The Latest from Iran (28 September): Rumbling On

2010 GMT: Rumour of Day. We have listened for days as chatter spread about the killings last week of two Tehran doctors,  Abdolreza Sudbakhsh and Gholamreza Sarabi, by gunmen on motorcycles. 

Iran officials said Dr. Sarabi was killed in revenge over a botched medical case while there were no comments about the case of Dr. Sudbakhsh.

Now Rah-e-Sabz has offered a political link in the case of Dr. Sudbakhsh, who was one of the physicians responsible for inmate health at the Kahrizak detention center, where post-election protesters were abused and killed.

The website claimed that Dr. Sudbakhsh had been ordered by Iranian security officials to give false diagnoses regarding Kahrizak detainees. For example, Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of the campaign manager of conservative presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, was initially said to have died from meningitis. Later it was established --- and confirmed in a parliamentary report --- that he died from beatings at Kahrizak.

We're still cautious but the story has now spread to the pages of The New York Times.

2005 GMT: Reading of the Day. Dr Saeid Golkar writes about "The Ideological- Political Training of Iran's Basij".

2000 GMT: Gotta Protect the Youngsters. The Supreme Leader has said, in a speech to Friday Prayer leaders that Iran's youth are "main target of the enemy". He called on clerics to "clear up the religious, political, and social ambiguities" of young people.

In other comments, Ayatollah Khamenei targeted the obvious economic weakness of the US, noting "there are a few million homeless people in the U.S. and tens of millions of people live below the poverty line".

1950 GMT: Currency Watch. The Iranian toman has now fallen 25 percent in value against the dollar this month, trading now at 1300:1 vs. about 1000:1 this summer.

1837 GMT: Parliament v. Government. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, in another jab at President Ahmadinejad's "I Rule" declaration, has warned against the State pursuing incorrect interpretations rather than following the statements of Imam Khomeini, who declared that the Majlis must have autonomy.

Larijani, responding to statements in Parliament by the Deputy Minister of Industry, said proper interpretation of authority was necessary to deal with issues such as inflation and productivity.

1835 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Three members of the Darolshafa family, arrested earlier this year, have been given suspended prison sentences.

1825 GMT: A New Paper with An Interesting Question. Mellet-e Ma, a "principlist" newspaper, was launched on Tuesday. The paper's permit was issued to Abdolhossein Ruholamini, an ally of 2009 Presidential candidate and Secretary of the Expediency Council, Mohsen Rezaei.

But here's the intriguing news about the newspaper: one of the first articles was "Which Branch of Government Is on Top of Affairs?"

So, straight into the dispute between the Parliament and the President. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may want to take note.1820 GMT: He May Not Be A Great Judge But He Knows His Films. Prominent director Jafar Panahi, detained earlier this year for three months, waited for a court appearance in Tehran.

It never took place. However, Panahi did meet the judge, walking down the corridor in his slippers. The judge's greeting? "How is [the French actress] Ms Juliet Binoche?"

1810 GMT: University Clashes Resume. As the new academic year begins, Al Arabiya reports that clashes between students and security forces have resumed.

The website cites a specific incident in the northwestern city of Rasht when security personnel at the Free University prevented male students from entering the campus for wearing short-sleeved shirts and barred female students for not covering their head properly.

Attacks on students were reportedly ordered by the university’s Protection Department, whose agents have been accused of collaborating with Basij militia. 

1630 GMT: Currency Crisis. Deutsche Welle reports that Iran has suspended wire transfers for business transactions.

1610 GMT: Parliament v. President. Almost two-thirds of Iran's 290 MPs have warned President Ahmadinejad over his remarks on the authority of the Presidency and the Majlis:

Ahead of your trip to New York, you tarnished the standing of parliament…in opposition with the words of the late Imam [Khomeini], the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and the Constitution. It is essential for the government to carry out its duties, instead of interfering in the affairs of other branches and berating the Majlis.

1410 GMT: Mousavi-Khatami Meeting. Mir Hossein Mousavi and former President Mohammad Khatami have met to discuss the current situation of Iran.

The two men expressed sorrow that "some individuals monopolized the revolution" and condemned their behaviour. They emphasised the need for coordination, in these circumstances, between reformists.

Mousavi and Khatami again declared that political prisoners must be freed, there be an open and secure environment, and the constitution must be implemented fully and comprehensively. 

The two men specifically called for action against those who attacked the families of Iran-Iraq War martyrs Ebrahim Hemat and Hamid Bakeri. 

1345 GMT: Corruption Watch. Reformist MP Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, a member of Parliament's Corruption Committee, has said the government owes $50 billion to the banking system, claiming these billions are in the hands of 84 persons.

Khabbaz then targeted 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi --- who has been alleged to be involved in corruption --- saying that, since Rahimi came into office, debts to banks have risen. He noted that government debt was only $11 billion in 2006 and predicted it would reach $70 billion by March 2011.  

1340 GMT: The President's Man, Defender of Women. The President's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, has said women have been oppressed in the past and Iran's judiciary must take more care to defend their rights.  

1335 GMT: Iran-Russia Spat. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has declared, "We have signed an agreement (with Moscow) on S-300 missiles, we must receive them."

Russian official Leonid Slotsky responds that this is not possible because of sanctions.

1325 GMT: Culture Confusion. The supposed dismissal of the Deputy Minister of Culture, Mohammad Amin Ramin, has prompted allegation and counter-allegation, with confusion over whether Ramin has been fired. Kalemeh reports that it is even being claimed that the news of "dismissal" was a ploy of Zionist media in the "soft war" with Iran.

