Monday
May242010
The Latest from Iran (24 May): Rahnavard's Statement, Ahmadinejad Heckled
Monday, May 24, 2010 at 15:32 
1910 GMT: Panahi to be Freed? Iranian Students News Agency is reporting a statement from Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi that the decree ordering the release of film director Jafar Panahi from Evin Prison has been signed. Panahi has not been freed yet, however. Dowlatabadi said he met Panahi last Thursday in jail and agreed to the director's request of freedom before his trial, subject to payment of bail. According to Dowlatabadi, "bureaucratic procedures are now proceeding".
1745 GMT: No Permit, No 12 June March? Readers have picked up on this passage from the English translation of Sunday's meeting between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi:
[They] decided to invite people to participate in a national rally on theanniversary of the rigged presidential election on 22 Khordaad if permission for holding a rally is issued by the Interior Ministry, but if this constitutional right is denied by Ahmadinejad’s administration, they proposed to peacefully continue promoting awareness through the various and numerous social networks.
I asked an EA correspondent, "Does that mean that, if no permit is given, neither will take to the streets and call out the Green Movement to demonstrate?"
The correspondent's reply:
I take it to read that while they may not march, they will not stand idle if, as expected, the permission is not granted.
We should emphasise that the 12 June rally, if it takes place, is something relatively new, as it is the very first "homegrown" event for the Green wave, i.e., one that does not "piggyback" on an existing regime commemoration event. This is potentially a vulnerability, as it leaves the Green people exposed (everyone out on the streets that day is Green). It is worth nothing that Kalemeh indicates that Mousavi and Karroubi have also discussed events pertaining to the June 15 anniversary of the mass rally and the June 20 commemoration too. All this means that these days shall be an important litmus test for everyone, the regime and the Greens.
NEW Iran Document: The Mousavi-Karroubi Meeting (23 May)
NEW Latest Iran Video: Ahmadinejad Heckled During Speech (24 May)
Iran Document: Khatami “Khordaad is the Month of the People”(22 May)
The Latest from Iran (23 May): Is This The People’s Month?
1650 GMT: The Iran Uranium Letter. Reuters has posted the text of Iran's formal note, based on the Iran-Brazil-Turkey agreement on a uranium fuel swap, to the International Atomic Energy Agency. An extract:
The nuclear fuel exchange is a starting point to begin cooperation and a positive constructive move forward among nations. Such a move should lead to positive interaction and cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear activities, replacing and avoiding all kinds of confrontation through refraining from measures, actions and rhetorical statements that would jeopardize Iran's rights and obligations under the NPT.
Based on the above, in order to facilitate the nuclear cooperation mentioned above, the Islamic Republic of Iran agrees to deposit 1200 kg LEU in Turkey. While in Turkey the LEU will continue to be the property of Iran. Iran and the IAEA may station observers to monitor the safekeeping of the LEU in Turkey.
In return, we expect the Agency, also in accordance with paragraph 6 of this declaration, to notify the Vienna Group (USA, Russia, France and the IAEA) of its content, and consequently inform us of the Group's positive response. Such action, according to this declaration, will pave the way to commence negotiation for elaboration on further details of the exchange leading to conclusion of a written agreement and as well as making proper arrangements between Iran and the Vienna Group.
1425 GMT: We have posted the English translation of the summary of the Mir Hossein Mousavi-Mehdi Karroubi meeting on Sunday.
1330 GMT: The Crackdown (and a Video Game). Writing for The National, Michael Theodoulou opens his story with the tale of the video game, "Fighting the Leaders of Sedition", where players can use fighter jets to kill Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami. He then moves to the real-life stories of jail sentences, alleged beatings, e.g., of former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, and the detention of film director Jafar Panahi.
1310 GMT: What the Crowd Said to Ahmadinejad. HomyLafayette interprets the video, from Iranian state television, of an audience shouting at the President in Khorramshahr today:
Ahmadinejad attempted to shout over the cries of the population, but even his promises to stem unemployment in the southwestern province failed to trigger applause or to calm the people's loud refrain of "bikari, bikari!" (unemployment, unemployment!).
"The government is at your service," said the beleaguered Ahmadinejad. "With broad projects, with the efforts of the dear youth of Khorramshahr and Khuzestan province, it will uproot unemployment from Khuzestan, god willing."
1300 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. According to an Iranian activist, Azad University student Sina Golchin has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison by an appeals court for participating in the protest on Ashura (27 December).
1135 GMT: Sunday's Karroubi-Mousavi Meeting. Saham News, the website connected with Mehdi Karroubi, has posted a summary of the discussion between Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi. The two men agreed to call for a march on 12 June, the anniversary of the election, and to seek ways to expand the awareness of the Green Movement despite Government restrictions.
