The Latest from Iran (25 June): The Important Issues

1650 GMT: Imprisonment and Abuse. RAHANA publishes the story, which we have been following for 24 hours, on an attack on Zoya Samadi, the daughter-in-law of imprisoned labour activist Mansour Osanloo.

Intelligence Ministry agents reportedly accosted Samadi in public view, pulling off her headscarf, beating her, and dragging her by the hair. Handcuffed and blindfolded, she was taken to an undisclosed location for four hours and questioned for four hours, allegedly being told, "You must guarantee that if Osanloo is released from prison, he will never remain in Iran and that he will cease all activities.”

According to Osanloo's wife, Samadi was then left under a Tehran bridge. Her assailants warned, "You are not to inform anyone about this incident, nor are you allowed to file any form of complaint.”

NEW The Real Race for Iran: Human Rights v. Tehran’s Defenders (Shahryar)
Iran Special: Mousavi, Karroubi, and the Strategy of “We Are Still Standing (for the Revolution)”
The Latest from Iran (24 June): Persistence

1535 GMT: The Divergent Tale of Two Political Prisoners, Two British Universities. Ian Black in The Guardian has an interesting profile of the cases of Mohammad Jalaeipour, an Oxford University Ph.D. candidate re-arrested on 14 June, and Ehsan Abdoh-Tabrizi, a Ph.D. student at Durham University who was imprisoned in January and has spent more than 50 days in solitary confinement. Black compares the very different approaches taken by Oxford and Durham officials to publicity over the treatment of the political prisoners.

1525 GMT: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Philosopher of Our Time. No, if you like your philosophy simple and to the point, then it might be best to leave behind today's Friday Prayer with global bodies that do not really exist and an Iranian unity that must be present even if it is not obvious. Instead, let's get our 21st-century Renaissance from the President via the Iranian Labor News Agency:

A long and black chapter in the history of humanity is coming to a close and an age of enlightenment is about to start. The arrogant powers have stood against the divine force throughout history and today the arrogant regime in the United States is the biggest obstacle against the cause of the prophets.

1500 GMT: Your Friday Prayer Summary. Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi --- our favourite "women's breasts = earthquakes" cleric --- took the podium today.

No references to dangerous females this morning, however, as far as we know. Instead, Seddiqi was preoccupied with the recent UN sanctions against Iran, or rather, he was interested in the pronouncements of an invisible organisation: "This approach showed that the United Nations does not exist and that the Security Council is an 'anti-security' council."

If that's a bit too metaphysical to grasp --- ""It appears that you have yet to know the Iranian nation" --- Seddiqi was ready to use the international situation to whip up his own realities out of the Tehran air: "[The] Iranian nation will not only show resilience in the face of such sanctions but will also develop more resistance and solidarity."

0830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Photojournalist Majid Saeedi, arrested last June, has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Shiva Nazar Ahari, human rights activist and member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters detained since June 2009, has written a letter to her father: "You taught me not to break."

The families of detainees held in Gohardasht Prison, have written to Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabi: "Don't allow more injustices against our beloved."

The Iranian Teachers Trade Association has issued a statement protesting the continued detention of its leading members.

0825 GMT: The Attacks on the Clergy. The five daughter of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri have issued a statement challenging the recent assault on the Montazeri house by pro-regime activists.

0755 GMT: We begin today with an analysis from Josh Shahryar, "The Real Race for Iran: Human Rights v. Tehran's Defenders".

"Western" headlines are likely to be on last night's US Congress vote for stricter sanctions --- the Senate by 99-0, the House of Representatives by 408-8 --- aimed especially at Iran's financial and energy sectors. Meanwhile....

Khamenei Tries to Hold It Together

Writing for Rooz, Mohammad Reza Yazdanpanah takes a look at this week's statements by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and sees a Supreme Leader struggling to keep his flock together.

The website also sees a continuing challenge to the legitimacy of Khamenei's leadership in a year of statements by clerical and opposition figures.

The Battle Within

The Vice Speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, has given a speech warning of the danger to the establishment from "radicals" --- and he doesn't mean "radicals" of the Green Movement.

Mostafa Pourmohammadi, former Minister of the Interior, is worried about the threat to Iran from "lawlessness" --- but whose lawlessness does he mean?

Defending Political Parties

It looks like there is a twist in the tale of the attempt to ban Iran's reformist political parties such as the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Mohajedin of Islamic Revolution.

Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi warns against lawlessness as one of the country's biggest dangers.

The conservative Morteza Nabavi has noted that President Ahmadinejad himself came to power through a political party, and key judiciary official Mohammad Javad Larijani has argued that party activities should be developed beyond elections, as they guarantee the future of the Islamic Republic.

