Indirect Israel-Palestine Dialogue: On Wednesday, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, found political cover to enter into an indirect dialogue with Israel, as 14 ministers of the Arab League agreed in Cairo that the PA should engage in indirect negotiations with Israel for a preliminary four-month period. The Arab ministers also mentioned that no progress will be possible without a complete settlement freeze, indicating that the four months will be an assessment process.
“Despite the lack of conviction in the seriousness of the Israeli side, the committee sees that it would give the indirect talks the chance as a last attempt and to facilitate the US role,” said Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
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.
In recent weeks, we’ve paid close attentions to allegations of abuse by Iranian authorities in the post-election conflict. Perhaps as a timely reminder, Duncan Gardham writes in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday that “torture” is not the exclusive practice of Tehran:
[Britain's] Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights said the structures for supervision were woefully deficient and accused ministers of refusing to give adequate answers to its detailed questions about torture.
It said “ministers are determined to avoid Parliamentary scrutiny and accountability” over allegations of complicity in torture, and concluded: “In view of the large number of unanswered questions… there is now no other way to restore public confidence in the intelligence services than by setting up an independent inquiry.”
The committee urged ministers to publish the instructions given to security service officers on the detention and interviewing of detainees overseas.
Ministers have refused to give oral evidence to the committee on allegations of torture or have given only general answers to detailed questions about the treatment of individual detainees.
Seven former Guantanamo detainees, including Binyam Mohamed, are suing MI5, MI6, the Attorney General, the Foreign Office and the Home Office over their treatment.
The BBC, freed from its caution by the Parliamentary report, is adding a claim by Craig Murray, the former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan: he was told in March 2003 that Britain had accepted torture as part of its campaign in the War on Terror.
On Tuesday, we profiled our first entry in the competition to write the worst story about Iran’s Presidential election: Colin Freeman’s effort, for The Daily Telegraph of London to turn the campaign into a “a rock gig moshpit” and “a World Wrestling Federation grudge match” and to make over President Ahmadinejad as a member of The Sex Pistols.
We could not have anticipated the flood of entries that would follow. Each time, we thought the bottom had been reached, an intrepid reporter or commentator would take the bar lower. So, without further ado, the ultimate in Bad Election Journalism: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amr Moussa, Arab League, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bill Clinton, China, Egypt, Flynt Leverett, George Mitchell, George W Bush, Gordon Brown, Ha'aretz, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Mann Leverett, Iran, Israel, Joe Biden, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority, Qin Gan, Syria, The Daily Telegraph, Turkey, Tzipi Livni 
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:
On Tuesday, 
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