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Entries in Ahmad Motamedi (3)

Friday
May072010

The Latest from Iran (7 May): The Original Post-Election Muddle

1415 GMT: Hunger Strike. Students at Azad University in Shahrekord in western Iran have entered the third day without food to protest limitations imposed by authorities on student activists.

1400 GMT: We Will Punch You in the Mouth (without Irony). Your Tehran Friday Prayers update....

One of our favourites, tough-talking Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami laying down the religious law today, especially to other nations: A senior Iranian cleric on Friday warned the world powers that if their threats continued, "If you threaten or attack our nation and religion, we will reply and you will get yourself a punch in your mouth and jeopardize all your world."

Khatami spun his clerical six-shooters and continued, "These people of ours are not afraid of sanctions and threats and the language of force against such people is irrational and futile. Whether you like it or not, Iran is already in the nuclear club and it would be better to acknowledge it."

Having calKhatami called on the world powers to adopt a "polite and logical dialogue" with Iran rather than using threats and intimidation.

1215 GMT: Nuclear Deal or Just Posture? After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's flutter earlier this week about Brazil mediating a deal on uranium enrichment --- denied by the Brazilians --- Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said he will pay a surprise visit (which I guess is no longer a surprise) to Istanbul to discuss an arrangement for a uranium swap with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu.

0850 GMT: Banning Books. We reported earlier this week that the stall with the works of the late Ayatollah Beheshti, a key figure in the Islamic Revolution, had not been allowed at the Tehran Book Fair because of the views of his son, Mir Hossein Mousavi's advisor Alireza Beheshti.

Now Rah-e-Sabz claims that the works of Grand Ayatollah Sane'i and the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri were also barred.

NEW Iran: Ahmadinejad’s Chief Aide “Not Too Many People in the Prisons”
Mahmoud’s Iran Wonderland: Ahmadinejad Says “I’m in Favour of Protestors”
Iran Snap Analysis: Ahmadinejad’s Nuclear Roadtrip
The Latest from Iran (6 May): Rattling the Cage


0845 GMT: A New Website and New Information. The "Center to Defend Families of Those Slain and Detained in Iran" has established an on-line presence.

Rah-e-Sabz has posted a list of names of 32 students detained in Evin Prison.



0840 GMT: A Hospital Visit. Former President Mohammad Khatami has seen Ahmad Motamedi, a Minister in Khatami's Government and now professor at Amir Kabir University. Motamedi was stabbed earlier this week in his office.

0830 GMT: A Clerical Jibe. Ayatollah Javadi Amoli has declared that, if bribery is eliminated from Iran's judiciary, the country will prosper. He added, in a reference to an Ali Khamenei, "a certain cleric was Hojatoleslam, but became an Ayatollah when he got an office".

0745 GMT: After a night covering the British General Election and writing the assessment that it's all a big mess, it's kind of a relief to get back to the relative clarity of post-election Iran.

We open this morning, however, not with clarity but with fantasy. We've posted extracts from an extraordinary interview with Ahmadinejad right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, who declares, "There are not too many people in the prisons."

The International Front: "Have Some Food"

To put forward Iran's case on its nuclear programme, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has hosted diplomats of other countries at a dinner in New York, amidst the United Nations conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

And, yes, an American official showed up.

Fighting for the University

Rooz Online has an interesting article about manoeuvres for control of Iran's private system of universities, Islamic Azad, reading them as  "a coming battleground [for the 'hardliners'] against [former President Hashemi] Rafsanjani".
Tuesday
May042010

The Latest from Iran (4 May): Beyond the "Main Event"

2005 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. University student Masoud Babapour has been sentenced to two years in prison.

1945 GMT: Mahmoud's Big Show. We've posted a video and transcript of President Ahmadinejad's extended appearance on US television on Monday.

1830 GMT: Economy Watch. Writing for Reuters, Alistair Lyon draws on the observations of several analysts to offer an overview of the Ahmadinejad Government's position: "Iran's home-grown economic ills pose a knottier challenge for its hardline leaders than possible new United Nations or U.S. sanctions over its nuclear programme."

