The Latest from Iran (28 February): "Ballot Boxes Are Being Filled as We Speak"

See also Iran Feature: The Lives Of Women Day Labourers
The Latest from Iran (27 February): Has Khamenei Met Mousavi?

---

1700 GMT: Elections Watch. Three days before the Parliamentary ballot, a special session of the Guardian Council has approved several candidates, including current MPs.

In an open letter, prominent MP Ali Motahari has accused the hard-line newspaper Keyhan of turning protesters and reformists into "anti-revolutionaries" with its attacks and libel.

The head of Iran's armed forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, has told high-ranking officers that Friday's elections are the basis and symbol of the power and honour of the Iranian system.

Hamidreza Moghaddamfar, the cultural and social representative of the Revolutionary Guards, has declared that more than 60% of the electorate will vote on Friday. He added criticism of leading principlists including Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf.

1650 GMT: When Khamenei Met Mousavi? On Monday we opened Live Coverage with the rumour that the son of the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, had met detained opposition figure Mir Hossein Mousavi to ask for his co-operation in the midst of Iran's political crisis. We later noted that BBC Persian was citing an unnamed source to back up the claim.

Now there is a second, named source. Hassan Yusefi Eshkevari, a religious scholar close to the opposition Green Movement, has told Radio Farda that the meeting did take place. He speculated:

I personally believe that [Mojtaba Khamenei] followed his father's orders. If this is the case, then Khamenei's goal is to find a way out of the current situation because the resistance of Mousavi, [fellow detained opposition figure Mehdi] Karroubi, and [other] political prisoners has created serious problems for Khamenei.

He probably didn't think from Day 1 that the issue would be so serious. He wants a way out but at the same time, he doesn't want to make any concessions. He wanted to reach an agreement with Musavi behind the scenes.

Rah-e Sabz, which broke the original story, said Mousavi responded to Khamenei: "First of all, I will respond to the Supreme Leader about what I heard under the condition that there won't be any listening devices or cameras, and no one attends the meeting except [the Leader] and me. Second, I want to be given the opportunity to speak to the people on a live television broadcast."

1630 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Sadegh Akhoundi, Associate Professor of Orthodontics at the University of Tehran, was released on bail on Monday after two weeks in detention.

1630 GMT: Hunger Strike Watch. Detained blogger/physician Mehdi Khazali has reportedly been transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison on Monday by forces of the Ministry of Intelligence.

Khazali, serving a 14-year sentence for his dissent, is on the 51st day of his hunger strike.

1620 GMT: Chocolates, Oscars, and Greens. A Facebook page posts photographs of Green Movement supporters passing out chocolates in Tehran on Monday to celebrate the Academy Award for Ashgar Farhadi's A Separation.

1600 GMT: Rumour of the Day. Back from a lengthy academic break to find Rah-e Sabz putting out this provocative --- and unconfirmed --- story....

The website claims 1,6 billion Euros of oil income, outside the Budget, has been transferred to Mojtaba Khamenei's account on the orders of his father, the Supreme Leader, with Central Bank head Mahmoud Bahmani signing the relevant documents on behalf .

Rah-e Sabz also passes on the rumour that Ayatollah Khamenei has gathered lots of documents detailing corruption in the President's office, especially by Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

0845 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Grand Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani has offered his condolences to Ahmad Montazeri, son of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, over the sealing of his father's office and library earlier this month.

An EA correspondent sees a wider significance, "Bayat Zanjani's message represents a majority opinion within clergy, further distancing itself from the Supreme Leader's disastrous behaviour."

0755 GMT: CyberWatch. Peyke Iran, citing Fars, says the Internet was shut down in Kurdistan on Monday.

0750 GMT: Elections Watch. More on the appeal of Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar (see 0540 GMT), including a reach-out to reformists, for a high turnout for the right candidates on Friday....

