The Latest from Iran (22 June): A Bad Day for Ahmadinejad

1810 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Website supporting the President are hitting back....

Didgah News claims all political tensions have arisen "from the graves of monopolists who hide behind the Supreme Leader". Bultan News declares that "bad MPs who interfere in govt matters" will weaken the Government and the Majlis.

1740 GMT: The Supreme Leader's Men. Iranian media are reporting that Mojtaba Zolnour, the Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, is leaving his post. The reason is unclear. Hafte Sobh, the website linked to Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, says he has been dismissed for slander, while Fars claims Zolnour is running for Parliament next year.

In recent weeks, Zolnour has been an outspoken critic of the "deviant" current around President Ahmadinejad, including Rahim-Mashai (see 1500 GMT).

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Iran Flashback Video: "Neda: An Iranian Martyr" (PBS/BBC)

Two years ago today, dozens of protesters were killed when Iranian security forces cracked down on public marches challenging the legitimacy of the 2009 Presidential election.

One of those slain was a philosophy student named Neda Agha Soltan.

This is the PBS/BBC documentary, from November 2009, on her death and on the post-election conflict in Iran.

See also The Latest from Iran (20 June 2009): From Rally to Street Fighting

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Iran Document: The Women Who are Political Prisoners (Sadr)

Taking a serious and fruitful measure in order to stop violation of human rights, including various forms of sexual torture and violence against political prisoners as the most severe form of violation of human rights, is a necessary step towards releasing some pressure from the popular movement of the Iranian people. We must start now, tomorrow is too late.

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Iran Document: Regime's Broadcaster Blames Itself for Post-Election Protest (ICHRI)

The report says that the “premature announcement of election results, prior to preparing public opinion, was a mistake in the national media’s news coverage...considering voting hours ended at 22:00 on the night of 12 June, and the initial results (announcing [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad’s victory) were reported (after counting 61% of the votes) at 2:47 a.m. the next day .”

The report finds that “announcing election results with such speed was almost unprecedented". The report implicitly blames the IRIB’s performance during the vote count, as one of the factors contributing to widespread street protest.

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Iran Snapshot: Haleh Sahabi, Another Martyr for the Movement

Haleh Sahabi and Neda Agha Soltan

As the day developed, it was reminiscent of a day almost two years ago.

News emerged, hours after the event, that a woman had died at a public gathering in Tehran. The details were confused at first, but we knew that she was Haleh Sahabi, a  women's right activist, and she had collapsed at the funeral of her father, long-time opposition figure Ezzatollah Sahabi. 

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The Latest from Iran (28 January): The President Protects His Man

1020 GMT: Claim of Day. The hard-line Raja News writes that Mehdi Karroubi went to Behesht-e Zahra cemetery today to honor post-election victims but fled after families protested.

1015 GMT: Sedition Watch. Ayatollah Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayer leader in Mashhad, has proclaimed that some fitna (sedition) leaders and activists are trying to "desecrate" the Supreme Leader.

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Iran Interview: Parvin Fahimi "Who Killed These Youngsters in Their Own Country?"

Parvin Fahimi is the mother of Sohrab Arabi, a 19-year-old youth who was martyred on 20 June 2009 in last year's post-election protests.She offered these comments in an interview with our colleague Masih Alinejad:

I never say I want only what is right for my own son, because every time I go to the Behesht Zahra cemetery, I see other Sohrabs who were murdered, I see other Amir Yussefzadehs, Moharam Cheginis, Ali Reza Eftekharis, Ashkan Sohrabis, Saeed Abbassis, Kianoosh Asas, Abbas Disnaads, Ramin Ramezanis and many more who are buried in other sections and can not all be named here. I wish they would answer, "Who killed these youngsters in their own country?

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Iran Feature: "The Other Neda" Finds Her Political Voice (Froissart-Dreux)

An Iranian woman mistaken for Neda Agha-Soltan, whose death in post-election protests last year became a symbol of Iran's opposition movement, has found her own political voice after being forced into exile.

"I have a personal link to her (the other Neda) because her death somehow caused a serious destruction of my life. Not her immediate death but the consequences of her death," Neda Soltani told AFP.

"I cannot claim that I am a political person. However I can say that after being targeted by such a huge case, I cannot remain indifferent to the politics of my country and what is happening there."

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