The Latest from Iran (1 March): In Like a Lion?

2135 GMT: Rumour of Day. Kalameh alleges that prisoners held in cellblock 209 of Evin Prison have been commanded to fill in forms about their views on election fraud and whether the protest leaders are connected to foreign countries.

2100 GMT: Dr Mohammad Maleki, the former head of Tehran University, has reportedly been released after 191  days in detention. Maleki, 76, suffers from prostate cancer.

Iran: Understanding the Assembly of Experts Statement “Crisis Continues”
Iran Document: Mousavi’s Interview “Reform Within the Current Framework” (27 February)
The Latest from Iran (28 February): What Do The Statements Mean?

2055 GMT: United4Iran has a profile of Jahanbakhsh Khanjani, former advisor to Iran’s Minister of Interior in the Khatami Presidency, who was released on 24 February after spending more than eight months in prison. According to another released prisoner, Khanjani was under pressure to confess and was constantly moved from general confinement to solidarity confinement.


2030 GMT: 2nd Picture of the Day (see 1540 GMT). The staff of Etemaad newspaper just after its suspension (1455 GMT) by Iranian authorities: "Victory".



1935 GMT: Faoud Sadeghi, the managing director of Ayande News, has reportedly been released.

Journalist Mahsa Jazini has been freed on $100,000 bail in Isfehan.

1930 GMT: Khatami Stands Firm. Back from an academic break to find a statement from former President Mohammad Khatami, responding to the Supreme Leader's declaration that opposition figures had put themselves beyond the Iranian system with their post-election challenge. He said in a meeting with students:

It is easy to create tensions in the world, but difficult to eliminate them. Detente requires courage and finesse, and the system has to take steps to that effect. We should not embark on adventurism in the world under pretext of having won so many enemies. We should hold back from speaking in a manner to inflict heavy costs....

Everyone may have had his own interpretation of reforms, but we mean reforms within the framework of criteria born out of Islam, the revolution and the nation's will. In the face of any possible deviation from Islam and Imam Khomeini's line, we have to give warning....

Go and ask the former revolutionary militants if the ongoing conditions reflect what they were after. Ask them if these arrests, blame games, vendettas and the imposition of costs on the nation were what the revolutionary forces sought. If not, our conscience necessitates that we close ranks in order to improve conditions....

We should not retreat from our demands, and we should keep fighting even if certain groups beat us on the head. Unfortunately, certain hard-line groups in the society are opposed to any compromise within the society.

1615 GMT: Really. Not-Very-Much-News. Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has denied, amidst the fuss over the International Atomic Energy Agency report on Tehran's nuclear programme, that there is any problem:

The new chief and the new managers of the agency should look at the record of Iran's cooperation. We have fully cooperated with the agency. This cooperation will continue. We have always welcomed and encouraged negotiations and talks.

1555 GMT: Rigi Mystery. This story isn't over....

Kyrgyzstan’s foreign ministry has issued a statement saying that Iran has officially apologised for forcing a Kyrgyz plane to land in Iran. More significantly, the foreign ministry has denied that any passengers were taken off the plane, including Jundullah leader Abdolmalek Rigi, by the Iranians: “According to information available to this ministry, media reports that s two foreigners were arrested in this fight are untrue."

Now, is Kyrgyzstan making the denial to save face and cover up that Rigi was lifted from one of its flights? Or is it the case that the Jundullah leader was never on that plane?

1540 GMT: Picture of the Day. Abdolreza Tajik after his release from prison (see 0945 GMT):



1520 GMT: A Most Symbolic Visit. Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, has visited Ali Karroubi, the son of Mehdi Karroubi who was beaten on 22 Bahman.

1515 GMT: Cutting off Business. Caterpillar, the US building equipment group, has announced steps to sever trading links with Iran. The company is barring its non-US subsidiaries from accepting orders for products that they know are destined for delivery to Iran.

1510 GMT: Not-Very-Much-News (from the Other Side). Press TV gives the Iran version:

Iran has called on the UN nuclear watchdog to bear in mind the West's past breaches of atomic fuel exchange deals with Tehran while reviewing Iran's nuclear program.

In a letter to the UN body, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), cited three instances on which Western countries failed to meet their commitments and provide Iran with nuclear fuel.

