Former Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi was once again heckled at a university event, this time in Gilan University, northern Iran, on Sunday. Saffar Harandi's speech was interrupted loudly with chants of 'Death to the Leader's dictatorship' and 'Our shame, our shame, our Culture Minister.'
Conservative Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, one of the most senior clerics in the country, urged the judiciary to put those responsible for some of the regime's post-election abuses on trial as soon as possible. He made the comments at a meeting with the president of the High Court, Ayatollah Ahmad Mohseni Gorgani, aka Mohseni Araki, on Sunday. According to a report on Makarem Shirazi's personal web site, 'At the conclusion of the meeting, Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi told the honorable High Court president, "Convey my greetings to Ayatollah Larijani (NB judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani) and tell him that the people await the trials of those responsible for University Street, Kahrizak prison, and the Sobhan complex. (NB Referring respectively to the attack by Basijis and plainclothesmen on a Tehran University dormitory on June 15, 2009, which allegedly left at least 5 students dead; Kahrizak detention center where prisoners were killed, tortured, and raped; and the attack on the Sobhan residential complex by Basijis and plainclothesmen on June 16, 2009). It is necessary to take action as soon as possible to prevent a weakening of the people's trust in the judicial system. Such trials undoubtedly require courage, which I know that you and he possess."'
Aftermath of the Tehran University dormitory attack
Attack on Sobhan residential complex
Saeed Mortazavi, former Revolutionary Prosecutor for Greater Tehran, may be moving to greener pastures once again. As a loyal soldier of Leader Ali Khamenei, Mortzavi was not only instrumental in jailing and harassing dissidents, journalists, and opposition newspapers, but was actively involved in the torture and abuse of prisoners during interrogations. He is one of the officials held responsible for the death in custody of Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi in 2003 and the atrocities which took place at Kahrizak detention center. He was recently rewarded for his services by being 'kicked upstairs' to the post of Deputy Prosecutor General under former Intelligence Minister Mohseni Ejei. There is now talk of another 'promotion' to get him out of the limelight even more as the new head of the economic crimes division of the Justice Ministry.
Jailed dissident Behzad Nabavi, a senior member of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution (not to be mistaken for the MKO), rejected all charges against him during a trial which was held behind closed doors on Sunday, according to his lawyer Mohammad Saleh Nikbakht. Nabavi famously refused to make any derogatory comments against opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi during the first sessions of the Revolutionary kangaroo court, saying that he 'could not betray Mousavi.' Nabavi read from 12 pages of notes he had prepared while in the hospital as he defended himself against a series of accusations which include 'disrupting traffic on June 13 and 15.' Massive protests against the results of the presidential election (June 12) took place on those days.
Queens College, Oxford University, has established a scholarship in memory of Neda Agha Soltan for students working towards a graduate degree in philosophy. Neda Agha Soltan, who obtained a degree in philosophy from Azad University, was killed by the regime's security forces on the streets of Tehran on June 20, 2009. Queens College announced on its web site that the Neda Agha Soltan scholarship was made possible by 'two generous gifts' and that although it was open to all graduate students in the field of philosophy, students of Iranian descent or nationality would have preference. The first student to benefit from this scholarship is Arianne Shahvisi who is studying for a masters degree in the philosophy of physics. Shahvisi said on the Oxford University web site, 'It is a great honor to be the first student to receive the scholarship in the memory of Neda Agha Soltan, which is particularly meaningful to me, being a young woman of Iranian descent, also studying philosophy. In accepting the scholarship, I extend my sincere condolences to the Agha Soltan family, and hope that in succeeding in my studies at Oxford, I can do justice to the name of their brave and gifted daughter.'
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:
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.)
Unrest in Iranian universities continued despite threats and an increased security presence in the country's institutions of higher learning. On Sunday, Mohammad Javad Larijani was heckled at Sharif University as he prepared to give a speech. Larijani, brother of Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani and judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani, heads the judiciary's human rights office [sic] and runs a research center at Sharif University, the country's top engineering school. Last week he had compared opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to Massoud Rajavi, the unpopular leader of the MKO. Larijani had been invited to speak by Sharif University's Basij, but considerably more students showed up to tell him he was not welcome, completely drowning out the applause of a few hapless souls in the front seats of the conference hall:
The students shouted 'Death to the dictator!' and 'The coup government must resign!':
The protesters then filed out of the conference hall, leaving behind a few spectators to listen to Larijani:
Fars News reported that in his subsequent speech Larijani had accused Mousavi of seeking to carry out a coup d'état. Fars did not mention the student protest.
