November 25th, 2009 by Jason

The Huffington Post reports that the P5+1 countries have prepared a resolution criticizing Iran’s nuclear program expressing their frustration with Iran’s inability or unwillingness to make a deal. Such unified measures have led Michael Crowley to ask whether Russia is “finally getting serious about Iran” and will cooperate with sanctions. Meanwhile, George Friedman analyzes the general concept of sanctions. He posits, “the ultimate virtue of sanctions is that they provide a platform between acquiescence and war.”

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, led by human rights activist Hadi Ghaemi, has condemned the “wholesale crackdown on Iranian students.” The government has arrested over 60 students in the past month in an attempt to preempt planned opposition protests on Student Day next month. Edith Novy at insideIran contends that the growing influence of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “shows that Iran’s leadership is seriously threatened by the opposition and plans an unlimited crackdown for the foreseeable future.” Nonetheless, the opposition is not intimidated, as Mir Hossein Moussavi has declared, “This movement will continue and we are ready to pay any price.”

Many opposition members are paying a price in Iran’s multiple prisons. Muhammad Sahimi at Tehran Bureau explores the “long undistinguished history of prisons” in Iran and especially the emergency of a particularly harsh prison called Kahrizak. A doctor working at Kahrizak, Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani, recently died under suspicious circumstances after he came out publicly against the wretched conditions in the prison.

Meanwhile, the government has lifted the ban on the popular newspaperthat published a picture of a templing belonging to the illegal Baha’i religion. The government has arrested seven alleged members of Jundallah, the militant group that bombed a high-level meeting of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Sistan-Baluchestan province in October.

Posted in Freedom, Hezbollah, Human Rights, Iran, Journalism, Judiciary, Multilateralism, NGOs, Terrorism, US foreign policy, sanctions |