His supporters view him as a defender of the poor who fought for the state’s rights against the interests of the West. His detractors view him as the first in a series of disastrous would-be strongmen who led Iraq on to the path to instability that culminated in dictator Saddam Hussein.

Qasim was killed by the Baath party in a coup in 1963, bookending his own power grab five years earlier, which ended with his supporters killing King Faisal II. By 1963, Qasim had been undone by his poor relationship with the West, rivalry with Egypt, a Kurdish rebellion in the north and his own crackdowns against opponents.

But today, state television broadcast a documentary, entitled “Supporter of the Poor,” remembering him in a favorable light. The movie showed grainy footage of the tall, lanky army general in uniform, invoking nostalgia for the era before Iraq was plagued by successive wars and upheaval. The timing was interesting given the ongoing debate in Iraqi politics about whether the country needs a strong head of state or whether power should be decentralized and have a series of checks and balances to avoid the emergence of another autocratic ruler like Hussein.

The documentary interviewed people who knew Qasim, all of whom painted the general as modest and generous to the poor. His neighbor Makkai Hamdani says on the program: “He was honorable, sincere, with high dignity and integrity. He was always, in his speeches, repeating that he was poor, living with the poor, living in a poor neighborhood, that he knew their sufferings.”

A friend from the army, Abdullah Hamdani, now with a white mustache and gray hair, portrayed Qasim as a man of the people. “He was having his breakfast in an open restaurant together with the poor people, daily laborers and soldiers,” Hamdani said. “He was visiting the bakeries and asking the owners to make the loaves of bread bigger."

A lawmaker from Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr’s movement praised Qasim’s legacy. "We must consider him a good example for politicians and leaders in the government,” said lawmaker Felah Hasan Shanshal. “Each official in the current state of Iraq should review what this man has done for Iraq.” Chiding today's political class, he noted how Qasim lived humbly and built affordable housing for the poor.

-- Raheem Salman and Ned Parker in Baghdad

Photo: Abdul Kareem Qasim. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Mounir Saied Hanna was arrested in May after authorities charged that 15 of his poems cast the president in a less than flattering light. On June 27 he was sentenced to prison and fined. However, the court's decision was appealed on the basis that he did not have a lawyer during the investigation phase. A new verdict is expected by Saturday.

Under Egyptian law, any citizen who publicly insults the president can be imprisoned for between 24 hours and three years. Hanna's lawyer was stunned that his client received the maximum penalty. "The court's ruling is illegitimate and very harsh. It is clear evidence of the regime's position toward freedom of speech," said Hamdi El Assiouty, who is also a legal counselor for the Arabian Network for Human Rights.

"Hanna's poems were about his and other people's everyday lives, but they were put out of context by the attorney general," El Assiouty said.

Meanwhile, Hanna's brother pleaded for a presidential pardon, adding that the poems never intended to insult Mubarak. "Mounir started writing poetry less than two years ago, and all he wished for was to be noticed by an artist or a singer who can use his lyrics," Hanna Saied Hanna said.

"I know that later on he started writing poems about social issues like unemployment and the rise of prices, but he didn’t mean to criticize the president," the poet's brother said. "His poems were not officially published and were only read by a handful of friends anyway."

Hanna Saied Hanna brother added that none of his family members imagined the case would lead to such a harsh verdict and therefore didn't hire a lawyer during the initial investigations. None of the poems named Mubarak. One of them cited by the general prosecutor reads:

Shine, shine whom you shine on all of us
Shine, shine whom you shine wherever you go
No one can shine like you shine
You made people feel confused and lost
You made people feel happy and lost

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Credit: Reuters

Now he’s picking up the standard of the Uighurs in northwest China.

The Uighurs, who like  the Turks are an ethically Turkic and Sunni Muslim people, are the focus of riots in Xinjiang Province, sparking tensions with both the Chinese government and members of the Han Chinese ethnic group.

In response to ethnic violence as a result of the riots, Erdogan didn’t mince words: “These incidents in China are as if they are genocide…. We ask the Chinese government not to remain a spectator to these incidents. There is clearly a savagery here.”