In a series of decrees issued this weekend, Leader Ali Khamenei shuffled top brass in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The most notable change concerned Hojattoleslam Hossein Taeb, the hated chief of the Basij, who was transferred to the IRGC intelligence unit. He was replaced by an equally controversial figure, General Mohammad Reza Naghdi. Naghdi was at the heart of the hardliners' battle against former reformist Tehran Mayor Gholam Hossein Karbaschi, a chief adviser of former President Mohammad Khatami, in 1998. At the time, he was counterintelligence chief of Iran's security forces, but was transferred after his role in the arrest and torture of Tehran's district mayors was divulged. He was also behind the assault on two of Khatami's ministers, Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri and Islamic Guidance Minister Ataollah Mohajerani, at Tehran Friday Prayers in 1998.
Apparently the tense atmosphere in Iranian universities is affecting government officials. According to the Amir Kabir Newsletter, Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hosseini showed up for a ceremony in Kashan University without any prior announcement. The minister hastily left the campus after his official duties had ended.
According to Salam News, Saeed Hajjarian, the wheelchair-bound theorist of the reform movement who was released from prison on bail on Wednesday, has been grilling visitors about what really happened in the country since his arrest in the week that followed the disputed election of June 12. Hajjarian said that he was kept in solitary confinement in Evin Prison for a month, before being transferred to an unknown location for over two months where his only contact with the outside world was his interrogator. Hajjarian does not seem to have lost his legendary sense of humor. According to Salam News, he has been telling friends that his jailers did not even give him copies of the conservative Keyhan daily, 'which was fine with me.'
Friday's soccer derby between Tehran's rival teams, Esteghlal and Persepolis, turned into another opportunity for the green movement to protest. Live footage of the game included loud chants in favor of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. For a full report and videos, go to this previous post. The conservative news site Alef however ran a story claiming that BBC Persian had tried to make 40 protesters appear like 80,000. In a related story, Donyayeh Football (Soccer World) magazine's last issue was banned, although the magazine has not been officially shut down. The authorities have suggested that the magazine refrain from publishing for the time being. Various reports, including one in Parsine, allege that the reason for the restrictions on Donyayeh Football is an article in which the magazine claimed that 33,000 tickets to the derby had been reserved for 'certain official bodies.' Some counter-slogans, 'We don't want politics mixed with footabll!', were heard at the stadium as greens chanted 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein!'
It's all about semantics. In an interview with Time Magazine's Managing Editor Richard Stengel on Friday, Mahmoud Amadinejad could hardly contain his gleeful grin as Stengel questioned him on the new urnaium enrichment facility which Iran has been building near the holy city of Ghom, and whose existence came to light last week. The new plant would endow Iran with at least two enrichment facilities -- the other known plant is in Natanz -- and would mean that the country is even closer to obtaining enough nuclear material for a bomb. According to reports, Iran divulged the existence of the Ghom plant in a letter addressed to the IAEA last Monday. Hence Ahmadinejad's grin and his ability to tell Stengel that the site is 'not secret', as President Barack Obama announced in Pittsburgh while he was flanked by President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Iran has always contended that as a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is only bound to reveal a major nuclear site's existence once nuclear material has been injected into it. The international community's reading of the treaty is that such sites must be declared as soon as construction begins. This morning, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi underlined this position by claiming that Iran had expected to be praised for its transparency because it had revealed the site's construction 18 months before any gas is to be injected into it. Iran may have tried to preempt international censure by sending the letter to the IAEA. According to sources speaking to the Associated Press, American, British, and French intelligence services had discovered the site several years ago and were waiting for construction to be sufficiently advanced before making a surprise announcement.
With the start of the Iranian academic year, the regime will have to contend with new organized fronts in the opposition movement. Students in Tehran University convened in front of the offices of the faculty of philosophy to protest the presence of Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, former Majlis Speaker and member of the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution. Haddad Adel's daughter is married to Mojtaba Khamenei, Leader Ali Khamenei's son. According to Mowjeh Sabzeh Azadi, Haddad Adel did not emerge from the conference room, so the students began chanting, 'Anti-nation Majlis representative, shame, shame!', 'Haddad Adel, supporter of a murderer!' and 'Whoever is uneducated is with Ahmadinejad!' (Har ki ke bisavadeh, ba Ahmadinejadeh!)
