The Latest from Iran (29 June): Grading the Supreme Leader

2000 GMT: The Burning of Baha'i Houses. Radio Farda and BBC Persian Service report that the houses of dozens of Bahais were demolished and/or set ablaze in Mazandaran Province in northern Iran.

Radio Farda has an interview with an eyewitness, and the Baha'i spokeswoman in Geneva, Diane Allai, confirmed the story in a live interview with BBC Persian.

NEW Latest Iran Video: Harassment of Karroubi in Mosque (29 June)
NEW Iran: Can the Green Movement Ally with Workers? (Maljoo)
NEW Iran Snap Analysis: Waiting for the Crumbling?
Thinking Human Rights: Citizens, Technology, and the “Right to Protect” (Mazzucelli)
The Latest from Iran (28 June): Remembering 7 Tir?

1945 GMT: Threat of the Day. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Britain has a “thick file of biased action” against Iran, so the Foreign Ministry is in agreement with complete severing of all cultural and educational relations with Britain.

Surprisingly, the news has not caused a mass outbreak of fainting and gnashing of teeth in the United Kingdom.

1930 GMT: Today's All is Well Alert. It comes from the head of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, Farid Ameri, who says Iran sees no risks to its gasoline imports.

Up to 10 foreign oil companies have cut shipments to Iran, but Ameri insisted, "Under any conditions we are able to supply the country's gasoline needs and there is no problem in producing or importing gasoline."

1900 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Amir Kabir University student activist Behzad Heydari, detained on 22 Khordaad (12 June), has been freed after 15 days in solitary confinement.

Mahboubeh Karami, a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, will appear in Revolutionary Court on 28 June , 120 days after her arrest. Association for Women's Rights in Development has further information.

1800 GMT: The Battle over "Neda". The Los Angeles Times picks up on last week's story, noted on EA, of the "official" Iranian state media documentary on the death of Neda Agha-Soltan. The Times summary of Tehran's approach is complemented by Green Correspondents' dissection, in Persian, of the claims (Neda killed by mystery woman, Neda killed by "terrorist" Mujahedin-e-Khalq, Neda killed as part of "Western" plot, and so on).

1730 GMT: We have posted claimed video of Basiji harassment of Mehdi Karroubi --- and Karroubi's reaction --- at a mosque in Tehran today.

1400 GMT: Ahmadinejad  to Rafsanjani "Go". Curious story of the day comes out of the President's latest news conference: he allegedly said, when asked his reaction to Hashemi Rafsanjani's declaration that he was ready to retire, Ahmadinejad replied, "Very grateful".

1210 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. RAHANA reports that journalist Mahboubeh Khansari has been released on bail after four weeks in detention.

Mokhtar Asadi, a teacher’s union activist, was detained yesterday in Karaj.

1200 GMT: Labour Front. We've posted an assessment by Mohammad Maljoo of the relationship between the Green Movement and workers.

Rah-e-Sabz, via Peyke Iran, claims that about 10o oil refinery workers in Abadan held a protest; two were arrested.

0815 GMT: Watching the Diplomats. An important line buried in a Wall Street Journal article on former nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian, who is now a visiting scholar at Princeton University....

"Javad Zarif, a pro-engagement former ambassador to the U.N., is under virtual house arrest in Tehran, said Western officials."

Zarif was the key Iranian diplomat in talks, broken off by the Bush Administration in spring 2003, between Tehran and Washington. At one point, he was supposed to join the staff of Tehran University's Institute of North American and European Studies --- now headed by Dr Seyed Mohammad Marandi --- but the post never materialised.

0805 GMT: Regime Spinning. Iranian state media has used comments of Iran's Ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, to declare that the "terrorist" Mujahedin-e-Khalq "is at the end of its line".

But the better entertainment value comes out of the Revolutionary Guard's Javan, which warns, "3000 corrupt tourists from East Asian states heading for Iran".

0745 GMT: The International Front. Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has again drawn Washington's lines on Iran and its nuclear programme.

Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Mullen said he believes Iran will continue to pursue nuclear weapons, despite sanctions, and that its achievement of that goal would be "incredibly dangerous". However, he asserted that a military strike against Iran would be "incredibly destabilizing" to the region.