Parliament (and  a Cleric) v. President

Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani has denounced this week's demonstrations by Basij and students in front of Parliament, challenging the Majlis attempt to defy President Ahmadinejad and assert its control of Islamic Azad University.

Meanwhile, we have gotten information of how heated the debate was inside the Parliament, with heated exchanges and heckling, insults, and even reports of a "fist fight".

The Latest from Iran (7 June): Mousavi-Karroubi Meeting

2145 GMT: The Khomeini Fall-Out. To end the day as we started it: despite the criticism of the Government over the harassment of Hassan Khomeini last Friday, "hardline" newspapers continue to press the campaign against Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson. Raja News continues to push the story of a "nasty encounter" between Hassan Khomeini and Minister of Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar (using the belittling name of "Hassan Mostafavi" for Khomeini), with President Ahmadinejad leading discussions on an appropriate response.

NEW Iran Analysis: The Unexpected Fight Over “Khomeini”
NEW Iran Analysis: One Year After the Election (Shafaee)
NEW Iran Feature: Music and Resistance (Fathi)
Iran Document: Mehdi Karroubi on Khomeini, the Rule of Law, and Protest in 2010 (4 June)
Iran Document: The Supreme Leader’s Speech (4 June)
The Latest from Iran (6 June): The Fallout from Friday

2130 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Badrosadat Mofidi has been released from detention.


2120 GMT: Larijani v. Ahmadinejad (cont.). Back from an academic break to find yet another development in the political contest between the President and Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani. Countering the assertion of Larijani that many Government actions were not in accordance with Parliament's legislation (other MPs have claimed up to 130 Government measures are in dispute), Ahmadinejad has claimed that three Parliamentary bills are in violation of the law: “the plan to make changes to the law of development and support of housing, the plan for admission of students in vocational and technical schools as well as teachers colleges, and finally miscellaneous accessions to budgets approved by the parliament without observing provisions set forth in the Islamic Republic Constitution".

1605 GMT: The Dissent Within (cont. --- see 0955 GMT): Rooz Online follows up on stories of Principlist discontent with President Ahmadinejad.

The website starts from alleged remarks by Ahmadinejad that “political parties should not interfere in government affairs” and his chief aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, that “the principlists have crossed Ahmadinejad”.

Seyed Reza Akrami, a member of the Combatant Clergy Association, responded to Rahim Mashai, “One year has passed since the election, and officials shouldn’t make such statements that only fuel differences....Such statements from the nation’s executive officials have no benefit and only creates problems, divisions and difference among the principlists....Instead of talking about scenarios such as ‘crossing Ahmadinejad’, the officials should be trying to find solutions to problems that are rampant in society.”

Rooz claims the political director of the Iran Hezbollah Society, Hossein Kanani-Moghaddam, asserted, “Many principlists are no longer with Ahmadinejad. On the other hand, people who weren’t with him before are now supporting him for their own benefit.”

1550 GMT: The 22 Khordaad Marches. Rah-e-Sabz reports that the Ministry of the Interior has rejected two applications --- from the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution --- for demonstrations on 12 June and have asked for further information from six other reformist groups.

1420 GMT: Mousavi & Karroubi Meet. From Advar News, via the Facebook page supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi:

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi met with each other....In this meeting the two Green leaders discussed the incident [which] happened on June 4th in the ceremony commemorating the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini’s passing when a group of organized pro-government thugs insulted Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson of late Ayatollah Khomeini, so that he had to end his speech and leave the podium. Also, according to reports in this meeting, the two leaders made some new decisions regarding the protest on June 12th for the anniversary of rigged presidential election. Details of this meeting will be published soon.

1315 GMT: Executions. A 14th hanging today (see 0940 GMT) has taken place in Isfahan.

1310 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Poet, human rights activist & blogger Reza Akvanian has been sentenced to one year in prison with five more years suspended.

1300 GMT: Khomeini Fall-Out. The reformist Assembly of Combatant Clergymen, in a meeting last night chaired by former President Mohammad Khatami, issued a statement strongly condemning "the insults made on Seyyed Hassan Khomeini" at last Friday's ceremony. The clerics asked, "How is it, that when someone makes a slightest comment or does an interview criticizing the government, they will be arrested instantly, but that the authorities do nothing to stop these kinds of attacks...by a group of organized plainclothes individuals?"

