The Latest from Iran (17 November): TV Justice

1820 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has more on the case of Parvin Tajik (see 1140 GMT), given a 1 1/2-year sentence for speaking to foreign media about her brother, detained journalist Abdolreza Tajik.

The Tajik family had written in July that Abdolreza had been "dishonoured" in prison.

1740 GMT: Lost in Translation. Press TV clarifies confusion over the Iranian presentation of its war-crime exercises (see 1118 GMT):

Spokesman for the "Modafean Aseman Velayat 3," (Defenders of Velayat Skies) drill General Hamid Arjangi said earlier on Wednesday that Iranian forces have identified the mock (emphasis added) intrusion of six "unknown planes" into the country's airspace.

As part of the drill, we had six reports about the intrusion of six unknown planes into the country's space [on Tuesday], Arjangi said, adding that in every six cases the planes were forced to lift off and interception operations were carried out, Fars News Agency reported.

However, The Washington Post, Associated Press and AFP among other Western media outles, reported that Iran's armed forces intercepted six "unknown planes" that intruded into the country's airspace during aerial defense maneuvers, citing Fars News Agency as the source.

(hat tip to EA reader Pak)

1645 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Daneshjoo News, drawing from other sources, summarises that the family of four student detainees have been threatened by security forces.

1140 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Parvin Tajik, who was given a 1 1/2-year sentence this week, has declared the punishment is for talking about the situation of her brother, journalist Abdolreza Tajik, in Evin Prison.

1133 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? President Ahmadinejad is in Baku today, declaring that Iran and Azerbaijan are really good friends and neighbours, providing regional balance and stability.

1122 GMT: And What is Wednesday's Big Message? Today is the religious celebration Eid al-Adha. How is the Iranian regime going to use the occasion?

Well, we have the Supreme Leader in Isfahan addressing thousands, and it looks like he's keen on talking about the repeated failures of the enemy in the face of Iran's jihadist martyrs --- you know, how the 2009 election was all about foreign intrigue being repelled by the "Iranian nation, relying on faith, insight, tact, and understanding".

And in Tehran, there is support from Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, who assures everybody that the US is caught in "quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan" and "the Zionist regime is on the verge of decline": "Thanks to the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the Islamic world is safe from enemies."

1118 GMT: Diversion Watch. An add-on to the publicity over Iran's five-day air defence exercise. General Hamid Arjangi declared that exercise had turned into proud resistance: "There were six cases of intrusion by unidentified planes into the country. In all six cases, Air Force jet fighters took off and carried out interception operations....Artillery systems were alerted, targets were identified and necessary warnings were given."

Iran said Wednesday that unidentified foreign planes violated its air space six times as the country kicked off its biggest ever air defense drill but that the intruders were intercepted and forced back by Iranian jets.

The remarks by Gen. Hamid Arjangi, a spokesman for the exercise, were the first Iranian claim of an intrusion. Initially, he had only said that foreign reconnaissance planes had approached Iran's air space.

1115 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Aziz Naseri, Kurdish author and translator, has been released on $50,000 bail.

0915 GMT: And Now the Sports. Peyman Fakhri of Iran's national fencin team  is seeking asylum in France.

0800 GMT: A slow start this morning, as the chatter is still about Monday night's television "confessions" by Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, condemned to death for adultery, her son, her lawyer, and two German journalists. We have a special analysis of the regime politics behind the performance.

The latest regime propaganda, using Ashtiani, is trying to provide a notion of "justice" as it tries to break the Iranian legal system by breaking its defence lawyers. Nahid Keshavarz, writing for The Feminist School, gives a first-hand account of this week's trial of attorney Nasrine Sotoudeh. The message? Nasrine still offers "a smile that gives us hope".