0740 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ali Tabi, a member of Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign, has been released from detention.

0730 GMT: Labour Front. Rah-e-Sabz reports on a rally of dismissed and unpaid workers of Tehran's Pars Metal in front of the President's office.

0710 GMT: The Oil Squeeze. Khabar Online takes note of the 10 foreign companies who have halted gasoline exports to Iran.

0655 GMT: Execution Watch. Zahra Rahnavard has issued a statement expressing her hope that reports of the imminent execution of Zeinab Jalalian, a Kurdish woman sentenced to death for membership of the separatist PKK, are just rumours.

0645 GMT: Budget Front. Reports indicate that a Parliamentary commission will finally approve the details of the President's 5th Budget Plan.

So will that stop the sniping against Ahmadinejad by a number of high-profile MPs?

0530 GMT: We start this morning with a quick analysis of signs of stagnation and even crumbling in the Iranian regime.

Meanwhile, more signs....

Secularism and the Supreme Leader

Two articles to note from the opposition Rah-e-Sabz. The website ventures into new ground with a commentary from Arash Naraghi, on the question, "Is it possible to be a secular Muslim?" The reply: "Yes, secularism is an appropriate condition for a good Muslim in a civil society."

And, in a rare English article, Rah-e-Sabz turns from secularism to Iran's top religious figure. It reports that a poll of readers shows 82% marked the Supreme Leader's performance as "very bad" (77.56%) or "bad" (4.52%) while only 4% thought he had been "good".

Keyhan and the CIA v. The Green Movement

Rah-e-Sabz also features a notable and "cheeky", as the British would call it, intervention by Ataollah Mohajerani, a minister in the Khatami Government and ally of Mehdi Karroubi.

Turning the regime's standard argument of foreign support for regime change,Mohajerani links the "hard-line" Keyhan to none other than the Central Intelligence Agency. He notes a provocative editorial by former CIA operative Reuel Marc Gerecht in The New York Times and claims, "Gerecht and those like him [including former Presidential candidate John McCain] support the Green Movement in order to hurt it."

Parliament v. President

The fallout from the dispute over control of Islamic Azad University, complete with demonstrations in front of Parliament, continues. MP Akbar Aalami asserts that the retreat of the Majlis retreat in front of uproars "is a novelty".

The Government Warns Its Own Officials

An advisor in the President's office has declared that officials who are challenging the Government, by creating blogs and not working enough, will be identified.

Earlier this spring, Government outlets said a special unit would be established to monitor officials for inappropriate behaviour.

Khabar Online adds that the main sites for Ahmadinejad supporters are www.valatarin.net and www.nasrclub.com.

Iran Eyewitness: An "Army of Strollers" and Allah-o-Akbar on 12 June (Tehran Bureau)

"A Contributor in Tehran" writes for Tehran Bureau:

"The most stable and democratic country in the world." Thus Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the man who last year was "reelected" (many say "selected") as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, described his nation at a recent press conference in Istanbul. Ahmadinejad, of course, is hardly renowned for well-considered, precise, statesmanlike observations. In fact, he is notorious for quite the opposite: making off-the-cuff statements whose substance bears little relation to reality. Yet the depiction of Iran in such terms days before the 12 June anniversary of the vehemently disputed presidential election was an extraordinary distortion of the truth, even by Mr. Ahmadinejad's loose standards. The truth of his statement, needless to say, was tested on the anniversary.

As expected, "the most stable and democratic" government on earth failed miserably. It denied permission to the opposition to hold a simple peaceful rally in order to commemorate last year's election --- even though, according to the Iranian Constitution, such gatherings do not require government approval to begin with. For weeks, security and other officials had warned that the regime would not tolerate any protest rally on June 12. The Interior Ministry, raising some ludicrous technical excuses, refused the permit, as it had done similarly on numerous occasions in the past.



By contrast, government-sanctioned rallies and ceremonial events, such as the one that took place on 4 June  --- the 21st anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic -- enjoy the regime's full support and sponsorship. On that occasion, hundreds of thousands, many of them members of the Basij militia, were mobilized throughout the country to travel, at government expense, to Tehran to attend the commemoration and listen to the Friday Prayer sermon delivered by Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Khomeini's successor as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. This particular event was to be a showcase for the power and "popularity" of the regime in advance of 12 June. The initial plan was thus to assemble about two million people from throughout Iran for the event. By independent accounts, the regime fell far short of its goal.

