Posted by Admin on November 11, 2009
Narges Kalhor is the daughter of Mehdi Kalhor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s media advisor. In the following letter to the little brother she never met, she hints of the Orwellian lessons ahead.
My dear brother,
I do not know what kind of man you shall become: a baton-wielder, or a fatherless freedom-fighter! But I know that whatever fate awaits, you will tread an arduous and painful path.
I remember that when I couldn’t yet read or write, Father would yell at us for the smallest errors. My sisters would hold me close; Mother would helplessly apologize. Time and time again, we’d wait in a darkened room until their fighting ended. Back then, my wish was to have a brother who would stand up to Father, whose body wouldn’t tremble like mine, whose scream would not catch in his throat.
But here today, leagues away from where you are now, there are no more shouts. He is now with you and I worry for your young dreams and the absence of a sister’s warm embrace at your side.
Father’s strictness, no matter how severe, did not diminish our affection for him. He was a legend to us, especially when he was painting in silence. He would not utter a word as his gaze was trained on the canvas. There was such calm in his deep silence that it was difficult for me to recall the uproar of the night before. I don’t know if Father still moves his brush with wavy lines and colors over paper. And I wonder if he will speak to you about art school or narrate travel stories from his youth.
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Posted by Admin on November 10, 2009
Iran charges three detained Americans with espionage
Reuters | Nov. 9, 2009
Iran has charged three detained U.S. citizens with espionage, the official IRNA news agency quoted a judiciary official as saying on Monday.
“The three are charged with espionage. Investigations continue into the three detained Americans in Iran,” Tehran general prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said. The three were held after they strayed into Iran from northern Iraq at the end of July.
MP: Mousavi, Karroubi supporters will kill each other off
Khabar | Nov. 8, 2009
Khalil Hayat Moghaddam, a member of the Majlis judicial commission, said Hassan Karroubi’s remarks about Mir Hossein Mousavi clearly show that the two opposition figures — Mousavi and his father Mehdi Karroubi — are sparring.
“I knew it would come to that,” he said.
“These two have forgotten that they made a name for themselves under the banner of the Revolution, Leadership and martyrs…,” he said, “as the tears of the mothers of the martyrs and the blood of the martyrs are what protect the establishment and the Leadership [from harm].”
“Mousavi and Karroubi’s story brings to mind the tale of those people who were fighting over imaginary spoils of war; they have forgotten that they will not be able to inflict harm on the establishment and the Revolution.”
“The harsh stance adopted by Hassan Karroubi against Mir Mousavi Mousavi clearly shows that disagreements are increasing between the supporters of the two political figures, and it will come to spelling each other’s end.”
Fars claims private hospital helped fuel unrest
Fars | Nov. 7, 2009
Fars News Agency reported that a private hospital fueled the post-election unrest by refusing to treat injured police officers and individuals resembling Basij militiamen.
The Parcham report carried by Fars wrote that the unnamed private hospital had allocated its resources to treating a ‘certain group of people and turned away all bearded individuals who had a Basiji appearance.’
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Posted by Admin on November 9, 2009
His Excellency Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani,
Head of the Judiciary, Islamic Republic of Iran,
More than four months have passed since a number of political activists have been imprisoned based on unclear charges. While some of these detainees are established political personalities in Iran, others belong to a new generation of activists who are unknown outside of political circles.
Majid Zamani is such a person. A graduate of the Technical College of Tehran University, he earned an MBA degree from the University of Illinois and later a Master’s of Public Administration (MPA) from Columbia University. Despite professional opportunities available to him after graduation, he returned to Iran about 3 years ago. In conversations with friends and family in the years following his return, Majid always insisted that he could be of greater service inside Iran than outside.
During the elections, Majid was a supporter of the candidacy of Mir Hussein Moussavi. But following the announcement of the election results, Majid accepted the outcome and returned to his job the morning after election-day. He cautioned those around him to follow legal means for resolving the dispute and keep away from street demonstrations. Despite this, and to the great surprise of colleagues and family, Mr. Zamani was arrested outside his workplace in mid-June.
