Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Threatened Journalists, Tehran Claims the South Pole, and the End of Olympic Wrestling (Arseh Sevom)

An embrace between US and Iranian wrestlers in the 2012 Olympics --- but it may not happen again

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The Ministry of Intelligence, not letting up on the "enemy" BBC Persian, continues to arrest, hold, and harass journalists and filmmakers.

Meanwhile, Jafar Panahi receives international acclaim despite being under house arrest and banned from filmmaking.

The South Pole could become a vacation spot for New Year revelers if Iran’s claim to some of its vast territory holds up.

The Supreme Leader chastises President Ahmadinejad and the Larijani brothers for their very public dispute.

And Iran and the US finally agree on one thing: removing wrestling from the Olympic games is just tragic.

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Iran Live Coverage: Manoeuvres Over the Nuclear Talks

Iranian State TV on the rejection of the latest US-Europe proposal over Tehran's nuclear programme

See also Iran Interview: Daughters of Opposition Leader Mousavi Speak Out...and Take Risks Doing So
Iran Analysis: US-Europe Strategy --- Break Tehran's Economy for "Real" Nuclear Talks in Autumn
Monday's Iran Live Coverage: Ahmadinejad Refuses to Back Down

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1925 GMT: The Battle Within. The President's website has fired another shot at his rivals: "The judiciary should enforce justice for everyone without prejudice."

Digarban interprets this as an Ahmadinejad dig at the judiciary and Iran Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei for not moving against corruption, as in the case of 300 "big" bank defrauders.

Ahmadinejad and Mohseni Ejei have been in an ongoing argument over the suspects. Mohseni Ejei has claimed that he sent a request to Ahmadinejad to provide the names of the 300 people, who --- according to Ahmadinejad --- "have put 60 percent of the country's money in their pockets and do not return it". The President claims he has not receive any request.

Mohseni Ejei said in his press conference this week that the judiciary alone follows cases of bank debtors.

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Iran Live Coverage: Admitting the Battle Within

Press TV's coverage of the Supreme Leader's speech criticising President Ahmadinejad, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, and head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani

See also Saturday's Iran Live Coverage: Tehran's Support for Syria Will Cause "War Between Shia and Sunni"

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2030 GMT: The Battle Within. Forget the non-apology letter to the Supreme Leader, this is President Ahmadinejad's big statement today....

Ahmaadinejad used a speech to repeat his warning against the "engineering" of elections --- a swipe at last month's statement by the Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, Ali Saeedi --- and swept aside any notion that he will back down: "I will work until last minute of my term."

The President continued, "I am ready to sacrifice myself for Islam and Qur'an. My only wish is that the flag of monotheism and justice flies and that mankind is set free."

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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Sanctions, Awards for Political Prisoners, and the Supreme Leader on Facebook (Arseh Sevom)

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Some people in Iran are feeling the effects of shortages of medicine and high prices, while an artist challenges passersby at the United Nations to confront the growing problem.

Nasrin Sotoudeh and Jafar Panahi receive the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in absentia, sending messages for justice and freedom, as imprisoned human rights activists call for others to spread the call for dignity. Mohammad Maleki, the former Chancellor Tehran University, is summoned to serve a six-year prison term. Journalists call for an end to the intimidation of political prisoners' family members by interrogators.

The Supreme Leader gets a Facebook page, as Parliament debates election reform and reduced powers for the President and Human Rights Watch issues a report on the more than 40,000 Iranians seeking asylum abroad while a photographer shows us that life in Iran goes on.<

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The Latest from Iran (13 December): Nuclear Talks with the IAEA

The European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in absentia to detained lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who is threatened with imprisonment

See also Iran Snap Analysis: Speculating about the Next President
The Latest from Iran (12 December): A 78-Year-Old Academic is Imprisoned for Writing the Supreme Leader

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1602 GMT: A Death in Detention. Human rights activists claim participants in the 40th day memorial for blogger Sattar Beheshti, who died on 3 November under interrogation in Evin Prison, have been beaten, with several arrested.

Security officers reportedly raided the services at the Imam Mohamad Taghi Shrine in Robat Karim,, near Tehran.

Beheshti's mother was said to have sustained leg and knee injuries. Beheshti’s brother was detained for two hours.

