Friday
Jan152010
The Latest from Iran (15 January): Refreshing?
Friday, January 15, 2010 at 21:44 
2200 GMT: Your Late-Night Cyber-Treat. On Google, type "Ahmadinejad President of Iran". Hit "I'm Feeling Lucky".2140 GMT: We started this morning (see 0715 GMT) by noting the possible significance of the "reformist" criticisms of Dr Javad Etaat making their way onto Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. We end today by posting the video of the first part of the interview and an English translation.
2030 GMT: Cyber-Warfare Strike. Hacking the website of Iran's Hezbollah (Party of God) is one thing. Doing it with the slogan "The End is F***ing Near" is another. And accomplishing it with a diversion to the domain http://www.getasexpartner.com/hiz-bol.htm, well... Let's just say that Iran's police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam (see 1220 GMT) may want to get a bigger Internet manual if he is serious about taking on the opposition in a Web slugfest.
NEW Latest Iran Video & Translation: Dr Etaat’s Opposition On State Media (14 January)
NEW Iran: Anger, Pain, & Fear — The Funeral of Professor Ali-Mohammadi
NEW Latest Iran Video: Green Protest and the Iran-Belgium Football Match (14 January)
NEW Iran: The Regime Censors the 1979 Revolution
NEW Latest Iran Audio: The Last Lecture of Professor Ali-Mohammadi
Latest Iran Video: Al Jazeera’s Debate Over The Death of Ali-Mohammadi (13 January)
Latest Iran Video: The Life, Death, and Funeral of Professor Ali-Mohammadi (14 January)
Latest Iran Video: “A Message to Armed Forces of Iran” (13 January)
Iran Analysis: Political Manoeuvring Around the Professor’s Death
The Latest from Iran (14 January): The Professor’s Funeral
1935 GMT: Quality Analysis of Day. Well done, Asadollah Badamchian, member of Parliament: “The assassination [of Professor Ali-Mohammadi] and terrorist operation was a previously planned step in the Green Velvet Revolution." The movement, Badamchian said, consists of five sub-groups, “each of which are gradually eroding”.
1825 GMT: That Supreme Leader Message of Condolence (Again). So sorry that Professor Ali-Mohammadi is dead, building up to "the criminal hand that brought this disaster has revealed the motive of the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran to deal a blow to the scientific movement of the country".
1624 GMT: A Bit of US Pressure? From an Indian news agency: "The United States has asked Pakistan to dump its plan of receiving natural gas from Iran through a pipeline. According to sources, US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, during his meeting with Petroleum Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, said Islamabad would have to abandon its pipeline accord with Tehran in order to qualify for extensive American energy assistance especially for importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and electricity."
1618 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayers Summary. Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani gets the nod today, and he comes up with the stunning declaration, "The enemy uses every possible means to harm the establishment and the country so we should, in a very real sense, remain vigilant."
OK, not so stunning. In fact, repetitive. But we had to say something.
Oh, yes. Emami-Kashani also "called for televised debates to clear ambiguities about the country's current political affairs".
1615 GMT: We've posted an account of yesterday's funeral of Professor Ali-Mohammadi and its effects on academics and students.
1445 GMT: Supreme Leader's Message of Condolence to Family of Professor Ali-Mohammadi. Here's a summary: Ayatollah Khamenei expresses his sorrow, to Ali-Mohammadi's mother, wife, friends, colleagues, and students, and --- by the way --- this is a terror act that "reveals enemies' motive to harm Iran's scientific movement and jihad".
1245 GMT: Divine Declaration of Day. Hossein Taeb, head of the Intelligence Bureau of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and former head of the Basiji militia sets it out: the Supreme Leader is unjust are in error, those who follow him will go to Paradise. An Iranian activist offers this translation of Taeb's words:
Even though [the Supreme Leader] was suffering under [Grand Ayatollah] Montazeri during Imam Khomeini's time and despite all insults he had to endure, he did issue a beautifuland gentle message upon Montazeri's passing and advised that he can be buried anywhere the family wanted. Those who say the Supreme Leader has left the [path of] justice, don't understand the meaning of it. They think that Supreme Leader is chosen by the Assembly of Experts. Supreme Leader is rather discovered by Experts and that is why they can't grant capabilities. It is God who does.
