Iranian prison officials stage "rebirth"

All the world's a stage for Iranian prison officials. Those now producing forced confessions en masse have apparently had plenty of practice eliciting performances from ordinary prisoners. Press TV reports that seven women who face the death penalty or life imprisonment are starring in a hit in Shiraz:

Directed by Sirous Mahboudi, the production of Rebirth has opened at Abu Reyhan Hall and has been warmly welcomed by audiences.

The performers appear on stage handcuffed and accompanied by prison guards, ISNA reported.

One of the prisoners, been sentenced to life for attempted armed robbery, said the excitement of live performance made her regret her earlier choices.

"I would never have involved myself in an armed heist had I known of the thrill of theater life," she mused.

Praising the cooperation of Shiraz prisons' cultural units, head of the city's theater association, Hossein Qahremani, stressed the success of the performance and offered his encouragement for similar constructive projects.

Performances starring millions, anyone?

See also: Wings breaking through a web: Iranian persistence in resistance
Press TV finds "outside interference" in Uyghur uprising

Divided loyalties at Press TV

Andrew Sullivan notes that Press TV, the Iranian government organ, reports that the Iranian government is voicing concern over Chinese unrest and support for "the rights of Chinese Muslims."

Hmm. Seems like only yesterday that Press TV was evincing sympathy for the rights of repressive governments under siege from protesters controlled by overseas forces.

Iran's Press TV finds an "outside interference" echo in China

How stupidly clever are the media organs of a police state.

The Iranian government, working night and day to blame the mass election protests on the reliable old bogey of Western manipulation, found an echo in the Chinese government's blaming of the Uighur riots on a prominent Uighur in exile, Rebiya Kadeer, head of a group called the World Uighur Congress.

While the Chinese charges against Ms. Kadeer are probably trumped up, they are relentlessly focused on her and the Congress -- with no suggestion of Western government support. But you'd never know that glancing at the story on Press TV, the Iranian government organ.

"In China, overseas forces blamed for Xinjiang protest" screams the headline. The phrasing is echoed in the lede, then followed by a non sequitur:

With China's violence-stricken northwestern region of Xinjiang flooded with riot police, leaders of the country's ruling Communist Party blame overseas forces for the violence.

Li Zhi, head of the Communist Party in the center of the violence, Urumqi, said many people suspected of orchestrating the riots had been arrested, adding that some were students.

“To those who have committed crimes with cruel means, we will execute them,” Li said at a press conference. “The small groups of the violent people have already been caught by the police. The situation is now under control.

You'd almost think the people orchestrating the riots were "overseas forces," wouldn't you -- and students to boot?

More than midway through the story comes the only substance to which the headline pertains:

Chinese government officials accuse US-exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer and her followers of being behind the violence.

Here, btw, is the tenor Xinhua's portrayal of the evidence that the World Uighar Congress instigated the riots. While it reads like an indictment of the Congress, again, there is no intimation of outside government involvement.

BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The separatist World Uyghur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer was behind the deadly July 5 Urumqi riot, in which at least 156 people died and more than 1000 were injured, sources with the government said.

Evidence showed the riot was organized. It was instigated and masterminded by the World Uyghur Congress led by Kadeer, the sources said.

The Congress used the June 26 factory brawl between Uygur and Han ethnic workers in Guangdong Province, in which two Uygurs died, to create chaos.

On July 1, the Congress held a special meeting, plotting to instigate unrest by sending messages via the Internet, telephones and mobile phones.

On July 4, some people inside the country began to send out a flood of online posts encouraging people to go to the Renmin Square in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to protest on July 5 to support separatists abroad....

The Congress, an organization alleging to represent the ultimate interests of East Turkestan people, is wholly dedicated to masterminding secessionist activities in the name of human rights and democracy, the government said.

Strike, sandstorm and shutdown in Tehran?

Someone please tell me if I'm following wandering fires here:

On Monday, Reza Aslan, whose Daily Beast posts seem to carry a whiff of wishful thinking, reported that Mousavi supporters were calling for a 3-day strike, beginning Monday, under cover of the 3-day Islamic holiday Itikaf,

a time when particularly pious Muslims cloister themselves inside homes or mosques for a period of intense prayer and deep spiritual reflection. It is a practice that the Iranian regime has long encouraged the country’s citizens, particularly the youth, to take part in, usually without much success.

