The Latest from Iran (18 July): Remembering Protest, Remembering the Victims

Poster for Majid Tavakoli2030 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An activist reports that reformist Ahmad Reza Ahmadipour was arrested today in Qom in a raid of his home.

1920 GMT: Denial of the Day. Saeed Mortazavi, an advisor to President Ahmadinejad, has denied any responsibility for the Kahrizak prison abuses and deaths, which occurred while Mortazavi was Tehran Prosecutor General.

Families of post-election victims --- including prominent conservative Abdolhossein Ruholamini, the father of the slain Mohsen Ruholamini --- have complained that Mortazavi, who was technically suspended from his duties by a court, has not been punished for his part in the affairs.

1915 GMT: All the President's Men. Another possible problem for the Ahmadinejad camp --- Farda News is reporting questions over the $12 million sale to a private firm of a building which has belonged to the Touring and Automobile Club. The affair is apparently linked to Vice President Hamid Baghaei, who has already been accused of "numerous violations" in his previous post at Iran's Culture, Heritage, and Tourism Organisation.

1855 GMT: Diplomatic Front. Hossein Alizadeh, who resigned his post as Iran's second-ranking diplomat in Finland in September 2010, has written the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Ahmad Shaheed, declaring that the Islamic Republic does not even respect its own laws. Alizadeh cites examples such as the strict house arrest of opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi without any evidence of wrong-doing.

According to Alizadeh, the Iranian bureaucracy is an "old Peugeot with a flat tyre".

1820 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Doctor, author, and blogger Mehdi Khazali has been arrested for the third time since the 2009 Presidential election. He was taken to an unknown location but later released on bail.

Khazali, a fervent critic of President Ahmadinejad, has previously been detained for actions against national security and disturbing public opinion through interviews with foreign media.

1535 GMT: Higher Politics Watch. For Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, however, politics is far simpler these days: whoever wants the satisfaction of Shi'a's Hidden Imam must ensure the Supreme Leader's contentment first.

And Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the head of the paramilitary Basij, says his force's strategy in the next elections is to raise the basirat (wisdom) of society in order to choose the best candidates.

1525 GMT: Elections Watch. Yes, definitely some manoeuvring amongst political factions today, with tentative steps for new alliances....

Mohammad Nabi Habibi, the head of the conservative Motalefeh Party, has held out an olive branch to former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. Saying that hardliners must keep unity and division is dangerous, Habibi said that Iranian politics "must strive to keep Rafsanjani". He separated the former President from the dangerous tendencies of the opposition and reformists, as Rafsanjani had condemned the attempted display of the Green Movement on 11 February 2010, the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, when the regime's mobilisation of a large rally --- and the Green failure to produce one --- blunted the post-election challenge.

Meanwhile, Rafsanjani's son Mohsen --- following the pointed remark by Rafsanjani's brother Mohammad Hashemi that the former President's place at Tehran Friday Prayers has been empty since July 2009 --- maintained Rafsanjani's apparent challenge to the Government. He said his father's advice on the treatment of post-election prisoners, including in the notorious Kahrizak detention centre, had not been followed: "Politicians who have convictions must do things for which they have to pay, Rafsanjani knows his duty and acts accordingly."

1350 GMT: Oil Watch. Masoud Bastani, the head of the Central Bank, has said that India's debt to Iran for oil shipments is now $5 billion.

India's imports have been complicated since early this year when the Indian Central Bank suspended payments from the Asian currency basket because of international sanctions. Months of talks have failed to find a resolution or alternative form of payment.

Earlier this month, some Iranian politicians threatened an oil cut-off as India's debt was reported to reach $9 billion but other officials pulled back, saying that India had "paid" but there were technical issues over the transfer.

1340 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Ali Doulatabadi has confirmed the detention of actress/filmmaker Pegah Ahangarani (see 0640 GMT), without giving any details of why she was arrested.

1300 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Reporters Without Borders has expressed concern about the state of seven bloggers --- Iman Masjedi, Amir Latifi, Mohammad Reza Gholizadeh, Ladan Mostoufi Ma’ab, Hanieh Sate Farshi, Hojat Nikoui, and Sepehr Ebrahimi --- arrested a year ago and charged with anti-government propaganda, “insulting what is holy,” actions against national security “in collaboration with organizations hostile to the Revolution”, insulting the Prophet, and Moharebeh (war against God).

