2100 GMT: Today’s #1 Unseen Story. With all the developments on the streets, I doubt many noticed that former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi and journalist Hengameh Shahidi appeared in the Revolutionary Court today. Shahidi was released last week on $90,000 bail after going on hunger strike; Abtahi has been in detention since June.
Instead of defending herself, Shahidi asked the judge to free her friend Fariba Pajooh, whose order for detention was reaffirmed two weeks ago.
1902 GMT: Josh Shahryar, having gone through the videos and reports of today’s events, estimates that 25,000 to 30,000 opposition demonstrators were on the streets of Tehran at some point during 13 Aban. An estimated 2000-3000 were marching in Isfahan, but there is not enough information yet to project the numbers in other cities.
1900 GMT: Rah-e-Sabz has posted an overview of the events of 13 Aban, the “Greenest day of the year”.
2100 GMT: And for those looking for yet another account of the Karroubi-Mousavi meeting (see 1220 and 1350 GMT), here is the version from Mousavi’s website Kalemeh.
1930 GMT: We’ve posted video of today’s demonstration by families of detainees in front of the Tehran Prosecutor General’s offices (see 1150 GMT).
1835 GMT: And Then There’s the Nice Supreme Leader. Mehr News ignores the Khamenei challenge to the opposition, preferring the Supreme Leader’s exhortation to students, “The political insight and religious principles and concepts in the depth of the thoughts of the youth show that today’s younger generation cannot be stopped, and this pure reality is the guarantor of the continuation of the country’s progress.”
Only later in the article does Mehr sneak in the criticism of the Green movement, “The day after the election, some called that great election a lie without any reason or justification. Is it a minor offence?”
Press TV finally gets around to the harsh Khamenei attack on “certain people”, but they prefer to avoid the issue for several paragraphs, focusing instead on “foreign attacks”.
1810 GMT: Khamenei Intervenes. And the Supreme Leader’s message, after the Media Fair episodes, the Mousavi-Karroubi meeting, and the University demonstrations is: Enough is Enough.
Speaking to university staff and students today, according to state television, Khamenei made his sharpest direct attack on opposition leaders since early in the post-election crisis, saying “questioning [of] the basis of the election [was] the biggest crime”. He added, “Of course some people inside (Iran) may not be aware that they are moving in line with the enemies’ threats, but this issue will not change the truth.”
Khamenei claimed that he had sent a private message to opposition leaders, saying that they were starting would be used by enemy”. He then issued a not-so-veiled challenge over further moves, claiming, “A politician has to be like a chess player & predict their moves & their results in advance.”
Karroubi: I am not afraid and I am ready to pay any price
Four days after the assault on Mehdi Karroubi by “reporter” thugs in the Media Fair, a group of journalists and reporters visited him at his home to comfort him, condemn the events happened at the Media Fair and ask him not to consider those horrible acts as what a real reporter would do.
When the journalists finished their remarks, everybody looked at Karroubi to listen to what he had to say. Karroubi, who that still had the wound mark that he received during the attack in Media Fair at his forehead, started by saying:
I have visited the Media Fair every year, but this year because of the widespread shutdown of the newspapers and the arrest of the journalists, I was more determined to visit the fair. I was not [personally] offended by the events that happened in the Fair, but rather I felt sorry because of some irrational and unconsidered behaviours. Actually it was good that I went to the fair so that the true nature of some people was unveiled.
Throughout yesterday, the reports and videos came in. A gathering of students (1500?) at Tehran University, dispersed by security guards. More protests at Azad University in Tehran. Video of a rally at Chamran University in Ahwaz, almost 500 miles from Tehran. Footage of a protest at Khaje Nasir University of Technology in Tehran (now added to our video page).
Indeed, there were so many reports , and the need to verify them, that we could not keep up before we had an early close to the evening. And there is more, courtesy of an EA correspondent with excellent contacts in Iran.
There were also protests on Sunday at Allameh Tabatabei University in Tehran, with chants of “Death to the Dictator!”. Students at Sharif University wore green clothing. At Gilan University in Rasht in northern Iran, a student shouted “Death to the Dictator”, as Nezamuddin Mousavi, a supporter of President Ahmadinejad, was speaking (video available on YouTube). Perhaps most significantly, the heads of security of Iran’s uiversities have met in Qom.
So we catch up to see this picture: unlike previous periods in this crisis, when opposition fell into silence, there was no lull between the drama of the Tehran Media Fair and Mehdi Karroubi’s webcast and the University demonstrations of the last 48 hours. If this continues and indeed builds up to 13 Aban (4 November), expect a massive display of public frustration, concern, and hope. And maybe more importantly, expect no cessation after 13 Aban.
English translation follows video — many thanks to HomyLafayette:
In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful.
