Saturday, January 16, 2010

Saturday January 16th 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 157 - Saturday January 16th, 2010                                                                                                                                                              

FUTURE PLANS
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills

NEWS
-- DW: Iranian authorities will observe and control text messages and e-mails that encourage protesters, an Iranian semi-official news agency reported Friday. Messages that encourage demonstrations will be screened, and organizers of illegal protests will face heavy penalties, the Iranian Labor News Agency reported, citing Tehran Police Chief Ahmadi Mogadham. However, Mahmoud Tajalli, and IT expert says if an email is opened by certain codes, it is impossible to control it. See the attachment for more information.

-- Radio Farda: Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei offered Friday his condolences over the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist. "The criminal hand that brought this disaster has revealed the motive of the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran to deal a blow to the scientific movement of the country," the Leader said. The Leader said Iranian scientists and researchers would not allow the enemies to impede the nation's scientific advancements.

-- Norouz: Religious ceremony of Komeil was held in Sayyed Ali Mousavi's house, martyred nephew of MirHossein Mousavi, on Thursday.

-- DW: TV debate of Alireza Zakani and Javad Etaat surprised the viewers of IRIB channel 3. Javad Etaat said in the debate that he supports Mousavi and he does not agree with economical, cultural and social policies of the current government. He did not answer the question about the pro-government rally that took place three weeks ago and instead, he said he supported Mousavi and Karroubi. He also criticized the IRIB for its stance against the opposition, and said the protests are not only the result of the recent election, but is a result of the economical, cultural and social policies of the hard liners in the last 5 years.

-- VOA: A senior Iranian envoy Mohammed-Reza Heydari has resigned and denounced Tehran following the brutal crackdown on protesters during the course of last month when at least 8 people were killed by security forces using live rounds. Heydari has called upon other Iranian diplomats to follow the same course of conduct.

-- DW: Asadollah Badamchian representative of Tehran in the parliament, in an interview with RASA explained the process of violence and isolation in the green movement and talked about the possibility of assassinating the leaders of the green movement. RASA newsagency belongs to a group of students in the Hawzah in Qom and is close to Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi.

-- JARAS: Ahmad Reza Dastgheib, a parliament representative from Shiraz, in a memo criticized the way Ayatollah Dastgheib's household were treated and added, "All those who are logical and effective should refrain from violence and defend the lives and properties of the people and impede a small anarchist group from installing anarchy and lawlessness which would threaten the independence of the country".

-- JARAS: The ex-commander of revolutionary guards, general Safayi, demanded respect and restraint towards the respected clerics.

-- JARAS: In the 10th Allameh Helli Symposium, Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judicial system, stated that the wave of western philosophical books being translated into Farsi should be hindered.

-- Radiofarda: "It is not right to make enemies out of friends." said Mohammad Mohammadi Reyshahri, the former Appointee of Supreme Leader in the Hajj and Pilgrimage Agency, in his farewell speech without explicitly mentioning the post-election events "it is rather important to try to convert our enemies and opponents into fellows."

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED, MISSING, AND DECEASED
-- Radio Zamaneh: Noushin Ebadi, the sister of the Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi was released on bail after two weeks of arrest.

-- DW: After spending several months in the notorious Evin prison, Azar Mansuri, Davoud Soleimani and Mahdi Mahmoudian, who are members of the Participation Front [a major Reformist party] were assigned court time. As reported by the news website of the Prosecutor General of Tehran, the cases of Isa Saharkhiz, Mohammad Reza Rajabi, Hadi Arab Qobadi and Amir Ali Aghayari have also been forwarded to the Revolutionary Court.

-- Norouz: The spouse of Seyyed Ali Mousavi, the nephew of Mir Hossein Mousavi [who was shot death during the protests of Ashura] emphasized the commitment of his passed-away husband to the Green Movement and the legacy of martyrs of freedom and said: "I hope that the truth is revealed to people and the blood of martyrs not be in vain."

-- Norouz: Several families of the political prisoners visited the family of Seyyed Alireza Beheshti on Friday. Alireza Beheshti is one of Mousavi's senior advisors who was arrested after the wave of widespread arrests following Ahura protests, This is Beheshti's second detention in the last seven months.

-- Adwarnews: Although seven months have elapsed since Abdollah Momeni, the Speaker of the Iranian Alumni Society [a major student Reformist Political Action group] was arrested, Dr Mohammad Sharif, his attorney, has been unable to meet him; he has not even succeeded in getting official advocacy permit.

-- JARAS: As a consequence of widespread protests on the day of Ashura which got extensive international media coverage, recent news of Ashura detainees have raised new concerns about their status. The official count of Ashura detainees is 300 but independent sources claim that as high as 1,500 people have been arrested.

