The Latest from Iran (8 June): Tremors and Falsehoods

2000 GMT: The Rooftop Allahu Akbars Are Back. Claimed video of tonight in west Tehran, with residents shouting "God is Great":

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NriBVuN3og&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

NEW Iran Election Anniversary Special: The Power of the “Gradual”
NEW Iran Special Report:The Attack on Civil Society (Arseh Sevom)
Iran Analysis: The Unexpected Fight Over “Khomeini”
Iran Analysis: One Year After the Election (Shafaee)
Iran Feature: Music and Resistance (Fathi)
The Latest from Iran (7 June): Mousavi-Karroubi Meeting

1955 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Masoud Nourmohammadi, detained since 20 January, has been sentenced to three years in prison for "assembly and collusion against national security". His brother, reformist activist Saeed Nourmohammadi, is serving a one-year prison sentence, with five years suspended, and a 30-year ban on political activity.


1935 GMT: 22 Khordaad. Still waiting for video to surface of today's press conference by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Those present included Advar News, Jaras, Norooz, Saham News, Green Voice of Freedom, Tahavole Sabz, Kalameh, Emrooz, and Mizan.

Meanwhile, Rah-e-Sabz clarifies the latest developments on the requests to march on 12 June. The number of reformist groups seeking permits has risen from 8 to 10.  Two parties have already been rejected, while the rest --- meeting a request from the Ministry of Interior for more information --- have said the protest will "be a silent one, with no one carrying any arms. There will be no statement read out and no speech made." Demonstrators will "carry signs asking for free elections and using green as their symbol".

1920 GMT: Parliament v. President (cont.). The most intriguing move, however, comes from "principlist" MP Ali Motahari. Having been warned for saying that the disturbance at last Friday's ceremony for Ayatollah Khomeini was due in part to the President's election, Motahari said that he would welcome his removal from the party. He declared that this would prepare the ground for the establishment of an independent faction composed of moderate reformists and principlists.

1915 GMT: Parliament v. President. A number of intriguing developments in the conflict between the Majlis and the President....

BBC Persian reports that the Supreme Leader has stepped in, calling for more oversight of the work of Parliament but also seeking more collaboration between the Majlis and Ahmadinejad.

A number of MPs have criticised Ahmadinejad's latest power play. Farhad Tajari, deputy chief of the Majlis legal commission, condemned the President’s letter to the Guardian Council questioning the legitimacy of a number of Parliament's bills, and Seyed Reza Akrami maintained that only the Guardian Council can declare Parliamentary measures illegal. Abbas Rejai, the head of Parliament’s agricultural commission, said that as the Guardian Council has approved all legislation in his area, no one can question its validity.

The Parliament also blamed the office of the President for releasing Ahmadinejad's letter, which bore a confidential stamp, with “all its blatant legal equivocations”.

1910 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kouhyar Goudarzi, member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, has been sentenced to one year in prison.

1740 GMT: Ahmadinejad "All OK. Nothing to See. Move Along." Amidst his rhetoric about the nuclear issue and Israel, President Ahmadinejad did take time today in Turkey to make a passing comment on his own country.

So let it be noted --- because all media hell is going to break loose tomorrow when the UN Security Council adopts a sanctions resolution and the Iranian Government responds, three days ahead of the election anniversary, with defiance and its honourable defence of the country's sovereignty against foreigners --- that Ahmadinejad said:

The Islamic Republic is one of the most stable countries of the world because its foundations are set in the hearts of every single Iranian....People hold the elections, supervise it and participate in it.

1625 GMT: The Complexities Within. Dissected News offers an interesting overview of the tensions not only within the Green Movement but also within the Iranian establishment.

1610 GMT: Jailing the Journalists. Reporters Without Borders posts a lengthy summary of the represssion of journalists in Iran. Some basic statistics:

* At least 170 journalists and bloggers, including 32 women, have been arrested in the past year.

*22 of them have sentenced to jail terms totalling 135 years.

*85 journalists are awaiting trial or sentencing.

* More than 100 journalists have been forced to flee the country.

*23 newspapers have been shut down and thousands of web pages have been blocked.

*With 37 journalists and bloggers currently held, Iran is one of the world’s four biggest prisons for the media, alongside Cuba, Eritrea and North Korea.

1605 GMT: In the Category of Totally Unexpected News. Kalemeh, the website of Mir Hossein Mousavi, is complaining that the Ministry of Interior is stalling over requests for permits to demonstrate on 12 June, the anniversary of the election.

The Ministry has turned down two applications from reformist parties but has asked six other groups for more information.

1345 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Student activist Behzad Bagheri was arrested on Saturday in Isfahan.

