Iran Feature: How a Political Prisoner Found Art for Her Activism (Bozorgmehr)

Hengameh ShahidiAfter two years in prison for protesting against rigged elections, Hengameh Shahidi, an Iranian journalist and human rights activist, picked up a paintbrush for the first time. Freed from Evin prison – where she was held in solitary confinement and allegedly tortured – art offered her a release.

“I still do not understand how a violent atmosphere has woken up a delicate part of me,” she says.

Now she hopes her paintings will help raise awareness about the plight of 200 or so political prisoners still in Iranian jails, many of them forgotten or ignored by a population afraid to speak out.

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The Latest from Iran (8 September): The Threat Is Not Israel --- It's the Economy

See also The Latest from Iran (7 September): Challenges on the International Front

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1945 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Sierra Leone has removed nine vessels from its shipping register after finding they belonged to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

Iran has been trying to reflag its ships, using countries such as Tuvalu, to bypass Western sanctions aimed at choking off its oil exports.

In mid-August, Tanzania announced it was de-registering 36 Iranian vessels and that it was dropping the Dubai-based shipping agent who flagged them without its knowledge.

1910 GMT: Media Watch. I have been interviewed at length tonight by the radio service of State broadcaster IRIB about sanctions and Iran's nuclear programme.

If anyone hears the broadcast version of the remarks, please let me know.

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The Latest from Iran (5 September): Admission --- The Sanctions Hurt Both the People and the Regime

See also Iran Feature: Regime to Media "Print Only Hope and Joy About Sanctions"
The Latest from Iran (4 September): Back to Business?

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0015 GMT: Resistance Watch. Najmeh Bozorgmehr summarises today's International Conference and Festival of Islamic Resistance, with the emphasis of the Supreme Leader's advisor Ali Akbar Velayati on support for Syria as "the golden link of the resistance chain against Israel" (see 1025 GMT).

Bozorgmehr notes that, while the Syrian Ambassador to Iran warned that the "vicious plans" of the US and its allies in the region would lead from overthrow of President Assad to regime change in Tehran, "the Lebanese and Palestinian groups at the conference appeared less concerned with Syria or Iran than with their own struggles".

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Iran Feature: Regime to Media "Print Only Hope and Joy About Sanctions"

Tehran Chief Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi has called on the press and broadcasters to adopt the right tone in coveraage of the economy and sanctions:

It is expected that the media take more responsibility and understand the circumstances of [the country's] situation, and refrain from painting a bleak picture and exaggerating the problems. Instead, [the media] should create an atmosphere of hope and joy to prove that they can become a major asset in defending the Islamic Revolution.

And, in a twist, Doulatabadi gets his good news from another Western reporter, Clyde Russell of Reuters.

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The Latest from Iran (6 May): After the Election

See also Iran Snap Analysis: Some People Were Selected for the Parliament --- Does It Matter?
The Latest from Iran (5 May): The Threat of Inflation

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1630 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Meysam Mohamadi has been sentenced to four years in prison and a five-year ban from print or online journalism.

The same punishment has been handed down to journalist Omid Mohades.

1543 GMT: Parliament v. President. Najmeh Bozorgmehr of The Financial Times reports that the Majlis, in its first post-election session, has challenged the Government with two complaints to the judiciary, one over “incurring irreparable damages” to the country’s economy by violating foreign exchange laws “at a time the country faces numerous sanctions” over its nuclear policies.

Bozorgmehr also notes that the Supreme Court has approved a death sentence for Majid Jamali Fashi, who was convicted in a closed-doors trial of the murder of nuclear scientist Massoud Aliohammadi, in January 2010.

The regime has accused Jamali Fashi, a former kickboxing champion who reportedly beat up protesters after the 2009 Presidential election (see EA feature), with collaborating with Israeli intelligence services.

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Iran Special Analysis: The "Invented" Election

To modify Voltaire's famous statement about God, "if the 60% turnout did not exist, it would have to be invented".  Beyond the battles within the establishment that will soon re-emerge --- reduced to "Supreme Leader v. Ahmadinejad", but going far beyond this amongst the conservative and principlist factions and politicians --- the immediate demand on the regime was to establish its legitimacy.

The truth is that we will never know exactly how many Iranians --- amidst economic problems, worries over corruption and mismanagement, political in-fighting, restrictions on dissent and communications, imprisonments and harassments --- decided that voting might make a difference. 

What we do know is that Iranian authorities went to great lengths to set up and control the show.

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Iran Analysis: Elections and Power --- This is More Than The Supreme Leader's Show

This week there has been a sudden bandwagon of comment that the Supreme Leader is the only man in town when it comes to Iranian politics.

So that's it, then? Not just the elections but all the political conflict of the last three years has been a show, with Ayatollah Khamenei sitting comfortably in power the entire time?

Not quite.

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