At the age of 25, before going abroad to continue his education, Majid served as the deputy director at the Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics (IPM) and also worked with the Iranian Parliament Research Center. After earning his second master’s degree in the United States, he worked as a Middle East Analyst at the World Bank. Despite opportunities to build a career at the World Bank, Majid returned home in 2007 to enter public service in the country he loves. After his return, Majid was assigned as consultant to the Secretary General of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly. He held this post during the two years of Iran’s presidency of the Assembly and accompanied the presidency of the Assembly on official functions. He later held positions at financial firms affiliated with the Ministry of Industry. Majid also served as consultant to the exploratory election committee of the mayor of Tehran, who at the time was considering a run in the presidential elections.
Inquiries by Majid’s family to the Revolutionary Court and Evin prison have only resulted in repeated promises of his freedom on bail. However, each time these promises have not been fulfilled and he continues to be held in prison on unspecified charges and without access to a lawyer. It has been reported that part of the case against him is based on his attendance of American Universities and his work at the World Bank. Unfortunately, Majid’s professional and educational experience abroad has been used as an excuse to put pressure on him to confess to false crimes.
We, the undersigned, express our grave concern that Majid Zamani is detained under unclear charges and has been subject to pressure while in prison. Majid Zamani is an asset for Iran, a person with a successful record in some of the most prestigious universities in the world; a person who gave up career opportunities abroad in order to enter public service in the country he loves. Unfortunately, we see that Majid and others like him have been denied their basic rights during the unexpected events of the past months.
We, the undersigned, have each in one way or another come to know Majid Zamani in our work places or universities; or have come to know the dreams and aspirations of the “Majid Zamanis” of the world for a better tomorrow. We ask that Majid and other political prisoners be afforded the inalienable rights guaranteed to them in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and that the Honorable Head of the Judiciary, as the guarantor of those rights, ensures that justice is served in the cases of all political detainees.
To sign petition, please click below:
English
Farsi
Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2009/11/a-letter-to-sadegh-larijani.html
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Posted by Admin on November 8, 2009
Nov. 4 marks the the day, 30 years ago, when Islamic leftist students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 69 people hostage. Seventeen of them were released at various times, but the remaining 52 remained captive for 444 days. The event was a watershed in U.S.-Iran relations with repercussions still felt today. The main consequence of that event has been that the United States, the most powerful nation on earth, and Iran, the most important country in the Middle East, have not had diplomatic relations for three decades.
The U.S. Embassy in Tehran was actually overrun twice, not once, after the 1979 Revolution. It first occurred on Feb. 14, 1979, right after the Shah’s government was toppled. But that quickly ended and those who had stormed the Embassy were immediately expelled from the compound. I will come back to that event shortly.
Nov. 4 also marks the anniversary of two other important events in the history of contemporary Iran. On that day in 1964, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi forced Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini into exile, first to Turkey and then to Najaf, Iraq. The Ayatollah returned to Iran triumphantly on February 1, 1979, after the Shah had gone into exile on January 16, 1979.
It was also on Nov. 4, 1978, that a gathering of students on the campus of the University of Tehran was attacked by the Shah’s security forces. Scores of young people were killed, including students as young as 13. That event made it clear that the confrontation between the Shah and the Iranian people had entered its final stage, and that it could end only if the Shah was removed from power.
Before describing the events that led to the hostage crisis, it is useful and necessary to recall briefly the history of U.S.-Iran relations, particularly during 1977-78.
Background
From early 1800s, Americans had been traveling to Iran. The first American missionaries to Iran were Justin Perkins and Asahel Grant, who were dispatched to Iran in 1834 by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Iran was called Persia at that time [the name changed in 1934].