1315 GMT: From the Facebook page supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi:

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi held a joint press conference today on the eve of one year anniversary of rigged presidential election (June 12) and answered to the questions of reporters from all over the world. Details of this press conference as well as the video of it will be published soon.

1300 GMT: I have posted an analysis, for the anniversary of Iran's election, assessing the significance of events that have happened and events to come: "The Power of the Gradual".

The decision to post the piece, which is a draft introduction to a new book, was spurred in part because of my frustration and sorrow at a set of high-profile analyses in Foreign Policy magazine which I think misrepresent the dynamic of post-election developments, especially with respect to information in and out of Iran.

In that context, I have just noted two other, very different reflections. Human rights activist Ahmad Batebi gives a lengthy interview in which he assesses, "People's Movement Will Stay Alive with Knowledge & Information". And Kathy Riordan interviews an activist, "Michi", on the influence of social media in this post-election crisis: "People in many countries outside Iran have established bonds with the Iranian people. Stereotypes and misunderstandings have been stripped away."

1215 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Reports have come in that journalist Zhila Bani Yaghoub has been sentenced to one year in prison and has banned for 30 years from reporting. Her husband, journalist Bahman Amoui, is already serving a five-year sentence in Evin Prison.

1010 GMT: American Detainees. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has said Tehran has no plans to swap three Americans jailed last summer in Iran on spying charges for Iranians held in the Unites States.

The website Free the Hikers offers the latest on the detainees, arrested after walking --- inadvertently, they claim --- across the Iraq-Iran border.

0940 GMT: Evading the Attacks. Writing in The New York Times, Jo Becker illustrates how the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines evades sanctions through the re-flagging and renaming of ships:

Of the 123 Irisl ships listed [by the US Government], only 46 are still clearly owned by Irisl or its United States-listed subsidiaries, according to an analysis of data from IHS Fairplay, formerly Lloyd’s Register-Fairplay, based in Britain, which issues large merchant vessels their unique identifying numbers and tracks them over their lifetime. Four more were scuttled.

The rest — 73 — are now on record as owned and operated by companies that do not appear on the blacklist. The companies are located far from Iran, in places like Malta, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Germany and the Isle of Man. In all but 10 instances, however, records and interviews established definitive links between the ships’ new registered owners and Irisl.

0725 GMT: 22 Khordaad. The website 12june.org is now listing 68 cities planning events on 12 June for the anniversary of the Presidential election.

0654 GMT: Video of Day. Short and to the point --- "22 Khordaad" (12 June) is inscribed on a railing:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIugT-rfCIA[/youtube]

0650 GMT: Where's Mahmoud? President Ahmadinejad is in Turkey, putting the emphasis on foreign affairs. He has told a crowd in Istanbul that last week's raid on the Freedom Flotilla was the "death knell" for the "Zionist regime". He also said the recent Iran-Brazil-Turkey declaration on Tehran's uranium enrichment is the last chance for an agreement on the issue.

0645 GMT: Women's Rights Corner. Ayatollah Abdolnabi Namazi, the leader of Friday Prayers in Kashan has explained that televising women pariticipating in sports is forbidden.

0635 GMT: The Khomeini Fall-Out. Ayatollah Dastgheib, condemning the attack on Hassan Khomeini, asserts that the "only way out" out of the current predicament is the return of Mir Hossein Mousavi to the political scene with the assurance that he will not be threatened.

0555 GMT: We begin the morning with a special report from a new NGO, Arseh Sevom (Third Sphere), "Attacks on Civil Society in Iran, 2005-2010".

Meanwhile, in the current civil society, there are more signs of nervousness as the regime is still trying to deal with the aftermath of the ceremony for Ayatollah Khomeini, that went wrong last Friday and the uncertainty of the election's anniversary (22 Khordaad/12 June) approaches:

A New Anti-Government Coalition?

A sharp poke at Ahmadinejad, in the guise of analysis from Khabar Online, the website connected with Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani: it claims that even a significant number of "hardliners" have joined the reformists in opposition

The analysis projects that "moderate reformists" have a small chance to gain influence within two or three years and advises that hardliners should put themselves in four groups to discuss change, including "idealists", "pragmatists", and those taking the Government line.

Parliament v. President

The head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has declared that the Parliament should help the judiciary to correct and update laws.

Hmm.... Could Sadegh be taking sides in the evolving dispute between his brother Ali and President Ahmadinejad? After all, it is Ali Larijani and other MPs who are complaining that the Government is implementing "incorrect" measures.

There's the prospect of more pressure on the President, with the claim that the results of an investigation into undocumented spending during Ahmadinejad's Government will be published soon.