NEW Iran Video and Transcript: Ahmadinejad on Charlie Rose (3 May)
NEW Iran Document: Mehdi Karroubi “The Movement Has Spread Everywhere”
NEW Iran: Bin Laden Lives in Tehran Shocker!
Latest Iran Video: Clinton & Ahmadinejad Speeches at UN Nuke Conference (3 May)
The Latest from Iran (3 May): Mahmoud’s Road Show


1515 GMT: The UK Deportation Case. The partner of Bita Ghaedi, who fled Iran because of alleged domestic abuse and who has participated in protests against the regime, writes that her appeal against deportation has been refused by British authorities.

Ghaedi is booked on a Wednesday flight to Tehran. Her last chance against deportation is a request for a court injunction.


1510 GMT: Today's Karroubi Contribution. We have posted Mehdi Karroubi's latest statement, "The Movement Has Spread Everywhere", in a separate entry.

1440 GMT: "A Proud and Progressive Iran". Former President Mohammad Khatami, meeting former members of Parliament, has said:
We have always wanted and still want a proud and progressive Iran which also follows the moral, Islamic and humanitarian rulings; the spirit of reformism that we have talked about is the same thing....We are repeating again that the most important steps are the release of prisoners, avoiding unjustifiable conflicts, easing of the [political] atmosphere based on the Constitution, freedom of political and social activities, providing freedom of speech and thought, moving toward joyful and healthy elections and valuing criticism, and, on top of everything, defending the dignity, respect, freedom, and fundamental rights of the society and people.

1230 GMT: Here We Go Again.

Step 1: Iran Comes Under Pressure Over Its Nuclear Programme (as in this week's US approach to the UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference)

Step 2: The Iranian Military Puffs Out Its Chest and Says --- As Much to Iran's People As to the Rest of the World --- "Don't Mess With Us. We're Very Tough" (as in today's declaration of "new naval war games" in the Persian Gulf and the assurance that it had photographed a US aircraft carrrier or the Iranian Minister of Defense blessing a new production line for an anti-aircraft missile).

Step 3. The International Media Jump to the Iranian Bell and Bark "Crisis, Crisis, Crisis".

1110 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (At the Movies). The American entertainment writer Anthony Kaufman, who organised the petition by prominent Hollywood filmmakers calling for the release of Iranian director Jafar Panahi from Evin Prison, has an update on his blog.

Kaufman summarises the campaign and notes the response of Tabnak in Iran: "“It’s up to the government security agencies and the justice system to counter such poisonous media activities against the regime with providing clear explanation of the reasons for Panahi’s arrest and offering all the available evidence and documents against him. They should prevent such subversive behaviors against the regime and not allow the foot soldiers of the West’s media war to distort the truth by portraying Panahi as being innocent.”

1030 GMT: Iran and the Status of Women. The controversy over Iran's accession to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women rumbles on. Mission Free Iran has launched a vigorous campaign to rebuke the UN and those governments, including the US, who voted by acclamation to seat Iran.

0745 GMT: Tuesday Funnies. Fox News gives us a present of one of the worst --- and thus funniest --- pieces of "investigative reporting" we've seen recently. We've posted it in a separate entry: "Bin Laden in Tehran Shocker".

0740 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Rah-e-Sabz alleges that a dubious record has been set with more than 40 years of prison time handed out to political detainees in a single day.

RAHANA reports new accusations against journalist Emaduddin Baghi, with bail set at 200 million Tomans (more than $200,000).

[More on Baghi: see "A Birthday Message from His Daughter"]

The website also claims Professor Davoud Soleymani is in critical condition in Section 350 of Evin Prison.

0730 GMT: Greens and Azeris. Yesterday we summarised the discussion between between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Iranian Azeri reformists on how to maintain communications and promote the demands of the opposition. A couple of additional points of interest.

The meeting took place in Tehran, which brings to mind how the Iranian regime blocked Mousavi from traveled to Tabriz, the largest city in Iranian Azerbaijan, on 22 Bahman (11 February). So if Mir Hossein can't go to the mountain, then....

In addition to seeing Mousavi, the Azeri delegation also met Mohammad Khatami, Mehdi Karroubi, Behzad Nabavi, and Mohsen Mirdamadi.

0725 GMT: Preventing Unity? Reformist member of Parliament Majid Nasirpour has claimed that "hardliners" are trying to cut any relationship between moderates and reformists.

0720 GMT: Cover-Up. Reformist member of Parliament Jamshid Ansari has repeated his claim that the Majlis had no "truth-finding commission" to investigate the June 2009 attacks on Tehran University's dormitories and that no report will be produced.

