The Latest from Iran (17 November): The Regime Mobilises...for Occupy Wall Street

2118 GMT: Rumour of the Day. The hard-line Raja News claims that the President cancelled his attendance of the meeting of gas-exporting countries in Doha at the last minute because of Qatar's support for the suspension of Syria from the Arab League.

2115 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. According to the "hard-line" Arya News, MP Mahmoud Ahmadi-Bighash has asked the judiciary to publish the names of 10 legislators involved in the $2.6 billion bank fraud.

2105 GMT: Press Watch. Rah-e Sabz reports that Parliament has banned critical journalists from covering its proceedings.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (11 November): Chest-Thumping

See also Iran Analysis: The Pattern of Confrontation --- Obama Wins, Regime Wins, Iranian People Lose
Iran Snap Analysis: The US Strikes a Military Pose
The Latest from Iran (10 November): Tag-Team Politics

---

1655 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Farzaneh Mirvand, the wife of detained journalist Siamak Ghaderi, talks about the abuse of her husband in Evin Prison:

Even thinking about the days that my husband was in Ward 209 is very difficult for me. He was in solitary confinement for 34 days under harsh interrogations, was blindfolded, beaten up with a baton and threatened in order to force him to give a false confession.

At one of his interrogation sessions, an interrogator slapped him on his face so hard that he and the chair he was sitting in hit the ground. My husband is still suffering from the injury to his neck that he suffered during that fall.

Yes, for these pressures and other violations. I have gone to every place I could and have told the authorities about them, but they just laughed at me.

Even during his trial, my husband told the judge about his tortures, but he, without paying any attention to my husband’s remarks, issued a verdict based on the false confessions taken from my husband.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (29 August): Catching Up

Maya Neyestani's old man shows Libya's former leader Muammar Qaddafi to a young boy, "Our zoo is soon complete"

See also Wikileaks & Iran Flashback: How A Kickboxing Champion Became "Israeli Spy" & Was Sentenced To Death

---

2035 GMT: Supreme Leader v. President (cont.). More on Ayatollah Khamenei's apparent chiding of the Government (see 1555 GMT) in a meeting with the President and Cabinet....

Ayatollah Khamenei, demanding amicable relations amongst Government bodies, called on the Ahmadinejad Administration to refrain from "conflict and retaliation" in the face of criticism".

The Supreme Leader also insisted on a focus on post-Islamic Iran rather than the pre-Islamic era of the country. The President's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, has been heavily criticised for suggesting that other countries can follow an "Iranian" rather than an "Islamic" model.

Khamenei said, "In the issue of culture including books, art, art organizations, we must relentlessly maintain the Revolutionary and Islamic direction."

ni's old man shows Libya's former leader Muammar Qaddafi to a young boy, "Our zoo is soon complete"

See also Wikileaks & Iran Flashback: How A Kickboxing Champion Became "Israeli Spy" & Was Sentenced To Death

---

2025 GMT: Protest Watch. Kalemeh reports that at least 16 Bazaaris were arrested this weekend for inciting and leading the protest at the Bazaar against the Government's value-added tax policy.

2010 GMT: The Battle Within. The strange tale of the regime "eulogist" who offered to pay anyone who would kill the President's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, continues.

Majid Reza Fouladi has rejected the report in Fars that he had announced a "big fitna (sedition) in mid September", to be launched by the Ahmadinejad camp. The Government is reportedly filing a complaint against the newspaper.

yestani's old man shows Libya's former leader Muammar Qaddafi to a young boy, "Our zoo is soon complete"

See also Wikileaks & Iran Flashback: How A Kickboxing Champion Became "Israeli Spy" & Was Sentenced To Death

---

1555 GMT: Supreme Leader v. President. Khabar Online, the website of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, reports an apparent jab by Ayatollah Khamenei at President Ahmadinejad. The Supreme Leader said the Government had problems in its contact with elites. He added that Ahmadinejad's administration should discuss economic matters with experts and said that "defying criticism leads to nowhere".

Click to read more ...

Iran Cartoon of the Day: A Cry for Freedom (Neyestani)

Maya Neyestani, in a cartoon posted on Radio Zamaneh, on the "natural" death of activist and journalist Hoda Saber, who passed away this morning from complications of a hunger strike (see today's LiveBlog):

Iran Cartoon of the Day: RIP, Haleh and Ezzatollah Sahabi (Neyestani)

A cartoon by Maya Neyestani, commemorating the death of activist Haleh Sahabi (see today's LiveBlog), at the funeral of her father, opposition figure Ezzatollah Sahabi:

The Latest from Iran (2 December): Choking

1855 GMT: Khatami Speaks. Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has urged authorities to let the Islamic Republic pass through “threats and restrictions” into an atmosphere of “safety and freedom".

Speaking to families of political prisoners on Tuesday, Khatami emphasized that the constitution "should be the basis of everyone’s actions especially the government". He asked authorities to ensure free and healthy elections and inclusive policies.

1840 GMT: The Budget Battle. Reformist MP Nasrollah Torabi has declared that the remarks of Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, on a possible compromise over the 5th Budget Plan have no legal binding.

1816 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Prominent historian Abdollah Shahbazi, a supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has been arrested in Shiraz.

Click to read more ...