"Dorough Online" (Lie Online)

That is new name given to Iran's media by Green Voice of Freedom, which is claiming a "new record" of at least three big lies per day handed down to the Iranian people. Unsurprisingly, Green Voice is offering examples from the ongoing presentation of last Friday's shout-down of Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson, Seyed Hassan Khomeini.

More Dorough....

The "hard-line" Kayhan, according to the Green site Rah-e-Sabz, is betraying its nervousness with a series of allegations, inventing foreign supporters, mysterious editors, and a headquarters in London for the opposition publication.

Political Prisoner Watch

Fereshteh Ghazi's posts an interview with the father of Amir Javadifar, who died in detention after he was arrested on 9 July. As Iran holds another court session, ostensibly to punish those who carried out abuses at Kahrizak Prison, Javadifar's father says, "We demand those who gave the orders at Kahrizak to be sentenced."

Iran Election Anniversary Special: The Power of the "Gradual"

This morning, I drafted this contribution to a new project for the anniversary of Iran's election. (More details soon, I hope.) I decided to post this after reading a series of high-profile analysis in Foreign Policy magazine which try to define Iran One Year Later for us. Ironically, given that the title of the collection is "Misreading Tehran", I found some of the pieces misleading, misguided, and even at times --- although I know this was not the intention of the authors --- belittling in their representation of Iranians.



So, in part, this is my response to those unhelpful definitions. But, in larger part, it is a Thank You to those who have been my instructors during this past year.

On 12 June 2009, I was enjoying a night out in London. My wife, who patiently puts up with the daily demands of my website on international affairs, had asked if I could risk trading an evening with Iran's Presidential election for dinner and the theatre. I assured her that it was clear that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his leading challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi would move to a second round of voting.


At 7:30 the next morning, the BBC rang to ask for an urgent comment: Ahmadinejad had won in the initial ballot with 63% of the vote. After I gave them a remark based more on surprise than insight, I realised two things: 1) I would be covering this story every day until there was a resolution; 2) to do so, I would have to become a student, seeking a variety of teachers to give me a crash course on the dynamics of Iranian politics, economics, religion, and society.

It is a year later. There is no resolution, and I am still learning.

I had had the good fortune, in the years before the 2009 election, to be introduced to Iran. I had worked with Iranian colleagues and students, and eventually --- despite my US passport --- had been able to visit the country to teach, participate in seminars, and give interviews to the Iranian media. I had even become an Adjunct Professor at a leading Iranian university.

Those opportunities had given me a glimpse of an Iran which was one of the most political environments I had ever encountered. There was constant discussion --- even as there were limits on that discussion --- of what the country was and what it might become. There was consideration, beyond the simplicities of the US v. Iran, of Tehran's role in the region and in the world, there were concerns about an economy facing both internal challenges and external restrictions, and there were glimpses of debates on social and cultural issues. Inevitably, given that I was working with students, there was much attention to the “Third Generation” that had grown up after the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. I was told often --- by both critics and defenders of the Government --- that 30 years after the 1979 introduction of an Islamic Republic, this was a “Gradual Revolution”.

In the weeks before and after the 2009 election, however, change did not seem “gradual”. Even watching from a distance, I was swept up in the excitement that surrounded a campaign which, with its televised debates as well as its well-attended speeches, appeared to offer a louder political voice to Iran's people. That fervour continued after the election when President Ahmadinejad's victory speech, with its description of opponents as “dust and tumbleweeds”, was met by millions on the streets of Tehran. It crackled when the Supreme Leader's Friday Prayer vindicating the vote encountered more demonstrations of anger, tragedy, and hope. It would be resurgent when there were more public encounters: in mid-July after former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's Friday Prayer, on Qods Day in September, from 13 Aban (4 November) to 16 Azar (7 December) to the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri to the commemoration of Ashura on 27 December.

These were dramatic, still vivid events, yet I wonder if they misled us into forgetting about the “gradual”. Narratives were written as if a knockout blow would be landed either by the Green Movement or by the defenders of President Ahmadinejad. Predictions were uttered about the imminent fall or unshakeable permanence of the Islamic Republic. Each public occasion, while important, was given the aura of the defining incident that would finally conclude the inconclusive outcome of 12 June 2009.

Prize fights are settled within 15 rounds of 3 minutes each; the quest for civil rights is not. The election, after all, was just the public apex of a larger, ongoing climb for political, economic, and social recognition, respect, and justice. The Green Movement, as significant as it would become, did not displace the movements for women's rights, student rights, labour rights, legal rights, economic rights, religious rights, and the rights of Iran's many ethnic groups. (Indeed, one of the ongoing, “deeper” issues of this past year has been how the Green Movement --- if it is more than a symbolic entity --- interacts with the activism of these other movements.)

