Saturday, February 27, 2010

Saturday February 27th, 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 177 - Saturday February 27th, 2010

FUTURE PLANS
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills
-- Visiting resting place of the green movement martyrs in Beheshte Zahra (the cemetery) on the last Thursday of the year-- Being out in the streets on Thursdays

NEWS
--Advarnews: In an interview with Kalameh news agency, Mir Hossein Moussavi has commented on his take of the events on Bahman 22nd. The full interview is attached to the newsletter.

--Kalameh: An annual memorial service for the martyrs of the Bakeri family was held on Thursday. Mit Hossein Moussavi and Zahra Rahnavard were invited to this event and they appeared amidst much interest from people an activist politicians.

--Radio Farda: The 4th International Congress Against Capital Punishment was held in Switzerland. Iran, after China, has the highest number of capital punishments in the world.

--Deutsche Welle: In interview with corriere della sera, Mehdi Karoubi commented on the green movement in Iran. He restated his belief that the June election was rigged and challenged the legitimacy of the government. He also stated that his goal is not to debunk the regime, rather he prefers widespread reforms. He said that he still believes in the ideal of islamis repblic, but not the kind we see in Iran. He wants a republic that elective not engineered and is based on true islam not superstition.

--Kalameh: The parliamentary head of Iran, is a letter to the executive branch, enumerated all the actions taken by the government which ever deemed against the law. The legislative branch asked for explanations and adequate changes.

--VoA: Supreme leader's representative in the revolutionary guards claimed that these forces are not part of an army and they have the right and power to take political actions if deemed necessary.

--JARAS: A number of human rights activists in the Arab countries have published a letter denouncing the crackdown against the people and asked the government to put an end to this behavior.

--JARAS: The Friday surmons across the country were focused on the apprehension of Rigi and the gathering of the "council of the experts".

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--Kalameh: The judge in charge of Abdollah Momeni's case who has requested an 800 million toman bail for his release, denied the 400 million toman bail prepared by his wife on the grounds that this amount was not enough.

--Kalameh: Mohsen Mirdamadi's defense Lawyer informed of his second trial in the "revolution courthous" no. 15. Mr. Mirdamadi is accused of attempts at debunking and publicizing against the regime.

--Parliment news: The spouse of Mostafa Tajzadeh has announced that upon Mr. Tajzadeh's arrest (close to 9 months ago), his monthly salary has been cut.

--Rahana: Pakhshan Azizi is on hunger strike in prison and his condition is described as critical.

--Rahana: Student activists in Azad University in Najafabad, one of the biggest Azad U branches nationwide, have been hit the hardest both in terms of the number of individuals affected and the harshness of the sentences issued.

--Kaleme: A $100,000 deposit has been requested for conditional release of the arrested journalist Keyvan Mehregan. Since his family is unable to pay this deposit, his attorney, Saleh Nikbakht, is trying to convert this ruling to a conditional release on bail.

--Adwarnews: Somayyeh Rashidi, a One-million signature Campaign activist [who fights for equal rights for women] was released from Evin prison on Thursday.
Radiofarda: According to the International Human Rights Campaign, the imprisonment sentences of eight student activists of Nushirvani University of Technology, Babol, has been finalized.

--Norooz: Despite the joint requests of more than 3000 students of Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, the expulsion of three student activists was finalized.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS
On his video broadcast on Thursday, Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following points:
1- The Regime has launched a huge propaganda campaign after the arrest of the notorious terrorist Abdulmalek Rigi; however we should keep in mind that widespread poverty in Balouchestan as well as Regime's oppressive approach towards its people makes that area a fertile ground for emergence of terrorists like Rigi. Furthermore, the arrest of Rigi is a testament to the fact that armed and violent struggles against police states such as Iran will reach to nowhere; however nonviolent struggles will put the intelligence efforts of such police states in vain.
2- In Ahmadinejad's latest trip to Birjand [which is the capital and the largest city of South Khorasan Province in Southestern Iran], only 300-700 people attended his speech in the city's stadium.
3- After days of protest, the employees of long-distance telecommunication industry are still continuing their protests in pursuit of getting their unpaid wages.
4- Like previous nights, the gatherings of the arrested families in front of the Evin Prison continued last night.Continued discussion on Upcoming Actions: The main objectives of our actions are to :(1) illegitimize the Regime, (2) strengthen the unity and cohesiveness of the Green Movement, (3) exhausting the Regime and creating and widening the existing gaps amongst its ranks. Street protests are unarguably the most effective in exhausting the Regime; however it is not the only means for reaching that objective. Furthermore, we should work to decrease the costs of coming to streets for protest. Revealing the identities and actions of revolutionary guards and Basijis is extremely effective in exhausting the coup government. Therefore we should exert pressure on revolutionary guards and basijisl. The fourth main objective of our political actions should be to paralyze the government, this issue will be discussed tomorrow.

On his video broadcast on Friday, Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following points:
1- There are various actions which could paralyze the coup government, including boycotting certain goods, refusing to cooperate with the government agencies and going on strikes (For instance coordinated ten-minute strikes in 1980's Poland could be a good role-model.)
2- Ayatollah Khamenei's speech in front of the members of the Assembly of Experts [which is supposed to oversight the performance of the Supreme Leader] clearly showed that he still refuses to accept the reality. He does not want to come to terms with the fact that the Green Movement is deeply rooted in the 31 years of the incompetence of the status quo, deep changes within the Iranian society, existing gender, generational, ethnic and class gaps and most importantly the dominance of democratic paradigm amongst people.
3- There are talks of imminent changes [in how the International community treats the Iranian Regime] in near future. The first change will be to put sanctions on IRGC since its role in cracking down Feb. 11 protests have become apparent. The second change will be to challenge the Iranian Regime's censorship of satellite news channels, internet and other means of communication.
4- Russian Foreign Minster declared that the S300 anti-missile defense system will not be give to Iran.

On his video broadcast on Saturday, Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following points:
1- The gathering of the families of the arrested in front of the Evin prison continued last night and some more prisoners were released; however new imprisonment sentences are still being issued.
2- Mr Karroubi had a very good interview in which he called the Regime-sponsored rallies of Feb. 11 as 'show rallies'. (The General Manager of the Governorship of Tehran Province has previously admitted gathering supporters from all over the country.)
3- Dismissal of the candidates of the Assembly of Attorneys challenges the political freedom and civil organizations are under the boots of the military dictatorship.
4- A conference, co-sponsored by the Iranian Embassy in UK, was scheduled to take place in Cambridge about Iran; however it was cancelled due to cold reaction of the researchers. Refusing to cooperate with the government in all levels is one of the best ways of civil disobedience.
5- Two scheduled speeches of Larijani in Japan were cancelled; it seems that the objections of Iranians in Japan has been the main reason for these cancellations.
6- There has been a recent surge in writing graffiti inside the countries (which has reached small towns such as Gonbad Kavous in northeast Iran); writing slogans on paper money and writing graffitis in small towns is extremely effective since it is extremely difficult to identify those who do this.
7- There are several important points about Chaharshanbeh souri [March 16]: First of all, we should all remember the principles of non-violent struggle. Second of all, the fact that Chaharshanbeh souri is a traditional festivity scattered everywhere makes it very difficult for the government to react. (Therefore we should not specify a specific gathering place.) Overall, this is a day when we can all be extremely active with minimal risk.



















Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Wednesday February 24nd, 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 176 - Wednesday February 24th, 2010

FUTURE PLANS
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills
-- Visiting resting place of the green movement martyrs in Beheshte Zahra (the cemetery) on the last Thursday of the year
-- Being out in the streets on Thursdays

NEWS
--Iranian Labor News Agency: 36 lawyers were disqualified from candidacy for twenty sixth election of the executive committee for Association of Justice Lawyers. Among the disqualified are current President, Mohammad Jandoghi-Kermani-pour, and Goudarz Eftekhar Jahromi, the ex president, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, Nemat Ahmadi, Ramezan Haji-Mashhadi, Nasser Zarafshan, Abdolfattah Soltani, Farideh Gheirat, and Samad Khorramshahi. 

--Radio Zamaneh: Sergei Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister said today in Moscow that based on its international obligations, Russia will never sell weapons to countries of the region, which increases tension and instability. Mr. Lavrov, in question in connection with the sale of missiles S-300 to Iran responded "to enforce the contract, there are questions and issues that must be resolved." 
  
--Radio Farda: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of Assembly of Experts, On Tuesday, at the Seventh Meeting of Parliament referring to events after the presidential elections in Iran, once again, demanded propitiation of the victims of those events. 

--BBC News: the Assembly of Experts published a statement, warning the domestic leaders of intrigue and deception, and asking the police and security forces to firmly deal with any suspicious and crisis-raising movement. 

