IRAN: Khamenei urges reconciliation after bitter 2009 election

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is keeping up his push to mend the divisions left by the nation's disputed and bloody 2009 presidential election, telling officials on all sides they should be “compatible and cooperative” with each other.

Khamenei, speaking Wednesday in a sermon for the Eid al Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, directly addressed the 2009 violence in lamenting that Iran seemed to have trouble holding  peaceful elections.

“In our country, elections are somehow challenge-ridden events," said Khamenei, Iran's top cleric. “People should be vigilant that these likely challenges in the elections in the country will not jeopardize the security of the country."

He also urged officials to try harder to get along, stressing, “This is very important advice to everybody."

In 2009,  opposition activists took to the streets to challenge what they said was the rigged reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iranian rights groups say security forces killed at least 100 people in crushing the protests.
The makeup of the VIP audience for Khamenei’s sermon Wednesday also pushed the reconciliation message.

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a key moderate figure, sat in the front row with a prime political opponent, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, whose state Guardian Council has disqualified numerous moderate candidates in past elections.

Khamenei’s soothing words Wednesday followed his pardon over the weekend of several dozen opposition activists jailed after the 2009 protests.

Iran’s supreme leader is trying to repair relations ahead of March parliamentary elections, the first national vote since the turbulent 2009 election.

Several moderate political figures say a boycott of that vote remains likely unless authorities unconditionally free all opposition figures.

Khamenei also praised what he called the “Islamic Awakening” -- known to the rest of the world as the Arab Spring revolutions.

He lauded the revolutionaries of Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, Tunis and Egypt, but notably, not Syria, where Iranian-allied President Bashar Assad is using military force to try to crush a popular uprising.

Khamenei warned against allowing the United States to take control after the revolutions.  If that happened, he said, “The Muslim world will experience major problems for decades.”

-- Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran

Photo: Political moderate Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, center, listens to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's address in Tehran. Credit: Alef.ir

IRAN: Ahmadinejad urges Arabs to democratize even as his nation doesn't

Some would consider it rather rich. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who got his post after a widely disputed election and serves under an unelected cleric whose powers are officially second only to God, encouraged Arab governments to heed their people's demands for reform.

"Today, the people of the region must enjoy equal rights, the right to vote, security and dignity, and no government can deprive them of freedom and justice or refuse their peoples' demands," Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday evening, according to the president's official website (in Persian).  "The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that all regional governments can run their countries by introducing reforms and realizing their peoples' demands." 

IRAN: Detained American hikers to be tried on 2nd anniversary of their arrest

Two American hikers taken into custody in 2009 on charges of espionage for crossing into Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan are to stand trial July 31, the second anniversary of their arrest, their lawyer said Monday. 

"I've just received an official notification that says the next trial will be on July 31 in the morning, which is exactly the anniversary of their arrest in the Iran-Iraq border two years ago," Masoud Shafii, the lawyer, told Babylon & Beyond.

IRAN: Nation mourns death of Nasser Hejazi, soccer hero and regime opponent

Throughout Iran on Wednesday, sports fans wore black shirts in mourning and shouted out the name of Iranian soccer hero Nasser Hejazi. who died of cancer on Monday.

"Hejazi mardomi [Hejazi of the people]," they cried out  in Tehran's massive Azadi Stadium.

People wept as an ambulance carrying his body drove around the stadium as part of the tribute to one of the country's most beloved athletes. His wife stood next to the goal post as his son Atila walked to the pitch amid thousands of fans huddled together.

"My dad loved you all," he said. "He loved fans of Esteghlal and fans of Persepolis," he said, referring to Tehran's two main soccer clubs. 

Hejazi was a goalkeeper for the Tehran-based Esteghlal (Independence) football team for almost two decades, but for many fans, he was not just a soccer player but a symbol of quiet defiance against the current regime.

IRAN: Court postpones eye-for-an-eye punishment for man who threw acid on woman

Iranian courts have delaying the punishment of a man who was sentenced to blinding by acid for his attack on a woman seven years ago.

Majid Movahedi, then 21, poured more than a gallon of sulfuric acid on Ameneh Bahrami in 2004 after she rejected his offer of marriage. 

Bahrami, who was a successful and ambitious engineer in Tehran, now lives in Spain where she has been undergoing a series of surgeries.

Movahedi, after Bahrami's relentless efforts to seek justice, went on trial in 2008 and was given the rare sentence of blinding. He was to have been placed under anesthesia and blinded at the Tehran prison where he is being held.