Just a couple of days prior to the election anniversary, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two of Ahmadinejad's rivals in last year's election and the de facto leaders of the Green Movement, the popular reform movement that emerged following the rigged vote, announced that because of their concern for people's safety they would cancel the rally they had planned. They asked their supporters to pursue their struggle for change through means less risky than participation in a public protest that the government was determined to violently suppress.

Given that most opposition political figures and activists have been imprisoned or rendered inactive over the past year, and that many political parties and civil society organizations have been banned, there are few avenues available to those opposing the regime to communicate with one another and organize en masse. The few Reformist newspapers face heavy censorship and are under constant threat of closure if they cross the government's ambiguous "red lines." Foreign news and analysis broadcasts, like the popular Persian services of the BBC and VOA, are routinely jammed -- especially when an important day, such as 12 June, approaches. The Internet is often strangled and access to most sites with uncensored information is systematically denied through a pervasive filtering system (though many have by now learned how to circumvent it). In short, the regime exerts its full power to deny people the means and even the hope of organizing peaceful protests, short of risking their livelihoods and their very lives.

Nonetheless, the message somehow spread that a silent protest would be held in Tehran from 4 to 8 p.m. on June 12, a Saturday. It was understood that Mousavi and Karroubi, as responsible leaders, could not ask their supporters to jeopardize their lives by attending a formally declared rally. Yet people concluded that they could make their presence felt and in the process expose the regime's true anti-democratic nature, its illegitimacy, and the extent of its fear by simply "strolling" peacefully and silently from Imam Hossein Square to Azadi (Freedom) Square. The route, around ten kilometers long, was chosen in part because along it lies Ferdowsi Square and Enghelab Square, where two major universities are located.

Read rest of article....

The Latest from Iran (20 June): Remembering the Protests and the Dead

2000 GMT: Soroush and Khamenei. The website of Abdulkarim Soroush, one of Iran's most prominent intellectuals --- now living in exile --- has published the English translation of Soroush's letter to the Supreme Leader, "Flagging Oratory (and Mind?)".

1950 GMT: Limiting the Remembrance. Pictures and video show a heavy security presence in Tehran's Vanak Square:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6KAX0Oj5oo[/youtube]

NEW Iran Document: Karroubi Takes on the Supreme Leader (20 June)
NEW Iran Special: Legal Analysis of Post-Election Violations of Rights (Shadi Sadr)
NEW Iran Video, One Year On: The “Neda” Documentaries
Iran: Working Together? The Women’s Movement & The Greens (Kakaee)
Iran Analysis: Why the 2009 Election is Not Legitimate (Ansari)
The Latest from Iran (19 June): How Does Mahmoud Respond?

1645 GMT: The Karroubi Statement. We've posted lengthy extracts in a separate entry --- with its apparent challenge to the powers of the Supreme Leader, is this a significant step forward for the cleric?

1620 GMT: The Threat to the Reformists. The Islamic Iran Participation Front, responding to the declaration of the Tehran Prosecutor General that the party would be banned and might be broken up, said  Abbas Jafari Doulatabi's remarks were "private and without legal value".

1610 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has reportedly declared that he would like to retire, but were he to step down from positions such as head of the Expediency Council, there would be "grave political consequences".

1445 GMT: Today's Hijab Discussion. Member of Parliament Reza Akrami has declared that the President "should ask himself why he protests" against enforcement of the law on hijab.

Ahmadinejad spokesman Ali Akbar Javanfekr did a bit of "don't look at us", saying that the Government is not responsible for the crackdown on "bad hijab" because the security forces are not controlled by the Minister of the Interior.

1250 GMT: One Year Ago. Setareh Sabety reminds us of the words she posted, on the morning of 25 Khordaad (20 June) 2009:

I pray, even though an atheist, I pray that today this all important day, courage and justice is triumphant and that there will be no blood shed. I pray that no mother has to hear bad news, no woman is martyred and no young man beaten or arrested. I pray that these people whom I love, who are risking their lives with incredible courage for me and you, are not harmed and that their silent, persistent message of the basic need for freedom and democracy wins the day.

