The Latest from Iran (27 November): Trying to Escape the Oil Squeeze

See also Iran Opinion: "The Riskiest Job" --- A Tribute to Imprisoned Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh
The Latest from Iran (26 November): Noting the Crackdown on Dissidents

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2046 GMT: A Death in Detention. Iran Police Chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam has accepted partial responsibility for the death in detention of blogger Sattar Beheshti earlier this month.

Ahmadi Moghaddam, following up the claim of an MP on Monday, said investigations were examining why conditions in the detention centre in Robat Karim, southwest of Tehran, were "not favorable", why Beheshti was transferred from Evin Prison "during holidays", why the blogger was not allowed to take prescribed sedatives, and why he was kept at an "administrative section", where there were no monitoring cameras to record incidents.

However, Ahmadi Moghaddam insisted --- contrary to remarks from other Iranian officials --- that no traces of beating were seen on Beheshti's body. He maintained that the likely cause of death was "shock".

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Iran Feature: An Activist's Imprisonment Turns a Family Against the Regime (Dehghan)

When Iranian student activist Arash Sadeghi was temporarily released from Tehran's infamous Evin prison in November 2010, he anticipated a little respite from a year of harsh beatings and agony in jail.

Instead, within a few days, security officials had raided his home in middle of the night. As they broke their way into the house, Sadeghi's mother, who was alone with her daughter, suffered a heart attack.

The officials continued their search as she laid unconscious on the floor, ransacking the house and trying to find Sadeghi, who was at his grandfather's house that night. When the officials left, Farahnaz Dargahi was taken to hospital. She died within a few days.

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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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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 (17 November): More Posturing on Gaza

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- From Death in Detention to Economic Suffering
Iran Analysis: Assessing the Latest Nuclear Report --- Is There an "Imminent Threat"?
The Latest from Iran (16 November): Taking Advantage of Gaza

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2021 GMT: Gaza Watch. Fars reports that 20,000 Basij militia, staging exercises in Isfahan, have declared their readiness to fight in Gaza --- defending and reclaiming the "occupied land.

2005 GMT: Foreign Affairs (US Front). A judiciary statement reports that the US has denied visas to Iranian officials planning to attend a meeting in New York of the United Nations' Third Committee, which focuses on social issues and human rights.

"The U.S. government, by not issuing visas to the members of the delegation, wants to ruin the possibility of the presence of the delegation, and prevent its members from conducting their mission of interacting and cooperating with the United Nations," said the statement.

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The Latest from Iran (15 November): Tehran's Open Call for Nuclear Talks

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Iran's Secretary of the National Security Council, Saeed Jalili

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1759 GMT: A Death in Detention. Head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani has declared that he will deal "firmly" with anyone found guilty of abuse, torture, and/or wrongful behaviour in the case of blogger Sattar Beheshti, who died during interrogation in prison last week.

See Iran Feature: The Last Blog of Sattar Beheshti, Murdered by Security Forces in Prison

1753 GMT: Health Watch. Minister of Health Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, trying to stave off criticism and calls for her impeachment (see 0945 GMT), has declared that Iran has risen from 56th to 20th in the world in medical care in the last 10 years, and that the Islamic Republic is 14th in the world for pharmaceuticals.

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The Latest from Iran (14 November): Ahmadinejad Threatens to Expose Corruption

See also Iran Opinion: Sanctions Support Regime's "Internet Repression"
The Latest from Iran (13 November): Admitting a Blogger's Death in Detention

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1945 GMT: Nuclear Watch. After weeks of signals, the regime has made its public push for renewed nuclear discussions today.

Iran's lead negotiator Saeed Jalili has called on the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia) to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible, stressing Tehran's readiness for talks.

Press TV pointedly calls Jalili "the representative of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei" to emphasise the Supreme Leader's blessing of the announcement.

Jalili spoke in Tehran alongside Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who welcomed “an earliest possible resumption of talks...preferably before the end of the year".

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Iran Opinion: Sanctions Support Regime's "Internet Repression" (Tehran Bureau)

See also EA Video Analysis: Iran Sanctions, Human Rights, and the Nuclear Issue

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The choking off of access to essential online technology is punishing a people already subject to relentless oppression by an increasingly totalitarian system. It also signifies the larger problem of the overzealous application of supposedly "smart" sanctions that extends them far beyond their intended targets and dumbs down their effects in flagrantly counterproductive ways.

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The Latest from Iran (13 November): Admitting a Blogger's Death in Detention

See also EA Video Analysis: Iran Sanctions, Human Rights, and the Nuclear Issue
Iran Opinion: The Crisis in Medical Care --- It's Not Just About Sanctions
The Latest from Iran (12 November): The Economic Squeeze Tightens

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Sattar Beheshti1856 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Hong Kong will remove permission for 19 ships linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) to operate under its flag, according to a letter from the Hong Kong Government's Marine Department.

"As it is of paramount importance to HKMD in safeguarding the quality of Hong Kong ships, HKMD has therefore taken action already in notifying the owners of these 19 ships for the closure of the registration in Hong Kong within 90 days beginning from the date of the notice being served," S.F. Wong, Hong Kong Shipping Register's general manager, said in the letter.

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The Latest from Iran (12 November): The Economic Squeeze Tightens

See also Iran Feature: The Last Blog of Sattar Beheshti, Murdered by Security Forces in Prison
Iran Snap Analysis: Military Chest-Thumping Takes Over in Tehran
The Latest from Iran (11 November): Preparing for Renewed Nuclear Talks?

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1415 GMT: A Death in Detention. Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of Parliament’s National Security Committee said that “preliminary information” showed no signs of beatings on the body of Sattar Beheshti, the blogger who was reportedly killed during interrogation in prison last week.

The Parliamentary committee had said yesterday, amid international pressure, that it would investigate the circumstances of Beheshti's death, which came after he was seized on 31 October from his home. The Khaneh Mellat website has reported that security forces of the Islamic Republic will appear at a committee meeting today to give their report.

The head of Islamic Republic Human Rights Commission announced that the head of the judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, had issued a special order to investigate the case.

More than 40 political prisoners in Ward 350 of Evin Prison posted a letter that “when Sattar Beheshti was brought to section 350 of Evin, signs of torture were all over his body and he was injured and in pain".

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