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Entries in Qods Day (2)

Monday
Aug302010

The Latest from Iran (30 August): Khamenei Slaps Down Ahmadinejad

2010 GMT: Khatami's Qods Day Message for Iran. The Facebook page supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi has posted the English text of Mohammad Khatami's message for Qods Day. Inevitably, much of the statement was about Palestine, but Khatami did have a sharp passage directed at Tehran rather than Jerusalem:
We cannot suffer from colonial dependence in one place and say that we should fight that and be ignorant toward that in another place; or vice versa we say that others should be free and have sovereignty to chose their own fate and should ne not be under tyranny, colonialism and dictatorship but if such issues happen to us we be ignorant toward them! No! human problems are linked together.

The roots of many of these issues are in the teachings and history of Islam as well. One of these issues is what gives legitimacy to a system, a society and a government? What is the basis for legitimacy? There is a common principle that humanity have reached and we as Muslims also have accepted that and that is the fact that people's votes and satisfaction are the foundations to establish a legitimate system.

If people's consent does not exist, no government can be imposed on the people; and even if it is imposed it will not be legitimate. Of course according to our views based on Islam and Shia teachings a government should have some principles and meet some conditions and if it does not then it will not be legitimate. Government should meet some conditions and the rulers also should meet some conditions.

According to teachings of Imam Ali (Shia's first Imam), he had stated that if people's votes and presence did not exist, he would have never accepted to govern. It means that even in case of Imam Ali's government if people did not voted of it, it would have not been imposed on the people because if such thing would have happened it would have been wrong.

When we say democracy this is it: democracy in line with religion....

NEW Iran: The Regime Feels the Pressure on Stoning
NEW Iran Special: Political Prisoners, Election Fraud, & The Regime’s Backfiring Propaganda
NEW Iran Breaking: Karroubi on Election Fraud; House Surrounded by Pro-Regime Crowd
Iran: Ahmadinejad Attacks Rafsanjani & “Corrupt” Foes; “Overthrowers Have Not Been Punished Yet” (Kamdar)
UPDATED Iran: Tehran Declares Readiness for Nuclear Talks?
Iran: An Ayatollah’s “Larijani is a Jew” Declaration
The Latest from Iran (29 August): The “Hidden Imam” Circle


1800 GMT: Families Protected. The Los Angeles Times, via Iran Labor News Agency, reports that the Parliament has referred controversial articles of the Family Protection Bill back to committee for further study.

Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani said, "According to the notification of the lawmakers and in consultation with the judiciary branch, seemingly the articles 22, 23 and 24 contain some Islamic shortcomings. Therefore, they will be returned to legal and judiciary commission to be corrected."

Parliament had already voted down a provision that would have allowed registration of "temporary marriages". The bill also would make ease the financial and legal regulations on polygamy for men.

1755 GMT: Supreme Leader Slaps Down the President. And the day gets even more interesting....

The website of Ayatollah Khamenei's office reports that, in a meeting with the President and the Cabinet, the Supreme Leader said they must "avoid parallel work in areas including foreign policy". That is an in-your-face message to Ahmadinejad that Khamenei is not happy with the President's appointment of four special representatives for international matters.

1740 GMT: Karroubi Watch --- Urgent. We've added to our feature on Mehdi Karroubi's latest statement, condeming election fraud and repression, with the disturbing news that his house is being declared the meeting place for plotters of sedition and that it has been surrounded by 50 "plainclothes forces".

1730 GMT: It's a bad propaganda week so far for the Iranian Government. We had already posted a feature on its bungled publicity over detained reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh; now we write about Tehran's nervousness that its image is being damaged by the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, condemned to death for adultery.

1400 GMT: Electricity Squeeze. DayPress claims that residents in Ahwaz in southern Iran have protested sharp rises in electricity bills, amidst 50-degree Celsius (122-degree Fahrenheit) heat.

