Weekend roundup - Monday 12 October 2009

• Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi met at Karroubi's house on Saturday. According to the web site of Karroubi's Etemad Melli Party, The two men stressed their belief that the June 12 election was rigged. 'If you're so sure of yourselves, instead of spending dozens of hours on state media denying fraud and imposing confessions on innocent individuals, allow us to present our arguments and evidence on television,' Karroubi said to the regime and its supporters. Referring to the kangaroo trials of protesters and opposition political figures, Mousavi said, 'What did you obtain from these show trials? Are you aware of the negative effects they have had on our society?' Mousavi accused some state bodies of embezzling the national treasury and mentioned the Revolutionary Guards' recent acquisition of the Iran Telecommunications Company.
  
  
• The Mourning Mothers of Iran are quietly and steadfastly becoming a regular feature in Tehran's Laleh Park every Saturday evening. Their demands are simple: freedom for their imprisoned children and justice for those who have been beaten, tortured, raped, and killed. They maintained their weekly vigil last Saturday:
  
  
  
• Iran's blighted human rights record turned a shade darker as it put another juvenile offender to death. Behnoud Shojaie, who had allegedly killed Ehsan Nasrollahi, 17, under cloudy circumstances when he himself was 17, was hanged in Evin prison yesterday. An incredible 135 juvenile offenders await execution in Iran although the country is a signatory of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child which precludes such punishment. Iran has executed over 230 people since the start of the year and holds the sorry privilege of being the world's greatest per capita executor of its own citizens. In an interview, his lawyer Mohammad Mostafaie said that he had been present at the execution which took place in the morning. 'The victims' parents pulled the stool from under Behnoud's feet and Behnoud left this world,' said Mostafaie: 
  
  
  
• Death sentences have been handed out to three protesters who were tried in the third session of the kangaroo court held after the post-election unrest. The Islamic Students News Agency identified the three individuals by their initials: M.Z., A.P., and N.A. Last week, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani was sentenced to death and it is unclear whether M.Z. refers to Ail Zamani or is another individual.
  
  

• Morteza Talaie, chairman of the cultural committee of Tehran's city council, has called on citizens to not accept banknotes with 'anti-revolutionary' slogans printed or written on them. He also demanded that the Central Bank take such currency out of circulation. Printing or writing anti-regime messages on banknotes has become a national pastime since the disputed election.
  
  
• What's the world coming to? The regime can't even depend on its Friday Prayer supporters to join in chants of 'Death to...'! This scene purportedly filmed on October 9 outside Tehran's Friday Prayer hall:
  
  
  
Firouzabadi is the corpulent gentleman
• Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, the most corpulent chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in the world, believes he should carry more than military responsibilities on his ample shoulders. Speaking at the induction ceremony of General Mohammad Hejazi to his new post as deputy commander of the armed forces, in charge of logistics, Firouzabadi called for state control of political parties in Iran. 'The Interior Ministry, the Supreme National Security Council, and the Majlis must get to work and define the proper political direction [of parties] within a legal framework,' he said. 'They must write a bill and send it to the Majlis and the Majlis must quickly adopt it,' Firouzabadi added, showing the proper respect that must be accorded to an elected body. In this way, 'supporters need not worry that by joining this or that party they may be found guilty,' he continued. Firouzabadi apparently finds that the constitution's article 26 is not constraining enough (NB Article 26: The formation of parties, societies, political or professional associations, as well as religious societies, whether Islamic or pertaining to one of the recognized religious minorities, is permitted provided they do not violate the principles of independence, freedom, national unity, the criteria of Islam, or the basis of the Islamic republic. No one may be prevented from participating in the aforementioned groups, or be compelled to participate in them.). But then again, the regime has apparently forgotten to read article 27 of the constitution as well. (NB Article 27: Public gatherings and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam.)