IRAN: Opposition website says opposition leader is still under house arrest, retracts claim he was sent to jail

In the latest twist in the mystery over the whereabouts of Iranian opposition leaders Mir Houssein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and their wives, Mousavi's website Kaleme.com has published a report saying the reformist leader and his wife Zahra Rahnavard are, in fact, under house arrest at their home and have not been jailed, which was previously reported by the site.

"In recent days it has become evident to Kaleme.com that Mrs. Rahnavard and Mr. Mousavi... are under house arrest and so the news of their transfer from their home to a detention centre needs to be corrected and we [apologize] to our readers," said the report.

Kaleme said the couple's continued house arrest is an "unethical and illegal" practice.

"Given the complete cutting off of their communications with the outside world... it does indeed constitute house arrest, something which so far no one in the judiciary has officially acknowledged," said the article.

Mousavi and Karroubi have not been seen in public since they called for public rallies in solidarity with the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions in mid-February. Since then, a flurry of contradicting reports about the reformist leaders and their wives' whereabouts have surfaced.

Opposition websites and family members claimed that the two men and their wives were transferred from house arrest to a jail at one point -- claims sternly denied by Iranian authorities.

The mystery deepened when Mousavi's daughters a few days ago claimed that they had been barred from visiting their parents despite high-ranking Iranian judicial officials saying Mousavi was at home and hadn't been sent to prison.

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Karroubi and his wife Fatemeh still appear to be unknown. His website Sahamnews.org reported this week that it had "no new information" about the opposition leader and said it was likely he had been taken into custody. 

"According to strong evidence, we believe he is not at home and that he has been transferred to an unknown location," said the site, adding that it had spoken to one of Karroubi's relatives.

--Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Photo: Iranian opposition leader Mir Houssein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard campaigning in 2009. Credit: Associated Press

IRAN: Tehran residents speak up about protests and opposition movement

What do Iranians think about the confrontation between pro- and anti-government forces that continues to dominate the country's political discourse?

Babylon & Beyond spoke to people on the streets and in the mosques of Tehran to canvas opinion about recent protests in the Iranian capital, the opposition movement and its leaders.

Those interviewed also were asked whether they thought protests might escalate or were losing momentum.

Amir, 50, businessman:

"The demonstration on March 1 was in Engelab and Azadi avenues and they were more than I had expected. But the difference was the plainclothes police who were among the groups of demonstrators. ... As soon as [the protesters] dared to chant slogans, they were arrested and taken away to the waiting buses. I have watched videos ... about the demonstrations in Shiraz and Isfahan and other cities. The demonstrations will be escalating if the suppressive militia lets up and is a bit lenient."

IRAN: Opposition websites encourage supporters to join hands with activists on International Women's Day, call for fresh protests

  Iranian opposition websites have posted calls urging supporters to take to the streets Tuesday, International Women's Day, to join activists demanding more gender equality in the Islamic Republic and to protest the "incarceration" of opposition leaders Mir Houssein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi and their wives, who are reported to be in detention.

The statement was issued by the Green Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope, an umbrella organization backing the two opposition leaders, and encouraged opposition supporters to join hands with women's rights activists for the occasion.

The council "announces its readiness to join women activists and supports turning this day into a day of protests against the incarceration of two Green women and the leaders of the movement," said the call, which appeared on the opposition website Kaleme on Friday.

Iranian women's rights activists have called for demonstrations Tuesday demanding greater gender equality in the Islamic Republic. In a strongly worded statement, human rights lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi urged Iranians to stage rallies pressing for reform of constitutional laws to achieve better gender equality.

"Incrementally the identity and the character of the Iranian woman has become the target of attacks by men who didn’t even respect the rights of their mothers," she charged in the statement, which was on the website of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. "Those who viewed themselves more worthy than even their mothers, shamelessly wrote laws which valued women as half that of men.

"Iranian women are not starved for political power nor are they demanding decadence. They are simply weary of enduring more cruelty and disparagement. They are in search of justice and equality," added the message.

The calls for new protests come days after protesters clashed with security forces in Tehran at a demonstration demanding the release of Mousavi and Karroubi from house arrests.

Opposition websites and family members of the two men claim they have been jailed along with their wives -- claims denied by Iranian authorities.

But Mousavi's daughters say they were barred from visiting their parents despite high-ranking Iranian judicial officials saying Mousavi was at home and hadn't been jailed.

"We read the news that our parents are not under house arrest and they are not prisoners ... which meant that we, their children, can see them," an open letter posted on Mousavi's website Friday from the unnamed daughters reportedly said.

"But this was not the case. We went to our parents' home, and from the iron gate installed at the entrance of the alley to their home we were stopped by the security, who said that 'you can't go, the news [that you can visit] is wrong.'

