The Latest from Iran (15 January): The Regime's Fizzling Displays

1715 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mehdi Yarmohammadi, who worked for Mir Hossein Mousavi, has been sentenced to three years in prison.

1610 GMT: Energy Watch. Iranian officials said natural gas consumption had hit a record high due to cold weather, despite recent subsidy cuts.

Earlier this month, the officials had said consumption had dropped about 5% since the introduction of the cuts.

1545 GMT: Execution Watch. Kurdish detainee Hossein Khezri was executed in Oroumiyeh in northwestern Iran this morning.

Khezri was accused of being a member of the Kurdish insurgent group PJAK. He was arrested in July 2008 and sentenced to death in July 2009 for mohareb (”war against God”) and “endangering state security."

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The Latest from Iran (30 December): A Year After the Regime's Display

2255 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Fares for taxis have risen up to 15% today. No one seems to have addressed the economic question, though: how does this cover a tripling or quadrupling of fuel prices?

2250 GMT: Economy Watch. The price of gold and gold coins are rising, and the toman has fallen to 1080 per US dollar.

1840 GMT: Taxing the Nobel Prize Winner. Shirin Ebadi's property has been seized for alleged non-payment of taxes, and the Nobel Prize laureate has been banned from leaving the country.

Ebadi is currently outside Iran, and her lawyer Nasrine Sotoudeh has been detained since early September.

1835 GMT: Diplomatic Criticism. Former Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Sadegh Kharrazi has asserted that the Foreign Ministry has no strategic perspective on global developments.

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Iran Breaking: Family of Condemned Habibollah Latifi Arrested

1745 GMT: The Guardian of London now has an article on the arrest of eight members of Habibollah Latifi's family. Reciting the narrative we have posted, The Guardian adds that its conversation with Habibollah Latifi's sister Elahe on Friday was interrupted frequently by Iranian intelligence services.

The newspaper also has this detail on the suspension of Latifi's hanging:

PUK media, an official news website of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), reported that Jalal Talabani, the president of Iraq and the founder of the PUK, had intervened to persuade the Iranian authorities to stop Latifi's execution.

However, Iran's ILNA state news agency quoted Latifi's lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, as saying that "the claim that some officials in the countries of our neighbourhood have intervened to prevent the executions of some culprits including Latifi is not true".

1030 GMT: The youngest sister of Habibollah Latifi, the only family member not arrested in last night's raid by security forces, says she still does not know where her father, three brothers, three sisters, and sister-in-law are being held.

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Iran Snapshot: The Delayed Execution of Habibollah Latifi

2130 GMT: The statement of Habibollah Latifi's sister Elahe on the delay of his execution:

Habib asked that we sincerely thank all the citizens who worked so hard on his behalf. He asked that I kiss your hands and your eyes. I want to thank every single one of my beloved country men and women who stayed up with us these past few nights, who supported us and never left our side. It was because you stayed up with us, because you felt our pain, because you contacted us and did everything in your power to help us, it was because of your pressure that Habib was not executed this morning.

All our efforts are to ensure that not only Habib’s death sentenced is overturned but that more importantly the death penalty in general is abolished in Iran. These efforts are not only for Habib but for all Iranian people. We call on the Iranian people to protest and not remain silent so that together we can ensure that the death penalty is abolished in Iran. There are so many other individuals on death row. Our goal is to ensure that their sentences are also overturned.

[Habib] was in great spirits. Today they allowed us to have a face to face visit at 9:00 a.m. Habib was well and asked us to thank all the citizens both in Iran and abroad who worked so hard to make sure that his death sentence did not take place this morning.

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The Latest from Iran (25 December): Awaiting a Hanging

2250 GMT: All-is-Well Alert (Overseas Edition). Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi has assured a conference, "All Iranians who live outside of the country are not in the opposition. The number of Iranian expatriates who are opponents of the system is limited."

Moslehi said, however, that there is still work to be done: "Foreign intelligence agencies have provided facilities and equipment to [the opponents] to help them make their voices widely heard."

2240 GMT: Execution Watch. Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani has commented on the imminent hanging of Kurdish prisoner Habibollah Latifi: "Even illicit Arabs stopped war and killing in [the religious month of] Moharram."

2225 GMT: All-is-Well Alert. The Deputy Minister of Commerce, Mohammad-Hossein Nekoui-Mehr, has said that the Government has taken special measures for decreasing food prices amidst subsidy cuts.

Nekoui-Mehr added that about 7,000 products are currently being monitored by the Ministry to stop any increase in the prices of general commodities.

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Iran Interview: Sister of Habib Latifi, Sentenced to Die on Sunday

Masih Alinejad interviews Elahe Latifi, sister of condemned Kurdish detainee Habibollah Latifi:

I thought in honour of the religious month of Moharram, no executions would be carried out, but apparently that does not matter to the authorities. Our last hope is God.

One is hopeful until the last minute. Hopeful to be able to do anything for her loved one.

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The Latest from Iran (24 December): An Execution and a Hero

2110 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The Reserve Bank of India will no longer arrange payments for Iranian crude imports.

India's central bank said future payments will have to be settled outside the existing Asian Clearing Union mechanism, which includes central banks of India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Iran, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

1730 GMT: Execution Watch. Rawa News has published an interview with the sister of Habibollah Latifi, the Kurdish prisoner scheduled for execution on Sunday (now see the English text in a separate entry).

She says, "[The authorities] acted very cleverly. They delivered the sentence 1 1/2 hours before the close of office hours on Thursday. So we could not do anything. Today was a Friday [weekend in Iran]. Tomorrow is the last day [before the execution], unless a miracle appears. They have planned so that we can not actually do anything."

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