Political Persecution and Protest
· Keyhan: Oppositionists to go abroad in search of breakthrough for their “dead-end movement” (1)
· Keyhan claims number of visits to Reformist websites is extremely low (2)
· Publisher of Reformist newspaper sentenced to 11 months (4); Women’s rights activist sentenced to 9 ½ years (5); Student activist summoned to Revolutionary Court (6)
International Affairs
· Egypt denies visas to members of Iranian parliamentary delegation to Gaza (7)
· Ahmadinejad: Iran managed to break free from the grip of big economic powers and multinational companies (8)
· Further attacks on the US by Iranian officials (9): Majlis Chairman lashes out at US president: Obama cannot stretch his hands to Iran while Congress adopts sanctions (a); Head of Guardian Council: US paid US$ 1 B to Green Movement’s leaders, via Saudi individuals, to overthrow the Iranian regime; Iran the only country to stand by itself and strongly chant “death to America” (b)
Security Affairs
· Iran, Turkey ink security agreement (10)
Economic Affairs
- IRGC’s vast business network further expands (11)
- Canada hits Iran with new sanctions (12)
Social Affairs and Human Rights
- Ahmadinejad launches his plan of governmental saving account for every Iranian newborn (13)
- Broadband Internet to be launched in 11 Iranian cities (14)
- “Woman sentenced to death by stoning fainted in shock after hearing the verdict” (15)
Full Report
Political Persecution and Protest
1. Keyhan: Oppositionists to go abroad in search of breakthrough for their “dead-end movement” – The ultra-Conservative daily Keyhan published a report entitled “London Clique is Exposed, Places like Berlin, Paris or Brussels are Considered”, in which it referred to allegations about the Green Movement leaders (“leaders of the sedition” in Keyhan’s words) as if they plan to leave Iran. The report reads, “After reaching a dead-end and experiencing ineffectiveness of their activities inside Iran, relatives of the leaders of the sedition have been increasingly leaving the country, settling abroad, in order to revive this movement. The recent trip of one of the leaders of sedition’s brother to Germany is said to be part of this phenomenon, as he went there to evaluate the situation. The leaders of sedition think they might be able to bring the sedition movement back to life from outside the country with the help of foreign intelligence services and foreign media. Intermediaries have even suggested that the bad reputation of media outlets such as VOA, BBC, Radio Farda, Gooyanews, Jaras, Rooznet and Radio Zamaneh, encourages them to establish a new TV channel, which would seem independent but would be run behind the scenes by the directors and workers of the aforementioned networks. The Jaras website was supposed to play a similar role with the financial help of one of the leaders of sedition and Mohajerani’s management, but the use of infamous and anti-religion elements like Akbar Punz, Sorush and Kadivar, made foreign partners and the domestic network reach a joint conclusion that the London clique and its media, had been burnt out amid the chaos”. (“Keyhan”, July 22). Mohajerani, whom Keyhan mentioned as the manager of the Reformist Jaras website (“the London clique” in Keyhan’s words), is Ataollah Mohajerani, a former Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Khatami’s Government. Mohajerani currently lives in London.
2. Keyhan claims number of visits to Reformist websites is extremely low – The ultra Conservative daily Keyhan published Monday (July 26) a special report sarcastically entitled “With all your Supporters, be Careful of an Evil Eye”, in which it quoted statistical figures allegedly provided by Reformist websites, showing as if the turnover of visitors to these websites was extremely low. The report says, “The Gooya News website stressed that the number of daily visits to the websites that are against the Islamic Republic of Iran is very low”. Keyhan’s report then lists names of Iranian-oriented web resources with their alleged number of daily visitors (explanations in parenthesis added). Jaras – 3,200 visits, BBC Persian – 6,500 visits, VOA – 3,000 visits, Kalameh (Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s website) – 8,500 visits, Herana (affiliated with the “Monafeqin” in Keyhan’s words, a human rights website connected to Mojahedin Khaq) – 5,500 visits and Daneshjoo News (students’ website, according to Keyhan affiliated to the Freedom Movement of Iran) – 6,600 visits. Keyhan’s report further says, “Gooya News itself pointed out that the number of visits does not indicate the number of visitors as a single person usually visits his favorite websites several times a day. Furthermore, some of the visitors are supporters of the Islamic Republic”. “In addition”, Keyhan says, “70% of the visits to anti-Revolutionary sources are made by anti-Revolutionist elements residing abroad. The Gooya News also claimed that this website along with Balatarin have the highest number of viewers”. (“Keyhan”, July 26).
