The Latest from Iran (2 June): A Revival of Dissent?

A photograph from last night's burial of Haleh Sahabi

2010 GMT: A Death at the Funeral. Our partner website, Arshama3's Blog", has posted an excellent summary in German of the case of Haleh Sahabi, "Anatomy of a Political Murder".

2005 GMT: A Death at the Funeral. Hamed Montazeri, the grandson of the late Grand Ayatollah, has written a note about the death of Haleh Sahabi. He said that Sahabi was beaten by security forces. Whether her death resulted from the impact of the blows or the shock of receiving them, Montazeri continued, "it can be said unequivocally that Ms Haleh Sahabi was murdered".

Montazeri was in the funeral procession for Ezzatollah Sahabi and was reportedly detained by security forces.

1610 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mansur Osanloo, the prominent labour activist detained since 2007, has been released on bail.

1555 GMT: The Battle Within. An activist reports that Hafte Sobh, the website linked to the President's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, has been filtered.

1515 GMT: Oil and Politics. President Ahmadinejad has appointed Mohammad Aliabadi as caretaker Minister of Oil, according to State TV.

Aliabadi is a former Vice President and is now head of the National Sports Organization of Iran and the country's Olympic Committee. He popped up in the news earlier this year when he declared that the logo for the 2012 Olympics in London was racist because it spelled out "ZION".

Ahmadinejad had declared himself caretaker Minister of Oil but has been forced to back down after intense criticism from political and religious figures and a ruling by the Guardian Council that the move was unconstitutional. Earlier this week Parliament adopted a report declaring that the President's actions were illegal and referred the matter to the judiciary.

1405 GMT: The Funerals. Gooya reports that members of Mothers for Peace and Mothers for Mourning were beaten as security forces prevented the memorial for Ezzatollah and Haleh Sahabi.

The website also says Amin Ahmadian, husband of imprisoned student leader Bahareh Hedayat, was arrested. Hedayat is serving a 9 1/2-year sentence.

1400 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Opposition media are claiming that journalist Masoud Bastani was beaten by prison officials in front of his visiting family.

Bastani was arrested shortly after the 2009 Presidential election and given a six-year prison term in May 2010.

1355 GMT: The Funerals. BBC Persian has posted video of the burial of Haleh Sahabi last night:

1320 GMT: A Death at the Funeral. Various developments over Haleh Sahabi....

The reformist Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution has declared that Sahabi's "martyrdom" had shown the "dark face of religious dictatorship".

The opposition Coordination Council of the Green Path has asked for a truth-finding committee.

A students committee set up to honour Sahabi has called on people to gather in front of the United Nations building in Tehran next Tuesday.

1250 GMT: The Funerals. Rah-e Sabz offers more information on how security forces blocked funeral services for Ezzatollah and Haleh Sahabi this afternoon in Sahabi.

Activists report heavy traffic in the area, with "hundreds" of uniformed and plainclothes security forces, including Revolutionary Guards.

1220 GMT: A Death at the Funeral. The Los Angeles Times adds vivid detail in an account of yesterday's events around Ezzatollah and Haleh Sahabi:

The mourners gathered early Wednesday morning. They knew the authorities would not let the former Iranian opposition leader be buried at midday, when his funeral would attract even more followers....

Security forces wanted the burial to take place at 3 a.m. but the family argued and a compromise was struck for it to be held several hours later. It was 7 a.m. when mourners gathered at the entrance to the cemetery for war veterans in the hills of northern Tehran.

Haleh Sahabi had driven with her father's coffin from the family home. Riot police watching the procession refused to let the mourners carry the coffin on foot, witnesses said.

She argued with police, insisting that it was the family's right to accompany their loved one to his burying place. There was a scuffle, and she fainted. She was rushed to a hospital, but died of a heart attack on the way, family and close friends said.

Mourners continued to the burial site, not knowing she had died. Plainclothes agents and riot police surrounded the area, but for an instant, a few voices cried out, "Death to the dictator." Several people were whisked away....