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Posted by Admin on November 7, 2009
Gearing up for 13 Aban (Nov. 4)
Blog Watch | Nov. 7, 2009
Iran media says foreign journalists released from custody
WaPo | Nov. 7, 2009
Iran’s judiciary has freed three foreign nationals who were arrested Wednesday during demonstrations on the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover here, state-run media reported Saturday.
“Three foreign nationals, one Canadian and two Germans . . . have been freed,” the Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Tehran’s prosecutor general, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, as saying late Friday.
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Posted by Admin on November 6, 2009
US Treasury Dept. sanctions Bank Mellat chairman and Malaysian-based subsidiary
USTreas.gov | Nov. 5, 2009
The United States Treasury Dept. on Thursday imposed sanctions against Iran’s Bank Mellat Chairman Ali Divandari and a Malaysian-based Bank Mellat subsidiary.
The US Treasury said in a statement on its website that Divandari and First East Export Bank, a Bank Mellat subsidiary based in Malaysia, have been designated as “proliferators of weapons of mass destruction” and US citizens are prohibited from doing business with them.
Divandari has been sanctioned for acting on behalf of Bank Mellat, according to the US Treasury statement.
“Today’s action will help to protect the integrity of the U.S. financial system and ensure that banks and regulators around the world are aware that First East Export Bank is in fact an arm of Bank Mellat, an institution that has supported Iran’s nuclear program in violation of UN Security Council resolutions,” said Stuart Levey, the Treasury Dept. Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
The US Treasury first imposed unilateral sanctions on Bank Mellat in 2007.
Isfahan University student arrested
Gooya | Nov. 4, 2009
Ali Mashmouli, a member of the Islamic association of the Isfahan Industrial University, has been arrested.
According to an Amir Kabir University news bulletin, Mashmouli was arrested during student clashes with IRGC and police officers at the university today.
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Posted by Admin on November 6, 2009
It was hard to believe, but they were on television: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and three Iranian economists discussing subsidy policies and the administration’s plan to remove subsidies within three years. As is his custom, Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke matter-of-factly in a tone that suggested no one else understood the problem as well as himself and no one else had anything of value to contribute to the debate.
The three economists listened attentively to Ahmadinejad as he lectured on the waste caused by current subsidization policies and the fact that because of artificial prices any investment was hardly justifiable. He told his audience that a free market was the “best distribution system to guarantee social justice.”
“Of course we should be worried,” he went on to say, “because the bureaucratic system is always after expanding its influence and increasing its monopolies.”
As surreal as this sounds to anyone with any knowledge of the history of the Islamic Republic’s economic policies, this was indeed real — no need to pinch oneself to awake from some strange dream. News of the panel discussion was reported in the papers the next day. So yes, Ahmadinejad the Populist did lecture Iranians on a free market economy — and it wasn’t just talk.
Recently, his government put into motion a policy that would eliminate subsidies for fuel, energy and water in three years. At that time, the government would redistribute 60 percent of the amount saved in the form of cash handouts to members of the five lowest income groups. Ahmadinejad claimed that this would guarantee “small government” while securing “social justice” at the same time.
While such plans may appear balanced, many Iranian economists remain skeptical. For one thing, some question Mr. Ahmadinejad’s incentives: Why does he want to do this now? On several occasions in the past, he has rejected expert economic advice and even dismissed existing principles of economic theory as “Western ideology, which has failed miserably.” His solution was to devise an “Islamic economics theory,” tailored to Iran’s socioeconomic needs.
Rising oil prices gave his government a genuine opportunity. Incredible surpluses could have been used to boost economic development and help it reach a sustainable growth. Instead, his government set a record in wasting this revenue and initiated a series of disagreements with Majlis, the Iranian parliament. He spent money like water.
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Posted by Admin on November 5, 2009
Where was Mir Hossein Mousavi?
Mousavi was reportedly in his office in Farhangestan. When he tried to join demonstrations, security agents confronted him and did not allow him to go out, according to an Iranian journalist.