0635 GMT: Kahrizak Reopened? A few days ago, Mehdi Khazali, who holds markedly different views from his father, the "conservative" Ayatollah Khazali. asserted that Kahrizak Prison --- notorious for the abuse and death of post-election detainees and supposedly closed on orders of the Supreme Leader --- had been reopened under a different name.

The allegation is now getting political traction: the reformist member of Parliament Darius Ghanbari has asked for an immediate Majlis investigation.

0630 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Rah-e-Sabz, claiming sources close to the Expediency Council, claims former President Hashemi Rafsanjani (the chairman of the Council) is continuing to refuse his role as a Tehran Friday Prayer leader for two reasons: "unkindnesses of officials" and fear of possible uproar and harm to demonstrators.

Rafsanjani last presided at Friday Prayers in mid-July.

0625 GMT: Parliament's New Campaign. Another front in the contest between the Majlis and the Ahmadinejad Government is opened, as MPs propose the impeachment of Minister of Interior Mohammad Ali Najjar for "militarisation" of his Ministry and ineptitude.

0620 GMT: Meeting Across the Fence. How was it that Mehdi Karroubi engaged in friendly conversation last Saturday with his opponents, such as Ali Larijani, at the memorial service for the father of Minister of Culture Mohammad Hosseini? Peyke Iran offers context with a profile of four Hosseini brothers with very different political views.

0615 GMT: The Stabbing Victim. An update on Amir Kabir University professor and former minister Ahmad Motamedi, who was stabbed in his office yesterday. He is out of danger after four hours of surgery. Rah-e-Sabz reports he was attacked with a long dagger (ghameh), cutting the artery between liver and kidney.

0540 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An Iranian activist reports that the manager of Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign amongst Tehran students, Ali Vaghfi, has been sentenced to one year in prison with a further five years suspended.

0530 GMT: The showpiece speeches of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hillary Clinton (videos in a separate entry) have been delivered at the United Nations conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The expected grandstanding came from both sides: Ahmadinejad trying to bury the discussion of further sanctions on Iran and seeking to score big in the Middle East with his denunciation of the US and Israel and 11-point proposal for global disarmament, Clinton castigating Tehran's "diversion" while holding out the prospect of "weapons-free zones" in Africa and the South Pacific.

There was no commitment, however, to disarmament in the Middle East, the one initiative that could make a real difference in the US-Iran case, because of the one word missing from Clinton's speech (clue: it begins with an "I"). So one can only hope that the month-long conference, if it is to have any success, gets beyond yesterday's reduction to a US-Iran scrap and that attention to "Iran" goes beyond the nuclear focus.
Monday
May032010

The Latest from Iran (3 May): Mahmoud's Road Show

1915 GMT: Start with a Sideshow, End with a Sideshow. Not our top priority at EA, but as most of the media will be  focused on Tuesday on the Ahmadinejad presentation, you can check coverage against the published text. And here's the video of the speech [now posted as a separate entry, together with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's presentation].

Iran Analysis: The Scattering of Protest is Still Protest
Iran Eyewitness: “The Movement Is Still Strong and Vibrant”
UPDATED Iran Video and Translation: The Mousavi Statement for May Day/Teachers Day (29 April)
The Latest from Iran (2 May): Persistence


1830 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Navid Khanjani, a founder of the Population of Combat Against Educational Discrimination (PCED) and a member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), has been released on bail after two months in detention.


1740 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Poorya Ghorbani, detained on Ashura (27 December), has been sentenced to six years in prison: four years for acting against national security, one year for propagating against the regime, and one year for insulting the Supreme Leader.

1700 GMT: Ahmadinejad's Gambit. The President's strategy at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation conference at the United Nations was simply, "Go Big".

The speech was dressed up as a declaration of 11 measures to lead to a nuclear-free world, but it effectively tried to block Western pressure on Iran's nuclear programme by proposing an entirely new system for international supervision. There would be a review of the Non-Profileration Treaty, a new independent agency to interpret the NPT, and states using or threatening to use nuclear weapons (effectively, the US) being expelled from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Nuclear states would promise not to pursue research and development of new weapons, while non-nuclear states would be given security guarantees.

This large proposal can be reduced to a dual gambit. On the international front, it is meant to check the pressure on Iran's nuclear programme from the US and other states. And on the domestic front, well, it's meant to take attention away from the domestic front.

