Friction among Iran authorities heats up

With street protests quiet, factional disputes intensify. Hard-line clerics call for opposition leader Karroubi to stand trial, and reformist lawmakers want supreme leader Khamenei investigated.

(Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim | Los Angeles Times | 15 August 2009) - Rival camps within Iran’s corridors of power intensified their threats against each other Friday, signaling potentially dangerous clashes within elite circles and the security establishment after the disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran Tries to Suppress Rape Allegations

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, in a sermon at Tehran University on Friday, denounced claims that protesters had been raped. (Abedin Taherkenareh/European Pressphoto Agency)

(Robert F. Worth and Nazila Fathi | New York Times | 14 August 2009) — Iran’s clerical leadership on Friday stepped up a campaign to silence opposition claims that protesters had been raped in prison, with prayer leaders in at least three major cities denouncing the accusations and their chief sponsor. Read the rest of this entry »

Call for the human rights of the people of Iran to be respected

The Right to Peaceful Protest

In the days following Iran’s presidential election on Friday 12 June, many thousands took part in marches and demonstrations across the country, condemning both the process and outcome of the election. Read the rest of this entry »

In Iran, Fear Grows Over Treatment of Arrested Election Demonstrators

Margaret Warner updates the political situation in Iran, where concerns are growing about the treatment of demonstrators arrested after the disputed election.  Originally Aired on the Online NewsHour on July 29, 2009.

Reports of Prison Abuse and Deaths Anger Iranians

By ROBERT F. WORTH (Published in the New York Times on July 28, 2009)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Some prisoners say they watched fellow detainees being beaten to death by guards in overcrowded, stinking holding pens. Others say they had their fingernails ripped off or were forced to lick filthy toilet bowls.

The accounts of prison abuse in Iran’s postelection crackdown — relayed by relatives and on opposition Web sites — have set off growing outrage among Iranians, including some prominent conservatives. More bruised corpses have been returned to families in recent days, and some hospital officials have told human rights workers that they have seen evidence that well over 100 protesters have died since the vote.

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You Have No Right to Talk

Fereshteh Ghazi, contributor to  roozonline.com, July 14, 2009

While no one in the Islamic Republic judiciary is willing to take responsibility for the mass arrests following the June 12 coup, authorities from the judiciary are putting pressure on families of detainees to prevent them from conducting interviews and talking about their loved ones. Read the rest of this entry »

IRAN: Ten days of anguish, abuse inside Tehran’s prison archipelago

Families of detainees gather outside Evin Prison on July 6, 2009 (Part 1 of 2)

From Babylon & Beyond, A Los Angeles Times Newsblog – All 33-year-old Ali-Reza wanted to do was stop pro-government Basiji militiamen from beating up a man lying on the ground. Instead the engineer said he wound up in the clutches of the capital’s security archipelago, where he was himself beaten for days. Read the rest of this entry »

Mousavi reportedly will launch political party in Iran

Opposition candidate’s supporters describe plans in a reformist newspaper. Iranian officials release a jailed European journalist and a lawyer says a British Embassy worker will be freed soon.

By Borzou Daragahi – Published July 6, 2009 for the Los Angeles Time

Reporting from Beirut — The top figure of Iran’s nascent political reform movement, opposition presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, will launch a political party to pursue his goals, a reformist newspaper reported Sunday. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran’s top leader warns West over alleged meddling

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer, Jul 6, 12:37 PM EDT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Western governments on Monday of a “negative impact” on relations over what he called their meddling in Iran’s post-election riots. Read the rest of this entry »

Khatami denounces Iran election, arrests

Protesters in Iran walk past a poster of former president Khatami and reform party leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi. (Photo: Reuters)

Story posted by Reuters on Wednesday,  July 1, 2009 1:42pm EDT.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Moderate former president Mohammad Khatami criticized the outcome of Iran’s disputed election and called for the release of people arrested since the June 12 vote in a hard-hitting statement on Wednesday.
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