Aslan also noted that a "massive sandstorm swept into Tehran Monday morning, blanketing the streets in a dark and dreamy haze."

Today, the Iranian government's media organ Press TV reports:

Tehran closes down for second day

The rising level of dust pollution has forced the closure of Tehran's offices and educational centers for a second day.

According to Tehran Governor General Morteza Tamaddon, the decision was made to decrease the number of cars on the streets and decrease the level of particulate concentration.

“Traffic and using private vehicles could aggravate the air pollution in the capital,” he said on Tuesday.

Studying the latest updates by Tehran's Air Quality Control Company (AQCC), Tehran's Committee for Coordinating Emergency Air Pollution found the particulate concentration at a dangerous level and declared the city closed down on Wednesday.

The committee had earlier announced that all offices and educational centers in Tehran Province would be closed on July 7, 2009 and its industrial centers would be closed from July 7 to 9

Was a planned strike under cover of holiday trumped by an official shutdown under cover of sandstorm? How frequent are sandstorm-induced shutdowns in Iran?

Is something happening on Iranian Press TV?

Perhaps it's a random ripple, but Press TV, the Iranian government vehicle, seems to be putting out conciliatory signals in a trio of stories. Could it be part of a push to get Mousavi and allies to accept some kind of face-saving sop along with the official election results -- or even sign of a more substantive compromise? (Times coverage is suggesting the opposite - that the hardliners are consolidating their hold.) For what it's worth, here's the trio:

1) A report that both Rafsanjani and Mousavi "vow support to end unrest":

Head of Iran's Expediency Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will support efforts to end the post-election tension in the country, an Iranian lawmaker says.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Head of Iran's Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy told Fars news agency that the committee's governing board has held a meeting with Rafsanjani and Mir-Hossein Mousavi...

Boroujerdi termed the parliamentary delegation's talks with Rafsanjani as "constructive".

"The lawmakers asked Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani to help solve the problems and he vowed support and we hope that we would witness practical measures to be taken to end the current situation soon," he added.

Boroujerdi also noted that the lawmakers have discussed the post-election developments with Mousavi.

"During the meeting, the governing board of the committee explained their expectations from Mr. Mousavi and he voiced his interest to help in solving the issues."

Boroujerdi stated that the talks between Mousavi and Iranian lawmakers will continue.

2) A senior cleric's call for "national conciliation":

Senior cleric Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi has called for Iran's presidential election dispute to be settled through "national conciliation"....

He went on to say that the solution to the conflict must not be a superficial one. "Definitively, something must be done to ensure that there are no embers burning under the ashes, and (to ensure) that hostilities, antagonism and rivalries are transformed into amity and cooperation among all parties."

He called on rival parties to show self-restraint, to resolve the problems rationally and to bear in mind the future of the country.

3) Mousavi's most recent statement, presented in an abbreviated but straight-arrow manner:

Defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi says the Iranian government has been distorting the facts about the state of affairs in the country.

In a statement posted on his official website, Kalemeh, Mousavi took a shot at Iranian state media for portraying him as the figure responsible for the latest "violence and bloodshed" in the country.

He accused authorities of making efforts to isolate and vilify him in a bid to get him to withdraw his election challenge.

"I will not withdraw from demanding the rights of the Iranian people to protect my own interests and for fear of their threats," read the statement by Mousavi.

Standoff in Iran?

PressTV, the Iranian state outlet, acknowledges that there was a "rally" today and characterizes violence as "sporadic":

Despite warnings by Iranian police, protesters have staged an illegal rally in Tehran to cry foul over what they call 'vote-rigging' in Iran's presidential election.

Police used batons and water canons to disperse the protesters who gathered near Tehran's Enqelab Square on Saturday.

Sporadic clashes were reported between security forces and the protesters.

While there appears to have been much disgusting Basij violence, it also seems that the government so far has held back from a full-scale Tiananmen crackdown. Videos seem to show that although protesters were kept from massing in major squares, they did manage to fill streets and stay out en masse.

Mousavi, meanwhile, called for a general strike in the event that he is arrested. The fact that he's had the opportunity to make that call indicates something of a standoff.