The Latest from Iran (24 August): The 4-D Chess Match
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The Latest from Iran (23 August): An Anti-Ahmadinejad Bloc?
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2110 GMT: In addition to providing the first set of his evidence of detainee abuse to Parliament, Mehdi Karroubi has responded to criticism from a conservative MP, Ahmad Tavakoli, that the revelations were against Karroubi’s revolutionary background and would have bad consequences. Karroubi said that it was not right to sacrifice “our religion, dignity and bravery for the benefit of ourselves” and that the regime’s is to no one’s benefits.
2100 GMT: Returning to the comments of former 1st Vice President Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai (see 1315 GMT), more to raise a smile than to offer any analysis. Rahim-Mashai said that the election had demonstrated President Ahmadinejad’s historic and extraordinary popularity in the world, a popularity unique before and after the Islamic Revolution. He added that, had it not been for the “challenges” that the Ahmadinejad Administration created in the world, Iran would not be as successful as it is today. (Press TV has a summary in English.)
1945 GMT: The Los Angeles Times blog “Babylon & Beyond” has summarised the first testimony of detainee abuse produced by Mehdi Karroui (see 1535 and 1930 GMT):
Iranian officials interviewed an alleged victim of jailhouse rape at the hands of security personnel. But instead of consoling him, they asked him embarrassing questions and blamed him for the violence.
They said it was the young man’s own fault for protesting the results of Iran’s June 12 presidential elections, according to a fresh account of the alleged rape published on the website of a prominent reformist politician.
“I asked them why I and others were raped in prison,” the young man says he asked two interrogators and a judge who had agreed to hear his story….
One of the three replied, “‘When the supreme leader confirmed the election result, everyone should have recognized it.”
1940 GMT: For What It’s Worth. Press TV, citing Ayandeh newspaper, reports that the managing director of the Behehst-e-Zahra cemetery has denied the secret burial of post-election casualties. Norooz claimed earlier this week, from information provided by a cemetery employee, that security forces had forced staff to inter 40 bodies.
1930 GMT: Tabnak reports that Kazam Jalali of the Parliament National Security Committee has met with Mehdi Karroubi to discuss Karroubi’s initial presentation of evidence on the sexual abuse of detainees (see 1535 GMT). The Los Angeles Times offers an English summary quoting Jalali, “Karoubi agreed to introduce four persons, who have met him personally and claimed that they were tortured and raped in prison, to Parliament. Karoubi told us these four persons are ready to provide their testimonies that they were sexually abused, but they do not feel secure.”
1600 GMT: Cyber-Wars. We will probably run a feature tomorrow, but it appears that the Iranian authorities are doing serious damage to the communications and presence of the Green opposition and reformists.
One key site of Mir Housein Mousavi’s campaign, Ghalam News, was hacked out of existence last month (“Service Unavailable”). It is reported that another, Kalameh Sabz, has been down for more than 10 days. The closure of Etemade Melli newspaper has been followed by the disappearance of its website (“Under Construction”); Seda-ye Edalat fell at the end of July. (The website of the Etemade Melli political party is still up and a key source for information.)
Tags: Ahmad Tavakoli, Ayandeh, Ayatollah Ahmad Mohseni-Gorgani, bas, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, Etemade Melli, Expediency Council, Ghalam News, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejeie, Green Path of Hope, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hassan Abutorabi-Fard, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Islamic Republic News Agency, Kalameh Sabz, Kazem Jalali, Keeping the Change, Los Angeles Times, Mahsa Amirabadi, Masoud Bastani, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, Mohammad Sadegh Larijani, Mohsen Aminzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Norooz, Press TV, Saeed Hajjarian, Seda-ye Edalat, Seyed Mohammad Maraashi
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