1245 GMT: The Reformist Challenge. The message from member of Parliament Mohammad Reza Tabesh to the Government is  direct and to the point: "Stop these radical behaviours."

1200 GMT: Cyber-Shutdown. Parleman News reports Persianblog, Iranicloob, and Blogfa have now been filtered.

1155 GMT: We've posted a special feature, Shadi Sadr's legal analysis of the post-election violation of rights by Iranian authorities.

1055 GMT: Documenting "Neda". Iranian state television has broadcast the "real" story of the killing of Neda Agha Soltan, "Crossroades". It features Abbas Javid Kargar, the Basij militiaman accused of the murder, who claims he was unarmed on that day and played no role in her death.

So who did it? The documentary implies that the "terrorist" Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MKO) was responsible.

Arash Hejazi, the doctor who tried to save Neda's life, has posted his response to the documentary's claims.

And we've re-posted two other documentaries on "Neda" and post-election events, the BBC/PBS/Tehran Bureau production, "An Iranian Martyr", and HBO's "For Neda".

1045 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Peyke Iran claims that activists and students have been detained in Hormozogan Province.

RAHANA reports that eight students have been arrested in Shiraz on charges of "propaganda against the Prophet".

0925 GMT: Political Prisoners and the Labour Front.

The International Transport Workers Federation has denounced the further arrests of members of Sandikaye Kargarane Sherkate Vahed, the Tehran bus workers’ union in Iran.

Saeed Torabian and Reza Shahbi were arrested in June by Iranian security forces and are being held at an unknown location. They join Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, both in prison since 2007, in detention.

In a letter to President Ahmadinejad, ITWF General Secretary David Cockroft said: “We once again reiterate that the carrying out of normal trade union duties is not an arrestable offence and should never be the grounds for the detention of Saeed Torabian, of Mansour Osanloo, or anyone else. We therefore request that you once again intervene in this process, remedy this situation, and also assure the good health and safety of Mansour Osanloo, who remains unjustly imprisoned.”

Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that workers at the Zhaveh reservoir dam in the Kurdish Kamyaran region have gone on strike over non-payment of seven months of back wages, workers yearly bonuses, overtime wages, and dues.

0810 GMT: The Clerics Fight Back? Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani has said that the distance between religion and revolutionary principles is the reason for the weakness of Iran's judiciary.

The more intriguing report, however, is in Rah-e-Sabz. The website claims that Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, Mohammad Khatami, and Hassan Khomeini have all been on the telephone with Grand Ayatollah Sanei: these attacks were not a rebellion of unorganised people but a planned assault.

0800 GMT: The Battle Within (cont.). The latest jab of Keyhan, the "hard-line" newspaper, at the Government is a query about Ahmadinejad's chief aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai: why did he, in one of his many offices, give money to a rich artist?

0720 GMT: The Battle Within. The opposition's commemorations and the execution of "terrorists" has not entirely taken the headline heat off the President. Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, has told Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he cannot interfere in the affairs of other regime institutions.

0630 GMT: Remembering 25 Khordaad. Zahra Rahnavard has issued a statement reflecting on the protests of 20 June 2009:

"Today the Green Movement owes its place to the resistance of women, who along with their spouses and children, and as a group of leaders on the front lines have had a unique presence. The movement should realize that achieving freedom and democracy without the presence of noble women and without considering and implementation of the demands to eliminate discrimination and violence that women have always asked will not be possible.”

0625 GMT: Karroubi on the Vote and the Supreme Leader. Saham News, the website of Mehdi Karroubi, has published the cleric's  latest statement. Karroubi opens:

One year after the 10th Presidential election, considering what they did with your votes and the blood that was shed for regaining your rights, once again firmly and honestly, I declare that I am standing on my promise with you to the end of this path and I am ready to debate with anyone who would represent the ruling powers.
The vote that they stole from you and the right that was brutally denied from you is a shame that cannot be covered in anyway. Such that after one year despite all the pressure and intimidations not only your rightful demands have not been forgotten but also this seek for change has penetrated in various layers of the society based on an extensive social network and this social extent is not something that can be eliminated by repressions, intimidations, arrests and staged trials.