The funeral was to have been presided over by the son [Ahmad Montazeri] of a late dissident cleric and onetime heir to former Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. But he missed it, evidently fatigued from the late night vigil, confused by the presence of the security men and concerned about rumors that his own son had been arrested. [Editor's Note: Montazeri's son was detained with other activists.] He wandered the plots in a daze.

Late in the day, Haleh Sahabi's body was brought to the cemetery. This time, a smaller crowd had gathered. Police watched as she was placed in a grave next to her father's and the mourners quietly dispersed.

1210 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Farda News reports that the President will speak at the memorial service for the late Ayatollah Khomeini on Friday night.

Last month the Imam Khomeini Foundation had announced that Ahmadinejad would not be speaking at Saturday's annual ceremony for Khomeini as he had not replied by the deadline for declaring attendance. The move was seen as a slap at the President --- last year his supporters had shouted down Seyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the Ayatollah.

1150 GMT: The Battle Within. An interesting twist in the political manoeuvres....

Mojtaba Zolnour, the Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, has turned on former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani, like Zolnour, has criticised the "deviant current" around President Ahmadinejad; however, Zolnour said Rafsanjani's words carried no weight because of his silence about the Green "sedition" after the 2009 Presidential election.

1055 GMT: Preventing More Mourning. Radio Farda reports today's funeral service for Haleh and Ezzatollah Sahabi has been prevented by security forces and plainclothes agents, who shut the doors of the Hojat Ibn ol-Hassan Mosque in Tehran.

1050 GMT: Economy Watch. Alireza Mahjoub of Workers House has declared that 1 in 4 Iranian youths is unemployed.

1045 GMT: Audio posted on YouTube claims to be of an interview with Haleh Sahabi's physician, in which he explains that her death was caused by internal bleeding.

1000 GMT: Mourners at the funeral of Ezzatollah Sahabi, just before the procession was broken up by security forces and his daughter Haleh died amidst the confrontation:

0945 GMT: Economy Watch. The Central Bank reports that the official rate of inflation rose last month to 14.2%.

http://www.kaleme.com/1390/03/12/klm-60259/

0940 GMT: CyberWatch. An EA correspondent notes that opposition sites like Rah-e Sabz and Kalemeh have been under sustained attack over the last 24 hours, not only because of the death of Haleh Sahabi but also because of a special edition devoted to her father.

0930 GMT: Campus Watch. The Islamic Students Organization at Tehran University, in protest at the violence against the funeral procession of Ezzatollah Sahabi, cancelled an international conference on the Middle East and North Africa yesterday.

The reformist students of Isfahan University have sent condolences to the Sahabi family and asked for prosecution of "rogue elements" in the regime.

0925 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist and translator Rahman Bouzari, who works for the reformist newspaper Shargh, has been arrested.

0850 GMT: Khamenei Rules. Cleric Hamid Rohani has thrown his support behind the Supreme Leader in the current political contest, declaring that Ayatollah Khamenei does not make decisions to please the people but rules according to his duty.

0810 GMT: Rah-e Sabz reports that, despite security forces seizing the body of Haleh Sahabi and arranging a quick late-night burial, about 2000 mourners were present, as well as a substantial number of police and security forces. Several participants were reportedly arrested once the ceremony ended.

0620 GMT: We begin Thursday in a different mood and with a different approach than that of many weeks. Whereas the focus has been on the conflict within the Iranian establishment, with President Ahmadinejad challenged --- and fighting back --- on many fronts, today the focus shifts to an opposition which many observers have considered dormant.

The cause is the death of activist Haleh Sahabi, a victim both of a heart attack and the Iranian security forces, at the funeral of her father Ezzatollah Sahabi. In addition to Wednesday's news on the LiveBlog, we now reflect in a separate entry, "Another Martyr for the Movement". More news --- including what may be video of Haleh at the funeral procession, just before the regime tryied to dispersed it --- is likely to emerge.

No doubt there will also be further developments on "the battle within" --- Parliamentary challengers to Ahmadinejad are ramping up pressure over the Ministry of Oil issue, and the Supreme Leader's office is struggling to control claims that Ayatollah Khamenei ordered the arrest of Ahmadinejad's advisors --- but for at least one day, there is attention to the possibility of a revived opposition.