The Latest from Iran (30 May): Handcuffing Justice

Sotoudeh & Husband Reza Khandan2005 GMT: Foreign Affairs. It is reported that the National Security Council has banned Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi from visiting Saudi Arabia, linking the mission to the "deviant current".

2000 GMT: Campus Watch. Deutsche Welle reports that female students are being barred from some postgraduate programmes in Iranian universities.

1940 GMT: Oil and Politics. A spokesman for Parliament's Energy Committee has reiterated the warning (see 1645 GMT) that President Ahmadinejad's attempt to be caretaker Minister of Oil is illegal and has said that, subject to a Majlis vote, a report will be sent to the judiciary for action.

1645 GMT: Oil and Politics. The Deputy Minister of Oil, Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr, has told reporters that Iran requires at least $150 billion in new investment in the next five years to maintain its current levels of production.

Without the investment, Khojasteh-Mehr warned, Iran’s oil production may fall to 2.7 million barrels per day within the five-year period. The country's current production is 3.7 million bpd, with more than 2 millions bpd exported.

Meanwhile, even State outlet Press TV has picked up on the criticism of leading MP Mohammad Reza Bahonar that as long as President Ahmadinejad claims to be caretaker Minister of Oil, all the Ministry's activities are illegal and it can be legally prosecuted.

1610 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch (Exoricsm Edition). Hafte Sobh, the website linked to Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, has claimed that the Government supports the execution of Abbas Ghaffari, a member of the President's office who was arrested for "sorcery" earlier this month.

Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi, the former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, is certainly calling for that punishment --- he said Ghaffari deserves to be executed "10 times" for insulting the Qur'an.

And State TV has joined in the discussion, albeit indirectly, by screening a supposed exorcism.

1605 GMT: Labour Front. Sugar industry workers in Ahwaz have demonstrated over seven months of unpaid wages.

1600 GMT: At the Cinema. President Ahmadinejad's advisor on arts has criticised Iranian filmmakers for rejecting official invitations to direct "revolutionary" films.

The criticism comes after the Cannes Film Festival honoured two Iranian directors, Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, by screening their films and giving them awards. Both Panahi and Rasouluf have been given six-year sentences and are banned from film-making for their supposed activists against the State.

1505 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Back from an extended holiday break to find former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is still head of the Expediency Council, denying any relationship with the "deviant current" in Iranian politics.

1015 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. After the Supreme Leader's call on Sunday for the three branches of the Iranian system to work together, it had been a quieter day on the Ahmadinejad front. On his Alef website, MP Ahmad Tavokoli, a leader in the challenge to the President's office, had limited himself to running extracts of Ayatollah Khamenei's statement, albeit with emphasis on the call for proper elections (i.e., no interference by the Ahmadinejad camp) and for the executive to co-operate with Parliament.

Now, however, a ripple of renewed conflict: Khabar Online, the website of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, declares that Parliament will address "serious violations" in Ahmadinejad's attempt to name himself caretaker Minister of Oil.

And the website features an interview with MP Gholam-Reza Mohseni-Moghaddam, an influential critic of the Government, who emphasises the need for consultation with Parliament and scoffs at the claims of the Ahmadinejad camp that they can win 35 million votes in the next Presidential election. (Ahmadinejad had 23 million in the "official" count of the 2009 vote.)

0705 GMT: Currency Watch. Iran's State broadcaster IRIB reporters on the shortage of dollars and Euros in currency markets. The Iranian toman has fallen to its lowest level since last autumn, and the Central Bank's injection of US dollars into the economy has not been able to stem the problem.

0620 GMT: After weeks devoted to the political conflict within the Iranian establishment, we start in a different direction this morning.

On Sunday, attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh was taken to court to formally strip her of her right to practice law. In September, Sotoudeh --- a prominent defender of activists facing lengthy sentences --- was herself arrested as a threat to national security. Three months later, she was given an 11-year prison term and a 20-year ban on legal practice.

See also Iran Letter: Imprisoned Attorney Sotoudeh "A Tolerance That Will Eventually Lead Us To Achieve Our Goals"

We initially reported the moment with a picture of Sotoudeh embracing her husband Reza Khandan (see Sunday's LiveBlog). Others, however, noticed another detail --- Sotoudeh apparently is so dangerous that she was taken to the proceedings in handcuffs.