In other words, Tehran will hold out against a "3rd-party enrichment" deal involving Germany, US, or French authorities because they cannot be trusted.

But (and excuse me for being repetitive)...no mention of Japan as unreliable.

1505 GMT: Stopping the Protests. Rah-e-Sabz claims that 20,000 people were detained during the rallies of 22 Bahman (11 February).

1455 GMT: Back to the (Banned) News. Fars reports that Iranian authorities have banned the weekly magazine Iran Dokht, linked with Mehdi Karroubi. Etemaad has also been suspended.

1445 GMT: Not-Very-Much-News (cont.). Nothing --- yes, nothing --- new in the Amano report to the IAEA. It merely restates the long-standing finding, "[The IAEA] continues...to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, but we cannot confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities."

This, however, will not stop many in the media from declaring that something dramatic has occurred. The lead from the Associated Press: "The chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says he cannot confirm that all of Iran's nuclear activities are peaceful."

Nor will it deflect some from overblown declarations and calls to global conflict. Jamsheed Choksy (apologies that you'll have to pay to get the full polemic) in The Wall Street Journal: "Iran's New World Order --- Its nuclear program is part of a larger plan to radically reduce U.S. power."

1430 GMT: Today's Not-Very-Much-News. Back from an academic break to find the media buzzing over the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting, with a report from new Secretary-General Yukiya Amano. The section on Iran:

I would like to inform you about the current situation concerning Iran’s request to the Agency for assistance in providing fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, as I receive many questions in this regard.

In June 2009, the Agency received a request from Iran for assistance in obtaining fuel for the research reactor in Tehran, which produces isotopes for medical purposes. In October 2009, at a meeting with the Governments of Iran, France, the Russian Federation and the United States, the Agency made a proposal under which Iranian low enriched uranium (LEU) would be shipped to Russia for further enrichment and then to France for fabrication into fuel. Three of the four countries gave their consent to this proposal.

In a letter to the Agency dated 18 February, 2010, Iran said it continued to wish to buy the necessary nuclear fuel or, if this was not possible, to exchange some of its LEU for reactor fuel from abroad. Iran requested the IAEA to relay its request to potential suppliers and to facilitate the provision of the fuel. The Agency circulated Iran’s letter to Member States as requested.

The arrangement proposed by the Agency in October 2009 remains on the table. I believe it would ensure continued operation of the Tehran Research Reactor and serve as a confidence-building measure. At the same time, I am following up on Iran’s February 18 request, in accordance with the IAEA Statute, and have been in contact with the relevant countries....

Implementation of Safeguards in the Islamic Republic of Iran

You have received my report on Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council Resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is longer than previous reports because I wanted my first report to be a stand-alone document. I tried to make it factual, without overdoing the detail.

The Agency continues, under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with Iran, to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, but we cannot confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities because Iran has not provided the Agency with the necessary cooperation.

The necessary cooperation includes, among other things, implementation of relevant resolutions of the IAEA Board of Governors and the United Nations Security Council, implementation of the Additional Protocol and of modified Code 3.1, as well as clarification of issues related to possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme.

I request Iran to take steps towards the full implementation of its Safeguards Agreement and its other obligations as a matter of high priority.

1200 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of Hashemi Rafsanjani, has declared that her father accepts no bargaining on people's rights and that the only way out of the crisis is to follow the suggestions in his Friday Prayer of 17 July. Replying to the question of why Rafsanjani has not taken the podium at Friday Prayers since then, Hashemi said, “His main reason is not to cause harm to innocent people. In his last sermon, security and intelligence forces attacked protesters and arrested some of them.”

Hashemi, indirectly commenting on last week's Assembly of Experts meeting that Rafsanjani chaired, warned that extremists were trying to unseat Rafsanjani to achieve their goals.

1100 GMT: Claim of the Day. Rah-e Sabz asserts that the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has said that the Supreme Leader asked him to execute more protestors.

Larijani was reportedly confronted by his relatives and associates, including Mostafa Mohaghegh-Damad, the former head of the National Audit Office, who were unhappy with the  executions of Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani in late January. Larijani replied, “Go and thank God that I have lowered the number of executions.”

