Thursday February 4th, 2010 Newsletter
Student Information Center (SIC)
Newsletter Issue 166 - Thursday February 4th, 2010
--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
NEWS
--Green Movement Path (Jrs): Political prisoners in Evin prison, released a statement regarding the upcoming protests. They asked the people to be present next Friday at 8:00pm in front of Evin prison. They also expressed concern for their safety as well as recent rearrangements made at Evin. They asked that protesters follow instructions given by Mir Hossein Mousavi in his recent speech regarding upcoming protests for 22 Bahman.
--Radio Farda: Basij forces attacked a mosque in Shiraz last night. This is the mosque of Ayatollah Dastghaib who is a vocal reformist. Despite his absence, the Basij continued their nightly raids where several individuals were injured. Some pictures are attached to this newsletter.
--SIC: According to some blogs and websites protests in the province of Laar continued for its 4th continuous day. Reportedly, there were clashes between people and security forces although the intensity of the conflict is not yet clear.
--SIC: Workers at Avangan company in Arak city staged a protest against national television and media in Iran. A youtube video of the protest is attached to this newsletter.
--Kalameh: 111 Iranian researcher and professors living abroad addressed a letter to the chinese government criticizing them for their support of the oppressive regime in Iran. They accused China of political opportunism and asked about their motives for supporting Ahmadinejad.
--Kalameh: Omid Mehregan, author, translator and journalist who collaborated and contributed ideas to various reformist publications was arrested from his house last night. He has been taken to an undisclosed location.
--Radio Farda: The website of "[religious] teachers and scholars in Qom and Najaf" (www.motghan.org) has published an open letter addressing the Assembly of Experts. In this letter they state that the legitimacy of the supreme leader has been questioned so it is the responsibility of thsi assembly to address these doubts in order to save the Islamic Revolution. They also criticized political interventions in the judiciary system as well as the over all incompetence in the face of recent events. They also blamed the Guardian Council for creating a violent political atmosphere.
--Radio Farda: Reporters Without Borders issued a statement warning that journalists and bloggers who are currently in trial over charges of acting against the state, are under the threat of execution. Namely, Mr. Amid Montazeri is at risk. His mother was also arrested and his father, a political activist, was executed in the 80s. Another detainee named Mr. Ali Ashraf Fathi who's father is a IRGC martyr.
--Radio Farda: According to the site the Green Movement Path (Jrs): 90 members of elites and intellectuals of a Lebanese democracy movement released a statement supporting the green movement in Iran. The statement reads: "We support the Iranian people in their movement for freedom, democracy and pluralism". A large number of political activists, journalists, writers, poets and publishers along with Lebanese film director, doctor, lawyer, engineer and former representative parliament have signed this statement.
--Radio Farda: It is reported that Mahdi Kalhor, media adviser to Ahmadinejad has been summoned by the police because of domestic abuse allegations. Witnesses and neighbors report that Mr. Kalhor presented himself to his ex-wife's house and began to beat her. His daughter has confirmed this reported through an interview with Radio Farda.
NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--Kaleme: Maziar Samiee, an activist of the One Million Signatures Campaign to change the discriminatory laws was arrested at his house in Tehran early Thursday morning. Security forces inspected the house and confiscated his personal computer and a number of books. No news has been reported about his detention location and charges.
--Kaleme: Security forces arrested Noushin Jafari, reporter of the cultural section of Etemaad newspaper on Wednesday night at her house. Twenty-two year old Jafari has had no political activity during the post-election period and has been merely active in the cultural and literary domains. According to this report, it is not clear to which detention she has been transferred.
--Kaleme: Ten detained students of Iran University of Science and Technology (Elm-o-San'at) were released during the current week. These students 5 of whom were arrested on Ashura (December 27) and the rest on Tuesday December 29 after widespread and organized attack of plainclothes to students' gathering, have been released during the past few days after spending almost 5 weeks in prison. These students are Nima Omrani, Ebrahim Nouhi, Pouya Daryaei, Tahmouras Safari, Hadi Najafi, Majid Asgari, Ali Seddighi, Pouya Hamdollahi, Mostafa Rismanbaf and Shahab Mohammadi. Most of these students have been released on bail (paychecks signed by government employees).
--Kaleme: Mahsa Hekmat, journalist of Etemaad newspaper was released after 34 days of detention. According to Kaleme, Mahsa Hekmat was arrested with his father Ali Hekmat, editor of shut newspaper Khordad and a member of the central council of press defense on January 1.
--Kaleme: Security forces arrested Noushin Jafari, reporter of the cultural section of Etemaad newspaper on Wednesday night at her house. Twenty-two year old Jafari has had no political activity during the post-election period and has been merely active in the cultural and literary domains. According to this report, it is not clear to which detention she has been transferred.
