The Latest from Iran (23 July): A Furlough in Repression

1840 GMT: The Slain Scientist --- Confusion Alert. We have been working throughout the day on the initial report that the scientist slain today in Tehran was a 35-year-old "Professor of Physics" named Dariush Rezaei, as initially reported by Iranian media (see 1503 and 1530 GMT).

This led us to Dariush Rezaei, also identified as Dariush Rezaei-Ochbolagh, a faculty member at Mohaghegh Ardabili University (see 1600 GMT). However, there is a curiosity in Rezaei's profile --- he is listed as 46 years old.

(Mehr, however, do seem to have a consistent story, with Rezaei a 45-year-old professor at the University, which is in the city of Ardebil in northwest Iran.)

Now Fars and IRNA that the victim, named Dariush Rezaeinejad, is actually a postgraduate student in electrical engineering at Khaje Nasir University in Tehran. IRNA, from an "informed source", says Rezaeinejad was "cooperating with a number of universities and scientific centers".

1830 GMT: Elections Watch. Deutsche Welle summarises the latest manoeuvres among conservatives and principlists in the contest for power, including the Resistance Front of 2009 Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei and the Islamic Constancy Front of former Government officials.

1755 GMT: The Slain Scientist. Another detail on Dariush Rezaei, the scientist killed today in Tehran --- in 2010, he gave a paper at the Second International Conference on Nuclear and Renewable Energy Resources in the "Nuclear Applications" section. The title was "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Concrete Solidification".

1745 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Peyke Iran reports that $97 million of Iranian Oil Corporation assets have been confiscated in Europe, following a lawsuit.

1600 GMT: The Slain Scientist. An academic website identifies Dariush Rezaei, the scientist killed today in Tehran, as a Professor of Physics at Mohaghegh Ardabili University.

Rezaei earned his Ph.D. in Physics in 2007 from Ferdowsi University in Mashhad. His doctoral thesis was titled, "The investigation of neutron back scattering method on landmine detection".

The Mohaghegh Ardabili website lists 11 published papers by Rezaei between 2006 and 2010. In May, Rezaei presented a paper at the annual conference of scholars in Applied Physics and Material Sciences.

1555 GMT: The Battle Within. First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi has a simple explanation for the current political conflict: "Some idle people slander the Government."

1535 GMT: Labour Front. The Free Union of Iranian Workers has challenged a proposed labour law "because it legitimises temporary contracts and fails to recognize the basic rights to organize, assemble and strike".

The statement asserts:

Cuts in subsidies, freezes on the wages, and the more anti-labour slants in the labour law exceed more than all the poverty and penury of the capitalist system in Iran in the last few decades. Together, these three are the lynchpins of the major offensive by the whole capitalist system in Iran against workers on a national scale, burning into ashes all that made life possible.

The union is demanding that "workers be allowed to assemble in factories and work places to discuss the proposed modifications [in the labour law] so that these changes are finalised through direct participation of our elected representatives and by means of ballots at the working environments".

1530 GMT: The Slain Scientist. ISNA and Mehr are reporting that the slain nuclear scientist (see 1503 GMT) is 35-year-old Dariush Rezaei.

Mehr says Rezaei is a physics professor. ISNA adds that he is "associated with" Iran's nuclear energy agency.

1520 GMT: At the Movies. The Sarajevo Film Festival has opened with a tribute to Iranian film director Jafar Panahi, sentenced to six years in prison, whose directorial debut launched the first Festival 17 years ago during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.

Panahi was arrested in March 2010, accused of making a film without permission and inciting opposition protests. In addition to his prison term, he was banned for 20 years from filmmaking, writing, or any other form of artistic work and from travelling abroad.

Panahi is currently free on bail pending confirmation of his sentence.

1510 GMT: Reformist Watch. Conservative commentator Amir Mohebian has told Fars that Iran's rulers have no confidence in reformists after the 2009 elections and that "reformists have lost interest in politics".

1503 GMT: James Miller taking the wheel for a bit...

Iran's Student News Agency (ISNA)is reporting that a nuclear scientist was killed outside his home in Tehran. No details were given, beyond this report: "An Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated in front of his house today ... and his wife was also wounded."

1310 GMT: The Battle Within. President Ahmadinejad has played the Me v. the Elite card today, declaring, "Not all people are sons of Khans or aghazadeh (nobles), who are angry that the subsidy cuts plan has worked."

Ahmadinejad continues, "Most people are honest, only some "bigheads" do not pay back their debts to banks." He added, "You can't build a country with incantations; it requires work."

1305 GMT: A Threat. MP Asadollah Badamchian has warned that the licence of the reformist Association of Combatant Clergy could be suspended.

1300 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The family of journalist Reza Hoda Saber, who died of a heart attack last month while on hunger strike in Evin Prison, has complained to the head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, about the circumstances of his death.

In a letter on the opposition Kalameh website, the family asked:

Firstly, why was there a six-hour delay in transferring Hoda from the prison clinic to a hospital, which ultimately caused his death? Secondly, why wasn't the family informed when he was transferred to Modarres Hospital and we, like everyone else, learned of his death from the Internet? Lastly, why was he assaulted after he was transferred to the Evin Branch 350 clinic due to his heart condition?

Firouzeh Saber, the sister of the victim, said the postmortem reports show clear indications that he was assaulted prior to his death. Last month, 64 prisoners at Evin wrote a letter of complaint about the assault.

1210 GMT: Reformist Watch. The youth branch of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front has issued a statement declaring that interference in the personal affairs of citizens and denial of their human rights is contrary to the Constitution.

1200 GMT: Supreme Leader Watch. Ayatollah Khamenei's office sends out a message via Twitter, "With reliance on God, we can impose our will on any political or military power, and force them to retreat."

The Supreme Leader spoke in Bandar Abbas on Iran's south coast today, declaring that Iran, despite its ability to impose its will, would avoid any accidental or planned confrontation with other countries.

0655 GMT: Literature Watch. Following up the Supreme Leader's speech on books, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini has said censorship and control of books is not a problem but a necessity.

On Tuesday, Ayatollah Khamenei told librarians that the young in Iran must be encouraged to read more, but he also warned that some books could be a "dangerous poison".

0650 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mohammad Davari, journalist and aide to Mehdi Karroubi, has had one year added to his five-year sentence --- the reason is participation in teachers' protests in 2006.

Davari was imprisoned in 2009 for his part in the Karroubi-backed investigation of the post-election abuses in the Kahrizak detention centre.

0640 GMT: Economy Watch. Ayatollah Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi, former Minister of Intelligence and current head of Iran's Administrative Court, has told a Friday Prayer audience in Arak, "False data does not help to solve the problem of unemployment." He declared that the Government's strategy of privatisation "had gone wrong".

0550 GMT: A different start for us this morning --- instead of beginning with the political conflict within Iran, the manoevures on the nuclear front, or another case of a political prisoner seized, we begin with a detainee who is temporarily "free". A picture of student activist Bahareh Hedayat, on furlough from her 9 1/2-year sentence, with Shiva Nazar Ahari --- who served nine months in prison before being released on $500,000 bail --- and other supporters: