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« Iran Document: The Rallying Call of Mousavi's 14 Points (2 February) | Main | Iran Letter: Journalist Emadeddin Baghi in Prison »
Tuesday
Feb022010

The Latest from Iran (2 February): A Quiet Start to An Unquiet Day

2150 GMT: A Final Note. We'll know more tomorrow, after Iranian state media kicks into high gear, but the Ahmadinejad statement on the nuclear talks --- which had effectively gone into the freezer --- could be big. All of a sudden, the move of Iran's uranium stock outside the country is A-OK: "If we allow them to take it, there is no problem. We sign a contract to give 3.5 percent enriched uranium and receive 20 percent enriched one after four or five months."

But --- and watch this, because it will probably be missed by Western media more concerned with the West-Iran dynamic --- Ahmadinejad may have re-opened a fight with Iran's "conservatives" over his nuclear strategy. As the Associated Press notes, "He dismissed concerns by what he called 'colleagues' that the West would not return the uranium."

More tomorrow.....

NEW Iran Document: The Rallying Call of Mousavi’s 14 Points (2 February)
NEW Iran Letter: Journalist Emadeddin Baghi in Prison
NEW Iran Document: Khatami Statement on Rights and Protests (1 February)
Latest Iran Video: Sunday Boxing – French Police v. Iranian Ambassador (31 January)
Iran Football Special: Green Movement Shoots! It Scores!
NEW Latest Iran Video: Foreign Minister Mottaki on Elections & Protests (31 January)
The Latest from Iran (1 February): The Anniversary Begins


2135 GMT: Hamlet and 22 Bahman. Let's close tonight on a high literary note.

Rah-e-Sabz, unsurprisingly, is jabbing away at the Government. For example, it is claiming that the Revolutionary Court has stepped back in its latest bulletin by not connecting the two executions last week to the post-election demonstrations. However, its cheekiest story is a summary of Seyed Hassan Khomeini's supposed comments as he cold-shouldered President Ahmadinejad yesterday: "To be or not to be a protester, that is the question."

2130 GMT: Another release. Journalist Mostafa Izadi, arrested on Ashura, has been freed after 34 days in solitary confinement.

2105 GMT: Missing the Point. Almost all Western media have picked up on one of today's big events, the statement of Mir Hossein Mousavi. Unfortunately, not all have realised the significance of Mousavi's resolute call to arms against the Government of "dictatorship and tyranny" for the rallies on 22 Bahman. The Associated Press mis-reads, and The Washington Post prints the mis-reading without question:
Iran's opposition leader appealed to his supporters and other anti-government activists Tuesday not to overstep the law in pressing for political and social changes....His comments also expose the range of separate and sometimes conflicting aims within the opposition camp.

2100 GMT: Protests and Releases. For the fourth night in a row, hundreds have gathered in front of Evin Prison, and for the fourth night, detainees have been freed. About 20 joined the crowd this evening.

2050 GMT: Correction. Big Correction. That's not just an Ahmadinejad posture (2020 GMT) over the nuclear talks. It appears to be a concession: according to Reuters, the President said, "We have no problem sending our enriched uranium abroad."

2040 GMT: More Invites to the Rally. The reformist Association of Combatant Clergy, calling for an acceptance of people's rule, has asked Iranians to take to the streets on 22 Bahman.

2020 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? Well, it appears that, while Iran heats up, President Ahmadinejad is still playing the international field. First, he used a meeting with the Qatari Crown Prince to strike a pose, “The Westerners cannot bear the thought of security and solidarity among regional countries. They have survived largely by sowing discord and inciting instability in the region.”

Then, perhaps more significantly, Ahmadinejad used an interview on national television tonight to keep open the prospect of a deal on Iran's nuclear programme, offering assurances that a "swap" of 20% uranium for Iran's 3.5% stock inside the country "would be properly and fully implemented".

Ahmadinejad also said that there were discussions for a swap of jailed Iranians for three US citizens detained in August after crossing into Iran from northern Iraq.

2010 GMT: Clerical Challenge. Grand Ayatollah Bayat-Zanjani, meeting members of the Islamic Association of Students at Tehran University, has criticised those who “introduce their false interpretation as the religion while seeking a specific political goal”, pointedly turning the regime's charges of "mohareb" against it: “The enemy of God (mohareb) is the one who kills and butchers people, not the protester with empty hands.”