1040 GMT: Ahmadinejad Heckled. An EA correspondent, who watched the President's television speech this morning, sends us two audio clips of crowd noise. He comments:
You can clearly hear people shouting 'Azadi' (freedom) in the second clip. In the first clip, near the beginning, the TV obviously tried to remove something, but it's not clear what that was.
(We've now posted a video of the incident.)
1025 GMT: Still Keeping Score on Uranium? After Sunday's confusion, Tehran has submitted a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency, outlining last week's Iran-Brazil-Turkey agreement on procedure for talks on a uranium swap outside Iran.
1020 GMT: Tough Crowd for Ahmadinejad? Nasser Karimi of the Associated Press reports:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech in a southern port town has been marred by shouts from disenchanted Iranians demanding jobs.
Ahmadinejad on Monday addressed hundreds gathered in Khorramshahr — about 625 miles (1,000 kilometers) southwest of Tehran — when scores from the crowd interrupted his speech with shouts: "We are unemployed!"
The President was speaking on the 28th anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr from Iraqi forces in the Persian Gulf War.
0945 GMT: Rahnavard's Green Movement Warriors. An English translation of the remarks of Zahra Rahnavard, activist and wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, speaking to Iranian war veterans on the 28th anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr from Iraq, has been posted:
Today the Green movement is seeking the same great values and is continuing the [real] goals of the revolution and the holy defence [against Iraq]; and the martyrs of the Green movement and the warriors and woundees of this movement are the followers of the martyrs of the holly defence era [against the Iraqi occupying forces] especially in the liberation of Abadan and Khorramshar.
Today, the martyrs of the Green movement are carrying the same flag of the martyrs of the holy defence era and revive the memories of the devoted mothers that sang lullaby for the children of martyrs, soldiers and veterans. Today those children have risen from their cradles and each has become a warrior and a devotee. This is why the role of women, daughters and wives in the houses of martyrs as the flag bearers for purity, justice and freedom is truly unforgettable and will be our guide.
I would like to say to you that each has been the witness of the values of your martyrs that if this regime does not try to fulfill the demands and the transcendental and value-based expectations of the Green movement, then it will definitely fall by its own hands. The government should know that the nature of reform is to reform and not to overthrow. But it is possible that this regime with the path that it has chosen, overthrow itself. The government today has not turned 90 degrees but rather 180 degrees from the transcendental values of Islam, revolution and the holy defence era....
Our great Islamic Revolution put an end to 2500 years of monarchy and joined to the movement of prophets. These demands will never fail but if the current government does not reform itself and does not respond to the people’s demands, the Green movement will not overthrow it but rather the very own government will overthrow itself. We hope this will not happen. We would like everything to be reformed in the best way. We hope the regime itself becomes the pioneer for these demands and fulfill them but if it remains ignorant to people’s demands, then it is destroying itself.
0740 GMT: MediaWatch. Since we've chided CNN for its nuclear obsession, it's only fair to give a shout-out to Scherezade Faramarzi of the Associated Press, who posted on Sunday, "With Death Sentences, Iran Seeks to Cow Opposition".
0545 GMT: Execution. Islamic Republic News Agency reports that Abdul Hameed Rigi was hung this morning. He is the brother of Abdul Malek Rigi, the detained leader of the Baluch insurgent group Jundullah.
0525 GMT: Slowly but steadily, the opposition is building up to 12 June. In the last 72 hours, there have been statements from Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami. Mousavi and Karroubi met on Sunday, although there are still no details of the discussion.
Seven opposition websites issued a statement declaring their goals as “resistance, defending the rights of the citizens, unity and avoidance of all forms of violence” and urging the public to “resist and persist in their legal demands to restore the lost principles of the constitution”.
How and even whether these signals will translate into a challenge to the regime on the anniversary of the Presidential election is the big, unanswered question. But at least that question is being posed.
Not that this matter much, so far, to CNN. It is preoccupied with the state of play on the Iran-Brazil-Turkey proposal for talks on uranium enrichment. Iran has said --- amidst some confusion amongst its state media --- that it will formally present the proposal to the International Atomic Energy Agency today, and CNN International is already pursing it lips: ""But can the Iranians be taken at their word?"
Meanwhile....
Political Prisoner Watch
We are still chasing confirmation of the status of filmmakers Mohammad Nourizad and Jafar Panahi. There were reports, amidst meetings by Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi with prisoners and their families, that the two would be freed --- pro-Government media were saying that Nourizad had been released, a report denied by Nourizad's daughter.
Student leader Majid Tavakoli has reportedly been taken back to solitary confinement and has threatened that he will go on hunger strike.
