The Latest from Iran (5 November): A Disappointment?

1740 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Ali Gholizadeh has been arrested in Mashhad.

1640 GMT: The Medical University. Claimed video of a Thursday protest at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, closed last week by Government order. The students chant, "We will not go to class until we've reclaimed Iran."

1635 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Ayatollahs Bayat Zanjani, Dastgheib & Sadeghi Tehrani have condemned attacks on Gonabadi dervishes.

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The Latest from Iran (4 November): What Will Happen on an Anniversary?

2110 GMT: Proper Teachers. The Ministry of Education Ministry has issued new directives barring the employment as school teachers of persons affiliated with "illegal" parties, organizations, and groups.

Such persons may not be employed as teachers "unless they repent" of the affiliation or withdraw the support.

The directive also gives priority of employment to those who "volunteer for activities in revolutionary institutions" and "participate in political, social, and religious activities".

2055 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Hunger Strike Edition). Back from an extended break to find that detained attorney Nasrine Sotoudeh has resumed her hunger strike, refusing food and water since Sunday.

Sotoudeh, who was imprisoned at the start of September, went on a hunger strike for four weeks but ended it on 23 October.

There are reports that the prominent Italian lawyer Bruno Malattia has taken on the defence of condemned adultress Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and her attorney Houtan Kian, who was detained last month.

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