The Green Brief #40-41 (July 26-27)
Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator
These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Sunday/Monday, July 26/27. (Some reports maybe from the 28th as well)
Protests / Unrest
1. There are reports that a small gathering of people chanting against the government was held on Tuesday held in retaliation of the government’s decision to ban Mohsen Rohulamini’s funeral ceremony from being public. I can only partially confirm this at this point.
2. Plans are underway to hold a day of silence around the world to commemorate the 40th day of Neda’s death (I’m not sure if this has a lot of backing, but here’s the link: Example Tweets for Thursday 3...). Protests are planned in Iran on that day as well.
3. Basijis are apparently wearing jeans and shaving their beards in order to infiltrate the ranks of protesters.
Opposition
4. Mousavi urged the government to not interfere with the mourning gathering to commemorate Neda’s death. He said he hadn’t planned a speech and only Koran will be recited during the mourning. He, however, declared that the Green Movement will continue. The gathering will be held at Grand Mosala. He added, “How can it be that the leaders of our country do not cry out and shed tears about these tragedies?”
5. Two days ago, Hashemi Rafsanjani stated in a meeting with faculty members of a university in Tehran denied there was a power struggle in the nation. But, in order to resolve the current situation, he said that he still stood by his comments made during his Friday sermon.
6. Ayatollah Montazeri has released a statement that expresses concern over the current state of affairs. He also applauded the efforts made by various people to resolve the current state of turmoil. It has been also confirmed that Ayatollah Montazeri has met with Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabeli and Ayatollah Shabiri Zanjani.
7. Partially confirmed reports suggest that Ayatollah Saneie has announced his intention of attending the mourning rallies of the 40th day of Neda’s death. On Sunday, he also criticized the government’s wide-spread clamp downs on peaceful protesters and called on it to release all detainees. In a letter to Mousavi, Khatami and Karroubi, he also said that the path to attaining peoples’ rights must continue without violence or bloodshed. Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabeli also joined his call for the release of all prisoners and asked the government to halt cruelty against peaceful protesters. It is worth noting that both Ayatollahs' statements come as a response to a letter sent to Iranian Ayatollahs by the reformist leaders, asking for their support.
8. Ayatollah Hassan Zarandi – a member of the Assembly of Experts, representing Kermanshah – has written a letter, supporting Rafsanjani’s Friday sermon.
9. Reformist MP Alikhani has criticized the government’s decision to continue using Russian-made airplanes. He accused the government of treating the lives of Iran’s citizens as worthless.
Government / International
10. It has now been confirmed that the resignation letter of the Minister of Culture has been rejected by Ahmadinejad. So far, only the Minister of Intelligence has been sacked. Reports of the sacking of two other ministers could not be confirmed.
11. It has been confirmed that sacked Intelligence Minister Ejaie has sent a letter to Khamenei criticizing Ahmadinejad rather harshly.
12. Although it had been reported that Ahmadinejad’s inauguration would be held on August 2, new reports suggest that it might have been changed to August 5 and still others claim August 4 to be the day. For now, August 2 seems to remain in effect.
13. MP Hamid Reza Katouzian has stated that Mohsen Rohulamini’s only fault was to Ahmadinejad and called the killing of dissidents by the government ugly and shameful. This is while another MP Ali Motaher – who has sided with reformists in the past weeks – asked Iran’s judiciary to give up the name of Mohsen’s killer.
14. Mohsen Rezaie has thanked judiciary chief Ayatollah Hashemi-Shahroudi for ordering a quick review of the cases of the detainees of the post-vote unrest in Iran.
15. It has been confirmed that besides Intelligence Minister Ejaie, as many as 20 high-ranking officials from that ministry have been sacked. Reports suggest that Ahmadinejad has sacked these officials for their failure to provide concrete evidence that attempts at staging a ‘velvet revolution’ were being made in Iran by foreign powers.
16. As reported in the Green Brief two weeks ago, several prominent Shi’ite clerics are going to make a decision about leaving Iran and settling in Najaf, Iraq. It is expected that the final decision will be made within days.
17. In a meeting held by a committee set up by the reformist camp to investigate the fate of detainees, Ali Larijani – the head of Iran’s Parliament – has asked them to continue their investigation. He has also asked for the release of those detainees who have not committed serious crimes. However, he reiterated that government’s official policy of blaming foreign media outlets for the current unrest in Iran.
Arrests / Released / Killed
18. It has been confirmed that Khamenei has ordered the closure of a single detention center because detainees were being ill-treated there and Iranian laws were broken. Khamenei’s spokesperson – while announcing the Supreme Leader’s decision – said that this had been done to ensure that detainees remain safe from cruelty while in detention. We cannot confirm which prison it is at the moment; however, it seems Khamenei must not be aware of what’s happening at Evin…
19. Famous Iranian actress Pegah Ahangarani has been detained. Partially confirmed reports suggest that prominent feminist, lawyer and human rights activist Shadi Sadr has been released.
20. The spokesperson for Iran’s Judiciary has announced that Shahrodi - the director of the Judiciary – ordered that within a week the fate of all prisoners detained after protests started must be determined. He said that some will be released very soon because they might not have committed any serious crimes, but claimed that only 300 remained behind bars. It has also been confirmed that 7 members of parliament went to visit Evin and Rajayi prison to assess the condition of detainees on Monday.
21. The director of Mazandaran province’s detention facilities has told a human rights organization that the provincial prison at Sari held a thousand prisoners – four times more than it could actually hold. He also claimed that up to 60 people were being held at cells designed for 12.
22. Ramin Qahremani – a protester detained for two weeks – has died only two days after being released because of internal and external injuries. He had been extensively tortured and was reportedly hung upside down for extended periods of time while in detention.
23. Faizullah Arab-Sorkhi, Saeed Hajjarian, Behzad Nabavi and Mostafa Tajzadeh, who are all reformists politicians currently in jail and in bad health, have been moved to IRG Hospital #66. It has been reported that they will be questioned by a special team from now on that is being headed by a representative of the Supreme Leader.
24. In more tragic news, the family of a protester who went to a rally in Rasht was recently notified to pick up his body by the authorities of the city. The protester’s brother was asked upon arrival by the authorities to sign a statement, saying that the protester had died because he was suffering from a terminal illness. When he refused, the protester body was not returned.
25. As chants of Allah o Akbar continue throughout the night, security forces are actively hunting people who are taking part in this form of protest. Reportedly, people are being fined hundreds of dollars if caught in the act.
Media
26. Reformist newspaper Sadaye Adalat’s permit has been cancelled by the government.
27. Several state-owned media outlets, mainly Ansar News, IRIB, PressTV and Keyhan have recently started to criticize Ahmadinejad rather harshly. The spate of criticisms started after Ahmadinejad’s appointment of Mashaie as his vice president and the six-day long battle between Ahmadinejad and conservatives to remove him.
(I don’t particularly like Fareed Zakariya but this is just brilliant!:
http://www.youtube.com/v/T3SIQs4D5hY--snip--
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