Saturday February 27th, 2010 Newsletter
Student Information Center (SIC)
Newsletter Issue 177 - Saturday February 27th, 2010
--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.
