Iran News Round Up

(Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation)

Politics: General

• Mostafa Tajzadeh, who was the head of the election monitoring office during the Khatami administration, says the country is moving from “democracy into supremacy of the master of boots,” referring to the active participation of the Revolutionary Guards in politics in the Islamic Republic.
• Speaker of the Iranian parliament, Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel: “The armed forces should not intervene in politics.”

Diplomacy

• Libya, Indonesia against new UNSC resolution on Iran.
• The EU considers presenting another incentive package to Iran in return for a uranium enrichment suspension.
• In a meeting with the Senegalese president, Supreme Leader Khamenei says “the great powers speak the language of force, but Islamic unity weakens them.”
• A day after the supreme leader’s praise for Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy, Hassan Rowhani, former nuclear negotiator attacks the foreign policy of the Ahmadinejad government and says: “When we were in office, El Baradei was a spy, now he is depicted as a Muslim!”
• Ahmadinejad meets the Qatari prime minister to discuss energy issues.

Economy and Trade

• Iran’s minister of roads and infrastructure: “In a ten-year plan, Iran will have 20,000 kilometers of railroads.”
• Former head of the Islamic Republic of Iran National Bank: “We have warned the government against increase in liquidity but no one listens!”
• Iran and China to sign a $16 billion oil contract.

Human Rights and Labor

• Court condemns political activist Farzad Kamangar to death, and political activists Ali Heydarian and Farhad Vakili to ten years in prison.
• Three thousand students stage demonstrations in Shahroud.
• Islamic Student Association of Shahroud condemns arrest of 26 student activists from Shahroud.
• Third day of unrest, sit-ins at University of Shiraz. More.
• Department of Mining and Metallurgy at Amir Kabir University establishes a committee to screen the list of students who want to attend the annual university picnic. This act provokes a student demonstration.
• Iranian worker lashed.
• Iran: Activist ’Dynamic Duo’ fight for human rights

Society, Culture, and Religion

• Esmat Barouti, wife of Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari, suggests student publications are sources of danger.
• After female domination of entrance exams, the University of Tehran imposes sex quotas so that no gender can be more than 70 percent of an annual class.
• Karrubi speech at Amir Kabir University protested:
• Students stage anti-government protest over imprisoned student activists.
• One student asks Karrubi: “Why has your party not abstained from running for the parliament in the light of rejection of reformist candidates to the elections?”
• Mehdi Saidipour, former member of the central committee of the Islamic Student Council of the Amir Kabir University references imprisoned Amir Kabir student activists Ehsan Mansouri, Ahmad Ghassaban and Majid Tavakkoli and asks Karrubi: “When the organizing team of the elections is capable of rigging the elections, how can one talk of popular vote? And how can one speak of a strong parliament in the presence of a strong Council of Guardians?”
• Karrubi responds that the government can not be judged yet, since it is the first time the Ahmadinejad government is facing parliamentary elections and begged the student to let him answer his other questions on a later occasion.
• Student Basij member asks Karrubi why he took money from the embezzler Shahram Jazayeri at the time Karrubi was in the Foundation of the Martyrs.
• Karrubi says he had knowledge of such matters.
• Another student – cheered by peers – says: “In my opinion, freedom is not important for you. As long as your candidacy is approved of [by the Council of Guardians] you are happy, and you don’t protest against rejection of nationalist and religious candidates.”
• After the moderator would not allow critical students the microphone, students raised placards reading: “Free our classmates!”, “If you even can’t fight for your own rights, how can you fight for the rights of students?!”, and “The popular vote was the measure, or what?!”
• Karrubi said he could not read the placards, and the meeting was disrupted when the students attempted to come nearer to Karrubi to show him their placards.
• After restoration of order, a student banned from the university by the disciplinary committee delivered a long speech and demanded justice from Karrubi.
• Karrubi demanded the students to show patience.
• A female member of the Basij criticized crowds for cheering and clapping during Shi’ite days of mourning, which provoked more cheering and clapping from students.
• Majid Sheikhpour, a student activist who had been imprisoned and tortured, criticized student arrests in Iran.
• Karrubi also asked Sheikhpour to show patience.
• A last Basiji, given the microphone, was interrupted by shouting of students chanting, “Basiji get lost,” and “The Basij Association must be shot!”

Photos of the Day:

• Receiving the Senegalese president.
• Drug crackdown in Tehran.