading insults and slander, have made things difficult for the pure and the good, who have to take refuge in God because the marketplace is in such an uproar.

I recall that the Imam of the ommat, in order to protect the honor and station of everyone, was so careful with all his being that he not even tolerate well-known figures and the high-ranking being praised and would scream that the soul of man is prideful and rebellious, do not praise me lest I be tempted and believe it.

If we want a principled solution:

• We must pour dust into the mouths of the sycophantic praise singers and the hand and tongue and pen of the worthless violent people must be reformed and controlled and the marketplace of religion-selling and monopolism must be rejected.

• All the articles of the Constitution must be executed fully and the right of the electors and the elected must be taken from the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership so that the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the President obey them. The appalling innovation of the Guardian Council, which puts all Iranians, including prominent and well-known figures, to the blade of ratification must be abolished. The criterion must be nothing other than the nation’s vote and not cherry-picking or engineering the people’s votes on the basis of the tastes of a few elite. I am certain that the noble people of Iran, thanks to the religious atmosphere, will surely set upright, sound, committed, and expert people at the head of affairs.

• The unconditional release of political prisoners.

• An open environment for the press and the recognition of criticism and critics and the restoration of tranquility to the universities.

• The police atmosphere and the environment of terror and fear should be eliminated. This is not an atmosphere conducive to unity and cooperation.

It is a hundred times certain that in this case, there are many demands which the protest current will raise which it is keeping silent over out of its extreme sense of longsuffering. Beware lest those who want to all drag you into destroying the structure, this being what our opponents and the enemies of your peaceful movement want. Going in a violent atmosphere or being seized by an atmosphere which might be blamed on you and being an accomplice to behavior which is against your interests and agreements is what the illogical repressors want. Beware lest the agents of influence or foreigners infiltrate your ranks and damage your religious and moral and national values.

I officially declare that our friends and allies are asking about the measures and the results of the tenth presidential elections and the whereabouts of their votes. They are demanding their rights according to the sharia and the law with an emphasis on Islam and the system and the national interest, and this in silence and calm so that it could be reasonably asked of the agents of the execute, security, the police, and the media, “What have you done so that all this has happened and things have come to such a pass?”

To conclude, it is necessary that the dear people, and particularly the educated classes and the youth, note that what is unfolding in society today called a protest movement is not an all-encompassing ideology which has hard and fast boundaries and on which basis it selects people and takes responsibility for the behavior of all those present in it. This movement is not for the defense of a belief or a particular political or religious aim. Naturally, there are people in it who have various views and beliefs, each of which any one of us might agree or disagree with. The common face of this movement is holding to the right to vote, free elections, a free press, the unconditional freedom of political prisoners, the reform of the work of governing and legislating and respect for the people’s civil rights.

Indubitably, the raising of demands and deviation from the aforementioned goals will provide an excuse for the movement’s violent repression. Therefore I as an aging father submit to the dear youth and as a brother who has seen the world’s ups and downs and whose course is run submit to the old and middle-aged that raising any issues besides the just and legal ones is a deviation from the course and this is what the opponents of this movement and, in some cases, fits into their work with agents of influence.

In the hope of the day that the people of the government and power will bring sense and justice to bear and will prepare what the happiness of the leaders of Islam and the people of Iran require in the light of recognizing the people’s rights.

In concluding our appeal, praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.

Mehdi Karroubi
Feb 6, 2010

Iran: Quick! Look Over There! The Nuclear Distraction

Five days before 22 Bahman, the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution, but it appears the Ahmadinejad Government would prefer that folks look away.

Friday Prayers in Tehran, the last before the marches of 11 February, were very quiet, with the least-known of the prayer leaders (Emami Kashani) giving a relatively muted statement. And this morning, the State line is all Nukes, Nukes, Nukes.


CNN declares in excitement that Iranian Foreign Manouchehr Mottaki said Friday at an international security conference in Germany, "The amount of [Iran's] uranium [to be swapped abroad for higher-enriched uranium] is negotiable. But I am confident that a solution can be found." The New York Times trots alongside with more from Mottaki, “We are approaching a final agreement that can be accepted by all parties. I personally believe we have created conducive ground for such an exchange in the not very distant future."

