Daily News Digest:  Friday, August 28, 2009

Ahmadinejad calls for prosecution of Iran’s opposition leaders (Los Angeles Times) -  The president says post-election unrest was part of a foreign plot carried out by ‘subversives.’ His demand runs counter to supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who gave a conciliatory speech Wednesday.

Nuclear drive a casualty of Iran’s turmoil (Los Angeles Times) – Iran’s political crisis could prevent the nation from making any swift move to ratchet up its nuclear program, said analysts and officials, giving President Obama and Western allies more time to grapple with the issue.

Iranians Say Prison Rape Not New (New York Times) – On Friday, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad floated a bizarre conspiracy theory: that any rape or torture of political prisoners in Iranian detention centers in recent months had been carried out by “enemy” agents, not the government.

US Says Iran Still Not Addressing International Nuclear Concerns (Voice of America News) – The State Department said Friday the latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Iran’s nuclear program shows it is still not being responsive to concerns that it might be seeking nuclear weapons. Senior diplomats from major world powers meet next week in Germany to discuss nuclear diplomacy with Iran.

Iran’s Vice President Blogs From Prison (Radio Free Europe) - Iran’s former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who was arrested in the postelection crackdown, has updated his blog from prison.

What Really Happened At Behesht Zahra Cemetery On The Nights Of July 13-15?  (Radio Free Europe) - In this blog post, the author, who says he/she is the child of a Behesht Zahra cemetery worker, writes about reports of the secret burials of many victims of Iran’s post-election violence.

Ahmadinejad Wants Opposition Tried (AP | New York Times) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the prosecution of Iran’s top opposition leaders Friday, backing hard-liners pushing for escalation of the post-election crackdown.

The grip of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (The Guardian) – In his will, Ayatollah Khomeini asked that the military be kept out of politics. But as President Ahmadinejad’s list of cabinet nominees reveals, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) control more of the country than ever.

Iran may postpone university openings (WashingtonTV) — Iranian authorities may delay opening university classes in major cities across the country, amid continued political turmoil over June’s disputed presidential election, the Washington Times reported on Friday.

North Korean arms for Iran’ seized by UAE (Financial Times) - The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship secretly carrying embargoed North Korean arms to Iran, say diplomats.  The interception comes at a sensitive time. North Korea has invited the US for bilateral talks on nuclear issues and the UN Security Council’s western members are pressing for greater Iranian co-operation over its nuclear programme.

One Larijani who won’t bring change (Haaretz) – The appointment of Ayatollah Sadegh Ardeshir Larijani as head of Iran’s judiciary is unlikely to fix the country’s dire judicial and prison conditions, which have only been exacerbated by the turmoil following the June elections. If anything, it is likely to frustrate efforts by the United States and its allies to secure the release of foreigners and dual citizens being detained for political reasons.

Current Government Is Neither Islamic Nor a Republic (Rooz Online) - Grand ayatollah Montazeri declared in his response to a letter by 293 of the nation’s journalists, scholar and intellectuals, “This government is neither Islamic nor a republic.”

The Paranoid Style in Iranian Politics (Tehran Bureau) - Political polemics in Iran are replete with such terms as tuteah (plot), jasouz (spy), khianat (treason), vabasteh (dependent), khatar-e kharejeh (foreign danger), cummal-e kharejeh (foreign hands), nafouz-e biganeh (alien influence), asrar (secrets), naqsheh (designs), arosak (marionette), sotun-e panjom (fifth column), nokaran-e estecmar (servants of imperialism), posht-e pardeh (behind the curtain), and posht-e sahneh (behind the scene).

Finger-wagging won’t help Muslim women (Guardian UK) – By Allah, we’re an arrogant lot.  By “we”, I mean modern western feminists, a group among which I am generally proud to be included. Except when we’re full of ourselves.

Time Should not be Wasted With Trials! (Rooz Online) – As military commanders in Iran continue to issue political statements, the Passdaran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander of Tehran’s force Abdollah Araghi said, “This was a big plot that the enemies of the regime had been planning for at least the last 4 years. They had intended to resort to street protests regardless of who had won the June 12 elections.”

Ayatollah Khamenei moves to protect dissidents from death penalty (Telgraph) - His intervention will almost certainly curtail punishments meted out by special courts against scores of high-ranking and prominent dissidents rounded up for involvement in opposition campaigns. The opposition had condemned “show trials” of leading activists that heard abject admissions of ties to British and other governments, as well as pro-democracy organisations.

Why Do Muslims Fast During Ramadan? (Time) – One of the five pillars of faith for Muslims, Ramadan is the the ninth month of the lunar calendar and the holiest period of the Islamic year. It’s thought to be the month that the Koran was first revealed by God to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the year A.D. 610.

Upheaval in Iran Adds to Complexity of U.S. Strategy (Wall Street Journal) - America’s most vexing enemy is plagued by growing internal dissension, a vocal opposition movement that won’t die and a crisis of legitimacy. All good news for U.S. policy makers, right?  Not necessarily.

Iran’s Fear of a ‘Velvet Revolution’ (New York Times) - This week, at start of the fourth mass trial of opposition supporters in Tehran, an Iranian prosecutor read another indictment accusing leading reformist politicians and an Iranian-American scholar named Kian Tajbakhsh of plotting to overthrow Iran’s government.

An evening in support of the Baha’is in Iran (San Francisco Examiner) – For over 150 years, the Baha’is have been oppressed in Iran. Waves of systematic persecution at the hands of the government and clergy has sought to expel, intimidate, and eliminate those who would believe in Baha’u’llah.

Can Netanyahu and Obama rein in both the Israeli right and Iran’s clerics? (Haaretz) - “Settlement freeze in exchange for Iran sanctions” – that was the gist of an article published in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday, in advance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with U.S. envoy George Mitchell in London later that day.

Source: Iran News Digest