IRAN: In video, anger boils over at Friday sermon

Newly released video from Tehran shows crowds of angry opposition supporters reacting to a much-anticipated Friday sermon given by Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who called for the release of political prisoners but stopped short of a wholesale condemnation of the government's crackdown.

IRAN: A few pointers on how to attend Friday prayers in Tehran

Dissident cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, one of Iran's most learned clerics, has urged supporters of opposition figurehead Mir-Hossein Mousavi to attend Friday's weekly sermon at Tehran University, to be led by Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Thousands are expected to attend the prayers, which could fizzle out into a non-event, turn into a triumphant celebration for the opposition or even supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or else escalate into another violent confrontation between the two camps.

For some of those attending, it'll be their first time at a Friday prayer, and a quirky set of pointers has been circulating through e-mail and on the Internet. 

"Our goal is not to participate in Friday prayers or pray before [Rafsanjani]," says the message. "The goal is to again gather millions of people in the street on Friday. . . . We will use the seed where [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei asked on June 19 to stop the movement to plant a new green tree and make our movement even more powerful."

Below are some other pointers in the circular:

IRAN: Slain protester's mother speaks out to Mousavi and wife

Opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, made their first public appearance in weeks on Tuesday night at the home of slain protester Sohrab Aarabi, whose activist mother, Parvin Fahimi, appears to be gearing up for a full-fledged publicity war against the regime.

Since her son's fate came to light earlier this week, Fahimi has placed herself and her family at the forefront of a wave of popular outrage directed at the highest levels of government. The video below shows her sitting in what appears to be the family room with Mousavi and his wife, surrounded by pictures of her son draped in a green scarf, a symbol of the opposition.

Fahimi, an active member of Mothers for Peace, reportedly told the reformist news website Norooznews.org that she would seek justice in domestic and, if need be, international courts. The website went on to report Mousavi's promise to the family that he wouldn't "let the blood of these youth go in vain."

TURKEY: Government defends Chinese Uighur minority

When Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, he was aligning himself with his fellow Muslims.

Now he’s picking up the standard of the Uighurs in northwest China.

The Uighurs, who like  the Turks are an ethically Turkic and Sunni Muslim people, are the focus of riots in Xinjiang Province, sparking tensions with both the Chinese government and members of the Han Chinese ethnic group.

In response to ethnic violence as a result of the riots, Erdogan didn’t mince words: “These incidents in China are as if they are genocide…. We ask the Chinese government not to remain a spectator to these incidents. There is clearly a savagery here.”

The Turks have rushed to the defense of the Uighurs, while the Iranian government has remained silent, even alleging that the Uighurs were acting at the behest of the U.S. 

Iran has fashioned itself as a leader of Muslims worldwide, but the unrest following the Iranian elections may be keeping the government silent.

IRAN: Analyst says the people have left their leaders behind

Nasser Zarafshan is a well-known human-rights lawyer who spent many years in jail both before and after the Islamic Revolution.

His latest stint was for revealing the faces of those who were behind the so-called "chain murders," the serial killings of intellectuals during the late 1990s by people linked to Iran's  security forces.

The Los Angeles Times recently sat down with him near Tehran University, where he studied law and was a political activist during the 1970s, for a conversation about the recent election controversy.

What’s your analysis of the current political situation? 

Describing the political behavior of the Iranian people, it’s said that their political behavior is unexpected, unforeseen.

IRAN: Mother of slain protester Sohrab Arabi 'won't remain silent'

Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral in Tehran on Monday of 19-year-old Sohrab Arabi, whose body was returned to his family after a month of frantic searching by family and friends who feared the worst after the teenager disappeared during a protest on June 15.

“I won’t remain silent," said Arabi's mother, Parvin Fahimi, according to the reformist news website Norooznews.org, the online reincarnation of a newspaper by the same name that was closed by authorities in 2002.

"The authorities were playing with me all this time," she added. "My son had been killed, but they refused to tell me.”