This declaration of defiance from 12 June 2009 to the present is followed by thoughts about the recent pro-regime attacks on senior clerics, used by Karroubi to consider "the powers of the Supreme Leader". In other words --- if I'm reading this right --- if Ayatollah Khameni is the ultimate defender of the Islamic Republic, why is he not defending its leading religious figures and its people?

0600 GMT: Today is likely to be dominated by remembrance of last year's mass demonstration, eight days after the Presidential election and a day after the Supreme Leader tried to close off debate, and those who died.

For many, Neda Agha Soltan, the 26-year-0ld woman killed by a Basij militia gunshot, became the symbol of tragedy and hope, and outside Iran, her name remains a beacon. (The #4Neda hashtag may be one of the most prominent on Twitter today.)

Inside Iran, however, there will be memorials for all those killed on 20 June and in the days after the election. It is reported that four Tehran universities are holding services, and there is chatter of events across the country.

The Iranian Government, however, has made a late bid to take over the headlines by adding another death: this morning it executed Abdolmalek Rigi, the leader of the Baluch insurgent Jundullah organisation.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi0IMc1uXMY&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Latest from Iran (17 June): Clearing Away the Smoke

1850 GMT: The Sanctions List. The US Treasury has published the names of four individuals (head of Revolutionary Guard Mohammad Ali Jafari, Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi, Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi, and Javad Karimi Sabet of Iran's nuclear programme) and 27 companies whose financial transactions are blocked.

1845 GMT: Remembering the Slain. Payvand has published a summary and photos of Tuesday's memorial for Kianoush Asa, a student at Elm-o-Sanat University who was killed during the 15 June 2009 demonstrations.

1840 GMT: The Attack on the Clerics. The reformist Assembly of Combatant Clergy has condemned Sunday's assault on the offices of Grand Ayatollah Sane'i.

NEW Iran Snapshot: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Master of Irony
NEW Iran Overview: Striking Poses from Sanctions to Cyber-War to “Terrorism”
Iran Document: Mousavi’s “Green Charter” (15 June)
Iran Analysis: The Supreme Leader and the Attacks on the Clerics (Verde)
The Latest from Iran (16 June): Simmering

1620 GMT: Not Forgetting. The German TV station 3sat reports on Iranian post-election refugees in Turkey, at least 100 of whom it is claimed have been tortured.

1615 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rah-e-Sabz reports that journalist Masood Lavasani has had a heart attack in Evin Prison and is in critical condition. The website also says the condition of Hengameh Shahidi has deteriorated.

1610 GMT: Responding to the Attacks. Saideh Montazeri, the daughter of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, has written of "the world upside down".

The reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front has said the attack on the offices of clerics is a sign of weakness of "putschists" towards the Green Movement.

1600 GMT: This Isn't Over. Member of Parliament Elyas Naderan, a vocal critic of the Government, has said that he may publish documents relating to the Majlis' unseen report on the June 2009 attacks on the dormitories of Tehran University.

1555 GMT: Victory is Ours! Hojatoleslam Hossein Taeb, the head of the intelligence bureau of the Revolutionary Guard, has declared, "The people have isolated the leaders of fitna [sedition] and denied them the chance to appear in public."

1445 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. It is reported that Dr Hessam Firouzi, physician and human rights activist, has been released.

1420 GMT: The Attack on the Clerics. Another reminder of the significance of Mr Verde's analysis, "The Supreme Leader and the Attacks on the Clerics": Zahra Rahnavard has written, "By targeting religious and scientific figures, who have always been aligned with the people, whether it be the elderly, the youth, children, men or women of all kind, who have benefited from their words, the ruling powers have once again demonstrated the extent of their malice."

1405 GMT: On a day when we have had to concede defeat to political posturing, President Ahmadinejad has, as the English would put it (I am told), "taken the biscuit" with a classic comment about the need for people to be fully informed so they can hold their leaders to account.

Really. Have a read.

1355 GMT: And Human Rights? Any More Poses on Human Rights? Why, yes....

Iran's Foreign Ministry has rejected the statement by 56 members of the UN Human Rights Commission (see 0715 GMT) condemning Tehran's suppression of post-election dissent. The statement, according to Iranian officials, was "unreal and with political intentions".