Bayat Zanjani continued, “In the Islamic Republic we say one with a question is free to ask his/her question, he/she should not be called an Enemy of God over a question, criticism, or even protest.” However, “those who use the public podiums for terrorising, threatening, and unfortunately a platform for giving untrue and self-established definitions of the Shia’s teachings, are far from the religion of Mohammad (the Prophet) and Ali (the first Imam of Shi'a) and all they do is to feed their false interpretations to the public.”

1830 GMT: Arrests (cont.). It is reported that Ali Mohammad Eslampour, journalist and chief editor of Navay-e Vaght in Kermanshah, has been arrested.

1720 GMT: Arrests. Rah-e-Sabz reports that four members of Tehran University's Islamic Students Association have been arrested. We published three of the names earlier today (1320 GMT).

1715 GMT: Thanks to an EA correspondent, we're posting the 14 headline points of today's statement by Mir Hossein Mousavi.

1645 GMT: As an EA reader has noted in comments, the website Radio Zameneh is back on-line after a recent cyber-attack.

1637 GMT: You Know the EA All Is Well Trophy Video, Right? Well, today's winner is the Supreme Leader, who tells a group of Tehran University professors: "I'm optimistic. Recent bitter events were the result of ignorance."

1633 GMT: On the Plus Side. We're still waiting for the English translation of the Mousavi statement, but it is now getting attention in newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and the BBC.

1630 GMT: Journalistic Idiocy Awards (US Section). It is one of the wonders of American political culture that anyone gives a moment of attention to Daniel Pipes. (I could explain why, but this would take me beyond professional decency.)

So here's a moment of attention to Pipes' latest wisdom before running away: "How to Save the Obama Presidency: Bomb Iran".

1620 GMT: Journalistic Idiocy Awards (Iran Section). Javan, the newspaper linked to the Revolutionary Guard, claims that the opposition is paying $100 to people to protest on 11 February.

1340 GMT: Worst Prediction for 22 Bahman. Retired US Navy Captain and "Fox News military analyst" Chuck Nash says, with a straight face, that President Ahmadinejad may test a nuclear device on 11 February.

1335 GMT: Interesting Clues in the "West". Lindsay Hilsum, of Britain's Channel 4, offers some interesting teasers on US and European policy from a gathering at Chatham House in London:

Last night, I went to a discussion on Iran. “Chatham House rules” mean I can’t quote anyone who was there, but the highlights are worth noting.
Someone who is well in with the Obama administration told us that when the president started his “hand outstretched” policy towards Iran it was “100 per cent about the nuclear and external policy and zero per cent about Iran’s internal issues.”

After 12 June, and the turbulent post-election crisis, there’s been some recalibration – he’d now put it at 70/30....

Another [source] (close to a European government) said: “We must ensure we do no harm. This is not our moment, and not our movement. But we must ensure the opposition is not subjugated to the nuclear issue or business interests.”

1330 GMT: Slowing Down the Net. I'll leave others to speculate on significance of this report: Internet traffic for some servers in Iran has ceased; for others it is reduced.

1320 GMT: Arrests and Sentences. Reports --- student activists Vahid Abedini, Navid Abedini, and Esmail Izadi have been detained after their houses were raided. Journalist Niloofar Laripour has been arrested after being summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence.

Journalist Keyvan Samimi has been sentenced to six years in prison, with a lifetime ban on political activity.

1315 GMT: We're Going to Get You, Hashemi. That threat against Hashemi Rafsanjani, sending the files of his children to court (see 0945 GMT)? It came from the same man who declared today We Will Kill the Detainees (1025 GMT), deputy head of Iran's judiciary, Ebrahim Raeesi.

1310 GMT: It is reported that the second court session for the 16 Ashura protesters, whose trial began on Saturday, will be held Wednesday. Five of the defendants, including two women, are charged with "mohareb" (war against God).

1025 GMT: Battling over Executions. Hours after the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, said he would not be pushed by "hard-liners" into quicker executions and would follow the legal process, his deputy has reportedly assured, We're Going to Kill Them.

Fars quotes Ebrahim Raeesi in a meeting in Qom, "The two people executed (Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour) and another nine who will soon be executed were definitely arrested in recent riots and each was linked with counter-revolutionary movements. They had participated in riots with the aim of creating disunity and toppling the system."

1020 GMT: Mohammad Ali Rafi'i, a member of political department of the Islamic Students Organization, has reportedly been abducted when leaving Tehran University. Peyke Iran also claims pressure on detained students to confess on television.