3. Political prisoners moved out of Evin’s ward 350 – The Reformist website Rah-e-Sabz reports that Abdollah Momeni and other political prisoners are being moved out of Evin Prison’s ward no. 350. Telephone lines of the ward have been cut off this week.
4. Publisher of Reformist newspaper sentenced to 11 months – Mostafa Kazazi, the publisher of the banned Seda-ye Edalat (“Voice of Justice”), was sentenced to eleven months of imprisonment for propagating against the regime, defaming the Islamic Republic and encouraging people to act against security. Seda-ye Edalat was banned and closed down in July 2009 for allegedly defaming the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini.
5. Women’s rights activist sentenced to 9 ½ years – Student and women’s rights activist Bahareh Hedayat’s prison sentence has been upheld in appeal. The sentence was submitted to her lawyer on Saturday, July 24. According to reports, Bahareh Hedayat faced a variety of charges after her arrest, including spreading of propaganda against the state through interviews with foreign media, defaming the Supreme Leader, defaming the Iranian president, disruption of public order through participation in illegal protests, illegal entry into and vandalism of Amirkabir University during a visit of Mahdi Karroubi, illegal gathering and collusion against the state.
6. Student activist summoned to Revolutionary Court – Nasim Sarabandi, a student and women’s rights activist, was summoned to Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Courts for interrogation. According to StudentNews website, Sarabandi had been arrested in October 2009 and transferred to one of the Intelligence Ministry’s along with 17 other student activists from the “Unity Fostering Office”. In the past few months, particularly in February and June, Intelligence Ministry officials contacted Sarabandi, threatened her and demanded her resignation from the Unity Fostering Office.
International Affairs
7. Egypt denies visas to members of Iranian parliamentary delegation to Gaza – Ahmadi-Biqash, the head of the Iranian parliamentary delegation that was due to reach Gaza this week, said, “We have made all arrangements, even the flight tickets to Egypt are ready, but unfortunately the Egyptian Government announced that it has yet to issue visas for the Majlis Members”. He stated that the Egyptian Government had requested and received the Majlis members’ credentials, but so far it had been uncooperative and failed to authorize the visit. The trip was scheduled to take place early on Tuesday July 27. The semi-official Mehr news agency reported that the effort made by the Iranian Majlis members was part of a broader attempt by the international community to break the Israeli siege of Gaza. The Majlis members in the Iranian parliamentary delegation are Mahmoud Ahmadi-Biqash from the city of Shazand, Parviz Sorouri from Tehran, Shabib Joyjeri from Ahvaz and Eivaz Heidarpour who represents Shahreza.
8. Ahmadinejad: Iran managed to break free from the grip of big economic powers and multinational companies – Speaking in the inauguration ceremony of two petrochemical plants in the special economic zone of South Pars, Ahmadinejad said Iran had managed to “release itself of the grip of big economic powers and multinational companies” by initiating big oil, natural gas and petrochemical projects based on its domestic resources. The Iranian president further said Iran’s success in completing the remaining phases in Asaluyeh resulted in significant outcomes, not only for Iran itself but for many other countries as well. He warned foreign companies against losing their markets also in countries other than Iran, should they fail to stop attempts to impose “unilateral and hegemonic policies for conducting industrial projects”. Ahmadinejad said the “hegemonic powers”, such as the US, that have been “committing crimes and have looting the resources of nations in the world for years” will have to stand accountable for their actions once justice prevailed the world. He said they could never halt the progress of the Iranian nation, as Iranians had already proven that their vigilance in confronting enemies’ sanctions. Ahmadinejad further said the Iranian Nation did not welcome sanctions, but stood firm in its position. He added that the Iranian Nation had already doubled its efforts to get to the peak of progress. According to Ahmadinejad, this was a reality that Iran’s enemies, being “guided and managed by the Zionists”, had been overlooking in the past three decades.
