Mahour S.
The website affiliated with opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, Kaleme, reports that on May 31 Mehdi Karoubi and Mousavi met at Karoubi’s residence to discuss recent events and their upcoming plans for June 12th, the one year anniversary of the disputed 2009 presidential election. more»
Shayan Ghajar and Mahour S.
Opposition website RaheSabz, affiliated with the Green Movement, published a lengthy interview with Mehdi Karroubi regarding the future of the Green Movement and its strategies in an increasingly hostile atmosphere leading up to the anniversary of the June 12, 2009 presidential election. While some of Karroubi’s statements were rehashings of previous speeches the opposition leader has made, Karroubi went so far as to strongly imply that the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei needs to be subject to greater oversight by the Council of Experts. This marks a major shift in the goals of the Green Movement’s de facto leadership. more»
Arash Aramesh
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became the highest ranking Iranian official May 26 to openly criticize Russia’s Iran policy. In recent months, a number of Iranian officials, including conservative members of parliament, had criticized the positions taken by the government of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin regarding Iran’s nuclear program. more»
Arash Aramesh
Abdolkarim Soroush, a prominent Iranian intellectual now living in the United States, wrote a letter to Iran’s Grand Ayatollahs and distinguished religious authorities May 23 urging them to leave the Shiite holy city of Qom in Iran for Najaf, a Shiite center in Iraq. Soroush argued that the ulema’s silence has been interpreted by the government as their stamp of approval for the immoral and illegal actions of the Islamic Republic. more»
Shayan Ghajar
Iran released acclaimed director Jafar Panahi today from prison following an 88 day detainment, according to the opposition website RaheSabz. Panahi was arrested following statements he made supporting the Green Movement and for political activism on behalf of the opposition. His bail was set at $200,000. His release, and other recent concessions made by the government to political prisoners, indicate Iran may be susceptible to sustained, intensive lobbying campaigns for prisoners’ rights. more»