The Latest from Iran (6 April): Subsidy Cuts, Oil, and Politics

2115 GMT: Labour Front. HRANA reports that a protest of Abadan refinery workers over unpaid wages was accosted by security forces.

2000 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Oxford University has dismissed allegations of impropriety in its acceptance of the son of Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mehdi Hashemi, for Ph.D. study.

Critics alleged last month that Hashemi had been accepted even though he had not shown adequate academic standards and language qualifications. They also said he did not meet Oxford's residency requirement.

1830 GMT: On Campus. Daneshjoo News reports that 388 university students have been arrested and 877 suspended or expelled over political activities in the past year.

Attorney and law professor Mohammad Sharif has been dismissed by Tehran’s Allameh Tabatabai University.

Along with Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, Sharif is one of the founders of the Center for Defenders of Human Rights, outlawed by the regime following the June 2009 election.

1825 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Amnesty International has joined the campaign to send birthday greetings to student activist Bahareh Hedayat, who turned 30 yesterday.

Hedayat, arrested in December 2009, is serving a 9 1/2-year sentence for her activism.

Amnesty said, "Activists around the world are not prepared to forget Behareh Hedayat – who reminds us all of the many other prisoners of conscience still detained in Iran. Many Happy Returns of the Day, Behareh. I hope next year sees you filling the empty chair at home, where you should be."

1735 GMT: Economy Watch. Khabar Online reports that 10 economic experts from the Board of Iranian Economic Perspectives are challenging the government’s official unemployment rate of 10%, saying the rate is 17 to 20%.

President Ahmadinejad, in his message for the Iranian New Year, heralded the creation of more than 1.6 million jobs, which would reduce the unemployment rate to 6.14% in the spring.

1545 GMT: Many thanks to James Miller for handling the LiveBlog today....

Back to find that in Kermanshah in western Iran, residents have complained over high gas prices.

1544 GMT: According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, workers at the Kashan textile plant are gathering in protests against unpaid wages and bonuses. 

1344 GMT: Blogger Mansur Arshama maintains a list of bloggers, journalists, and human rights reporters imprisoned in Iran. Today's updated count: 59 prisoners. 

1259 GMT: Political prisoner update - Maysam Mohammadi, the political editor of Kalame Sabz daily, arrested February 9, 2011, in Shahid, in the offcie of the Beheshti Foundation,  has been freed on bail today.

1248 GMT: Book burning - Much has been made about U.S. pastor Terry Jones, a Florida religious figure who burned a Koran last month, sparking unrest in Afghanistan and beyond. 

A major Catholic publication has an interesting story this morning. While Terry Jones' actions were not sanctioned by the U.S. government, they were permitted (and condemned) because of the 1st ammendment. According to the report, however, the Iranian regime is sanctioning bible burning. KATH.NET says that 300 bibles were burned in public in February alone.

1236 GMT: Whistleblowing - A Facebook page has been created by an opposition group that is attempting to identify Iranian "mercenaries," Basiji and police who might threaten protesters.

1228 GMT: A leading United States military commander has expressed concern over the close ties between Iran and Venezuela. Gen. Douglas Fraser, the head of the U.S. Southern Command, noted that there are daily flights between Iran and Venezuela, Iran's embassies in the region have doubled in the last 5 years, Iran has built several cultural centers in the region, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez have built a close working relationship over the last several years.

While Fraser stated that, so far, Iran's dealings with Venezuela have been strictly diplomatic and economic, he ended his statements with this note:

Fraser said Venezuela has purchased $8 billion to $12 billion worth of weapons from Russia, China and Spain, including automatic weapons. The U.S. is concerned the weapons could end up in the hands of illegal groups.

0720 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The family of Hossein Ronaghi Maleki (Babak Khorramdin), after a visit with him in prison, have warned about the deteriorating health of the detained blogger.

Ronaghi Maleki reportedly suffers from infected kidneys, and doctors say he needs immediate surgery. Prison officials have said, however, that they cannot pay for this even though the family has offered to provide the funds.

The blogger was arrested on 13 December 2009 and spent 10 months in solitary confinement. He was sentenced last October to 15 years in prison.

0710 GMT: Civil Society Watch. Amnesty International and Arseh Sevom, an organisation promoting civil society in Iran, have issued a statement calling for the scrapping of a draft law which would effectively deregister all NGOs currently operating in Iran.

The Bill requires all NGOs which wish to continue or start work to register via a new system of supervision, in which bodies affiliated to the Ministry of Intelligence and the paramilitary Basij would make key decisions.

A wide range of civil society organizations in Iran, from environmental and women’s organisations to charities for the disabled to employers’ and professional associations, are opposed to the Bill.

The bill is due for final consideration in Parliament now that the Iranian New Year holiday is over.

0610 GMT: "Proper" News Abroad. Mardomak reports that the Government has plans to set up a news agency for Iranian expatriates.

0600 GMT: Preventing the Conflict. Ali Mazrooei, a leading member of the reformist Mujahedin of Islamic Revolution Organization, blogs on the post-election conflict in Iran and the democracy movement in the Arab world: if the Islamic Republic had accepted democracy and free elections, it would now be at the head of the Arab democracy movement, but instead it is crippled and isolated.

0540 GMT: Thanks to James Miller for handling the Iran LiveBlog on Tuesday --- his entries told a story of a Parliament and other critics pressing the Ahmadinejad Government over its economic management, including its handling of subsidy cuts and oil revenues.

Even James, however, could not keep up with all the developments....

Seyed Emad Hosseini said the Parliament was putting an "ultimatum" to the Government over its supervision of the National Iran Oil Company because of its handling of the important South Pars oil and gas project. 

Hamidreza Katouzian, the head of Parliament's Energy Commission, said that without investment, Iran will become the world's biggest importer of oil and related products. He added that, while the subsidy cuts programme was positive, the lack of support payments put Iranian industry in dire condition.

MP Cyrus Sazdar jabbed at Minister of Oil Masoud Mirkazemi that there had been a $6 billion "deviation" in revenues from the oil field of Aghajari.