From Tehran Bureau correspondent in Tehran (translated):
Metro stops for Taleghani and Ferdowsi were closed this morning, so I had to go all the way to Enghelab. But that way I did walk past the University of Tehran’s gates, which were highly policed. Riot police were lined up every 20 meters or so all the way to Ferdowsi. I made it to Vali Asr and then walked North to Taleghani St. to make my way towards the old Embassy.
It was 10:30 am at this time. Hundreds of buses (that had brought in pro-regime supporters) lined Taleghani street, and I started to see some pro-regime marchers coming my way. Lots of groups of kids, separated into boys and girls, marched rather insipidly and sometimes shouted “Marg bar America” — for them this is an annual political ritual with little meaning. I made it to the West end of the pro-regime protests; there were lots of people there and guards were no longer letting anyone in. I headed North to see if I could catch a glimpse of the opposition protests coming out of Haft-e Tir square. By this time (11 am) cellphones were not sending calls or texts at all.
I got to Karim Khan bridge (after almost being searched by the police, luckily a higher up pushed me along just as a young scruffy guy was opening my bag), and saw a large group of police amassed in riot gear. Many green-clad people were moving West, away from Haft-e Tir, but they were not amassed like the demonstrations in June. Instead, they moved along the sidewalks. I joined them. I passed a man who had fainted, from what no one knew. He was picked up by onlookers and put into a taxi. Farther along I saw the riot police heading off the marchers, and I crossed the street and went up a hill in a park. From there I saw a few back and forth attacks by the police to disband the crowd. Mostly this was shield banging and purposefully inaccurate swinging, just to get the crowds to run. Yet minutes later they were allowing people to walk by them, so I continued West.
Eventually it looked like things were thinning out, so I decided to track back to see if the demonstrations were going on elsewhere. I went Northeast to Vali Asr st, since this was where many of the dispersed protesters had gone during earlier demonstrations to continue marching. Sure enough, I ended up alongside a crowd of about 250 marching northwards, chanting the usual slogans. I stayed on the other side of the street, where thousands were watching and occasionally chanting, all of us wondering when the hammer would come down. I got ahead of the northwards moving group, and saw 50 or so riot police waiting for them. There was a standoff. Then I saw from the other side of the street the police shoot 3 canisters of tear gas upwards and arcing into the crowd. I was upwind so I stayed put. I started to see people coming my way due to the gas; it was a very effective way of breaking up the marchers. Chanting and yelling continued. I then headed south via a side road to see if the University of Tehran was quiet or not. On the way there I saw at least 4-5 people who had been badly gassed, with friends blowing cigarette smoke in their eyes.
Back on Enghelab nothing was happening, and no one spoke of student protests at or near the University of Tehran. The metro stops started to work in the afternoon, as well as cellphones. Obviously this was a well planned effort by the government to handle the protests. I saw less violence than before, and though I did see the usual old basiijis acting as self-appointed police wherever they were, most of them were just pissed off and yelled back at the protesters. I did not ever get to Haft-e Tir, so I cannot testify to the size of the amassed crowd (if it ever amassed or not) nor to the presence of any opposition leaders such as Karroubi.
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Posted by Admin on November 4, 2009
8:45:Plain clothes are severly overlooking the streets. The plain clothes have been palced at pre-designated with cameras at many major roads
نیروهای لباس شخصی به شدت خیابانها را زیر نظر دارند.در بسیاری از خیابانهای اصلی نیروهای لباس شخصی با دوربین در مکانهای از پیش تعیین شده ای مستقر شده اند
8:46: There are report of heavy anti riot police and plain clothes present in 7 tir
گزارشها حاکی از حضور پر تعداد نیروهای ضد شورش در میدان هفت تیر است
8:50:Metro will not stop at 7Tir,darvaze dolat and Taleghani
مترو در ایستگاههای 7تیر،طالقانی و دروازه دولت توقف ندارد
8:55:Tehran’s streets are quite inflame but yet calm. The primary core of people has not formed yet
خیابانها ی تهران به شدت ملتهب اما آرام است.هنوز هسته های اولیه مردم تشکیل نشده است
9:00:”Yare Dabestani” song and “down with dictator” chant can be heard from some Tehran’s school since the first hours
سرود یار دبستانی و مرگ بر دیکتاتور از حیاط برخی مدارس تهران در اولین ساعات شنیده میشود
***Security guard with the order of Tehran’s prosecutor attacked the house of Mohsen Amoozadeh, member of “ Setade Javanane 88″ Pro Khatami and Mousavi and after arresting him, searched his house for two hours.