--Radio Farda: Association of Councils of Fars Province on Tuesday raised concerns about the situation of workers and industrial structures in the province. This concerns were expressed a few days after the gathering of a group of factory workers of the long distance communication company of Iran in front of the governors building. The workers had demanded the payment of their salaries unpaid in the last 14 months. 
  
--Maad: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faced cold reaction from Birjand city citizens. Video of people's reaction is attached.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCaCamxgGDM&feature=player_embedded)

--JRS: News media today published a two articles, revealing the "scientific theft and plagiarism" of Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi, Minister of Health of Ahmadinejad. Research has made clear that the Dastjerdi, published a paper in 2008, titled "potential indicators of ovarian age on the women of Tehran", of which more than 70% has been a direct copy of another Chinese paper, published in 2003.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--Radio Farda: With Tehran Prosecutor's permission,  Ebrahim Yazdi, Secretary of the Freedom Movement, was allowed 10 days out of prison, to undergo surgery. Ebrahim Yazdi, 80, is the oldest political prisoner in Iran, suffers from prostate cancer. 

--Radio Farda: Feiz-allah Arab-Sorkhi, a senior member of Islamic Revolution Mojahedin Organization was sentenced to 6 years of prison. He is charged with actions against national security and propaganda. 
  
--JRS: Leila Tavassoli and Mahmoud Naim-pour were released. Leila Tavassoli, daughter of Mr. Mohammad Tavassoli, has been imprisoned for 2 months.
  
--JRS: Judge of trial of Abdullah Momeni, the spokesman for the Islamic Tahkim (Advar e Vahdat), issued 800 thousand dollars of collateral. His wife has announced she can not such payment, because Mr Momeni has been a teacher, and has lost his job due to imprisonment.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS
--Kalameh: Dr. Hamidreza Jalaeepour, sociologist and professor, analysed the interactions of the green movement and the government with regard to each other. Here's segments of the discussion: With violence, civil street protests fade but never disappear. I predict that even if this wave is controlled by increasing pressure in the streets, next waves will be more unpredictable and much larger // A sign of calm condition is when the government gives permission to the protesters, and as long as it is scared of giving the permission, and it means that the fever remains in the society and their propaganda will only be useful to give confident to themselves. // if the 5 demands of Mr. Mousavi are followed, the movement's potential will be emptied, but that's unlikely due to ignorance of the government. // Some think the most important aspect of the movement is in the streets, however this movement has a very important mental and moral aspect.



















Monday, February 22, 2010

Monday February 22nd, 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 175 - Monday February 22nd, 2010

FUTURE PLANS
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills

NEWS
--BBC News: A new film was sent to BBC showing the events of last summer nightly attack on Tehran's University dormitory. The video which was shot by the attackers shows security forces and plain clothes Basij attacking students in the dorm. It also reveals that Tehran's police commander Mr. Rajabzadeh as the person who ordered the raid. The video also implies that this attack was coordinated and pre-meditated. This video can be accessed from here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGSn5Se3HHA (video shown by BBCPersian, 7min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F52wtg1BROk (complete and uncensored footage, 18min)

Download links:
http://www.4shared.com/file/227620581/681d796d/Attack_of_Plain_Cloths_and_Gua.html (flv file) 
http://www.4shared.com/file/227628814/4d98d17/Attack_to_Tehran_Uni_Dorm-_Mob.html (3gp file) 

SIC encourages all readers of this newsletter to spread these videos and inform the public about the undeniable brutalities of the riot police and basiji miliatia against the students. 

--Radio Zamaneh: Mr. Mehdi Karroubi released a statement criticized the government's "confiscation" of peaceful assemblies on February 11th. He asked that the government give permission for the gathering of opposition supporters so that once and for all it becomes clearer which side has more weight.

--Radio Zamaneh: Mr. Mohammad Khatami released a statement while visiting families of political prisoners. Regarding the February 11th rallies, he said that it is clear who has the majority's support. He also added that "the people's rights, national interests, respect and human freedom are never wrong and it is a right to demand them". 
--Jrs: Human Rights Association wrote a letter to head commissioner of the UN human rights and asked her to "with all his power in the UN prevent the fall of civil society in Iran". Authors of this letter, asked that first and foremost, everything be done for the release of political and social activists imprisoned inside Iran. 

--Jrs: Hana Makhmalbaf who was a judge for the "generation" panel during the sixtieth Berlin Film Festival, brought the color green to this festival. As a sign of their support for the Iranian people's movement, the jury of the festival wore green scarves during the closing ceremony. 

--Jrs: The speech of Mr. Hashem Aghajari who was supposed to speak on the occasion of the death of Prophet Mohamad was cancelled due to the interference of security forces. 

--Jrs: "Asra" a group activists residing in the south of Tehran launched an online newsletter recently. This group consists of supporters of M Mr. Mousavi and Mr. Karroubi. To view this site in persian, go to jtcamp.blogfa.com.

--Jrs: A group of women activists wrote a letter to Mr. Karroubi and Mr. Mousavi and asked that they pursue issues of women's right in Iran so that the Iranian public remains aware of these issues. 

--Jrs: France has once again called for the immediate release of Clotide Reiss who is not yet allowed to leave Iran since her arrest past summer. 

--Radio Farda: While Ahmadinejad announced that the economic growth was 6.9% last year, a parliamentary representative predicted that next year's will be zero or even in the negatives. Iranian banks stated the growth rate was 2.3% last year. 

--Kalameh: Ayatollah Dastgheyb was asked by a reporter why Iranians turn to foreign news sources. He answered that Iranian media is responsible for this. Itis the people's rights to know what is happening in Iran. 
--Kalameh: Hossein Kashefi, spokesman for the participation party made comments regarding the upcoming 12th annual congress of the party and he said despite the arrest of certain of tehir members, the party will continue its work in the following year.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--Kalameh: Sara Tavassoli who was arrested after Ashura, was released hours ago after spending over 50 days in Evin prison. 

--Norooz: Abdolreza Tajik, a journalist jailed for two months was allowed to meet with his family after two months of no news or contact with his family. It is not yet clear what the charges against him are. 
--Kalameh: the family of Majid Tavakoli (the student activist whose arrest sparked a serious of protests from around the world where men wore scarves in his support) are extremely worried since it has been over a month that they have no news from Majid. This is despite constant pleading with the authorities. The last news from him was that he was in Evin.

--Kalameh: Amir Sadeghi, Photographer / journalist was released on 300000$ bail. He was arrested because he was accused of having published pictures of Ashura day protests. 

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS
Mr. Sazegara said the following in his Sunday speech: 
He mentioned civil disobedience as a strategy in resisting the government. As an example he explained the refusal of a large group of workers to honor Khamenei when asked by authorities. He also added that 500 bus drivers asked for early retirement because of the difficulties of their jobs. Their demands have not yet been considered. Textile workers in Kashan also gathered because they have not been paid their wages for 6 months. 
Families of political prisoners gathered in front of key officies in Tehran. This change in location allows for more exposure. It also allows the public to join them. 
Mr. Ahmadi Moghaddam, the commander of Tehran police has started to threaten people regarding the upcoming new years festivities. Sazegara added that the regime can only control 5% of the opposition so they try to intimidate and scare the other 95%. He added that the movement should advance slowly and patiently and not lose hope. 

Mr. Sazegara said the following in his Monday speech: 
There are rumors that the government will release political prisoners by new years and they will change election laws. while these are good news, they are not enough and they should not be reasons for accepting the government. 
the presence of 1000 people on front of Evin resulted in the release of 20 prisoners. spirits are high. Sazegara once again urged the slow and steady resistant movement where low cost movements allow maximal people participation.



















Saturday, February 20, 2010

Saturday February 20th, 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 174 - Saturday February 20th, 2010

FUTURE PLANS
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills

NEWS
--JARAS: Saham news reports a meeting today between Mehdi Karoubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi. In this meeting, the green leaders discussed their new positions in the upcoming days. In this meeting which was held in the household of Mr. Karoubi, Mr. Mohtashemipour and Kian-Ersi were also present.

-- Kalemeh: According to the ISNA reporter, Ahmad Reza Radan, the police commander in chief, explained the police program for the last Wednesday of the year:"This year like all previous years, Police will arrest those who use dangerous explosives or disturb the citizens", said Radan.

--Kalemeh: Mohammad Mehdi Shahriari, member of the national security and foreign policy council of the parliament, said:"if the color of Iran's flag has been modified on purpose in the recent meetings of the president, it should be questioned because it is against the constitution".

--JARAS: Reynolds Journalism Institute gave its best picture of the year 2009 awards in "social protests" to Iranian journalist photographers. These photographs can be seen in the attachment.