Three points must be stressed concerning the events that took place at the press fair last Friday: One has to do with the circumstances, another with the motives, and the last with myself. Read the rest of this entry »
0825 GMT: Norooz has published the names of 19 reformist activists and family members, out of 71 arrested on Thursday night at the home of detainee Shahabeddin Tabatabei, transferred to Evin Prison.
0753 GMT: Nuclear Deal Still On? Your latest clue, courtesy of Press TV, that the Iranians want an agreement on enrichment: a high-profile splash on the US and Russian positions, “Medvedev, Obama find talks with Iran ‘positive’”.
Your latest clue, courtesy of Press TV and Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Tehran will spin out the process a bit longer, manoeuvring for best possible terms on “third-party enrichment” and assuring the Iranian people that it is negotiating from strength: “Iran asserts that its offer to buy nuclear fuel from the West is purely a confidence-building measure, as it has the technology to enrich uranium up to 20 percent.”
0750 GMT: We’ve updated the story of Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh, now sentenced to 15 years in prison, with an article by Karim Sadjadpour.
0615 GMT: A morning where the significant movement is on the Iranian nuclear question. The inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency should begin their work at Iran’s second uranium enrichment facility, at Fardoo near Qom, today — Al Jazeera has video. That story will dominate “Western” coverage of Iran, possibly matched by speculation and worry over Tehran’s deliberations on the Vienna agreement on enrichment. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani stirred up confusion yesterday, as we noted, with his criticism of the proposal — still no clue, in the dramatic US-UK coverage, whether Larijani speaks for anyone (say the Supreme Leader) other than himself.
Inside Iran, however, the hot-button question yesterday was whether Mir Hossein Mousavi and/or Mohammad Khatami had showed up at the Tehran Media Fair, a day after Mehdi Karroubi appeared.
1935 GMT: A Note from the Media Fair. As the rumors and discussion continue over the events and protests of the week, another incident, reported by the Iranian Labor News Agency and passed on by an EA correspondent:
A stand for the “Wave of Law” website (a deliberate twist of the term “Green Wave”) was dismantled at the press exhibition in Tehran for collecting signatures for a petition seeking a complaint against Mir Hosein Moussavi. The stand faced reluctance from exhibition visitors.
Permission to set up the stand for this new website was given in circumstances in which eligible applicants had been refused. Warnings from the organizers of the Tehran Press Fair were instrumental in the stand’s ejection.
1920 GMT: The reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front has intervened again with an open letter to the former prosecutor of Tehran, judges, Revolutionary Guard, and the Ministry of Intelligence:
We do not open this letter with “greetings”, as it is a symbol of all that you and your colleagues have denied us and those like us….The mass assault of the agents of the former Tehran prosecutor on the central office of the Participation Front, the election headquarters, and newspapers as well as the mass arrest of the members of the Participation Front, other political, and media activists happened not long ago, and the wave of arrests still continue.
This time you and your colleagues have created a new wonder. Thirty years after the establishment of the “Islamic” system, you silenced the “O God! O God!” prayer in the throats of this nation’s sons and daughters and the innocent families of [political] prisoners by your weapons and handcuffs. We remind you of this because it is the duty of every Muslim to stop their religious brothers and sisters from committing bad deeds that we hope are not being committed deliberately and knowingly but rather unintentionally and under pressure.
Before it is too late come to your senses and don’t be the tools of oppression for the tyrant masters of power. Someday that God willing is coming and is not too far away, they will be too caught up as the results of their words and actions to be able to help you.
1715 GMT: We haven’t forgotten you. It is just a relatively quiet period in Iran, and we’re heading out to catch up with friends and colleagues. Back later to round up the day’s events.
1530 GMT: Saturday Football Story. Looks like the Green wave has made it into a photo of the Iran national team on the Press TV website — see separate entry.
1455 GMT: The Curious Development with the Nuclear Deal. Something very strange is happening as the Iranian Government deliberates whether to accept the Vienna proposal on uranium enrichment.
2100 GMT: Today’s #1 Unseen Story. With all the developments on the streets, I doubt many noticed that former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi and journalist Hengameh Shahidi appeared in the Revolutionary Court today. Shahidi was released last week on $90,000 bail after going on hunger strike; Abtahi has been in detention since June.
2100 GMT: And for those looking for yet another account of the Karroubi-Mousavi meeting (see 1220 and 1350 GMT), here is the version from Mousavi’s website 
Throughout yesterday, the reports and videos came in. A gathering of students (1500?) at Tehran University, dispersed by security guards. More protests at Azad University in Tehran. Video of a rally at Chamran University in Ahwaz, almost 500 miles from Tehran. Footage of a protest at Khaje Nasir University of Technology in Tehran (now added 
0825 GMT: Norooz has published the names of 19 reformist activists and family members, out of 71 arrested on Thursday night at the home of detainee Shahabeddin Tabatabei, 
1935 GMT: A Note from the Media Fair. As the rumors and discussion continue over the events and protests of the week, another incident, reported by the Iranian Labor News Agency and passed on by an EA correspondent:
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