This is not just a case of the Western media bigging-up a story and missing what is happening inside Iran. CNN took its lead from Press TV, which repeats on its website that Mottaki told the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, in a set-piece late-night meeting, "The most important point is the political will. Personally I feel this will is there." Equally important, Press TV has a second story, boosting Bildt's encouragement to Tehran to deal, "Go to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]. "Schedule a meeting as soon as possible according to what was agreed (at the Geneva meeting with the "5+1" powers) on October 1."

The Ahmadinejad Government's move is significant --- and coordinated --- enough for the Islamic Republic News Agency to get a quick story out on its English-language website (usually IRNA takes at least 24 hours to recycle stories from its Persian homepage), "Iranian FM upbeat on reaching a nuclear fuel swap deal."

Iran Document: Iranian Journalists Write Their Overseas Colleagues About 22 Bahman

Dear Fellow Journalists,

We are writing to those of you who have been invited to go to Iran in February 2010 to provide media coverage to the celebrations of the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution. We are a group of Iranian journalists who have been forced to live in exile. There are many others like us around the world, 45 of whom will be in Iranian prisons when you arrive in Tehran. They will be under torturous conditions in Iranian prisons that are, as you know, among the most hideous in the world.

As imprisoned or exiled journalists our crime is nothing other than our desire to report freely on events in Iran, as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides.

Since the electoral coup that took place in Iran last summer, the Iranian regime has intensified its suppression of press freedom this year and along with it is striving to remove the country’s peaceful movement through sophisticated suppressive means.


After failing for eight months to achieve its goals, the illegal and fraudulent government has now prepared a new show. We have received precise information that Ahmadinejad’s electoral coup-perpetrated administration is busy preparing to muster its own crowd in Tehran through the use of all possible means and the government’s extensive resources.

Its plan is, on one hand, to prevent the pro-Green Movement million strong group from approaching the location of the celebrations in Azadi circle in Tehran where Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to give a speech, while on the other, fill this area with pro-government demonstrators.

Inviting foreign journalists to provide media coverage of the anniversary of the 1979 revolution on February 11, 2010 is another part of the deceitful plan of Ahmadinejad’s illegal administration. As you know, this government has till now arrested many foreign journalists and accused them of being spies while banning the activities of most international media. Now, it is using them, through its invitation, so they can show the world that it is a government that enjoys popular support.

The goal of the Iranian government is to direct journalists towards the pro-government demonstrations and prevent them from going to other locale.

You are going to Iran not only as media representatives of the free world, but also as representatives of your Iranian fellow journalists who are either in prison or in exile outside Iran. Your host is a government that is anti freedom, anti free media, and one that practices the most basic human rights of people.

You will be stepping onto streets that still bear the blood of Iran’s best and the brightest. You must have seen the film that shows how Neda Soltani was murdered. This young woman is a symbol and representative of those who have been arrested, raped, tortured and murdered by Iran’s coup administration. While Neda and others like her were killed on the streets, there are hundreds of others who have been raped, tortured and murdered in dungeons, prisons or unknown places by this government.

We are providing you the names of Iranian journalists who are now in prison, based on the list prepared by Reporters Without Borders and request that you search for them and find them. Ask them and their prison wardens why are they in prison.

As you go to our country that is under a dictatorship not to be duped by the schemes of those who murder freedom.

We draw your attention to these points:

* Demonstrations will begin on the night of [before?] February 11. The Allaho Akbar cries that will fill the night in Iranian towns will be the cries of people’s protests and the start of the march of million green Iranians who will fill the streets at the invitation of Mohammad Khatami, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi.

* The main march will start from Enghelab street in east Tehran --- go through Imam Hossein Circle --- and end at Azadi Circle in west Tehran. The Passdaran Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) has already made plans to close the streets leading to Enghelab street and to crackdown people as a measure to prevent them from taking to these streets. The Green Movement should be visible around this route and all over Tehran and not only on the paths that pro-government demonstrators will be provided.