--JARAS: Reza Akrami, suggested the best way to unite the country is for the leaders to get closer to each other. "For example, AhmadiNejad should resume going to the Expediency council and Hashemi Rafsanjani should also resume leading the Friday prayers in Tehran".

--Radio Farda: Mohammad Reza Tabesh, the spokesman for the minority fraction of the parliament in his meeting with the ministry of Islamic culture and guidance, criticized "unprecedented limitations of the journalists and the media" in the recent months and said this situation is not acceptable.

--Neday e Azadi: Mehdi Kalhor, a consultant to Mr. Ahmadinejad, believes that the first velvet revolution in Iran formed in 1376 through which president Khatami was elected. He went on to claim that this revolution was not challenged in Iran and the 2nd khordad became a successful outcome of this revolution for the countries in the middle east.

--Deutsche Welle: Com. Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, the commander of security forces in Iran, names BBC and VOA as intelligence-affiliated institutions and claimed that the behaviour of these agents are under control and they'll be dealt with in due time.

--Radio Farda: Mohammad Reza Tabesh, the secretary general of the minority fraction in parliament, in a meeting with Kamran Daneshjou, the minister of sciences and higher education, demanded an end to the expulsion and forced retirements of the university faculties and also requested the release of the imprisoned students.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--Neday e Azadi: MirHossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, met with Mohsen AminZadeh, vice chancellor of the ministry of foreign relations during Khatami's administration.

--Neday e Azadi: Political prisoners at ward 350 Evin prison are facing countless problems to contact their families. There is a large number of detainees in Evin 350 and it seems that they are deliberately being limited from using phones. Each prisoner can only talk to his/her family for 2 minutes every day.

--Neday e Azadi: It is more than 10 days that three student activists have been arrested. "Yasser Khosravi Zadeh", "Rooh Allah Sahrai" and "Alireza AbooFazeli" were summoned to the "follow up" committee of the ministry of intelligence and got arrested there. According to the reports, Sahrai and AbooFazeli have called their family two times so far, but there is no news about whereabouts of KhosraviZadeh.

--Neday e Azadi: According to JARAS, tens of people who were arrested in Ayatollah Montazeri's funeral in Najaf Abad still are in jail and the scurity forces treat them very badly. According to the reports, they have been severely beaten.

--Neday e Azadi: Morteza Samyari, a core member of the Tahkim Vahdat was convicted to 6 years imprisonment.

--Nedaye Azadi: More than 50 protesters were arrested on Bahman 22 in Ahwaz. More than 100 protesters were arrested in Mashad. They are still in jail. Some of them are being kept in unknown places.

--Nedaye Azadi: The Secretary of the Human Rights Council of the Iranian Judiciary told the reporters that the two individuals [who were executed prior to Feb. 11 protests] had been in jail for months before the election. This statement is despite the previous statements of the Judiciary that those individuals were executed for their involvement in post-election events.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS
In his Thursday video broadcast, Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following points:
1- According to some reports from Iran which also appeared on the latest release of the Guardian, Mojtaba Khamenei [the son of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] headed the committee responsible for Feb. 11 crackdowns. This committee also included Hossein Taeb (the Intelligence Deputy of IRGC), Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar (the Minister of Interior) and Naqdi (the Commander of Basiji militia). It is also reported that the severe crackdowns of Feb. 11 has also infuriated some conservatives including the Commander of the Revolutionary Guards. The involvement of IRGC in cracking down the protestors seriously damages its credibility and reputation amongst the masses.
-Javad Larijani [the Head of Iranian delegation to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva] said that Iran will not admit a UN Special Human Rights envoy to investigate the allegations of human rights violations and torture. Such a position will definitely have consequences e.g. in the form new resolutions against Iran.
- We continue reviewing Feb 11 events in the four categories [we mentioned before]. First, what Mr. Mousavi asked his supporters to do, Second, what really happened on the ground, Third, the weaknesses of the Green Movement and Fourth, a review of upcoming actions. Today we continue our discussion of the second category. It was expected that protestors would tilt the balance in favor of the Green Movement by turning up in numbers exceeding two millions in Tehran, however people showed up in smaller numbers, something in the neighborhood of one million, which was less than what was expected. This reduced turnout can be most importantly attributed to obstacles put in the way of communicating and reaching out to ordinary people, which was caused by widespread censorship, knocking down international satellite news channels, slowing down the internet and blocking GMAIL. In addition to this, most people who had gotten aware of the Regime's intention for crackdown- and possibly bloodshed- had left their homes but not approached the hotspots of protests. FInally heavy presence of military forces impeded the flexibility of the protestors and stopped them from moving to alternative venues and generated confusion amongst the protestors.

On his Friday video broadcast, Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following points:
- After a meeting which took place between Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, the two main opposition leaders, the emphasized that the Regime has 'stolen' the presence of protestors in Feb. 11 rallies [as they stole the elections in June]. They also reiterated that people's constitutional rights should be respected and observed. They also stated that they will stand firm until all people's rights are all reinstated.
-The families of political prisoners continue their nightly gatherings in front of the Evin prison.
- More than 300 laborers of the Alborz Tire Factory gathered in protest for their delayed wages.
- Recent statements of the new Head of IAEA regarding the possibility that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon program have stirred numerous reactions in the International community and it is likely that tougher sanctions against Iran will be approved in a much faster timeframe.
- Some Green Movement Activists in Tehran have distributed brochures emphasizing the presence and perseverance of the Green Movement in the streets of Tehran. This is a very good way of communicating people and showing the presence of the Green Movement.
- There are reports that the Regime is going after the families of victims of mass executions of 1988 to arrest them since they think that those families are among Green Movement activists. It is obvious that apart from being oppressive and mean, making such arrests will not weaken the Green Movement since this movement bears strong social roots.
- We continue reviewing the events of Feb. 11 today. Today we are going to talk about the weaknesses of the Green Movement. On Feb. 11, the Regime succeeded in confining the communicative capabilities of the movement by slowing down the internet, blocking GMAIL and knocking off news programs of international satellite news channels. There are several solutions to face this [in future]. One solution is to transmit news by face-to-face contact; the other solution is that everyone of us commits himself to get the news to ten different individuals who are from age and social groups different of his. The other solution is to distribute brochures in the street, buses, subway stations, etc. We will talk more about the weaknesses of the Green Movement tomorrow.

On his video broadcast on Saturday, Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following points:
- The Iranian Government owes $5 billion to the power industry where many of its employees have lost their jobs.
- Eutel SAT has filed a complaint against Iran for attacking its satellites by sending strong noises to knock off certain satellite programs broadcast on Eutlelsat. This complaint can have grave consequences for the telecommunication industry.
- Roger Cohen, the New York Times columnist, has forecasted that China will simply abstain at the next meeting of UN Security Council on Iran.
- The insurance giant Lloyd declared that if tougher sanctions against Iran are approved by the UN Security Council, it will follow them and will no longer insure the cargos destined to Iran. Munich Re, the German insurance company, will no longer conduct business with Iran.
-Weaknesses which we should try to improve:
1- Our communication overdepends on the internet and the Regime is usually able to stop us from getting the news to everybody by blocking the internet and knocking off satellite channels. We should instead learn to make our networks more personal (even face-to-face) and everybody should commit to get the news to 10-15 individuals. Such internal contacts should be organized in a much more efficient way.
2- As the Regime has increased its pressure on protestors, we should learn how to become less vulnerable. We are currently preparing a pamphlet which learns how to protect individuals and groups which we will release when ready.
3- The main characteristic of the Green Movement is in 'personal innovations'. Therefore the more we learn about the techniques of non-violent struggle, the better strategies we could design for the road ahead. To reach this goal, we are currently planning to introduce and translate additional books about the principles of non-violent struggle in addition to the ones we have release so far.














Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Wednesday February 17th, 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 173 - Wednesday February 17th, 2010

FUTURE PLANS
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills

NEWS

--BBC News: Amirreza Arefi, who had been charged with membership in Royal Society of Iran, and arrester two months before the elections has been sentenced to death. Mohammad Mostafaei, his attorney, in his personal weblog announced that his client has been charged with "waging war", and sentenced to death. 

--Radio Zamaneh: Iran rejected the request of special representative for UN affairs of torture to travel to this country. Iranian authorities claime that they have rejected the request because of the "poisonous literature"used by representatives of Western human rights council.
  
--Radio Farda: More than one thousand and two hundreds of defenders of women rights in Iran signed a statement, to object against the bill titled "supporting the family", which has been announced by legal and judicial commission of the parliament. In this statement, the bill "supporting the family" is said to be a step closer to legal polygamy for men. The statement mentions issues such as the new rule which allows men to marry a second wife if the first wife has an incurable desease. This is while in the opposite case, where the husband has this situation, women do not legally have the right to devorce.