1220 GMT: We Will Find You. Is this a declaration of strength or nervousness? Iran's police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam has warned against Internet and text messages to spread news of demonstrations:
These people should know where they are sending the SMS and email as these systems are under control. They should not think using proxies will prevent their identification. If these people continue, their records will be examined and those who organise or issue appeals have committed a worse crime than those who come to the streets.
1145 GMT: The Resigning Diplomat. Confirmation comes in a Norwegian television interview that Mohammad Reza Heidari, an Iranian diplomat in Norway, is quitting his post. Heydari's intention to resign was initally reported days ago on radio. He claims that an Iranian official came to Oslo to assure him he would not be hurt if he retracted the resignation: "I refused to agree to that. They suggested I'd do an interview in which I denied my defection in order to return to Tehran. But I know I made the right choice and that my conscience is clean."
1140 GMT: We've posted the latest video in our running series on football and protest, opposition chants at the Iran-Belgium indoor football match.
1010 GMT: Iran "Analysis" of Day. Islamic Republic News Agency presents the findings of an "Office of Research and Studies" that there was a "deep intrigue", courtesy of the US Government, for disorder and sedition after the Presidential election.
For those of you who aren't convinced about this exposure of "soft war", there are footnotes. And it's great to see Bush Administration has-been John Bolton and Thomas Friedman of The New York Times in the same "research" paper.
0840 GMT: One Less Death Sentence. Kalemeh reports that Hamid Ruhidnejad, arrested before the elections but condemned to death this summer, will now serve 10 years in jail. Ruhidnejad's father contends that, as his son suffers from multiple sclerosis and is half-blind, he is unlikely to survive the punishment.
0735 GMT: We've posted a separate entry, courtesy of Pedestrian, on how the regime is censoring videos and images of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the run-up to its 31st anniversary on 22 Bahman (11 February)
0715 GMT: The Opposition Emerges on Iran's State Media. Dr. Javad Etaat, appearing on the Ru Be Farda programme of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, IRIB ("Ru be farda" magazine), criticised the "failed" economic plans of the Government, pointing to Iran's high rate of inflation. He also got political, denouncing the prohibition of demonstrations and the banning of newspapers. Perhaps most pointedly, he refers to Imam Ali, the first Imam of Shi'a Islam, to challenge any prohibition of dissent.
Etaat is a professor of political science at Shahad Behesti University and a former member of the Parliament's Cultural Commission. Unsurprisingly, the video of his comments is now racing around YouTube.
0705 GMT: The Scholars Protest (cont.). An EA reader writes us with a clarification, "That 300+ scholars lettter (see 0630 GMT) started a very long time ago! Deutsche Welle covered it on July 10th."
0645 GMT: The Battle With Rafsanjani. Hamid Rohani, a fervent supporter of President Ahmadinejad, has continued his attack on former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. Asked about his recent claim that Imam Khomeini had warned Rafsanjani could be "deceived" (noted in our updates earlier this week), Rohani insisted --- despite the lack of this claim in Khomeini's published letters --- that the incident was in 1973, when the Friday Prayers leader of the city of Rafsanjan wrote Khomeini. What is more: Rohani claims the exchange arose from Rafsanjani's request for religious funds for the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), which the regime now considers a "terrorist" movement.
0635 GMT: Mousavi's Reference to Government "Enemies"? We noted last night that Mir Hossein Mousavi had sent condolences to the family of the murdered physicist, Massoud Ali-Mohammadi. This phrase, however, deserves attention: Ali-Mohammadi was assassinated by "enemies of the people". Who is that "enemy"?
0630 GMT: The Scholars Protest. Iranian academics working and studying abroad are circulating an open letter to the "Honourable People of Iran": "Preparing the grounds for the free exchange of information, opinions and beliefs, and most importantly the security of university students, academics, and thinkers, are the responsibilities of the government and are the most basic conditions for scientific and social growth of a nation."