0945 GMT: Pressuring Rafsanjani. It appears the regime just does not trust Hashemi Rafsanjani enough to let him be: files on the investigation of his children, including Mehdi Hashemi, have been presented to a Tehran court.

(There is a hot Internet rumour that at least one of Rafsanjani's children will be marching on 22 Bahman. Rafsanjani's daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, has been involved in demonstrations since June.)

0940 GMT: Kayhan London (not to be confused with the "hard-line" Kayhan in Tehran) has now come out behind the leadership of the Green movement, while stressing it contains other political currents, and defended Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi against the attacks of those who condemn them of loyalty to the Islamic Republic.

0935 GMT: Ruining the Revolution. Agence France Presse and Reuters have both picked up on Mir Hossein Mousavi's declaration (see 0710 GMT), and it loses none of its force in translation. Mousavi claims the goals of the 1979 Revolution have not been fulfilled because the "roots of tyranny and dictatorship" still exist; Mousavi no longer believes "that the revolution had removed all those structures which could lead to totalitarianism and dictatorship":
Today, one can identify both elements and foundations which produce dictatorship as well as resistance against returning to this dictatorship Stifling the media, filling the prisons and brutally killing people who peacefully demand their rights in the streets indicate the roots of tyranny and dictatorship remain from the monarchist era... I don't believe that the revolution achieved its goals.

0825 GMT: Yahoo Keeps Mowj-e-Sabz Off-Line? In December, Mowj-e-Sabz, the key Green movement website, was knocked off-line by a cyber-attack. Those behind the site said at the time that they were suspending operations but intended to resume their journalism.

This now in from blogger Ethan Zuckerman:
I’ve been in regular contact with the administrators of Mowjcamp as they’ve tried to regain control of their site. For six weeks, they’ve been getting the runaround from Yahoo! (where they’d originally registered the domain names) and Moniker (where the hackers moved control of the domain name). Yahoo has been informed that the site was illegally moved by hackers who managed to access a Yahoo Mail account and authorize a transfer to Moniker – they’ve told the site administrators that there’s nothing they can do, and the problem’s in Moniker’s hands. Moniker, in turn, tells the administrators that they’ve responded to Yahoo, which will resolve their problem. In the meantime, the site continues to be inaccessible from the URLs by which it is most widely known.

0805 GMT: With the help of EA readers, we have posted an English translation of a letter we have received from Tehran, "Journalist Emadeddin Baghi in Prison".

0745 GMT: "A New Kind of Revolution". Setareh Sabety in Iranian.com:
[This] is the first revolution that does not need leadership nor ideology because it is fueled by a basic, unrelenting need for freedom and justice that is so strong it is self-correcting and self-propelling! This is not just a civil rights movement; this is not merely a reform movement. This is a new kind of Revolution.

0710 GMT: Quiet No Longer. Today's first big move has come from Mir Hossein Mousavi, answering 10 questions on his website Kalemeh. Among his forthright declarations: "We have lost complete hope in the judiciary system"; "Resistance to dictatorship is the precious heritage of the Islamic Revolution"; "People have always wanted justice; the demand for freedom is born of human thought".

0705 GMT: On the Economic Front. Iran's oil and gas revenue fell more than 45 percent in the first half of the current Iranian year (March-September 2009) compared to the same period in 2008.

0700 GMT: Looking for the Positive. About 1000 family members of detainees and supporters gathered again in front of Evin Prison last night. Almost 30 prisoners were reportedly released.

Amongst those freed was Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Khalaji, released on bail after his detention last month.

0650 GMT: And Those Who Have Been "Disappeared". Photographer Mehraneh Atashi and her husband Madjid Ghaffari were arrested on 12 January and detained, apparently in solitary confinement in ward 209 of Evin Prison. Authorities have released no information about charges against them. They have had no access to a lawyer, no visits from their family, and no contact apart from a brief telephone call to say they had been arrested.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has raised the situation of Atashi and Ghaffari as a case typical of "hundreds" of Iranians in the post-election conflict.

0640 GMT: The Detentions. Fereshteh Ghazi complements our morning analysis of "threats and arrests" with a summary of the current situation of political prisoners, focusing on the attempt to break advisors to Mir Hossein Mousavi.

