The Latest from Iran (22 November): Killing "Terrorists", Setting Trials, and Talking Philosophy and Human Rights

1905 GMT: CyberWars. A couple of signs of the regime's campaign across the Internet....

In his press conference today, Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hosein Mohseni Ejei said 60 individuals have been arrested in connection with running "obscene" Persian websites.

In his own press appearance, General Hossein Hamedani, the Tehran commander of the Revolutionary Guard, said a 1500-member "Cyber Commando" unit had been trained.

1900 GMT: Energy Squeeze. Aftab News reports that the exploitation of two projects in the South Pars oil and gas field has been delayed for ten months.

1733 GMT: The Surveillance Lawsuit. Detained journalist Isa Saharkhiz and his son Mehdi have withdrawn their lawsuit alleging that the sale of Nokia Siemens Networks mobile phone surveillance technology led to the arrest and torture of Isa Saharkhiz after the 2009 Presidential election.

The lawyers for the Saharkhizs said the case was dropped to "keep it alive and viable".

1714 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. HRANA lists the names of 97 activists whom it claims were arrested over the last month.

1708 GMT: Fretting Over the Economy. Mohammad Nahavandian, the head of Parliament's Planning Commission, has said that "selling oil and domestic treasures, no nation gets anywhere". He complained that security measures are harmful for subsidy cuts and added that Iran needs a calm social atmosphere.

1703 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Zeinab Kazemkhah, a specialist on cultural and literary affairs, has been sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term on top of four months in prison.

Kazemkhah was arrested in February during a raid on her home. She was released after a month but then fired by Iranian Students News Agency for being a "traitor".

1659 GMT: The Assurance of Total Security. Revolutionary Guard Commander Masoud Jazayeri has said that it is "normal" for Basij militia to be present everywhere, including during elections.

1645 GMT: Challenges All Around. More for the Government to ponder....

According to Peyke Iran, the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, in a meeting with Basiji students, declared that "a huge fraud has been committed in national insurance" and "important people are behind this fraud". He asserted that 50 persons had been summoned for hearings.

There have been repeated called for 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi to face an enquiry over his alleged role in the "Fatemi Street" insurance fraud.

Elsewhere, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, referring to the recent battle over Islamic Azad University, alleged that "some try to take over and monopolise the Free Universities" and said "no government can handle the burden of universities and sciences in any country".

1639 GMT: Wagging His Finger. More from the soundbite-filled press conference of Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei....

Ejei said the protest letter of Hashemi Rafsanjani's son Mehdi Hashemi to the judiciary, declaring that he will return to Iran if he can guaranteed a full and fair hearing, is not signed and thus legally invalid: "all his accusations are wrong, all our accusations are right".

Ejei then went after Mir Hossein Mousavi, declaring that the opposition figure's latest statement, for National Students Day, "makes his file heavier".

1630 GMT: Parliament v. President. More on the apparent escalation in tensions (see 0900 GMT) between the Majlis and the Ahmadinejad camp over the budget....

Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has announced that Parliament does not accept the opinion, published by the Speaker of the Guardian Council, of a "compromise" on the 5th Budget Plan. His ally, Ahmad Tavakoli goes farther with a jab at Guardian Council head Ayatollah Jannati: the arbitration commission did not reach a compromise on the Plan and Jannati only forwarded his own opinion to the Supreme Leader.

About 40 lawmakers have signed a petition, sponsored by Ali Motahari, Alireza Zakani, Tavakoli, and Elyas Naderan to summon Ahmadinejad to the Majlis. At least 74 signatures are necessary for the President to be commanded to appear.

1620 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has said that two German journalists, seized when they were interviewing the son and lawyer of the condemned Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, will remain in prison until investigation of their case is completed.

1610 GMT: Un-Free Press. The popular Chelcheragh youth magazine has been banned after an interview with musical legend --- and post-election dissident --- Mohammad Reza Shajarian last month.