According to the opposition Mowjeh Sabzeh Azadi, a much bigger crowd marched elsewhere on the campus today. Waving green ballons, the students called for the resignation of the 'coup government' and shouted 'Death to the dictator!'
Another source posted a video purporting to be from the same demonstration today, this time in front of the main library building, and claimed that the number of protesters was growing by the minute.
The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) bought a controlling stake in the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI or Sherkat Mokhaberat Iran) in a half-hour operation on Sunday whose outcome was inevitable. The two rival bids were advanced by groups controlled the IRGC. The Tosse'eh Etemad Mobin consortium, linked to the IRGC's social affairs mutual fund, bought 50% plus one stock in the state telecom for 340.9 toumans a share which brought the amount of the deal to 7.8 trillion toumans (about $8 billion), the largest transaction in the history of the Tehran stock exchange.
Parviz Meshkatian, santour virtuoso and composer, passed away on Tuesday of heart failure at the age of 54. Masters of Iranian music spoke at his funeral service on Friday and lamented the loss of their fellow musician. But the presence of government representative, Deputy Minister for Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hossein Imani Khoshkhou, was too much for the participants, who prevented him from speaking by clapping loudly and continuously.
Ebrahim Sharifi, one of the alleged victims of rape in Iranian prisons, remains undaunted. Mehdi Karroubi initially referred to Sharifi without naming him and published a limited account of his experiences on the Etemad Melli web site. The regime's panel which looked into Karroubi's allegations quickly dismissed all evidence and claims of abuse, rape, and murder in Iranian prisons, in particular disparaging a certain 'E. Sh.' Sharifi courageously maintained his position and divulged his identity in video testimony that appeared on the Internet ten days ago. Sharifi has now left Iran and gave a detailed interview of the abuse to which he was subjected in an interview with Radio Farda which was released this weekend. For an English translation of this interview, please come back to this blog later today.
In another sign of sharp divisions between senior clerics and the regime, a number of grand ayatollahs rejected Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's announcement that September 20 was the date of Eid Fitr, a key celebration in Islam which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and is the first day of Shawwal. Several grand ayatollahs -- 'sources of emulation' whom Shiites choose to follow -- including Hossein Ali Montazeri, Youssef Saanei, Abdolkarim Mousavi Ardebili, and Asadollah Bayat Zanjani declared erroneous Khamenei's assessment that Eid Fitr was to take place on Sunday and said that the correct date is today, Monday September 21. The Muslim calendar is lunar and senior clerics must declare when months such as Ramadan end according to their observations of the lunar cycle. 'Those who mistakenly broke their fast on Sunday have not sinned because they did not do so deliberately,' observed Grand Ayatollah Saanei.
Footage filmed from the pedestrian overpass at 7th Tir Square, Tehran, at 2 PM on Friday September 18 shows Basiji forces escaping as people charge them and burn a dozen of their motorcycles. The person filming the video says, 'Look at the people's rage. It is Iran Day! (NB Protesters are now referring to Ghods Day as Iran Day. This follows the same trend as the slogan employed throughout the country -- 'Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life for Iran.' -- during this event which is supposed to show support for Palestinians and opposition to Israel.
According to a report released this morning by the Iranian Labor News Agency, disruptions in Internet service which began on Thursday, September 17, the day before the mass protests around the country, have not been resolved yet. 'Such widespead disruption had occurred in the days before and after the election,' notes ILNA. 'But since the authorities have stated that there are no security concerns at this time, the current problems have provoked confusion among the country's Internet users.'
On Sunday, it was announced that Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, formerly Defense Minister, would be visiting Kurdistan province with a security delegation following following recent 'terrorist activity' there. Mamosta Borhan Aali, one of Sanandaj's Friday prayer leaders, was gunned down outside his home on September 13. Four days later, Mamosta Mohammad Sheikholeslam, Assembly of Experts representative from Kurdistan province, was shot and killed outside a Sanandaj mosque. Two Kurdish judges were injured in assassination attempts over the past ten days. Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi told Mehr News that his agents were looking into these events which 'showed the abject nature of the enemy.' It is unclear who is behind the series of assassination attempts but some opposition analysts believe that some, if not all, may have been orchestrated as a prelude to a violent crackdown in Kurdistan province.
Alireza Beheshti, Mousavi adviser and head of the opposition committee investigating the abuse and deaths of protesters, announced on Sunday that Muslims wishing to offer fitriyeh -- charitable gifts given on Eid Fitr (see above) -- to those who have suffered in the post-election unrest, could transfer donations to a bank account set up for the occasion. Beheshti was recently arrested and released in a weeklong crackdown targeting those looking into the regime's human rights violation. Details of the bank account were published on the web site of the Etemad Melli Party.