Larijani allegedly said that he had attended a meeting at the time  including Khamenei. Ahmad Jannati (head of the Guardian Council), Mohammad Yazdi, and Mohammad Momen Qomi all invoked of the Sharia law demanding that the protesters and the "leaders of sedition" be executed.

Khamenei responded that, although this was their religious opinion, a large number of executions would cause political problems for the regime. He then turned to Larijani saying, “In all honesty we expected more than this [two executions].” Larijani later told associates, “I have tried very hard to keep the number of executions low, as my superiors had asked for more”.

1045 GMT: Following Up the Assembly. The political moves from last week's Assembly of Experts meeting continue, even beyond Mr Verde's Sunday analysis. While the official statement --- once it finally appeared --- pledged loyalty to the Supreme Leader, there has been an overlooked postscript.

The Secretariat of the Assembly has published the report by the Assembly’s Investigation Committee into the circumstances of the Supreme Leader and his fitness to remain in the post, under Article 111 of the Iranian Constitution). The report, dated 27 February, is signed by Mohsen Mojtahed-Shabestari (Assembly member, Khamenei's representative to East Azerbaijan, and Tabriz's Friday Prayer leader.

Although the report is similar to the Assembly's closing statement, the Green website Rah-e-Sabz is celebrating the publication of this report as a victory for public pressure on the Assembly. For the first time, the Supreme Leader's fitness for his post is now a matter of public discussion.

1000 GMT: But You Could Just Watch the Nukes Instead. On the nuclear programme front, it looks like another day of media focus on the rhetorical battle between Iran and members of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA, with a new Director-General, begins a four-day discussion of the draft report on Iran's current uranium enrichment efforts, and the occasion has been preceded by a series of Iranian verbals attacks, including the Supreme Leader's denunciation of a US-controlled IAEA.

The Los Angeles Times, for example, devotes a lengthy article to the political theatre: "[Iran has] dramatically shifted its public tone toward the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, dropping its previous deference while harshly criticizing the agency's latest report and its new director-general as an incompetent and biased lackey of the West."

Amidst the furour, few take any notice of Iran's more conciliatory position accepting Japan as a country for "third-party enrichment", signalled by Ali Larijani during his trip to Tokyo. And none, to my knowledge, consider the ripples of Larijani's changed position across the Iranian political waters.

0915 GMT: And so unfolds another week in a crisis which, according to the regime, was over. Mir Hossein Mousavi's interview continues to command attention and more than a few questions about strategy and prospects for the Green Movement. After initial doubts, I'm tilting towards a more optimistic reading. Because of the importance of the issue, the analysis is still being developed: we're hoping to have it out tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the regime --- which, again, has supposedly won this conflict --- continues to bluster. Basij Commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi, continuing the Government's propaganda drive on the capture of Jundullah leader Abdolmalek Rigi, declared that President Obama would confess as quickly if he came to Iran:

This pure form of Islam [practiced in Iran] is such that it will even break our staunchest enemies. This thug [Rigi] was nothing, even if Obama himself, who Rigi has confessed to cooperating with, comes to Iran he will also confess to all his sins under the influence of this [pure form of] Islam.

The U.S. and other Western countries have reached a cultural, military, political and economic dead-end and the only weapon in their hands to bully other countries is technology and if we succeed in prying this tool away from them they will be finished.

Far more significant is the news of the regime's freeing of high-profile figures from detention. Saturday and Sunday releases included editors and journalists Ali Hekmat, Abdolreza Tajik (Farheekhtegan), Mashallah Shamsolvaezin (formerly of Kayhan, Jame'eh, Neshat, and Asr-e Azadegan), Behrang Tonkaboni (Farhang va Ahang), and Mohammad Javad Mozafar (publishing house Kavir and vice president of the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights), and retired science professor Mohammad Sadeq Rabani.

An Iranian activist adds that journalist Rozbeh Karimi was released today and 20 protesters arrested on Ashura were freed from Rejaie Shahr prison in Karaj last night.

