The Latest from Iran (22 March): A New Awakening?
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 20:28
Scott Lucas in Ali Divsalar, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, EA Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East and Iran, Sara Haj Bahrami

2020 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The chair of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, former MP, and university professor Mohsen Mirdamadi has been released on bail.

1120 GMT: A Death at the Fire Festival. A close friend of university student Behnoud Ramezani describes the 19 year-old's death at the hands of security forces a week ago during the celebration of Chahrshanbeh Suri.

1110 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Children's rights activists Sara Haj Bahrami and Ali Divsalar have been arrested in Kerman.

HRANA reports that more than 45 members of the Baha'i sect have spent Nowruz (New Year) in Iranian prisons.

0835 GMT: Human Rights Watch. The Council of the European Union has declared in a resolution that it "is deeply concerned that the human rights situation in Iran continues to deteriorate", with the dramatic increase in executions in recent months and the systematic repression of Iranian citizens, including human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, women’s activists, bloggers, persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities and members of the opposition, who face harassment and arrests for exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly".

The European Union called on Iranian authorities "to live up to the international human rights obligations that Iran has entered into, so as to protect and promote all human rights and fundamental freedoms to which the Iranian people are entitled", calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners and a halt to executions.

0710 GMT: Strange Bedfellows. Looks like the Supreme Leader, with his New Year's analysis of a "baffled" US facing a new North Africa and Middle East, has an unexpected ally in The Wall Street Journal:

White House concerns that Iran's hand is being strengthened by recent events in the Middle East is central to its response to the turmoil, say U.S., European, and Arab officials.

President Barack Obama's decision last week to use military force against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces was made in part by his administration's fear that Western inaction could further embolden Tehran, these officials say.

0600 GMT: With Iran celebrating the New Year, there were few political developments to note on Monday. The stage was cleared to highlight the Supreme Leader's appearance in Mashhad in northeastern Iran --- at one point, six of the top eight stories on Fars were handed over to Khamenei's statement, and even the opposition Saham News is featuring the speech as its latest news.

It is still striking, however, how little of the Supreme Leader's attention was devoted to his own people, with his pronouncement of an "awakening" dedicated to others across the Middle East and North Africa:

I announce that… that a new movement has begun in the region, this is the movement of Muslim nations, with the slogan of moving towards Islamic objectives, and [therefore] it will definitely be victorious Events which have recently taken place in the region, in Tunis, Libya, Egypt, and Bahrain are very important events… a fundamental development is taking place in the Islamic-Arab region which indicates the awakening of Muslim nations.

Indeed, Khamenei's flourish had more to do with Washington than Tehran: “The Americans were baffled by these events…They could not analyze the events correctly and because they lacked an accurate analysis of these events they adopted contradictory stances."

To be fair, President Ahmadinejad did have a look closer to home in his Nowruz message: "Within a few years, unemployment and housing problems will not exist."

Article originally appeared on EA WorldView (http://www.enduringamerica.com/).
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