The Latest from Iran (3 October): Sedition's Gonna Get Ya

2020 GMT: Economy Watch --- Revised. An EA source makes a vital correction to our [portrayal of the article in Peyke Iran that 48 million of Iran's 75 million people "live below the poverty line" (see 1900 GMT):

There is no official poverty line in iran.  All the article says is that 2/3 of Iranian families have incomes under $800 a month.  That is almost $10,000 a year/household. We know that Iran is a middle-income country, so that should not shock anyone.

2010 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Revolving Door Edition). So as Alireza Beheshti Shirazi leaves detention, Saeed Noormohammadi, a member of the youth branch of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, goes back to prison.

Nourmohamadi has been sentenced to one year in prison, a four-year suspended term, and a 30-year ban from all political activities.

1910 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, a key advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi, has been freed on bail. Beheshti Shirazi was detained last December during the Ashura demonstrations. 

Family members of detained leaders of the Freedom Movement of Iran, including 79-year-old Ebrahim Yazdi, Hamid Sadeghian, and Ali Akhbar Gharavi, have commented that "even in Israel" there is no need for a permit for prayer.

The Freedom Movement leaders were arrested in Isfahan on charges that they had arranged for "Wahhabists" to hold Friday Prayers. The men have now reportedly been transferred to Tehran.

1900 GMT: Economy Watch. According to Peyke Iran, official data indicates that 48 million of Iran's 75 million people live under the poverty line.

1850 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Opposition websites report that water for a ward for female prisoners at Evin Prison has been cut off for the past 24 hours, resulting in poor health conditions for detainees and newborns held at this ward. The lack of clean water for drinking and washing has led to diarrhea and nausea amongst the inmates.

There are 20 female prisoners at Evin. 

1745 GMT: Moscow Turns the Screws? The opposition website Tahavol-e Sabz claims that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has prohibited trade with Iranian banks. 

1740 GMT: How Do Solve a Translation Problem Like Mahmoud? Amidst the debate over how to understand President Ahmadinejad's latest put-down of the US --- did he say he would bury them? or did he say the West was covering everyone else in mud? (see 1230 GMT) --- Peyke Iran offers an article on the problems for the unfortunate Persian translators who have to make colloquial phrases like "washers of your corpses" comprehensible for the rest of the world.

1730 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist and activist Heshmatollah Tabarzadi has been sentenced to nine years in prison and 74 lashes.

1500 GMT: Add Ayatollah Dastgheib's site to the the list of those filtered by Iranian authorities.

1349 GMT: Shutting Down the Clerics. Iranian users confirm our reports of the filtering by Iranian authorities of the websites of Ayatollahs Sane'i and Bayat Zanjani (see 0925 GMT).

1345 GMT: Economy Watch. Member of Parliament Mohammed Khoshchehreh has warned that the government has no plan for subsidy cuts, and the consequences are unpredictable.

1322 GMT: A Question for Parliament. Member of Parliament Nader Qazi-Pour, noting the Government's attempts to take all authority and criticising his colleagues' lack of response, asks, "Why don't we dissolve the Majlis ourselves?" 

1319 GMT: Tough Talk Today. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani makes sure, in the midst of President Ahmadinejad's postures (see 1230 GMT), that he is not left behind in wagging a finger at Washington: "Block assets of all Iranian officials [if it pleases you]. It may temporarily ease your pain following your repeated failures in the region."

1315 GMT: The Guard and Politics. Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Commander Hossein Hamedani has pronounced, "If Sepah [Revolutionary Guard] doesn't enter politics, it isn't Sepah."

1240 GMT: Currency Watch. Reuters summarises the latest news, "Iran's currency, the rial [or toman], defied central bank attempts to revive its value on Sunday."

1230 GMT: Ahmadinejad's 9-11 Roll. Mahmoud thinks he has a theme that works regarding Washington. He used the launch of a housing project to talk about events nine years ago and thousands of miles away:

They have such nerve to threaten us and say all options are on the table. May the undertaker take you, your tables...away as you have dragged the world in mud. We have hundreds of unanswered questions about the September 11 incident to which they should respond, and we will not back down on this.

If they claim 3,000 people were killed on September 11, [the perpetrators] should be identified and executed. We will even help in their arrest provided they present evidence, but will not accept whatever Bush and Obama say. Even the Americans themselves do not accept these claims, let alone other nations.

Another translation which is circulating --- and the one favoured by most Western media because of the drama of the insult --- is, "May the undertaker bury you, your table and your body, which has soiled the world."

1005 GMT: Cartoon of Day. Nikahang Kowsar puts together the Presidency and Iran's falling currency  in one image, "Riding the Rial Wave":

1000 GMT: Who Exactly is Being Punished? Iran's Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has announced the arrest of two of the attackers in last month's five-night siege of Mehdi Karroubi's home.

That might seem like an advance for justice, but Iranian officials had said that 100 assailants had been identified. And Mohseni-Ejei also had a message for Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, saying files had been opened on them with a view to possible prosecution.

0925 GMT: And Today's Dangerous Website Is....

Amidst reports of more websites being filtered inside Iran, including those of Ayatollahs Sane'i and Bayat Zanjani, word comes in of Tehran's confrontation with the ultimate threat.

Wikipedia has been filtered.

0550 GMT: Yesterday we offered this snap analysis:

The crude paradox continues. The regime and Government claim they are stable. They claim they have vanquished the illegitimate post-election opposition. They claim that "Iran" is supported by its people and has stood up to the West as a unified nation.

Yet, in this secure state, the repression escalates. At least some in the Government are not secure in those declarations of stability and unity.

Step up, Ahmad Reza Radan, Deputy Commander of the Tehran Police, who said on Saturday that the temptation of sedition continued. He spent a lot of his time denouncing the US-led effort for regime effort as futile, yet it was notable that his questioners moved him to the subject of economic problems.

So Radan, instead of declaring triumph over Washington, had to deal with the less traditional threat of the Great Subsidy Cuts, due to be introduced this week but postponed to next month, and Value Added Tax. And his conference took place as strikes against that tax continued in some parts of bazaars in cities across Iran. Opposition websites were claiming yesterday that three gold traders had been arrested in Tehran.

The regime was on firmer ground on Saturday with the showpiece visit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. No dramatic political moves, with the chief announcement being two Memoranda of Understanding on free trade and industrial cooperation; however, President Ahmadinejad made the most of giving his counterpart a medal and a ribbon to display his claim to legitimacy in Iran and the region:

Then the Supreme Leader used his face-time with Assad to declare that US efforts to "make resistance obsolete" were futile, praising relations with Syria: "There are no two countries in the region which enjoy such strong, excellent and mutual 30-year relations."

Assad described Tehran-Damascus relations as "exemplary" and stressed, "Iran and Syria are on the same front and have the same goals."