The Latest from Iran (16 February): The Regime Hits Back

2145 GMT: Punishing the 25 Bahman Error. Opposition websites are reporting that two managers of the conservative Aftab News have been arrested over an incident on Monday.

Aftab briefly reported that a permit had been granted for the opposition rally. The article was quickly pulled and the site taken off-line.

Aftab also reported that Turkish President Abdullah Gul, visiting Iran, had asked to join the march.

2135 GMT: Rafsanjani Chooses a Side? The Assembly of Experts, chaired by Hashemi Rafsanjani, has exalted last Friday's regime celebration of the Islamic Revolution and denounced Monday's opposition rallies as a "counter-revolutionary" movement of heretics supported by the US and Israel.

2100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Peyke Iran lists the names of the students of the Tehran University of Fine Arts arrested at the ceremony for slain protester Sanee Zhaleh this morning.

Civil rights activist Mehdi Esmailzadeh was arrested on 25 Bahman.

Actor, publisher, and writer Yashar Amini has been sentenced to one year for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic regime of Iran by printing posters for the Writers Association of Iran, Workers Association and Women’s Association”.

2000 GMT: CyberWar (cont.). The Supreme Leader's site is back up. However, President Ahmadinejad's official site is now down. Fars News is also not operating.

1930 GMT: Taking Down the Supreme Leader. The website of Ayatollah Khamenei has been knocked off-line.

The main site of the Basij militia is also "Service Unavailable".

Last Thursday, the Anonymous collective had promised to take down regime sites as part of an "Operation Iran" following similar campaigns in Tunisia and Egypt. Earlier today, the e-mail servers of the Ministry of Interior were reportedly knocked out of service.

1745 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Opposition websites claim that at least 300 people were detained on 25 Bahman in Mashhad.

1720 GMT: The 25 Bahman Casualty. According to a relative of slain 25 Bahman protester Sanee Zhaleh, his parents and siblings, who live in Paveh in Kermanshah Province in western Iran, were asked not to attend the funeral in Tehran and were threatened that Zhaleh's body would not be handed to them if they spoke to foreign media.

Despite the threat not to talk to media, Zhaleh's brother explains that Zhaleh, contrary to the claims of pro-regime media, was not a member of the Basij militia:

1710 GMT: Oops. A driver with the Turkish delegation accompanying President Abdullah Gul to Iran this week was beaten by police during Monday's rallies.

The police who beat the driver later apologised, saying they were admirers of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A Turkish journalist added that it was impossible to communicate by phone or text message or to access websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

1705 GMT: Threat of the Day. Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, has warned US officials, "Those who pursue plans to overthrow (the Islamic Republic) in Iran and even support the anti-revolutionary elements and seditionists publicly will soon face the punishment for these actions. The US and the White House will regret and be ashamed of their deeds in the near future."

1700 GMT: The 25 Bahman Detainees. Journalist and activist Kouhyar Goudarzi claims that some relatives of demonstrators who were arrested during Monday's protest rallies have been beaten by special police units.

Goudarzi said the beatings took place in front of Police Station No. 148 on Enghelab Avenue, near the marches, and in front of the Tehran Prosecutor's Office Monday night and Tuesday.

Goudarzi is also the source of the claim that officials of the revolutionary court read off a list of about 1500 names of those arrested during the protests, saying all had been transferred to Tehran's Evin prison (see 1420 GMT).

1640 GMT: The Zhaleh Clashes. Testimony of an eyewitness to the Basij invasion of the ceremony for slain 25 Bahman protester Sanee Zhaleh at the Tehran University of Fine Arts says:

There were two or three thousand Basijis, and our group was at about a 100 or 200 maximum. They trampled on Saneh's blood. They did nothing but engage in insults at his service. They got into fights amongst themselves three or four times about what to do with the kids (to beat them or not, to let them go or not)....From the start, the kids didn't do anything illegal or ugly. They (the students) were just standing in a corner, but they (the Basijis) didn't even like that and created a skirmish and the kids went into Farabi [Hall?] and closed the door.

1635 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ahmad Hakemipour of the Reform Front has been arrested.

1630 GMT: CyberWar. The Anonymous collective, which announced "Operation Iran" last week after previous actions disrupting the on-line presence of the Tunisian and Egyptian Government, claims that it has knocked out the e-mail servers of the Ministry of Interior.

