The Latest from Iran (8 August): Small Breakthroughs?

1510 GMT: The Campaign Against the President's Man. Prominent "hard-line" cleric Mohammad Yazdi has joined the campaign against Ahmadinejad Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai for his remarks on Iran and Islam.

Ayatollah Yazdi told Fars News: "Esfandiar Rahim-Masha'i must not enter debates in which he knows nothing....One must not undermine the dignity of Islam simply to please others."

1310 GMT: Execution Watch. In her latest interview, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death for adultery, has criticised the conduct of the Iranian judiciary.

1300 GMT: German Sanctions-Busting? Der Spiegel claims the customs officers at Frankurt Airport seized Siemens switches destined for Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant via Moscow.

1250 GMT: Green Media. The statement of the IraNeda Foundation, "Marching Towards a People-Based Media", has been posted.

1230 GMT: The Battle Within. "Hardline" politicians are speaking of the Supreme Leader's lost legitimacy, as they defend the autonomy of the Expediency Council.

1220 GMT: Political Prisoners Challenge Election. Seven prominent reformist politicians --- all detained after the June 2009 Presidential election --- have filed a lawsuit claiming the vote was manipulated.

The seven are Mohsen Aminzadeh, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Fayzolah Arabsorkhi, Mohsen Safai Farahani, Mohsen Mirdamadi, and Behzad Nabavi. (http://www.twitter.com/persianbanoo)

1215 GMT: The Hunger Strike. The father of Ali Parviz, one of the 16 political prisoners on hunger strike, has reportedly been arrested. (http://bit.ly/cnijSs)

1210 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Siamak Ghaderi has reportedly been arrested. (http://bit.ly/cKus4u)

1200 GMT: We have posted a special analysis on social media in the Middle East and Iran, courtesy of Mona Eltahawy, Fartashphoto, and Dave Siavashi.

1115 GMT: The Human Rights Lawyer. Mohammad Mostafaei, the lawyer who fled from Iran two weeks ago as authorities tried to detain him, has now arrived in Norway from Turkey as his request for asylum is being considered. (http://bit.ly/cOFtty)

0455 GMT: Execution Watch. Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi reviews Iran's legal system and stoning, the sentence imposed but not yet implemented on Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.

0430 GMT: We're still trying to assess two pieces of news that came through at the end of Saturday.

The wife of Mohammad Mostafaei, the human rights lawyer who fled Iran and now may be on his way to asylum in Norway, has been released from prison after two weeks. Is this a tacit Tehran admission that the strategy of holding family members in jail to force the return of those it wants to detain --- a "new low", as an EA contact put it --- has failed? Or is simply the recognition that Mostafaei can not represent clients while he is in exile and that he will still have to keep in mind that his family has been left behind in Iran?

Then there was the release of photojournalist Babak Bordbar from detention. Bordbar had been in prison for seven months and was one of 17 political prisoners on hunger strike. Was this a small sign that this tactic works or were there more mundane reasons for Bordbar's freedom, such as the regular practice of controlling undesirable activity through high bails and the prospect of a return to jail?

Meanwhile....

Ahmadinejad's Saturday Speech

For those who want to test out reports of President Ahmadinejad's speech on the eve of National Speech Day, noted primarily by the Western press for its claim of an exaggerated death toll on 11 September 2001 and its "denial" of the Holocaust --- Press TV carried the 9-11 reference but did not mention any comment on the fate of Jews in and beyond Germany --- the video has been posted.

Hamas Watch: Rockets, Gaza's Power Plant Closed, and A Secret Meeting with Israel?

Rockets and Hamas: On Saturday, London based Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Hamas official Khaled Mashaal to the Jordanian government, saying that Hamas had nothing to do with rockets fired from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula into Eilat in Israel and Aqaba in Israel on Monday.

Mashaal accused Israel and Egypt of jointly exploiting the rocket attacks to justify a future military operation in the Gaza Strip.

On Thursday, the head of Israel's security agency Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin, was in Cairo for a further exchange of information on the rockets, according to a report by London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. Egyptian officials told Diskin that the rockets did not originate from their country and assured him that investigations were continuing to find the rocket-launching trucks.

Hamas vs Fatah on Energy: Gaza's only power plant was reportedly closed because of a fuel shortage. 