It is too early to tell if this is an orchestrated strategy of mass releases by the regime --- an effective "amnesty" if those freed will just shut up, stop writing, and stay off the streets --- but it follows Sunday's carrot-and-stick statement by Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi (see yesterday's updates). Doulatabadi promises detainee releases on the eve of Iranian New Year but added that those who did not recent would be treated harshly.

The "stick" part of the strategy also has come out in a Rah-e-Sabz report:

Many of those arrested and released over the past few months have been contacted and told to be prepared for interviews, which are subsequently conducted inside Evin Prison....

Interrogators contacted these former prisoners, who have either received their initial verdict or are waiting to receive their verdict, and force them to participate in these interviews. A transcript of the interview is given to the prisoners by their interrogators and they are told to memorize the content and say it in their own words. These former prisoners have been threatened that if they refuse to participate in the interviews they will have to spend the [Iranian] New Year holiday in prison or receive a heavier sentence.

The Jaras [Rah-e-Sabz] reporter said, "Transcripts of these interviews are given to news agencies close to the Reformists and they are forced to publish them. In the recent scenario, aside from the Islamic Student News Agency (ISNA), where prisoners were escorted to upon their release to conduct interviews, Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) has been forced on board [as well]. For the news scenario, the date of the interview is sometimes days or months from the time of the prisoner's release and secondly the exact transcription has been forced on news agencies."

Still, even if the Green Movement could be quelled, the Government faces the trouble within. The latest sign of unhappiness is over the recent 18-minute video, shown on BBC Persian and then spread on YouTube, of the 15 June attack on Tehran University's dormitories. Kazem Jalali, a member of Parliament's "truth-finding committee", has hinted that some colleagues are holding out against an acknowledgement of possible wrongdoing:

It would be better if the members of the truth-finding committee all watch this film....I have followed up on the issue a few time via Mr. [Mohammad-Hassan] Abutorabi who heads the committee. I think you should also ask him this question.

However, the head of the National Security Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, has tried to pre-empt any consideration of the evidence of damage, beatings, and even killings by the attackers, whose exact affiliation with the regime is still unclear: "Since the narrator of the film is the BBC, we must look at the matter with doubt because we do not consider the BBC a reliable source."

Comments

[Publicola]

- Religion -

»Our people cannot tolerate anti-religious actions being carried out in the name of religion. … Our people greatly understand the different between piety and the seeking of power in the guise of pious clothing. … There is a significant number of faithful, aware, and resistant clerics present within the Green movement: … Our noble clergy … would never support murders, bloodshed, and jailing the innocent. Our noble clergy knows well what Islam says about slanders, tortures, desecrating dignities of others and invading their privacies. … We view the clerics in the Green movement as a very important supply of potentials and support [for the movement]. Their presence in the Green movement is connected to the survival of the movement concerning the various methods and means to accuse the Green movement of secular ties and connections to foreign governments.«

Source:
Mousavi’s Interview “Reform Within the Current Framework” (27 February) with Kalemeh, translated by Khordaad 88.

http://khordaad88.com/?p=1268

[Arshama]

@ 1935 GMT Journalists released

Thank you, Scott, for all the good news about the releases. But there are still at least 50 journalists and bloggers in jail!

Encouraging news from Spain, where the Prime Minister has urged the Iranian authorities to respect Human Rights: http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/mar/01/1336

The Greens will not stop until all political prisoners are released!

ma bishomarim

Arshama

[Cyrus]

@Publicola
a cleric's job is to solve the people's religious problems and if under a secular democratic government, people decide to elect a cleric for a government position, that's a different story
Montazeri the most respected cleric has always opposed the clerics involvement in politics and that's what the majority (except 1) grand ayatollah's agree upon that religion must be separated from politics
the former governments including Mohamad Reza Shah & his father Reza Shah's governments always faced many problems from the clerics because they always tried to oppose the ruling power by using their religious powers that lead to 1979 revolution and Khomeini dictatorship began
a person's religion is a personal matter and that's all

[ange paris]

Dmitri Medvedev is in France; he gives his agreement on new sanctions against Iran ( le Monde ) :
http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2010/03/01/dmitri-medvedev-donne-son-accord-pour-des-sanctions-ciblees-contre-l-iran_1313093_3214.html#xtor=RSS-3208

[gunni]

Samuel
I have seen nobody on EA who is not respecting people who are practising Islam.
that’s not the point. The deeper understanding of the link (14.27) tells us, that for sure the time will come to an end where people can be oppressed and tortured to death in the name of religion. (Mohareb) Up to now I didn’t expect, that there is any need in 2010 to write down a sentence like this – but everybody of us is learning a lot every day. It’s sad and terrifying.

