Iran Election Guide

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Entries in Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (29)

Sunday
Jun052011

The Latest from Iran (5 June): And Then After the Ceremony....

Iran's political and religious leadership at Saturday's ceremony

1845 GMT: A Death at the Funeral. More than 750 women activists have issued a statement commemorating the death of Haleh Sahabi by saying that the fight for "freedom, peace and equality" continues and the rulers of Iran "will not calm it".

1825 GMT: Economy Watch. The chairman of the Food Industry Association has projected that food prices will rise 10% in the next two weeks.

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Saturday
Jun042011

The Latest from Iran (4 June): Remembering Khomeini...Without Ahmadinejad

1940 GMT: The security presence blocking the silent protest for Haleh Sahabi at a religious complex in north Tehran this afternoon:

1925 GMT: Preventing Haleh's Memorial. Witnesses say Iranian security forces fired in the air to disperse several hundred people who had gathered for silent protest over the death of activist Haleh Sahabi (see 1505 GMT).

The forces reportedly used batons as well to disperse the crowd outside the Hosseini Ershad mosque in northern Tehran.

Kalemeh reports that a "few dozen" protesters were arrested and some were "severely beaten".

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Saturday
Jun042011

Iran Special: Taking Apart the Supreme Leader's Speech on "Uprisings" (Siavashi)

It is in Khamenei's consideration of what is "new" --- the uprisings in the Arab Spring --- that the significance of this speech lies.

For the Supreme Leader has to go through the looking glass to explain why these demands for rights, justice, and legitimacy of rulers are very, very good from Tunisia to Bahrain and, at the same time, to portray why they are very, very bad in his own country. In that looking glass, however, there is no resolution, only the paranoia, delusion, arrogance, and hypocrisy that mark Khamenei even as he pays homage to his predecessor and the Islamic Republic.

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Thursday
Jun022011

The Latest from Iran (2 June): A Revival of Dissent?

A photograph from last night's burial of Haleh Sahabi

2010 GMT: A Death at the Funeral. Our partner website, Arshama3's Blog", has posted an excellent summary in German of the case of Haleh Sahabi, "Anatomy of a Political Murder".

2005 GMT: A Death at the Funeral. Hamed Montazeri, the grandson of the late Grand Ayatollah, has written a note about the death of Haleh Sahabi. He said that Sahabi was beaten by security forces. Whether her death resulted from the impact of the blows or the shock of receiving them, Montazeri continued, "it can be said unequivocally that Ms Haleh Sahabi was murdered".

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Monday
Apr112011

Iran Story: The Movie, The President, and the "Hidden Imam"

The "End Times" film about the Hidden Imam --- translation is by Reza Kahlili, a US-based critic of the Iranian regime

We begin this morning with a look at a curious, tangled story which has run for several weeks --- it includes a movie, President Ahmadinejad, and the "Hidden Imam", the 12th Imam of Shi'a who will return at some point.

This weekend Ali Asghar Sijani, the producer of a film about the Hidden Imam which has widely circulated on CD in Iran, declared that the epiphany of the 12th Imam is near. He added that the Supreme Leader led the movement welcoming the imminent return, and Ahmadinejad was the prophet Shoaib (a rough parallel in Christianity would be of John the Baptist paving the way for Jesus the Messiah). Sijani said that part of the $15 million cost of the film was funded by the Revolutionary Guards.

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Sunday
Mar062011

Iran Guide: Ahmadinejad, Rafsanjani, and the Battle in the Assembly of Experts (Khalaji)

The power struggle within Iran's political elite will be on full display during the March 8-9 semiannual meeting of the Assembly of Experts [Editor's Note: We are working with the dates of 7-8 March], the body charged with selecting the country's Supreme Leader and, in the case of the imminent meeting, electing a head of the assembly for the coming year. The assembly is now led by Rafsanjani himself, who twenty-two years ago played the lead role in selecting Ali Khamenei to succeed Ruhollah Khomeini as the country's Supreme Leader. In the present predicament, President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad and other hardliners are trying to prevent Rafsanjani from maintaining his leadership of the assembly, yet removing him would further narrow the field of Iran's religious and political elite who support Khamenei.

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Wednesday
Feb162011

The Latest from Iran (16 February): The Regime Hits Back

2145 GMT: Punishing the 25 Bahman Error. Opposition websites are reporting that two managers of the conservative Aftab News have been arrested over an incident on Monday.

Aftab briefly reported that a permit had been granted for the opposition rally. The article was quickly pulled and the site taken off-line.

Aftab also reported that Turkish President Abdullah Gul, visiting Iran, had asked to join the march.

2135 GMT: Rafsanjani Chooses a Side? The Assembly of Experts, chaired by Hashemi Rafsanjani, has exalted last Friday's regime celebration of the Islamic Revolution and denounced Monday's opposition rallies as a "counter-revolutionary" movement of heretics supported by the US and Israel.

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Sunday
Feb062011

The Latest from Iran (6 February): A Notable Absence

2300 GMT: The US Hikers. In the first day of their closed-door trial (see 1115 GMT), Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer pleaded not guilty to espionage and trespassing.

The hearing lasted five hours, but there were no details, as all observers --- including the Swiss Ambassador, who represents US interests in Iran --- were excluded and the hikers' lawyer was barred from giving information. The trial for Fattal and Bauer, who were arrested on the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009, was continued to an unspecified date by Judge Salavati.

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Tuesday
Oct122010

The Latest from Iran (12 October): Rafsanjani Hits Back

1945 GMT: Opposition Challenge. Ardeshir Amir Arjomand, a senior advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi, has called on Green Movement activists to “bravely” reflect the “oppression” of the Iranian people to the “international community and all international organisations".

Arjomand, who is now outside Iran, called the President a "delusional liar" and declared, “Mr Ahmadinejad is not the representative of the Iranian people and does not have the right to speak on behalf of the Iranian people in the international stage.” Claiming that Ahmadinejad's impending visit to Lebanon was to gain domestic advantage, Arjomand asserted, “Unfortunately, Ahmadinejad is used to exploiting—[both] politically and personally—the pains and sufferings of others [both] by means of deceitful slogans and actions.”

Arjomand also spoke out against sanctions:

The international community must not punish [Iranian] workers, teachers and deprived sectors of the Iranian nation --- who live under the tyranny of an oppressive state --- because of the irresponsible adventurism of a president who lacks legitimacy among the people....Contrary to baseless claims, the sanctions will have a clear effect on the day-to-day lives of the people;therefore the Green Movement wants an end to the economic sanctions. The harm resulting from these sanctions have a direct impact on the situation of the people’s livelihoods and will create basic problems for using national resources.

Arjomand then tried to turn the Israeli issue against the government, saying that West Jerusalem government was “eager [for] and in need” of Ahmadinejad’s positions, using them to divert attention from the Palestinian struggle for justice, and claiming that the Green Movement “condemns” Israel’s acts of hostility in “breaching human rights and human dignity": “Our support for the Palestinian people is considered to be a support for justice and people as well as a religious and moral duty.

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