2115 GMT: A Personal Note “#CNNFail”. I am watching, open-mouthed, as CNN milks the Khomeini-Ahmadinejad “non-kiss” for 10 minutes of blather, with Reza Sayah, his producer,and the happy, chatty, vacuous Michael Holmes chuntering on about how they disagreed about the meaning of the physical interaction: Did Khameini block Mahmoud’s embrace? Did Mahmoud check the Supreme Loyalty because he wanted to show sufficient loyalty? It’s all ho-ho, ha-ha at the end of their proclaimed 15-hour day.
Here’s a friendly suggestion to all the CNN folks. If you spent as much time carefully evaluating political sources over the last two weeks, including the Khamenei-Ahmadinejad tensions, or if you gave a little thought to the politics beyond the single image of the Supreme Leader and the President, including today’s demonstrations and the reactions to Saturday’s trial, you wouldn’t have to spend 600 seconds saying nothing of consequence beyond flagrant self-promotion.
2040 GMT: Another Effort for Conciliation. According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, Maryam Behrouzi, the head of the society of Zeynab, a conservative women’s group has stated, “Both principalist and reformist factions have had faults and irregularities and must attempt to cleanse themselves so that the establishment regains its reputation and regains the trust of the people.” At the same time, Behrouzi said, “In these [televised] confessions [of reformists] wno mention has been made of ‘velvet revolution’….The Supreme Leader has called the two factions of principalist and reformist to be to wings of the same system and accusing one fraction of ’soft deposition’ will cause a huge damage to the establishment….If some individuals of a fraction make a mistake that mistake should not be used to indict a whole faction.”
2030 GMT: A Very Important Correction. Mehdi Karroubi has denied the report of Fars News alleging that he participated in a demonstration between Vali-e Asr Square and Vanak Square as “an absolute falsehood”. Karroubi says, “At the alleged time [I] was participating in the memorial service of the filmmaker Seifollah Daad at the Nour Mosque. This mosque is located between Vali-e Asr and Vanak; however, [I] did not get out of [my] car and did not address the people.”
Our correspondent Mani analyses:
Karroubi is not back tracking. The account is from Etemade Melli, Karroubi’s official site, and therefore should be considered true. I think that the reason why Karroubi is making this statement is because Fars News had a mendacious reason for reporting Karroubi’s presence. The number of demonstrators today was relatively small so Fars News is implying that Karroubi has participated in a demonstration in which support for him and the reform movement is waning.
Karroubi’s statement is reinforcing the fact that he did not call for this demonstration, as opposed to last Thursday in which he had effectively called for protest and got sizable popular participation in one of the least accessible locations in Tehran.
Morning Update (0630 GMT): The official event today will be the Supreme Leader’s endorsement of President Ahmadinejad, who will be inaugurated on Wednesday, but this has already been eclipsed by other events. With Ahmadinejad a lame duck even before his second term starts, with the battle now between the regime and Hashemi Rafsanjani as well as the regime and the Green opposition, and with the headline issue of detentions reinforced by the images of Saturday’s trial, the focus will not be on Ayatollah Khameini’s formal declaration but what he says in addition to it.
This will be the Supreme Leader’s first significant public statement since his dispute with Ahmadinejad over the selection of the First Vice President, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai. Since then, the President has made an ambiguous statement about his position, both in general and specifically in relation to Khamenei. It is far from clear, however, that “conservative” and “principlist” blocs inside and outside Parliament — also angered by the firing of the Ministry of Intelligence and the attempted dismissal of three others — have reconciled with Ahmadinejad against the supposed threat of an opposition working with foreign elements and the real challenge of clerical and political criticism of the Government’s abuses of the legal system.
So does Khamenei make any reference to either a new, resurgent beginning with the President or a lingering criticism of him? Or does he just let Ahmadinejad dangle by saying nothing of direct or implied substance?
Meanwhile, the opposition appears to be building to its own reaction on Wednesday, during Ahmadinejad’s inauguration, rather than today. The talk now is of symbolic steps such as disruption of traffic, “flash” demonstrations, and power overloads rather than any mass action. Indeed, it appears that the new impetus for the movement, again including Rafsanjani as well as other leaders and protestors, is the response to Saturday’s trials. There is a very real and significant whether they can turn initial defense (we are not guilty of a “plot”) into a damaging assault on the Government’s credibility (they are guilty of degrading and abusing not only the detainees, but the Revolution and Islam).
In that context, there are some very interesting signals from Press TV. While other state outlets such as Fars News were allowed to give full coverage from inside the courtroom, Press TV was shut out (probably because of confusion, rather than a deliberate step) along with opposition and foreign media. Pushed to the side on the direct reporting of the proceedings against the “enemy”, Press TV has been giving airtime to blunt criticism of the regime, such as the challenge to the trial from reformist member of Parliaments and the reflections on prominent scientist/politician Abdolhossein Roohul Amini on his son Mohsen, who died in detention in Evin Prison (see the videos in our separate entry).
It has been claimed that the children of the revolution have confessed in yesterday’s court that they were colluding with foreign powers to overthrow the Islamic Republic. Personally, I have paid close attention [to these confessions] and I could not find anything to support this claim. On the contrary, [these so-called confessions] are painful statements of the painful conditions of the accused in the last fifty days.
