The Latest from Iran (15 April): Two Months Later --- The House Arrests and the Opposition

2140 GMT: The Ahwaz Day of Rage. Activists in Ahwaz claimed at least nine protesters have died, scores have been injured, and hundreds have been detained by security services this week.

2130 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Foad Sojoudi-Farimani has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Sojoudi-Farimani was arrested on 13 September 2010. After 45 days, he was released on $500,000 bail, but he was barred from pursuing his postgraduate education.

2110 GMT: A Heavenly Baby. Ayatollah Mohammad Saeedi, the Friday Prayer leader of Qom, has a revelation in this video, which apparently is being spread around in Iran --- when the Supreme Leader was born, he called out the name of Imam Ali, the first Imam of Shi'a:

According to Saeedi, Khamenei's half-sister said that the midwife who brought Ayatollah Khamenei into the world said that, as he emerged, he said, "Ya Ali," to which the midwife responded, "May Ali protect you."

2100 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Summary. Ayatollah Jannati delivered the lines today....

1. The "awakening" of people across North Africa and the Middle East is Islamic in nature.

2. Those people "will not give in oto the US."

3. There are lots of young people in the uprising.

4. "Beware that for establishing an Islamic government and freedom from colonialism and the US, a price must be paid.”

5. "The Saudis...have come to Bahrain and Yemen to massacre people of these countries."

6. (Don't mention Syria.)

2050 GMT: Today's Message for Ahmadinejad's Right-Hand Man. The implied criticism of controversial Presidential aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai comes from Hojatoleslam Taghavi, the head of policy-making 4 Friday Prayers: "Nowadays some spend lots of money to gain support" of followers and relatives.

There have been recurrent claims of Rahim-Mashai disseminating money to officials and clerics, including incentives for them to attend his speeches.

2040 GMT: Clerical Interventions. Grand Ayatollah Javadi Amoli has asked a sharp question, "Since Iran has 10% of the world's oil, why are we unable to manage the country so that people don't protest?"

Javadi Amoli continued, "Iran minus Islam is nothing but degradation."

And Grand Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili has declared that some "have shown up" who want to weaken the Parliament and reiterated that Ayatollah Khomeini said the Majlis was at the top of Iranian affairs.

2035 GMT: Claim of Day. Al Arabiya is reporting that four protesters were killed and dozens arrested in clashes with security forces in the southern city of Ahwaz. Arabs in the city had called for a "Day of Rage" (see 1500 GMT).

Ahwazi Arab activists also put out a Declaration setting out their call for rights and an end to discrimination.

2030 GMT: Activist Watch Back from an extended break --- thanks to Ali Yenidunya for afternoon updates --- to find an interview with Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi on German television.

1630 GMT: It's All About Iran. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has brought out Washington's line on uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East: beware Tehran.

Clinton said, "I think that that everyone is aware if its efforts to exploit and even hijack what are legitimate protests. But certainly in an era of instant communication we hope that people will not be fooled by their tactics."

Clinton said the US had "no evidence yet that Iran instigated such protests but we do see activities by Iran to try to take advantage of these uprisings".

1510 GMT: Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called on UN to take “serious and immediate action” against the killing of people in Bahrain.

1500 GMT: Ahwazi Arabs are today planning a "Day of Rage" to mark the anniversary of the 15 April 2005 intifada against the Iranian regime, in which more than 150 were killed and thousands arrested.

0540 GMT: The Proper Journalist. Kaveh Eshtehardi, the managing director of the leading newspaper Iran, says that he has been dismissed as head of the Institute of Iranian Press via text message.

His replacement? Ali Akbar Javanfekr, former media advisor to President Ahmadinejad and now head of the State news agency IRNA.

0530 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Prominent detainees at Rajai Shahr Prison went through a fifth day on hunger strike on Thursday, protesting conditions and the denial of their right to visits, phone calls, and furloughs.

The dissidents on strike include veteran journalist and activist Keyvan Samimi, labour activist Mansur Osanloo, teachers' activist Rasoul Bodaghi, journalists Isa Saharkhiz and Reza Rafaii, political activists Heshmatollah Tabarzadi and Behrouz Javid Tehrani, and student activists Ali Ajami, Majid Tavakoli, Mehdi Mahmoudian, and Jafar Eghdami.

The group said in a statement that their strike was also “in protest against the summons, arrests, threats and the pressures on the families of imprisoned [activists]". 

There was a small break-through yesterday. Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour, the wife of detained reformist politician Mostafa Tajzadeh, was released on a three-day furlough after 45 days in prison. She was also allowed her first visit with Tajzadeh sine her confinement.

0515 GMT: It is now two months since the Iranian regime imposed house arrest on opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi and Fatemeh Karroubi.

In an e-mail interview with Rooz Online, the Karroubis' son Hossein --- who is in hiding to avoid detention --- explains that his parents remain in limbo. The regime has still not set any conditions to end the "unlawful and inhuman act". And the matter is beyond Iran's judiciary, Hossein Karroubi explained, with the Ministry of Intelligence in charge.

Hossein Karroubi offered this assessment of the political situation beyond the detentions:

It is is an opportunity for the movement and a threat to the regime. Both Messrs. Karoubi and Mousavi had repeatedly said that people have found their way and are vigorously pursuing their demands, and are getting more determined in this by the day. On the other side of the spectrum, the regime has only succeeded in managing the country through more controls while becoming so incapable that it fears something as simple as a memorial service for a former Majlis representative, or the burial ceremony of a mother affiliated to this movement, let alone Mr. Mousavi’s father who passed away recently....

Now things have changed and will change even more....What people want is very clear. The more violent the regime acts, the greater will the demands of the people become.

And there was this interesting call upon the opposition figures who are not in detention: "To manage these demands is an art....Whoever leads this movement must not be too extremist or too timid. Any weakness in announcing the views of the public could lead to their oppression."