According to a document released by the Mousavi camp this weekend, hospitals were ordered to keep secret the medical records of those injured in the post-election unrest. The alleged confidential directive issued to the Health Ministry on July 19 by the IRGC's Sarollah Base, a division of the Revolutionary Guards intelligence apparatus under IRGC deputy commander-in-chief General Mohammad Hejazi, orders hospitals to refrain from providing those injured in the post-election unrest with any medical records. The document, stamped 'urgent' and 'confidential,' was signed by General Ali Khalili and was acknowledged by the Health Ministry on July 26.
A review of the most important news of the weekend.
Alireza Beheshti, senior member of the opposition committee looking into the abuse and deaths of protesters, was released from prison late Saturday. Beheshti was arrested at home on Tuesday after the search and closure of his offices on Monday. He is the son of iconic revolutionary figure Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, the first judiciary chief of the Islamic Republic who was assassinated in 1981. Hassan Khomeini, grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, visited Beheshti shortly after he was freed. The release, said to be the result of heavy backroom pressure from senior leaders, is considered a setback for the regime hard-liners. (Previous report on his arrest)
Supporters began assembling outside Ayatollah Youssef Saanei's office in the holy city of Ghom on Saturday evening after he delivered a fiery speech against the regime. Congregants, gathered in a mosque on the occasion of Ghadr Night, the night of the revelation of the Koran to the Prophet Muhammed, began chanting even before leaving the premises:
They subsequently demonstrated outside Saanei's office, chanting 'With God's help we will reach victory, death to this deceitful government!' 'Political prisoners must be freed!' 'Long live Mir Hossein [Mousavi], May Karroubi stand long!' and 'Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life only for Iran!'
Ayatollah Saanei had already delivered a highly critical speech in Gorgan on August 12, in which he implied that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a 'lying bastard.' Ahmadinejad has filed a lawsuit against Saanei.
Human rights lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah was released from prison on Sunday after posting 500 million toumans ($500,000) in bail. He had been arrested in his law office on July 8. Dadkhah is a member of Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi's Center for the Defense of Human Rights, and has often defended political prisoners in court.
Five months after arriving in Tehran, British Ambassador Simon Gass finally presented his letter of appointment to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday, in a ceremony that Raja News and Fars News termed 'a humiliation for Britain.' Gass presented his letter in a joint ceremony attended by other newly-appointed ambassadors from Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and New Zealand. Ahmadinejad reportedly did not smile when addressing Gass and in response to the British ambassador's assurances that Britain did not want to interfere in the affairs of Iran, said that the Iranian people would not allow anyone to interfere anyway.
Mamousta Borhan Aali, a Friday prayer leader in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, was shot and killed at his home. Borhan Aali was a supporter of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and had campaigned for him during the presidential election.
The archives of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, have filed a lawsuit against arch-conservative Keyhan daily for alleging that the archives had been infiltrated by traitors. The full text of the complaint in Farsi can be read here. Keyhan daily is run by Hossein Shariatmadari, close adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his representative at the Keyhan Institute.
Candlelight vigils were held at Behesht Zahra cemetery for dead protesters, including Neda Agha Soltan and Sohrab Aarabi. The woman weeping at Neda's grave (the YouTube user incorrectly uses the word 'thumb' instead of tomb) is allegedly her mother and can be heard saying, 'You had so much left to say. Your eyes say so much. What were you seeking, my dear Neda?'
And at Sohrab Aarabi's grave:
Rooftop chanting was allegedly stronger than usual after Ayatollah Khamenei's bellicose Friday Prayer sermon, according to several videos posted over the weekend:
The Secrets of Khamenei's Life The secret life of Iran's Leader, Ali Khamanei, is exposed by former staff members of the Intelligence Ministry and his household in a fascinating article by internationally renowned filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf... (part 1)(part 2)(part 3) Humiliation even in death Detailed analysis of several videos shows the final moments of a protester run over by a car and the refusal of her body by a medical center... (more)
The banality of evil Shocking footage of a man being lashed in Iran reminds the viewer of what Hannah Arendt called the banality of evil... (more) Provisional list of 72 dead protesters Originally compiled by the opposition committee looking into the abuse and deaths of protesters, the list has been enhanced with photos, video footage, and commentary... (more)
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