The Latest from Iran (3 May): Helping Syria Handle Protests

Ahmed Reza Radan1820 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. The President was back in public action today, opening the Tehran Book Fair with the declaration that "Iran is the guiding thought in the world today".

But the President's recent political troubles are not entirely behind him. The Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, has made a speech saying that Ahmadinejad moved far in the last few days to meet the wishes of the Supreme Leader. However, Zolnour continued, there should be no doubt that Ahmadinejad's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, had "extreme" and "deviant" views.

1720 GMT: Poltical Prisoner Watch. Daneshjoo News reports that additional sentences have been handed down on Bahareh Hedayat, Mahdieh Golroo, and Majid Tavakoli.

The three, who are already serving lengthy terms, were given an extra six months in prison. The penalty for "propaganda" stemmed from announcements they issued to student activists marking National Student Day in Iran last December.

1705 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man. The conservative website Alef has accused a company close to Ahmadinejad advisor Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai of using government connections to make a fortune.

1640 GMT: "All is Fine" Alert. Iranian Minister of Mines and Industries Ali-Akbar Mehrabian has told Press TV that, without a doubt, sanctions against Iran are not working.

We heard about crippling sanctions from enemies many times. Last year, they (the West) intended to adopt a resolution to disrupt economic activities in Iran but they are completely disappointed now.

The country's enemies are so disappointed with the thwarted sanctions that they do not pursue the issue of sanctions anymore.

1300 GMT: Press Freedom Watch. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has asked the Syrian regime to look into the case of Al Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvaz, who has been missing since Friday afternoon (see Syria LiveBlog for details).

Parvaz is an American, Canadian and Iranian citizen.

Salehi said, "I hope that [news of Parvaz's disappearance] is not true, but if that is the case, then we demand the government of Syria to look into this,"

1255 GMT: Supreme Leader v. President. Fars reports that Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered President Ahmadinejad to increase the budget of the judiciary.

1155 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Hassan Younesi, the son of a former Minister of Intelligence, has been sentenced to one year in prison, fined, and banned for five years from practicing law.

1140 GMT: Press Watch. Reporters Without Borders has expressed its profound sadness by the death of journalist and prominent cultural figure Siamak Pourzand. Detained and then held under house arrest for 10 years, banned from leaving the country, and separated from his family, the 80-year-old Pourzand committed suicide on 29 April in Tehran.

Pourzand, who began his career in 1952, was fired from the newspaper Kayhan after the Islamic Revolution. He worked for independent and reformists publications but was abducted in the street by security forces on 29 November 2001. He was held incommunicado for four months and sentenced on 3 May 2002 to 11 years in prison on charges of “spying and undermining state security” and “links with monarchists and counter-revolutionaries".

Pourzand's widow is the lawyer and human rights activist Mehrangiz Kar (see interview in separate entry).

0620 GMT: US Publicity Fail. Given the regime's exploitation of "foreign threat" to justify repression, this may be one of the dumbest moments in political spin. From a New York Times report this morning on the Obama Administration's presentation of the killing of Osama bin Laden:

Officials pointed to one unexpected benefit of the raid: American allies in the Persian Gulf believe that Iran may be chastened, however temporarily, by evidence of a forceful operation by the United States to protect its national security interests — and one that required violating the sovereignty of another nation. (cross-posted from our Bin Laden follow-up in separate entry)

A celebration of the violation of another country's sovereignty, as Tehran puts out daily warnings of US efforts at "regime change"? Brilliant.

0510 GMT: With President Ahmadinejad coming out of political hiding, we start on a different front this morning. The opposition site Green Voice of Freedom claims, from "a source inside Ahmadinejad's administration", that an Iranian security delegation travelled to Damascus to advise the Assad regime on its handling of demonstrations.

The source reportedly said, “The meeting between Brigadier-General Ahmad Reza Radan, the Deputy Chief of Iran’s Police, with Syrian security officials took place two weeks ago, when the crackdown on protesters opposing the rule of Bashar Assad was intensified."

Radan has been named by victims as the police official directly in charge of the Kahrizak detention centre, personally took part in beatings and ill treatment of prisoners after the disputed 2009 Presidential elections. The regime eventually acknowledged the abuses and deaths of at least three detainees, as  the Supreme Leader ordered the closure of the facility in summer 2009, although no high-ranking official has been punished for the events.