More than 300 scholars have already signed the letter.
0625 GMT: It's the weekend in Iran, and we're expecting a bit of a lull after the furour over the killing of Professor Ali-Mohammadi. We have posted the full audio of the physicist's last lecture.
That said, there have been so many fissures in the "establishment" this week that there may not be a pause this Friday. And there's a sign that the Green movement has even gotten a foothold in the broadcasts of Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting --- we're working on the video and story.
tagged Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashan, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Deutsche Welle, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, Green Movement, Hamid Rohani, Hamid Ruhidnejad, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hojatoleslam Hossein Ta'eb, Hossein Taeb, Imam Ali, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Islamic Republic News Agency, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Javad Etaat, John Bolton, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, New York Times, Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, Syed Naveed Qamar, Thomas Friedman in Middle East & Iran
Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashan, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Deutsche Welle, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, Green Movement, Hamid Rohani, Hamid Ruhidnejad, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hojatoleslam Hossein Ta'eb, Hossein Taeb, Imam Ali, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Islamic Republic News Agency, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Javad Etaat, John Bolton, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, New York Times, Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, Syed Naveed Qamar, Thomas Friedman in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (59)
Interesting article which supports the proposition that Iran's closest allies in Iraq are poised to make a comebac to the detriment of Maliki. I've thought for a while now that the reintroduction of Muqtada Sadr (after completing his religious studies in Qom) into Iraq's political environment would be great news for Iran. Despite the greens and American opposition Iran's standing in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine advances steadily and is virtually unstoppable. The same is true of Yemen where Shiite fighters are giving the Saudis the fight of their lives.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LA12Ak01.html
"Muqtada's team is running for parliament in March in a coalition that that does not include Maliki. His coalition, the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), was founded last August, and includes influential Shi'ite parties like the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), the Badr Brigade, the Sadrists, ex-prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and the Fadila Party.J"
"Although Maliki and heavyweights like Hussein Shahristani might win independently in March, the State of Law Alliance - without Iran - is doomed to fail. Observers of the Iraqi scene should start bracing themselves for a landslide victory of the INA, meaning that heavyweights like Ammar al-Hakim, Jaafari and Muqtada will be back in the seat of power until 2014 - only this time without Maliki as premier."
Here is another part of Dr. Javad Etaat on IRIB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06UU4IFDKmA
RE the Scholars' letter - yeah I was going to ask about that because the letter itself is dated July 2009 (at the bottom) and on the web page to the left there is a message stating that signature collection has been stopped. Is the letter still relevant or is this report just a bit of a slip up? ;-)
Hamed Ruhinejad, arrested before the elections, but sentenced afterwards to death for participating as a "monarchist" in the "riots", received a reduced sentence of 10 years: http://www.kaleme.org/1388/10/25/klm-8370
He is suffering from MS and already half blind, as his father reported on VOA. 10 years are equal to death sentence: http://www.rferl.org/content/New_Details_Emerges_About_Detainees_Sentenced_to_Death/1854159.html
I understand student groups are gathering at 2:30 today, Friday January 15 to remember Professor Ali Mohammadi. Epersian radio announced it will carry the event live if it happens.
RE Hamed Ruhinejad's sentence, according to the report from the Thought and Expression unit of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran, Khalil Bahramian, the lawyer of Hamed Rouhinejad, reported the reduction of his client’s death penalty to 10 years of suspended imprisonment by the provincial court appeal.
http://persian2english.com/?p=4219
Does 'suspended' mean that he doesn't have to serve the 10 years?
@catherine I've seen some reports where "suspension" seems to be a separate punishment, referring to being suspended from academic activities or a career, so when I see an ambiguous sentence like that I look for clues to try to see if someone has mashed together two things, suspension and sentence, or if it refers to a suspended sentence, which does also happen sometimes! It can get confusing indeed!
