LAT:  Opposition leader Mousavi offers narrative to fateful Persian calendar year 1388

Barred from the airwaves, Iran’s opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi took to the Internet in a Persian New Year speech in which he recounted the tumultuous events of the previous year, which catapulted him from a former prime minister to the figurehead of a grassroots political movement.

Mousavi said he worried about the country’s economy in 1389. “Our economic prospects are grim,” he said. “The projected economic growth rate is very low, implying a decline in investment, runaway joblessness and extensive poverty.”

Moreover, he said, because of foreign policy “adventurism and miscalculations,” Iran now faces multiple threats. “We are in the worst state in our foreign policy and international relations and we are bracing for more sanctions and pressures,” he said.

But much of his speech was an alternative history to the past year to those offered up by government-controlled newspapers.

In a turnabout, he also offered a nod to Iranians abroad, who have supported the opposition movement. Previously Mousavi had tried to disassociate the movement from foreigners in what some critics described as a self-defeating strategy that played into the hands of hard-liners.

“This movement has expanded to beyond our borders and our countrymen overseas are undertaking efforts for the revolution, greatness and progress of their country and they try to contribute to the fate of their homeland,” he said.

He urged supporters to provide support to the families of those who died in clashes of the last year. “Our nation feels compelled to placate the families of martyrs and other victims because of their significant role,” he said.

For the next year, he urged his supporters to spread the word “to all social classes, ethnic groups and provinces,” as he did in a previous speech to elders of Iran’s main reformist political group.

WSJ:  Inside Iran’s Crackdown

In last June’s election, one of Mr. Heydari’s jobs was to certify the absentee votes of Iranian expatriates here. Those ballots showed Mr. Ahmadinejad’s chief opponent, Mr. Mousavi, winning in Norway, according to the embassy and Mr. Heydari.

Mr. Heydari said Iranian intelligence agents threatened him with discipline for certifying results favoring the opposition candidate. They then asked him to be an informant on Iranian expatriates including his son, he said, because he had marched in antigovernment protests.

…In mid-July, Mr. Heydari said, an official at the embassy called him in to show him another filmed protest. The official pointed out Mr. Heydari’s 17-year-old son in the crowd. He says he was given an ultimatum: Keep your son at home, or face disciplinary action from Tehran.

Mr. Heydari said he told his boss that he supported his son’s actions, and expected to be fired. By December, that hadn’t happened. But going to work was becoming intolerable, partly because of the growing political activism of his eldest son.

“At dinner we’d talk and he’d tell me … [that] his friends saw me as the face of a repressive government,” Mr. Heydari said. “I didn’t want to accept his logic. But, finally I understood that my son was right.”

At the end of December, after Iran’s crackdown on protesters during the Ashura holy days there, Mr. Heydari said he resigned and was told he would have to return to Tehran. He and his wife started packing on the understanding that his career was over but relieved the decision had been made.

…Mr. Heydari is waiting for Norway to issue him temporary travel documents and worries about how he’s going to support his family in a country where he doesn’t speak the language. He says his assets inside Iran, including a vacation home on the Caspian Sea and an apartment in Tehran, have been frozen.

“I tell myself that if I went home quietly, then the government would be free to keep their crackdown going,” he says. “At least now, I have the option to talk, and talk loudly, to make sure everyone knows what is happening.”

BBC:  Leading Iranian reformist Hossein Marashi jailed

A leading Iranian reformist has been jailed after an appeals court upheld his one-year prison term.

Former Vice-President Hossein Marashi, 51, had been sentenced for spreading propaganda against the authorities after last year’s disputed elections.

He had backed opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in his election campaign against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – the eventual poll winner.

P2E:  Lest we rest, for our inaction shall mark our annihilation

Visiting the graves of loved ones on the last Thursday of the [Iranian] year is considered by us as a national and religious responsibility, and it demonstrates our closeness to those we have lost.

I regret that I am not in Tehran to perform this duty.

Our dear slain children are not next to us on the [Iranian] New Year’s eve, but their memories shall live forever.

I hope that those prisoners whose empty place is felt strongly by their families are released and returned to the arms of their loved ones.

As a mother with an aching heart, I take refuge in God’s grace. What crime did our children commit that they should be subject to such injustice?

Our youth only demanded to have the same rights every human being is entitled to.

Once again, as a mother, I wish peace, freedom, joy, and health upon everyone. My son wanted the same thing, but he was….

Parvin Fahimi
Sohrab’s mother Thursday, March 18, 2010

Student activist Sohrab Arabi, 19, was killed at Evin prison due to severe torture. His death was announced to his mother on July 11, after 26 days of frustration. He became one of the symbols of the Green Movement. Sohrab was detained on June 15 during 2009 presidential election unrest.

RFE:  Video:  ‘How Do I Celebrate The New Year Without You, Neda?’

Guardian:  Sex-change Iranian actor returns to screens

Following a career as a female actor, Arastu, 42, has already played one role as a man after taking advantage of surprisingly liberal laws that make Iran second only to Thailand for carrying out the most sex change operations.

FT:  EU ponders action on Iran censorship

NYT:  Iran Releases Opposition Leaders, Rights Advocates Say

Rooz:  Women’s Movement a Prelude to the Green Movement

Inside Iran:  Ahmadinejad Visits Qom to Try to Repair Relations with Clerics

Zamaaneh:  Iranian politcal detainees to go on hunger strike

Zamaaneh:  Iranian authorities impede gathering at cemetery