--Radio Farda: Four independent labor organizations in Iran published their minimum demands, to achieve a better life for millions of Iranian workers, and asked for immediate realization of the demands. Union workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus, Union of Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company, Free Union of Workers of Iran, and Union of workers of electrical and metal of Kermanshah, mentioned in the announcement that all people of Iran including the workers have hoped for a better life in the few days before the revolution of 1979, and they all hoped that they would come out from under the repression and oppression umbrella.

--Radio Farda: Abbas Jaafari Dowlatabadi, Tehran's prosecutor, said on Wednesday that security officials of the Islamic Republic, have arrested five foreign nationals during the anniversary ceremony of the 1979 Revolution. According to him, a Japanese journalist, two Russian nationals, one French and one Afghan national have been arrested on 22nd of Bahman.

--Radio Farda: prominent Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who wanted to travel out of the country to attend Berlin film festival, was baned from exiting. He was planning to attend a roundtable about Iran's cinema in that festival.
 
--BBC News: Committee to Protect Journalists, in its 2009 report, mentioned severe repression of journalists in Iran, and called Iran to be have the largest imprisoned journalists after China. The report said after the elections in June, more than 90 journalists were arrested, and still, at the end of the year 2009 (time which the report was written) 23 journalists are in prison.
 
--Radio Farda: Film capturing Neda Agha-Soltan's death won the George Polk best news film of the year. This award is given to best news films every year, by the Long Island University. This award chose the anonymous person who recorded the film as the best news recorder of the year.
 
--BBC News: Mohammad-Ali Homayoun-Katouzian, Oxford University professor, and Azadeh Kian researcher in French National Research Center and University of Paris, boycott the seminar of "relationship of culture and politics in Iran after the Islamic Revolution" at the University Doram, due to financial support Consular Affairs of the Islamic Republic in London.

--Mad: SahamNews website, the official website of Trust national party has been hacked by the governmental hackers.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED

--Committee for Human Rights: 18th of Bahman(17th of February), Parisa Kakayi, Maziar Sameei, Bahar Tarakame, and Nazanin Hassan-Nia were released from Evin Prison. A number of other political prisoners are reported to be released tonight, but the names of them are not available yet.

--Kalameh: According to some news, Hamzeh Karami the administrator of Jomhouriyat website is sentenced to 16 years imprisonment and fine payment of the amount 6 billion Tomans. The sentence is reported to be related to the website's activities before and during the election days.

--Kalameh: Shahab-addin Tabatabaie, chief of staff-88 (The group of young supporters of Mousavi and Khatami), was temporarily released from prison for a few days. He endured more than 8 months of detention, and providing bail Wednesday afternoon, was released from prison for 5 days.
 

Email: student.information.center@gmail.com













Monday, February 15, 2010

Monday February 15th, 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 172 - Monday February 15th, 2010

FUTURE PLANS
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills

NEWS
--BBC News: following the first Iran Human Rights meeting at the UN, representatives of Great Britain, America and France called for an investigation of violence after the elections in Iran. have been. At the same time, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner has urged Iran to give experts permission to visit Iran. 

--Green Movement Path (Jrs): The Iranian council in Sweden met with members of Swedish foreign ministry and condemned the recent violence, arrest and execution of Iranian protesters by the Iranian regime. They asked the Swedish government to increase its political pressure on the Iranian regime. 

--Green Movement Path (Jrs): In response to recent news that Ali Karroubi, the son of opposiotion leader Mehdi Karroubi was arrested last week, Tehran's head prosecutor, Mr. Dolatabadi stated: "No order was made to arrest Mr. Karroubi, if he claims that he is arrested, he should reveal the reason for his detention and where he is being held". He added that neither the Revolutionary Guard, nor the Ministry of Information know of his detention. 

--Deutsche Welle: Latifeh Panahi, wife Ali Karroubi revealed more details about the arrest of her husband. She added that he was arrested last Thursday and thrown in the back of a van. During the time of his detention, he was submitted to torture, degradation and humiliation. 

--Radio Farda: The Assembly of Clergymen Fighters, which is the main reformist clerics association released a statement thanking the participation of people during last Thursday's protests. They also called for a more stern reaction to the violent actions of the regime. 

--Radio Farda: human rights documentary film festival focusing on human rights in Iran, will be held in the Czech republic in April. The documentary called "Green Days" by Hana Makhmalbaf will be premiered. The documentary deals with the post-elections unrest in Iran. 

--Radio Farda: In response to the UN meeting on Human Rights issues in Iran, Reporters without Borders has asked for the condemnation of the Iranian government especialy after the post-elections events where there was unpressedented repression of freedom of the press and repeated violations of human rights. 

--Radio Zamaneh: Hillary Clinton said that the government of Barack Obama believes that Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship. During her speech at the University of Qatar she added that the Revolutionary Guard are taking power to govern. 

--Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company as well as other union workers have released a letter to the UN human rights meeting where they complained about the pressure that the Iranian regime has put on unions of the country over the past few years. 

--Green movement path (Jrs): Saeed Asgar, Zarab (Advisor for Khatami's reform government), was recently appointed to a Basij family-related position in Tehran. He was once sentenced to 15 years in prison but was shortly released after. 
---Green movement path (Jrs): Chairman of Board of Electrical Industry Syndicate, said there are numerous problems in the electrical equipment manufacturing units which threaten the function of this sector. Currently, many manufacturers are either not working or working sub-optimally. 900000 jobs are either directly or indirectly threatened by instability in this sector. 

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--Green Movement Path (Jrs): Another victim of Ashura day has been identified. Mehdi Farhadi-Rad was killed during the late December protests by plain-clothed police. He belonged to a prominent and religious family of Shahr-e-Rei. His family has been under pressure not to hold any mourning ceremonies for their son. 

--Radio Farda: Mohsen Amin Zadeh, Deputy Foreign Minister of Mohammad Khatami's government, was released from Evin prison with a 700 000Z$ bail. with the 700 million toman bail from Evin prison, is released. The Chief of staff of the reformist coalition, was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment last week. 

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS
Mr. Sazegara highlighted the following in his videos: 
Regarding the events of February 11th, it was emphasized that despite the fact that many workers have not been payed for 6 months, the Iranian government still spent more than 300 million toomans (300000$) on organizing the sham demonstration on February 11th. It reported that they made it mandatory for all mosques to send bus loads of people to the protests, at any cost. They also used national transport systems such as planes, buses and trains to rally the people from other cities. Despite their efforts, Iranians and the outside world were not convinced and they know that they regime does not have the people's support.













Saturday, February 13, 2010

Saturday February 13th, 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 171 - Saturday February 13th, 2010

FUTURE PLANS
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills

NEWS
--JARAS: "Participation Front of Iran" by releasing a statement, praised the attendance of green people of Iran in "22th of Bahman" demonstration. It acknowledged that the significant increase of the participants in this year demonstration as another sign for the intense presence of green movement's followers in the demonstration. It also asked the government to work for solving the problems based on the suggestions made by Mirhossein Mosavi in his last statement. Full text of the statement will be published by the newsletter.

--Nedaye Sabz Azadi: one of the fellows of Mirhossein Mosavi rejected the Fars news agency report of reveal of Mosavi's imminent travel to Tabriz. He stated that there was no plan for such travel at all.

--Kalameh: Mehdi Karrobi, participated in "22th of Bahman" demonstration in Iran. He joined the demonstration near "Sadeghieh square" and his supporters welcomed him in advance. After a while he has been attacked by the militia group. They carried the batons, tear gas and color bullets and attacked Mr karobi and his fellows severely. They beat the demonstrators and Mr karobi in particular and when Mr karobi wanted to leave the scene by a passerby car, the militia attacked the car and damaged it so much. There is Video of people welcoming Karobi, attached to the newsletter.

--Kalameh: Zahra Rahnavard had been attacked when she was participating in "22th of Bahman" demonstration in Tehran. The militia group attacked her by batons and punched her in head and back. People gathered around her to protect her from more attack and fortunately they helped her to escape. She had been attacked several times during last several months by militia groups.

--Kalameh: Mohamd Khatami participated in demonstration on Thursday. "Parlemannews" reported that peopled welcomed him by chanting in his support. After a while militia group attacked him and his supporters. He continued his way for some time but finally he decided to leave the demonstration to prevent further problem and probable harm to the ordinary people.

--JARAS: Fatemeh Karobi, Mehdi Karbi's wife sent a letter to Ali Khamenei the supreme leader of Iran and frankly criticized the present situation in the society. She told Mr Khamenei : do something for helping young people who are detained recently before it become late. Before any more "Kamran"s and "Mohsen"s being killed under torture of those irresponsible persons who hurt the reputation of the regime and Islamic state as well.