ماموران امنیتی با حکم دادستانی تهران به خانه محسن عموزاده خلیلی از اعضای ستاد جوانان 88 حامی خاتمی و موسوی حمله نموده و ضمن بازداشت وی، به مدت دو ساعت به تفتیش خانه پرداختند
9:20:Students of Sanati Sharif are moving towards Tehran’s university
دانشجویان دانشگاه شریف به سمت دانشگاه تهران در حرکتند
9:30:Helicopter are flying across Tehran’s skies and the roads are still field with Anti-riot and security police.people have not fully formed their groups yet
هلی کوپترها در آسمان تهران در حال گشت زنی هستند اما خیابانها همچنان پر از ماموران ضد شورش و امنیتی است.هنوز تجمع قابل توجهی از مردم شکل نگرفته است
9:45:Tehran univesity students are leaving the univesity by chanting “down with dictator” and “it will be the same until AN is in power ” Clashes are happening around the university. People are slowly joining
خروج دانشجویان از دانشگاه تهران با شعار مرگ بر دیکتاتور و تا احمدی نژاده هر روز همین بساطه. درگیریهای پراکنده اطراف دانشگاه مشاهده میشود.تعداد مردم رفته رفته بیشتر میشود
9:55:Tehran UNIV Students are trying to get out of the Tehran University and Sec. forces are blocking them
دانشجویان سعی در خروج از دانشگاه دارند اما نیروهای ضد شورش مقابل درب دانشگاه را سد کرده اند
10:00:Tehran University is surrounded by the plain cloths basiji and security forces. Since the beginning in the morning of Wednesday Aaban 13th (October 4th) the aid unit and plain cloths forces are placed at all streets around the university fearfully. There are many police forces, the special unit are armed with anti-riot guns and are completely ready
دانشگاه تهران در محاصره كامل نيروهاي امنيتي و لباس شخصي هاي بسيج قرار گرفته است.از ساعات اوليه صبح امروز چهارشنبه مصادف با 13 آبان ؛ نيروهاي يگان ویژه و لباس شخصي ها از ترس اعتراضات دانشجويان در تمامي خيابان هاي اطراف و كوچه هاي منتهي به دانشگاه تهران مستقر شده اند.تعداد مامورين حكومتي بسيار زياد است به طوري كه در هر چند قدم دو نيرو مستقر شده اند.نيروهاي يگان ویژه به تمام سلاح هاي ضد شورش مجهز هستند و در آماده باش كامل به سر مي برند
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Posted by Admin on November 2, 2009
More student protests
Mowj | Nov. 2, 2009
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance was unable to deliver a speech at Khajeh Nasir Tousi University after student’s started chanting slogans in support of the opposition.
Upon arrival in the amphitheater where the speech was to take place, Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi was overwhelmed with cries of “culture killer,” “our culture minister, our shame,” and “death to the dictator.”
Saffar-Harandi who was struggling to maintain his calm, responded by saying that Mohammad Khatami’s culture minister, “Ataollah Mohajerani was better deserving of such honorary titles,” and asked students to allow him to begin his speech.
Students then began shouting “Liar, Liar where is your 63 percent.” Harandi replied by saying that this slogan better suited those who had released a list of post-election casualties. “Where are your 73 victims?” he asked.