But one thing we know for sure is that the state has an absolute responsibility to provide medical care for prisoners, and we hear many, many reports that this is not being done. It's also accepted by the civilized world that extended solitary confinement IS torture, and the regime openly admits to keeping people in solitary for years at a time so right there they are admitting to unacceptable abuse. The rest of the world has a responsibility to stand up and condemn these practices.
It's plain to see that in the Islamic Republic, prisons are not for rehabilitation or for deterrence. They're for retribution. The IRI mentality is still set in the medieval concept that it's right and good to inflict pain and suffering on those who "deserve it," as long as they get to be the ones who decide who deserves it.
Mr Etaat is very brave and I hope he won't be arrested after his statement in IRIB; this regime dosen't like the "thruth" !!
Megan
Mr Sazegara has also said it in his daily speech .
Catherine and Rev Magdalen,
RE Hamed Ruhinejad: 'suspended' is the translation of "habs-e taaziri", literally "confinement for punishment". I looked up all my dictionaries in vain, perhaps someone here knows this legal term. In any case "taazir" is an Islamic term, equal to torture, and typical for its brutality.
Yesterday Peyke Iran reported that 100 Ashura protesters were deported to solitary confinement in the notorious Gohardasht prison in Karaj: http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=12141
I fully agree with you, Rev Magdalen, in the IRI prisons are for retribution.
Iran football (soccer) team is playing Belgium and Iranians are chanting ‘marg bar dictator” (down with dictator) and “ya Hossein”. At some point Green Iranians get agitated at Iranian embassy personnel filming them and they chant “how much did you get paid to video tape us”. http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=12184
Students from Tehran Markaz University have announced a nationwide strike, protesting against the arrest of their fellows, to start on Sunday (26 Dey): http://www.autnews.de/node/6222
@ Arshama and Rev Magdalen
Thanks so much for looking into this. The reason I asked is because the English-language reporting of the Saberi case used the same term 'suspended' and she left jail and went home.
"On April 8, 2009, the Iranian government charged Saberi with espionage, and she was subsequently sentenced to an eight-year prison term. An appeals court reduced the charge against her from espionage to possessing classified information, a charge she denied, and reduced her eight-year prison term to a two-year suspended sentence. She was released on May 11, 2009."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxana_Saberi
on the ruhinejad sentence: the term ta'zir refers to punishments determined at the discretion of the judge (as opposed to offences where a punishment is fixed by Islamic law). i think to translate this as 'suspended sentence' is incorrect. in the persian version of the wikipedia page on saberi linked by catherine 'suspended sentence' is given as 'habs-e ta'liqi'.
"And it’s great to see Bush Administration has-been John Bolton and Thomas Friedman of The New York Times in the same “research” paper."
To show our polite even-handedness in diplomacy and in scholarly Research Papers we have instructed staff after reading such research to moderate their polemics and especially their chants : they are to chant "Soft down with John Bolton and Thomas Friedman" and "Death to the intrigues of the Bush Rogues and descendants." We temper our anger when necessary but we carry a big stick. But various Cabals continue into the Obama administration. The Great Satan's congress' debates and open books are much worse than the Larijani brothers would be in a bar, worse than the Marx brothers on Sesame Street: The Grouch, Chico, and Karl...(And we're proud of Professor Ali-Mohammadi's participation in the Sesame Synchrotron project in Jordan.)
America's Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said a person must be light-skinned in order to become President. The Islamic Republic of Iran only requires a beard, a prayer mat, and a Grandiose Ayatollah of the Islamic realm to approve. We don't campaign with a song and a dance: Our Supremes would never utter such inanities as "Stop in the name of love" and we do not force the people to eat white bread -- we have more than 20 varieties of bread.
Taeb:"...those who follow him [SL] will go to Paradise."
Me: hopefully sooner than later.
Dog's heaven, for sure in which Mullah Ali is the Supreme Pooch. Of-course mullah Khomeini is there and has already applied for the position of Supreme Pooch and the two have to fight for it.
Megan, please do not insult the dogs. They do not rape and kill for any of their leaders.