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The Latest from Iran (31 October): Ahmadinejad Tries to Assert His Authority

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Death of a Scholar, Honouring Political Prisoners
The Latest from Iran (30 October): Tehran's Mixed Messages

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2216 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani is still upset that five members of the European Parliament cancelled a trip to Tehran last weekend because authorities refused to let them see imprisoned lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and filmmaker Jafar Panahi, free on bail but facing a six-year sentence.

Last week, the European Parliament honoured Sotoudeh, detained since September 2010, and Panahi with the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Larijani said, “How would the European Parliament allow itself to set precondition for visiting our country and announce that it intends to grant awards to people, who have been sentenced by Iran’s independent Judiciary? Isn’t this an unjustified and clear intervention against a sovereign state?”

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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Death of a Scholar, Honouring Political Prisoners (Arseh Sevom)

Ahmad GhabelThis week we mark the passing of religious scholar and political dissident Ahmad Ghabel and the award of the prestigious Sakharov Prize to filmmaker Jafar Panahi and imprisoned lawyer Nassrin Sotoudeh. The non-binding Iran Tribunal closed in The Hague. United for Iran released a report highly critical of the focus of the international community on Iran's nuclear program at the expense of human rights.

The economy continues to falter and workers are losing their jobs at alarming rates. Afghans continue to be repatriated, while the government does its best to widen the gender gap. The Tehran Symphony is now only available to those who can privately hire them, and a new film on the lives of transexuals in Iran has opened in the country.

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The Latest from Iran (28 October): Blame the Zionists, Don't Mention the Political Prisoners

See also The Latest from Iran (27 October): Supreme Leader Says, "Obey Me"

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Jafar Panahi & Nasrin Sotoudeh1630 GMT: Straits of Hormuz Watch. Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi has said the Islamic Republic has no plan to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key lane for oil shipments in the Persian Gulf, in response to international sanctions: “These two issues are not related and are totally independent of each other."

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The Latest from Iran (27 October): Supreme Leader Says, "Obey Me"

See also Iran Video Feature: A Beginner's Guide to the Battles Within the Media
The Latest from Iran (26 October): Judiciary to Ahmadinejad "Your Irrational and Illegal Attacks"

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1556 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (European Front). Now it's Press TV being coy about the cancelled visit by the five members of the European Parliament, "The EP officials requested on Friday to meet two Iranian nationals, who have been sentenced to prison on charges of breaching Iran's national security."

1526 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (European Front). The English-language edition of Fars offers a very different account of why a visit to Tehran by five members of the European Parliament was cancelled (see 1218 GMT). It quotes MP Kazem Jalali, the head of the Iran-EU Parliamentary Friendship Group:

The trip was organized upon a demand by the European parliament and we agreed with their demand, but the European parliament gave up the visit with its unwise action which is not at all justifiable and the responsibility for the consequences of this move lies on that parliament....

The European parliament is under the influence of the Zionist regime when making some important decisions, and...since the very first day, the Zionist lobby voiced opposition to the EU delegation's visit to Iran and made the EU parliament call off the trip, and this shows the EU's lack of independence.

Fars continues with a statement by Parliamentary advisor, Hossein Sheikholeslam, "The European parliamentary delegation has set a precondition for visiting Iran and will not accept this prerequisite as it runs counter to our policies."

However, Fars coyly never mentions the "precondition": the five European MPs asked to see detained lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who is under threat of a six-year sentence --- the two received the EU's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought earlier this week. When Iranian officials refused, the European delegation cancelled its visit.

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The Latest from Iran (26 October): Judiciary to Ahmadinejad "Your Irrational and Illegal Attacks"

See also Iran Feature: "Britain Rebuffs US Pleas to Use Its Military Bases for Attack"
The Latest from Iran (25 October): Ahmadinejad v. the Judiciary, Continued

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1745 GMT: Loyalty Watch. The Supreme Leader's office has put out the reminder:

No one can disobey the decree of the Leader using the pretext that the decree is or may be a mistake....All the people, including the elites and experts, must obey the orders of the Leader.... Everyone is allowed to criticize the law or decrees of the Leader, but criticism is one thing and disobedience another, just as there is a difference between being critical and actively looking for excuses.

But why issue this statement now? And who should be taking notice?

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