This post-election contest, which rested upon years of discussion and challenge within the Islamic Republic, was always destined to be a marathon and not a sprint.

But marathons are hard to cover. And, in the immediate aftermath of 12 June, that coverage --- at least by “mainstream” media --- would be complicated as Iranian authorities cracked down on domestic and foreign correspondents. The “mainstream” non-Iranian press was effectively blinded within weeks as reporters were expelled or fled because of intimidation and threats of detention, camera crews were restricted to offices and hotel rooms, and bureaus were shut. Iranian journalists persisted, but many of them --- eventually more than 100 --- would wind up in jail. By September, even the most prominent reformist newspapers and websites were being shut down, their offices raided and ransacked, their editors behind bars.

Unsurprisingly, some non-Iranian outlets --- deprived of their “normal” capacity for effective reporting --- would thus look for the big event rather than the gradual shifts. There would be weeks of silence or muted coverage of internal events, often as headlines were devoted to Iran's nuclear programme, and then a sudden burst of attention to a gathering such as the Ashura demonstration or the rallies on 11 February, the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Then, when that high-profile event did not produce a clean, final “victory”, the mainstream media might retreat into somnolence, sometimes after a benediction that the Green Movement had been vanquished.

Well, here's the paradox: amidst and even beyond these big events, the “gradual” has triumphed in media as well as politics.

Ultimately, it is not the speed of technology that --- despite the repression of the Iranian Government and despite the retreat of the “mainstream” media --- has ensured that Iran's post-election story is still ongoing in June 2010. Rather, it is the “gradual” efforts of those who, each day, often at risk to themselves, have persisted in telling their tales or passing on the information from others.

They are not the international correspondents with news programmes named after them, they are not the anchormen and anchorwomen with weekly talk shows to define the news, they do not even have by-lines. Sometimes their names are not even their own but are the pseudonyms and usernames that have to be adopted to ensure that they can report again.

However, it is they who remove our blindness by giving us a glimpse of the day-to-day. It is they who break up the deafening noise of State propaganda and pronouncements with sounds of what has occurred in their neighbourhoods. It is they who give form to the meaning --- not in the abstract, but in the real --- of “rights” and “justice”.

Ironically and somewhat sadly, I write this --- four days before the anniversary of the election --- as yet another set of articles by analysts tries to define all that we have experienced. One headline blares, “The Green Movement was a historic success. Too bad no one was watching.” (No. We are still watching, still writing, still learning.) A commentator proclaims, "Getting the real story out of Iran today is virtually impossible." (Difficult, yes. Impossible, no --- thanks to those whom the commentator, focused on mainstream media, never notices.) A journalist declares, “There was no Twitter Revolution inside Iran.” (No, but that was never the issue. Twitter is a tool, a powerful tool that allows us to ensure that the “gradual” does not disappear --- we are still reporting, still writing, still learning --- as those in power try to shut down information into and out of Iran.)

[An important caveat: the collection also includes a redemptive piece by Nazila Fathi which avoids the dismissive generalisations and assesses, "Despite those all the obstacles put in its way, the media has done a remarkable job in properly identifying the enormity of the past year's events. The Green Movement has, indeed, shaken the very core of the Islamic Republic. The country is polarized and the regime's legitimacy has been compromised. All of this, the Western media -- at least, those of us who had any real experience covering Iran -- got largely right."

My one suggestion is that Fathi's "media" be considered as not only "Western media" but many Iranian journalists and Iranians who report even if they do not carry official press credentials.]

But, as I write this, irony rebounds and sadness turns back to hope. For I read these edicts from those analysts and journalists who try to define, once and for all, what has happened. Then I read the contributions in this book, contributions which come not from anointed experts or the by-lined professionals, and I realise that the story of “what has happened” is in these essays.

And it is not just “what has happened” but “what may happen”. There are no proclamations of the final outcome in these pages, no ringing of the bell to say that all is complete. Instead, the victory is in the process, the pursuit of the “gradual”. As long as the search for rights is persistent in these words of sorrow or hope, then rights cannot be denied. As long as the vision of fairness is offered in these reflections, then others have not succeeding in making us --- inside or outside Iran --- blind.

The power of the vote may have been taken away on 12 June 2009. Some may try to pronounce that Iranians --- repressed by their Government, bedazzled by false hopes of Twitter --- are reduced to the powerless. But As long as the power to express is put in the simple but effective phrases by these authors, then the power of expression remains.