The Turks have rushed to the defense of the Uighurs, while the Iranian government has remained silent, even alleging that the Uighurs were acting at the behest of the U.S. 

Iran has fashioned itself as a leader of Muslims worldwide, but the unrest following the Iranian elections may be keeping the government silent.

Erdogan may also be trying to shore up relations with other Turkic states in central Asia. A new pipeline project, which will connect Europe to Turkey, could be connected to Central Asian energy sources.

Turkey will also likely host Uighur dissident Rebiya Kadeer, who is in exile in the United States. Kadeer was been denied a visa earlier, but Erdogan intervened to grant her entry into Turkey.

While Erdogan is ratcheting up the diplomatic pressure, the Turkish Trade and Industry minister suggested a boycott of Chinese goods: “The demonstrations are not sufficient alone. There must be a boycott of the Chinese products.”

Today the Chinese government dismissed Erdogan’s comments in the state-owned China daily. The editorial added: “Mr. Erdogan's remarks, which constitute interference in China's internal affairs, are the last thing the Uygur and Han Chinese would find helpful when they are looking forward to lasting peace.”

— Jahd Khalil in Beirut

Photo: A young ethnic Uighur girl holds a toddler in Urumqi, Xinjiang Province, China. Credit: Diego Azubel / EPA

His latest stint was for revealing the faces of those who were behind the so-called "chain murders," the serial killings of intellectuals during the late 1990s by people linked to Iran's  security forces.

The Los Angeles Times recently sat down with him near Tehran University, where he studied law and was a political activist during the 1970s, for a conversation about the recent election controversy.

What’s your analysis of the current political situation? 

Describing the political behavior of the Iranian people, it’s said that their political behavior is unexpected, unforeseen.

People's upsurge after the election of June 12, 2009, was unexpected for all parties that were involved in that election. Before the upsurge, each of them entered the game with its own goal. The ruling fundamentalists wanted to maximize popular participation, to strengthen their position, to show their legitimacy. Reformists wanted to win in an ordinary and peaceful election, to romp to victory in this election. 

But none of them reached its goal. The reformists have not won the election, and the ruling fundamentalists have lost (at least partly) their legitimacy. 

After June 12, people entered the scene and changed everything. And now, we will not be able to understand clearly what has happened unless we identify and separate the three parties that have been involved in and contributed to recent developments. 

• There has been and there is a power struggle Between [Ayatollah Ali Akbar] Hashemi Rafsanjani and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and each of the main candidates for the election were supported by one of these powers.
• The people (mainly from among the middle classes) seized the opportunity to enter the scene to express their own demands, their own dissatisfaction with the whole system, particularly after June 12.  This popular upsurge changed the whole situation in such a way that the election and its results was eclipsed by this wave of protests. 
• Western powers with their policies and plans and through their affiliates, their media, etc. played a role.

In these events, under the systems like the existing system in Iran, the people ordinarily have no opportunity to express their will, their demands and their dissatisfaction. That’s the reason why they seize such opportunities as an election to express their own demands or move behind someone like [Mir-Hossein] Mousavi, who is a member of the power structure himself. In a country like Iran, where there are no real political parties, trade unions or independent associations, such maneuvers ... by the people are natural.

Even the votes of a majority of those people who have voted for Mousavi were protest votes ... to say they are against those in power, rather than for Mousavi or the other candidates. The support of Mousavi by middle classes was opposition to [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad ... as the representative of the ruling powers. 

Before this uprising, in the days of electoral competitions, Mousavi and the people behind him thought they would be the winners of an ordinary and peaceful election. They had no idea of what would happen later on. Among the reformists, it was generally supposed that the people who boycotted the last election in June 2005 this time will vote for them and they would win. They said Ahmadinejad has a relatively organized and fixed vote, so the additional vote of boycotters would result this time to their victory.  

They did not have the foresight to plan for such an event. That is the reason why I think they cannot lead this uprising to something that might mean real change.  I think they do not have the necessary aptitude and the potential to lead such a movement. And I think Mousavi and [Mehdi] Karroubi themselves don't have the vision to lead or organize this movement. 