1350 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani is maintaining a tough line on international matters: “The United States propped up Islamic extremism and created the extremist groups to impede the Islamic Revolution, but ... now they are plagued with [the acts of] their own puppets....The ill-informed and prejudiced [officials] in the West overtly express their animosity towards the liberating teachings of Islam and the Quran under the pretext of [opposing] the blind al-Qaeda terrorism and Islamic extremism.”

1344 GMT: Economy Watch. Despite sanctions and economic difficulties, the Tehran Stock Exchange continues to rise because of trading by state-run firms, increased liquidity, and the government's push for privatisation. The Exchange has hit a record high, rose nearly 4 percent on Sunday and Monday, adding a nominal $10 billion to its value.

1340 GMT: Qods Day Alert. Five days before Iranians are asked to recognise the situation of Palestine, former President Mohammad Khatami has declared that Qods Day "is a symbolic day against oppressors".

1330 GMT: Interview of the Day. It has to be Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki's exchange with the German magazine Der Spiegel, "The West Lacks Political Maturity". This is the mature start to the discussion:
SPIEGEL: Mr. Foreign Minister, you are the senior diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran. You represent a nation that prides itself on a cultural history stretching back more than 2,500 years. Don't you find it shameful that people are stoned to death in your country?

Manouchehr Mottaki: You come from a country that murdered millions of people during a tyrannical war, and you want to talk to me about human rights? OK, we can certainly discuss the laws in various countries and naturally we can, in a friendly atmosphere, debate the different legal principles.

The interview features Mottaki's claims, "No one is executed in Iran for political reasons. You have no evidence to prove the opposite," and "Confessions were made in an open atmosphere, in the presence of media representatives. They were also repeated in front of other witnesses." However, this is the maturity showpiece from the Foreign Minister:
This election was a triumph. We had the highest turnout for a presidential election since the 1979 revolution. Of 40 million voters, a turnout of 85 percent, 25 million voted for Mr. Ahmadinejad. But as was already the case during Mr. Ahmadinejad's first election in 2005, the West apparently expected a different election result. We think the Western countries lack political maturity.

Manipulation is an issue in elections everywhere. Just think of the differences of opinion that elections have triggered in the United States, where a court had to step in to end a dispute over the validity of ballots. The accusations were also investigated in our country, at the urging of the opposition and our leadership. The votes were recounted. Since then, the result has been legally binding.

1210 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man. Looks like the Ahmadinejad office is ready for a fight with conservative MP Elyas Naderan over the claim that Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai met the former US ambassador in Israel: "We reject the baseless claim made by an Iranian parliamentarian...and we secure our right to pursue the issue legally."

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, trying to defend the President's appointment of Rahim-Mashai and three others as special representatives for foreign policy, has said that Naderan's remarks in Parliament had "nothing to do" with the questions he had tabled over the appointments. Mottaki said he might have to give Naderan a "yellow card" for his behaviour.

1000 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch.Ghorban Behzadian-Nejad, the manager of Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign, is free on bail after 9 months in detention.

Women's rights activist Mahboubeh Karami is reportedly in hospital after her release on $50,000 bail. Karami has been sentenced to four years in prison.

0855 GMT: We have now posted our special feature, "Political Prisoners, Election Fraud, & The Regime’s Backfiring Propaganda."

0700 GMT: Sanctions Watch. William Yong of The New York Times follows up on the development, which we noted last week, that Iran is withdrawing its assets from European banks to prevent them being frozen.

0645 GMT: Shutting Down the Lawyers. Fereshteh Ghazi reports on another instance of harassment and intimidation of Iran's defence attorneys. Nasrin Sotudeh's office and home have been searched, and the lawyer has been accused of propaganda against the regime.

0640 GMT: Discussing, Organising. Activists have announced a conference from 1 to 3 October at the Free University in Berlin to discussion the formation of "an independent, widespread organization of Iranian youth and students abroad".

0636 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch --- The Latest Names. An activist, drawing from RAHANA, has published an English-language list of 574 known political prisoners currently in detention.