1045 GMT: Conversation of the Day. From an article by Ali Chenar, “The Meaning of ‘V’: Reflections on a Moral Triumph”:

TAXI DRIVER: "Agha, do you remember what people did last year here?"
CHENAR: "Yes, yes I do!"
TAXI DRIVER: "I could not believe my eyes."
CHENAR: "True, many couldn't.... Here is my stop. Thank you…."
As Chenar hands a few notes to the driver for the fare, he pauses for a moment and asks:

CHENAR: "Do you think it is over, sir?"
TAXI DRIVER: "Hell no! It is not over. Do not think like that, my lad. It has just begun!"

1030 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. There are reports that teachers’ union activist Mahmoud Beheshti Langeroudi, recently released from detention, has been re-arrested.

1000 GMT: The Executions. More than 200 women’s rights and human rights activists have issued a statement condemning the executions of five Iranians, four of them Kurdish, on 9 May and demanding a halt to further hangings of Kurds on death row.

0955 GMT: The Dissent Within. The Green website Rah-e-Sabz offers more details of the warning handed out by the Principlist party, primarily by MP Hamid Rasaie, to Ali Motahari over Motahari’s condemnation of President Ahmadinejad. Complementing the line offered by some clerics and reformists, Motahari said that Friday’s furour over Seyed Hassan Khomeini emanated from problems with the 2009 election.

And, in an extraordinary remark if true, pro-Ahmadinejad Hojatoleslam Ali Asghari has referred to “white-bearded hardliners” and continued with a message to Mahdavi Kani to Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani: “Tell him the time of grandpas is long over.”

0940 GMT: Executions. Reports are coming in that 13 prisoners were hung this morning at Ghezelhesar Prison. Another 13 people are still in “quarantine” awaiting possible execution.

Those put to death were convicted of drug offences.

0935 GMT: Reformist member of Parliament Mohammad Reza Tabesh, referring to the shout-down of Seyed Hassan Khomeini, has suggested that “if [the Government] cannot control this small group, they should at least apologize”. Claiming that the Supreme Leader “is not amused” about the incident, Tabesh suggested that Friday’s “violations are due to electoral quarrels”.

Even the firmly pro-Government Resalat has declared that accusing Hassan Khomeini of being against velayat –e-faqih (ultimate clerical authority) is an “injustice”. MP Mohammad Kousari has warned, “Without [Ayatollah] Khomeini, we lose our identity.”

0930 GMT: Activists claim that Hassan Khomeini has rejected allegations that he attacked Minister of Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar. To our knowledge, there has been no corroboration of the story from Javan, the publication connected to the Revolutionary Guards.

0925 GMT: Green websites are circulating the call of students of Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Lahijan, and Mashaad Universities for rallies on 22 Khordaad (12 June), the anniversary of the election.

0720 GMT:  We open this morning with three specials: Nazila Fathi writes about music and resistance, Masoud Shafaee looks at Iran one year after the election, and Scott Lucas assesses "the fight over Khomeini".

The Latest from Iran (1 June): Latest on Emad Baghi

1445 GMT: Ahmadinejad Slogan "Where's My Crowd?". Video is circulating of the President's speech in Ilam province today. There appears --- as with Ahmadinejad's recent addresses --- to be a distinct lack of an audience.

1415 GMT: Iran's European Partner for Nuke Talks? Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, meeting the leader of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, has welcomed "open and constructive" negotiations between Iran and the European Union over uranium enrichment.

Iran Document: Rahnavard “Honour Women, Release Political Prisoners”
The Latest from Iran (31 May): Mousavi & Karroubi Call for 12 June Demo

1300 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An EA correspondent reports that, after 162 days in solitary confinement, journalist Emaduddin Baghi has met his family.

The correspondent reports that, although Baghi's "body is really weak", he is "strong like a mountain from spiritual point of view".


Almost half of Baghi's interrogations have been about his viewpoints and theoretical work on human rights, with pressure on him to deny all that he has written. Almost half have been about his connections with international human rights organizations. Interrogators have declared, “We have arrested you to prove that international organizations such as Amnesty International, PRI [Penal Reform International], Martin Ennals Award, European Christian Political Movement, etc. are unable to release and help you. We arrested you to say that they are nothing”.

The remainder of Baghi's interragations have been related to his interview with the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri.

Baghi is still suffering from backache and, because of problems with his lungs, it is difficult for him to breathe. He also has heart problems.

0955 GMT: Shutting Down the Press. Iranian authorities have arrested two female journalists, Azam Veisameh and Mahbubeh Khansari, working for reformist newspapers.

0800 GMT: President v. Parliament. President Ahmadinejad has declared that the Iranian Parliament has ratified 130 laws which conflict with Sharia law and the Constitution.

Deputy Speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar offers a sharp response. Reacting to Ahmadinejad's denial of 1 billion Toman (more than $1 million) missing from the 2006 Iranian budget, Bahonar said the Government "has a long list of breaking the laws".

