The Latest from Iran (16 September): Suspending Damocles' Sword

2030 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. University student Mohammad Reza Valian, detained after the Ashura protests last December --- one of the charges against him was "throwing stones" --- has been released. 

2015 GMT: Stopping the Attorneys. Radio Farda follows up on the story, reported on EA earlier this week, that the husband and lawyer detained human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh have been threatened with arrest if they spread information about her case.

Sotoudeh's husband, Reza Khandan, said he and attorney Nasim Ghanavi had been warned by the Ministry of Intelligence: "They told Ms. Ghanavi that a case has been filed against her and me for giving interviews about my wife's arrest."

Sotoudeh was detained on 4 September on accusations of "collusion against national security" and "spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic". Days earlier, she had spoken about a raid on her office, claiming that Iranian authorities were trying to stop her representing clients like activist Shiva Nazar Ahari.

1625 GMT: Labour Front. The Tehran Bus Drivers Syndicate has condemned the continued detention of members Reza Shahabi, Ebrahim Madadi, and Mansoor Osanloo.

1615 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Younes Hormozi, chairman of the Turkish unit of Iran's Bank Mellat,several Turkish banks with close ties to the European Union and the United States have halted financial trade with Iran because of sanctions. Hormozi said his bank had approached new potential banking partners in Turkey, but had still to hear their response.

1520 GMT: The Assassinated Scientist. Masih Alinejad publishes an interview with the family of Masoud Alimohammadi, the scientist killed by an explosion in a Tehran street in January. The family make clear that they believe an internal group, rather than foreign agents, carried out the assassination.

1515 GMT: The Election "Coup". Norooz has now published some of the alleged PowerPoint slides of the presentation by Revolutionary Guard commander "Moshfegh", setting out the military's manipulation of the 2009 Presidential election through intimidation and repression of the opposition (see 0930 GMT).

1300 GMT: The Sword Drops? Kalemeh, the website of Mir Hossein Mousavi, is reporting that Mousavi's offices were raided by Iranian security forces last night. Documents, equipment, and computers were taken.

The raid follows the blockade of Mousavi's offices, preventing visits, and this week's arrest of his head of office.

1255 GMT: Arresting the Students. Human rights and activist sites report that Iranian authorities have arrested a number of students from Tehran University in connection with the June 2009 attacks by security forces on dormitories.

The students are being reportedly charged with “participating in protests after the elections, throwing rocks, throwing Molotov cocktails, confrontation with officials, insulting officials and the sanctities of the regime in order to incite Basij and security forces to attack the dorm". Bails of between $10,000 and $50,000 have been set, with the students being taken to Evin Prison.

On 14/15 June 2009, days after the Presidential election, Iranian forces raided the dormitories, causing widespread damage and killing several students.

1230 GMT: The Blockade of the Opposition. Continuing the restrictions on contact with Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, Iranian authorities prevented members of the youth branch of Karroubi's Etemade Melli party from seeing the cleric on Wednesday. 

0955 GMT: Execution (Sakineh) Watch. Iranian authorities have once again put Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 43-year-old woman condemned to death for adultery, on national television.

Ashtiani said, "I have not been tortured, at all. All these words are my own words. Nobody has forced me to appear before camera and whatever I say is my own words." Speaking in Azeri, she added that reports that she had been lashed 99 times for a photograph of a woman without a headscarf, published in The Times of London and mistakenedly identified as her, were "false and rumours".

Ashtiani's case has received growing international attention throughout the summer, and Iranian authorities have been increasingly defensive, suspending her execution by stoning while saying that court proceedings against Ashtiani for complicity in the murder of her husband will be completed.

Last month Ashtiani appeared on Iranian television to "confess" involvement in the murder.

0930 GMT: The Election "Coup". Remember the story this summer, based on a leader audio file, of a Revolutionary Guard commander, "Moshfegh" discussing manipulation of the election through measures against the opposition before and after the vote?

Well, there appears to be a major sequel this week. Fereshteh Ghazi brings out details of a 110-page Government report identifying those who supposedly threatened the regime. 

And EA has just received a copy of the alleged PowerPoint presentation of Commander "Moshfegh".

0855 GMT: Violence. There has been a steady stream of reports this week of crowds attacking homes and buildings, including the residence of two political prisoners. The latest claim is that a group has damaged an Armenian church and sports club in Tehran.

0850 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. One apparent "concession" from the regime on Wednesday: the sentences of seven leaders of the Baha'i community were reduced from 20 years each to 10 years.

0730 GMT: We open this morning with a far-from-subtle threat by Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi, as reported by the Tehran Times: "Iran has granted furloughs to 20 political prisoners. However, their names will not be announced so that they can spend their leave without any problems, 'but of course as long as they act according to the furlough rules'."

So Doulatabadi confirms what we have suspected for months: opposition figures and dissidents, after months in prison, will be released on high bails or given "temporary releases". If they keep their mouths shut and avoid associating with "leaders of seditions" and other enemies of the state, they can remain free. If they violate those conditions, they are back in jail.

Doulatabadi backed up the threat with the general declaration that his office would try the "leaders of sedition". And he also suspended the sword of Damocles over a specific nemesis of the regime: "Mehdi Hashemi [the son of Hashemi Rafsanjani] was subpoenaed last year and the fact that he is not in Iran does not mean his dossier is not going through the judicial process....Hashemi is still a defendant and whenever he comes back to Iran, his court hearing will begin."

As we have noted over the last two weeks, Hashemi Rafsanjani has been offering indications --- both in private meetings and in public statements --- of a challenge to President Ahmadinejad.

Doulatabadi's statement is no less than a warning: back in your political cage, Hashemi, or we take steps against your family.

One group that does not have to worry about the prosecutor's sword is the pro-regime crowd that laid siege to Mehdi Karroubi's house two weeks ago: "Nobody charged with assaulting the house...has been handed over to Judiciary officials."

Tehran Police Chief Hossein Sajedinia had announced on Monday that 100 people surrounding and Karroubi’s residential complex had been identified.