Students then began to chant slogans requesting the release of political prisoners as they help up photos of Mohsen Mirdamadi, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Abdollah Momeni and Ahmad Zeydabadi.
At this point, campus security began filming the session and the students shouting in protest.
Harandi attempted to continue his speech about the importance of the U.S. Embassy takeover 30 years ago. However, students had turned their backs to the podium and were chanting “turn off your cameras.”
Harandi began calling students “uneducated” and “dictators,” at which point students held up their shoes in a symbolic gesture. Harandi called the students “ill-mannered” and said, “They had told me [beforehand] that you had brought in a sack of shoes [to throw at me] but none of you has the courage of Montazer al-Zaydi to even throw your shoes at me.”
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Posted by Admin on November 1, 2009
Iran’s purported response to IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei’s plan should not have come as a surprise to anyone. True to form, Iranian administrations have always shown some degree of flexibility under pressure, noticeably in 2003 when the whole establishment came to a decision to scuttle the military side of its nuclear program, at least according to a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate. Now after the recent controversial presidential election, the regime has its back tightly against the wall once again.
The tactic though has been the same all along: Appear to be saying Yes, when it’s really going to be a No in the end. The Yes is to show that the Iranians are listening receptively, to demonstrate that they are stepping away from their previous defiant approach — but they are only waiting for a “break out” opportunity. “It’s the same old tricks,” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, said at an EU Summit in Brussels. “A back-and-forth for further talks.”
The Iranian government wants to test President Barack Obama’s resolve. In a recent trip to Iran, everyone was asking me, “How serious a type is this Obama fellow?” On one occasion, when I replied that Obama’s presidency has opened a “fast closing window of opportunity,” one high-ranking official told me, “You can be sure we’ll find a way around him as we did before.” He was referring to outmaneuvering President Bush and his tough stance on Iran. In that case, Iran turned soft and even accepted the extra measures put in place by the IAEA. But when all hell broke loose in Afghanistan, and later in Iraq, the Ahmadinejad administration turned the tables on the former American president and his EU allies. That’s what it hopes to do again.
One thing is clear though: Iranian politicians are feeling the pressure of sanctions and facing a divided country that is showing little signs of forgiveness for all of their sins in the wake of the June presidential election. The government faces with dread each calendar event that it used as an opportunity to invite people into the streets to shake their iron fists at the United States and its allies. Now the much-touted 13 of Aban anniversary of the U.S. Embassy seizure is one big problematic mess it is probably wishing away.
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Posted by Admin on November 1, 2009
Iranian altruism convinced world to seek nuclear cooperation
Asr Iran | Oct. 31, 2009
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is the most independent country in the world.
Speaking at the Basij and Media Summit in Mashhad, Ahmadinejad said that altruism was the only way to counter threats.
“The governments that once said we should not have a nuclear program, are asking for nuclear cooperation with us today. This could not have been achieved had it not been for the altruism of the Iranian nation and the leadership.”
Photo: Turnout in Mashhad for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week.
Dean: student critic had Leader’s permission to speak
Asr Iran | Oct. 31, 2009
Saeed Sohrabpour, dean of the prestigious Sharif University, said that the student who criticized Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei had the Supreme Leader’s permission to speak out.
During a meeting of top students with the Leader, Mahmoud Vahidnia lashed out at Ayatollah Khamenei over a number of issues including state television coverage and a ban on criticizing the Leadership’s performance.
“The student critic who spoke out [at the leader's meeting with students] did not exceed legal boundaries when directing his criticism and he spoke out with the permission of the leader,” Sohrabpour said.
“This Sharif mathematics student said things from his own perspective and in all honesty and asked the Leadership questions that received a fatherly response.”
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Posted by Admin on October 23, 2009
Iran Nuclear Monitor Dies Mysteriously
Newsweek | Oct. 22, 2009
Police in Austria are investigating the mysterious death of a British nuclear monitoring expert. Early news reports said that Timothy Hampton, who worked for an international monitoring unit called the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), died after falling 12 stories in a building in the Vienna International Center, one of the United Nations’ main office complexes in Europe.
