The Latest from Iran (2 January): Sedition, Politics, and Propaganda

2000 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish poet Rahim Loughmani, his wife Kolsoum Naghshbandi, and her brother Naseh Naghshbandi have been released from detention.

1820 GMT: Parliament v. President. After a protracted dispute with the Majlis, President Ahmadinejad's supervision of the Central Bank has been re-affirmed.

The Majlis has passed a measure on the Board of the Bank, taking oversight away from Ahmadinejad, but this was rejected by the Guardian Council.

1755 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Labour activist Behnam Ebrahimzadeh has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Afhin Keshtkari, the secretary of Shiraz Sanati University's Islamic Association, has been released on bail.

Student activist Mohammad Hossein Mozafari has been arrested.

Student activist Faoud Khanjani, a Baha'i member, has been sentenced to four years in prison.

1645 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish political activist Ghadrieh Ghaderi has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

1510 GMT: Economy Watch. A special meeting, under the auspices of the Expediency Council, has concluded that government pressure has increased on the private sector.

1445 GMT: Rumour of Day (Confirmed). Mehdi Kalhor, who was a senior advisor to the President, has said that he and 13 other assistants have been dismissed by Ahmadinejad.

Kalhor said he did not know the reasons for the release of the advisors.

1435 GMT: Local Government Watch. Parliament has rejected a Government proposal to put city councils under its oversight and for provincial governors to select mayors.

1430 GMT: Economy Watch. The head of the Central Bank, Mahmoud Bahmani, has barred banks from lending more money than the amount of deposits that they hold.

The move is potentially significant as Iranians cope with price changes after subsidy cuts.

1420 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ehsan Abdoh Tabrizi, a Ph.D. student at Durham University in Britain, has been given a 7-year prison sentence.

Abdoh Tabrizi was detained in December 2009 after he returned to Iran to spend time with his family. He was given two years for insulting the Supreme Leader, three years for conspiring against the regime, and two years on other charges.

1413 GMT: Economy Watch. Kalemeh claims that the price of paper and board has gone up 36% in one day.

1410 GMT: Claim of Day (Spy Plane Edition). Haji Amir Ali Sardar, an Iranian Army Air Force commander, has asserted that Tehran has shot down two "spy planes" in the Persian Gulf.

1345 GMT: Society Watch. The international organisation Sociologists without Borders has identified Iran as prominent in government oppression and threats during the past year.

1335 GMT: Claim of Day. Mashregh News reveals that actor George Clooney is on a special mission for the CIA to separate south Sudan from the rest of the country.

Clooney has a long-time interest in human rights in Sudan, and he has played a CIA officer in a film. There is no evidence, however, that he has set aside Hollywood to pursue a new career.

1330 GMT: Rumour of Day. The hard-line Mashregh News claims the President has fired 12 of his advisors while appointing two new aides for foreign affairs.

The two advisors who are In are Ahmad Mousavi, the current Iranian ambassador in Syria, for Palestine affairs and Hamid Moulana for international affairs.

1150 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The sentence of journalist Masoud Lavasani has been reduced from 8 1/2 to 6 years by an appeals court.

Lavasani was detained on 26 September 2009. He is also banned from any further activities as a journalist.The news of the reduced sentence is carried by RAHANA, whose site was down earlier today.

1140 GMT: Harassment. Green Voice of Freedom claims that the sister of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has been interrogated as she visited the grave of her son Ali Mousavi.

Ali Mousavi was shot and killed during the Ashura demonstrations of 27 December 2009.

1130 GMT: Rahnavard's Thoughts. Interviewed by RASA News, Zahra Rahnavard --- activist, professor, and wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi --- has said that the Green Movement was still alive, but it would not achieve success without the integration of “theoretical and organisational” aspects within the movement.

Rahnavard declared that this organisation was necessary given that “the current regime has been a very oppressive one, and one of the most violent faces of the state can be seen" in its activities. "A portion of the suppressions” had been effective in deterring people from pouring onto the streets, but the crackdowns also offered “opportunity to become more rational and to go underground".

Rahnavard asserted that opposition figures like Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami as well as activists had concluded that the way forward was to “act in a more calculated, rational and complex manner”. She added, “The Green Movement is not just about being on the streets” and the sole strategy of resorting to street protests would “certainly not lead to victory".

1005 GMT: School Days. Thomas Erdbrink of The Washington Post summarises the changes in Iranian education:

Iran is overhauling its education system to rid it of Western influence, the latest attempt by the government to fortify Islamic values and counter the clout of the country's increasingly secularized middle class.

Starting in September, all Iranian high school students will be introduced to new courses such as "political training" and "living skills" that will warn against "perverted political movements" and encourage girls to marry at an early age, Education Ministry officials say.

In universities, the curricula of law, psychology, sociology and other studies will be drastically altered, with officials from the Science Ministry, which has responsibility for higher education, working to strip out what they describe as Western theories and replace them with Islamic ones. Dozens of professors have already retired or been fired on the grounds that they did not sufficiently support the new policy.

1000 GMT: CyberWatch. Both the Persian and English sites of RAHANA, a leading outlet for human rights news, are down.

0845 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Right-Hand Man. More fussing over the President's controversial Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai: pro-Ahmadinejad MP Mohammad Jafar Behdad has said that Rahim-Mashai's enemies are "seditionists", but a representative of the Supreme Leader, Hojatoleslam Mohammad Barzegar, has called the Chief of Staff a "stain on Ahmadinejad's record".

0835 GMT: Economy Watch. Iran's customs officials report that imports have more than doubled the value of exports in the last nine months.

Abbasali Noura, the Vice Chairman of Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission, has claimed that the Government has not transferred any revenues to reserves. Under Iranian law, 20% of oil income is supposed to be put in the reserves.

Jamsheed Pajouyan, the head of Competition Council, has said that the recent bid for the privatisation of Iran's Telecommunications Company was not competitive and was finished before the Council could rule on it.

A consortium linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, took a majority holding of the company.

0830 GMT: And Our Next Feature...Britain-Bashing. Parliament's National Security Commission has set up a committee to examine the breaking of relations with the United Kingdom.

Don't expect Iran to be snapping diplomatic relations with London, however; this move is more to whip up a bit of anti-British fervour --- for the political advantage of whoever is doing the whipping.

0745 GMT: We open this morning with a couple of cases of prisoners, politics, and propaganda.

In a separate entry, we profile Saturday's regime show in which Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, condemned to death for adultery, and her son Sajad Ghaderzadeh were brought out before the press to explain once again how journalists, lawyers, and activists are the truly bad people in this case.

And on the political front....

Alireza Marandi is a former Minister of Health, widely respected for his ability and honesty. So when he speaks, his words carry political weight.

That weight was used on Saturday to put the opposition in its place. Speaking to Khabar Online, Marandi says those carrying out "sedition" could be forgiven if they repented, but they could not be "absorbed" into Iran's political and religious system.