1245 GMT: Labour Front. Workers of the prominent cooking fat company Ghoo have gone on strike.

1240 GMT: MediaWatch. Iranian authorities have banned the pro-reform daily Andishe No and the weekly Bahar Zanjan.

1230 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Hossein Derakhshan, Iran's "Blogfather", has been sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison for  "cooperation with hostile states, propagating against the regime, propagation in favor of anti-revolutionary groups, insulting sanctities, and implementation and management of obscene websites".

The prosecutor had sought the death penalty for Derakhshan, an Iranian-Canadian national arrested in November 2008 when he returned to Tehran from Canada.

0915 GMT: Breaking the Reformists. An informed source from Iran reports....

Two security people are permanently stationed outside the entrance of the headquarters of the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution in central Tehran. Anyone entering the building is arrested.

The reformist outlet Norooz News is now being updated from abroad, with news from inside the country secretly passed out via email.

Both the MIR and the Islamic Iran Participation Front have now been reduced to the status of the Freedom Movement of Iran, operating via the Internet and living rooms of members.

0900 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Free Political Prisoners e-mails with a reminder on a detention:

Zahra Bahrami, 45, mother of two, and a Dutch- Iranian citizen has been held in prison since December 2009. Despite the international pressure on the Iranian regime, Zahra is still still in prison, and have not been allowed to have access to a lawyer or to have visit from her family. in an interview with Netherlands TV Ahmadinejad said that his regime will not accept Zahra’s dual citizenship, and therefore Zahra cannot have the protection of the Dutch government.

0848 GMT: Economy Watch. Minister of Labor Ali Reza Sheykholeslami has said that Iran plans "to ban the entrance of unnecessary foreign merchandise into the country. Industrial and agricultural ministries must identify the unnecessary goods in these fields.’’ 

0845 GMT: They're All Out to Get Us. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the commander of the Basij militia, has declared that 3000 satellite networks are propagating against Iran.

0840 GMT: The Dead. Fereshteh Ghazi, interviewing the families of killed protesters, notes that the cases have not dealt with, up to 16 months after the slayings.

0835 GMT: Where Are We Going to Put All the Political Prisoners? Morteza Tamaddon, the Governor of Tehran Province, has complained that there is no budget for four new detention centres near Tehran. 

0830 GMT: Banning the Reformists. Reformist politician Ali Shakouri-Rad, in an interview with the BBC, claims the Iranian judiciary is lying and the Islamic Iran Participation Front is not banned.

(My own reading is that the dispute lies in formalities. The court process formally banning the IIPF and the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution may not have been completed --- thus Shakouri Rad's objection --- but the judiciary, with Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei's press conference on Monday, was essentially saying that the two parties will not be allowed to operate in any circumstances.)

0640 GMT: Showing Repression. Haleh Esfandiari writes in The New York Review of Books about an exhibition of photographs, "Interrupted Lives" at Georgetown Law School, in Washington DC, on the post-election repression of students, journalists and activists. 

The exhibition has been organized by two sisters, Ladan and Roya Boroumand, whose father, lawyer and democracy activist Abdorrhaman Boroumand, was assassinated in Paris in 1991.

0635 GMT: Film Corner. Iran’s most celebrated director, Abbas Kiarostami, says he will make no more films in his home country because of tightening restrictions on the cinema.

Kiarostami, who won the Palme D’Or at Cannes in 1997 for Taste of Cherry, said he was halting plans for shooting of his next film in Iran.

In March, Iranian authorties detained director Jafar Panahi for three months. Last week, another prominent director, Asghar Farhadi, was barred from completing a film because of his comment that Iranian directors and actors living abroad should be able to return and make movies. 

0630 GMT: Culture Shake-Up. A notable political move on Monday as Mohammad Ali Ramin, was dismissed as Deputy Minister of Culture. 

Ramin has been controversial for being "excessive", even by Iranian standards, in the shutting down of newspapers and websites --- he was even criticised by the President's office.

The news, however, is still quite senstive. Mehr newspaper has been rebuked for publishing an announcement of the dismissal.

0615 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Isa Saharkhiz, detained since June 2009, has been sentenced to three years in prison, a five-year ban on journalistic and political activities, and a one-year ban on leaving the country. He was convicted of “insulting the leader” and “propagating against the establishment".

Saharkhiz is a founding member of the Association of Iranian ‎Journalists and has had a long career in journalism. He worked for 15 years for the Islamic Republic News Agency for 15 year and headed its New York office.

Prominent attorney Mohammad Seifzadeh may face trial on the charge of founding the Center for the Defenders of Human Rights, headed by Nobel Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Seifzadeh's case has been sent to the 15^th branch of the Revolutionary Court, where the "hard-line" Judge Salavati presides.

0605 GMT: We start this morning where we left off on Monday, noting the increasing tension over the state of Iran's economy.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, returning from the US, went to Abadan in southern Iran to mark Holy Defense Week --- the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War --- by inaugurating several infrastructure and energy projects. In Tehran, however, the criticism continued.

The head of Parliament's Energy Commission, Hamidreza Katouzian, led the charge. In addition to warning of the possible impeachment of the Minister of Energy, who was with Ahmadinejad in Abadan, Katouzian made the specific point that the South Pars energy field needed $21 billion of investment. He claimed only $4 billion had been invested to date.

Katouzian noted that the replacement this summer of all foreign companies by Iranian firms, in the name of self-sufficiency, was "irrational".