Public outrage over the teenager's death is being fueled by video (below) depicting Fahimi outside Evin Prison, clutching a picture of her son and pleading for information about his whereabouts.

According to a coroner's report dated June 19, Arabi died of a gunshot wound to the chest, but family members expressed skepticism to reporters. They believe that he might have been shot, taken to a hospital and abused before he died. And several human rights groups have demanded an independent investigation.

IRAN: Nation headed for 'disintegration' if crisis festers, former candidate warns

Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai, the sole conservative candidate who ran and lost against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in last month's marred elections, issued a pointed statement late Sunday night warning of "disintegration" of the country's Islamic system if the quarreling sides didn't settle their disputes.

In the aftermath of marred June 12 presidential elections, Iran has been shaken by its worst domestic political crisis since the early years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Rezai acknowledged in the message on his website that the election and its aftermath "have raised questions in the minds of our people," blaming an "imperfect electoral structure" and politicians' "tactlessness" as well as "mismanagement of civil protests," which all served to undermine the system and push the country "toward a crisis," he wrote.

Below are excerpts from the lengthy note:

IRAN: Are China's Muslims worthy of Islamic Republic's support?

Although Iranian authorities were quick to condemn the killing of a Muslim Egyptian woman by an alleged racist in a German courtroom last week, allowing protesters to organize a demonstration and hurl eggs at the German Embassy in Tehran, they've been less than compassionate about scores of Muslims killed in western China.

"The United States is behind the riots in Xinjiang," said an analysis published by the official Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA. "Living conditions have improved for the Chinese Muslims. These riots have no religious aspect and they are just the outcome of a U.S. conspiracy. However, the Western media have exaggerated the events in Xinjiang."

The government's domestic critics have been outraged by its response. Already emboldened and angered by the marred reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, they have been quick to pounce. 

IRAN: Mehdi Karroubi warns of 'unimaginable consequences'

Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi (at right), a prominent reformist who served twice as speaker of Iran's parliament, issued a scathing letter about the June 12 presidential election and subsequent crackdown on protesters that was featured today on the front page of his newspaper, Etemad-e-Melli. 

Below is a rough translation of excerpts from the letter, which was delivered to outgoing judiciary chief Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, a conservative cleric who analysts say may be replaced by the even more conservative Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani in the coming days:

The June 12 election could have bolstered the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and guaranteed ethnic and factional convergence as well as national unity. But on the contrary, the election made the Iranian nation disappointed and depressed. 

IRAN: U2's green-tinted tributes to Iranian protesters

Anyone familiar with U2 knows that the band is not afraid to be political. Probably its best-known song, “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” was written about a violent crackdown on a peaceful protest in Northern Ireland.

The sentiment behind the song could also be applied to the protesters in Iran, which is precisely what U2 did during two huge concerts in Milan and Barcelona:

The performance is quite a visual spectacle (after all, it is a rock concert), and the symbolism is less than subtle: the entire stage is flooded in green light, the signature color of the protests, and Persian text scrolls across the screen.

The text reads “Listen! Listen! Listen!” which one blogger attributed to "The Song of the Reed Flute," by famous Persian poet Jalaladdin Rumi. 

Persian poetry and Rumi in particular are some of the strongest sources of Iranian national pride.

The history of a violent crackdown behind the original song coupled with Rumi adds some intellectual weight to the visual spectacle of a rock concert.

It looks like the selection of the work itself was not coincidental. A reading of the poem suggests allusions to the violent crackdown in Iran as well as the disputed elections:

“Listen to the reeds as they sway apart,
hear them speak of lost friends.”
…
“This reed bends to spent lovers and friends,
its song and its word break the veil…”

This isn’t the first rock 'n' roll tribute to the protesters in Iran. Jon Bon Jovi collaborated with Iranian artist Andranik Madadian to cover  "Stand By Me." Both artists sing in Farsi and English.

-- Jahd Khalil in Beirut