Iran Snapshot: Another Grand Ayatollah Launches Major Criticism of Government

In the post-election conflict, this could be a significant statement. Grand Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili declared yesterday: "It is regrettable and sad, however, that what is done by some in the name of defending Islam and Islamic government is against the religion, the law, morality, and human rights, and threatens the spirit of justice, search for the truth, and freedom that must be the basis for any government that is based on Islamic teachings."

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Latest from Iran (5 February): Speaking of Egypt....

1700 GMT: Just Asking. Why weren't former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri, Presidential candidate in 1997, at the Supreme Leader's Friday Prayers?

1655 GMT: Reply of the Day. The Expediency Council, which is formally mandated to resolve disputes between branches of the Iranian system, has recently been criticised by President Ahmadinejad for hindering his plans.

The response, according to Green Voice of Freedom: "Mr President, you don't like what we are doing? Change the Constitution".

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The Latest from Iran (21 November): Human Rights and Missing Constitutions

2025 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Tehran Azad University student activist Amir Ahmad Monazemi has been sentenced to one year in prison and 74 lashes. Monazemi was arrested last December at the mourning ceremonies for Grand Ayatollah Montazeri and was held for one month before being freed on bail.

1950 GMT: Human Rights and the Hikers. So is this the other half of an Iranian strategy? Yesterday Mohammad Javad Larijani, the high-ranking Iranian judiciary official, was on American television with his assertion that he would like to see a resolution of the cases of detained US hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer before a trial.

Today the lawyer for Fattal and Bauer, Masoud Shafiee, was told that they and the third US hiker Sarah Shourd --- released in September on a guarantee that she would return for trial --- would be in court on 6 February.

Possible translation? Tehran just gave the Americans a 2 1/2-month window for a negotiated release of Fattal and Bauer.

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The Latest from Iran (8 November): Talks, Threats, and Sanctions

2050 GMT: Talking Tough (US Edition). The chest-puffing of loud but tangential Senator Lindsay Graham that the US should act against Tehran "not to just neutralize their nuclear program, but to sink their navy, destroy their air force, and deliver a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guard" has not only prompted a torrent of Chicken Little sky-is-falling chatter in Washington circles. It has, equally predictably, brought counter-chest-puffing from the Iranian regime.

Revolutionary Guard Commander Masoud Jazayeri has announced that the US does not know that it is Iran's hostage in the region, while Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei differs: Washington does know about Tehran's clout.

2045 GMT: Talking Tough. Brigadier-General Ahmad Reza Radan, the Deputy Commander of Iran's police, has said violators must be dealt with before start of subsidy cuts.

Radan's declaration is in sharp contrast to the assurance by the Minister of Interior last week that subsidy cuts are a "popular issue and we don't need security measures".

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The Latest from Iran (7 November): Tearing Down (the Poster of) Ahmadinejad's Men

2100 GMT: Shutting Down Khatami. The head of the Baran Foundation, linked to former President Mohammad Khatami, has declared that its activities are legal and demanded an end to filtering of the website.

He may have a difficult task with that demand: the chair of Parliament's Article 10 Commission says the Baran Foundation has no file in the Ministry of Interior and thus no right to be active.

2000 GMT: The Supreme Leader and the Clerics. Rah-e-Sabz, citing Fars, offers an explanation for Ayatollah Khamenei's follow-up trip to Qom. According to a member of the Seminaries Council, the subjects were President Ahmadinejad's obedience to the Supreme Leader, the behaviour of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, hijab and chastity, and the "Iranian School of thought".

Khamenei defended Ahmadinjead against allegations that he was divisive. The Supreme Leader said that although he did not accept some of the government's behaviours, Ahmadinejad "obeys immediately when he is told so".

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The Latest from Iran (6 November): A Flaw in the Script

2025 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish activist Ahmad Baab has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

1700 GMT: A "Tribute" to Ahmadinejad. A crowd in Shiraz, led by a chanter in call-and-response, offer a rhythmic satire on the achievements and poses of the President: "Mahmoud has made himself look ridiculous". The video, according to Le Monde, was shot around 1 November.

1655 GMT: Execution Watch. The conservative newspaper Alef, linked to high-profile MP Ahmad Tavakoli, has criticised the stoning sentence against condemned adultresss Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.

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