Iran Video: Free Nasrin Sotoudeh

Nasrin Sotoudeh is a prominent human rights lawyer who was arrested in September 2010 and sentenced in December to 11 years in prison --- later reduced to six years on appeal --- with a 20-year ban on legal practice. The official charges included spreading propaganda, conspiring to harm state security, and failing to wear hijab. Her real "crimes" were daring to defend many political prisoners, including those seized after the June 2009 Presidential election, and speaking to foreign media about the situation in the country.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has posted this video campaigning for her release:

Syria Feature: Reflections on Razan Ghazzawi, Now Detained (York)

Though Ghazzawi had blogged under her own name for several years, at the start of the Syrian revolution she had a change of heart, changing her name on Twitter and locking down her Facebook account. I never asked, but I assumed she was scared. She left for a while for Lebanon, then Egypt, but ended up back in Syria soon after; I can only assume she felt compelled to return.

Eventually, she decided against anonymity, returning to her former outspoken nature and tweeting, her opposition to the regime coming across loud and clear.  

What I appreciate and respect the most about Ghazzawi (and what I suspect is what irks a lot of other people about her), however, is her honesty and humanity. Though a staunch supporter of Palestinian rights, she has denounced the double standards of Palestinian resistance groups that have expressed support of the Syrian regime. She has not been afraid to speak up against those she disagrees with, even her friends. For that, she is among my heroes.

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Iran Analysis: Fact and Fiction on the Crash of an Advanced US Drone

RQ-170 Sentinel DroneSpeculation continues over the alleged downing of a US drone by the Iranian military, with Tehran claiming it holds a "lightly damaged", Lockheed Martin RQ-170, the latest generation of stealth aircraft, which they brought down with cyber-warfare as the airplane patrolled eastern Iran. US military officials have reportedly told Fox News that an RQ-170 Sentinel has been lost in operations in western Afghanistan, but they deny that it fell prey to "hostile action".

So what can we establish as fact and what can we dismiss as fiction?

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Sorting Out "Shameless Acts of Terror"

Syrian activist/blogger Razan Ghazzawi, Egyptian activist/blogger Alaa Abd-El Fattah, and Bahraini activist/blogger Ali Abdulemam, photographed in Budapest in 2008 --- Ghazzawi was detained this weekend, Abd-El Fattah is in prison, and Abdulemam is in hiding from a 15-year sentence

See also Saudi Arabia Feature: 16 Reformists Given Long Prison Sentences
Syria Feature: The Arrest of Activist Razan Ghazzawi
Sunday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Actress's Message

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2214 GMT: As we close the LiveBlog, we turn to Yemen. Reuters confirms the news that at least 1 civilian was killed by soldiers today in Taiz:

Tanks, armored vehicles and opposition fighters left some areas of Taiz, a hub of 10 months of unrest against Saleh's 33-year rule, but gunmen and snipers remained and had fired on demonstrators, witnesses said.

"Both sides violated the ceasefire agreement. We were marching peacefully and they (Saleh's forces) shot at us yet again," medical student Hamoud al-Aklamy told Reuters.

Activists, right now, are reporting loud explosions in various neighborhoods of the capital city, Sana'a. Every time it appears as though things in Yemen are calming down, something happens to remind us that in Yemen, just like in many places in the region, Arab Spring is far from over, despite the fact that it is now about to enter its second year.

2205 GMT: Protesters are still conducting a sit-in protest in Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital Cairo, demanding that the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces release all political prisoners. The demonstrators have announced that they will allow traffic to flow again in the square, while continuing the sit-in.

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Saudi Arabia Feature: 16 Reformists Given Long Prison Sentences (Abul-Samh)

Saud al-Mokhtar"Horrible, uncalled for and unfounded" were the words used by Bassim Alim, the lawyer of the 16 reformists sentenced on 22 November to stiff jail sentences in Riyadh that ranged from 10 to 30 years in prison, after being found guilty of forming a secret organisation, attempting to seize power, inciting discontent against the king, financing terrorism and money laundering.

Saud Al-Mokhtar, a medical doctor from Jeddah, received the stiffest sentence of 30 years in jail, together with a 30-year travel ban and fine of SR2 million (around $533,112) for allegedly being the head of the group.

