The Latest from Iran (12 September): Activist Nazar Ahari Freed

2240 GMT: Picture of the Day. Activist Shiva Nazar Ahari leaving Evin Prison tonight after she was freed on $500,000 bail. Nazar Ahari had been in detention since July 2009.

1915 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. EA contacts report that activist Shiva Nazar Ahari is free on $500,000 after 14 months in detention.

Human rights websites claimed this afternoon that Nazar Ahari had been released (see 1530 GMT), but there was uncertainty as to whether she had left Evin Prison. 

UPDATED Iran Breaking: Latest on Detained US Hiker Sarah Shourd Iran Analysis: Khamenei v. Ahmadinejad? (Sahimi) The Latest from Iran (11 September): Political Prisoners and Defiance

1900 GMT: The Battle Within. More on the letter sent by MP Ahmad Tavakoli, a key conservative critic of the Government, to President Ahmadinejad (see 1240 GMT)....

Tavakoli warned,“The president should not think that the Majlis will deal cautiously with the administration’s unlawful actions forever. Our caution is due to political considerations, but MPs will run out of patience."

The MP's latest dispute with Ahmadinejad is over the President's declaration of Saturday, the day after the end of Ramadan, as an extra holiday: “Based on what permission did you declare Saturday a holiday? According to the law, the parliament has the right to designate a day as a holiday.”

Tavakoli said the President had ignored the economic repercussions of his decision and that Ahmadinejad's overruling of the Majlis, which had decided not to declare a holiday, was illegal: “What message is conveyed to the society? Is undermining the Majlis and mocking its decision consistent with the oath you have taken to safeguard the Constitution?”

In line with other critics inside and outside Parliament, Tavakoli also claimed that Ahmadinejad's appointment of special envoys defied the Supreme Leader's injunction against "parallel actions" in foreign policy.

1850 GMT: Karroubi Watch. In an interview with Al-Arabiya, Mehdi Karroubi has declared, "We never thought this [repressive] atmosphere would be so dominant in our country."

Karroubi said that international sanctions against Iran would be ineffective, and he warned that a military attack on Tehran would only harm Iranians.

1845 GMT: President v. Foreign Ministry. Mohammad Karami-Rad, a member of Parliament's National Security Commission, has warned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that removal of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki from his post “is not a prudent step” and warned of a “serious reaction” by the Majlis if it occurred.

EA reported last week that Mottaki had attempted to resign over Ahmadinejad's naming of four special envoys, including his Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, for international affairs. The Supreme Leader subsequently chastised Ahmadinejad in public for "parallel actions" in foreign policy.

1830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mohammad Reza Razzaghi, Mir Hossein Mousavi's legal advisor, started a one-year sentence in Evin today.

1825 GMT: More Diplomatic Service. In another interview with the BBC, Hossein Alizadeh --- the Iranian diplomat in Finland who quit in sympathy with the opposition (see 0700 GMT), declares that he was working undercover for the Green Movement and that he has documents establishing that the 2009 Presidential election was rigged.

1815 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Committee of Human Right Reporters writes that bail has been revoked for journalist and activist Heshmat Tabarzadi at the request of the Ministry of Intelligence.

1530 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. It is being reported that prominent activist Shiva Nazar Ahari, detained since July 2009, has been released on $500,000 bail.

Activists say Nazar Ahari has not been freed yet, and her mother is waiting outside Evin Prison.

There have been claims that Nazar Ahari was facing a charge of "mohareb" (war against God), which carries the death penalty.

1523 GMT: Another Type of Protest. According to Fars News, Iranian students have announced that they will hold a protest against any burning of copies of the Koran in the US. The gathering on Monday will take place in front of the US interest section of the Swiss embassy in northern Tehran.

The demonstration has been called off even though the pastor of the small Florida church threatening the Koran-burning has called it off after intense public pressure, including denunciations from the US Government.

1520 GMT: Diplomatic Service. Hossein Alizadeh, the Counselor of the Iranian Embassy in Finland who has just resigned his post (see 0700 GMT), says other diplomats are ready to leave in support of the Iranian opposition.

1510 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Hassan Asadi Zeidabadi, a leading member of the alumini organisation Advar-e Tahkim Vahdat, has been sentenced to five years in prison. 

Zeidabadi was arrested in August 2009. 

Sina Parsian of the Pan-Iranian Party has been arrested in Shiraz. 

Parsian is the fourth party member detained this week.