--Kalameh : "Associated Press" reported that there were serious limitations for reporters to work in Tehran and they were only allowed to report Ahmadinejad speech and there was no permission to work in the streets of Tehran. It also report the presence of anti government demonstrations in the street near the Azadi square where the pro government rally took place.

--Kalameh: Mohamadreza Khatami and his wife Zahra Eshraghi, the granddaughter of ayatollah Khomeini, have been arrested for a while by police during the Thursday demonstration but they have been released soon. Parlemannews site said that this was just for sake of their own security and preventing probable insult to them.

--SIC: Google earth weblog published a photo of azadi street in Tehran on Thursay which has been captured by IKONOS satellite from 423 miles distance at 10:47 in local time. In this picture there are many buses around Azadi squares which used to bring the pro government protesters while the crowd only occupied the north western part of square. At the same time the other streets are full of dissidents. Also "Citizen Tube" weblog mentioned the release of so many videos in Youtube just after the rally in Iran. The photo of Google earth will be published with the newsletter.

--Rahana: At the same time of "22th of Bahman" demonstration in Iran and other countries, Iranians who live in Malaysia gathered in front of the twin tower in Malaysia. This silent rally has been held by the invitation of green student of Malaysia and the Malaysian police behaved cooperatively.

--BBC: Shirin Ebadi, Noble Peace Laureate and human rights lawyer has asked for the speedy help from the international community to prevent the oppression of the Iranian people against its people. She, however, has opposed against the imposition of any kind of sanctions against Iran.

--BBC: Amnesty International has reacted to the new report of the Iranian Government to the UN about the situation of Human Rights in Iran. This organization has claimed that the Government's vision about this issue is far from reality and has accused the Government of manipulating the truth.

--Rahana: On 22 of Bahman, the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, the Iranians residents of Malaysia gathered in front of the twin towers of Malaysia. This was a silent demonstration that had been called by the Green Iranian students and was conducted with the cooperation of the Malaysian police.

--Deutsche Welle: BBC, Deutsche welle and VOA have condemned the Iranian government's interference with their satellite signals. They have demanded this to be stopped.

--Radio Farda: A number of human rights organizations have asked the human rights council of the UN to supervise the situation of human rights in Iran.

--Radio Farda: Three labor organizations in Iran, in a letter, have asked the council on human rights of the UN to pay attention to the situation of laborers in Iran. The labor union of the public transportation organization in Iran, the sugar-cane union of Haft-Tappeh and the Free Union of Iranian Workers, have asked for the abolition of capital punishment and the speedy release of the labor activists.

--Norooz: The former president of Iran visited Mohsen Aminzadeh yesterday. He was the vice president of the ministry of foreign affairs during the reformist era and was the head of the Reformist Alliance Campaign. He was freed from prison in the previous evening.

--Rahana: just before the anniversary of the Iranian revolution, 2 of the student activists from the Free University of Karaj have been prevented from attending their final exams and have been suspended of studying for a whole semester. These students are Ali Kazem-Zadeh, a civil engineering student, and Hamid Samimi, a student of Philosphy.

-- BBC: Pietro Masturzom, an Italian freelance photographer, has won the top prize in the year's "world press award". His photo shows Iranian women shouting on a rooftop in protest against election results in Iran.

-- BBC: While emphasizing on the necessity of international sanctions against Iran, Bernard Kouchner, the french foreign minister, emphasized on the fact that these new sanction should target the offcials in the government rather than the people of Iran.

-- VOA: NY Times in an article titled "cowardice and courage" states that Iranian officials wanted to use the Thursday's ceremony to show that they in fact have regained control and have garnered the support of people. However, a violent crackdown on the run-up to this ceremony against a non-violant and courageous opposition signals the exact opposite.

--Radiofarda: A group of international institutes of reporters, writers and publishers on Thursday, wrote a letter to the supreme leader of Islamic republic and asked for the release of at least 60 detained reporters and writers in Iran. Six well known institutes, " the committee of reporters' supports" , PEN, " the reporters without borders", " Canadian reports and supporters of free speech" and "the international association of publishers " start up a campaign for putting pressure on the government of Iran and releasing of detained reporters by the name of " our society will be a free society" . This campaign will continue until next spring in North America and Europe. The nomenclature of the campaign is based on of the Ayatollah Khomeini 's speech in 1978 in the middle of revolution in which he promised free speech and newspaper in next government.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--Radiofarda: News websites close to reformists have reported that several political and civil activists have been arrested by Iranian security forces in the cities of Tehran, Qazvin and Baneh. According to those reports, many individuals who had either been active in Mousavi's Presidential campaign in the Tehran area or were appointed as precinct monitors by Mousavi's campaign have been asked to report to a building in Baradaran-e-Mozaffar St. As reported by 'Neday-e-sabz-e-azadi' (a website close to the opposition), those who did show up were arrested and transferred to Evin prison.

--Radiofarda: Asghar Khandan, the retired member of the Revolutionary Guards and one of Mousavi's campaign activists in Tehran was arrested after being summoned to the Foreign Nationals Bureau of Iranian Police by the Ministry of Intelligence.

--Adwarnews: Seyyed Hasan Ahmadian, the Head of Mousavi's campaign's People's Committee, was sentenced to six years in prison and lifelong ban from founding [or heading] institutions, and conducting political and social activities.

--Norooz: Ebrahim Sharifpour, a member of the Participation Front [a major reformist party] and an activist in Mousavi's campaign in the Northwestern city of Baneh was arrested.

--Norooz: Tara Sepehrifar, who is a student activist in Sharif University of Technology and the Head of Sharif's Islamic Assembly, was arrested. [Islamic Assemblies are a group of reformist student political action groups having branches in all college campuses nationwide.]

--Norooz: Ali Shakourirad, Ahmad Shirzad and Elahe Koulayi, three prominent members of the Participation Front, and Ali-Mohammad Hazeri, the Head of the Coordination Committee for the Reformists Front were summoned to the Prosecutor General's office in Evin prison and were interrogated.

--Jaras: At least twenty-one femal journalists, artists and feminists have been arrested in the week leading to February 11. Some more women activists had been arrested immediately after the protests of Ashura as well.

--Rahana: Seven members of the Dar-ol-shafaei family are currently arrested in the Evin Prison. Yashar Dar-o-shafa (since Feb 4), Banafasheh and Jamileh Dar-ol-shafaei (since last week), their parents Safoura Tofangchihaa and Abolhasan Dar-ol-shafaei, and also Touran Kabiri and Kaveh Dar-ol-shafaei (since Feb 10) were all arrested after being called by the Ministry of Intelligence.

--Norooz: Former President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami paid a visit to Mohsen Aminzadeh, the Deputy Foreign Minister in his Administration and the Head of Reformists Coalition; Aminzadeh was released from prison at 1:30 AM yesterday.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--Rahana: Continuing illegal and strict measures against politically active students in universities across the country, Ali Kazem Zadeh (Civil Emgineering) and Hamid Samimi (Philosophy) were denied attendance for the finals this semester and also face another semester of suspension.

-- Jaras: A significant number of students in Shiraz are facing suspensions. Hamdellah Namjou, student in Shiraz University and the director of Mehdi Karoubi's campain in Fars province was arrested before Feb 11th by the security forces. He has been denied entrance to the university for a year now and had been arrested for two weeks last year and for one month during the summer.

-- Adwar News: On Thursday, the director of the International University of Imam Khomeni in Qazvin announced that about 30 students from this university are facing suspension or expulsion based on political grounds.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS
On Friday, Mohsen Sazegara discussed the following issues in his daily broadcast:
1- Yesterday, which had one of the worst security environments of recent history in Iran, the people took it to the streets and described their demands by chanting slogans against the regime. These demonstrations that took place despite severe threats that the regime had made against the protesters, won prize for the people from the international community.
2- Comprehensive analysis of what happened yesterday will be provided later because the blockage of internet has delayed the delivery of most videos of actions that took place on February 11th. It is clear however, that in different cities extended protests and clashes between the people and the security has taken place.
3- The regime spent a lot of money and resources on staging a phony demonstration in Azadi square. They had to bus people in from other cities and even use the military personnel inside the barracks. This while the people were on the surface streets. The government-run nature of the staged protest and the courage of the people got a lot of world wide attention so did the fact that the government had prohibited all international news correspondents from covering anything but Ahmadinejad's speech. This was very embarrassing for the regime. Attacking and beating of Mr. Karroubi and Mrs. Rahnavard (Mousavi's wife) along with a short clip of security forces savagely beating a young man also received a lot of coverage in the international media and prompted the western government to show their concern with the situation and warn the Iranian government.
4-Google has announced that internet is being censured in Iran and some of their web features (including gmail) have been blocked by the government.
5-Some have asked me whether the events of February 11th have changed the balance of power of power in Iran or not. It is early to answer that question but it appears that we need more efforts to change the balance of power. The events of Ashura and Feb 11th (22nd of Bahman) show that the regime is not afraid of being delegitimized. Using the the days that this government officially recognizes as days of demonstrations and etc such as Ashura and 22nd of Bahman, to express our beliefs had been a good strategy for us. But now that the government is not concerned with its own legitimacy, doing such is not safe anymore and we have to shift to actions that make the country un-governable but are not as risky as massive demonstrations.