Barry
Thanks - I think too that Mrs.Ali deserves to be more known. I deeply wish that this is not the end of her story and that the bodyguards are doing their jobs well. Because in the beginning of her work of clarification a companion – Theo van Gogh – was assassinated by an Islamic extremist. That happened some years ago in the hard of Netherlands. And for sure – this wasn’t the only assassination of this type which happened.

[Megan]

Hey, Cyber basiji, your SOB masters, your Basiji and IRG brothers do not need help from Green for Islam bashing; they have done a fine job all by themselves. They are the ones who have portrayed Islam as a violent, bigoted, backward, and out of touch with the needs of today’s society- something many of us have known for a long time. Those you so blindly admire and follow have exposed their version of Islam not us. We just want to kick their filthy asses out of our homeland.

As for Green Leadership, they will dig their own graves if they continue play deaf, dumb and mute to people’s calls that is the hell with Islamic Republic, the hell with IR constitution, the hell with mullah rule, the hell with Khomeini and Khamenei, the hell with Velayt- e-Vaghih, and the hell with all who supports this drug cartel and support looting of Iran.

Try to get this in your thick skull, if you can, your bosses are finished. Do you not hear the whistle? It is end of the game.

[Cyrus]

@Megan :)

[Publicola]

LA RAISON D’ÉTAT

Is the quantity of religious, pious individuals in Iran considerable ? That’s the relevant question [as a non-Iranian I naturally am definitely not able to answer that].
A sensible answer can only be given from someone living in Iran and profoundly familiar with Iranian society.

This question has nothing (whatsoever) to do with the personal take [- of any Iranian politician, of any individual on our planet, of myself -] on religion !

• As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the Wars of Religion before ascending the throne in 1589. Before his coronation as king of France at Chartres, he changed his faith from Calvinism to Catholicism and, in 1598, he enacted the Edict of Nantes, which guaranteed religious liberties to the Protestants and thereby effectively ended the civil war.
Whatever (if any) religion (at all) he was expected to “practice” or to “believe” in, was all the same to him – in the interest of the precious political aim to maintain inner religious peace and tolerance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV_of_France

• The republican Roman politician and philosopher Cicero dealt intensively with religion, the philosophical and theological aspects of which could – due to mainstream cultural reasons - obviously not be ignored.
But what was really his subjective opinion on that ?
Circumstantial evidence informs us about his personal take:
In ancient Rome “divination”, i.e. to interpret the will of the gods, was practiced via the method of »augury«, i.e. “taking the auspices” (by studying the flight of the birds)
The »augury« or »auspices« (latin “auspicium” = “observation of birds”) provided a sign from the gods. The interpretation, ceremony and function of the augur and haruspex was central to any major undertaking in Roman society and politics including matters of war, commerce, and religion. The undertaking was either “auspicious” or “inauspicious”.

Sometimes [??] bribed or politically motivated augurs would fabricate (un)favorable auspices in order to delay or to support and speed up certain state functions and political decisions in the Roman Empire.

Thus famous the quote from the Roman politician and philosopher Cicero in his philosophical (theological?) work “De natura deorum”(The Nature of the Gods) (1,71):
“Mirabile videtur, quod non rideat haruspex, cum haruspicem viderit”,
i.e. “It seems surprising that an augur / a haruspex does not laugh, when he sees another augur / haruspex”
obviously referrring to the knowing smile of someone (an “expert”), who knows that his or others’ official predictions and statements are humbug and are rather deployed as an influential political instrument.

[Publicola]

Perhaps the point [regional religion; regional culture; regional tradition(s)] might somehow be explained like that ? ?

There's always in any society and any country a certain - inexorably existing - framework to observe and respect :

reality
expressed in the potentiality of a current legal, administrative, cultural system.

