NiteOwl’s GreenBrief #54

The Green Brief #54 (August 14 – Mordad 23)

I’m NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar – twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter. I’m a journalist and a human rights activist and NOT Iranian. This is a compilation of news from Iran that I’ve gathered through twitter and Iranian sites that were advertised on twitter. Remember, this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons (CC).)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Friday, August 14 – Mordad 23.

Protests / Unrest

1. During the Friday prayers, it is being reported that many Basijis openly talked about attacking the office of Etemaade Melli newspaper. There were also reports that leaflets were being distributed to people urging them to attack Etemaade Melli’s office on Saturday. This cannot be fully confirmed.

2. In response to a possible Basiji attack on Etemaade Melli’s office on Saturday and expected clashes, Karroubi has asked those protesters, who were considering gathering in front of Etemaade Melli on Saturday, to refrain from doing so – Iranian website Aftaab reported. Instead, he asked them to hold a peaceful gathering in front of the newspaper on Monday, where he would join them. 100% confirmation of this could not be obtained at this point but the source seems legit.

3. As the Friday prayers went on, security forces thoroughly checked people to see if they had any green bands or green symbols. They asked questions of anyone who had them. Also on Friday, youngsters were being stopped around the city and questioned about where they were going and what for.

4. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Higher Council of the Cultural Revolution in Iran, is planning on closing down universities across the country, to stop university students from protesting. University students – especially those who live in dorms – have been very active in the protests and this could confine them to the provinces and have an impact on the number of protesters.

5. Partially confirmed reports suggest that Yahoo! messenger has been unblocked in Iran after two months.

International Protests / Events / Efforts / Warnings

6. PLEASE READ THIS FOR YOUR SAFETY’S SAKE: Safeguard Your Personal Info and Your Finances! – Why We Protest – IRAN(Jon’s note: This is for US CITIZENS AS WELL!)

7. A German organization Deutsch-Iranischer Verein Flensburg is organizing mothers in city of Flensburg, Germany to gather at parks in the city every Saturday from 3-4 PM. This is being done in solidarity with Mourning Mothers in Tehran who do that same every week.

8. For an unofficial list of upcoming protests in the US: Protesting for Iran until they don’t have to

9. For a list of protests that are being planned in Germany, please visit this link: Julia’s Blog: Protests and rallies in Germany (subject to change w/o notice) (English and German) (Courtest of @jkshalamani)

10. A to the point website for help traumatized Greens: Healing the Green Soul
(If you, your friends or your organization are holding events, protests or doing something else related to the Iranian election internationally, please send me an email with details and I will give you coverage. (Will only cost you 10 million dollars!) My email is: dbosca@gmail.com.

Opposition

11. Tehran Beareau Reports: [Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, head of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, has met with the powerful head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Sayyed Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who is undergoing cancer treatment in Tehran. A source close to Hashemi revealed that the Iranian cleric had visited Hakim at his residence in northern Tehran. During the meeting, Rafsanjani stressed the importance of unity among Iraqis and the formation of a coalition government in Iraq. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim has been receiving treatment in Tehran for the past year.

12. Eng. Torabi – a reformist MP – criticized the government and the parliament openly in the parliament on August 9. However, the video only got to us today. In the video, Torabi criticizes the parliament for its inaction in the face of the unrest and its silence about the atrocities being committed against the people. He also criticized the government for what he calls unanswered questions about the deaths and arrests. He keeps asking the government stinging questions throughout his seven minute speech and calls what is going on in Iran unjust. Here’s the link (Farsi):

13. This is not news, but related to past news that I was unable to cover.

Karroubi’s Latest Interview in English (Courtesty of Enduring America): Text: Latest Karroubi Statement on Detainees, Rafsanjani, and Larijani (13 August) | Enduring America

Karroubi’s Letter to Rafsanjani about the rape of detainees:

English: Khordaad 88 � Blog Archive � A Letter from Karoubi to Rafsanjani

German: slkrf

Government / International

14. Ahmad Khatami in his Friday prayer sermon called the contents of Karroubi’s letter “lies” and said that it was a cause for celebration in the US, Israel and other foreign countries. He said that Karroubi had slandered the Iranian government and played with its reputation.
Khatami praised the trials being held by the Judiciary and asked them to continue with them and stand firm against foreign interventions into Iranian affairs. He yet again blamed the UK and other countries, saying that their embassies had been involved in the unrest. He also used his sermon to say that foreigners were using websites to spread lies about the Islamic regime.
He also complained about the fewer number of people attending the prayers!

15. Across the country, it has been reported that many other Friday prayer leaders criticized Karroubi. Here’s a brief synopsis of several cities.

– In Mashhad, the Friday prayer Imam Ayatollah Ahmad Elmolhoda, said people who play with the Islamic regime’s reputation are ‘soldiers of the enemy’. He added that it was not fair for one person to compare Iranian prison to Abu Ghraib. He added that the Judiciary should ask this person to provide evidence otherwise he should be prosecuted because he has used character assassination tactics against our officials and is a terrorist.