In his Saturday video broadcast, Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following points:
1- International media's coverage of Feb. 11 protests in Iran continued yesterday; their main focus point was Regime's staged mobilization of its supporters by offering them free food and financial incentives. They also talked about state violence against protestors as well as the history of state violence in Iran. In short, Regime's attempt to stage a show [of unity and authority] was a big failure in the international arena. Google published satellite images of Azadi Sq. taken ten minutes prior to Ahmadinejad's speech. (The images are also enclosed.) Those images clearly show that the Azadi Sq is almost empty. There are also other satellite and camera images showing lines of buses parked beside the Azadi Sq and in neighboring streets. IRGC and Ahmadinejad Administration hoped that they could take a maximum 320,000 supporters from throughout the country to Azadi Sq. After the rallies ended, they have started a huge propaganda campaign competing with each other in exaggerating the number of Government supporters taking to the streets; however this has been a failed media campaign outside Iran and it seems that their only objective is to raise the spirits of their own supporters- especially Seyyed. Ali Khamenei the Supreme Leader.
2- Our fellow Iranians outside Iran are still holding protest in different parts of the world; their efforts have also gained extensive media coverage as well.
3- When we look back at Green Movement's performance on Feb 11, we can specifically point to two major points; the first point is the communication problem; the second point is the need for tactical flexibility amongst the active members of the Green Movement. We will discuss these points- along with some possible solutions- in our video broadcast tomorrow.









Monday, February 8, 2010

Monday February 8th 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)
Newsletter Issue 169 - Monday February 8th, 2010
FUTURE PLANS--Preparation for 22nd of Bahman demonstration and the "ten-day civil residence".
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights until 11th of February
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills
--Gathering in front of Evin prison every night at 8:00 pm to demand release of political prisoners
--Jaras/United4Iran: Iranians across the UK, US and other countries have planned solidarity events on the eve of 22Bahman (February 11). For a complete list of upcoming events visit http://united4iran.com/2010/01/call-to-action-events-worldwide-for-22-bahman/.

NEWS--Kalameh: Mr. Mousavi met with a group of students on the Anniversary of the 1979 Revolution. He once again encouraged the Green people to come out and show their solidarity. he critiqued the government's reaction to the people and said that the 11th of February (22 Bahman) is the day that all people should unite and show the authorities and the clergy their presence.
Mr. Mousavi added that the root of the recent problems are in the inability of the current regime to understand social and international changes. He added that the only solution is through dialogue and reason and not through arms and guns.

-Radio Farda: Mehdi Karroubi said in an interview with Der Spiegel that the only way out of the current situation is the "release of political prisoners, freedom of the press and correcting the elections laws". He added that the current government will not be able to sustain power and that Ahmadinejad's government is in power only through the use of security forces. He also invited the people to participate in the upcoming events. In response to Friday prayers delivered by Janati, he responded that he does not believe in Friday Prayer that expresses happiness at the death of the country's children.

--Green Movement Path (Jrs): Shirin Ebadi, wrote a letter the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, explaining the situation of Iranian protesters and prisoners as well as the lack of civil rights. She asked for an international investigation in this regard. She pointed to the recent execution of political prisoners. Ms. Ebadi, sent this report in relation to the upcoming UN meeting regarding the situation in Iran.

--Green Movement Path (Jrs): Mohammad Khatami criticized the selective broadcasting of Imam Khomeini's remarks by IRIB officials and stated that the IRIB officials are disrespecting their duty towards the Iranian people. He added that their actions undermine the principles of the Islamic revolution and show a deviation from the original path.

--Green Movement Path (Jrs): A group of Iranin-European students wrote an open letter to the Iranin regime expressing concern over the recent events inside Iran. They asked for the release of arrested students, as well as an end to religious discrimination and the removal of education bad for activist students.

--Green Movement Path (Jrs): In response of the Chinese government's support of the Iranian regime. Iranians residing in London protested in Front of the Chinese embassy. They expressed anger towards the support of dictatorships and demanded the support of democracy in Iran.

--Green Movement Path (Jrs): One hundred young leaders from over 27 world countries wrote an open letter to the Iranian supreme leader and expressed tehir anger at the current situation. They asked for an immediate cessation to all executions.

--Green Movement Path (Jrs): Saleh Noghrekar, legal staff of the prosecutors office and the niece of Rahnavard was summoned to Evin prison. She was also previously in charge of public relations in the same office but was dismissed due to her family ties to Mr. Mousavi.

--Kalameh: The National Trust Party released a statement that invited the people to celebrate the upcoming anniversary of the revolution by coming to the streets. They also released an analysis of the current crisis and expressed that the best way to get out of this situation is to ask the people of Iran their opinion about very fundamental aspects of the regime.

--Radio Farda: Union of Europe and the U.S. released a joint statement expressing concern over the oppression of protesters during the upcoming rallies. They asked that the Iranian regime respect human rights issues. They also expressed concern over the likely violence and arrests that will happen on February 11th.

--Radio Farda: 57 members of Parliament wrote a letter to Mr. Larijani (head of the Judiciary), and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and asked that Mr. Mortazavi (head prosecutor in Tehran) be dismissed of his current position nad investigated for his responsibility for the Kahrizak detention center deaths and tortures.

ANALYSISAn article by Mr. Gangi was published in Radio Farda. The persian transcript is attached to this newsletter.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED--Committee to Protect Journalists: "Iranian authorities are now holding at least 47 journalists in prison, more than any single country has imprisoned since 1996, according to a new survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists. While many of the detainees were arrested in the aftermath of the disputed June presidential election, CPJ’s survey found that authorities are continuing to wage an aggressive campaign to round up independent and opposition journalists. At least 26 journalists have been jailed in the last two months alone, CPJ found.". A complete list of those detained can be found at http://cpj.org/2010/02/with-47-journalists-in-jail-iran-sets-notorious-re.php

--Green Movement Path (Jrs): Following pressure of interrogators on doctor Ebrahim Yazdi, including nightly and continuing group interrogation, Dr. Yazdi's health deteriorated and he was transferred to Atieh Hospital. According to the security forces, despite opposition of his doctors, he was transferred from CCU to an unknown location.

--Kalameh: Yaser Tehrani (pro-Mir Hossein Mousavi activist), who has been under arrest since last month, is under immense pressure to confess. He has been transferred to Evin prison but has not yet obliged the authorities with a confession.

--Green Movement Path (Jrs): Amir Sadeghi, photojournalist was arrested at his workplace yesterday because of his activities and reporting on the violent events of Ashura.

--Call of Green Freedom: the wife and children Mr. Nourizad, a journalist and documentary maker were summoned to Evin prison. Mr. Nourizan has been arrested for 2 months and has not yet had any contact with his family.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGSSummary of Mr. Sazegara's Sunday talks:
1. The government plans to highjack the protests of 22 Bahman. They have spent millions employing a number of aircrafts and trains to carry people from the provinces to Tehran. So far 30000 people have been employed in this way and they hope to raise this number to 200000. They aim to fill out the main areas of the city with marchers that they have gathered. They have installed loud speakers to broadcast their own chants so as to suffocate Green chants. They have also made large tissue pamphlets which can be carried in the crowd to hide parts that are not as crowded. This way, they aim to put on a "show celebration" and give the impression that they have outnumbered the opposition. It is worth noting that all this is done by the people's money while many workers have not yet been paid their wages. Mr. Sazegara then goes on to explain strategic approaches to marching and circumventing their efforts (attached in persian newsletter).
2. Mr. Motahari has written a letter to Mr. Mousavi. In this letter he has asked Mr. Mousavi to back down and to let the parliament dispose of Mr. Ahmadinejad. This letter shows the fear of the regime and that they are discussing the removal of Ahmadinejad through parliamentary means.
3. A large gathering was held in front of Evin prison with the families of the arrested as well as the "mourning mothers". The heavy security presence also suggest the fear of the government and then effectiveness of these persistent gatherings.
4. More than three hundred thousand Muslims from American communities have written a letter to the supreme leader asking for the release of Mr. Yazdi.
5. Unrest continues in the region of Laar. It is reported that security forces had to be called in from Shiraz city but the unrest continues.
6. Mr. Khamenei has refused the pleatings of a fellow cleric to release Mr. Beheshti
7. Mr. Moghadam, police commander, has emphasized that he and his group did not play a role in a Kahrizak detention center fiasco.