1625 GMT: Karroubi Watch. Fatemeh Karroubi, the wife of opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi, has written Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani to criticise both the "obscene behaviour" of the MPs who called for the death penalty for Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi and the actions of the pro-regime group who gathered in front of the Karroubi residence, shouting denunciations of the Green Movement into the night. She referred to a previous letter she sent to the Supreme Leader, "What does your disagreement with my husband have to do with our right to live", saying that she now accepts they do not have that simple right.

1620 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Back from an academic break to find that filmmaker Mehdi Sharifian has been arrested.

1425 GMT: (Follow Up - On Thursday, Febuary 17,  we have made new updates about Mousavi's statement, further casting doubt on their legitimacy. See our update at 0932 GTM)

The Mousavi Post-25 Bahman Statement. Earlier today we posted on an open letter, ostensibly from Mir Hossein Mousavi, saluting Monday's protesters in the "glorious demonstrations".

EA sources confirm, however, that the statement was not written by Mousavi --- the opposition figure has effectively been cut off by Iranian forces since Sunday, and not even his daughters have been able to contact him. Instead, he agreed on the general lines of the statement before 25 Bahman with his assistants, who shaped and released the letter in light of Monday's developments.

1420 GMT: How Many Arrested on 25 Bahman? A discrepancy on detentions emerges....

We noted yesterday that the Committee of Human Rights Reporters claimed that Iranian prosecutors had read out a list of 1500 detainees. Najmeh Bozorgmehr of the Financial Times cites, from national police, that 150 were seized.

We are checking to see if CHRR mis-reported the figure or, alternatively, if different parts of the Iranian bureaucracy were putting out different information.

1333 GMT: Containing Karroubi. Hossein Karroubi, the eldest son of Mehdi Karroubi, claims that security forces have tried to enter his residence, breaking his door.

Hossein Karroubi, who believes this was an attempt to arrest him, was not home at the time.

1330 GMT: The Zhaleh Clashes. The Green channel RASA TV has interviewed a witness to the Basij invasion of the ceremony for slain 25 Bahman protester Sanee Zhaleh at the Tehran University of Fine Arts this morning.

1320 GMT: The "Hatred Rally". More on the Islamic Propagation Coordination Council's call for Iranians to demonstrate after Friday Prayers against sedition. The Council commanded, "The noble people of Tehran will take to Enghelab Square after Friday prayers with their solid and informed presence....[They will] scream out their hatred, wrath and disgust against the savage crimes and evil movements of sedition leaders, their Monafeghin (hypocrites) and their monarchist allies."

1235 GMT: The Zhaleh Clashes. Activists are reporting that Dr Ali Akbar Alizad, the head of the Cinema Department, and at least seven students were arrested this morning at Tehran University of Fine Arts during the ceremony for slain 25 Bahman protester Sanee Zhaleh.

Akbar Alizad was subsequently released.

1210 GMT: The "Leaders of Sedition". Chants against Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi from a mosque in Sari in northern Iran:

1155 GMT: Silencing the Clerics. Supporters of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, a key backer of President Ahmadinejad, have forced the cancellation of lectures by Grand Ayatollahs Vahid Khorasani and Shobeiri Zanjani in the central mosque in the religious city of Qom.

1150 GMT: Re-playing the Sedition Strategy. The regime counter-attacked after the Ashura demonstrations of 27 December 2009 with an all-out portrayal of protesters as a foreign-backed movement of "seditions", threats against leading figures, and a call for "loyal" Iranians to come out on the streets.

And so, after Monday's marches, we have the spectre of death for Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the call for a demonstration after Friday Prayers (see 1110 GMT) and the declaration from Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei: "The heads of sedition are the people who should be punished for their criminal acts and God willing actions in this regard are being taken. People have given them their punishment, but people also have a legitimate right to demand (punishment) from the judiciary which we hope we would be able to fulfill."

1140 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Two professors of medicine, Mansour Nasiri-Kashani and Aliakbar Pourfatollah, have been arrested, allegedly for helping families of arrested protesters.

http://bit.ly/icUN9i

1110 GMT: The Zhaleh Clashes. The Committee of Human Rights Reporters claims that students at the Tehran University of Fine Arts were beaten, with some arrested, when their ceremony for 25 Bahman victim Sanee Zhaleh was disrupted by a pro-regime group.

An Iranian cleric has used the pretext of Zahleh's funeral to claim that the Iranian people are demanding death for the "leaders of sedition". Meanwhile, the Islamic Propagation Coordination Council has called on people to demonstrate after Friday Prayers against the "criminals".

1100 GMT: Leaving the Cinema. Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance reportedly withdrew its representatives from the Berlinale Film Festival, protesting against its tribute to Iranian director Jafar Panahi.