1620 GMT: Meanwhile in Iran. Mir Hossein Mousavi met today with Iranian Azeri activists to discuss how to cope with the regime's restrictions on media, finding new ways to remain connected and to promote further interaction between reformist parties and the people.

Mousavi said, “We are moving within a moral framework, and for this reason during any event, the Green Movement has recognised the good and the bad for what they were. For this reason, the Green Movement will acknowledge any positive move on the part of certain segmants of the state which have until now stood against the vote and opinion of the people.”

Mousavi added that, while Iranian authorities have become captives of their own claims about the alleged links between the post-election protesters and foreign powers, the opposition will win out:
This approach [by the regime] may unite them for the time being, but it cannot prevent the truth from showing itself ... One cannot stop spring from arriving. Spring will come and greenness will prevail everywhere. This movement should not only be seen in the context of the street protests. The roots of this movement are undeniable. This movement eliminates ignorance. When people come together on different occasions, this is the greatest accomplishment [for the movement] and what is important is that this idea has been born.

In the specific context of Iranian Azeris and ethnic minorities, Mousavi maintained that the authorities' attitude and policies towards cultural diversity had not been appropriate. He made clear that he was against any form of separatism and stated that, on a national level, there was no place for those with separatist agendas.

1615 GMT: Al Jazeera is now reporting that the French delegation also left the conference hall.

1610 GMT: Walking Out on Ahmadinejad. Nothing surprising in the President's speech at the UN conference on Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: it's a harsh denunciation of the US and Israel as nuclear powers with double standards discriminating against non-nuclear states and threatening the world.

The twist in the show's script, however, is that the British and US delegations (and possibly others unseen by Al Jazeera's cameras) have just walked out.

1420 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Maziar Khosravi, the editor of the Hammihan website, has been arrested and taken to Evin Prison. Khazravi had recently written an article about the attacks on Tehran University's dormitories days after the Presidential election.

1415 GMT: Helping Hands. From Press TV's website:

The National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) has offered to assist the US in efforts to prevent an ecological disaster from the spreading oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico....NIDC managing director Heidar Bahmani announced the firm's readiness to use its decades-long expertise to fight the oil slick, the company's public relations office told Press TV. "Our oil industry experts in the field of drilling can contain the rig leakage in the Gulf of Mexico and prevent an ecological disaster in that part of the world," Bahmani said.

1410 GMT: The Stabbing of the Minister. Amir Kabir University students are staging a sit-in protest over this morning's knife attack on professor and former Minister Ahmad Motamedi (see 1100 GMT).

1400 GMT: Top May Day Quote. Leaving the memorial service for the father of the Minister of Culture, Mohammad Hosseini, Mehdi Karroubi was heckled by a group of men he believed were plainclothes security officers. Karroubi approached the group and pondered why they might be present at a May Day demonstration: "It looks like your unemployment problem has been solved!"

1100 GMT: Rah-e-Sabz reports that Ahmad Motamedi, a minister in the Khatami Government, was stabbed in his office at Amir Kabir University this morning and is now hospitalized.

1055 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Ehsan Mehrabi has been released on bail.

Students at Allameh Tabatabei University have remembered their imprisoned professor Arab Mazar by sticking flowers to the door of his office and leaving messages of support.

1050 GMT: Detaining Teachers. Human Rights Activists News Agency has confirmed the names of 11 teachers arrested yesterday on National Teachers Day.

1035 GMT: Unity Does Not Mean Repression. Massoud Pezeshkian, Minister of Health from 2001 to 2005, has declared that "unity" is not possible by arresting, beating and issuing files, but requires cooperation and a desire not to create division in society.

1025 GMT: Clerical Challenge. Ayatollah Mousavi Tabrizi has renewed his criticism of the Government, saying that the judiciary does not follow justice in acting against law-breakers: those are poor or who do not have links to power or influence have no guarantees that they will be treated justly. Mousavi Tabrizi added that the Parliament does have not power to make laws, and those that they do pass are not implemented due to ineptitude.

1000 GMT: The Naderan Allegations. Yesterday we reported on the sweeping allegations of member of Parliament Elyas Naderan, linking charges of corruption to mismanagement and manipulation of power by the Ahmadinejad Government.