A marathon, not a sprint.

Iran Special Report: The Attack on Civil Society and 19 Ways to Challenge It (Arseh Sevom)

Arseh Sevom (Third Sphere), a new NGO based in Holland "aiming to promote peace, democracy, and human rights", has published its first report, "Attacks on Civil Society in Iran, 2005-2010". The Executive Summary and Recommendations:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran are happening to individuals, but they are targeted at civil society. This is as true of the mistreatment and torture of those detained for protesting after the 2009 presidential elections as it is of the arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders. The abuses are designed to control an increasingly liberal population and to silence opposition and dissent.

Human rights discourse is marginalized and problematic in the IRI. In the past, many intellectuals have agreed in part with the regime that “human rights” has been used as a tool by the West to punish countries like Iran. Mohammad-Javad Larijani, head of Iran’s human rights council, has stated repeatedly that the Islamic Republic of Iran is in full compliance with human rights law. In 2008 he stated, “Tehran’s strategy is to conform international commitments on human rights to the Islamic concepts and then enforce them nationwide.”


This report looks at the ways in which civil society has been systematically undermined in Iran. The report does not deal with each individual or organizational case, but looks at the underlying patterns of abuses that are designed to target whole sectors of society through the harrassment of individuals and organizations. There are dozens of reports highlighting abuses and individual cases. We attempt to examine the internal situation that has led to the attacks on civil society activists and unravel the larger narrative underlying individual cases.

Our report begins with 2005, the year Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected as president of Iran. At the time, civil society in Iran had experienced its first taste of relative freedom, which primarily arose from the tentative opening of society during two four-year terms of reformist president Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005).

In 2005, the new administration took a hostile approach to civil society organizations, which resulted in limitations on their actions because of closures, travel restrictions, and other restrictions. The antagonist position towards civil society was the defining feature of Ahmadinejad’s first term, just as the struggle between societal reform and hardline elements had defined the administration of Khatami.

In this report we cover the following major topics:

- The tentative rise of civil society
- Struggle between reform and suppression
- The 2005 elections
- The emergence of a new political class
- Velvet revolution
- Struggle for the soul of Iran
- From green wave to civil rights: post-presidential elections (2009)
- Stifling women’s voices
- Reform is criminalized
- State control of workers
- The attack on human rights defenders
- Basij student movements are the only legitimate ones
- “Iran is the freest country in the world”
- Civil society, civil no more
- Recommendations

Recommendations

1) Civil society as a Social force: In today’s world civil society is one of the fundamental aspects of democracy as well as key player in the new geopolitics. Therefore, we ecommend that the Islamic Republic of Iran regard civil society as an effective factor in development and democracy, and not as a technocratic concept. The government must refrain from anti-civil society politics. We believe all of the aspects of the civil society must participate in proposal, decision making, execution and evaluation of all the policies, programs, in all fields and layers of the society.

2) Freedom of Association: Freedom of association is one of the main characteristics of stable democracy. Associations are important centers for practicing democracy.

Therefore we demand guarantees for the right of founding, acting, assembling, and protesting, according to Article 26 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, The Charter of the Human Rights, principles of civil-political rights, economic, social, and cultural rights, conventions and ratifications 87 and 98 of the International Labor Standards.

3) Autonomy: Autonomy is a fundamental necessity for longevity of civil society. We demand that according to Article 26 of the constitution, and the treaties of civil rights-political, economic, social and cultural-, conventions and ratifications 87 and 98 of the International Labor Organization, to refrain from interference in their internal affairs that jeopardize the independence of associations.

4) Human Rights: Respecting human rights is the foundation of peace, democracy, and sustained development, and Iran is a signatory to the universal declaration of human rights. Therefore, we demand respect and complete implementation of all articles and clauses in the human rights declarations, and protection and support for all human right activists in Iran.

5) Education of human and civil rights: Continuous and public education about civil and human rights is a necessary condition for having responsible and committed citizens in any society. We demand that the Islamic Republic government provide necessary conditions for teaching human and citizen rights in all layers of the society.

6) Guarantee the Freedom of Press: Newspapers are known as the fourth foundation of democracy. They play an important role in sustaining democracy. Therefore, we demand guarantee and improvement of the freedom of press in Iran.

7) Media Diversity: Multiplicity and diversity of media is representative of freedom of speech and thought. Therefore, we demand policies for diversification and the implementation of a private and non-governmental media sector across society.

8) Freedom of Speech and Thought: We demand guarantees for freedom of speech and thought and the lifting of restrictions from all social and artistic domains.