Summary of Mr. Sazegara's Monday talks:
1. A kurdish channel has kindly agreed to broadcast Mr. Sazegara's speeches from 6:15 to 6:30 on their TV network.
2. Inside leaks from security forces reveal that the regime is concerned that by moving so many of their forces to Tehran, they are leaving the provinces more vulnerable to Green demonstrations. They are concerned that if the Green movement decides to show itself in the provinces, they will have no forces to combat them.
3. In an interview, Mr. Mosalahi revealed that in fact during the past demonstrations, parts of the security forces were siding with the people and not obeying commands.
4. For another concecutive night, the family of prisoners gathered at Evin. They emphasized that they need a large support from everyone on 22 Bahman to guarantee the release of prisoners.
5. Arak industry workers once again rallied and demanded the payment of their delayed wages. Mr. Sazegara emphasizes the importance of the presence of the workers for the green movement on 22 Bahman and their support.







Saturday, February 6, 2010

Saturday February 6th, 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 168 - Saturday February 6th, 2010

FUTURE PLANS
--Preparation for 22nd of Bahman demonstration and the "ten-day civil residence".
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights until 11th of February
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills
--Gathering in front of Evin prison every night at 8:00 pm to demand release of political prisoners
--Jaras/United4Iran: Iranians across the UK, US and other countries have planned solidarity events on the eve of 22Bahman (February 11). For a complete list of upcoming events visit http://united4iran.com/2010/01/call-to-action-events-worldwide-for-22-bahman/.

NEWS
--Kalameh: Recent technical difficulties in accessing internet inside Iran [which seems to be the intentional tactic of the Regime before Feb 11 protests] made one of the anchors of the popular 'Good Morning Iran' program on IRIB 1 to react. As reported by AsrIran, the anchor of 'Excess Talk' of 'Good Morning Iran' openly criticized and mocked the officials for internet slowdown in his political satire program.

--Kalameh: "We, the members of the caucus intend to visit some senior figures of the Islamic Republic" said Dariush Ghanbari, a leading member of the Reformist Caucus in Iranian Parliament "we, in the caucus, will pay visits and have conversations with figures such as Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Ali-Akbar Nateq-Noori, Mahdavi-Kani, Seyyed-Mohammad Khatami, Mahdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi."

--VOA Persian: Permits have been issued by the Iranian Government for foreign journalists to enter Tehran and cover the government-sanctioned rallies of Feb. 11. At the same time, some Iranian journalists wrote a letter to their foreign colleagues and asked them to cover the anticipated opposition protests as well. (Their letter is attached to this newsletter.)

--Radio Zamaneh: Catherine Ahston, the Foreign Commissioner of EU asked Iranian officials to stop the execution of nine post-election detainees who have been sentenced to death by the revolutionary court.

--JARAS: Some sources have revealed parts of Regime's comprehensive plan to face opposition protests on Feb 11. According to these sources, the main rally venue in Tehran has been divided between different Basiji units coming from cities all over Iran; each of these units will be responsible to fill the assigned space early in the morning [so that the opposition protestors can have no access to the main venue.]

--JARAS: Webna, an Iranian website containing a directory of all Iranian websites, was blocked inside Iran a few minutes ago.

ANALYSIS
An article by Akbar Ganji has been attached to this newsletter. This is the first part of a three-part series about "transition to democracy" which are going to be published in Radio Farda.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--JARAS: Forough Mirzayi and Bahareh Hedayat are still denied visitors.

--Norouz: Mehdi Karoubi paid a visit to the household of Mohammad Javad Mozaffar, the deputy chair of "protecting the rights of prisoners", stated his sympathy for them and criticized the way the prisoners and their families are being treated.

--Rahana: On January 2nd, security forces arrested Mr. Mehrnia at his home. At the time of arrest, his family members were told that he was going to be asked a couple of questions and that he would be released shortly. However, after a fortnight, his family members are still waiting for a phone call.

--Rahana: Mohammad Yousef Rashidi, a student who was deprived of continuing his studies at Amir-Kabir University, after spending 70 days in the section 209 in Evin prison, was transferred to the section 7 together with 40 other detainees.

--Radio Farda: The family members of the detained members of the Liberation Front of Iran have sent a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, asking for the release of Ebrahim Yazdi, the general secretary of this organization, and other political detainees. The relatives of Bazargan, Basteh-Negar, Tavassoli, Sahhabi, Shariati, Sabbaghian, Sadr Haj Seyyed Javadi, Taleghani, Ghoravi, Yazdi and other members of this political party signed this letter.

--Rahana: The body of Arash Rahmanipour, who was executed last week, was given to his family on Saturday. The security forces have not allowed the family members of Arash Rahmanipour , the recently executed political prisoner, to commemorate himby a shrine in front of his house. They have also been banned from arranging any memorial ceremonies.

--Rahana: on the 40th night after the night of Ashura, an invitation had been sent to the public to gather in front of Evin prison to join the families of the political detainees and protest against the arrest of the post-election activists who are in captivity with no clear charges. According to Jaras, all the streets leading to Evin had been blocked and occupied by security forces, preventing the gathering from happening.

--Kalameh: The mother and father of Mehrdad Rahimi, the vice-president of Karroubi's committee to defend the citizens' rights and a member of the Human Rights's reporters, who had been detained since 11th of Dey (beginning of January), have sent a letter to Abbas Jafari Dolat Abadi, the general prosecutor of Tehran. In this letter they have described the situation of their son.

--Kalameh: Masoud Noor-Mohammadi, the brother of Saeed Noor-Mohammadi, the detained member of the Participation Front, who had been arrested 2 weeks ago, contacted his family yesterday and let them know that he is healthy. According to Nowrooz, he mentioned that the reason for his arrest is sending mails and text messages. I emphasized that had not sent any illegal email or text-messages, in his conversation with his parents.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS
On his video broadcast on Saturday, Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following points:
1- It is reported that Azadi Ave has been divided up between Basijis of different provinces so that each can occupy the space allocated to their unit by their forces. It seems that these Basijis want to show up with green symbols and join the ranks of the green movement to pretend that everybody has come to streets in support of the current government. However we, the Green Movement, have experienced similar situations in the past and we know how to separate our ranks from theirs (e.g. by using green symbols and showing V sign etc). Furthermore we should remember that we outnumber Basijis significantly therefore there is no need for us to do violence; we should instead show the maturity of the green movement. What is important is to make sure that we all come to streets in peace and we should all try to encourage our friends and acquaintances to take part in the protests.
2- Despite the fact that people's gathering in front of Evin prison as well as the event for the commemoration of Green Movement martyrs in Behesht-e-Zahra [Tehran's biggest cemetery] were held under the strong presence of security forces, people chanted anti-government slogans in these events.
3- The laborers of the Avangan factory came to the streets once again yesterday despite the clashes between them and the security forces the day before. The situation has not calmed down and there are still reports of tension on the ground.
4- We can confront the activities of the so-called Iranian Cyber Army [a group of hackers sponsored by Iranian Government and attack opposition websites] by taking a few precautionary steps; First of all, if you are already using GMAIL and you have secured it, they can never access the contents of your account directly unless you open suspicious attachments you receive through email; those attachments might contain key-logger programs which will install on your computer, will record your password and send it to them. Therefore if you do not know the sender of an email, do not open it. Also try to change your password regularly. Do not use Internet Explorer [since it is known to have security vulnerabilities] and try to use Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari instead.







Friday, February 5, 2010

Friday February 5th, 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 167 - Friday February 5th, 2010

FUTURE PLANS
--Preparation for 22nd of Bahman demonstration and the "ten-day civil residence".
--Holding the 40th day anniversary of the martyrs of Ashoura day, on 16th of Bahman, at the same time az Arba'een day.
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights until 11th of February
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills
--Gathering in front of Evin prison every night at 8:00 pm to demand release of political prisoners
--Jaras/United4Iran: Iranians across the UK, US and other countries have planned solidarity events on the eve of 22Bahman (February 11). For a complete list of upcoming events visit http://united4iran.com/2010/01/call-to-action-events-worldwide-for-22-bahman/.

