The Latest from Iran (29 May): Statements for 22 Khordad/12 June

1655 GMT: Visiting Panahi. Mehdi Karroubi has met with Jafar Panahi, the prominent filmmaker who was detained for almost three months before being released this week.

1650 GMT: CyberPolice? Lots of chatter today that Google was filtered in Iran, at least for a short time.

1635 GMT: To Russia, With Criticism. All is still not well in Tehran over Moscow's position on the nuclear issue.

After President Ahmadinejad's public telling-off of Russia earlier in the week, senior Iranian lawmakers have taken up the criticism. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani went after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev by exalting his predecessor,

If the approach agreed on with the former Russian president (Vladimir Putin) had been pursued, it could have served the interests of both sides. Concerning nuclear issues, Russia has always sought to fit things within the frame of its own interests, and efforts must be made to return this approach to its precise path.

Kazem Jalali of Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said said Moscow was under the same "analytical misconception" as the US but offered a way back, "Russia can be effective in rejecting the [sanctions] resolution, and can save face internationally through a positive response to Iran's letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency."

NEW Iran Document: Mousavi “Greens Will Not be Stopped by Arrests, Prisons, or Killing”
NEW Iran: A Poem for Executed Teacher Farzad Kamangar
Friends or Obstacles?: Iran, Human Rights, & US “Concern”
Iran Analysis: When Allies Co-ordinate (Mousavi & Karroubi)
NEW Iran Analysis: When Allies Fight (Tehran and Moscow
The Latest from Iran (28 May): A Pause in Discussion?

1435 GMT: Political Prisoners Watch. Maziar Khosravi, editor of the Hammihan website, has been released from detention. Khosravi had been detained after his reports on last June's attacks on Tehran University's dormitories.


Activists are reporting that student activist Majid Tavakoli, who is on hunger strike, has been moved out of solitary confinement.

1410 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. As news emerges of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani reasserting his critical statements from last year (see 1350 GMT), we also get a report that assailants have raided the office of Rafsanjani's daughter, Faezeh Hashemi.

1405 GMT: The Students' Declaration. Student activists have released a statement calling for innovation in civil disobedience and asserting "perseverance on the way to democracy".

1350 GMT: And More Statements. I don't we think we quite expected, selecting the title for this morning's updates, how appropriate it would be.

We have posted in a separate entry the English translation of Mir Hossein Mousavi's latest lengthy critique of the Government and statement of the Green Movement's defiance.

And another prominent politician is making mischief: Agence France Presse reports that the website of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has posted the 2009 letter he sent to the Supreme Leader, criticising the regime:

Even if I keep quiet, part of the people, groups and parties will undoubtedly not bear this situation any more and set off social upheavals, examples of which can be seen in street rallies and universities....

The website also posts extracts from Rafsanjani's Friday Prayer sermon of 17 July --- the last one he has given:

What should we do? Our key issue is to return the trust which the people had and now to some extent is broken....

It is not necessary that in this situation people be jailed. Let them join their families. We should not allow enemies to rebuke and ridicule us because of detentions. We should tolerate each other.

1245 GMT: Monitoring the Cleric. Back from a break to find the report that banners supporting Ayatollah Yusuf Sane'i for 4 June --- the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death --- have been removed from Khomeini's mausoleum because of "deceitful phrases".

Posters for Sane'i, a critic of the current Government, were also removed from the recent Tehran Book Fair.

0810 GMT: Corruption vs. Corruption at Highest Levels. The political battle within the establishment over corruption allegations continues.

More details on the Fatemi Street insurance fraud, with which 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi is allegedly involved, have emerged.Two companies were established in 2005/2006, and Rahimi reportedly used his influence to arrange large loans (eventually more than $1 billion) for them, receiving 10-15%.

Ahmadinejad supporters have countered that Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior official in Iran's judiciary, has seized 300,000 hectares of land. Emrooz claims that the President, in his speech this week in Kerman, implied that Larijani's brothers, Speaker of Parliament Ali and head of judiciary Sadegh, blocked the Government from taking back the property.

0805 GMT: Raising the Stakes (cont.). More on this week's Friday Prayer, on the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death, from the Supreme Leader (see 0650 GMT)....

The warm-up act for Ayatollah Khamenei will be President Ahmadinejad.

And Ayatollah Khamenei's title, at least according to his office? “The Leader of All Muslims in World Affairs”.

0800 GMT: Another Statement. Visiting the family of political prisoner Mohsen Armin, a senior member of the Mojahedin of Islamic Speaker and former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mehdi Karroubi declared that the "imprisonment of the Revolution's children is a shame".

