Monday, February 1, 2010

Monday February 1st 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 164 - Monday February 1st, 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

NEWS
--BBC: On Sunday 11th of Bahman (January 31st) Mohammad Khatami (one of the green leaders) met with members of the Central Council and warned them that the supreme leader is showing signs of bias towards a certain political group and that it is important the leader should still act within the boundaries of the constitution since he is the leader of all Iranians. Regarding rumors that Khatami had written a letter to the supreme leader. He added:" these are rumors propagated to discourage the people and make them think that their leaders have turned their back on them".

--Radio Farda: On Sunday, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran issued a statement pointing to the last announcement made by the court which stated that it had sentenced 16 of those detained after the Ashura unrest. The human rights watch group said that these 16 individuals were selected from different political groups to send warning to those groups to seize their activities. 

--BBC: Tehran Prosecutor's Office released a statement announcing the charges against Arash Rahmani and Mohammad Ali who were executed were not related to their participation in recent protests. This is in contrast to recent announcements by the same office who stated these the two individuals mentioned along with 11 other individuals have been sentenced to death because of participation in protests (such as Ashura day). 

--Kalameh: Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Hassan Khomeini (Son of late Imam Khomeini) was present at his fathers shrine among other supporters however, when Ahmadinejad came to give his speech, he left the vicinities immediately and went to visit the family of Dr. Beheshti (renounced supporter of reformists). Furthermore, Mr. Khomeini was not present at the ceremonies commemorating his fatehr's return to Iran. 

--Radio Farda: It has been reported that a of middle managers in the industry were arrested in the days following Ashura. they were accused of espionage. Previously consultants of Mr. Mousavi were also detained based on the similar charges. 

--Call of Green Freedom: Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Chairman of Human Rights Defenders, addressed an open letter to the Iranian people and asked them to stand united against violence and injustice. In a separate section she also addressed the regime leaders as well as Sepah members (revolutionary guard). She asked them to obey the will of the people who are their defenseless brothers and sisters. 

--"Where is my vote" website: On Sunday, a group of Iranian-French protesters went to the Iranian embassy in Neauphle le Chateau where Iranian authorities were gathered. They shouted slogans protesting the recent violence in Iran. The embassy workers and guests got angry and threw stones at the green protesters as well as physically threatening them. The Iranian ambassador himself who attempted to be physically violent was controlled by the French police. 

--BBC: The Iranian police released a statement announcing that the Iranian forces are ready to their full capacity to be alert during 22nd of Bahman ceremonies and that they will not let the ceremonies get disturbed by "trouble makers".

--Path of Green Movement (Jrs): The state news agency IRNA has changed its logo which used to be the Iranian flag to a new logo which has excluded the color green. Recent ceremonies also showed pictures of the flag where the color green was changed to blue. 

--Deutche Welle: 82 intellectuals living abroad, released a statement condemning violence. The statement asked the people to show their solidarity and show that Execution cannot stop them from coming to the streets in defense of democracy. 

--SIC: a video of centennial celebrations in the city of Yazd shows that the celebrations were filled with Green supporters who sang counter-government songs. A short video is attached to this newsletter.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED 
--Call of Green Freedom: Mr. Khalaji was released on bail along with other political prisoners last night. No information is yet available on his charges or his court hearing date. 

--Path of Green Movement (Jrs): Morteza Samiary member of Tahkim Vahdat Central Council who is under arrest was under immense pressure to confess. In court, in defense of the green movement he stated that thoughts and opinions should not be prosecuted in the court. He also added that his interrogator and other security forces are putting pressure on him. For example, they have instructed him to speak in the court in a manner that would leave an impression on listeners at home. 

Path of Green Movement (Jrs): Mohammad Ali Rafiee a political secretary of the Islamic Association of Law and Political Sciences at Tehran University was arrested Monday night by security forces. At the same time some families of arrested students report that they are udner severe pressure to confess on the televised news broadcast. 

ANALYSIS
JRS website published an interview with Ebrahim Nabavi called "Trojan horses at Azadi Square". This article makes a few recommendations for the 22 Bahman protests:
- "... I suggest we assume a model such as Trojan War. We all go to a specific location and a specific time without showing our true intentions at first. Once we arrive, we all take out our green scarves and bands and this way we can identify ourselves. This helps the greens find each other quickly and direct the slogans that they want to shout ...." 
-"... An insurgency is not necessary. The presence of vast and green crowds is enough to confuse the speaker and take over the streets. Remember that you do not intend to take over the media or the city, you just want to show your large presence to each other and the authorities. So even though you feel like moving toward revolution, stay calmed and don't get too excited ...." 
-"... Our strategy is a psychological warfare, not a street war. We can prove our majority and that our votes were stolen (by showing our presence). After the protests sent photos and writings to other independent media sources"
He finished by saying: " We have entered a great war for freedom. The people look to us, we are the people. The Basij wear plain clothes and have a thousand faces so we must hide our faces from them. We must come gently like a fog, or a breeze and then take them like a storm, a green storm".

RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS
Mr. Sazegara referred to the following in his Sunday video: 
2000 family members of those detained in Evin prison gathered there last night until late into the night until some prisoners were released. Mourning motehr also gather in different parks and this has exhausted the regime. 
There are also indications that the regime fears that millions will come out on 22 Bahman. In which case they might try to appease the people by removing Ahmadinejad. In summary the presence people on 22 Bahman is critical for showing the regime that their violence has been futile. 

Mr. Sazegara referred to the following in his Monday video: 
1 - Hunger strikes and protests continue at Steel Alborz Tire company. These are the first strikes seen at Ministry of Oil. 
2 - In an Interview, A. Islami, the resigned consulate in Japan, confessed that most individuals working for the Iranian embassy in Japan were Green sympathizers. 
3 - ABD company as well as other swedish companies cut their business ties with Iran. This is similar to Siemens company. 
4 - 40 arrested individuals were released after incessant nightly protests. More protests of this kind must be organized so that the other 4000 arrested activists be released. 
6 - He also commented on the distribution of nightly newsletters inviting all to join 22 Bahman protests
7 - If you live in the provinces and it is mroe dangerous to come and protest on 22 Bahman, you should come to Tehran. 
8- Khamenei and his family are about to be moved from their usual dueling to a more secure and secret location.


Saturday January 30th 2010 Newsletter

Student Information Center (SIC)
Newsletter Issue 163 - Saturday January 30th, 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.
--Holding the 40th anniversary of Ayatollah Montazeri on14th of Bahman.
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills

NEWS

--Norouz: Criticizing the recent death sentences issued and enforced without proper judicial procedures, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi expressed their disappointment with the hastiness with which those executions were performed. "It seems that [these two individuals executed last Thursday] had been arrested several months prior to the presidential election and the charges brought against them had nothing to do with the post-election turmoils" said Mousavi and Karroubi pointing to their case "and according to their attorneys, they have only been allowed to have a short meeting with their clients without proper judicial procedures being carried out. It seems like these actions are to frighten people prior to [anticipated] protests at February 11 [the anniversary of Islamic Revolution of 1979]." Mousavi and Karroubi emphasized that "It is illegal to arrest journalists and political and student activists simply for defending their rights. Furthermore the procedures used for getting confessions from those prisoners is also against the Islamic principles and the Constitution."

--Radiofarda: Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Speaker of the Expediency Council, asked people to participate in February 11 rallies and make it a 'manifestation of national unity for defending the Islamic Republic despite their differences." He also said that the supporters of Islamic Republic should do their best having a smooth quiet Feb. 11, since any clash and violence on that specific day will serve the interests of the enemies of the revolution.


--Nedaye-sabz: Dr. Muhammad-Ali Homayoun-Katouzian, the renowned Iranian academician and Oxford faculty refrained from delivering a speech at a conference where the cultural representative of Iran in UK was also invited to speak.


--Neda-y-sabz: In the aftermath of unjust executions of Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour and amid increasing concerns about the likelihood of similar executions of post-election detainees, some Iranians in London gathered  in front of the Iranian Embassy in UK last Friday to express their protest.


--JARAS: Mehdi Karroubi states in an interview with Financial times that he will certainly participate in the 22nd of Bahman rally and adds: The Iranians do not accept something dictated to them. They may suffer that for a short time but they suddenly explode. The full report of the interview is provided in the appendix.

--VOA: Ahmad Jannati, the temporary Imam of the friday prayers in Tehran, applauded the execution of two political protesters on Thursday and encouraged them to continue executing other disorders in order to stop the protests. 

--The Green Voice of Liberty: Manager depute of the Saipa industrial group, strongly denied the inclusion of some relatives of Isfandiar Mashaee, the current speak-man of the President, but he added that giving responsibilities to  relatives is not illegal.

--The Green Voice of Liberty: The American Senate accepted a law which lets president obama increase the sanctions  against Iran.These sanctions focus on companies exporting patrol to Iran. The congress had accepted this law on last December. This law  now be signed by Obama after receiving final revisions.

--Radio Zamaneh: Fourteen Noble Laureates, in an open letter to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, condemned the limitations and pressures enforced upon Shirin Ebadi and other human rights activists in Iran.


--JARAS: Molavi Abdulhamid, the Suni Friday-prayer Imam in Zahedan, in his speech said, "the 1979 victory was possible because of the will of the people not through a military coup. And today, its continuity depends on the will of the people."


--JARAS: In a speech, Ayatollah Sonhani stated, "if the people are satisfied with our performance, we are set and all the problems will be solved eventually; craving the satisfaction of the elite is not relevant and should not be pursued".

--JARAS: Last Week, the students of the Farzanegan high-school of exceptional talents put up photos of the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri on the main board of the high school. Threatened by this action, the education office of the Isfahan asked the school principal to refer the culprits. However, the principal, who is the sister of the martyr commander Agha Rabparast, resists and is subsequently forced to resign. It is mentionable that the high-school was closed two days after the crisis.