Arrests made at event for jailed Iran activist
Reuters | Oct. 22, 2009
At least 15 people were detained on Thursday during a religious ceremony in support of an Iranian reformist activist who was detained after June’s disputed poll and jailed for five years, a pro-reform website reported.
The site, Mowjcamp, said the prayer event was organised by the family of the activist, Shahab-edin Tabatabaiee, and held in their home in northwestern Tehran. The jail sentence against him was announced earlier this week.
Those detained included two pro-reform journalists and the wife of Abdullah Ramezanzadeh, a former government spokesman who was himself arrested after the presidential election and accused with many others of fomenting post-vote unrest.
“Now … we do not have security even in our own houses,” Mowjcamp quoted Fakhrosadat Mohtashamipour as saying. She is the wife of another leading reformist detained after the election, former deputy interior minister Mostafa Tajzadeh.
Wife: Tajzadeh in good health
Parleman News | Oct. 21, 2009
Fakhrolsadat Mohtashamipour, the wife of detained opposition activist Mostafa Tajzadeh, said she found her husband in good spirits and health in their third meeting since his arrest.
“Tajzadeh was uninformed about how his case was progressing. As he put it, because he has not done anything against the law and all his activities have been within the framework of the law he is ready to participate in court.”
According to Mohtashamipour, upon informing her husband of efforts being made to frame him, Tajzadeh said with great calm that he would have the chance to tell people the truth of the matter in court.
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Posted by Admin on October 22, 2009
IRGC launches own blogs to combat cyber enemies
Global Voices |
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that more than forty blogs have been created to struggle against IRGC’s enemies on cyber space. This action has taken place in the township of Arak, in the southwest of the Markazi province.
These new blogs have launched to publish IRGC’s dogmas and are aiming to change people’s mind. Moreover, these blogs are intended to avoid current Iranian issues to be debated online and replace them instead with governmental propaganda.
It should be mentioned that the IRGC announced the launch of 10.000 blogs for the paramilitary Basij forces at the end of 2008 “to control the Internet and other digital devices including SMS.”
MP: Mousavi trial unwise move
Asr Iran | Oct. 21, 2009
In reaction to lawmakers’ calls for taking opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to court, Shiraz representative to Majlis Ahmad-Reza Dastgheib said such a move would be against the doctrine of the country’s Supreme Leader.
“The Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] has always sought to preserve peace and unity and is opposed to creating tension,” Dastgheib told ILNA Wednesday. “It would be unwise to stray from this doctrine.”
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Posted by Admin on October 21, 2009
Based on recent reports of the Central Bank, over the past 37 years Iran’s liquidity has increased by 6424 times, and the index of inflation during this period has seen a 464 time increase. The decrease in the value of Rials has been the most true inflation index of the same period.
This means the purchasing power of a One Thousand Toman bill which for the first time was released in 1350, was in 1387 equivalent to 21 Rials, said to be it’s true value in 1350. In other words, the purchasing power of 1,000 Tomans in 1387 is equivalent to 21 Rials in 1350.
However the average salary of an employee which in 1350 was equivalent to 750 to 1000 Tomans – to maintain its purchasing power – should have increased by 464 times. In other words money that represented buying power in 1350 should have the potential value equivalent to 464 Thousand Tomans today.
A large 1000 Toman bill, which today only equals to 2 Toman in 1350 not only reduces the value of the national currency, but based on expert opinion shows the necessity of a reduction of three zeros from the national currency to strengthen its position.
The reduced value of a national currency is a reflection of extreme inflation, that Iran’s economy has been facing over the last three decades; Iran after the Revolution experienced a 50 percent inflation in the last four years has been faced with a whopping 20 percent increase in inflation which according to International Monetary Fund’s predictions is to continue in its ascending course over the next year.
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