1500 GMT: Execution Watch --- Spin or Breakthrough (cont.)? So Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the human rights section of Iran's judiciary, tells Press TV that there is a "good chance" that the death sentence on Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will be lifted. And Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei follows by saying that Ashtiani's two cases --- adultery and complicity in her husband's murder --- are still going through the courts and nothing has been decided.

You know, if the case wasn't so serious, all this politics would be, well, tedious.

1315 GMT: Academic Corner. According to Khabar Online, the Government has cancelled the move of Allameh Tabatabei and Khaje Nasir universities out of Tehran.

1230 GMT: Today's "Spin or Breakthrough" Game (Your Host: M.J. Larijani). The latest headline message from the US tour of Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the human rights division of Iran's judiciary....

Larijani told Press TV that there is a "good chance" that the death sentence of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, imposed for adultery and then complicity in her husband's murder, could be lifted. 

0900 GMT: Parliament v. President. Keep an eye on this one --- it looks like the tension between the Majlis and the Government over the unapproved budget is escalating....

Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and his ally, MP Ahmad Tavakoli, appear to have questioned the "compromise" being promoted by Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Khodkhaei this weekend, saying there are unresolved matters.

The statements comes after MPs wrote the head of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, to express their concerns and to warn that President Ahmadinejad should not claim powers not allocated to him.

0730 GMT: The Unbearable Lightness of Philosophical Forgetting. Press TV, in its coverage of World Philosophy Day (see 0620 GMT), reports that "more than 95 acclaimed philosophers" from 42 countries are attending "International Philosophy Day".

The website also notes, "UNESCO hosted the conference every November from 2002 to 2005, but since 2006 different countries mark the occasion by holding international events. Iran is the sixth host of the event after Chile, Morocco, Turkey, Italy and Russia."

What Press TV has apparently forgotten is that UNESCO withdrew its sponsorship of the event, after international protests, weeks ago.

0720 GMT: Protesting on 16 Azar? Clarifying a story in yesterday's updates....

Students of Tehran Azad University (East) have put out a statement calling for a strike and rally on 16 Azar (7 December), National Student Day.

Basiji student groups have already denounced the Azad East association.

0715 GMT: Religion Watch. Thirty Gonabad dervishes in Charmahin in Isfahan Province have been sentenced to one-year suspended prison terms and cash fines. The court also has forbidden the dervishes from holding their spiritual gatherings

The dervishes were charged with “disturbing public order and peace, insulting and disobeying officials, and vandalizing public property”. Defenders of the dervishes say they were “protesting against the destruction of their place of worship by the City two years ago".

Last week, 24 Gonabad dervishes in Khorasan received court sentences which included imprisonment, floggings, and exile.

The Gonabad dervishes have a four-hundred-year history of ceremonies and traditions going back to Shah Nematollah Vali, a 17th 14th century mystic who is buried in Kerman.

0625 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Homayoun Jaberi, a member of Tehran Bus Drivers Union, has been released from detention. 

0620 GMT: You Can't Stop Our Philosophy. Despite the withdrawal of UNESCO, the founder of the event, World Philosophy Day opened in Tehran with words from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday.

UNESCO pulled out after sustained pressures from academics, intellectuals, and activists over Tehran's repression of opposition and the restriction on the teaching of "Western" humanities --- including philosophy --- at Iranian universities.

World Philosophy Day will continue until 23 November.

0610 GMT: Iranian state media declared Sunday that "a terrorist gang leader" and another member of the group were killed in a shootout with intelligence agents in Sanandaj, the capital of Iranian Kurdistan.

The two men were said to have been involved in the assassination of Mehdi Kamyani, the former Prosecutor General of Kordestan Province, and a number of other crimes, including armed robberies, kidnappings, and several murders. 

On another front, the lawyer for US hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer said --- despite the declaration by the Iranian judiciary's Mohammad Javad Larijani to American television that he wanted a resolution of the case before trial --- that the court hearing for the two would be on 6 February.

Neither of these stories, however, has the lead spot on Press TV's website. Instead, in the latest beating on the drum of Iran's human rights campaign, the top story --- taken from the Islamic Republic News Agency --- is a statement by an official about America's "double standards" on human rights.