Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- A Health Crisis, A Hunger Strike, and Keeping Women at Home (Arseh Sevom)

Nasrin SotoudehQuestions remain unresolved concerning the death of blogger Sattar Beheshti, while authorities deny that any hunger strikes have taken place among women in prison. Iran’s Health Minister faces parliamentary scrutiny for the depletion of medical supplies, public executions continue, and international airfares double. A single exchange rate is announced and Parliament considers a bill that would require single women under 40 to get permission in order to obtain a passport.

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The Latest from Iran (22 November): Ahmadinejad Benefits from Tehran's Problems Abroad

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- A Health Crisis, A Hunger Strike, and Keeping Women at Home
The Latest from Iran (21 November): The Economy? "All Is Well"

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1740 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabi has stopped all in-person visits in the women’s section of Evin Prison, according to opposition websites.

Kalemeh wrote that female inmates who had children were allowed to meet with them in person on Wednesday, but yesterday the prisoners were told that these visits are cancelled until further notice.

Prison authorities have informed detainees that the decision has been handed down from the prosecutor’s office and prison officials have no authority to alter it.

Up to nine women political prisoners recently went on hunger strike over their treatment, including denial of visits, and seven of them signed a statement of condolence to the family of Sattar Beheshti, a blogger killed earlier this month during interrogation in prison. The women have also expressed sympathy with detained lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is in the fifth week of her hunger strike.

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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- From Death in Detention to Economic Suffering (Arseh Sevom)

"Tracking the Murderers" by Maya Neyestani

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It was a tragic week for the families of blogger Sattar Beheshti and Manouchehr Esmaili Liousi. The first died under suspicious circumstances after being arrested for his writings. The second when his family could not get access to life saving medications. Imprisoned lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh received a long-awaited visit from her family. Workers and retirees bear the brunt of the sanctions and the poor economy, while airline fares shoot up 65%. Iran’s censors work overtime to cancel permitted performances, and state-sponsored workers’ rights activists meet while the real activists languish in prison.

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The Latest from Iran (11 November): Preparing for Renewed Nuclear Talks?

See also Iran 1st-Hand: As Sanctions Bite, Life-Saving Drugs Disappear
The Latest from Iran (10 November): Noticing the US-Iran Nuclear Talks

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2034 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The young children of detained lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh have reportedly been denied a visit, as the attorney enters the fourth week of a hunger strike over prison restrictions.

Sotoudeh's husband Reza Khandan wrote:

At the visitation area, despite the fact that prisoners are normally granted face to face visits if they present a letter, we were told that we need to go to the prison’s main gate in order to visit with Nasrin.

At the main gate, after presenting them with the letter allowing us to see Nasrin in person, we were forced to wait 3 hours. Nima who suffers from asthma started having a cough attack as a result of his cold and the poor air condition.

The prison’s administration office eventually closed and an hour after the official prison visitation hours and after such a long wait, we returned home extremely disappointed, never being able to see Nasrin.

The children were starring at that prison gate for 3 1/2 hours. Every time that gate opened and closed they waited patiently to hear their names so that they could see their mother.

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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Bad Days for Female Political Prisoners (Arseh Sevom)

Nine female political prisoners who recently went on hunger strike over their treatment

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It has been a bad news week for female prisoners of conscience. Harassment of attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh continues unabated despite international calls for her release. Nine other imprisoned women have embarked on a hunger strike to protest unprovoked and aggressive treatment from prison guards. Director Rakshan Bani Etemad’s latest film, Stories, remains unheard, while workers continue to bear the brunt of economic hardships and political suppression in Iran.

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The Latest from Iran (4 November): A False "Breakthrough" on the Nuclear Issue

The Latest from Iran (3 November): Will the Political Fighting Stop? (Probably Not.)

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1740 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. The head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, has said Iran will increase its naval presence in the Persian Gulf, near three islands claimed by the United Arab Emirates.

"The security of the Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf is part of the various strategies of the naval force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," Jafari said at a ceremony inaugurating a fifth "naval defense zone" at the port of Bandar Lengeh.

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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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