Conditions Are Normal!

Iranian blogger, Mehrdad Sheibani, Roozonline:

While the Minister of the Interior of the Islamic Republic of Iran says that the situation in Mahabad is now back to normal (after the violent riots that left number of confirmed and unconfirmed dead), news coming out of this Kurdish city convey otherwise. New troops are deployed in the city while the disturbances are now reported to be spreading to other neighboring Kurdish and Azeri provinces. READ MORE

Tehran’s deputy prosecutor who is gradually replacing him in his tasks heralds that Ganji’s health is now perfectly fine. Again, news reports reaching the public say otherwise. After Kayhan newspaper published a story on Ganji, which is rumored to have actually been written by Saeed Mortezavi, Tehran Province’s prosecutor, the concern for Ganji’s life has grown rather than diminished. And while it is reported that the dossier of Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian-Canadian journalist who was killed in Evin prison after being arrested for photographing scenes outside Evin security prison, will be moved to another Court for a retrial and open to public, talk of a murder plot against Ganji is spreading in the mill. It is reported that just yesterday, Mortezavi met and talked with Ganji. Does this sound familiar? Mortezavi also met and talked with Zahra Kazemi just before she was announced dead. Kazemi was asked to confess to espionage while Ganji is asked to repent. Historically, a “NO” to Mortezavi means death! Ganji himself knows this well and that is why he has told his wife, while on medical treatment under police custody outside the prison, that what will return to Evin will probably be his dead body.

Ali Larijani who appears on TV very much like the Foreign Minister post he will likely get in the new cabinet, has been discussing Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy on brigadier Zargami’s TV network, while announcing that the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is moving ahead normally. Again this is contrary to what the press says.

After meeting with US President George Bush, the Indian Prime Minister has said that he is aware of the great dangers of this project, and adds talks of Iran’s unstable situation. Other news indicate that that Pakistan may have been warned by the US that if it goes ahead with this pipeline, sanctions will again be imposed on this southern neighbor of Iran. Ali Larinaji continues to press for Iran’s right to enrich uranium, while Ahmadinejad repeats the same tune in Mashad. He equates the end of the uranium enrichment activities to a “deprivation” of Iran’s rights and discrimination against it. All of these reminders and repetitions come exactly after the Iran-European talks on Iran’s nuclear policy, of which nothing is revealed to the public. Perhaps one must be grateful to French President Jean Jack Chirac who has said that if Iran and Europe do not reach an agreement on the enrichment issue, this file will inevitably to the US Security Council.

So everything seems fine and normal, even that Mohsen Rezai, once the Passdaran Revolutionary Guards commander, will not be in Ahmadinejad’s cabinet. When asked why, he simply said they should ask Ahmadinejad, exposing his displeasure.

Yes, because everything is normal in Iran, its Foreing Ministry spokesperson comfortably continues his lecture on democracy to the West, and even questions the recent elections in Germany. The German Interior Minister responds strongly to such statements by Iran and accuses it of rudeness and reminds his Iranian counterpart of the following: Such accusations are very serious especially as they come from a country that is continuously violating international norms and law and human rights, where women are regularly flogged in questionable courts, and where government critics are imprisoned for months without any due process of law.

So everything must be normal.