0755 GMT: Film Corner. Concern is growing over filmmaker Dariush Shokouf, an Iranian expatriate in Germany, who has disappeared. Shokouf, a vocal critic of Iran's regime, was last seen in Cologne, boarding a train for Paris.

0750 GMT: The Executions. We have posted a poem by Fatemeh Shams in memory of teacher Farzad Kamanager, executed on 9 May.

0650 GMT: Raising the Stakes. Golnaz Esfandiari of Radio Liberty reports that the Supreme Leader will lead Tehran Friday Prayers this week, presiding at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini.

Friday will be the anniversary of Khomeini's death in 1989.

This will be the first time that Ayatollah Khamenei has led Friday Prayers since his appearance one week after last year's Presidential election.

0555 GMT: Two weeks before the anniversary of the 2009 election, and we awake to a flurry of opposition statements.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, in his latest meeting, asserts that Iran should be "run by freedom and justice not by imprisonment". He argues, "We do not want the Government to give up rule in the name of Islam, but the content [of its rule] is empty and it does not address our desires."

Mousavi adds that this Government "monologue", meeting the wishes of the people with repression rather than discussion, leads to "tyranny" and "dictatorship".

The Assembly of Combatant Clergymen, like Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi earlier this week, use the "historical importance" of the month of Khordad (May/June) to invoke the legacy of Ayatollah Khomeini, remember the Presidency of Mohammad Khatami, and cite "the great participation" of the Iranian people in last year’s election.


The clergymen say this participation could have led to a better future for Iran; instead, it ws met by the brutal confrontation of the Government, which continues today with "heavy and unfair" prison sentences. They call for the release of all political prisoners and free elections.

The banned Islamic Iran Participation Front declares that the reform movement is an attempt to fix errant behaviour arising from narcissism, despotism, and fundamentalism that had shaped. The continuation of that effort of that effort led to a bitter showdown, with Government attacks on people’s freedom, security, and dignity in the name of religion.

The party calls for adherence to the Constitution and recognition of people’s demands for their rights, free assembly, political parties, a free press, and free elections.

Comments

[IranPhD]

As usual, before I nitpick a bit about one of the translations in this post, let me thank you for the great site. I've really enjoyed it ever since coming across it a few days ago. And it has made life a lot easier to have the important articles of the day all located in one place! Naturally, with the huge amount of material covered, there will be some things addressed hastily, so I give my opinion on your translation here in the most respectful way.

ما که نمی خواستیم فقط حکومت تشکیل بدهیم و به نام اسلام چارچوبی تعریف کنیم ولی از محتوا خالی باشد و از آرمان ها و آرزوهایی که برآمده از مکتب و اعتقادات ما بود هیچ نشانی نداشته باشد

I think the sentence above was used for the following translation:

"We do not want the Government to give up rule in the name of Islam, but the content [of its rule] is empty and it does not address our desires.”

If so, the translation provided is a little bit off. I think the more literal translation, while not drastically different, does convey a different sense. The translation provided on Enduring America, could be read as giving the impression that Mousavi does not want to give up rule in the name of Islam, but might have to because it does not address the people's desires. I'm sure it was not your intention to have it imply such, but the translation provided certainly could be read that way.

The following is a more literal translation. I think it removes the ambiguity that the translation provided here leaves one with:

"We didn't want to just establish a government and to, in the name of Islam, establish a framework, but to have these two be empty of content and to [have them] lack any traces of the ideals and desires that were from our teachings and beliefs."

[Arshama]

Fire at Iran oil well, three dead: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100529/wl_nm/us_iran_oil_fire" rel="nofollow">http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100529/wl_nm/us_ir...

Iran PhD,

Fully agree with you, although the Persian sentence is a bit misleading and grammatically awkward in itself.

Arshama

[perry1949]

I can't help but wonder what would happen if AN and KH held a Friday Prayer service and no one showed up? Seems like a very peaceful way to protest. If the Green Movement stayed home or went to services elsewhere AN and KH would be left with no one but their lapdogs. Think they would take the hint?

[IranPhD]

Remember, electoral fraud does not mean that Ahmadinejad and Khamenei have no support. We don't know for sure what the outcome of the elections were, but I have a very hard time believing that Ahmadinejad had anywhere less than at the very, very least 35% of the vote. My guess would be probably more toward 50%. As such, as Mousavi and others have indicated, the focus should be on expanding awareness --first of the ways the constitution's own precepts are being ignored, and then of the limits of even that constitution.

[perry1949]

This is true but to get that 35-50% in one place they would have to run buses from all over the country again. And of course they would have to give out free sandwiches and juice. Not to mention the cost of the security they would position everywhere in Tehran to make sure the Green Movement couldn't make a move.