1500 GMT: Sedition Watch. Iran's Deputy Attorney General, Nasser Seraj, quoted by Fars News, has said a file has been established "to deal with the crimes of the leaders of intrigue in Tehran.

1247 GMT: The Role of the Women. Writing in The Guardian of London, Peter Beaumont and Saeed Kamali Dehghan features cases such as detained activist Shiva Nazar Ahari and lawyer Nasrine Sotoudeh and condemned prisoner Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani as they assert, "From the mother sentenced to death by stoning to the lawyer arrested for defending opposition activists, women are prominent symbols of Iran's struggle for democracy."

1245 GMT: Iran MediaWatch. Green Voice of Freedom writes that the Kermanshah Post has been blocked inside Iran.

1240 GMT: The Battle Within. Mehdi Karroubi's Saham News prints what it claims is a letter from conservative MP Ahmad Tavakoli, a key critic of the Government, to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "There is a limit to Parliament's patience."

1045 GMT: Blockading Mousavi. Norooz claims that the former chairman of of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami (not to be confused with former President Mohammad Khatami) was arrested and later released as he was trying to reach the office of Mir Hossein Mousavi. The report claims that there is now an effective blockade preventing visitors from seeing Mousavi.

Iranian artist Habib Sadeghi was also reportedly arrested as he tried to meet Mousavi.

1000 GMT: An Answer on "Unity". Responding to the Supreme Leader's call for unity, reformist MP Mohammad Reza Tabesh has said that reformers will endure all sufferings with a thorn in their eyes and a bone in their throat to remain unified against enemies.

Tabesh noted that the Government has not fulfilled the 4th Budget Plan (2005-2010), let alone the disputed 5th Plan, because it has not presented its report. He said the laws of the Majlis laws have clearly not been implemented and Ayatollah Khamenei must intervene for a resolution.

MP Musalreza Servati added that the government has canceled 15 meetings and said that, when Ahmadinejad declares on TV that he will not implement laws, it has a bad influence on society. Servati claimed that only 30 percent of the 4th Budget Plan has been implemented

0855 GMT: Clerical Battles. Ayatollah Dastgheib has written an open letter to members of Iran's Assembly of Experts asking, "Has it acted according to its religious and practical duties to implement Constitution?" He says that the Assembly should ensure it approves of any major decision. Dastgheib adds that slanders against Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi will not save the Iranian system.

The letter apparently comes after a member of the Assembly had asked for Dastgheib's expulsion.

Ayatollah Taheri Esfahani has offered support to Dastgheib: he said the Qods Day attackon  Qoba Mosque in Shiraz, where Dastgheib presides, is a shame and he will write about it at the appropriate time.

0840 GMT: So much for the quiet. We are updating on the press conference by the Tehran Prosecutor General announcing that US detainee Sarah Shourd can be freed --- and allowed to leave the country --- on $500,000 bail.

0700 GMT: Diplomatic Service. "Western" media are noticing Friday's resignation of Hossein Alizadeh, the Counselor at the Iranian Embassy in Finland, as he declared that he was now a "political dissident" supporting the opposition.

Alizadeh was interviewed by Voice of America by telephone about the reasons for his decision.

0630 GMT: A relatively quiet Saturday, as the possible freeing of US detainee Sarah Shourd faded away and Iran remained on holiday after the end of Ramadan.

The most interesting internal development is an apparent push by Khabar Online, the publication linked to Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, for "unity". During the day, the website replaced its lead story on the rejection of Shourd's release with a feature that most members of Parliament were insisting on "national unity".

Other stories highlighted comments by MPs Mohammad Hossein Farhangi and Hassan Ghafouri-Fard that the dispute between Parliament and the Ahmadinejad Government over the 5th Budget Plan was likely to be settled after a joint commission has researched the Majlis' changes.

A week ago, Ahmadinejad's representatives boycotted a meeting to discuss a resolution, and the President threatened to withdraw the budget --- six months into the Iranian year --- rather than implement it with Parliament's amendments. Reformist MPs continued yesterday to say that this was "an insult" to the Majlis.

Interpretation? Ali Larijani and his Parliamentary allies now think they can get a budget which includes most of their changes, a significant if rather un-dramatic victory over the President; if not, they can put the blame on Ahmadinejad for blocking the "unity" which the Supreme Leader has declared is a priority.

In another far-from-subtle blaming of the President for tensions, Khabar Online pointedly noted Ahmadinejad's "17-month absence" from meetings of the Expediency Council, headed by former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. The website adds the comments of MP Farhad Tajarri that the Government continues to report its decisions to Majlis at its convenience.