Khabar Online (gentle reminder: linked to Ali Larijani) has driven home the point with a lengthy English translation of Naderan's assertions:
Based on the experiences of the ninth government and his chanted slogans [2005-2009] on fighting with corrupt economy figures, Mr. Ahmadinejad was expected to revise the appointment of some government managers. He was supposed to make up for the shortcomings of the ninth administration and remove the concerns of his defenders including members of Hezbollah (Party of God) but actually the opposite happened....

On the one hand Mr. Ahmadinejad removed a number of ministers who were mostly dedicated to serve the Islamic Republic including Lankarani, Mohseni Ejei, Saffar Harandi, Fattah, and Jahromi [former Health, Interior, Culture and Islamic Guidance, Energy, and Labor and Social Affairs Ministers] and made new appointments of some whose unpleasant and negative characters are known to the majority of people and elites.

Naderan then focused on changes Iran's oil industry:
A few days ago, the Minister of Oil Mas'oud Mir Kazemi assigned Mr. Qal'eh Bani as the new managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC). Earlier when Mr. Qal'eh Bani was to be appointed as the head of Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO), his suspicious financial activities was revealed through some documents published by Alef website [which belongs to the Principlist MP and Government critic Ahmad Tavakoli].

Later Qal'eh Bani filed a lawsuit against the website but to no avail, since the managing editor of Alef was acquitted of charges. At the time I think that the Minister of industry, Ali Akbar Mehrabian had made such a decision himself [to bring the lawsuit] to perpetuate his position, but now it's clear that the decisions are made at a higher rank. We must bear in mind that the financial authority of the NIORDC managing director is much more than any other in both governmental and nongovernmental organizations of the country.

Naderan concluded, "Such removals and assignments enhance the suspicion that these are intended to put an impact on the forthcoming elections," arguing that Ahmadinejad's Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai (who was blocked by Parliament from serving as 1st Vice President) has intervened in the next elections for city and village councils.

0755 GMT: As for Rafsanjani.... More on Hashemi Rafsanjani's statement yesterday to academics who are members of Parliament. The former President again played his balancing act, saying "illegal actions from each group cause serious public misbelief".

0750 GMT: Larijani Watch. Looks like Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani is bolstering his political position through another call of allegiance to the Supreme Leader. In an article in Khabar Online, he has said that "hardliners must unite", be pious, and accept velayat-e-faqih (ultimate clerical authority). ht

0615 GMT: Remembering the Teachers. Sunday's National Teachers Day passed with little fanfare, despite some talk about protest and hunger strikes amidst detentions and firings that have taken teachers out of the classroom. Photos from Shiraz are among the few markers we have noted of the day:



0605 GMT: Corruption Watch. The sky over alleged mismanagement and fraud involving members of the Ahmadinejad Government is getting darker.

Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, complained to his officials:
In our fight against economic corruption, there are rumours of opposition from certain individuals which unfortunately have also gotten into the media with amateur coverage....The judiciary will never allow people to take possession of public property and the treasury for themselves and their children through cheating and falsifying documents.

It remains to be seen whehter Larijani's defensive remarks --- yes, we really are going to pursue the corruption allegations, even if high-ranking officials are involved --- are more than public protest.

Meanwhile, Elyas Naderan, the member of Parliament who has accused 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi of running a corruption ring, told a group of university students, “In government meetings it has been announced that whoever speaks out against Mr. Rahimi will be dealt with.” He repeated that, as Rahimi is a liar and his credentials are fabricated, the Vice President is unfit for his position in the government.

0555 GMT: For most media, inside and outside Iran, today will almost certainly be taken up by the sideshow of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's trip to New York. The Iranian President, at relatively short notice, asked to attend the United Nations conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the US Government, after some speculation that it might balk at the request, granted a visa. So Ahmadinejad took off from Tehran yesterday, with the conference and Mahmoud's moment in the cameras taking place today.

There is a chance that, behind the scenes, there may be some meaningful manoeuvring over the "third-party enrichment" proposal for Iran's uranium stock, given the presence at an international gathering of brokers (Turkey, Brazil), the "5+1" powers taking up the issue (Britain, France, China, Russia, Germany, and, most significantly, the US), and Iranian officials.

Publicly, however, the headline is Diversion. Just as Ahmadinejad used a trip to New York last autumn, with the guaranteed pantomime coverage of "Western" vilification and Iranian state media's glorification, so we are likely to get an outcome bigging up the President's international presence and belittling (if noting at all) the internal dynamics in Iran.