9) Revision and Reforms in all Rules and Regulations Pertinent to Civil Society: In the current situation, the absence of general laws, concentration of current laws, and legal vacuum in some domains and restrictive laws has led to underdevelopment and retardation of this immense social asset. Therefore, we demand corrections and revisions of all laws and rules overseeing the current civil society organizations.

10) Women: We demand revision and reforms of all discriminatory laws and rules, joining the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, and implementation of these rules by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

11) The Fundamental Labor Conventions: We demand ratification of conventions for freedom of association and assembly, the right to union formation and negotiation, minimum labor age, and prohibitions on child labor.

12) Revision of Educational Texts: Reform and revision of educational texts according to principles of human rights, civil rights, promotion of collaborative networks, volunteering and civil cultures, is another fundamental recommendation.

13) Supervision of Civil Society Organizations: Groups and organizations of the civil society oversee and reflect the needs and demands of people in different levels, especially those of the marginalized and disenfranchised groups. Therefore, we demand their official right to oversee their own affairs.

14) Social Exchange: Iranian civil society cannot flourish in a greenhouse, and without interactions with the outside world. Therefore, we demand that the government lift obstacles in the way of exchange, dialogue, and transfer of knowledge and experience among those inside and outside Iran.

15) Social Networks: Success and liveliness of social networks along with relations based on trust are key social assets of a society. There is a tight link between social assets and the development and sustainable democracy. Therefore, we demand that the government put aside the politics of destruction that deteriorate the real and virtual social networks.

16) Right to Access and Circulation of Information: To guarantee the right to access and circulate information is an important duty of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, one of the signatories of the resolution and action plans of the World Summit on Information Society in Geneva (in 2003) and in Tunisia (2005). Therefore, we demand the right to access information and the lifting of the obstacles and broad filters on the transfer of information. Also, we demand the rights and civil freedom of citizens and associations in the virtual domain.

17) Professions and Professionalism: Professional organizations and professionalism are important foundations of a civil society. we demand that the government respect the independence of professional associations and to avoid interfering in their affairs, especially in the formulation and establishment of a code of ethics and conduct.

18) Culture, Language, Ethnicity: Cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity is a common human heritage. We demand, according to the articles 15 and 19 of the constitution, that cultural, linguistic, and ethnic identities be respected.

19) Accountability to Interest Groups: With attention to considerable growth of unions and social demands, we demand accountability to interest groups, particularly university students, teachers, workers, farmers, nurses, industrialists, employers, lawyers, physicians, journalists and others.

Read the full report....

The Latest from Iran (7 June): Mousavi-Karroubi Meeting

2145 GMT: The Khomeini Fall-Out. To end the day as we started it: despite the criticism of the Government over the harassment of Hassan Khomeini last Friday, "hardline" newspapers continue to press the campaign against Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson. Raja News continues to push the story of a "nasty encounter" between Hassan Khomeini and Minister of Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar (using the belittling name of "Hassan Mostafavi" for Khomeini), with President Ahmadinejad leading discussions on an appropriate response.

NEW Iran Analysis: The Unexpected Fight Over “Khomeini”
NEW Iran Analysis: One Year After the Election (Shafaee)
NEW Iran Feature: Music and Resistance (Fathi)
Iran Document: Mehdi Karroubi on Khomeini, the Rule of Law, and Protest in 2010 (4 June)
Iran Document: The Supreme Leader’s Speech (4 June)
The Latest from Iran (6 June): The Fallout from Friday

2130 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Badrosadat Mofidi has been released from detention.


2120 GMT: Larijani v. Ahmadinejad (cont.). Back from an academic break to find yet another development in the political contest between the President and Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani. Countering the assertion of Larijani that many Government actions were not in accordance with Parliament's legislation (other MPs have claimed up to 130 Government measures are in dispute), Ahmadinejad has claimed that three Parliamentary bills are in violation of the law: “the plan to make changes to the law of development and support of housing, the plan for admission of students in vocational and technical schools as well as teachers colleges, and finally miscellaneous accessions to budgets approved by the parliament without observing provisions set forth in the Islamic Republic Constitution".

1605 GMT: The Dissent Within (cont. --- see 0955 GMT): Rooz Online follows up on stories of Principlist discontent with President Ahmadinejad.

The website starts from alleged remarks by Ahmadinejad that “political parties should not interfere in government affairs” and his chief aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, that “the principlists have crossed Ahmadinejad”.

Seyed Reza Akrami, a member of the Combatant Clergy Association, responded to Rahim Mashai, “One year has passed since the election, and officials shouldn’t make such statements that only fuel differences....Such statements from the nation’s executive officials have no benefit and only creates problems, divisions and difference among the principlists....Instead of talking about scenarios such as ‘crossing Ahmadinejad’, the officials should be trying to find solutions to problems that are rampant in society.”

