Iran's Most Famous Blogger Accused as a Spy
A central figure in what is supposed to be a vast international conspiracy to overthrow the Iranian regime has been officially invisible until now. The information he provided has been key to the confabulations presented in the Stalinesque show-trials in Tehran. An American scholar, a British embassy employee, a prominent economist, and leading members of former Iranian governments have been given long jail sentences. A young French researcher now languishes under house arrest in her country’s Tehran embassy, and Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari passed four grueling months, mostly in solitary confinement, before finally he was released. All because of their alleged roles in the surreal narrative presented by the regime. Yet the key witness is described by the lead prosecutor only as “this arrested spy, whose name we do not mention out of security considerations.”Credibility problems are the more likely reason. In truth, we know who this guy is, and he’s not the kind of character that even the hallucinatory conspiracy theorists of Tehran should want to build a case around. The regime’s description of the so-called spy’s travels, contacts, and opinions make it unmistakably clear that he’s the mercurial, maddening Hossein Derakhshan, a.k.a. Hoder, a.k.a. The Blogfather. He is the man who started the Persian-language explosion on the Web in the earlier part of this decade that led directly to the blogging, texting, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube phenomenon that helped bring huge protests into Iran’s streets last June and get the protesters’ message to the outside world. Yet without Derakhshan—or at least without what he’s alleged to have said and what he previously posted on the Web—the Iranian regime, even by its own lights, would not have much of a story to tell.
Iran Sentences Economist to 9 Years in Prison
Top Iranian economist and newspaper editor, Saeed Laylaz, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for protesting the re-election of Ahmadinejad. Laylaz’s lawyer told Iran’s Fars news agency that the popular political analyst was found guilty of taking part in opposition rallies and possessing classified information. Laylaz was editor of the reformist economic newspaper Sarmayeh, which was shut down by Iranian authorities last month for publishing articles critical of the government’s economic policy.
In related news, Iran’s Revolutionary Court also sentenced Shapour Kazemi, the brother-in-law of opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi, to one year in jail for attending opposition rallies.
Authorities detained thousands of people during street protests led by opposition supporters who say the election won by President Ahmadinejad was rigged. Iran has so far sentenced five people to death and more than 80 others to prison terms of up to 15 years for participating in the protests.
WSJ: The Milad telecommunications tower during the first snowfall in Tehran
WSJ: Protesters re-enacted the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, in front of the British Embassy in Tehran. They demanded the repatriation of a witness, Arash Hejazi, from Britain.
Iran Whistleblower, Died From Drug-Laden Salad
26-year-old doctor, Ramin Pourandarjani, who exposed the torture of jailed protesters in Iran, died on Nov. 10 in mysterious circumstances – with authorities initially saying he was in a car accident, had a heart attack or committed suicide.
Pourandarjani was a doctor at Kahrizak, a prison on Tehran’s outskirts where hundreds of opposition protesters were taken after being arrested in the crackdown following June’s disputed presidential elections. The facility became so notorious that it was ordered shut down by Iran’s supreme leader as reports of abuse and torture became an embarassment to the clerical rulers and security forces.
The young physician died from an overdose of propranolol in a delivery salad, Dowlatabadi said Tuesday. Propranolol is used to treat high blood pressure, rapid heart rate and tremors, and can be lethal in high doses.
tragos:newsweek:comedycentral:
Jon Stewart’s interview with Maziar Bahari, the Iranian Newsweek reporter who was imprisoned and interrogated after appearing in a Daily Show segment with Jason Jones.
Follow the link to watch the original segment.
Maziar Bahari is on Jon Stewart!
Jon: You were in prison in Iran.
Maziar: Yeah, mostly because of YOU!
Mr. Mohtashemi runs the Laughing School from his office in Tehran. He believes the physical act of laughter has positive effects on people’s confidence and well being.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Double Down
It’s hard to read exactly what is going on and who is calling the shots in an Iranian regime that is divided within itself, despised by a large majority of its population, and veering from one signal to another. But the working hypothesis that what has really been going on these past few years is an internal coup by the Revolutionary Guards, made brutally manifest by the response to the Green Revolution, is confirmed by news today of a defiant upping of the nuclear ante with a pledge by Tehran to build ten more nuclear enrichment plants and to decrease cooperation with the IAEA. Whether this is a serious threat or not is in dispute:
Some saw the actions as saber-rattling against the United States, its allies, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and even doubted whether Iran could build 10 plants.
“They don’t have the capability. They’d like to have it,” said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and National Security in Washington. “You have to look under the surface. They’re mad about the IAEA resolution.” “It’s playground behavior in a way,” he said of the Iranian statements.
Practically speaking, it means that Iran has now all but completely isolated itself from international support.
With China, Russia and India backing Friday’s IAEA admonishment of Iran, the mullahs have thrown a tantrum. I tend to share Juan Cole’s skepticism that Putin or Hu will ever agree to real sanctions on Iran, but recent events have certainly made real international sanctions more likely. Indeed, if you support such sanctions, you will surely have to admit that Obama’s steady diplomacy, his work with the Chinese and Russians, and his willingness to let France and Germany take the lead at times has isolated Iran more successfully than Bush’s sabre-rattling ever did.
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