Post #6 Iranian Authorities Arrest Filmmaker Who Supported Opposition

Click here to read the New York Times article "Iran Arrests Filmmaker Who Backed Opposition", written on March 2nd.
Prominent Iranian filmmaker Jaffar Panahi, along with his wife, daughter and 15 other guests, were arrested last Tuesday.
Panahi has supported the opposition movement in Iran, as well as having had appeared at international film festivals outside of Iran wearing a green scarf, which is considered the trademark colour of the opposition party.
Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said that Panahi had been arrested for committing "certain offenses" that were not related to his "profession or politics" but did not elaborate on any more specifics.
Panahi's arrest is the latest in what appears to be a pattern of arrests by the government in which they arrest prominent figures who support the opposition movement. Last December, Shahram Nazeri, a famous singer was briefly detained, and in January, Mehraneh Atashi, a well-known photographer and her husband were arrested with no explanation given for their arrests.
Iran is reported to have released a dozen detainees last monday, in order to relieve some pressure from human rights activists. But it is also believed that a huge number of people are still held within the prison system for dissent again the government. The Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that five followers of the Bahai faith were sentenced to ten-months in prison for spreading "propaganda against the regime."
Also on Tuesday, one of the 20,000 people arrested in Tehran on February 11, when the government stopped an opposition rally, gave new insight into his capture. The prisoner said that he was held "with 50 others, in a 130-square-foot cell where he said his cellmates were ruthlessly beaten."
This relates to what we've been learning in Comparative Government largely in terms of legitimacy and citizen's rights. If the Iranian Government continues to arrest people for no reason, or simply for disagreeing with the government, the country's legitimacy is bound to falter, which will also occur if the citizens are beaten when they are arrested, as reported by one of the prisoners.

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Article #4 Ayatollah Khamenei Denies Nuclear Weapons Development Claims

Click here to read the BBC News Article 'Iran's supreme leader denies nuclear report claims', from February 19th. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini has told Iranian media outlets that any consternation about the possibility of an Iranian nuclear weapon's program were unwarranted and "baseless", because Iranian beliefs "bar us [Iranians] from using such weapons".
The Ayatollah's statement comes a week after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced at a rally celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, that Iran had successfully made its first batch of 20% enriched uranium. The enriching of uranium to 20% is regarded as a major step in the creation of weapons grade uranium.
Iran's increased and continued insistence that it have its own nuclear program has alarmed the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as the P5+1 (US, UK, China, France, Russia, and Germany).
The P5+1 and the IAEA have threatened further sancions against Iran if the country continues to fail to comply with the United Nations over its nuclear energy program.
The Ayatollah's statement regarding Iran's weapon program coincides with the launch of Iran's first domestically produced destroyer, the Jamaran (named after Ayatollah Khomenei's hometown), the ship is equipped with a variety of weaponry and detection software.
The IAEA plans to discuss Iran's energy program from March 1-5, at a meeting between the agency's 35 members.
This article relates to what we are learning because Iran's continued disregard of warnings from both the UN and IAEA call its legitimacy into question. If Iran continues enriching uranium, more sanctions will likely be placed upon the country, decreasing its legitimacy in the eyes of other country's and well as possibly decreasing the likelihood of reaching an agreement in regards to Iran's energy program.

Current Event #2: Main Opposition Leaders in Iran Call for Rally

Click here to read The New York Times article, "Main Opposition Leaders in Iran Call for Rally" from January 30, 2010. This article discusses a demonstration, called by Iran's two main opposition leaders, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Medhi Karroubi set to take place during the upcoming February 11th rally, marking the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Revolution. Recently, Iran put 16 protesters on trial from the December 27th demonstration, 5 of which were accused of Moharebeh, or going against God. As the government continues to crack down on anti-governmental protests in response to the disputed June 12th, 2009 election, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has made it clear that they will not tolerate an oppositionist appearance during the upcoming rally. This article is significant because it involves the Iranian citizens challenging the legitimacy of the government due to its recent election via participation in rallies. It also demonstrates the government taking action to contain protest and assert its dominance and power over the people.

Click here to see my accompanying image thanks to ok2go of flickr!

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