Bahonar said leaders of "sedition" will try to discourage people from "enthusiastic" voting, and he emphasised that foreign media will count each single voter. Most interesting, however, was this comment, "If there is no vote, others will seize this right."

Is that last sentence a warning that the ballot could be manipulated?

0740 GMT: Currency Watch. A sign of strength or desperation? The head of the Central Bank, Mahmoud Bahmani, has said that countries can pay in gold rather than their own currencies for trade with Iran.

Amidst international sanctions restricting Tehran's use of dollars and Euros, Iran has been searching for alternative methods to sell its oil and pay for its imports.

0720 GMT: Human Rights Watch. Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ali Akbar Salehi has ensured that the key issue is raised, as Press TV explains, "Iran’s Foreign Minister has condemned the aggressive and brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in the US and UK as blatant violation of human rights."

0630 GMT: Ninja Watch. Press TV offers the Re-Assurance of the Day, "Iran Ninjas Athletes, Not Assassins":

Iranian female ninjas have rejected recent Western media reports describing them as assassins, saying that they are training as regular athletes and martial artists, Press TV reports.

See EA's "Iran Propaganda Special: Creating '3000 Female Ninja Assassins'"

Founder of Ninjutsu in Iran Sensei Akbar Faraji condemned and rejected the misleading report.

"We are simply athletes interested in martial arts. That’s all. We really enjoy the sport and have grievances against those who portrayed us as something we’re not. I demand that they tell people the truth about us," Faraji told Press TV.

Ninjutsu trainee Khatereh Jalilzadeh explained about being contacted by Reuters, "She asked me whether or not I would defend my homeland, should it be attacked by Israel or the US. I think it’s obvious that not only any Iranian would do so, but people no matter where in the world will defend their homeland," she said.

0540 GMT: We start Tuesday with an eternal source of insight, the Tehran taxi driver.

Blogger Pedestrian passes on this observation from the man driving through the capital, "People are going to come out in record numbers to vote this year. In fact, ballot boxes are being filled as we speak."

We do not post this as the truth, three days before the ballot. We only ask, "If the ballot boxes are filled, for whom will they be stuffed?"

Meanwhile on the elections front....

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar has reached out to reformists, hoping for their turnout in support of the principlist Unity Front: "Reformism can neither be destroyed nor killed, and isolated, but their existence is important and necessary.  I am sure that the reformists will vote in the election to protect the system. On this subject, reformists are like the Principlists. This election is not the fight between reformists and principlists."

Bahonar challenged the pro-Ahmadinejad Resistance Front, "At the beginning, we thought we do not have much differences in our views, but now we believe we have major differences."

Ahmadinejad also faced criticism from MP Ali Motahari, leader of a break-away principlist faction, The Voice of the Nation, who said the President must attend his interrogation by Parliament in a few days: "If his answers are not satisfying, we might consider impeachment."

Motahari then went farther, "I believe Ahmadinejad is part of the deviant current and that his supporters are indirectly connected to the deviant current."

MP Hojatoleslam Ali Banaee criticised the Resistance Front and said they face a paradox, “It is strange on one hand they believe that Deviant Current is within the government yet they separate Ahmadinejad from this current. This is while [the President's controversial Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim] Mashai has the full support of Ahmadinejad. We cannot separate the President from Mashai.”

The President's forces were not silent on Monday, however. The Resistance Front was joined by a new list of candidates, the Monotheism and Justice Front. The faction said will hold a press conference on Tuesday, led by Bahman Sharifzadeh.

Sharifzadeh is a provocative choice. He was disqualified by the Guardian Council from standing in the election because of an alleged role in a controversial 2010 CD proclaiming the imminent return of the Hidden Imam.

Meanwhile, the President's media advisor, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, defended Ahmadinejad's power, specifically over a commission to supervise the Constitution. The Guardian Council had said the President's appointment of a head for the commission was a violation, but Javanfekr insisted, "This issue is not the Guardian Council's responsibility."

He continued we honesty cannot separate Ahmadi Nejad from Mashaee.