0630 GMT: Three prominent Iranian authors have been arrested: Reza KhandanOmid Montazeri, and Alireza Saqafi.

0620 GMT: So the big news from the 1st day of the commemorations of the 1979 Islamic Revolution? There was no big news.

Perhaps the most notable development was former President Mohammad Khatami joining the calls, albeit implicitly, for people to rally on 22 Bahman on 11 February (see separate entry). On the regime side, however, there were no big declarations, no mass gatherings, merely a rather muted ceremony at Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery and President Ahmadinejad's strained appearance at the Khomeini memorial.

Government actions were more of the "negative" kind, with scattered threats and arrests. The strategy of trying to wipe out public protests continues, but even that appears to be filled with tension as the big day approaches.

22 Bahman is a week on Thursday.

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Reader Comments (20)

Curious item found on Payvand this morning:

Iran Regime Change Survey
According to the Persian language site sazegara.net, the following 5-question survey was conducted in secret in Iran, and about 350 Iranians from Tehran and 3 other unnamed provinces took the survey on Jan. 17th 2010.

Here is your chance to take the same survey but in English (Persian questions and results are in the graphics on the page). You ‘ll see the result for both surveys.

The original survey plan was for 200 males and 200 females to be interviewed, and the final results are for 162 males and 185 females. (53 people declined to be interviewed) The age group was from 20 to 49.

We estimate that Payvand’s female to male visitors are about %45 female to %55 male, and since last election in Iran, the age range greatly widened from 20’s to 70’s.

The sorting order of poll answers for each question is the same for Persian and English (the sorting order of poll results may be different).

It may take up to 30 min. for polls to update.
http://payvand.com/blog/blog/2010/01/26/iran-regime-change-survey/

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCatherine

SL’s new ID card:

The government is changing the shenasnamehs (ID cards) of Iranians. This is the photo of SL’s new ID cards, which is reported to be the first of the newly issues ones.

http://www.fardanews.com/fa/pages/?cid=102496

Obviously the issuing of the new ID card for Khamenei is a big deal: his is the first of the new ID cards (sort of the launching of the new scheme), this is timed to coincide with the revolution period celebrations, and after all Khamenei is the SL (and god’s representative on earth according to many in the establishment).

What strikes me is that even in the case of such a high profile ID card, the regime seems to have messed it up: they seem not to have been able to align the card with the printer correctly when printing, this the most important of ID cards (being both the SL’s card and the show case of the new scheme).

It seems IR has serious problems when it comes to technology more advanced that sticks, stones and knives. This fits in with the pathetic attempts at using photo manipulation software when reporting demonstrations and missile test.

Put this next to the recent revealing CCN interview with Mottaki, the IR embassy celebrations in Paris, the IR “peace” concerts in Europe, the excuses for the regime brutality, the election fraud, etc and you have a good picture of the state of affairs in Iran.

The SL’s ID card shows that lunar calendar is back in fashion in IR: his date of birth is printed both in the solar Iranian date (24 Tir 1318) and the lunar Arabic calendar (28 Jamadiolh Jumada-al-Awal 1358). Omar Khayyam must be turning in his grave.

Mind you Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi changed Iran’s calendar from the solar hejri to the solar imperial calendar in the 1970s (at least that was a solar calendar and did not mess with the months, just the year). I am wondering if this is the mark of rulers in trouble.

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterGreeny

RE: Battling over executions - Guess which country this very recent exchange took place in weeks before the trial of detainee X has started:

TV interviewer: Let me ask you lastly, what is going to happen to detainee X and the other alleged terror plotters?

Gov't spokesperson: Well, let me tell you what plan A is for detainee X. Detainee X is going to meet justice and he's going to meet his maker. ... He will be brought to justice and he's likely to be executed for the heinous crimes that he committed... That you can be sure of. ... We want to see this man tried and brought to justice . ... And I think again, detainee X will be executed for the crimes that he committed.

Answer: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1001/31/sotu.01.html

Now I look at EVERYTHING with different eyes!

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCatherine

Radio Zamaneh was back online last night after being hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army. They're going to see if there's any way they can help Mowjcamp get back on some of their old domains.

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCatherine

Pedestrian has translated a poignant letter from Asghar Hashemi (A P.O.W. during the Iran-Iraq war) to his son (currently imprisoned in Iran). A must read!

http://www.sidewalklyrics.com/?p=3475

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterGreen

This silence in Iran is very strange; we would have usually , before a big demonstration , lots of gathering in the universities and the streets of the country, and now there is nothing ! is it the silence before the storm or the despair's one ?