NEWS
--Kalemeh: Yesterday a group of families of the post-election political prisoners had a meeting with Mehdi Karroubi, and discussed the latest situations regarding their imprisoned family member and the problems that the families have had. According to the Reporters Committee for Human Rights, these people talked with Mr. Karrubi: Saeed Mohammadi, the lawyer of "Mehrdad Rahimi", the deputy head of the citizenship rights committee of Mehdi Karroubi campaign and a member of human right reporters commitee; Two brothers of "Mehrdad Bozorg", a student of university of Tehran University; Marziyeh Golru, the sister of "Mahdieh Golru"; Nasim Chalaki, sister of "Peyman Chalaki" political activist; Shahrzad Kariman, mother of "Shiva Nazar-Ahari" civil and political activist, and a human rights reporters Committee member; brother of "Ehsan Dolatshah", a student Tehran University;and finally Sajjad Haeri, brother of "Sarrf Haeri". These people mentioned the pressures and tortures that their family member is being put through for fake confessions. Mehdi Karroubi condemned the illegal detentions of political activists in the months after the elections, and said such irrational attitudes toward political activists and the imprudence in managing the situation has surprised everyone, and that these unwise reactions in all aspects including foreign politics and economics are hurting the regime, and asked for logical management of the country. He said despite all the problems that he has faced, he will keep supporting the freedom of political prisoners and Full text of the report is attached to the newsletter.

--Kalemeh: Fortieth day ceremony of Ali Habibi Mousavi, Mir Hossein Mousavi nephew, and one of the martyrs of Ashura day in Tehran was held yesterday, 5pm. Security forces were reported to be present at the ceremony. Due to heavy rain, the participants left ceremony after a few minutes of pray, and continued the event at Mr. Habibi's house. In this event, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, and a group of political and cultural figures were also present.

--Parlman News: A member of Imam fraction of parliament, gave report of a letter of protest written by Hassan Khomeini addressed to Ezzatollah Zarghami, after state TV's selective broadcast of the speech of the founder of the Islamic Revolution, ayatollah Khomeini.
--SIC: Reports published on social networks and green movement websites indicate that a group of people had gathered in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery today to mourn the fortieth day ceremony of Ashura martyrs. These reports say several motorcycles, vans and police cars had stationed around sections No. 256 and 257 of this cemetery and that several police and security agents were present around sections No. 302 and 304. Two videos showing the intense security measures and the mourning of Amir Tajmir's mother, a martyr of Ashura clasesh in Tehran are attached to the newsletter.

--Green Voice of Freedom: National Youth Staff supporting Khatami and Mousavi (Setad-e 88) invited Iranians to attend 22nd of Bahman rally, to defend the Islamic Revolution ideals and to protest against the Coup. The statement is attached to the newsletter.

--Radio Farda: With 22nd of Bahman approaching, Zahra Rahnavard demanded unconditional release of the political prisoners. In this note, Ms. Rahnavard pointed to the right violations of women after the revolution, and asked the officials to release female political prisoners first. She reviewed women's problem in the past years and said "if we don't put issues like equality of blood money for men and women, elimination of polygamy, the need for ministry and management by women in priority right now, it's because bigger ideals have been neglected right now."

--Jaras/Int'l Campaign for Human Rights: Mourning Mothers, a group of wives and mothers who have lost their spouses or children during the post-elections protests or whose spouses or children are currently in prison, have issued a statement, objecting to executions of political protesters and execution sentences for several political prisoners, demanding revocation of death sentences for political prisoners. They have issued a warning to Islamic Republic of Iran: "Don't allow a repeat of the 1980's catastrophe." They are referencing mass executions of political dissidents in 1988 during which it is said thousands were executed in Islamic Republic prisons. Islamic Republic authorities have continually maintained silence on these executions. Mourning Mothers have also demanded release of "prisoners of conscience," and trials of "those who were responsible for and who ordered their children's murders." The statement adds: "We, the Mourning Mothers, who have gathered spontaneously at Laleh Park, other parks, and public buildings over the past seven months to condemn the murders and arrests and demanding an end to these inhumane and illegal actions, are facing our own children's executions today." "Who has subjected the mothers to this gradual death, mourning our loved ones?…Should our children's participation in elections lead to their arrest, torture, rape, murder, and execution?" According to Mourning Mothers, if such violence against Iranian youth continues, public protests will also increase.

--Deutsche Welle: European Union foreign policy representative issues a statement, to demand Iran to immediately stop the increasing trend of executions, specially execution that aim only to intimidate "anti-government protesters". According to German News Agency, Catherine Ashton, said in this statement " The union is against death sentence in any case, and asks Iran to stop this trend immediately. European Union hearby proclaims its deep concern."

--BBC News: Committee to Protect Journalists reported that at least 47 journalists are currently in prison, and with that information, since 1996 to now, the number of journalist prisoners in Iran is the highest among all other countries. According to the report, the journalist prisoners in Iran have passed those in Chine. This is while the report does not include the names of more than 50 other journalists who have been arrested and then released in the past few months.

--Radio Farda: Three large organizations of Journalists, Workers, and Human Rights activists held a joint meeting in Brussels, capital of Belgium, on Wednesday. In this meeting the three organizations asked the Europe and World leaders to put new pressure on the Islamic Republic, to make them respect human rights and freedom of expression. They also asked Iran government to stop intimidation of the human right defenders, and to release tens of writers, journalists, worker activists, and the opposition members. In the statement published by Journalists Organization, since the start of the protests against the government in June, "human right violations, which already existed in freedom of speech and freedom of expression of protest", has intensified. According to the general secretary of the journalist federation, "if Iran wants to end its isolation, it needs to open doors to dialog and criticism, and allow the protesters to speak."

--Radio Farda: AUT site, was hacked on Thursday by army of cyber (said to be directed by Iranian government, although never confirmed by the government). A week ago, Radio Zamaneh website was also hacked and put out of service for 4 days.

--Times:A British national has begged forgiveness from an Iranian revolutionary court after being put on trial in Tehran for subversive activities, Iranian websites reported yesterday. An unidentified woman, 24, the daughter of a British mother and Iranian father, has admitted some of the charges against her including encouraging and attending demonstrations, consorting with foreigners and drinking alcohol, government and opposition websites said. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has asked the Iranian Government for clarification of the reports, and that the woman be given consular assistance if true. That is unlikely to be granted, though, because Iran does not recognise dual nationality. The woman, who was born in Manchester but is believed to teach English in Tehran, is one of sixteen opposition supporters who went on trial late last week for allegedly plotting against the regime and conspiring with Iran's foreign enemies.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--JRS: Political prisoners in Evin prison, sent a message to people about the protesting gathering which is planned to be held in front of the prison on 22nd of Bahman. They have asked for people's participation in 22nd of Bahman rally, and they asked people to pay attention to Mir Hossein Mousavi's comments about the status of the judiciary system. Full text of the message is attached to the newsletter.

--JRS: Families of Freedom Movement members arrested after election sent a letter to leader of Islamic Republic, to ask for release of Mr. Ebrahim Yazdi. This letter, signed by family members of Bazargan, Basteh Negar, Tavassoli, Sahabi, Shariati, Sabaghian, Sadr Haj Seyed Javadi, Gharavi, Yazdi and other freedom Movement members, asks Mr. Ali khamenei, the leader to make steps for release of Ebrahim Yazdi and other political prisoners, so that the public trust is gained and the situation can be ready for public dialog.
--JRS: "Keyvan Mehregan", journalist arrested on 8th of Dey, is still in solitary confinement. In a phone call with his family, he said the charges are currently relationship with Freedom Movement, and his journalis activities.

--BBC News: Hassan Rasouli, the dupty executive officer of Baraab foundation, and Abolfazl Ghadyani, a member of Mojahedin organization were freed last night (Thursday 4th of February) They were arrested after Ashoura day.

--Committee of Human Rights Reporters: Golnaz Tavasoli, a Student of Azad University was arrested yesterday. Her family have no information about her location.

--Committee of Human Rights Reporters: The interrogation of Saeed Jalali-Far, Human Rights Committee member and a member of the Defense of the street children is finished and he is charged with propaganda activities. He is currently held in Evin prison in a cell with 3 or 4 prisoners, and he protests against his temporary arrest.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS
Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following in his Friday video:

- He emphasized the attendance in 22nd of Bahman, and the rally in front of Evin in the afternoon of the same day, and said that it is possible that 22nd of Bahman can be the final blow to the government, because the leaders of the green movement are strongly standing, people do not fear anything, and the unity is more strong than ever.
- He said people in small towns can come to Tehran, to avoid being identified, but if they can't, they can go to larger cities in which specific places are designated for rally, and in this case, the distribution of security forces around the country will reduce the pressure on Tehran.
-He mentioned the protests in Laar city which continues after four days.
- 90 of Lebanese scientists and intellectuals have supported the green movement.
- 110 Iranian faculty have protested against a Chinese news article in which the green movement was said to be directed by foreign governments.
- Mothers of the post-election victims asked public to attend 22nd of Bahman rally.
- 17 fractions of the Reformist Front also asked people to attend 22nd of Bahman rally.
- Khamenei's picture on Tohid tunnel was set to fire by some protesters.
- In Berlin, the protesters didn't let the government to hold celebration for the revolution anniversary, and the Iranians in other cities like New York are also planning to do the same.





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