Some useful data about Hossein Taeb, who served with Mojtaba Khamenei in the Habib division, went to the intelligence ministry at the time of Fallahian (accused in Berlin's Mykonos trial), was dismissed by Rafsanjani because of the affair of journalist Faraj Sarkuhi, and went back to the sepah intelligence some years later. Main actor in the oppression of student's protests in 1999, main actor in the post-election coup and responsable for dissimulation of Taraneh Moussavi's rape among others:
http://www.iran-chabar.de/news.jsp?essayId=24048
He should follow his leader to paradise soon, Iranians prefer to stay on earth.
nice temporary analysis in the nation by hashemi
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100201/hashemi
The struggle in Iran is akin to a boxing match between a slow-footed, unintelligent and arrogant heavyweight and a more agile, sophisticated and increasingly confident lightweight. The global audience overwhelmingly favors the underdog. Round One is over, and the weaker opponent has defied the odds not only by surviving; the lightweight has demonstrated prowess by striking several important blows that have disoriented and shaken the confidence of its more powerful adversary. Round Two has only just begun, and this championship bout is far from over.
Another article showing the greenies weakness. Everybody at once, let's clear our collective throat so that we can all spit on the author's name again and again. He's obviously on the IRI's payroll, a liar and probably some sort of sexual deviant as well.
Regime change in Tehran? Don't bet on it
By Dilip Hiro
The dramatic images of protestors in Iran fearlessly facing - and sometimes countering - the brutal attacks of the regime's security forces rightly gain the admiration and sympathy of viewers in the West. They also leave many Westerners assuming that this is a preamble to regime change in Tehran, a repeat of history but with a twist. After all, Iran has the distinction of being the only Middle Eastern state that underwent a revolutionary change - 31 years ago - which originated as a mild street protest.
Viewed objectively, though, this assumption is over-optimistic. It overlooks cardinal differences between the present moment and
the 1978-1979 events that led to the overthrow of the shah of Iran and the founding of an Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. History shows that a revolutionary movement triumphs only when two vital factors merge: it is supported by a coalition of different social classes and it succeeds in crippling the country's governing machinery and fracturing the state's repressive apparatus.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LA14Ak03.html
Hardliners vs. AN: Former IRGC-commander Yahya Rahim Savafi criticized him in Isfahan for bad governance and recent events, stressing that sepah and bassiji should serve the people and not be dressed against them. He also condemned attacks against the 'maraje' (ayatollah Dastgheib, Sanei etc.) and the labelling of protesters as "mohareb". http://www.google.com/sidewiki/entry/109487357106585871616/id/huwFMsrza-lOsJfDMGERcfRnruc (with French translation)
@ Arshama
That is great news and shows splits among the IRGC.... Great news.
And is he is saying this in the open can only mean that he is sure someone has his back which is even more good news...
Arshama
Thats a strong statment from a former IRGC commander, according to Wikipedia, Savafi was a strong supporter of AN, and thats why SL removed him and replaced him with Jafari. If true that Savafi was a supporter of AN, then why is he now speaking out against him.
Here is a new development. The regime has started to slightly soften and share some airtime with the Reformers.
Is the regime trying to get the hears of people back with this soft criticism or is this to split the greens and show them that there is room in the system for them? I feel it is far too little too late, but a great avenue to exploit the regimes resources against itself.
Caption from Mousavi facebook page.
In unprecedented event in live debate program on state-run TV, Dr. Javad Etaat, a former reformist member of the parliament and a member of the central council of Etemad Melli (Karoubi’s party), given all the restrictions, made sharp and strong criticisms of Ahmadinejad and the government especially in the events after the election and the bloody crackdown of the protesters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGTGfNmb4AA
@Arshama
He was removed because he was not willing to wholeheartedly move against all the opponents of AN and remove them and also to create to actively work to create a monolithic political environment for AN / SL.
Have you heard the expression that when a ship is sinking the rats are the first to run out? Well Sir, this ship is then sinking, cause Yahya by any count is a master rat... I bet Samuel will even agree to the fact that this guy is a rat.