IRAN: Khatami says protesters won’t back down

(Jeffrey Fleishman – Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times | 11 October 2009) – Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has posted a strong declaration on his website that the protest movement in Iran will not die despite violent crackdowns by the military and police. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Showing Who’s Boss

Iran’s hard men purge opponents and line their pockets

(The Economist | Aug 27th 2009) - BACK in 2007 the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) announced an important change of mission. From now on the main task for his 120,000 guards, as well as for the 3m or so members of the baseej paramilitary volunteer force that had just, and for the first time, been placed formally under his command, would be to deal with what he called internal threats. Just what he meant has grown increasingly clear since the disputed presidential elections in June that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an ex-guardsman, to power. The hardline faction centred on the IRGC embraces a network of former officers and like-minded men in other security branches. Despite outrage over the post-electoral crackdown, this faction has escalated its offensive against dissent even as it consolidates its hold over Iran’s politics and economy.

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Ahmadinejad Wants Opposition Tried

(AP Tehran | New York Times | 28 August 2009) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday called for the leaders of the opposition to be prosecuted over Iran’s postelection turmoil, stepping up pressure against the pro-reform movement that says he won the election by fraud. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran’s Presidential Election Shifts Its National Politics

Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, talks with Steve Inskeep about the political shifts in Iran.

(NPR | Morning Edition | 27 August 2009) – Morning Edition has focused this week on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and what they mean for U.S. policy. Iran’s presidential election two and a half months ago threw the country into turmoil. The fallout could change how Iran proceeds with its nuclear program, and how it approaches negotiations with the West. Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, talks with Steve Inskeep about the political shifts in Iran.  (Listen to the program) Read the rest of this entry »

Top Iran reform figures on trial

The trial has begun in Iran of a number of senior opposition figures following June’s disputed presidential election.

(BBC | 25 August 2009) - The defendants, who include former ministers in the 1997-2005 Khatami government, are accused of conspiring with foreign powers to organise unrest. Read the rest of this entry »

The Confession:  Ebrahim Nabavi as Mohsen Sazgar

In this video, Ebrahim Nabavi pretends to be Mohsen Sazgara, an opposition leader currently exiled in Washington D.C., as he “confesses” to his crimes against the state.  Nabavi is an Iranian political satirist and former writer for many reformist newspapers.  He is critical of the current regime in Iran.

Several years ago, Nabavi was accused of disgracing the supreme leader and sent to Evin prison. He was then made to “confess” on Iranian TV that he had received money from foreign countries and planned a Velvet Revolution. He was able to eventually leave Iran, and is currently exiled in Belgium.

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 »