Iran: Updates from 8 Mordad (30 July)

From Tehran Bureau correspondent Saya Ovaisy:

Eyewitness account as told to Saya Ovaisy

University student, female, 23:

I arrived at Behesht Zahra cemetery at 3:30 pm. A crowd of two or three thousand people had gathered at section 257, where the post-election martyrs are buried. Most were dressed in black and many carried flowers (but no placards) and everyone prayed Quran suras aloud in unison.

Prominent Iranian Journalist Implicates Nokia In His Arrest

Issa Saharkhiz, a prominent journalist and former senior Culture Ministry official, has told his family in a short phone call from prison that several of his ribs were broken during his arrest in northern Iran on July 4 in the postelection crackdown.

Iran activists work to elude crackdown on Internet

By REBECCA SANTANA

The tweets still fly and the videos hit YouTube whenever protesters take to the streets in Iran — even as the Internet battle there turns more grueling.

Ayatollah Watch

By BENDIX ANDERSON - TEHERAN BOREAU

Since protests erupted in Iran after its disputed Presidential election, a growing number of influential Shia clerics have made statements in favor of the protesters.

The Dynamics for Peace in the Middle East

By RAMI G. KHOURI in Beirut

One of the most important political dynamics in the Middle East these days is the escalating war of words between the United States and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the international demand to freeze Jewish settlements and colonies in Arab lands occupied in 1967. It is surprising yet heartening that the Obama team has come out strongly demanding that Israel freeze the expansion of all settlements and colonies, with no exceptions for natural growth, pre-approved projects or anything else.

The Ultimate Unveiling of Iranian Women

By FARZANEH MILANI

Have you considered the gender makeup of the two opposing camps in Iran today?

African Union leaders refuse to extradite Sudan's president, denounce international court

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU , Associated Press
SIRTE, Libya - After bitter wrangling, Africa's leaders agreed Friday to denounce the International Criminal Court and refuse to extradite Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for crimes against humanity in Darfur.