Monday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 7.4.2005:

Montazeri open letter criticising the recent presidential elections

Iranian.ws:

One of Iran's highest-ranking theologians and dissident Shiite clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hassan Ali Montazeri has written a open letter criticising the recent presidential elections, and calling for the urgent amendment of Iran's constitution, which he argues is the principal obstacle to the country's democratisation. ...

Montazeri argues. He says there are three essential ways forward to prevent the powers of the state being concentrated in the hands of a single individual. READ MORE

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• Newsweek provides a serious look at Iran's nuclear lies.
• Amnesty International released an Urgent Action statement on Iranian writer and journalist Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf.
• Tiscali.it reported that El Baradei is married to an Iranian woman whose relative is Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, one of the "brains" of the regime and close to the tyrant Khamenei.
• SMCCDI reported that several militiamen were killed in an ambush near the southeastern City of Zahedan.
• Iran Focus reported that Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, denied was stepping down as had been reported earlier.
• SMCCDI reported that repressive measures are increasing with the approach of the anniversary of Students' Uprising on July 9th.
• The Times Union reminds us that Ahmadinejad's 17 million votes, as reported by the Interior Ministry, amount to only 36 percent of the electorate. If you believe their totals.
• BBC Monitoring Service published an interview with the commander of the Israel Air Force who said that Iran is making "enormous efforts to acquire nonconventional weapons."
• And finally, Middle East Intelligence Bulletin published a few years ago a report on the Origins of Iran's Reformist Elite. A valuable read in light of recent developments in Iran.