--Kaleme: Ten detained students of Iran University of Science and Technology (Elm-o-San'at) were released during the current week. These students 5 of whom were arrested on Ashura (December 27) and the rest on Tuesday December 29 after widespread and organized attack of plainclothes to students' gathering, have been released during the past few days after spending almost 5 weeks in prison. These students are Nima Omrani, Ebrahim Nouhi, Pouya Daryaei, Tahmouras Safari, Hadi Najafi, Majid Asgari, Ali Seddighi, Pouya Hamdollahi, Mostafa Rismanbaf and Shahab Mohammadi. Most of these students have been released on bail (paychecks signed by government employees).
--Kaleme: Mahsa Hekmat, journalist of Etemaad newspaper was released after 34 days of detention. According to Kaleme, Mahsa Hekmat was arrested with his father Ali Hekmat, editor of shut newspaper Khordad and a member of the central council of press defense on January 1.
--Radio Farda: Human Rights Reporters Committee has reported that Yashar Daroshafa, leftist student activist was arrested at midnight Wednesday February 3 at his house. Mr Daroshafa was previously arrested in November but later released. This committee has also reported that following the increasing number of arrested students on the eve of 22 Bahman demonstration, Bahar Tarakameh, sister of Ardavan Tarakameh was also arrested last night. Ardavan and Bahar Tarakameh are children of author Younes Tarakameh arrested at Mahin Fahimi's house along with some other guests. Mrs Fahimi is a member of mothers for peace and mother of Omid Montazeri who was arrested last month.
Mr. Sazegara mentioned the followings points in his Thursday video:
-First, workers of Avangan factory in Arak have assembled to demand payment of their salaries. This factory has been dealing with this problem and the workers are still looking to receive their delayed payrolls. A video of this gathering is attached to the newspaper.
-Second, people assembled in front of Evin prison for the fifth consecutive night; 40 prisoners were released last night and most websites have made a good suggesttion to hold a major gathering on Friday night at 8 pm.
-Third, last night people chanted Allah o Akbar in several locations in Shemiranat (north side of Tehran) and we should keep in mind that the government wants (its supporters) to chant Allah o Akbar on the eve of 22 Bahman (February 11, anniversary of revolution victory) at 9 pm, and they will most probably use mosques' loudspeakers to echo the chants, but as usual, the Green Movement supporters should chant all over the country that night at 10 pm.
-Fourth, I am going to offer 9 simple recommendations regarding 22 Bahman (February 11) demonstration. You already know most of these points as I have repeatedly discussed them in my previous talk and you yourselves have suggested some of them:
1. Identify demonstration routes: As the government will announce these routes in Tehran and other cities in advance, I ask the activists to identify them 1 or 2 days in advance and mark paths leading to them as well as our escape points on the map.
2. Choosing appropriate places to record pictures and videos. Another tactic is to spread fliers and green posters from suitable locations. We should keep in mind that (recording) pictures and videos is a part of our movement which both maintains out status in the world and helps record the movement in the history; Therefore, a number of activists should focus on recording pictures, videos and shots showing the enormous crowd during the demonstration.
3. Invite others to attend the demonstration: Invite anyone aware of the demonstration such as your parents, grandparents, friends, relatives, etc to attend the 22 Bahman (February 11) demonstration in your city and defend people's rights. In this battle called on by the government, the more attendees present from the nation's side, the stronger our movement and the earlier our victory will become.
4. Do not leave the crowd or separate from others: All of us, man or woman, young or old, should keep united and walk in lines together. I recommend young people hold each other hands as protesters in South Korea did and you have also watched in movies. During clashes, those left out alone have higher chances of being arrested, therefore make sure your groups are not less than 40-50 people and while returning from demonstration, walk in a group to decrease the risk of being arrested.
5. Driving cars on the streets could be a useful tactic on 22 Bahman to cause traffic and interrupt transportation of coup forces especially in Tehran where the crowd is going to march towards sensitive locations such as Evin prison at the end of the demonstration.
6. Be on time: For example, if the demonstration starts at 10 am and the leaders of the movement announce their departure time and location, you should be there on time as being early or late harms the united demonstration.
7. Prevent getting arrested. If the coup agents want to arrest protesters for any reason to cause fear afterward, we should prevent arrests by moving along with the crowd and stopping the police forces in charge of arresting individuals.
8. Carrying green movement signs specially pictures of the martyrs. The 22 Bahman demonstration is like a battle to which both sides (coup government and the opposition) have invited people, so carrying green signs and symbols or long pieces of green clothes as people did on Qods rally, or even showing the V sign help differentiate us from the government supporters.
9. Maintaining the discipline of non-violent struggle. The important principle of this discipline is that we should abstain from carrying out any action which justifies using violence for the coup agent and forces.
