The Latest from Iran (2 January): Sedition, Politics, and Propaganda

2000 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish poet Rahim Loughmani, his wife Kolsoum Naghshbandi, and her brother Naseh Naghshbandi have been released from detention.

1820 GMT: Parliament v. President. After a protracted dispute with the Majlis, President Ahmadinejad's supervision of the Central Bank has been re-affirmed.

The Majlis has passed a measure on the Board of the Bank, taking oversight away from Ahmadinejad, but this was rejected by the Guardian Council.

1755 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Labour activist Behnam Ebrahimzadeh has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Afhin Keshtkari, the secretary of Shiraz Sanati University's Islamic Association, has been released on bail.

Student activist Mohammad Hossein Mozafari has been arrested.

Student activist Faoud Khanjani, a Baha'i member, has been sentenced to four years in prison.

1645 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kurdish political activist Ghadrieh Ghaderi has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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Iran Snapshot: Using Sakineh (Again) for Regime Propaganda

Once again, Iranian officials have tried to use the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman condemned to death for adultery and complicity in her husband's murder, to tarnish the bigger targets of activists and journalists.

First, Ashtiani's son Sajad Ghaderzadeh, detained since early October, was allowed to leave prison on $40,000 bail. He then gave a press conference in Tabriz on Saturday, in which he accepted his mother's guilt but pleaded for the commutation of her death sentence.

That statement is far from surprising, but there were a couple of twists in the interview. First, Ghaderzadeh said he had been freed on 12 December, a release that no one seems to have noticed. Then there was this: "Local officials had originally told journalists they would meet his mother...as well, but then they said the proper procedures had not been followed to give her leave from prison."

The curiosity is resolved this morning, for Press TV proudly brings out Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani:

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Iran Video: Sakineh's Latest "Confession" --- The Press TV "Documentary"

This week we have followed the confusing story in which Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to death for adultery and complicity in the murder of her husband, had wrongly reported to have been freed from prison.

The reality was that Ashtiani and her son Sajad Ghaderzadeh, who has also been detained, were taken to the family home so they could not only film "confessions" but also carry out a reconstruction of the murder for a "documentary" on Iran's Press TV.

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Iran Special: The Latest on the Non-Release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

Information from EA sources indicates that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, condemned to death for adultery, has NOT been released from prison.

The news that she had been freed followed images of Ashtiani and her son Sajad Ghaderzadeh --- who has also been detained since September --- in their home in northwestern Iran. Soon, however, another story emerged: Sakineh had been escorted from prison to home to make another televised "confession" of adultery and complicity in the murder of her husband.

Here is what we have learned:

The pictures of Ashtiani and Ghaderzadeh are from a trailer (commercial) for the Iran Today programme, which is broadcast on Fridays, on Press TV. EA sources in the Iranian state media say Ashtiani was taken "temporarily" out of prison for the programme, which will report how she contributed to the murder of her husband. (Thus, the report last night that she is saying in the trailer, "We planned to kill my husband.")

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Iran Breaking: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani --- Is It Freedom or Another Confession?

We have returned from a break to find confusion over the situation of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman condemned to death for adultery and then for complicity in the murder of her husband, and Ashtiani's son Sajad Ghaderzadeh, who was arrested in September while giving an interview to German journalists about his mother.

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Iran Document: Lawyer Mostafaei to Supreme Leader "You are Main Culprit Behind All These Crimes"

Where are you dear Mr. Khamenei to see what crimes and atrocities are being committed in the judiciary and the Islamic republic prisons, in particular in the security “Guantanamo” ward 209 in Evin prison?  We both know very well that you are the main culprit behind all these crimes. It is you who has closed your eyes as you issue any order to protect your power.

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The Latest from Iran (19 October): The Khamenei Road Show

2000 GMT: Spot the Cleric. OK, here's one publicity photo, put out by the Supreme Leader's visit. Two of the clerics are Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani and Ayatollah Javadi Amoli.

Mehr has more photographs, from Khamenei's office, of a larger gathering.

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The Latest from Iran (14 October): Paying Attention

2025 GMT: Economy Watch. Khabar Online claims that President Ahmadinejad will announce the start of subsidy cuts on television at the end of next week, as support payments to 15 million families begin.

2020 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An activist reports that Islamic Iran Participation Front member Davood Soleimani has been released after 16 months in detention.

2015 GMT: Video of the Ahmadinejad speech in Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon:

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The Latest from Iran (13 October): Ahmadinejad's Trip for Legitimacy

2215 GMT: Apologies for our limited service this afternoon and evening --- EA staff have been at a seminar on Israeli Policy Towards the Middle East and Iran. We'll catch up with all the news from early Thursday morning.

1305 GMT: Mystery of the Day Solved! Wow, the power of the Internet....

Ten minutes ago, we asked what could possibly be the gift --- a "state of the art device owned by only six countries across the globe" --- that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave to Lebanon's President Suleiman?

Angie Nassar, who writes for Now Lebanon, points us to the answer. Flashback to 1981 and then come Back to the Future:

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