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterange paris

Scott you could always sign on as an anonymous guest and explain Daniel Pipes, lol. The internet's great like that!

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterRev. Magdalen

Ange,

Jaras reports that security forces are heavily parading in Tehran since Saturday, and that the atmosphere is very "amniaty": http://www.rahesabz.net/story/9345/
And then with all this "begir o beband" (arrestations), who dares to leave his home?
But the regime is only fooling itself. Wait for 22 Bahman!
ma bishomarim :-)

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterArshama

@ ange paris

It's a moment of silence before the water starts to boil;))

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCecil

I think everyone knows that the IG (Islamic Gov) is planning on executing nine innocents soon. T his barbaric, inhuman act of a desperate group of petty fascists thinking they will prolong their miserable control a few more days must be condemned by all humans, all those who value life and value truth and value freedom and the rule of law. Shame if we don't. I have been puking out of disgust at this barbarism of the petty fascist thugs. Soon they will be tried in real international courts, as the Nazi criminals were in 45, and the world will unite against their atrocities.

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterHossein

That's it, a new turn of waltz will begin concerning nuclear issue or a slow dance, AN and Obama cheek to cheek; holé !!

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterange paris

Ange,

Calm before Strom or Capitulation?

A native of Isfahan called from Tehran. He with that enchanting Isfahani accent (that I cannot ever get enough of) said he was a Kaseb (merchant) and sold fruits (I am guessing he sold fruits in street corner because he did not talk about having a store). He said he loved money and he loved to have lots of it but this was not the time to be thinking about making money because there was far more important matter for him to do. He said he had traveled from Isfahan to Tehran and was staying with a very distant relative so he can take part in 22 Bahman protest. He said he was not sure if his host would agree to provide him and a few of his friends from Isfahan room and board but he asked and his host, a very nice family, welcomed them. He said the house was packed but they were counting down to 22 Bahman.

He was pleading with all Iranians residing outside Tehran to come to Tehran and do it before government security forces closed all roads to Tehran. He said he expected a couple of days before 22 Bahman all roads to Tehran would be closed. He was asking people from other cities to emerge on Tehran so they could show up in such masses that government security forces could not control.

He said if the family who had given them a place to stay got tired of them and asked them to leave they would find a way to stay around. He repeatedly pleaded with people to stop whatever they were doing and emerge on Tehran.

This man was magnificent and brought my mother to tears. She said “if we had a few millions like him on 22 Bahman we can actually send IR and its 1979 BLACK revolution to hell”.

The question is how many magnificent millions like this guy we have and how many will show up on 22 Bahman. If there are millions then we are looking at calm before storm. If not, IR thugs have temporarily succeeded to live another day and to loot some more and hang more people.

I hope this man and his friends are not harmed on 22 Bahman.

February 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMegan

Re: 21:50 Ahmadi and Nuke

here is MSN reprting from AP on Nuke: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35205084/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa

An attempt to redirect the attention of international community from 22 Bahaman (11 Feb) possible mayhem to NUKE. I assure you after storm of 22 Bahman is over if they find their feet firmly on the ground (even though the ground may be a little more slippery), IR will find a few more words unacceptable in the UN nuke deal and it will go back to the nonsense of we build another 20 more plants in the 20 days.

IR will never ever make a deal on nuke.

February 3, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMegan

Megan,

@ 13 I fully agree with you. The regime is under heavy pressure from within (Moussavi's last statement is devastating) and from the exterior (US senate sanctions, military buildup in the Persian Gulf etc.) and trying to fool the international community again. A clearance to put off external pressures until 22 Bahman. Afterwards it will continue with domestic crackdowns more heavily, with sending conflicting messages to IAEA and UN and playing for time.

They should know that time is playing against them: heavy economic problems, heavy legitimacy problems, more than 1000 protesters in jail, a "problem" that they meet with intensified interrogations and torture, and then those nine innocent convicted, whom we could call in their own language as "noh masoom".
AN and his IRGC mafia still do not understand that ruling a country is somewhat different from commanding barracks. They are confronted with the results of 4 years of economic mismanagment, plundering national wealth and complete inability to govern and to handle even the most fundamental needs of Iranian society. A schuss heading for the abyss...
I hope the Greens will be able to stop this hell ride before it's too late.