People who don't want to take account of that at all,
but want transcend that framework too radically, too fast, too far,
putting on their seven-league boots
when formulating
strategy (long-term aims) and
tactics (the different steps to be taken with a view to the long-term target),
might be in the best keeping with some expert who undertakes teaching them "Yogic Flying"

Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogic_Flying

[Samuel]

Barry and Cyrus,

Re: "Pure Islam"

It is very simple really. More than anything it is an ideal of an Islam that is as free as possible of cultural influences from outside Islam. A few years ago there was a group in Iran that called itself the "Devotees of the Pure Islam..." Supporters of the IRI naturally feel that such an ideal is most closely aproximated in Iran but other Muslims may feel similarly about their communities/countries.

As with most such goals it is practically impossible to completely achieve in real terms but of course there are concrete models to follow such as the Islam at the time of the Prophet or the Imamate that followed.

This does not mean in any way that one is not flexible or pragmatic in real world affairs. Just a few days ago we see AN praying in a Sunni Mosque (perfectly fine) and tightening an alliance (no more Visa requirements) with THE MOST SECULAR STATE IN THE REGION, SYRIA. We see two very religious men in AN and Nasrallah affirming bonds with a man, Assad, who would be very much at home as a British eye doctor in London (which he was).

[Samuel]

Hey Publicola,

No offense and no disrespect intended but why is your writing so affected? Are you writing poetry?

"There’s always in any society and any country a certain – inexorably existing – framework to observe and respect :

reality
expressed in the potentiality of a current legal, administrative, cultural system.

People who don’t want to take account of that at all,
but want transcend that framework too radically, too fast, too far,
putting on their seven-league boots
when formulating
strategy (long-term aims) and
tactics (the different steps to be taken with a view to the long-term target),
might be in the best keeping with some expert who undertakes teaching them “Yogic Flying”

[Bosco]

Samual suggests:

"Of course for those who want to know the truth read Farhang va tahajum-i farhangi by the Supreme Leader. Or you can pick up pretty much anything written by Imam Khomeini."

What about the Quran? Are we allowed to read that anymore, or are we obliged to follow writings of an "imam" which sometimes borders on the absurd.

[Publicola]

Thanks for criticizing decorum, politeness and education !

[Samuel]

Hi Megan,

"Hey, Cyber basiji, your SOB masters, your Basiji and IRG brothers do not need help from Green for Islam bashing; they have done a fine job all by themselves."

Excuse me for a second but my "masters" are just delivering the food with which they pay me everyday. As always delicious!!!

"As for Green Leadership, they will dig their own graves if they continue play..." I agree with you they are done. But it is probably better for the green leaders to hear it from you than me.

"Try to get this in your thick skull" I'm not sure my skull is actually that thick but you could be right. Tell me are you like those German Nazi scientists who were so obsessed with skull measurements?

Thank you,

Samuel

[Cyrus]

@Samuel
that pure Islam is what the Islamic Republic have been trying to force upon the Iranians since its very beginning & is the main reason of people's disagreement
give this "pure Islam" of yours another 10 years in Iran and you'll have a new generation of Nazis at war with the older Generation of pure Islam Nazis, that new generation will hate anything related to Islam and kill the Islamic fanatics whenever they see
your pure version of Islam will burn the roots of Islam in Iran

how about if the sons and daughters of Muslims don't want the rule of Islam anymore, you guys should kill them? that's impossible because that population now is the majority and you guys are the minority, give the movement some time and they will develop both violent and non-violent ways to fight the regime back and IR pure Islamist thugs will have no place to escape to but some of the worst places in Africa when Iran become the friend of the free world one more time. Remember, we are countless, there are millions of us in any country in the world and have become the most educated and successful any country in the world we escape from IR, we'll hunt to the last one of the thugs if continue their oppressions

pure or un-pure, people of Iran are well understood that enough is enough
you guys have two options: either side with people now or stay the enemy of the people forever

IR supporters, either change, or burn

[Samuel]

Bosco,

"What about the Quran? Are we allowed to read that anymore"

Well yes of course. And there is no reason not to read Marx, Shakespeare, or Cervantes to supplement your other reading.