Panahi, one of Iran's most celebrated directors, has been sentenced to six years in prison for propaganda against the regime. The organisers of the Berlinale put him on the Festival's jury, even though Panahi is barred from foreign travel.

1050 GMT: The Regime Claims the 25 Bahman Casualty. The Los Angeles Times has a report on the regime-backed funeral procession for Sanee Zhaleh, killed when he was protesting on Monday against the Government.

Trying to claim Zhaleh as a regime supporter, hundreds of Iranians marched through the streets, shouting slogans against opposition leaders, including "Death to Karroubi!" and "Death to Mousavi!".

State TV refers to clashes with opposition activists but does not mention the Basij invasion of the ceremony held by students at the Tehran University of Fine Arts, where Zhaleh was a student.

1005 GMT: Always the Foreigners. The Supreme Leader has used the anniversary of a 1978 uprising in Iranian Azerbaijan to denounce the "enemies of the Islamic Revolution".

1000 GMT: Altered Images. Mission Free Iran notes that Kalemeh, the site linked to Mir Hossein Mousavi, has removed a photograph of Ayatollah Khomeini from its masthead.

0930 GMT: After 25 Bahman. Setareh Sabety assesses Monday's events and offers this sharp analysis:

What remains to be seen is if this movement will spread to the working classes who are increasingly dissatisfied because of economic conditions brought about by pressure from subsidy cuts as well as international sanctions. The success of the opposition movement relies less on the Internet than on the support of workers and the Bazaar who have so far not gone on strike to show their support for the opposition.

0850 GMT: A Major Clash Around the Funeral? We are being very cautious about the news we post on the confrontation when regime supporters --- Basij members, according to the opposition -- invaded the ceremony at Tehran University of Fine Arts for Saeed Zhaleh, killed on Monday. There are claims of the mourners being trapped inside a hall at the university and of "thousands" now gathering.

Saeed Valadbaygi of A Street Journalist is live-blogging in Persian and English.

For now, we are treating all claims beyond the article in Kalemeh (see 0835 GMT) as unconfirmed.

0835 GMT: Attacking the Mourners. Kalemeh is now reporting --- alongside claims from activists throughout the morning --- that Basij members have invaded the mourning ceremony being held at the Tehran University of Fine Arts for Saeed Zhaleh, who was killed during Monday's demonstrations.

Sajjad Rezaei, secretary of the Islamic Association of the university, said dozens of buses carrying Basij arrived at the campus. The members, who Rezaei said were not students at the university, shouted slogans denouncing the Green Movement.

Zhaleh was a student at the University and a member of the Islamic Association.

Meanwhile, information continues to discredit regime efforts to claim Zhaleh as a supporter. A member of the student organisation Tahkim-e Vahdat says Zhaleh, in addition to being a member of the Islamic Association, supported reformist candidates and joined post-election protests (see also 0715 GMT).

And, in an interview with CNN on Monday --- before the regime announced Zhaleh as a "martyr", supposedly at the hands of protesters from the banned Mujahedin-e-Khalq --- a participant in the 25 Bahman march refers to his death and clearly says he was in the protests (see separate EA entry).

0805 GMT: 25 Bahman. Both Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have issued statements acclaiming Monday's protests.

(Follow Up - On Thursday, Febuary 17,  we have made new updates about Mousavi's statement, further casting doubt on their legitimacy. See our update at 0932 GTM)

Mousavi wrote to demonstrators, "I salute you. The glorious demonstrations of February 14th, 2011, a great achievement for our nation and the Green Movement, took place despite the skepticism by many with the participation of male and female warriors representing all segments of our society."

Mousavi emphasised, amidst regime denunciations of the protests as a US plot, "The Green Movement has always maintained its independence from foreign influence. Its values and main goal has always been to revive the ideals and aspirations of Imam Khomeini (founder of the Islamic Republic) and the Islamic Revolution and to support the various demands of the noble nation of Iran in its quest for freedom."

Karroubi referred to the effective house arrest and cut-off of communications imposed upon him and Mousavi, and expressed sadness over the deaths of Sanee Zhaleh and Mohammad Mokhtari. He then addressed the regime:

Violent acts and opposition to the demands of the people will only work for so long. Avoid the fate of other governments and learn from the people.

Free political prisoners and remove your suffocating hands from the throats of independent newspapers and media outlets. Remain faithful to the promise and covenant you have made with the people known as the Constitution.

0800 GMT: Locking Away Reporters. The International Federation of Journalists has condemned the continuing detention of Iranian journalists, citing cases since last week including Nazhat Amirabadian, Maziar Khosravi of the reformist newspaper Shargh, Abodalah Naseri, former head of Islamic Republic News Agency, Omid Mohaddes, Taghi Rahmani, Meysam Mohammadi, and Sadredin Beheshti Shirazi.

