The Latest from Iran (31 July): So This is Freedom of the Press....
Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 14:43
2010 GMT: Clerical Intervention. Grand Ayatollah Sane'i, challenging the Government's portrayal of "security" in Iran, has asked, "Is it safe?" when figures like Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi are kept under prolonged house arrest.
2000 GMT: You Gotta Laugh. President Ahmadinejad was in northwest Iran today, celebrating the inclusion of the Tabriz Grand Bazaar on the list of World Heritage Sites. However, it was this episode earlier in the week that made us smile:
In a meeting of the cabinet with provincial governors and other senior government officials around the country, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said sarcastically, "Anybody who sits next to us is arrested." He made the statement after asking Hamid Baghaei, his vice president for executive affairs, to sit next to him. Over the last few months there have been persistent rumors that Baghaei's arrest is imminent.
Ahmadinejad will want to hold on to that sense of humour. Reformist MP Dariush Ghanbari, who has struck out at the Government this week, continued his criticism in Parliament today with the declaration that the people of Iran have become "debtors or unemployed" under Ahmadinejad's leadership. He sent the message to the President, "Rather than oil money reaching Iranian households, [people] are receiving court orders to repay their debts or report to jail, because your administration has mishandled the restructuring of subsidies."