1345 GMT: Sanctions Front (Again). The European Union has now approved the new sanctions regime against Tehran, going beyond the UN resolution for restrictions on finance and shipping to authorise prohibition on "new investment, technical assistance and transfers of technologies, equipment and services related to these areas, in particular related to refining, liquefaction and Liquefied Natural Gas technology."

1335 GMT: And How About Those Foreigners and "Terrorism"? Britain has rejected the charge by the Iranian Government that it supported plans by the People's Mojahedin of Iran to bomb Tehran squares on 12 June: "We made clear we condemn all terrorism everywhere. The Government firmly rejects any allegation of British involvement in any such activity," said the Foreign Office.

1320 GMT: On the Sanctions Front. Almost impossible to keep the smoke clear with political volleys coming in from all directions. According to Interfax, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has complicated today's US and European Union game of public pressure on Tehran with escalated sanctions, outside the United Nations framework. "We are extremely disappointed by the fact that the U.S. and the EU are not heeding our calls to refrain from such steps," Ryabkov told reporters.

However, as Moscow continues to balance its position, Ryabkov said that Russia will stop shipments of anti-aircraft missile systems S-300 to Iran: "We understand it as the resolution enacted a ban on shipment of these systems to Iran."

1010 GMT: What Next for the Green Movement? Amidst a flurry of Iran news --- and some misinformed conclusions about the state of the Government and the "opposition" --- I missed what appears to be a worthwhile collection of six articles, written before the 12 June anniversary of the election but translated into English afterwards, from Gozaar: "Will the Greens Last?"

0715 GMT: Just Another Posture? In a statement on Wednesday, 56 members of the UN Human Rights Council rebuked Iran for its human rights record in the past year, citing “the violent suppression of dissent, detention and executions without due process of law, severe discrimination against women and minorities including people of Baha'i faith, and restrictions of expression and religion”.

China, Cuba, and Pakistan protested against the announcement, prepared by Norway and the US, but 16 members of UN Human Rights Council and all the 37 members of the European Union signed the statement.

0625 GMT: A lot of smoke on Wednesday, with the US and Europe threatening the Iranian Government and the Iranian Government threatening dissidents: we've summarised in a separate entry.

How to clear that smoke and get to the significant developments? Here's a start....

Khatami's Intervention

Former Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami has condemned last Sunday's attacks by regimes supporters on the home of Grand Ayatollah Sane'i: "They are trying to pass a kind of fascistic behaviour as the way of Islam and Revolution in society.”

Meeting the youth branch of the Etemade Melli party, Khatami said: “When they treat the residence of Ayatollah Sanei in this manner, we should be concerned. We cannot say these are arbitrary acts when in complete freedom and security they feel free to commit any insult and injury and they are equipped with such equipment that is not easily acquired by ordinary people.”

Attack on the Clerics (continued)

Arash Aramesh notes an editorial in Keyhan maintaining the public pressure on senior clerics to mend their ways:

Why is it that the great Sources of Emulation considered the people’s objection to Mr. Seyyed Hassan Khomeini [the heckling at the 4 June ceremony for Ayatollah Khomeini] an insult to Imam and his family and condemned it while they [Sources of Emulation] remained silent and sensed no threat when leaders of sedition and their supporters insulted Imam Hussein…and formed a coalition with hypocrites, Baha’is, monarchists, and Marxists against Islam and the revolution?

Political Prisoner Watch

Seven prominent post-election detainees, including Mohsen Aminzadeh, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Abdullah Ramezanzadeh, Mohsen Safaei Farahani, Behzad Nabavi, and Mohsen Mirdamadi have asked Parliament for an investigation of arrests, interrogations and illegal trials.

Follow-Up to 22 Khordaad

We conferred with some of the best Iran-watchers yesterday in London: best estimate --- and it has to be a rough estimate at this point --- is that on 12 June, the anniversary of the election, there were several thousand people out in Tehran and demonstrations in some other cities.

Meanwhile, RAHANA adds the information that the protest at Shiraz University was blocked by an "unprecedented" presence of security units, Intelligence agents, and plainclothes forces, scattering the students.