0725 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? President Ahmadinejad and Cabinet members are in Bushehr in southern Iran.

Expect a tour of Iran's first nuclear plant with Ahmadinejad's attempt to put focus on nuclear talks instead of domestic tensions.

In his national broadcast on Tuesday night, Ahmadinejad proclaimed, “The Iranian nation is like the sun in that it is so brilliant. And of course this brilliance has enemies and they make true efforts, but ultimately their efforts are like throwing dirt at the sun. It falls right back on them.”

0720 GMT: Outside Tehran on 25 Bahman. Video has been posted claiming to be of an arrest of a protester in Rasht on Monday.

0715 GMT: The Casualty of 25 Bahman. Tehran Bureau has a lengthy profile of Sanee Zhaneh, the first person killed during Monday's protests, which both highlights and takes apart the regime effort to claim him as a supporter and member of the Student Basij militia.

One of Jaleh's friends comments, "He was definitely not a Basij member. He participated in past demonstrations, particularly on Ashura. He managed to escape harm that day, but this time...."

0710 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rah-e-Sabz reports at least 10 people were detained in Babol over Monday's protests.

Students Hossein Ahmadzadeh, Farzaneh Najarzadeh, Amir Shibani, Ali Razaghi, and Morteza Bagherzadeh were seized in Mashhad.

0705 GMT: From Washington. The US Government has stepped up its attention to and comment on Iran, with a declaration by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "What we see happening in Iran today is a testament to the courage of the Iranian people, and an indictment of the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime –-- a regime which over the last three weeks has constantly hailed what went on in Egypt," and 24 Senators backing an independent UN committee to investigate Iran's human rights situation. 

On Tuesday, President Obama made a carefully-worded comments, supporting the right to protest but refraining for any call for a change in the Iranian Government.

0700 GMT: Mapping 25 Bahman. Videos from Monday's protests have now been attached to a Google Map to give some ideal of their scale and location across Tehran.

0655 GMT: The 2nd Casualty of 25 Bahman. A Facebook page has been set up for Mohammad Mokhtari, 22, who was killed during Monday's marches.

An Iranian source wrote that Mokhtari's last update on Facebook before he went out for the 25 Bahman protest was خدایا ایستاده مردن را نصبیم کن که از نشسته زیستن در زلت خسته ام (Dear God, Help me stand like a man as I am tired of sitting down and done living a life without dignity). He then wrote in English, "Happy Valentine's Day."

0650 GMT: The Battle for a 25 Bahman Martyr. State broadcaster IRIB is now reporting clashes between a pro-regime group and opposition supporters at the funeral of Sanee Zhaleh.

IRIB claims that the pro-regime crowd drove away their opponents with shouts of "Down with the hypocrites".

0635 GMT: 25 Bahman's Casualty. The funeral of Sanee Zhaleh, who was killed during Monday's marches, has begun outside the Tehran University of Fine Arts where he was a student.

The regime, without providing evidence. has tried to claim Zhaleh as a "martyr" slain by demonstrators from the banned Mujahedin-e-Khalq. A Facebook photograph which emerged yesterday shown him alongside the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, a prominent critic of the regime.

0600 GMT: Amidst the dismissal of Monday's protests on a pro-regime website based in the US, one commenter stumbled into a sentence of insight: "25 Bahman will not become 26 Bahman".

While President Ahmadinejad was using a nationally-televised speech to try and put attention back on nuclear talks and his subsidy cuts, others in the regime were going all-out to break --- physically as well in their rhetoric --- any notion of a Green revival. 

Monday's arrests, estimated at up to 1500, were followed by more detentions on Tuesday. The language took an ominous turn.  Perhaps the televised call of MPs for the prosecution and even the death penalty for opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi can be dismissed as political theatre --- so far Iran's judiciary has held out against any formal arrest of the two men --- but by yesterday afternoon the heavyweight politician Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Expediency Council, was calling for public "action" against Karroubi and Mousavi if they did not repent.

And there was public action, with a pro-Government crowd hanging an effigy of Mousavi in front of the Tehran Prosecutor's office and then moving outside Mehdi Karroubi's residence to chant threatening slogans. (Karroubi's residential complex was attacked two months ago by a similar gathering.)

The daughters of Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard confirmed that they had not been able to contact their parents since Sunday because of the blockade of the Mousavi residence by police vans and the cut-off of phones.