[Cyrus]

yesterday people were asking for their votes back and more freedom, today they are asking for a secular democratic government give it some time and soon they'll only be thinking about revenge (Irani ke gheyrati beshe, khoda ham nemitoone jelodaresh bashe)

[Samuel]

Cyrus,

The Khamenei family is with the Greens, Montazeri was still a Muslim and a green saint. Mousavi, Khatami and Karroubi still claim to be Muslim and to support the legacy of Imam Khomeini. I think your argument is with them.

In any event your scenario is wishful thinking. Naqdi and company have done an extraordinary job and we are getting ever closer to a Basij state, the latest stage of development of the IRI.

As for many of those green students of which you are so fond my guess is that they will spend their more mature years in those western societies that so infatuate them.

[Bosco]

"Well yes of course. And there is no reason not to read Marx, Shakespeare, or Cervantes to supplement your other reading."

You claim supplment, but it's more like replacement. Instead of Allah and Muhammad, it has become Ali and the Supreme Leader. When rape, torure and murder is carried out by a self-proclaimed "pure" islamic state, you have to wonder where exactly in the Quran these are mandated. When you need to "supplement", then you have the wonder how someone can claim "purity". It appears amongst the IRI and their leaders, pragmatism far outways Islam to the point of diversion towards a state cult. If people believe that some of the absurd writings of khomeini shoud be considered "truth", then what is the Quran?

L

[Publicola]

@ Megan

»Basiji and IRGC brothers … have done a fine job all by themselves. They are the ones who have portrayed Islam as a violent, bigoted, backward, and out of touch with the needs of today’s society«

I absolutely do agree with you on that quoted statement of yours.
[I indeed have been rather taken aback by the self-destructive forces of a religiously inspired ruling layer of Iranian society - for some decades !]

A religion that has this sort of friends at its disposal,
has definitely no need at all for any imaginable foe and powerful enemy in our galaxy.

[Bosco]

"In any event your scenario is wishful thinking. Naqdi and company have done an extraordinary job and we are getting ever closer to a Basij state, the latest stage of development of the IRI.

As for many of those green students of which you are so fond my guess is that they will spend their more mature years in those western societies that so infatuate them."

The signs of a desperate and failing totalitarian government is increased arrogance, self-righoutusness and overconfidence.

What is a basiji state? Is this a push towards "purity"? Will they recieve more pay per beating and rape?

Don't worry samuel. You along with other opportunists will be able to join the new free society after this cult of khomeini is washed away.

[Samuel]

Bosco,

Imam Ali replacing the Prophet??? Where do you get that???

[Samuel]

I wonder whether this is the legacy of Imam Khomeini which the greenies love so much:

http://www.shiatv.net/view_video.php?viewkey=d38b55728a9f56b043d3

[Publicola]

@ ange paris

- Posting Nr. 2 -

thanks for the link “We Are All Mohareb” (video) - I have just watched it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clrZQDtNAmI&feature=player_embedded

[Cyrus]

@Samuel
a secular movement does not mean anti-religion at all, as a matter of fact, people of Turkey, the longest and best preserved Secular Democratic Islamic country, are much more respectful to Islam than the majority of Iranians, most Iranians do not practice Islam anymore (do not fast, pray, etc) all as a result of the Islamic Republic while in Turkey 99% of people do
Montazeri himself quoted repeatedly that "the Islamic Republic is neither Islamic nor Republic"
now if your Basiji brothers considered as the true believers, then I must tell you that Islam is taking its last breath in Iran
Basijies are just a bunch of opportunist thugs who joined the Basij to continue their thugish lifestyle under a legal protection, almost anyone I used to know who joined the Basij were thugs, drug dealers or were looking for government benefits

Islamic Republic is a cult and not even a religious regime, religion is used to legitimize IR's actions
Also the so called reformist green leaders are not the true leaders of this movement at all, the majority are using Mousavi & Karoubi as their cover to avoid being labeled as Mohareb while slowly trying to bring down the whole system
you guys are the minority and the only thing that keep you in power is your guns against the defenseless people

read some history and learn some lessons, Islamic republic is finished
Also Secularism and democracy aren't western made. Persians are the inventors of it, the original US constitution is written based on Cyropaedia (book of Cyrus)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6XpokwTsiE

Iran will once again become a great nation once we get rid of this barbaric regime