0633 GMT: Political Defiance. The reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front, banned by the Government, continues to defy its "non-existence". Rah-e-Sabz has photos of an Iftar, the meal breaking the daily fast during Ramadan, of IIPF members.

0630 GMT: Execution Protests. Mission Free Iran claims that Rasht, a city in northwest Iran, joined the global demonstrations this weekend against stoning.

0625 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man. Kodoom claims, without citing the original source, that prominent conservative MP Elyas Naderan has accused Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, of meeting a former American Ambassador to Israel, hosting mixed-gender dance parties, and serving alcohol at some gatherings.

0610 GMT: We open today with two specials surrounding the claimed rigging --- some going as far to call it a "coup" --- of the 2009 Presidential election. We have the English text of Mehdi Karroubi's statement on Sunday condemning the election fraud and repression of the Iranian people. Later this morning, we'll have an update on the increasingly desperate Government campaign (which we noted 12 days ago after a manipulated video appeared, failed, and disappeared) to fabricate a "confession" by former Deputy Minister of Interior Mostafa Tajzadeh that the election was legitimate.

Rah-e-Sabz features Tajzadeh's latest resistance, via his wife's blog to the regime's propaganda and pressure upon him and his family. He challenges defenders of the vote to a public debate and asks, "I have written 7 pages about the rigged election in jail, why don't they [the Government] publish them?" (See English version of report.)
Friday
Aug272010

The Latest from Iran (27 August): One Voice in Iran?

2000 GMT: The Prevention of Mourning. Iranian security forces have reportedly prevented families from observing the 22nd anniversary of the mass execution of their relatives in Iranian prisons.

Human Rights and Democracy Activists of Iran report that security forces set up road blocks at Kharavan Cemetery and stopped the families from visiting the resting places of their kin. It is claimed that a number of people were arrested and some were beaten.

In the summer of 1988, Iran executed hundreds of political prisoners on the charge of membership in dissident groups and buried them in mass graves at Khavaran.

NEW Iran: Conservatives v. Ahmadinejad (Jedinia)
NEW Iran Special: The Supreme Leader and One Voice on Nuclear Talks with US?
The Latest from Iran (26 August): Ahmadinejad v. “Seditionists”


1920 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ghorban Behzadian Nezhad, the manager of Mir Hossein Mousavi's 2009 Presidential campaign, has been sentenced to five years in prison.

1715 GMT: The President's (Suspended) Man. Robert Tait of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty offers a lengthy overview of the case of Presidential aide and former Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi, one of three officials suspended this week for alleged involvement in the post-election abuses and killings at Kahrizak Prison. Included is this observation from EA:
The speculation is whether or not as part of this unity deal [brokered by the Supreme Leader], in which Ahmadinejad and Ali Larijani would make the public appearance of making up, that they now would offer a couple of bigger names on Kahrizak....When [Iranian authorities] said 11 were guilty of some involvement with Kahrizak, including the two [people] who were condemned to death, those were all relatively low-level people and there were rumbles of dissatisfaction, not just from the families but from some folks in the conservative establishment.


1700 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The Guardian of London reports that Iranian authorities are preventing the children and laywer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death for adultery, from visiting her in Tabriz Prison.

Ashtiani's son Sajad, 22 and daughter Saeedeh, 17, were told at the prison yesterday that their mother was unwilling to meet them. Ashtiani later said, in a phone call to Sajad, that she had been told by guards that nobody had come to visit her children had abandoned her.

Ashtiani's government-appointed lawyer, Houtan Kian, has been unable to visit her since her "confession" to involvement in her husband's murder was televised. Kian's house in Tabriz was raided this week by government officials who confiscated documents and laptops.

Ashtiani's other lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, was forced to flee Iran after Iranian authorities tried to arrest him.

1535 GMT: Mousavi Latest. Mir Hossein Mousavi, meeting veterans of the Iran-Iraq War, has said that today’s situation of Iranian society is “unsafe” and stressed that the only way to return safety and security is through the honouring of people’s will and their movements.

Mousavi cited fear of repression, fear of unemployment, and fear of organised corruption, all of which have become dominant in Iranian society, are signs of extensive oppression and injustice.