When the spirit is crushed, individuals admit to everything their interrogators want, while in fact these confessions are just chronicles of woe. These chronicles imply that Mohsen Roohul Amini [who died in detention] rightly chose to be a martyr; that if we [the prisoners] had not resisted for 50 days this farce would have been performed earlier; that we [the prisoners] confessed to whatever they told us to so this would be obvious to all, that these confessions were coerced out of us.
The teeth of the torturers and confessors has reached the bone, and now their policy is to find victims amongst individuals who have done great service to this country and this establishment and indeed have played the most sensitive roles in establishing it. Can you threaten those who yearned for martyrdom with anything less? Are you intending to target the foundation of Islam and the prestige of the establishment after slaughtering the basis of its republic? Observing such a kangaroo court leaves humanity no recourse but to indict those responsible for this trial of hitting a great low in morality and ethics and credibility.
These scenes that we observe is nothing other that a clumsy attempt [by a faction] to jump start the [new] tenth government. They expect a court that is totally fraudulent to verify that no fraud has taken place. If you do not cheat, display your honesty by abiding with the basic procedures of a legal court process.
With such trivial indictments, by stating nonsense, by referring to three-penny publications, by basing your cases upon journalistic reports of dubious quality, and by invoking confessions that reek of the medieval justice system [of Europe], how do you expect to satisfy the people? Have you not read that the prophet [Mohammad] has stated that for a person that confesses after torture there can be no punishment, or that the prophet has stated that from a person that is imprisoned and consequently threatened no confession can be taken?
Our people sympathize with their children, whom they were only able to see after 50 days of uncertainty. Our dear [imprisoned] brothers, be not dejected! Be sure that the people understand your situation and know that your safety is of paramount importance. In the very near future the people will witness how those who performed these horrific iniquities will be legally prosecuted….As the holy book says…the punishment of the oppressors will be visited upon them exactly at the time that God has determined.
2035 GMT: Bad Cop, Good Cop on Detentions. “Principlist” Member of Parliament Ali Motahari presses the head of Iran’s judiciary to give up the name of the killer of detainee Mohsen Roosul Amini (1945 GMT). President candidate Mohsen Rezaei, whose campaign manager was the father of Roosul Amini, praises the head of the judiciary: “I would like to express my gratitude toward Your Excellency for setting a one-week deadline for the determination of the fate of the prisoners of the unrest.”
“I hope that judiciary officials will carry out your orders as soon as possible and relieve the concerns of the families of the detainees.”
2005 GMT: Oops, Another Crack in the Cabinet. Associated Press has published the news we reported yesterday: an appeals court upheld the fraud conviction of Minister of Industry Ali Akbar Mehrabian, a close ally of the President. Researcher Farzan Salimi claimed Mehrabian had stolen his idea for an “earthquake saferoom” in homes. The court ordered the registration of the design to be taken from Mehrabian and an associate and given to Salimi, but did not otherwise assign punishment. Salimi confirmed the ruling to The Associated Press.
So, since Ahmadinejad has just fired one Minister, will the conviction of another leave his Government vulnerable to a Parliamentary vote of confidence? Apparently not. Mohsen Koohkan, a prominent legislator, said Parliament will consider Mehrabian’s conviction, but in the context of the next Government after Ahmadinejad’s 5 August inauguration rather than the current one.
And there’s some good news for the President. His name was also on the 2005 book that published the design for the “earthquake saferoom”, but he escaped being named as a defendant.
1945 GMT: Calling the Bluff on Detainees. “Principlist” Member of Parliament Ali Motahari, an increasingly vocal critic of the Government, has demanded that the head of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Hashemi Sharoudi, release the name of the interrogator that killed Mohsen Roohul Amini.
The declaration is not only a test of the Government’s willingness to deal with the issue of detainee rights. It is an indication that the regime has been damaged amongst its own supporters by the case of Ruhol Amini, who was the son of a prominent “conservative” political activist. Read the rest of this entry »
2115 GMT: A Personal Note “#CNNFail”. I am watching, open-mouthed, as CNN milks the Khomeini-Ahmadinejad “non-kiss” for 10 minutes of blather, with Reza Sayah, his producer,and the happy, chatty, vacuous Michael Holmes chuntering on about how they disagreed about the meaning of the physical interaction: Did Khameini block Mahmoud’s embrace? Did Mahmoud check the Supreme Loyalty because he wanted to show sufficient loyalty? It’s all ho-ho, ha-ha at the end of their proclaimed 15-hour day.
Morning Update (0630 GMT): The official event today will be the Supreme Leader’s endorsement of President Ahmadinejad, who will be inaugurated on Wednesday, but this has already been eclipsed by other events. With Ahmadinejad a lame duck even before his second term starts, with the battle now between the regime and Hashemi Rafsanjani as well as the regime and the Green opposition, and with the headline issue of detentions reinforced by the images of Saturday’s trial, the focus will not be on Ayatollah Khameini’s formal declaration but what he says in addition to it.
Correspondent Mani has provided an English translation of 
2035 GMT: Bad Cop, Good Cop on Detentions. “Principlist” Member of Parliament Ali Motahari presses the head of Iran’s judiciary to give up the name of the killer of detainee Mohsen Roosul Amini (1945 GMT). President candidate Mohsen Rezaei, whose campaign manager was the father of Roosul Amini, 
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