The Latest from Iran (10 February): One Day Closer

1900 GMT: Another Khamenei Journey to Qom. The Supreme Leader has made another trip --- his fifth since October --- to Qom, visiting several Ayatollahs. He prayed for Ayatolalh Ansari Shirazi, who is ill, and spent an hour with Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi.

Most important seems to be Khamenei's discussion with Ayatollah Ostadi about the religious seminaries (Howzeh). Senior clerics have expressed concern that the regime might move against the "independence" of the seminaries.

1845 GMT: Iranian authorities have arrested Fariba Ebtehaj, the office manager of Masoumeh Ebtekar, Vice President in the Khatami Administration.

1700 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Saleh Noghrekar, the head of Mir Hossein Mousavi's Justice Committee, has been arrested in a raid on his home. Journalists Maysam Mohamadi and Omid Mohades were also arrested last night.

1650 GMT: Karroubi Watch. Rah-e-Sabz publishes an interview with Mehdi Karroubi, "interrupted" by Karroubi's house arrest.

1450 GMT: At the Movies. Filmmaker Jafar Panahi, sentenced to six years for activities against the Iranian regime, will be made an Honorary Citizen of the City of Paris when he is able to pick up his title.

The decision was passed unanimously on Tuesday by the Paris City Council after it was submitted by Mayor Bertrand Delanoë.

It is unlikely Panahi can collect the honour in the near future, as he is banned from foreign travel as well as making movies for 20 years.

Turkish filmmaker Semih Kaplanoğlu has turned down an award from Iran's Fajr Film Festival for "Bal" (Honey), in protest against the sentences Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, also condemned to six years' imprisonment and a 20-year ban on movie-making.

Kaplanoğlu had been named as the winner of Best Screenplay.

1310 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Looks like the regime is trying to break opposition organisation before Monday's march --- following the arrest of Karroubi advisor Taghi Rahmani on Wednesday, Mohammad Hossein Sharifzadegan, a member of Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign, has been detained.

Sharifzadegan was also Minister of Welfare in the second-term Government of Mohammad Khatami.

1305 GMT: Clerical Challenge. Ayatollah Dastgheib, a vocal critic of the regime, has denounced behaviour towards senior clerics and political prisoners and against the Constitution and Islam.

1302 GMT: Sedition Watch. The head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has tried to draw a line on the crackdown on the opposition. He said the prosecution of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi would be a "loss of face for nezam [Iranian system]", while noting that thousands of files against protesters were still being processed.

1300 GMT: 25 Bahman. Protest routes for Monday's rallies in the provinces have been updated.

1250 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Interesting positioning from former President Hashemi Rafsanjani on the eve of regime and (possible) opposition marches....

Rafsanjani has told Jomhuri Eslami newspaper, "A leader like Imam Khomeini is needed for Egypt."

Rafsanjani, paralleling last Friday's comments by the Supreme Leader, asserted, "In the end, Americans do not want the Egyptian uprising to drag on, while Israelis are completely against the revolution in Egypt," as he made the direct comparison, "By coincidence, all things (in Egypt) are like Iran" in 1979.

1245 GMT: A 22 Bahman Flashback. Feresteh Ghazi reports, in an article including photographs, on the bruises inflicted upon Mehdi Karroubi by security forces as they prevented him from joining an opposition march for last year's anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Karroubi's son posted the pictures to a Facebook account last night.

1240 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. More than 700 signatories have supported a statement calling for the release of human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, sentenced in December to 11 years in prison and barred for 20 years from the practice of law.

0950 GMT: Worried (cont.)? The English-language Tehran Times launches a vicious attack on Nobel Prize laureate and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi:

We would like to make a request to the real defenders of human rights, especially journalists and other colleagues in the media. Ms. Ebadi now resides in Europe and has only visited Western countries. She has never traveled to embattled countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan and has never visited any African country....The use of double standards in addressing human rights violations and attacks on national heroes should not be allowed in any form. 

The reason for the website's angst? Ebadi is currently on a trip to Brazil. So the website thunders:

Shirin Ebadi, a so-called human rights activist, is trying to weaken the powerful stance adopted by Brazil toward Iran’s nuclear program. Perhaps the mission assigned to her by her Western overlords is to put pressure on Iran over its nuclear program in the form of allegations about human rights violations. 

0945 GMT: Deleting Khamenei. The Telegraph of London, which briefly posted a WikiLeaks cable linking the son of the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, to fraud in the 2009 Presidential election, has now pulled the entry --- which was dated 16 June 2009 --- from its database (see separate EA feature).

0935 GMT: Worried? A rather unusual announcement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which declares that official news on its activities can only come from its commander, the Supreme Leader's representative, or the public relations branch.

The head of public relations added that the only source for IRGC news is www.sepahnews.com.

Surely not a sign that the Revolutionary Guards are concerned about stories of divisions within?

0930 GMT: Shutting Down Karroubi. Saham News reports that the regime --- four days before the planned march of 25 Bahman --- has moved to cut off Mehdi Karroubi, putting him under effective house arrest with security guards stationed in front of his residence. The guards told Karroubi's son, who went to see his father this morning, that no one except Karroubi's wife are allowed to enter the house until 14 February.

0925 GMT: A Straightforward Message. On a street in Tehran: "25 Bahman":

0900 GMT: Which Protest to Choose? So let's see --- which rally is of more interest to Fars News this morning, the regime's celebration tomorrow or the possible opposition gathering on Monday?

Well, the site's top story is concerned with the latter: the senior advisor to the Armed Forces' Commander-in-Chief, General Yahya Rahim Safavi, is maintaining that US-Zionist efforts to overthrow the regime have failed.

Rahim Safavi's declaration takes over from an earlier Fars story that participation in Friday's pro-regime march is a "religious and national duty".

0855 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. So is former President Hashemi Rafsanjani breaking cover and coming out against the Government?

His latest statement, even with the presentation of the opposition Kalemeh, has hints of protest but is still far from a direct challenge: Rafsanjani says that ignorance is one of the most important reasons for backwardness and oppression, and Iranians have been at the forefront of claiming their rights. He continues that "people will build better future for themselves by being informed". 

0850 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Kalemeh reports that more than 200,000 complaints have been filed against those breaking price barriers since subsidy cuts were introduced in mid-December.

0840 GMT: Khomeini Has a Message. So who is the intended recipient of this warning from Seyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Ayatollah? "The Pharaoh's problem was that he had a God-like relationship to his people. It could happen to anyone of us."  

0740 GMT: One day closer to the regime's big show on Friday, the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and the opposition's hopes for a big show on Monday with the 25 Bahman march in support of the Egyptian and Tunisian peoples.

Let's get straight into developments:

Rafsanjani Watch

Writing for Rooz Online, Arash Bahmani summarises the continuing political battle around former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, with Government supporters trying to limit him through "information", threats to prosecute his son, and the current campaign to remove him as head of the Assembly of Experts.

The immediate question remains: will Rafsanjani, for the first time since his Friday Prayer of July 2009, break cover with a public show of defiance against the Government?

Cutting Communications

In a possible sign of the regime's measures to limit news and organisation ahead of Monday, all blogs in Wordpress and Blogger have reportedly been blocked.

Political Prisoner Watch

Children's rights activist Afshin Hayratian has been sentenced to four years in prison.