The Latest from Iran (27 December): Threats

2115 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (German Edition): Confusion tonight over the situation with detained German journalists Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch....

Earlier this month, Iranian authorities had said they hoped it would be possible for the Germans to meet their families for the New Year.

Today the German Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Iran's Ambassador to Germany, Ali-Reza Sheikh-Attar, over the refusal to allow that visit.

Iranian authorities countered that they had extended the offer of a visit early on Monday but the families of the detainees have refused to travel to Tabriz, where the two are being held. The Iranians also deny that their ambassador in Germany was summoned, saying it was a pre-arranged meeting on other matters.

Hellwig and Koch were arrested in October as they interviewed and photographed the son and lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, condemned to death for adultery and complicity in murder.

2030 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Ali Maghami, the son-in-law of journalist Emaduddin Baghi, has been arrested.

Baghi was given a 7-year sentence in September.

2020 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. On 7 December, Mahdi Ramazani was arrested as he visited the grave of his son Ramin, who was killed in the demonstrations of 15 June 2009.

Today Ramezani informed his family that his bail has been set at more than $193,000.

As the family do not even own a home, they are unlikely to be able to raise that amount.

Ramezani was arrested with other mourners when security forces raided Behesht-e Zahra cemetery.

1745 GMT: Execution Watch. Iranian state outlet IRNA carries an interview with Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer for condemned Kurdish prisoner Habibollah Latifi, on the proceedings that led to a suspension of Sunday's execution.

1735 GMT: Corruption Watch. The Associated Press has picked up on the corruption allegations surrounding 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, with Iran's judiciary announcing that it was sending the file to court.

1725 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. We noted earlier(see 1435 GMT) that today's hearing in the trial of detained attorney Nasrine Sotoudeh was suspended when lawyers questioned the qualifications of the court. That is not the full story, however....

Sotoudeh and her lawyer complained about the presence of a cameraman taping the proceedings, as they had not been informed of the arrangement. A "well-known lawyer" was then ejected from the courtroom. When Sotoudeh continued to object, she was given an additional five days in prison.

Sotoudeh, detained in early September, was initially charged with "acting against the national security of the country, propaganda against the regime, and membership in the Center for Defenders of Human Rights. The court hearing today, however, was on a new allegation of "blatant non-adherence to Hejab rules", added for an interview that Sotoudeh gave to a non-Iranian broadcaster.

1450 GMT: Karroubi Watch. Saham News reports that all the property in Mehdi Karroubi’s personal office and the headquarters of his Etemade Melli party has been stolen by plainclothes militia, despite supposed protection by Iranian security forces of the premises.

The office and headquarters were shut down by the Iranian Government in September 2009.

1445 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Activists Hadi Heydari, Mohammad Shafiei & Alireza Taheri, arrested earlier this month, have been released. Adel Mohammad-Hosseini has been arrested.

1440 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Deputy Minister of Economy Mohammad Reza Farzin has said that gasoline consumption has fallen more than 8%, from 60 million litres (13.1 million gallons) to 55 million per day, and diesel consumption is down about 25%, from 54 million litres to 40 to 41 million litres per day, since the introduction of subsidy cuts.

Farzin added that cooking gas consumption had dropped by 6% and water by 5%.

1435 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The latest hearing in the trial of detained attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh has been cancelled today because lawyers objected to the court's qualifications.

1420 GMT: Diplomatic Incident. More on the claims of Javed Mansouri, the first head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and a former ambassador to China, over the Ahmadinejad's office handling of the Foreign Ministry, including the dismissal of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki (see 0905 GMT)....

Having blamed Ahmadinejad aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai for being behind the Mottaki firing, Mansouri has added the provocative statement that the Supreme Leader was not aware that the Foreign Minister would be dismissed.

Mansouri also said that foreign governments had doubts whether Mottaki's line was that of the Iranian Government, asking repeatedly if the Foreign Minister's policy was Ahmadinejad's policy.

1415 GMT: Execution Watch. Amidst the uproar over the delayed execution of Kurdish detainee Habibollah Latifi, the death sentences of three other Kurdish prisoners --- Iraj Mohamadi, Ahmad Pouladkhani, and Mohamad Amin Aghoshi --- have been overturned.

1410 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kalemeh reports that new charges will be filed against student activists Majid Tavakoli and Bahareh Hedayat over open letters in their names recently published by opposition media.

Tavakoli and Hedayat were detained in December 2009. Tavakoli has been given an 8 1/2-year sentence and Hedayat 9 1/2 years.

1405 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. After promising support payments to trucker and poultry farmers, the Government is now offering $30,000 each to bakers.

1325 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Latifi Execution Edition). More than 20 people were reportedly arrested last night in Sanandaj in Iranian Kurdistan in connection with developments over the death sentence on Kurdish detainee Habibollah Latifi.

In addition to eight members of Latifi's family and five supporters seized during a raid on the Latifi home (see separate entry), labour activists Pedram Nasrolahi, Hashem Rostami, Zahed Moradian, and Mahmoud Mahmoudi, journalists Saied Saedi and Hamid Malekolkalami, environmentalist Simin Chaichi, author and poet Vahed Majidi, and former political prisoner Zhiyan Safari have been detained. Student activist Mokhtar Zareei has also reportedly disappeared.

1150 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man (cont.). The challenges to Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai continue (see 0930 GMT). Mehrzad Bazrpash, the former head of the National Youth Organization, has refuted Rahim-Mashai's claim that he wanted to step down, making clear he was fired by President Ahmadinejad.

