The Latest from Iran (10 January): Don't Mention the Election

1935 GMT: The "Subversive" Writers. More on the authors targeted in a new Government campaign against dangerous writers (see 1520 GMT)....

The international media have picked up on the specific case of Nobel Prize winner Paolo Coelho, who has appealed to the Brazilian Government after learning from his publisher of a ban on his books.

It is unclear whether the ban is linked to Coelho's editor, translator, and friend, Dr Arash Hejazi. The doctor attracted the ire of the Iranian Government as a supposed foreign agent after he tried to save the life of Neda Agha Soltan, killed by a gunshot during demonstrations on 20 June 2009.

Indeed, there is a Who's Who of Iranian authors whose place on the blacklist has not attracted notice outside Iran. They include Simin Behbahani, Mahmoud Doulatabadi, Ali Ashraf Darvishian, Sepanlou, Javad Mojabi, Bahman Farzaneh, Abbas Milani, Mashallah Ajudani, Bahram Beyzaie, Ebrahim Golestan, and Reza Ghassemi.

1855 GMT: The Basij Take on the Economy. The head of the Basij militia, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, has complained, "Our fruit rots on the trees", while the Bazaar takes in imports and the Government is import-centered.

1840 GMT: I'm-Not-Listening Watch. President Ahmadinejad has again rebuffed the Parliament's attempt to pass legislation, rejecting its measure for a new combined Sports and Youth Ministry and again dismissing its removal of the Central Bank from his control.

1730 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An appeals court has increased the sentence of student activist Mohammad Darvishi to 5 1/2 years.

Darvishi, a nursing student at Shahr-e Kord Open University, was arrested for his role in issuing a student announcement condemning the execution of five political prisoners, four of them Kurdish, in May 2010. He was freed on $100,000 bail before being sentenced to three years and two months in December.

1540 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An appeals court has upheld the 10-year prison sentence and 10-year ban on party and media activities on journalist Emad Bahavar.

1535 GMT: The Battle Within. Hojetoleslam Mohammad-Ebrahim Nekounam, a member of Parliament's Article 90 (supervisory) Commission has said in a wide-ranging statement that files against Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai and 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi are under investigation.

Nekounam has also told President Ahmadinejad to stop the sudden dismissals of Ministers and advisors.

1530 GMT: Today's Warning. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Shahabeddin Sadr has said that instead of setting political conditions --- a reference to former President Mohammad Khatami's recent demands for release of political prisoners and free elections --- reformers must be sentenced.

1520 GMT: Bad Books Alert. Green Voice of Freedom warns of a new Government campaign against authors and publishers. Those at risk because of their "subversive" content include Nashr-e Ney, Cheshmeh, Kavir, Ataee, Roshangaran (run by Shahla Lahiji), Qoqnoos, and Akhtaran (more information on publishers via Susa).

1515 GMT: Transport Alert. The chief executive officer of the Tehran Metro, Mohsen Hashemi, has warned that the network could shut down because of a 400% increase in operating costs.

1500 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Thomas Erdbbrink, the Washington Post correspondent in Tehran, has written about the 11-year sentence handed down on attorney Nasrine Sotoudeh on Sunday (see separate entry).

Sotoudeh has also been banned from practicing law for 20 years.

Der Spiegel in Germany also has the story.

1440 GMT: Air Crash. The number of dead from Sunday's crash of a flight from Tehran to Oroumiyeh in northwestern Iran is now 77 of the 105 passengers. President Ahmadinejad has called for a probe into the cause of the disaster.

1425 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Four members of the Pan-Iranist party --- Reza Kermani, Arash Kaykhosro, Shahin Zaeinali, and Hojat Kalashi --- have been arrested.

1200 GMT: Foreign Espionage Watch. Iran's Ministry of Intelligence has sped up a slow news day with the claim that it has arrested the "main agents" behind the January 2010 assassination of nuclear physicist Masoud Alimohammadi.

The ministry claims the suspects were working for the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, which had used bases in "certain European and non-European countries" as well as Iran's neighboring states "to achieve its inhuman and non-Islamic goals".

Alimohammadi was killed by a roadside explosive as he set off for work at Tehran University.

0720 GMT: Nuke Posturing. So what will the international media be covering today? I'll put my money on the rhetoric of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she tours the Middle East.

As part of the talk-tough-before-negotiating ritual in advance of nuclear talks with Iran in Istanbul on 20 or 21 January, Clinton performed the interesting trick of belittling an Israeli report that Iran is unlikely to have capability for nuclear weapons before 2015:

The timeline is not so important as the international effort to try to ensure that whatever the timeline, Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons. I don't know that it gives much comfort to somebody who is in the Gulf, or who is in a country that Iran has vowed to destroy, that it's a one-year or a three-year timeframe.

0640 GMT: The breaking story from Iran yesterday, which soon received international attention, was the crash of a flight from Tehran to Oroumiyeh in the northwest of the country, killing 72 of the 105 passengers.

The breaking political story is one you are unlikely to have read. New charges have been filed against 14 political prisoners who dared to complain about one of the most significant pieces of evidence that the 2009 Presidential election was surrounded by manipulation and intimidation.

Last summer, an audio tape of a presentation by a Revolutionary Guard officer, "Commander Moshfegh", was leaked. The commander outlined in detail how the Guard moved before, during, and immediately after the election to suppress the opposition. An accompanying Power Point, also leaked, further outlined the methods and those opposition figures who had been targeted.

After the dissemination of the tape and documents, the 14 detainees, such as politicians Mostafa Tajzadeh and Mohsen Aminzadeh, student activist,Abdollah Momeni, and journalists Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, Mohsen Mirdamadi, and Mohammad Davari, sought court action for investigation and prosecution of any wrongdoing. Nothing happened until yesterday: perhaps unsurprisingly, those who may be tried over the incident will not be those who may have ensured the "right" result for President Ahmadinejad.