1530 GMT: Your Friday Prayers Update. Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani taking the podium today and he made it short and sweet.

1. Everybody turn out for Qods Day next Friday (but for Palestine and not against the Iranian Government, OK?)

2. Floods in Pakistan have been terrible and everyone should help the relief effort.

1520 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Mahmoud Bahmani, says Tehran is withdrawing its assets from European banks to counter new sanctions.

The pre-emptive measure is to counter any European decision to freeze Iranian assets, Bahmani said: "The Central Bank of Iran...had predicted such a scenarios (asset freeze) six months ago and adopted the necessary countermeasures."

1355 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. RAHANA updates on attorney Mohammad Oliyaifard, who has been detained since 8 March. The lawyer, who represented a number of clients facing the death penalty, was sentenced to one year in prison for anti-regime propaganda after he spoke to foreign media about the execution of minors.

0945 GMT: Taking Control. Peyke Iran claims from Iranian media that all non-government organisations will be put under the supervision of police and intelligence services until the end of this Iranian year (March 2011).

0940 GMT: We have posted a separate feature from Mehdi Jedinia, "Conservatives v. Ahmadinejad".

0925 GMT: Sedition Watch. Pro-Ahmadinejad MP Zohreh Elahian, backing Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati and Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi, has pronounced that foreign embassies have given part of the $1 billion allocated for "regime change" to leaders of "fitna" (sedition). Indeed, she claimed that support for the heads of "fitna" is higher than the published figures.

0915 GMT: Regime Schizophrenia "Women are Fabulous/No They're Not". President Ahmadinejad has praised the role of women in Iranian politics, saying that with four women in the Cabinet, the taboo of women in politics has been broken.

Ahmadinejad that, while Iran's women are a model to the world, 70% percent of women in households in capitalist countries are beaten but remain to keep the family together.

MP Mousa Qorbani, a member of Parliament's Judicial Commission, does not seem to have gotten the President's message, however. He has declared that when women go to work, they cause unemployment. Qorbani said that he was in Saudi Arabia and did not see a single women working there --- "if we implement this in Iran, many problems will be solved".

0900 GMT: Not-So-Tough Talk Today. Revolutionary Guard Commander Ramezan Sharif has denounced "imperialist media" for falsely portraying a threat to Iran's neighbours by publishing interviews with "virtual" commanders, trying to present a brutal face of the Revolutionary Guard. Sharif asserted that Iran's military power is only for defense and "in no way meant to menace befriended regional countries".

0815 GMT: The Battle Within. An intriguing report from Mehdi Karroubi's Saham News....

The website claims that Saeed Haddadian, a leader of Basij paramilitary groups, has publicly declared, "We no longer support Ahmadinejad and won't stand up against clerics for him."

0730 GMT: We've posted a morning special: "The Supreme Leader and One Voice on Nuclear Talks with US?"

0625 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Eleven days after his return to prison, former Deputy Minister of Interior Mostafa Tajzadeh has finally been able to phone his family. He said he is in good spirits and sharing a cell with journalist/filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad, who was summoned back to jail more than a week ago but has not been able to contact relatives.

0615 GMT: Qods Day. Almost a year ago Qods Day, in which many people mark solidarity with Palestine also  brought --- despite the Iranian Government's attempt to suppress dissent ---  one of the largest post-election demonstrations.

This year's Qods Day is next Friday, and the Green posters are appearing:



Meanwhile....

Economy Watch

Kalemeh offers a report that only 10% of state-owned companies under Iran's "privatisation" drive are actually going into the private sector. The rest are allegedly being brought by concerns connected with the Government, notably the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

Freedom of the Press

Iranian journalist/blogger Kouhyar Goudarzi, held in Evin Prison since December, is one of the recipients of the 2010 John Aubuchon Freedom of the Press Award, given by the US National Press Club to individuals who have contributed to the cause of press freedom and open government.

Goudarzi was one of 17 detainees who went on hunger strike earlier this month.