Like on other similar occasions, the coup government will attempt to control all the paths so that the only people that will come in view of your cameras will be the Basijis, who will present a caricature of the Iranian nation for your television cameras.

You will hear the protesting voice of the Iranian people clearer than ever if you look beyond the fences, cordons, and barriers and look at the real people of Iran.

We are confident that you will push aside the bloody hands of the coup perpetrators and that you will shake the hands of the suffered people of Iran. You are going to a historic trip. We will see you off with our hearts filled with dreams of freedom and eyes filled with tears.

We look forward to seeing the leading media headline in February 2010 be: “The Victory of a Nation”.

Do not be fooled by the deceptions of your hosts, look at everything that is worth looking at, expose their shows, and listen to the true calls of the Iranian people. And on this historic trip relay and report the innocence of the Iranian people. This is the expectation that your suffering fellow journalists have of you.

Nazi Azima, Samnak Aghai, Houshang Asadi, Nooshabeh Amiri,Asieh Amini, Farahmand Alipour, Shabnam Azar, Fariba Amini, Maryam Aghvami, Nima Amini, Massoud Behnoud, Arash Bahmani, Maziar Bahari, Babak Dad, Farzaneh Bazrpour, Hadi Ebrahimi, Pouyan Fakhrai, Farshid Faryabi, Fereshteh Ghazi, Maryam Ghavami, Saghi Ghahraman, Massoud Ghoraishi, Arash Ghafouri, Manouchehr Honarmand, Linda Hosseininejad, Vahid Jahanzadeh, Nikahang Kowsar, Maliheh Mohamadi, Javad Montazeri, Roozbeh Mirebrahimi, Mehdi Mohseni, Searajedin Mirdamadi, Hanif Mazroui, Ebrahim Nabavi, Javad Moghimi, Alireza Noorizadeh, Nahid Pilvar, Shahram Rafizadeh, Bahram Rafizadeh, Saman Rasoolpoor, Khosrow Raesi, Ferydon Shaibani, Mohamad Sefriyan, Beniamin Sadr, Vida Same, Mohamad Tajdolati, Hamed Yousefi….

Today on EA - 5 February 2010

Iran: We wonder whether Iran is entering a tunnel in the run-up to 22  Bahman (11 February, the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution) with an escalation of arrests and reports of detentions of family members of activists. Persian2English has posted a list of 56 political prisoners at risk of execution. At Friday prayers Ayatollah Kashani repeated his "unveiled threat" to protesters not to ruin 22 Bahman "for the rest of us".

Persian2English reported that more than a thousand relatives of detainees gathered outside Evin Prison to commemorate Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning after the religious occasion of Ashura. Demonstrators offered prayers and chanted “Allahu Akhbar (God is great)”.

The grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, has written to the head of Iran Broadcasting to complain about the “censoring” of his grandfather’s speech. Ayatollah Khomeini’s words have allegedly been adjusted to present a more favourable view of the Government in the run-up to the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution.

Two high profile detainees (Hassan Rassouli and Abolfazl Ghadiani) were released on Thursday night on bail.

Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has issued a statement demanding the freeing of all political prisoners before 22 Bahman.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has issued a forceful statement on his blog on the post-election crisis, supporting protesters' calls for human rights, democracy and the fundamental freedoms which "are not western prerogatives, but universal rights to which we are all entitled".

We have new claimed video of protests in the southern city of Lars from Monday to Thursday.

Although one website (the students at Amir Kabir University) remains down,  a new Green website Mizan Khabar, has been launched.

An Italian company has announced it will cease trading with Iran. We note with derision one American commentator's agitated video "rant" about Iran's rocket launch.  Another video post shows the damage and injuries caused during the siege at Qoba Mosque in Shiraz yesterday.

All the latest news, with links to our stories and other news media sites, can be found in our live weblog.

Afghanistan: We've posted Anand Gopal's moving article for TomDispatch, which tells the story of a young government employee to open eyes to America's secret prisons in Afghanistan.

Israel and Syria: Israeli and Syrian officials have issued conflicting statements on the chances of an immediate peace between the two countries.