The Latest from Iran (14 August): Recovering from an Earthquake

See also The Latest from Iran (13 August): The Political Aftershocks of the Earthquakes

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1739 GMT: The Labour Front. Complaining about no wages for eight months, 600 steel workers protested today in front of the Ministry of Industry.

1722 GMT: The Battle Within. Yesterday we reported:

Iran News Network claims that two former Ministers have asked for a staff from the Executive, legislative, and judicial branches to be organised to manage the country, effectively taking power from the Government.

Radio Farda suggests the two ex-Ministers could be Iran Inspector General and former Minister of Interior Mostafa Pourmohammadi and former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

Today Robert Tait of The Daily Telegraph of London adds a third name and the claim that the appeal was made to Ayatollah Khamenei:

Three of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's former ministers have called on Iran's supreme leader to form an emergency "government of all the talents" that will effectively curb the president's power.

Manouchehr Mottaki, the former foreign minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who served as interior minister, and Davoud Danesh Jafari, the ex-finance minister, have urged the radical move in a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, citing the country's "sensitive and critical situation".

It calls for the establishment of a special cabinet of "wise men" made up of the heads of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, which would then govern Iran for the next year until Mr Ahmadinejad's term ends.

Mr Ahmadinejad would be a member of such a body as head of the executive branch. But his powers would be diluted and prestige drastically reduced....

In an editorial, [pro-Ahmadinejad newspaper] Iran criticised the former ministers' note as an attempt "to portray the country's situation as critical and justify extraordinary approaches outside legal boundaries to resolve an artificial crisis".

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The Latest from Iran (10 April): A Law Professor is Fired

Mohammad Sharif2115 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Activist and blogger Laleh Hassanpour has been sentenced to five years in prison, four of them suspended.

Sarah Mahboubi, a Baha’i student from Sari, has been banned from university and sentenced to 10 months in prison for "membership in an anti-revolutionary Facebook site“.

1855 GMT: Cats and Dogs Watch. Iran's Parliament is discussing a law to prohibit keeping dogs and cats as pets because they are "unclean and dangerous".

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Iran Snapshot: Using Sakineh (Again) for Regime Propaganda

Once again, Iranian officials have tried to use the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman condemned to death for adultery and complicity in her husband's murder, to tarnish the bigger targets of activists and journalists.

First, Ashtiani's son Sajad Ghaderzadeh, detained since early October, was allowed to leave prison on $40,000 bail. He then gave a press conference in Tabriz on Saturday, in which he accepted his mother's guilt but pleaded for the commutation of her death sentence.

That statement is far from surprising, but there were a couple of twists in the interview. First, Ghaderzadeh said he had been freed on 12 December, a release that no one seems to have noticed. Then there was this: "Local officials had originally told journalists they would meet his mother...as well, but then they said the proper procedures had not been followed to give her leave from prison."

The curiosity is resolved this morning, for Press TV proudly brings out Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani:

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Iran Document: Lawyer Mostafaei to Supreme Leader "You are Main Culprit Behind All These Crimes"

Where are you dear Mr. Khamenei to see what crimes and atrocities are being committed in the judiciary and the Islamic republic prisons, in particular in the security “Guantanamo” ward 209 in Evin prison?  We both know very well that you are the main culprit behind all these crimes. It is you who has closed your eyes as you issue any order to protect your power.

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The Latest from Iran (19 October): The Khamenei Road Show

2000 GMT: Spot the Cleric. OK, here's one publicity photo, put out by the Supreme Leader's visit. Two of the clerics are Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani and Ayatollah Javadi Amoli.

Mehr has more photographs, from Khamenei's office, of a larger gathering.

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The Latest from Iran (13 October): Ahmadinejad's Trip for Legitimacy

2215 GMT: Apologies for our limited service this afternoon and evening --- EA staff have been at a seminar on Israeli Policy Towards the Middle East and Iran. We'll catch up with all the news from early Thursday morning.

1305 GMT: Mystery of the Day Solved! Wow, the power of the Internet....

Ten minutes ago, we asked what could possibly be the gift --- a "state of the art device owned by only six countries across the globe" --- that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave to Lebanon's President Suleiman?

Angie Nassar, who writes for Now Lebanon, points us to the answer. Flashback to 1981 and then come Back to the Future:

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