1630 GMT: Crime and Punishment? Kalemeh claims, from a judiciary official, that a 23 year-old man has been arrested for the murder of a protestor, shot by a pistol, on the evening of 24 Khordad (14 June) in Tehran. The official also says that the accused — who is not identified as member of the military, police, or Basij militia — did not have orders from any security officials and was acting by himself.
1535 GMT. Carrot. Stick. The rumour of the day, put out by Parleman News from a source in the Tehran prosecutor’s office, is that key Mousavi advisor Alireza Beheshti will be released within hours.
The reality of the day is that the son of Mehdi Karroubi, Hossein, has had his passport confiscated as he got off a flight from Dubai.
1525 GMT: Back from academic break to find that the Italian Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, has claimed that “dozens” of Basij militia tried to attack Italy’s embassy in Tehran today.
“About a hundred Basij dressed as civilians tried to assault the embassy shouting “Death to Italy” and “Death to Berlusconi,” Frattini said referring to Italy’s prime minister.
Optimism and a refusal to be cowed, bullied or intimidated: that’s the message from human rights activists this week. Despite the Iranian Regime’s best efforts to thwart the preparations for 22 Bahman — with intimidation and coercion in the form of mass arrests of both students and journalists, continued threats to execute execute the nine “mohareb” Ashura protesters, and other propaganda — the protests will proceed.
Vahid Abedini, (University of Tehran) arrested with two others.
Navid Abedini, (University of Shahid Beheshti) arrested with Vahid Abedini and Esmaeel Izadi Khah (student at University of Shahid Beheshti). Reports from Kashan indicated further arrests: Mohammad Mokhtari (formerly but recently dismissed from the University of Kashan) arrested with two others who were subsequently released.
Parisa Kakaiee, a member of CHRR and Mehrdad Rahimi, one of the Committee members arrested. Two other members, Saeed Habibi and Hesam Missaghi were not arrested, but were reportedly receiving repeated calls from officials from the Ministry of Information.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRR) said there was no information about Mehraneh Atashi (the internationally acclaimed photo-journalist) and her husband, who remain missing, presumed detained.
Iran: With 22 Bahman just three days away we are watching the situation in Iran even more closely than usual. The Iranian regime’s rhetoric on its nuclear programme has continued throughout the day, but the Western media, which had chased the story to the exclusion of all other topics, has now re-discovered Iran’s internal development.
The White House,on behalf of the US Government and the European Union, has issued a statement condemning the human rights violations in Iran since the June elections. All the latest news in our live weblog, which also contains links to other stories.
Former President Khatami set out his thoughts for Thursday’s anniversary of the 1979 Revolution.
There have been new protests at Sharif University today, and we have the video.
We have a list of the 57 journalists currently detained in Iran’s prisons.
Arabian/Persian Gulfs: Sean Foley has written an EA special analysis of the Gulf States and Iran in the wake of recent news about the deployment of US soldiers and advanced weapons to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Israel/Syria: Do we have peace, or commitments to work towards peace from Israel and Syria? Follow the statements from the main players over the weekend.
Palestine: Mahmoud Abbas, Leader of the Palestinian Authority, has expressed his disappointment with the Obama administration and says he will “not back down” from his demands.
2045 GMT: But There are Limits. One leading international media organisation is proclaiming that it has mobilised itself to cover Thursday’s events in Iran. It has even set up a dedicated Twitter account for Iran, announced throughout today in a series of tweets.
Only problem is that this broadcaster/website hasn’t quite got the hang of using Twitter for gathering latest news rather than for self-promotion. Total number of Twitter accounts it is following? 7, all of whom happen to be its own staff.
2020 GMT: 22 Bahman is Back! The “Western” media, which only 12 hours ago seemed to be oblivious to anything Iran-related unless it had the word “nuclear”, has re-discovered the internal events and tensions. Numerous services are carrying the report of the Associated Press on the Supreme Leader’s speech (1245, 1420, & 1940 GMT), while The New York Times picks up on Reuters’ summary of the statements of Mir Hossein Mousavi (1635 GMT) and Mohammad Khatami (separate entry). Even America’s ABC News has taken notice, catching up with Saturday’s interview of Mehdi Karroubi in a German magazine.
The Islamic Republic that people wanted and replaced the monarchy was a republic similar to what the other countries have and also there was the Islamic aspect to it, similar to what existed in the time of Imam Ali (Shia’s first Imam). [This was] an Islam that, in addition to God and ethics, also stresses the dignity, respect, and rights of the people.
We should try to eliminate obstacles and move toward the goals of the revolution. Reform means accepting the principles and correcting the possible wrongdoings and diversions. In this path our movement is based on the Constitution; the Constitution is something created by humans (i.e., is not perfect) but is the foundation of our reformist movement. Any diversions or contradictory interpretations of the Constitution or any problem in implementing it should be corrected. With God’s help all the people will participate in the 11 February (22 Bahman) rally with the common goal of defending the revolution and public right and as the true owners of the revolution.
Our expectation from all the influential figures of the country is fairness. We defend people’s rights and selections. For all of us, as we have announced before, the goal is to achieve a mechanism for holding healthy elections without any dispute so that people could trust that they can reinstate their rights.
We believe that the government should stop the insults, destructions and arrests. Those who are detained care for the establishment and should be released immediately, and in a less intense environment the pressure on independent media should be eased.
On Sunday, in an interview with Der Spiegel, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, expressed his disappointment with the Obama Administration, saying that Barack Obama has changed the route of the negotiations by dropping demands for a freeze on Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Abbas said that there was hope for an agreement with Ehud Olmert, but the Israeli Prime Minister had to leave the office earlier due to corruption accusations. Another complication, implied by Abbas, was that Hamas had rejected a Palestinian reconciliation agreement with Abbas’ party, Fatah, because of Iran.
SPIEGEL: Mr. President, the whole world is waiting for you to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks. When is this finally going to happen?
ABBAS: That depends on Israel. We Palestinians have always said that we are willing to negotiate, but only if Israel stops settlement construction completely and recognizes the 1967 borders.
The news in recent weeks about the deployment of US soldiers and advanced weapons to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reminds us of the central position of the Arab oil-producing monarchies in the Persian Gulf to international efforts to contain the Iranian nuclear program. Few states in the Middle East have closer links to the two chief actors in the dispute, Iran and the United States, or few would be more negatively affected if Washington attacked Tehran.
The six Arab oil-producing monarchies in the Persian Gulf region — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — are known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (or GCC) and have the largest oil and gas deposits in the world. GCC nationals and governments own significant portions of US and European corporations, while Europeans and Americans have invested heavily in the Council’s states. The US Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, and the US military maintains a large presence in Qatar and Jebel Ali (UAE), the only port deep enough to berth an aircraft carrier in the Gulf. Finally, GCC states have bought billions of dollars worth of US and European advanced weapons and technology, including French nuclear reactors.
1635 GMT: More on Human Rights. Complementing our own round-up and list of journalists (which we need to update — it is now 65 detained in Iran’s prisons), Pedestrian has posted an update on a number of cases.
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