"We did not see our parents and did not hear their voices. We are concerned by all these discrepancies [in news reports]," the letter added.

The opposition vowed to keep demonstrating until Mousavi and Karroubi are released, adding that their continued alleged detainment is only self-defeating for the Iranian authorities.

"The ruling regime would understand that the imprisonment of these leaders will only add another black spot into the record of the autocratic rulers."

--Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Photos: Opposition leader Mir Houssein Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, campaigning in 2009. Credit: Iranian Student's News Agency. Lower image: Gathering of women's rights activists in Tehran in March 2010. Credit: Payvand website

IRAN: Parliamentary report calls for 'firm' action against opposition leaders, claims foreign powers behind Feb. 14 rally

An Iranian parliamentary panel set up to probe anti-government protests in Tehran on Feb. 14 called on by opposition leaders Mir-Houssein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi -- whom opposition websites claim have been jailed -- urged Iran to take "firm" action against the reformist figures and said Israel and Western powers were behind the demonstrations in its final report delivered on Wednesday.

The report stressed the need for Mousavi and Karroubi to be put on trial.

“This committee based on proof and evidence sees the need for prosecution of Mr. Mousavi and Karroubi and their dependents, and frankly announces that the majlis [parliament] can no longer accept any justification for not taking action” by the judiciary against them, Agence France Presse quoted the report as saying.

"Those like Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who called and prepared the ground to make the nation insecure on Feb. 14, deserve firm legal action," it added.

Earlier this month, a group of hard-line Iranian lawmakers called for Mousavi and Karroubi to be put on trial and executed.

The report painted a dark picture suggesting the Feb. 14 protests, in which two reportedly died and many others were wounded in clashes between demonstrators and security forces, had been stirred by sinister plots aimed at destabilizing Iran and foreign powers backing opposition leaders.

A report published on the website of the semi-official news agency Fars says the Iranian government has gathered "clear evidence" that proves how Western countries have been supporting "some opposition leaders" through maintaining close connections to aides and family members. 

Israel was implicated in the report for having a "direct role" in fueling recent unrest in the Iranian capital, said Fars.

"One of the Zionist experts in an essay in Israel's Foreign Ministry website has even acknowledged that the February 14 demonstration had an Israeli origin," the news agency quoted the report as saying. 

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday sternly warned the U.S. and Israel against interfering in Iran's internal affairs and said Tehran would deliver a "crushing response" to their backing of what he called "seditionists," whom he said had rioted in Tehran on Feb 14.

"You [the enemies] that are uttering cheap words today must know that the Islamic Consultative Assembly [parliament] will not leave your hit-and-run moves unanswered," Larijani was quoted as saying by Fars. "Definitely, parliament's reaction to you will be crushing and biting."

Meanwhile, conflicting reports continue to surface about the whereabouts of Mousavi and Karroubi who haven't been seen in public since they called for rallies on Feb. 14. Opposition websites have said that the two men and their wives have been moved from house arrest to a detention center, claims denied by high-ranking Iranian judicial officials.

"Reports published by certain opposition media regarding the transfer of Messrs Musavi and Karrubi to Heshmatiyeh detention centre are not true," Judiciary spokesman Hojjat ol-Eslam Gholamhoseyn Mohseni-Ezhe'i told the Iranian Student's News Agency on Tuesday.

But Mohammad-Taghi Karroubi, Karroubi’s second son, denied the claims by government officials in a statement posted on his personal website Wednesday saying his parents along with Mousavi and (his wife) Zahra Rahnavard "are being held imprisoned ... while being denied of their very basic rights."

On Tuesday, demonstrators clashed with security forces at a protest in Tehran to demand that Mousavi and Karroubi are released from house arrest. Opposition websites claim at least 79 people were arrested  at protest rallies in Iran on Tuesday.

Iranian opposition websites have reportedly called for more protests in Iran on March 8.

-- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Photo: Iranian opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi, left, and Mir-Houssein Mousavi. Credit: Agence France Presse

 

IRAN: Tear gas, clashes and arrests at anti-government protest in Tehran

Clashes erupted betwen security forces and opposition supporters in the Iranian capital on Tuesday at a rally calling for the release of  Iranian opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi from house arrest, witnesses and media reports said.

According to a Reuters report, the Iranian opposition website Kaleme was saying security forces had fired tear gas at demonstrators at Tuesday's rally and clashed with them.