0755 GMT: The Importance of Women. Publisher Shahla Lahiji offers the incisive analysis that Iranian women have entered the scene of politics as "founders and innovators"

0718 GMT: Getting Back to the Point. Given our fussing over "Western" mis-coverage of the nuclear issue today, it's only right that we give credit to Nazila Fathi of The New York Times for continuing to keep her eye on the main story:"Iran Moves to Thwart Protests Ahead of Election Anniversary".

0715 GMT: And Iran's Reaction? Tehran's line on the International Atomic Energy Agency report is straightforward: you're missing our moves for resolution.

Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said that Iran was surprised to see the report fail to cover the recent Iran-Brazil-Turkey agreement on a process for discussion of a uranium swap: "It was very surprising because we expected that this important historical event, which was the result of positive, constructive and … honest approach … and is one hundred percent related to the IAEA activities, should have been reported here."

0705 GMT: Nuke MediaWatch (Please, Just Stop). Joby Warrick of The Washington Post continues the "Western" mangling of the latest development on Iran's nuclear programme, the release of the International Atomic Energy Agency report.

Warrick and his editors simply overlook not only the detail but the summary of the report --- the IAEA would like more co-operation from Tehran but oversight of the uranium enrichment process has improved --- to trumpet, "Nuclear watchdog complains of stonewalling by Iran".

0655 GMT: Warning from the Supreme Leader's Brother. Seyed Hadi Khamenei, a prominent reformist, has warned that the "Hojjatieh", a "radical" sect of Islam whom some have linked to President Ahmadinejad, is trying to claim and distort the line of Ayatollah Khomeini.

0555 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The sentence of 3 1/2 years and 50 lashes for filmmaker and journalist Mohammad Nourizad --- for insult and propaganda against the regime --- has been upheld by the Revolutionary Court.

0545 GMT: Go On, Repent. A slightly different take on compromise (see 0520 GMT) from Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi as he apparently tries to defuse any forthcoming protest.

Dowlatabadi said, in an interview with Iranian Students News Agency, that --- "following the glorious march of regime’s supporters on February 11, 2010 and the defeat of enemies" --- the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has ordered pardon for those who have repented and complied with the requirements of the law.

0520 GMT: A Cleric Calls for Compromise. Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani, the Secretary General of the Society of Combatant Clergy, has asserted, “We cannot call some people who slipped up after the election enemy because they did not mean hostility including those who have had good revolutionary records.”

While asking for a conciliatory line towards opponents, Mahdavi-Kani maintained that the Islamic system can only be preserved through velayat-e-faqih, the clerical authority of the Supreme Leader. He called on "principlists" to maintain their unity and
avoid divisions.

0510 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Dr. Sara Tavassoli, arrested after the Ashura demonstrations of 27 December, has been sentenced to six years in prison and 74 lashes.

Tavassoli is the daughter of Mohamad Tavassoli, chairman of the political office of the Freedom Movement of Iran. Her husband, Farid Taheri, is detained in Evin Prison.

The sentence of Omid Sharifi-Dana, another Ashura detainee, has been reduced from 6 to 3 years.

0445 GMT: After spending Monday covering the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla, a day for us to regain our focus on developments inside Iran.

The major development yesterday was the meeting between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, followed by their formal request to the Tehran provincial governor for a permit to march on 12 June, the anniversary of the Iranian election.

There is little chance that the request will be granted, but the step is essential to set the marker, "Well, we tried." Then attention will turn to whether Mousavi, Karroubi, and other opposition figures call for a demonstration in defiance of the refusal or whether they advocate other steps of resistance before, during, and after 12 June.

Once again, this development will probably get little attention in the "Western" press. The shiny nuclear issue again offered a distraction with the publication of the latest International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran's uranium enrichment.

The report is a far-from-dramatic restatement of the IAEA's main line --- as Reuters summarises, "The report...repeated that the IAEA remains concerned about possible current activity in Iran to develop a nuclear payload for a missile, and that Tehran must respond to the agency's queries as soon as possible."

Beyond that, however, there are a couple of important takeaway point: Iran has added a second set of centrifuges to refine uranium to 20 percent --- a step repeatedly signalled by this year --- although they are not yet operational. At the same time, Iranian authorities have granted the IAEA inspectors "better oversight" at the Natanz site.

And how did David Sanger and William J. Broad of The New York Times, handle this news? True to form (and the line of the "unnamed officials" upon whom they rely), they set the button at panic mode: "U.N. Report Says Iran Has Fuel for 2 Nuclear Weapons".