The Latest from Iran (6 November): A Flaw in the Script

2025 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish activist Ahmad Baab has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

1700 GMT: A "Tribute" to Ahmadinejad. A crowd in Shiraz, led by a chanter in call-and-response, offer a rhythmic satire on the achievements and poses of the President: "Mahmoud has made himself look ridiculous". The video, according to Le Monde, was shot around 1 November.

1655 GMT: Execution Watch. The conservative newspaper Alef, linked to high-profile MP Ahmad Tavakoli, has criticised the stoning sentence against condemned adultresss Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.

The article only uses Ashtiani's initials, but a photo on Alef's homepage --- with protest posters featuring Sakineh's image --- leaves no doubt.

1430 GMT: Supreme Leader Tries Again in Qom. Mehr reports that Ayatollah Khamenei met Ayatollahs Nouri-Hamedani, Makarem-Shirazi, and Sobhani yesterday.

1420 GMT: Labour Front. Two groups of retired workers have held protests in front of the Parliament.

1330 GMT: The End of Dialogue, the Resumption of Dialogue. After the blocking of the website of Mohammad Khatami by Iranian authorities (see 0740 GMT), news comes through that the site of the former President's Baran Foundation has been filtered.

In contrast, Grand Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani has used Facebook and Google Talk to discuss religious issues with his supporters.

The 90-minute conversation took place on Thursday, covering questions about the Prophet Mohammad and other religious figures and about the role of clerics “in the piety and religiousness of the youth”.

The website of Ayatollah Zanjani was blocked by Iranian authorities last month. The cleric responded that "in the age of information," no one can halt people's sources of information and knowledge.

1050 GMT: Economy Watch. Khabar reports that Iran's textile industry is on the verge of collapse: exports are down from $60 million during the first half of 2009 to $37 million this year.

1020 GMT: The Medical University. This could be quite an admission: Minister of Health Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, under pressure over the closure of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, says the order came from President Ahmadinejad's office through the Vice President for "Human Resource Management and Development".

0755 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rah-e-Sabz publishes the prison diary of former Deputy Foreign Minister Mohsen Aminzadeh, who was arrested just after the June 2009 election and later sentenced to six years in prison.

0750 GMT: The Medical University. Peyke Iran posts an open letter from 90 academic staff to President Ahmadinejad demanding the reopening of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

0740 GMT: CyberWatch. Mohammad Akbar Akbarin, the General Secretary of the Society of Seminary Students following the Imam’s Line, has warned that the blocking of former President Mohammad Khatami's website inside Iran marks "the end of dialogue".

0720 GMT: All is Forgiven. More on an apparent reconciliation within the establishment....

Abdolhossein Ruholamini, a leading conservative and father of the slain protestor Mohsen Ruholamini, has told students, “Fortunately, the (political) climate is becoming calm again and the political vitality is being restored.”

For months, Ruholamini had demanded accountability over which leading figures had been responsible for post-election abuses in Kahrizak detention centre, where his son was beaten and killed last summer.

It appeared that the shift in position is linked to moves for reconciliation and unity within Iran's political system: Ruholamini said it was unfair to boycott a large group of loyalists to the system who have differing views, refusing to give space to their opinions. Healso advised political groups against taking extremist actions.

0715 GMT: Bad Britain, Not-So-Bad Britain. We begin this morning with a humourous postscript to the regime's show on Thursday, during the commemorations of 13 Aban, with Britain as Evil Villain.

The display, which included students protesting in front of the British Embassy and state media's pronouncement that London had been supporting captured terrorists, apparently took place while Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani was inviting Jack Straw, the former Leader of the House of Commons, to Iran.

This was a complication for the regime line --- or, alternatively, an opportunity for Larijani's political foes to take advantage. So other Iranian politicians have called on the Speaker to apologise while Larijani's Khabar Online is vigorously denying that any invitation was ever extended.