Blogger falls victim to Iran's infighting
Asia Times / Omid Memarian
03-Oct-2010 (one comment)

A source close to Derakhshan told IPS that his friends and colleagues warned him that traveling to Iran could be dangerous for him. "But he was positive that his support for Ahmadinejad and his government would protect him from being arrested," said the source. According the source, Derakhshan received the green light from a ranking official within the Ahmadinejad administration that his November 2008 trip to Iran would be tolerated. But a few days after his arrival in Tehran, he was arrested and sent to jail. "Hossein had had some conversations with Press TV about working in their Tehran office," Derakhshan's mother, Ozra Kiarashpour, told the Kamtarin website on why he decided to come to Iran.
"Before his return to Iran, the High Council of Iranian Affairs Abroad promised Hossein that his trip would be without problems," she said. "He had cleared his trip with this council, which is governmental and which is in contact with the intelligence service. That's why even though Hossein knew that they would call him to be questioned, he did not expect to be arrested like this and hadn't told us what to do in case he was arrested." "A representative from the council told us that they pursued his case on behalf of the council but that unfortunately they couldn't do anything further. Why are there such splits in the country's security apparatus?" she asked. Some believe that Derakhshan is being used as a pawn by certain po... >>>

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A couple of points and questions--please help

by Rosie. on Sun Oct 03, 2010 05:15 AM PDT

My understanding from what I've read is that the rift is between IRGC, which controls the Revolutionary Courts, and the Ministry of Intelligence, which is under the executive branch (AN). (DId I get this right?) But I don't understand why IRGC would go so far against AN. I also don't quite understand why someone like Hoder should be used to prove a point to the Reformists (unless it's because of his father, who I heard is a prominent Refomist--is this true?). And finally if indeed IRGC is trying to prove a point to both AN and the Reformists at the same time, isn't that a little wierd?

Another thing, the article says the family and lawyer found out about the sentence through an article in the newspaper Mashreq. I read that it has also appeared in Fars News. (I couldn't site search because I don't know the Persian keyboard) But both the lawyer and the Canadian Foreign Minister say they are waiting for the official announcement of the sentence before taking concrete action. So how could the verdict not be official if it was allowed to appear in those two news sources?

Any takers?


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