– In Isfahan, Mohammad Taqi said that those who have ignored the 40 million votes of people and had created unrest should be prosecuted. He further added that someone who has spent 40 years within the Islamic Revolution was saying things that were clearly damaging the reputation of the Islamic Revolution and Imam Khomeini – a clear indication that he was referring to Karroubi.

– Sayed Mohammad Hossein Saeedi – the Imam of Qom’s Friday prayers – while referring to allegations of rape in Iranian detention centers, said that the people wanted the Attorney General to arrest the person spreading this and prosecute him. He said that such slander was damaging to the regime and people, at the very least, wanted this person to face the consequences of his crime.

16. Ali Larejani dismissed allegations by Karroubi that the parliamentary committee for investigating the condition of detainees had called instances of rape in Iranian detention centers false in haste. He said that Karroubi was the one who hastily went ahead with his allegations, without first contacting the committee and showing it his evidence. He added that the committee had already investigated the same allegations as they had been published in various sites and had found nothing during their assessments.

17. Yadullah Javani – the director of the political office of the IRG – said that Mousavi should be brought to court. He added that information suggested that reformists were planning on gaining power at any cost – whether it was by forcing their way into the government again or by getting help from foreign countries to topple the regime.

18. It has been reported that the National Security Council of Iran was presented with the suggestion that Mir Hossein Mousavi and ten other important reformists, be arrested to stop the unrest. According to reports, besides Mousavi, the list includes the names of Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, Mahdi Karroubi, Mohsen Alveri, Reza Khatami, one of Hashemi Rafsanjani’s children and others. Khatami was absent from the list for fear of extreme international reaction because of his fame in the outside world as a reformist leader.

Although the suggestion had the backing of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, members of the Council insisted that this would severely damage the regime. The suggestion was finally rejected by Khamanei who apparently said that Mousavi’s arrest could topple the regime. The report could not be fully confirmed.

19. Khamenei’s representative in the Basij force, Ali Mohammadi today said that it was their duty to destroy the secular thoughts and plans of the enemy – in a clear reference that the establishment was not going to yield to reform. He condemned the ‘enemies’ of the regime for what he called, their ever-continuing attempts at toppling the regime and said that the Basij were an effective deterrent to such schemes.

Arrested / Released / Killed

20. A reformist MP, who belongs to the Imam’s Way faction, has alleged that the man responsible for Kahrizak was Hossein Fedaie, an MP from Tehran and the head of Council of Sacrificers (Jamiyat Eesargaran). He also added that so far, the committee for assessing the condition of detainees, has received two written documents detailing two specific types of torture – the first is keeping detainees naked and the second, not allowing them bathroom breaks. He added that further investigations were being carried out into Kahrizak.

21. BBC Persian interviews a detainee who was been tortured (Persian): YouTube – ‫گفتگوی بی بی سی با یکی از شکنجه شدگان بازداشتگاه کهریزک‬‎

22. Morteza Alveri – a reformist linked to the Green Movement – stated today that if people responsible for keeping records at Beheshte Zahra Cemetery cooperated, they would be able to prepare a complete list of people who have met violent deaths during the unrest. He asked the parliament to order those responsible to cooperate with them so they could prepare the list.

23. The French Ambassador in Tehran met with detained French citizen Clotilde Reiss today. Reiss is on trial on charges of espionage.

24. Iranian-American student Esha Momeni was released from prison after a ten-month detention and flew back to Los Angeles.

25. One member of parliament told Rooz Online, “During the special Majlis committee’s visit of the Evin Prison, several prisoners openly talked about sexual abuse; even though they did not specifically use the word ‘rape’ and only spoke about sexual abuse.”

Media

26. Etemaade Melli has asked the provincial government to provide them with security in case they are attacked because of Karroubi’s stance with regard to the rape of detainees.

27. Conservative newspaper Jomhoori Islami (Islamic Republic) criticized Mesbah Yazdi’s statement yesterday which equated, obeying the president with obeying God. The newspaper called such comments “deifying government officials”.

Miscellaneous

28. Green stain in Rasht: http://bit.ly/CqEbt

29. Iranian-born singer Laleh shows her Green band during her performance in Sweden: Bilder från Laleh, Götaplatsen / Göteborgs Kulturkalas (Göteborg) – ROCKFOTO.NU

30. In response to the government’s issuing of a stamp commemorating the selection of Ahmadinejad, the Greens have issued a stamp of their own: onlymehdi, RT THE REAL ELECTION STAMP #iranelection

To Helpers

– Info on republishing the Green Brief: For Bloggers, News Sites and Forum who want to republish the Green Brief Plesae Read! – Why We Protest – IRAN

– Information on Tor: Tor Browser Bundle

– Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_54; Create it if it doesn’t exist.

– (A list of all the Green Briefs: The Green Briefs

– A hearty thanks to Sahar joon and S joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who’re spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.