February 3, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterArshama

Arshama is correct, and I believe that the petty fascist thugs are out for more blood, as that is the only thing they know how to do. Their sick minds is telling them that to stay on and to continue ruling they must show terror and thus must kill and rape and torture and so on. I believe that in recent history all such despotic regimes continue their reign of terror only by extreme measures, but the process only solidifies opposition and then more people come around to see their actions for what they are, terror and tyranny. We are seeing more people talk of the regime as zalem by groups who never before had used such clear terminology (some of them with Shiite signification) when referring to the IG. Now we see terms "zalem"; "ja'er"; "setam-gar" and the like in all aspects of talk about the IG and about the highest personalities of the IG as well. This is a new development and is manifest in the current vernacular expression. But I am extremely fearful of the atrocities of these petty fascist thugs, and of the extent of violence perpetuated by them. The only way we can combat this is by unity and by large numbers. If we number in hundreds of thousands the thugs will be helpless. Very few of them will continue machine gunning the people, and mass murder will be prevented by their own. People hear anecdotes told of how Pasdaran are daring to speak of refusal to kill. Of course there are historical incidents when fascists have obeyed kill orders, and I am fearful, but let us hope that again large numbers will force them to stop killing. The situation in prisons is different. There one of the worse Iranian sentiment, za'eef koshi (that is when people in positions of power kill the meek), is dominant, and group solidarity among the jailers urges them on to continue torture and worse. We must find a way to get to the sentiments of some of them and force a division among their ranks. I don't know what it is, nor how, but maybe by appealing to some sensitivity. How? Anyone know. There must be psychological studies, but I don't know of them. The situation in Iran is reaching the highest levels of abuse of human rights and I can only make an appeal to the humans in the West to please do something. We know of statements by international organizations condemning the actions of the IG, but I think we need more and we need stronger ones and certainly ones that have muscle backing them. I appeal to humans, the situation is dire. You know that 9 more people are scheduled to be hanged in Tehran alone—talk is that in the provinces awful things are going on without anyone knowing about it. The situation in prisons is horrific, death, torture, rape, malnutrition, stone age living conditions, and no hygiene. Oh me! What has this regime done to people. What horror. What evil. I must stop here, my hands are trembling, I don't know what to do, I don't know how to save my fellow Iranians subject to this evil. I tremble and I sob. This is not a story that will end when I turn the page. This evil is real and it is harsh and it is killing my brothers and my sisters and robbing our fathers and our mothers and taking away my friends, my dear friends. No one has a smile on their lips no more. Dare I hope. I must. I will not let them ruin my soul, and I will live and I will expose them. I need you to listen. Humanity is bleeding and we must act. Khoda Hafez.

February 3, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterHossein

Hossein,

Thank you for reminding us of all those poor people, kept in the dungeons of this regime. Frightening news come from Gohardasht prison, where Ashura protesters are tortured with medieval methods: http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=12983
And I think of Emadeddin Baghi, who founded a society for defending prisoner's rights, or all those detained human rights activists, partly accused of "moharebe".
Supporters in Iran have invited the people to declare 17 Bahman as "Day of Solidarity with Human Rights Activists" http://www.roozonline.com/persian/news/newsitem/article/2010/february/03//17-2.html

Let us organise global actions or mailing drives to international HR organisations on this 6 February.

February 3, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterArshama

Arshama
On this sunday, 7 february, there is a big demonstration in Paris protesting against iranian governement !

February 3, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterange paris

Sorry I have forgotten to join the link, for all of you living in Paris :

http://www.whereismyvote.fr/

February 3, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterange paris

RE16.30 The US Idiocy award should be shared around - soo many are deserving!

Cited by Pipes, "Pew Research Center, October 2009: asked which is more important, "To prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, even if it means taking military action" or "To avoid a military conflict with Iran, even if it means they may develop nuclear weapons," Out of 1,500 respondents, 61 percent favored the first reply and 24 percent the second"

February 3, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCatherine

@ Hossein (#15) and Arshama (#16) - this is a prime example of the prison jailers' za’eef koshi :
Recently, female political prisoner Shirin Alam Hooli was sentenced to death in Iran for allegedly being a member of the Kurdish opposition organization PJAK. Below is the translation of her letter from prison which was written on January 18, 2010. The letter describes the torture and interrogations she endured before her death sentence was issued.
http://persian2english.com/?p=5548

February 3, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCatherine

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