1145 GMT: Sedition Watch. Mohammad Nabi Habibi, the head of the conservative Motalefeh Party, has warned that fitna (sedition) has not been eradicated.

0945 GMT: Parliament v. President. MP Ali Motahari, who has led the campaign to summon the President to Parliament for questioning, claims he now has the 73 signatures --- 1/4 of the MPs --- that are necessary. Motahari claimed that 50 of those signing are "hardliners" and not reformists,

0940 GMT: Did You Know? The budget of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi's Educational Institute is 40 times that of Amir Kabir University.

0935 GMT: Corruption Watch. The President office has denied reports in Raja News that Ahmadinejad was happy with the judiciary's decision to send the file of 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi to the courts.

Rahimi has been accused of involvement in a major insurance fraud.

0930 GMT: The President's Right-Hand Man. In Ali Larijani's Khabar Online, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar launches an attack on the President's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

Bahonar claims that Ahmadinejad did not know of the recent dismissals of Ministers until they occurred. He suggested that those who want to stay in the Government should make friends with Rahim-Mashai.

And influential MP Alireza Zakani adds the warning that Parliament's Article 90 Commission, which investigates public complaints against the Government, has a file on a deputy to Rahim-Mashai.

0915 GMT: Economy Watch. Ayande News offers a pessimistic outlook on Iran's wave of privatisation, foreseeing an increase in unemployment.

0910 GMT: And Now, Sports. Wrestler Mohammad Reza Azarshakib has become the fifth top athlete to leave Iran in recent months.

0905 GMT: Diplomatic Service. Javad Mansouri, the first head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and a former ambassador to China, has claimed that President Ahmadinejad --- with moves such as his naming of special envoys in his office and the dismissal of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki --- has effectively dissolved the Foreign Ministry with many experienced ambassadors ousted.

Mansouri said the Foreign Ministry is now only a "personnel office" to the rest of the Government.

0900 GMT: MediaWatch. The conservative Ayande News writes about the economic situation and how Iranians are following the news. The article draws this conclusion: BBC Persian has a growing influence amongst viewers on the outskirts of Tehran because the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is not trusted.

0855 GMT: We began this morning by asking whether Iran's judiciary will give way to political pressure and arrest "leaders of sedition" like Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Nikahang Kowsar illustrates the question, depicting Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei as a dog ready to be unleashed:

0750 GMT: Superman Supreme Leader, Not-So-Super President. Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi has declared that any measure in Iran must be signed by Ayatollah Khamenei: "He can even change the system."

Ayatollah Yazdi added the warning that "the President must adhere to Islam, otherwise he is illegitimate".

There has been tension recently between clerics and Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, who has siad that other countries should emulate an "Iranian" raterh than an "Islamic" model.

0745 GMT: MediaWatch. Gozaar, "A Forum on Human Rights and Democracy in Iran", has shut down after four years of publication because of "insufficient funding".

The staff of the website, whose archives can still be accessed, give this farewell:

Gozaar supported human rights and democratic aspirations of a great many Iranians by challenging repression and abuses of power. Gozaar pushed the red lines that the Iranian regime had drawn and provided a space for free expression on regime-banned topics, including: minority, labor, and women’s rights; democratic principles of secularism and federalism; misgivings about reformist leaders; and the future of the Green Movement.

0740 GMT: Film Corner. Iranian Deputy Minister of Culture Javad Shamaqdari has rejected an invitation from Dieter Kosslick, the director of the Berlinale, for director Jafar Panahi to join the jury of the Berlin film festival in February.

Shamaqdari said Panahi could not attend because of the court's verdict in his criminal case. Earlier this month, the director had been given a six-year sentence and a 20-year ban on moviemaking and foreign travel, apparently for making a movie critical of the Government after the June 2009 Presidential election.

Shamaqdari, “If the festival managers desire, they can invite other prominent Iranian filmmakers such as (Abbas) Kiarostami, (Masud) Jafari-Jozani, (Shahriar) Bahrani, (Asghar) Farhadi, (Majid) Majidi, (Ebrahim) Hatamikia, (Mohammad-Ali) Talebi, (Rasul) Sadr-Ameli, (Mojtaba) Raei, and (Jamal) Shurjeh to join the jury.” 

0610 GMT: No sign of holiday spirit in Iran this morning, at least amongst the authorities. We have posted a separate feature on the arrest of eight members of the family of Habibollah Latifi, the Kurdish detainee whose execution was delayed yesterday.

Meanwhile, the press conference of Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi continues to resonate. In a wide-ranging series of comments, he declared that seven journalists --- six from the reformist newspaper Shargh --- arrested this month would be tried for "actions against national security". He refuted claims that journalist Isa Saharkhiz, held since July 2009, is in poor health.

And Doulatabadi put out the ultimate, but still general, warning that leaders of "sedition" should know that they will be tried soon and that "they are smaller than they think". 

It will be interesting to watch any response that comes from the head of the judiciary, Sadegh Larijani. He said last week that opposition figures like Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi would not be arrested, given the potential fallout, and criticised political interference. 

Larijani's reply, if any is forthcoming, will indicate whether Doulatabadi was just holding the line against those politicians --- yeah, yeah, we'll do something, sometime --- or whether there is even thought amongst Iran's administrators of "justice" that the ultimate crackdown on the opposition should begin.