Rooz claims the political director of the Iran Hezbollah Society, Hossein Kanani-Moghaddam, asserted, “Many principlists are no longer with Ahmadinejad. On the other hand, people who weren’t with him before are now supporting him for their own benefit.”

1550 GMT: The 22 Khordaad Marches. Rah-e-Sabz reports that the Ministry of the Interior has rejected two applications --- from the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution --- for demonstrations on 12 June and have asked for further information from six other reformist groups.

1420 GMT: Mousavi & Karroubi Meet. From Advar News, via the Facebook page supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi:

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi met with each other....In this meeting the two Green leaders discussed the incident [which] happened on June 4th in the ceremony commemorating the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini’s passing when a group of organized pro-government thugs insulted Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson of late Ayatollah Khomeini, so that he had to end his speech and leave the podium. Also, according to reports in this meeting, the two leaders made some new decisions regarding the protest on June 12th for the anniversary of rigged presidential election. Details of this meeting will be published soon.

1315 GMT: Executions. A 14th hanging today (see 0940 GMT) has taken place in Isfahan.

1310 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Poet, human rights activist & blogger Reza Akvanian has been sentenced to one year in prison with five more years suspended.

1300 GMT: Khomeini Fall-Out. The reformist Assembly of Combatant Clergymen, in a meeting last night chaired by former President Mohammad Khatami, issued a statement strongly condemning "the insults made on Seyyed Hassan Khomeini" at last Friday's ceremony. The clerics asked, "How is it, that when someone makes a slightest comment or does an interview criticizing the government, they will be arrested instantly, but that the authorities do nothing to stop these kinds of attacks...by a group of organized plainclothes individuals?"

1045 GMT: Conversation of the Day. From an article by Ali Chenar, “The Meaning of ‘V’: Reflections on a Moral Triumph”:

TAXI DRIVER: "Agha, do you remember what people did last year here?"
CHENAR: "Yes, yes I do!"
TAXI DRIVER: "I could not believe my eyes."
CHENAR: "True, many couldn't.... Here is my stop. Thank you…."
As Chenar hands a few notes to the driver for the fare, he pauses for a moment and asks:

CHENAR: "Do you think it is over, sir?"
TAXI DRIVER: "Hell no! It is not over. Do not think like that, my lad. It has just begun!"

1030 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. There are reports that teachers’ union activist Mahmoud Beheshti Langeroudi, recently released from detention, has been re-arrested.

1000 GMT: The Executions. More than 200 women’s rights and human rights activists have issued a statement condemning the executions of five Iranians, four of them Kurdish, on 9 May and demanding a halt to further hangings of Kurds on death row.

0955 GMT: The Dissent Within. The Green website Rah-e-Sabz offers more details of the warning handed out by the Principlist party, primarily by MP Hamid Rasaie, to Ali Motahari over Motahari’s condemnation of President Ahmadinejad. Complementing the line offered by some clerics and reformists, Motahari said that Friday’s furour over Seyed Hassan Khomeini emanated from problems with the 2009 election.

And, in an extraordinary remark if true, pro-Ahmadinejad Hojatoleslam Ali Asghari has referred to “white-bearded hardliners” and continued with a message to Mahdavi Kani to Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani: “Tell him the time of grandpas is long over.”

0940 GMT: Executions. Reports are coming in that 13 prisoners were hung this morning at Ghezelhesar Prison. Another 13 people are still in “quarantine” awaiting possible execution.

Those put to death were convicted of drug offences.

0935 GMT: Reformist member of Parliament Mohammad Reza Tabesh, referring to the shout-down of Seyed Hassan Khomeini, has suggested that “if [the Government] cannot control this small group, they should at least apologize”. Claiming that the Supreme Leader “is not amused” about the incident, Tabesh suggested that Friday’s “violations are due to electoral quarrels”.

Even the firmly pro-Government Resalat has declared that accusing Hassan Khomeini of being against velayat –e-faqih (ultimate clerical authority) is an “injustice”. MP Mohammad Kousari has warned, “Without [Ayatollah] Khomeini, we lose our identity.”

0930 GMT: Activists claim that Hassan Khomeini has rejected allegations that he attacked Minister of Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar. To our knowledge, there has been no corroboration of the story from Javan, the publication connected to the Revolutionary Guards.

0925 GMT: Green websites are circulating the call of students of Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Lahijan, and Mashaad Universities for rallies on 22 Khordaad (12 June), the anniversary of the election.

