The Latest from Iran (16 September): Lashings and Travel Bans

See also Iran Snapshot: The Flogging of Somayeh Tohidlou
Iran Feature: Parliament, the Regime, and the Influence of the Clerics

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Mohammad Maleki

1900 GMT: Amnesty International has highlighted the case of journalist Faranak Farid, who has allegedly been abused in detention after she was arrested during the demonstrations over the drying Lake Urmia.

Farid was reportedly beaten severely after her arrest on 3 September in Tabriz in northwestern Iran. She has apparently been accused of “insulting the Supreme Leader”, “propaganda against the system”, and “acting against national security”.

According to activist and opposition media, Farid temporarily lost hearing in her left ear and was left unable to move one of her arms after the beatings. She was interrogated at length before a judge ordered that she be detained for 10 days. Since her jailing, her sister has only been allowed to visit her once for 45 minutes. and her requests to see a doctor have not been allowed.

1640 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Pretty simple this one --- with the regime deciding to take credit for all the changes in the region (except maybe Syria --- bit of a complication there), Ayatollah SAhmad Khatami ran with the Supreme Leader's theme of Islamic Awakening in his sermon today: “The fall of dictators one after the other in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen are among the results of Islamic Awakening. Eight months after this major historical event, considerable achievements like the intensifying of the anti-arrogance spirit in the region and the world have been made."

And the vanquished villain? "In some regional countries, where their rulers are US slaves, the people are stomping on the US flag and chanting death to America....Secular governments are no longer acceptable in the region and the people [of the region] are standing against secular administrations."

1620 GMT: The US Hikers. An Omani plane remains in Iran for the possible release of US citizens Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, serving eight-year sentences for espionage, as a Foreign Ministry official of the Gulf state said, "We are still waiting for the final word about taking the Americans to Muscat with our plane now in Tehran. Hard to say when that will happen, perhaps in the next 24 hours, but we are hopeful it will happen soon."

1600 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Women's rights activist and blogger Maryam Bahreman has been released on $220,000 bail after more than four months in detention.

1030 GMT: Reformist Watch. Former President Mohammad Khatami has criticised repression and the incompetence of the Government in a meeting with prisoners of the Iran-Iraq War: "The oppressor must go, particularly in our era, [because] our people want to decide their own fate and their own boss....The legitimate freedom of the society has been hurt and violated under the guise of concern for national security."

And detained Mostafa Tajzadeh, Deputy Minister of Interior in the first Khatami Administration, has taken up the environmental issue of the drying Lake Urmia, "We must consider several aspects of the problem with Lake Urmia. In my opinion, one aspect of it is related to the current state of affairs in the country, the incompetence of the government, and ineffectiveness of the Majles. People recognize that not only is the lake being destroyed, they are also upset about the lack of attention to the problem. During the rule of the hardliners', incompetence and inattention have been combined. This is what has caused people's anger."

1000 GMT: The Battle Within. Another shot from the military at the President --- Brigadier General Hossein Hamadani, commander of the Mohammad Rasool-Allah Corps, said Ahmadinejad and his administration "have left the path of velaayat (clerical supremacy)". Hamadani warned an audience of young people "not to get involved with the 'deviant current'", claiming it was "far more dangerous than what happened in the early days of the Revolution.".

0950 GMT: Corruption Watch. And another volley in the messy fighting over who is corrupt and who is not --- Gholam Hossein Elham, former spokesman for the Ahmadinejad administration, said that people pay large amounts of money for important positions within the Government:

Some time ago, a person told another person, "You pay $200,000 to be appointed the head of such and such division"....If financial corruption were truly a negative value in our society, that would be great, but it has become the common norm. Financial corruption must be bad for left and right, cleric and non-cleric, not just for those on the other side.

0940 GMT:Ahmadinejad Watch. An interesting and illuminating footnote from President Ahmadnejad's speech on Wednesday, hitting back at claims that a $2.6 billion bank fraud is linked to his camp and promising an "honest enquiry" (see 0635 GMT) --- the appearance in Ardebil in northwestern Iran was not broadcast live by State TV, prompting a protest from the President's office.

Meanwhile, the charges and counter-charges continuye. The hardline Mashregh News published a copy of a letter by Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, asking the heads of the Ministry of Economic and Financial Affairs and the former Ministry of Roads and Transportation for the no-bid sale of the shares of a major steel mill to Amir Mansoor Khosravi, the leading suspect in the fraud case.

The President's office issued a statement that confirmed the letter but said Rahim-Mashai had only conveyed Ahmadinejad's views and there was no illegal transaction. Rahim-Mashai's attorney, said that he has filed lawsuits against 10 people, "some of whom are senior officials in the other two [i.e., legislative and judicial] branches of the political system, including a senior official in the judiciary, and even someone who was formerly a senior military officer", as well as two clerics.

Dolat-e Ma, a pro-Ahmadinejad website, accused allies of Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of Kayhan, of "trying to free [from prison] the culprits behind the embezzlement":

Some influential figures who are friends of the managing editor of Kayhan have made many contacts to get freedom for the embezzlement in Bank Saderat and to cover up what has happened. The owners of the holy clothes may be anywhere and present in any branch of the system. Who are the people who are supposed to release Kayhan and its comrades and cover up?

Arsalan Fathipour, chairman of Parliament's Economic Affairs Commission, said the committee will hold a special meeting on Monday on the fraud. Those testifying will include Mahmoud Bahmani, governor of the Central Bank; Minister of Economic and Financial Affairs Seyed Shamseddin Hossein; Mohammad Jahromi, head of Bank Saderat, where the embezzlement started; and Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, Iran's Inspector General.

0935 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An appeal court has upheld a sentence of two years in prison and 74 lashes for Saeed Vafa, a supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi in Arak.

Vafa was arrested during the Green Movement's demonstrations on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in February 2010.

0635 GMT: Corruption Watch. The Government is scrambling to contain the damage from an alleged $2.6 billion bank fraud, with claims that the main suspct is linked to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's camp, after the President promised an "honest enquiry" and warned against any attempt to implicate his advisors and Cabinet. Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has been appointed to head the investigation.

0625 GMT: We begin this morning with a look at the latest punishments handed out by the regime, beyond the continuing detention of hundreds of political prisoners. In a separate entry, we profile the flogging of Ph.D. student Somayeh Tohidlou, condemned to 50 lashes for "insulting the President".

Mohammad Maleki, the first Chancellor of Tehran University after the 1979 Revolution, has been banned from travelling outside the country. The latest "crime" of the 77-year-old Maleki, who was detained for months after the 2009 Presidential election, was to write a letter about abuses in Iran's prisons over the last 32 years.