The charges of insulting the Prophet and Moharebeh were withdrawn in April, but heavy sentences were handed down. Masjedi and Ebrahimi were sentenced to eight years in prison. Gholizadeh and Farshi were given seven years, Nikoui and Ma’ab got five years, and Latifi was sentenced to seven years in prison and 74 lashes.

Reporters Without Borders summarises:

Their situation is now very worrying. After their arrest, they were placed in Section 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison and were pressured to admit to organizing an anti-religious network of blasphemers. They were subjected to long periods in solitary confinement and tortured in order to obtain the confessions that were used against them during their trial. Their defence lawyers were not allowed to meet them or see the prosecution case file.

These netizens are all now ill or suffering serious physical and psychological effects from the treatment they have received.

1255 GMT: Border Watch. After a weekend of clashes with the Kurdish separatist movement PJAK, a commander of the Revolutionary Guards says the Iranian military has taken “full control” of three PJAK camps inside Iraq.

“All the three camps on Iraqi soil that were backing the terrorist group have fallen under our control and we have full control of the area,” said Colonel Delavar Ranjbarzadeh. He added that a member of the Revolutionary Guards was killed and three wounded in the fighting and that “many anti-revolutionary and PJAK terrorist members were (also) killed".

PJAK claimed two Revolutionary Guards were killed and four wounded.

1200 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Another reported warning to the President from Ali Saeedi, the Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards --- he said President Ahmadinejad must accept his mistakes and be faithful to the people and the Supreme Leader.

1155 GMT: Oil Watch. More on our item about difficulties in the Iranian oil industry (see 0900 GMT)....

Khabar Online claims that production has fallen by 383,000 barrels per day and that it will four years to get back to the production levels of 2009.

1135 GMT: Elections Watch. Prominent conservative Morteza Nabavi has said that "only reformers separate from fitna (sedition)" will be able to enter Parliament.

1130 GMT: Parliament v. President. Four complaints against President Ahmadinejad are to be read this week in Parliament. These include the dispute over the conduct of its Ministry of Sports, the case of the Minister of Intelligence whom Ahmadinejad tried to force to resign, the merger of ministries, and 50 claims of malfeasances by the Government.

0900 GMT: Oil Watch. Industry analysts are suggesting that an increase in Iranian crude oil export to certain countries is a temporary measure to reduce the volume in Iranian tankers who have stockpiled crude as Tehran failed to ship to India, Malaysia and Southern European countries amidst international sanctions.

Mehrdad Emadi, an European Union consultant on economic issues, asserted, "The increase in exports [to China, Pakistan and South Africa, amongst others] is a temporary measure to reduce the volume of float (unsold stockpile of crude) in the Iranian-owned tankers which Iran has not been able to sell due to sanctions. Sanctions whilst not affecting sale or export of crude directly, through payment limits and banking restrictions are making exports very difficult."

Iran has increased oil exports by 260,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in the past two weeks, with the country’s production capacity currently hitting 4 million barrels per day, according to Mehr. The capacity is still below Iran's oil production volume in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

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Emadi says, however, that payment limits and banking restrictions have Iran has to keep crude oil in tankers since all land-based reserve sites are filled.

0835 GMT: Elections Watch. Looks like the bargaining over political power is well underway....

Conservative Ali Motahari, a leading critic of the Government, has declared that there is no reason for the Guardian Council to eliminate reformist, apart from Mousavi and Karroubi, from elections --- even the advisors of the two opposition figures should be allowed to run.

And Mohammad Hashemi, the brother of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, has pointed out to those who might be interested --- conservatives? reformists? the Supreme Leader? --- that Rafsanjani's place has been empty at Tehran Friday Prayers since his last sermon on 17 July 2009.

0830 GMT: Currency Watch. The conservative Ayande News is sceptical about regime plans to cut four zeroes from the national currency (see separate entry), calling it "a propaganda show". It adds that the Central Bank "has no power to correct essential problems as in Turkey".

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0640 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (At the Movies Edition). Actress Marzieh Vafamehr, the wife of filmmaker Naser Taghvaei, has reportedly been arrested for her role in the film, My Tehran for Sale. The detention allegedly occurred two weeks ago.

The reason for the arrest has not been announced by Vafamehr's family or friends, but it may be connected to her appearance in the film without hijab (head covering). The screening of My Tehran for Sale, directed by Granaz Mousavi, is illegal in Iran.

A trailer for the film:

Earlier this month, actress/filmmaker Pegah Ahangarani was detained. She had made the documentary Dehnamakiha about the controversial activist director Masoud Dehnamaki:

0615 GMT: Assessing Conflict. Reza Hajatpour, interviewed on the Swiss website NZZ Online,, offers a sharp overview of the political situation in Iran. He introduces the analysis with the statement, "The political and religious power struggle, as it has been conducted in Iran for years, now covers a large part of the Islamic world, adopting new forms," and concludes:

To bring about real change in Tehran, much more civic courage is needed --- a change that is based not only on religious or nationalist slogans, but rather defines the rather self-consciousness of the nation again, a change that brings on a political level a sensible balance and preserves the nation against the danger of division through their Iranian identity and their religious tradition in harmony with modern ways of life.

0550 GMT: We begin this morning with a feature from Masih Alinejad, who is documenting the stories of 43 people who died in violence after the 2009 Presidential election.

And student activists recall another moment, uploading the video of Majid Tavakoli standing on the steps of Azar University in Tehran on 7 December 2009 --- National Students Day --- and addressing demonstrators. He was detained that day and eventually sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison:

The previous year, Tavakoli had delivered this speech:

A large portion of my talk today is addressed to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and the heads of the government. Unfortunately, the atmosphere is so suppressive that our friends in Daftare Tahkim Vahdat (a student organization) asked me not to talk about the Supreme Leader --- Mr. Khamenei --- since he may visit the University of Science and Technology in the next few days. I apologize to everyone; we do not want self-censorship to find its way in the student movement, but we will accept the request of our friends.

Let us talk about the ills of our society and what has brought us together today: enmity with democracy, hatred of freedom, abuse of human rights, suppression of worker activists and teachers, expulsion of university professors from universities, exile of thinkers, intense media censorship, suppression of minorities, closing down of newspapers and publications, turning national media into the government’s mouth-piece,  acting cruelly to the women in the universities, filling prisons with free-thinkers, and torturing people in prisons.

Today, our society is the victim of the incorrect economic policies of an obstinate and oppressive government that has caused various harms to society.

Our country is overflowing with flattery, duplicity, the selling of people, and deception. If yesterday people such as Shaban Bimokh (commonly known as a thug who led his men against the opponents of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, notably during the 1953 coup. In Farsi, “bimokh” means “brainless”) harassed our people, and undeserving rulers such as Mozaffareddin Shah (Shah of Iran between June 1, 1896 and January 8, 1907) and Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar (Shah of Persia from September 17, 1848 to May 1, 1896) sold national capital to foreign countries, today, the Shaban Bimokh’s are under the support of the Mozaffereddin Shah’s and Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar’s.

Selling the Caspian Sea in a cheap game with the Russians, sitting under the shadow of the Arabian Gulf,  working hand in hand with obstinate oppressors such as Chavez, and receiving aids from Venezuela and Cuba, are among the things happening in our country today.

Today, students have trouble entering the university or even their own homes. We saw an example of this today with the gates and the fences, and the security officials surrounding the university. Despite the various security measures taken and the oppressive atmosphere, the university is still alive today. And this last barricade of freedom is today the host of the students’ loud cries for freedom.

Today, the most important mission of the student movement, along with all the beautiful ideals it has (freedom, democracy, human rights, justice, peace, the development and improvement of Iran, and the well-being and security of Iranians), is fighting despotism.

The student movement in Iran, just like 1953 and 1979, and in the entirety of its existence to this day, should stand against governing despotism and oppression. Oppression is oppression, whether it is under the sovereignty of the monarchy or the sovereignty of a Supreme Leader.