--Radio Zamaneh: The international human-rights campaign issued an statement and revealed that the prisoned members of the human-right reporters are under pressure to forcefully confess that they are members of the MKO organization. This human-right organization adds that they have been informed from different sources that the judiciary system plans to relate the human-right reporters to the opposition groups in exile and consequently convict them with severe criminal charges.
NEWS OF THE ARRESTED

--Norouz: The tribunal of sixteen individuals who had been arrested on the day of Ashura was held in Tehran today. Five of them have been charged with muharibah (War on God) and musfed-e-fe-al-arz (corruption on earth) [which are serious crimes in the Islamic Judicial System punished with death penalty]. The rest are charged with gathering and conspiring against national security, propaganda against Regime and intent to disturb national security through encouraging people to rebel and protest, and their membership in secular parties, MEK, monarchist groups, Bahai circles and social networks such as facebook.



--JARAS: Efforts are underway to stop the execution of five post-Ashura detainees who have been sentenced for death by Judge Salavati. 

--JARAS: Seyyed Mohammad Khatami paid a visit to the family of Abolfazl Qadyani, the arrested central committee member of Islamic Revolution Mujahedeen Organization, a leading reformist party.

--JARAS: Some family members of those who were killed in the explosion of Islamic Republic Party Headquarters in June 28, 1981, gathered in Behesht-e-Zahra [Tehran's main cemetery] at the tomb of Ayatollah Beheshti [the former head of the Judiciary and a leading member of the late IRP] in protest to the arrest of Alireza Beheshti [Ayatollah Behesti's son].
--JARAS: In an overt attempt to signify their dominance and threaten the people to thwart the possibility of demonstrations on Feb 11th, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmani Pour who were arrested in March last year were hanged on Thursday. Forced confessions were published and their lawyers and families were not informed beforehand.

--JARAS: Sasan Aghayi and Saeed Leylaz are denied visitors.

--SIC: A list of political prisoners facing capital punishment is attached.


RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS

In his Thursday speech, Mohsen Sazgara pointed to the following items: 
- Mr Obama promised in his annual speech that non-cooperative behavior from the Islamic Republic ends in serious consequences. On the other hand, he declared that the united states will support the Iranian women suffrage. Considering the Russian foreign minister's last speech, there is an agreement in the 1+5 group, excluding China, on including more serious sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
- The 40th day ceremony of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri will be held next Friday in the holy city of Qom.
-Chief manager of Siemens company announced that the company has decided to abandon its collaboration with Iran, due to the consecutive problems and sanctions. This decision will affect the power industry, and telecommunication company of Iran severely. This decision is shows the prestige of the Green movement in the world's public opinion. 
- The governmental violence has been increased to prevent the protesters from going to streets. The similar experiences in Iran and other parts of the world show that if the Green movement can handle the current situation successfully, and handle the governmental conspiracy successfully, the government will move back and will recognize some demands of the Green movement. This is why the 22nd of Bahman is vital and important for the Green movement.

On his Friday announcement, Mohsen Sazegara discussed the following points:
- Moammad Reza Alizamani and Arash Rahmanipour were hanged in Tehran. These two were arrested 3 months before the election but the officials forced confessions out of them and ultimately sentenced them to death.
- All our actions in the past four months have been aimed at these issues: 1. challenging the legitimacy of the government, 2. increasing the sense of unity, 3. creating political rafts and eroding the forces of government and 4. paralyzing the government through civil disobedience. The upcoming 10 days in the run-up to Bahman 22nd, we have another chance at boosting morale and diffusing the ideals of the green movement: Bahman 16th, the fortnight of the martyrs, is an ideal day for distributing the symbols of the movement.
- As a tribute to Ayatollah Montazeri, the Exceptional Talents (Farzanegan) highschool in Isfahan went green. However, the principal was pressured by the Ministry of Education to release the names of the students who were instrumental in this event. Resilience on the part of the principal resulted in her expulsion and the closure of the school.
- The CEO if the Iranian Central Bank claimed the national debt to be 50,000 billion Rials (~5 billion dollars). Although the real number is closer yo 80,000 billion Rials.
- The use of the blue color instead of green in the Iran's flag was repeated in the government ceremonies which is quite depressing
.


On his video broadcast on Saturday, Mohsen Sazegara mentioned the following points:
- There have been extensive reactions to the execution of Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour in the international community. Recent statements by Ahmad Jannati, in which he admired the conduct of these execution clearly reveals that the objective of the regime is to frighten people. The most appropriate response is to organize public political actions for next week.
- The 40th-day commemoration of Ayatollah Montazeri in Qom was attended by a big crowd of people and clerics on Friday, there was a similar event in his hometown Najafabad on Friday as well.
- The drama which has started between Hashemi-Rafsanjani and Yazdi entered a new stage after Ahmad Khatami [the hardliner cleric not to be confused with Mohammad Khatami] tried to mediate between these two figures. [It seems like] the hardliners have all mobilized to prevent Hashemi from publicizing his revelations.
- The prospect of putting gas embargo on Iran is becoming more and more serious and is elevating after the reactions to recent execution. US and European countries are pressuring CHina to support new sanctions.
- We should keep in mind that Feb. 11 rallies will be critical for the future of the green movement.



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