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The Latest from Iran (5 December): A Regime in Deadlock Drones On

Mana Neyestani comments on the international situation

See also Iran Analysis: Re-Assessing the Explosion at the Revolutionary Guards Base
The Latest from Iran (4 December): When Your Dad is a Political Prisoner

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1930 GMT: The Embassy Attacks. In the aftermath of the storming of the British Embassy, international schools in Tehran have closed.

The French school is located on grounds of the British Embassy and children were in class when protesters moved through the compound gates. Windows at the German school nearby were shattered. Teachers at the British school had sent students home early.

Parents have been told that foreign teachers and their families have left Iran. The French school hopes to resume lessons on Sunday, and the British school in the New Year.

1900 GMT: Arresting the President's Men. The President's media advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr, already sentenced to a year in prison for an issue of his Iran newspaper, has claimed that he was forced to give a controversial interview to the daily newspaper Etemaad.

In the interview, Javanfekr sharply criticised senior clerics and conservatives/principlists who challenged Ahmadinejad. The article led to the banning of Etemaad; the next day, Javanfekr was given his one-year sentence, and the day after that, security forces ransacked the Iran building as they tried to detain the advisor.

Javanfekr did not say who forced him to give the interview.

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Iran Analysis: Re-Assessing the Explosion at the Revolutionary Guards Base

On 12 November, an explosion at the Malard base of Iran's Revolutionary Guards killed between 17 and 37 people and damaged a number of buildings at the complex west of Tehran.

Questions immediately surfaced and have yet to be answered: what was the exact cause of the blast? Who, if anyone, was behind it? How significant was the effect on Iran's military programmes?

An article published by David Sanger and William Broad of The New York Times, "Explosion Seen as Big Setback to Iran's Missile Program", offers some clues. It needs to be read, however, not as investigative journalism but as an outlet for US and Israeli officials to put out both their assessments and their political manoeuvres around the event.

Those officials bring us no closer to the answer of whether Washington, West Jerusalem, or internal Iranian groups caused the explosion. You would not expect the sources to admit US-Israeli involvement, and the American officials settle for the line of "an accident".

What is significant, however, is the apparent conclusion of the officials that the blast was a serious blow to Iran's research and development of missiles, killing a senior commander overseeing the programme.

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Syria Feature: The Arrest of Activist Razan Ghazzawi

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News broke yesterday that Razan Ghazzawi --- prominent Syrian blogger, activist, and Media Officer at the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression --- had been arrested as she was trying to enter Jordan at the Syrian border post of Nassib.

Soon the story was racing across the Internet, with a #FreeRazan hashtag trending on Twitter and people lining up to pay tribute: "Razan inspired me not be afraid of using my real name online when I was in #Syria. Her courage is incredible"; "[She] had pointed opinions & disagreed w/ many folks (including me!) but SHE WAS ALWAYS THERE for whoever was attacked"; "Friends in Egypt, [she] was with us in #Tahrir through the tear-gas on June 28th & other demos".

This is one of her blog entries, from August, "Rumor Has It [That] This Revolution is Faceless":

 I was asked this question: "The hard thing with Syria is we don't have faces/groups to support. WHO do we back?"

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Actress's Message

A message from actress and activist Fadwa Suleiman about justice, freedom, and identity in Syria

See also Syria Feature: The Sanctions Close In
Saturday's Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Prosecution Creep?

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2045 GMT: Two of the videos of demonstrations across Syria tonight, in Hama and in Tadmour in Homs Province:

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The Latest from Iran (4 December): When Your Dad is a Political Prisoner

See also Iran Embassy Video Special: Umbrella 1, Iranian Diplomat 0
The Latest from Iran (3 December): A Regime Feeling Remorse?

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2145 GMT: The Supreme Leader and the President. Looks like I was too eager to find meaning (see 0820 GMT) in President Ahmadinejad's absence from Saturday's ceremony, led by the Supreme Leader, for Imam Hussein. Ahmadinejad was present tonight, as were a number of his inner circle and Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of the Revolutionary Guards.

2140 GMT: Reformist Watch. Ayatollah Mousavi Khoeini, a senior reformist figure, has declared that the regime has missed the opportunity to ensure reformist participation in March's Parliamentary vote.

Mousavi Khoeini, the Secretary-General of the Association of Combatant Clerics, said on the Ahang-e Rah website, “It is clear that the reformists will not take part in the elections....The people have shown that they are more alert and aware than us and they know full well how to deal with such an election.”

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