-- JARAS: The spouse of Abolfazl Qadyani expressed her concerns about physical well-being of his husband. Speaking to Parliamentnews [the official website of the Reformist Caucus in the Iranian Parliament] she said "we have no information on where and how Mr Qadyani is being kept and this lack of news has seriously concerned us."

-- Radiofarda: Tehran's Revolutionary Court issued the final verdicts of six detainees who had been accused of 'insulting the values of the Islamic Revolution'. As reported in Iranian news agencies, these individuals have received sentences ranging from fines to imprisonments for [so-called] crimes such as 'gathering and conspiring against national security', 'insulting senior government officials' and 'disturbing public order'.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS
Mohsen Sazegara in his Thursday update indicated that:
- We have to put as much effort possible in holding the funeral ceremony of Dr. Alimohammadi.
- The strike of the workers of the Avangan-e-Arak factory continues as a response to the inability of the Ministry of Energy in buying the products of this factory. This problem also exists for other factories that sell their products to the government.
- In the newsletter called "The Green Strike" published by the students of the Technical School of the University of Tehran, it was announced that unless the imprisoned students are released, other students will not attend the exams.
- In the demonstrations of the 22nd of Bahman (the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution) the Green Movement will move in the paths announced by the regime. These vast moves will confuse the regime. In the case that the regime uses military forces the movement can use eggs or colored baloons against them.
- The prople of Kurdistan must pressure the government to prevent the execution of Farzad Kamangir with various actions such as closing the shops. The movement in other provinces must support the Kurds.
- Non-violent resistance does not necessarily require a carismatic leader and other examples in the world confirm this fact.

Mohsen Sazegara in his Friday update indicated that:
- The funeral of Dr. Alimohammadi was held in the presence of security forces and plain-clothes militia and they tried to capture this martyr of the movement.
- When the regime pressues the students by threatening, failing in courses, expelling and imprisoning, our victory reqires unity and resistance. One also has to consider that the regime will try to creat divisions, threaten and capture the activists.
- Ms. Fatemeh Goodarzi has also refained to participate in the Fajr Film Festival as a referee. We have to thank those artists that support the people and expose those who cooperate with the regime.
- Broadcasting the program called "The Path Towards Tomorrow" from Channel 3 counts as a victory for the movement and we have to welcome it. The regime thinks that by relatively opening the political environment and raising some of the opposition viewpoints on TV as a replacement for demonstrations it can calm down the people and ask for forgiveness. However, history shows that this believe is not correct. The people who are invited to this program must use the regime tools in order to raise the movement's voice.
- There exists a fear of protest in the Oil Company and the related companies due to their inability to pay the salary of the contractors.
- In response to the question "Will the regime be satisfied with non-violent resistance?", I have to say: non-violent resistance does not merely have one moral advantage. We can make them surrender and fail using non-violent resistance, which is more powerful than any other method.

In his video broadcasts on Saturday, Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following points:
- As some of the mourning mothers were arrested last week, it is very important that from now on we also try to join them on Saturday evenings.
-Some [Green] fellows visit the graves of the martyrs of the Green movement and take photos and videos as they salute them. We should keep in mind that [as they rightfully do], documenting our activities is one of the most important components of the Green Movement.
- Most workers are under serious financial burdens, we should remember that the Green Movement should always support [workers and] Labor Unions.
- Since the main server used for sending and receiving text messages is controlled by IRGC, it might be possible for them to monitor the contents of transmitted text messages; however when millions of text messages are sent all at once, it is very difficult to scan and monitor all of them even with the aid of highly sophisticated technologies; however you should keep in mind that phone calls and text messages should NEVER be used for transmitting confidential messages and sensitive information. Email messages are much safer; especially if you are using GMAIL, you can enjoy an enhanced level of security [due to the default usage of https protocol by GMAIL).
- By posting the slogan "Today in Tehran, tomorrow in Beijing" on twitter, some Chinese youngsters have showed their solidarity with Iranian youth.
- The Regime is trying to implement a 'carrot-and-stick' policy by widespread arrest of political dissidents on one hand and airing live TV debates on the other hand. [University] students can use this opportunity and organize debates on college campuses. If the Regime cracks them down- and I think that's what they are mostly likely to do- the real intentions of the Regime will be exposed. Note that all tactics attempted by the Regime will be in vain after millions of people come to streets for February 11 protests.
- Two points: First, those of you who can organize protests in your hometown on February 11 should definitely do that since such protests will make the Regime to scatter its resources nationwide [which will in turn decrease their clampdown capabilities]. However if you are unable to protest in your own town or city, you should try to go to Tehran or other large cities and join the protests there. Secondly some fellows think that 'civil disobedience' works very slowly in throwing out the coup government, however this is not true and [as several historic examples show us] civil disobedience works much faster than armed and violent struggles.


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