2120 GMT: Mahmoud Goes to the Country? OK, it’s not just Internet chatter. EA readers bring me up to speed: in a televised statement on Friday night, President Ahmadinejad set out the possibility of a referendum on his proposal to control $40 billion from subsidy reductions (the Parliament only gave him $20 billion).
And Ahmadinejad wasn’t pulling punches: he said that his “conservative” opponents in Parliament were verging on “treason” with exaggerated statements of the inflationary potential of his plan. Fortunately, he reassured, their economic estimates were not correct.
2110 GMT: Containing the Poet. Another story to pick up — National Public Radio has a profile of 82-year-old Simin Behbahani, the poet who is so dangerous that Iranian authorities seized her passport as she was about to board a flight for an awards ceremony in Paris.
Student activist and weblogger Foad Shams was recently released after three months of detention. Far from acknowledging his release by keeping silent, however, he has posted these thoughts on his weblog. Translated by Persian2English and posted by Street Journalist:
I am still dreaming.
Ninety seven days of being half awake on the hills of Evin brought nothing to me but dreams. The most beautiful children of the sun and the wind during the last cold days of autumn and winter have been on the hills of Evin; the same hills that have for decades been the meeting point of freedom lovers. The tall walls that are part of the large gate of civilization are reminders of what remains of a political greatness [referring to the time before the 1979 revolution, throughout Iran's history of 2,500 years]. Yes, for years a feast takes place on the hills, and the “Godfathers” are the hosts. I was fortunate enough to be with everyone in this feast during the second half of this year.
2305 GMT: Back on the Road Again. Off for flight to UK and work in Liverpool so will be quiet for a while. Thanks to everyone for backing up EA on an eventful day.
2300 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Reports that student activist and weblog writer Fouad Shams has been released from prison after 96 days. Saeed Nourmohammadi, a member of the youth branch of the Islamic Iran Participation Front has been freed after 4 1/2 months in detention.
2255 GMT: Maintaining Control. Radio Zamaneh headlines, “Iran’s Supreme Leader May Approve Changes to Electoral Policies”, but the more you read, the more this is an assertion of Khamenei’s authority rather than reform.
Meeting members of the Assembly of Experts, the Supreme Leader said that he will approve the changes in “general policies of the elections” under discussion in the Expediency Council, headed by Hashemi Rafsanjani.
However, Khamenei added that the opinion of the Expediency Council regarding election policies is “debatable”, and once he is informed of their decision, he will enforce what he deems necessary. Hardly a ringing endorsement of the Council’s moves for change…..
2220 GMT: Student activist Majid Tavakoli returned to Revolutionary Court today, 2 1/2 months after his detention on 7 December. There are no details of the hearing.
2105 GMT: On the Academic Front. Dr Mohammad Sattarifar has been expelled from his post at Allameh Tabatabei University.
2055 GMT: What Are Mahmoud (and Ali) Doing Today? Trying to out-do each other in the bashing of the West, it seems.
Ahmadinejad used a meeting with the speaker of Azerbaijan’s Parliament to declare, “The so-called powerful countries are merely after their own interests. They are willing go so far as to sacrifice other countries and nations for their interests….The weakening of the so-called powerful countries will completely change the state of affairs on the regional and international scale.”
Larijani’s audience was the Parliament, as he warned President Obama about following the polices of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and declared that the 22 Bahman rallies had thwarted the US-Iran “plot” against Iran.
2010 GMT: Drawing a line. Peyke Iran claims that Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has convinced lawmaker Mostafa Kavakebian not to press his plan for further examination of detention centres.
Iran:We wonder whether Iran is entering a tunnel in the run-up to 22 Bahman (11 February, the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution) with an escalation of arrests and reports of detentions of family members of activists. Persian2English has posted a list of 56 political prisoners at risk of execution. At Friday prayers Ayatollah Kashani repeated his “unveiled threat” to protesters not to ruin 22 Bahman “for the rest of us”.
Persian2English reported that more than a thousand relatives of detainees gathered outside Evin Prison to commemorate Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning after the religious occasion of Ashura. Demonstrators offered prayers and chanted “Allahu Akhbar (God is great)”.
The grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, has written to the head of Iran Broadcasting to complain about the “censoring” of his grandfather’s speech. Ayatollah Khomeini’s words have allegedly been adjusted to present a more favourable view of the Government in the run-up to the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution.
Two high profile detainees (Hassan Rassouli and Abolfazl Ghadiani) were released on Thursday night on bail.
Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has issued a statement demanding the freeing of all political prisoners before 22 Bahman.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has issued a forceful statement on his blog on the post-election crisis, supporting protesters’ calls for human rights, democracy and the fundamental freedoms which “are not western prerogatives, but universal rights to which we are all entitled”.
We have new claimed video of protests in the southern city of Lars from Monday to Thursday.
Although one website (the students at Amir Kabir University) remains down, a new Green website Mizan Khabar, has been launched.
An Italian company has announced it will cease trading with Iran. We note with derision one American commentator’s agitated video “rant” about Iran’s rocket launch. Another video post shows the damage and injuries caused during the siege at Qoba Mosque in Shiraz yesterday.
All the latest news, with links to our stories and other news media sites, can be found in our live weblog.
Afghanistan: We’ve posted Anand Gopal’s moving article for TomDispatch, which tells the story of a young government employee to open eyes to America’s secret prisons in Afghanistan.
Israel and Syria: Israeli and Syrian officials have issued conflicting statements on the chances of an immediate peace between the two countries.
2140 GMT: Persian2English reports that more than a thousand relatives of detainees gathered outside Evin Prison to commemorate Arbaeen, the 40th day of mourning after the religious occasion of Ashura. Demonstrators offered prayers and chanted “Allahu Akhbar (God is great)”.
1925 GMT: Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has issued a statement demanding the freeing of all political prisoners before 22 Bahman. Rahnavard, an academic at Tehran University, points to the problems that women have experienced under the regime and praises their passion on issues of freedom and equality.
1830 GMT: Catching Up. Highlighting a story that our readers noted this afternoon, Hassan Rassouli, a deputy of the Baran Foundation, headed by former President Mohammad Khatami, and Abolfazl Ghadiani, a member of central committee of the Mohajedin of Islamic Revolution party, were freed last night on bail. Read the rest of this entry »
This quarterly report on the economic condition in the country contains some important points. Firstly, the report shows the country’s economic situation and direction in every quarter. Secondly, it moderates the expectations of the readers and economists with respect to real economic changes. That is why the report is considered a credible source for an economic evaluation and analysis. This report, like the World Bank’s report, does not portray a pleasant picture of the country’s economic state and activities.
The analysis presented in the latest edition of the report:
1) Economic growth: Finally, Iran’s rate of growth for 1387 (21 March 2008-20 March 2009) was officially announced. Based on the report, Iran’s Central Bank has announced the gross rate of growth in this period to be 3.2%. The growth rate is calculated by finding the sum of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this year and the previous year, and dividing it by the GDP of the year in question. However, the data for Gross Domestic Product in 2008 is, unexpectedly, absent from the report. Instead, it reads “data is not available” in front of the GDP. If the growth rate is properly calculated, the GDP (the source of the calculations) should also be mentioned in the report, as it was in previous years. If the data for GDP is not available, then how was the rate of growth obtained? If the GDP is known, why is it absent from the report?
Persian2English has an English-language summary of this incident which started when protesters gathered outside the house in Neuphle-le- Chateau where Ayatollah Khomeini stayed during 1978-9 and where Iranian officials were holding a banquet commemorating Khomeini’s departure from France for Iran in 1979. It ended with the Iranian Ambassador punching a policeman and only escaping handcuffing and arrest when Embassy staff interceded.
2120 GMT: Mahmoud Goes to the Country? OK, it’s not just Internet chatter. EA readers bring me up to speed: in a televised statement on Friday night, President Ahmadinejad set out the possibility of a referendum on his proposal to control $40 billion from subsidy reductions (the Parliament only gave him $20 billion).
Entries (RSS)