Breaking News – Important Announcement on Mr. Mousavi’s Facebook Site

Dear All,

Earlier today, Mr. Mousavi’s facebook posted a call for a massive rally to be held next Friday, July 17 toward Tehran University where  Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani will deliver the Friday prayer’s sermon  after a month of absence from public. Mr. Mousavi, and Mr. Khatami will  both be present at this important event. This appears to be the move (on  the part of Mr. Hashemi) that everyone was waiting for. Please find the flyer below.  Iranians can access e-mail. Please distribute widely.

Let us hope it will go ahead successfully and peacefully. Read the rest of this entry »

After a long absence, pro-Mousavi cleric Rafsanjani to lead prayers

Majid Ghaemi Heidari is welcomed at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport. He and four other Iranians were freed after 30 months in U.S. custody in Iraq. (Photo: Javad Moghimi / Fars News Agency)

After a long absence, pro-Mousavi cleric Rafsanjani to lead prayers.  Former President Mohammad Khatami reportedly will also attend Iran’s weekly keynote sermon Friday. The reformists’ return to the event can be seen as a challenge to hard-liners or a sign of a truce. Read the rest of this entry »

Key Iran cleric’s party dismisses vote results

The statement by Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s party heightens the confrontation between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s camp and supporters of reformist challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

By Borzou Daragahi in the Los Angeles Times on July 7, 2009

Reporting from Beirut — A day after commanders of the Revolutionary Guard warned there was no middle ground in the dispute over the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the political party of one of Iran’s most powerful clerics Monday defiantly issued a statement dismissing the vote. Read the rest of this entry »

Clerical Leaders Defy Ayatollah on Iran Election

By Michael Slackman and Nazila Fathi, published July 4, 2009 in the New York Times.

CAIRO — An important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran ‘must free UK embassy staff’

Published by BBC News on June 28, 2009

The European Union has demanded the immediate release of Iranian staff at Britain’s embassy in Tehran detained on Saturday over post-election unrest.

EU ministers meeting in Greece warned that “harassment or intimidation” of embassy staff would be met with a “strong and collective” response.

Iranian media reported the detention of eight local staff at the UK mission over their alleged role in the unrest.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband dismissed the allegations as baseless.
Read the rest of this entry »