I'm NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar - twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter. I'm a journalist and a human rights activist and NOT Iranian. This is a compilation of news from Iran that I've gathered through twitter and Iranian sites that were advertised on twitter. Remember, this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons (CC).)
These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from
Wednesday and Thursday, August 26-27 - Shahrivar 4-5.
In German: http://kyrah.net/gr88/gb61.html
Protests / Unrest
August 26
1. Reports have emerged that there is a strong possibility of workers’ strikes in Iran. Reports suggest that over 200,000 workers have not been paid their wages in months and this could lead to strikes in the very near future. This comes as the workers in Fars province’s main automobile factory have been on strike over the issue for the past five days. Other reports suggest that unemployment in Tehran alone has risen by 3% in the past few months.
August 27
2. Reports of a small gathering of Greens in a park in Oromieh have surfaced. The greens gathered together to break their fast on the night Thursday and prayed for the release of prisoners and the success of the Sea of Green. Pictures:
http://bit.ly/30b9D
Opposition
August 26
3. Hashemi Rafsanjani’s family has filed a lawsuit against Ahmadinejad for his statements during the presidential debates and sent an official complaint to the Judiciary, according to Mehdi Rafsanjani – Rafsanjani’s son. Ahmadinejad had accused Rafsanjani of corruption during the debates.
4. Reports have also emerged that Hashemi Rafsanjani has sent information about two detainees who’re victims of rape in Iran’s detention centers to Khamenei, Grand Ayatollah Montazeri and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Full confirmation of this is not at hand. The unconfirmed report names one of the victims as Ghaim Montazer who had been raped with a bottle.
5. Grand Ayatollah Montazeri called Iran’s government a dictatorship in the name of Islam. He said that it was neither Islamic and nor a republic. He further added that the true color of the system was shown after the election when thousands were arrested and then brutally tortured. He added, "The biggest oppression ... is despotic treatment of the people in the name of Islam," he on his website, "I hope the responsible authorities give up the deviant path they are pursuing and restore the trampled rights of the people."
6. Karroubi has sent a congratulatory letter to Sadegh Larijani – the new Judiciary Chief – telling him that he has the responsibility to restore national trust after the blatant law-breaking that has taken place in the aftermath of the elections.
7. Mohammad Khatami has dismissed the confessions and trials once again. He also rejected the allegations leveled against him during the most recent trial by Kayan Tajbakhsh. He said that contrary to what the confesser claims, he has not met with George Soros in New York. George Soros is a billionaire philanthropist who has been linked with the Rose Revolution in Georgia in the past.
8. Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani also denied allegations that were leveled against him. Mehdi Karami - One of the men on trial - had claimed that Mehdi had used government money to fund his father’s campaign in 2005.
August 27
9. Shirin Ebadi condemned the trial of reformists and other Iranians linked to protests following the elections once again.
10. The government is creating fake blog entries in the name of reformist leaders to show that they are being treated fairly. Abtahi’s blog is the latest that is being updated.
11. Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani has held a meeting with Ayatollah Sane’ie about the recent developments. The meeting has been held at Ayatollah Sane’ie’s residence. Further details will be released at a later date.
Government / International
August 26
12. Khamenei confessed that he had seen no proof that opposition leaders were linked to foreign agents, mainly the US and the UK. However, he added that the mass protests had been planned in advance and there was no doubt about it.
13. Hamidreza Katouzian said that the parliament was investigating the claims of the killings and mass burials of protesters in Beheshte Zahra. Katouzian is a member of the parliamentary commission to investigate the condition of detainees.
14. Conservative MP Ahmad Tavakkoli asked Sadegh Larijani to put Tehran’s Attorney General Saeed Mortazavi on trial for banning Etemaade Melli. According to Tavakkoli, Mortazavi did not have the authority to ban Etemaade Melli according to the country’s media laws.
15. An unidentified MP told Parlemaan News that it had been proven that several detainees had been raped with batons and bottles. The MP is also a member of the parliamentary commission to investigate the condition of detainees, according to the website.
16. Ali Larijani has admitted that the trials that are being held have their flaws. According to reports, Larijani said this after an MP from Semnan Mostafa Kavakabian criticized the way the trials were being held and said that they did not meet the standards set by the constitution.
17. Partially confirmed reports suggest that the government is preparing itself for another wave of protests very soon and deems the situation far from stable. This was echoed by the Deputy Chief of Staff Jazayeri today, who warned that the turmoil was not over and could resurface at any time.
18. "Since Basij forces entered the scene on June 16, they never used any weapon in the missions entrusted on them and they were just equipped with some tools for their personal defense in their missions," General Abdullah Araqi, an IRGC Commander in charge of Tehran Province, said today.
(Rest Below)