0720 GMT:  We open this morning with three specials: Nazila Fathi writes about music and resistance, Masoud Shafaee looks at Iran one year after the election, and Scott Lucas assesses "the fight over Khomeini".

Gaza Flotilla LiveBlog (7 June): Moving Beyond the Attack

2045 GMT: Back from an academic break to find that Israel has tried to set out the lines of an internal enquiry into last Monday's attack. Gregg Carlstrom reports, "IDF [Israel Defense Forces announces internal 'team of experts' to review flotilla operation, led by reserve general; other three members are high-ranking officers."

Gaza Flotilla: Israel “Passengers Linked to Hamas, Al Qa’eda, Terrorist Organisations”
Gaza Flotilla LiveBlog (6 June): Israel Blames “Islamist Mercenaries”

1330 GMT: More on the Turkish Line. The Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) gathered in Istanbul today; Israel, one of the 20 members, was absent. In his public briefing, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: "Israel has the responsibility of accountability in front of international law. We have nothing to hide. It is Israel that has to give response to the international commission. If some countries are privileged and out of international law, let us know so."

Then Davutoglu made Ankara's next move in the chess game both over the Flotilla and over regional politics, "If Israel gives the green light to the formation of an international committee and is ready to answer questions of the committee, Turkish-Israeli relations will have a different course. Otherwise, Turkish-Israeli relations cannot be normalized."

Davutoglu reiterated, "If Israel thinks it has protected its national interests and rights, it should declare that it accepts formation of an international committee. Otherwise, it means that they are hiding some facts."

Pretty strong stuff, but gentle compared to the opinion of Israel's former Deputy Chief of General Staff, Uzi Dayan: "If the Turkish Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip Erdogan joins such a flotilla, we should make clear beforehand this would be an act of war, and we would not try to take over the ship he was on, but would sink it.”

1325 GMT: Sorry (Sort Of) for the Satire. The Israeli Government has apologised for a spoof video e-mailed by its press office to international media.

To the tune of US LiveAid's 1985 "We Are the World", the video shows "peace activists" singing, "We Con the World".

Mark Regev, the main spokesman for the Israeli Government, clarified, "I thought it was funny. It is what Israelis feel, but the government has nothing to do with it."

1230 GMT: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad came together for a public briefing in Istanbul. Erdogan said:

Thank you for accepting our invitation. We talked about the provocative attack against the humanitarian aid ship in which our people were there. And we cursed it once more.

The attack's targeting unarmed peace attendants increases the importance of the situation.

This shame of humanity against innocent civilians is violating international laws.

If one is to talk about terror in Mediterranean, it is Israel's state terrorism.

1200 GMT: Turkish President Abdullah Gul talked to Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, a joint committee agreement was signed between Palestinian leader on foreign affairs, Riad El Maliki and Ahmet Davutoglu. According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, this agreement consolidates Turkey's political support and organizes the operational structure of Turkish aid to Palestine indefinitely.

1100 GMT: When asked whether military agreements with Israel are to be suspended or canceled, Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said, "All agreements, including the military ones, are still in place."

1045 GMT: The Israel Defense Forces’ Operations Directorate has issued an order forbidding all IDF personnel from traveling to Turkey “out of fear for Israelis being attacked”.

1015 GMT: So when does the Flotilla crisis stop being a crisis? Well, it could well be when “new” news intervenes.

This morning last week’s events have been overtaken by reports that Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians on a boat off the coast of Gaza. The Israelis claim the men were wearing diving gear. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah [note: not Hamas], have told Al Jazeera the men were members of the group and were only conducting "training exercises".

Hamas security forces say a fifth man is missing and a sixth --- a senior member of the Brigades --- escaped.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to keep the Flotilla issue alive (and perhaps to make political capital from it?), Tehran is now saying that two aid ships of Iran’s Red Crescent will set sail with food, medicine, and appliances for Gaza in the near future. Iranian doctors and relief workers will be on board.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had announced earlier that it would provide naval escorts for any ships trying to reach Gaza, an offer rejected by Hamas.

Meanwhile….

An Israeli Parliamentary Committee has recommended, by a 7-1 vote, that Knesset member Haneen Zoabi should be stripped of special privileges to go abroad, the right to carry a diplomatic passport, and the right to have the state cover litigation fees incurred while serving in the Knesset.

A battle of words and videos continues over Ken O’Keefe, one of five passengers on the Mavi Marmara accused by Israel of having links to “terrorist organisations”.

An injured O’Keefe appeared in a video claiming that Israelis were aggressors during the Monday attack and that passengers seized weapons to stop the killing.  He has also been interviewed by Al Jazeera about his relationship with Palestinian groups.