Iran Eyewitness: "Life Continues for People...With the Hope of Change" (Fatemeh)

Ms Fatemeh, who has just returned from a long stay in Iran, reports for EA:

Before I went back to Iran, I’d followed the news coming out from Iran very closely. I was surprised when I went to visit my family, who live outside one of the big cities, that they basically knew the same as I did of what was happening in Tehran and the other cities. But this is only true for those who have satellite TV.

Personally I felt a sense of disappointment at how strong the grip of the regime continues to be, but perhaps that is due more to my own hope and expectation rather than the reality of life in Iran? By and large, life continues for people --- with the hope of change always just ahead of them.

However in balance to that, I was thrilled at what unfolded on Chaharshanbeh Souri (Fire Festival, in March). I could hardly believe my eyes at the sheer numbers of people out celebrating it. I’d never seen anything like that in my life. I have no doubt this was people’s way of safely protesting against the regime and showing their true identity and culture, which predates not just the regime but Islam itself.

It’s absolutely true that the economy is in a dire situation, and deteriorating by the day --- I’ve no idea how poor people can afford to live at all. Meat is double the price it is in Europe, but wages are much much less. (A teacher gets between $350 - $450 a month.) Everything is so much more expensive than when I last visited, and the pressure people are under is immense. I do wonder who can afford to buy some of the luxury goods that are available in the large cities, such as Leica binoculars and other top-of-the-range items?

I was in Tehran when the Friday Prayers Leader [Hojatoleslam Kazem] Seddiqi said that it was bad hijab that was causing earthquakes. People laughed at his stupidity and soon there were poems and songs made up about it.

It makes me so sad to see that the thugs now have their own people in place in every area of society. Educated judges have been replaced with uneducated regime sympathizers.

More than thirty years of the Islamic Republic has poisoned Iranian society, with corruption endemic in every part and sadly becoming the norm. They have eroded trust between people, and I would say that family breakdown and divorce is worse in Iran than in any country in the West.

It is my opinion that tragically, even when this regime is finally gone, it will take years and perhaps several generations to rebuild and restore Iran to the great nation that it should be, to rid society of the blight of corruption which is now an established part of life. I’ve always been aware of the corruption and encountered it on previous visits to the country, but this time I was just so aware of it everywhere. It’s definitely worse now than ever.

The Mullahs are terrified of the sanctions. It’s all they talked about, including in every Friday prayers, so everyone knew they are really worried.

The regime's grip is strong, but they are hated by the majority of the society and they can’t last. They have to go.

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)
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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".