The plant provides Gaza City and its surroundings with 6 to 10 hours of electricity a day. The rest of the densely-populated territory receives its electricity from Egypt and Israel.

Normally, Hamas collects the bills and officials from the rival party Fatah in Ramallah buy the fuel. Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib says Hamas is not sending enough money, an allegation denied by the Gazan leadership.

Israeli and Hamas Officials Met Secretly?: On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces West Bank division commander, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, warned Israeli settlers to be on alert for possible abduction attempts across the territory, following interrogations of Palestinians arrested on suspicion of involvement in kidnappings.

The IDF said intelligence has shown Hamas leaders in Damascus are pressuring  followers in the West Bank to abduct Israeli settlers and citizens.

Meanwhile, Asharq Al-Awsat quotes Palestinian sources that the former Treasury Minister in Hamas' Gaza administration, Omar Abed al-Razak was taken from Nablus in the West Bank to the Israeli city of Netanya on Tuesday.

In a secret meeting, Israeli officials allegedly warned Hamas against kidnapping settlers in the West Bank. Both sides discussed the recent rocket attacks and the situation of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, detained by Hamas.

Iran: HoloCartoons and Ahmadinejad on Jews from the Holocaust to 9/11

NOTE: The full Ahmadinejad speech on Saturday can now be viewed.

On Thursday, a new Iranian website, HoloCartoons , was launched to worldwide criticism. The website shows Jews chalking corpses on the ground and changing the "truth" just to establish the state of Israel. It jibes that there were "exactly" five million and four hundred Jews in Europe, not "exactly" six million.

The semiofficial Iranian Fars News reported that cartoonist Maziar Bijani launched the site and said it is financed by a non-governmental cultural foundation. The site has English, Arabic and Farsi versions.

On Saturday, speaking at a Tehran conference, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly continued his criticisms and said, "They made up an event, the so-called Holocaust which was later laid as the basis for the innocence of a group."

Then Ahmadinejad allegedly claimed that Zionists who were working at the World Trade Centre had been informed in advance not to go to work on September 11. He continued:

What was the story of Sept. 11? During five to six days, and with the aid of the media, they created and prepared public opinion so that everyone considered an attack on Afghanistan and Iraq as (their) right.

They announced that 3,000 people were killed in this incident, but there were no reports that reveal their names. Maybe you saw that, but I did not.

Sunday Video Fun: It's Not New York, It's Newport (Wales)

We ask our international readers to put up with a special for our British and, in particular, our Welsh audience. Alicia Keys and Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" gets a makeover from Wales's Number 3 City:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNfbX6uvA6s[/youtube]

Pakistan: A Growing Friendship with Beijing? (Raaff)

Seb Raaff writes for EA:

Lately, the Pakistani Government has been taking blows from the “West”. With growing distrust of its commitment to the destruction of the Taliban in Afghanistan,and the recent Wikileaks documents suggesting Pakistani intelligence ties with insurgents, Islamabad has found itself out of favour in both London and Washington.

With Beijing, the situation is much different.

Pakistan, an observer of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) since 2005, however, because of concerns from other members, it has been denied full membership as recently as this spring. However, the spate of upsets with the West could have strengthened Pakistan’s links with China and its neighbours. Indeed, after President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Beijing on 12 July, relations have appeared to go from good to better.

Dawn reported:

Appreciating Pakistan’s one-China policy, the Chinese leadership assured President Zardari of their continued support to Pakistan at the United Nations and other multilateral forums in its fight against militancy. China has already supported Pakistan’s full membership to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

President Asif Ali Zardari was also able to secure a grant of 50 million Yuan (about $7.4 million) for Pakistan’s development, as well as a signed agreement on increased economic cooperation.

This increase in support comes at a time when Beijing is also wooing Pakistan with the promise of two new nuclear reactors despite complaints from Washington. Even though China is a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which prohibits the transfer of nuclear technology to countries --- such as Pakistan --- have not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, Beijing is pressing ahead with the sale.

As Pakistan faces a humanitarian disaster in one of its most volatile regions with last week’s floods, increasing criticism from the West, and ever-present threats to stability from indigenous terrorism, China’s recent ventures may bring strengthened links with Islamabad, even if this causes tension in Pakistan’s ties with the West.