Amnesty International has posted a statement requesting "urgent action" over detainees Shiva Nazar Ahari and Kouhyar Goudarzi of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR).
Sanctions Dance
In the continued manoeuvring over the Iran-Brazil-Turkey proposal and the US-led push for more sanctions, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday, "If I was in the place of Russian officials, I would adopt a more careful stance."
Russia has been on a non-stop balancing act since last week's moves, with Washington insisting that it has Russian support for a UN Security Council resolution punishing Tehran but Moscow also declaring that it will open Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant by August.
tagged Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, Abdolmalek Rigi, Abdul Hameed Rigi, Amnesty International, Associated Press, Azad University Tehran, HomyLafayette, International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Iranian Students News Agency, Jafar Panahi, Jundullah, Kouhyar Goudarzi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Majid Tavakoli, Mehdi Karroubi, Michael Theodoulou, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Mohammad Khatami, Mohammad Nourizad, Nasser Karimi, Scherezade Faramarzi, Shiva Nazar Ahari, The National, Zahra Rahnavard in Middle East & Iran
Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, Abdolmalek Rigi, Abdul Hameed Rigi, Amnesty International, Associated Press, Azad University Tehran, HomyLafayette, International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Iranian Students News Agency, Jafar Panahi, Jundullah, Kouhyar Goudarzi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Majid Tavakoli, Mehdi Karroubi, Michael Theodoulou, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Mohammad Khatami, Mohammad Nourizad, Nasser Karimi, Scherezade Faramarzi, Shiva Nazar Ahari, The National, Zahra Rahnavard in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (12)
Hoax or real?
Green Voice of Freedom claims to have received a letter by a group of commanders and holders of military ranks in the Iranian Army: "A group of commanders in the Iranian Army have issued a statement warning Iranian authorities that they will be confronted with by military personnel if they persist in establishing further dictatorship and tyranny in the country." (...)
"In the letter, the commanders state that they are “maintaining their vigilance” in identifying these threats and their causes. “Meanwhile Army personnel are faced with the same economic, social and cultural problems as the rest of the nation.”
“These problems are the outcome of the mismanagement and incompetence of certain officials in the Islamic Republic and it is evident to everyone, that this incompetence and mismanagement, especially in recent years, is the result of the whimsical behaviour of certain officials and their reading of the constitution and the Islamic System. Hence, the serving personnel of the Army announce their deep concern with regards to the exploitation of the country’s laws by certain officials for advancing their own personal ends and the goals of groups they belong to.”
http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/may/23/1943" rel="nofollow">http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/may/2...
My dear Wittekr
We are waiting for them since the beginning and instead we have witnessed all these ill-treatements of our people without even raising their little finger !! yet they are responsible to secure country and people !
Iran has become the country of maximum 20 persons and all economic, social and political issues of country turn around their will ; don't worry, as soon as, and I have heard .... that their end is imminent !! and we are going to pull them out from their hole like Saddam !
Two Iranian telecoms (Pishgaman Kavir and Zoha Kish) are among the named sponsors of the International Telecoms Week 2010 convention taking place in Washington, D.C. this week. Given the role of Iranian telecoms in supression through provision of data on customers, often assisted by software from western countries, such sponsorship is contemptible.
[...] The Latest from Iran (24 May): Rahnavard's Statement, Ahmadinejad … [...]
Dissected news thank you; your second link is specially for E.Brill.
I've heard of this E. Brill. I encourage him to read my blog and then contact me!
You might also like this: new video of alleged fraudulent ballots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6nPCO4i3PA&feature=youtu.be" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6nPCO4i3PA&feat...
Frankly, I don't know what to make of the video. Anyone else know about this?
Link to discussion on EA of the previously issued letter. Hoax maybe not, but rather a question may be will there be action behind the statement or as the prior letter, simply words on paper:
http://enduringamerica.com/2009/12/11/iran-the-military-will-stand-with-the-iranian-people/" rel="nofollow">http://enduringamerica.com/2009/12/11/iran-the-...
Dissected,
The WSJ article on Heydari is behind a paywall, but it can be read at http://cliftonchadwick.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/7141/" rel="nofollow">http://cliftonchadwick.wordpress.com/2010/03/20....
It repeats Heydari's points in previous interviews (see our video from Britain's Channel 4) but has no additional evidence beyond Heydari's assertion of the pressure from Tehran via phone.
S.
I am sure there wont be any action behind and it's only des bla bla bla ! if not, they are waiting for what ? that 70 Mo be raped tortured and killed !! ?
The video isn't new. I saw something similar shortly after the election though can't remember if it's exactly the same. Even the comments on YouTube are 11 months old.
Thanks Zee. good catch
Thanks Scott. I knew you were omniscient and would have the answer ;)