9. Further attacks on the US by Iranian officials –
a. Majlis Chairman lashes out at US president: Obama cannot stretch his hands to Iran while Congress adopts sanctions – Majlis Chairman Ali Larijani said, “The United States still seeks to break the Iranian Nation’s will. The more sanctions they impose on us, the stronger our will becomes”. He went on saying, “Barack Obama cannot stretch his hands to the Iranian Nation while the US Congress adopts moves against Iran”. Making reference to the Iran-Iraq War during the 1980s, Larijani said, “This imposed war was not Iraq’s war with Iran, but rather a war of the biggest powers that supported Iraq”.
b. Head of Guardian Council: US paid US$ 1 B to Green Movement’s leaders, via Saudi individuals, to overthrow the Iranian regime; Iran the only country to stand by itself and strongly chant “death to America” – Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of Iran’s Guardian Council of the Constitution, said, “I have acquired documents showing that the US paid US$ 1 B to the leaders of sedition. (i.e. Green Movement’s leaders) through Saudi individuals currently serving as US agents in countries around the region. These Saudis, acting on behalf of the US, told the opposition figures they would be paid additional US$ 50 B if they could overthrow the Islamic establishment. The opposition leaders staged riots with the help of the US and were confident that the Islamic Revolution would fall with the US assistance, believing such soft war would cause people to break away from the Islamic system”. Ayatollah Jannati said Saudi Arabia was obeying the US “in a servile manner”, whereas Iran was the only country to stand by itself and chant “death to America” with strength.
c. Tehran Times headline on Wednesday (July 28): WikilLeaks exposes occupiers’ war crimes in Afghanistan”.
Security Affairs
10. Iran, Turkey ink security agreement – The agreement was inked by Iran’s deputy Minister of the Interior for security affairs, Ali Abdollahi, and Turkey’s acting deputy Minister of the Interior, Osman Günes, following the 13th Turkish-Iranian joint security meeting in Tehran. Abdollahi expressed his hope for enhanced ties between the two countries in all fields, particularly the security and economic cooperation. He said several issues had been discussed in the meeting, including the international campaign against terrorism, cooperation on security affairs and countering smuggling of illicit drugs across the border.
Economic Affairs
11. IRGC’s vast business network further expands – BBC business reporter published a report entitled “Expanding business empire of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards”. The report reads, “Domination of a fairly sophisticated, energy-rich economy has been handed to a secretive military organization that started out as a religious militia. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is now believed to control a third of the Iranian economy. Some experts put the figure much higher, although all estimates are a matter of conjecture. Its improbable journey to becoming a powerful business network is bound up with Iran’s response to American pressure and international sanctions, which are intended to persuade Tehran to abandon alleged plans to develop nuclear weapons”.
12. Canada hits Iran with new sanctions – Following the EU, Canada adopted stricter sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector, in an effort to curb Iran’s nuclear program. The European and Canadian sanctions include measures to block dealing with Iranian banks, as well as steps to prevent investments in Tehran’s oil and gas sector, including refining. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, Lawrence Cannon, said his country’s new measures would include a ban on any new Canadian investment in Iran’s oil and gas sector.
Social Affairs and Human Rights
13. Ahmadinejad launches his plan of governmental saving account for every Iranian newborn – Talking in the inauguration ceremony of Mehr Imam Reza Fund, Ahmadinejad said, “Families are encouraged to deposit sums in their offspring’s accounts in addition to the Government’s share in order to guarantee a bright and shining future for them”. According to the Government’s plan, an account will be opened for every Iranian newborn in the Mehr Imam Reza Fund, with an initial governmental deposit of IRR 10 B (some US$ 962,000). This asset will gradually increase with additional sums deposited by the parents until the child reaches 18 years of age. At the age of 20, the money in the account will be available to the person for whom it was opened for such purposes as marriage, housing, education, medical care and Hajj pilgrimage.
14. Broadband Internet to be launched in 11 Iranian cities – Mobin, an Iranian Internet service provider, announced the forthcoming launch of broadband Internet connections in eleven Iranian cities, currently not enjoying this technology. The cities are Arak, Ardebil, Elam, Babylonia, Bojnourd, Birjand, Khorramabad, Semnan, Sanandaj, Yasuj and Shahrekord. The cost of a 256 kbps connection will be the equivalent of US$ 20 a month. A 512 kbps connection will cost US$ 40, and unlimited Internet use will cost US$ 60. Iranians have an incredibly heavy web presence, coming in third in the total number of blogs per country, after the United States and China.
15. “Woman sentenced to death by stoning fainted in shock after hearing the verdict” – Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning, fainted in shock after hearing the verdict. So tells a former cellmate of Mohammadi Ashtiani, who spent two years with her and accompanied her to the courthouse, to the Guardian.