A witness told Babylon & Beyond that demonstrators were being chased by security forces in the streets and that dozens of people were detained by security forces and hauled into vans in an area north of Tehran's Enghelab square. The witness, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, added that dozens of protesters were seen chanting anti-government slogans, comparing some Iranian authority figures with the deposed Tunisian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Security forces were out in the streets in the central areas of Tehran, the witness said, and police on motorcycles were patrolling some areas in an attempt to intimidate demonstrators.

SahamNews, another Iranian opposition website, reported that large numbers of security personnel had been deployed at squares and main streets in Tehran on Tuesday to thwart opposition gatherings. 

The clashes came a day after opposition websites claimed that the two men and their wives had been moved from house arrest and put in a Tehran prison, which Iranian authorities deny. The semiofficial Iranian Fars News Agency said Mousavi and Karroubi remained under house arrest.

Over the weekend, Mousavi's and Karroubi's websites posted calls for fresh protests Tuesday to demand that Iranian authorities release the opposition leaders from house arrest.

The call was issued by the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope -- a group backing Mousavi and Karroubi -- and urged "everyone to join a rally from Imam Hossein Square to Azadi Square" in Tehran "on Tuesday March 1 in order to protest the continuation of the illegal house arrest of the Green Movement leaders."

-- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Photo: Iranian opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi, left, and Mehdi Karroubi. Credit: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

 

IRAN: Opposition websites call for fresh protests in Tehran

The websites of Iranian opposition leaders Mir- Houssein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have posted statements calling for fresh demonstrations in the Iranian capital next week to protest against the reported house arrest of the two reformist figures. 

The call was issued by the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope -- a group backing Mousavi and Karroubi -- and urged "everyone to join a rally from Imam Hossein Square to Azadi Square [in Tehran] on Tuesday March 1 in order to protest the continuation of the illegal house arrest of the Green Movement leaders."

The statement added that a call for nationwide protests on March 15 will be issued if the Iranian government "refuses to heed our calls" and does not release the men. Rally-goers have been asked to chant "O Hossein! Mir-Hossein! and O Mehdi! Sheikh Mehdi!" at Tuesday's demonstrations in a bid to make the call for the release of the reformists heard loudly "across Iran."

Conflicting reports have, however, emerged about Mousavi's and Karroubi's alleged house arrest and even their current whereabouts.  Agence France-Presse reported that Karroubi, Mousavi and their wives are living in complete isolation and that their homes are under constant surveillance.

But the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran published a report Saturday  stating that the opposition leaders are no longer under house arrest and that they have been moved to a "safe house" in an area close to Tehran. The article cited "an informed source" and one of Karroubi's neighbors who told the human rights group that security forces that previously were stationed outside Karroubi's house have vanished and that the house looks abandoned.

"I am certain that they are no longer inside their home. All the windows are broken and nobody is home," the neighbor said.

According to the ICHRI, the current location where Mousavi and Karroubi might be held is not a prison. 

Coinciding with the calls for new protests, a video showing a defiant and determined Karroubi has been posted on his website, Sahamnews. In the video, the cleric vows that he won't end his struggle and says he hopes that he and his supporters will overcome the hardships they face. The video was reportedly recorded some time before Karroubi was put in isolation.

"I hope that we will overcome the current problems," media reports quoted him as saying in the recording. "We must remain determined on the road of our convictions, and I am certain we will succeed."

The clampdown on the opposition leaders come after Iranian opposition supporters took to the streets in anti-government rallies on Feb 14. Mousavi and Karroubi called for renewed protests on Feb. 19, but a major security deployment in the streets thwarted the demonstrations.

-- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Photo: Iranian opposition leaders Mir-Hussein Mousavi, left, and Mehdi Karroubi. Credit: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

LIBYA: Ahmadinejad slams repression in Libya as Iranian authorities confiscate satellite dishes

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday slammed Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi for what he described as "unimaginable repression" against the Libyan people.

"It is unimaginable that someone is killing his citizens, bombarding his citizens," Ahmadinejad said in an interview broadcast on state television. "How can officers be ordered to use bullets from machine guns, tanks and guns against their own citizens?"

"This is unacceptable. Let the people speak, be free, decide to express their will," he added. "Do not resist the will of the people."

Ahmadinejad has been widely criticized for his government's violent crackdown on protesters following the disputed 2009 presidential elections in Iran.

The president's words followed midnight raids Monday and Tuesday on several apartment buildings in the Qods township in western Tehran, considered a bastion of the opposition. The raids were aimed at collecting banned television satellite dishes, sources in Tehran told Babylon & Beyond. Authorities have repeatedly blamed foreign and opposition media beamed into Iran via satellite for fomenting unrest against the government.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

AFP contributed to this report.

Photo: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized Libya for its violent crackdown on protesters. Credit: Fars News Agency