That was not called by Mousavi or Karroubi, but the people autonomously specified a number of routes, marched to Enqelab [Revolution] Square and honored the [anniversary of the 1999 student uprising]. It was a clear demonstration that people have surpassed Mousavi and Karroubi.

Iraq’s future might be fraught with peril. Bombs explode daily around the country and its myriad political problems remain unsolved. But on Tuesday night, Iraqis’ desire for  ordinary lives was on display as international soccer returned to Baghdad.

For the first time since 2002, a team from abroad dared venture to Baghdad to engage in the national pastime. The opponents were the Palestinian team, a people themselves no stranger to war and still without statehood. Baghdad, where on any given day bloodshed can occur, from mortar fires, to rockets to suicide bombs, took all security precautions.

Tens of thousands filled the giant Shaab Stadium. Iraqi flags waved and the Iraqi soccer team was draped with flowers. The crowd didn’t care that an outsider might label Iraq and the Palestinian territories the two most dangerous places to live in the Middle East. Iraqis had one thing on their mind: victory and love of the game. The crowd was chanting: “With our blood and soul, we will sacrifice for Iraq.”

Some estimated the crowd was as high as 65,000. People were elated. “It’s a great thing that Iraq is embracing this game. A game between Iraq and the brothers from Palestine. By God’s will we will be the winners today,” said traffic policeman Mahir Mohammed, who helped guard the stadium.

One female fan, who identified herself as Maryam, believed it was fitting that Iraq and the Palestinian national team played the first international match in Baghdad since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. “Palestine is suffering like we do. There is something common between us and them. We are both under occupation,” Maryam said. “We will show to the Arab and other nations that Iraq is safe and invite them to come play here.” The Iraqis went on to shut out the Palestinian national team, 4-0.

At least before losing, even the Palestinian team was delighted by the significance of the match and had pointed words for the United States, which at least one player viewed as partially responsible for Iraq's troubles. “I’m filled with joy and happiness to play in front of the Iraqi people. They are great fans of soccer,” said Palestinian soccer player Yahya Badran. “I call on all the Arab national teams to play in Iraq to break the embargo — the American embargo — just like the Palestinian soccer team did

— Saad Khalaf in Baghdad

Photographs by Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times

Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral in Tehran on Monday of 19-year-old Sohrab Arabi, whose body was returned to his family after a month of frantic searching by family and friends who feared the worst after the teenager disappeared during a protest on June 15.

“I won’t remain silent," said Arabi's mother, Parvin Fahimi, according to the reformist news website Norooznews.org, the online reincarnation of a newspaper by the same name that was closed by authorities in 2002.

"The authorities were playing with me all this time," she added. "My son had been killed, but they refused to tell me.”

Public outrage over the teenager's death is being fueled by video (below) depicting Fahimi outside Evin Prison, clutching a picture of her son and pleading for information about his whereabouts.

According to a coroner's report dated June 19, Arabi died of a gunshot wound to the chest, but family members expressed skepticism to reporters. They believe that he might have been shot, taken to a hospital and abused before he died. And several human rights groups have demanded an independent investigation.

Norooz went on to report that Iranian intelligence officers arrived shortly before the ceremony and demanded the funeral be held in silence, warning that any acts of protest would lead to arrests and more trouble for the slain man's family.

But video reportedly taken during the funeral clearly shows mourners chanting "God is great," and CNN reported that several held placards reading "My martyred brother, I will take back your vote" and held up their right hands in victory signs, a symbol of the opposition. 

"What was done to you, no animal would do to another animal," one of the mourners reportedly said after reciting a poem in Arabi's honor.

Arabi's family has indicated they are prepared to weather the consequences of turning his death into a rallying cry for the opposition, similar to how the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan last month sparked protests across the world. 

Fahimi is no stranger to controversy either; even before her son's death, she was an active member of Mothers for Peace, which famously wrote an open letter to authorities condemning the Iranian nuclear program.

The furor over Agha-Soltan's and Arabi's deaths puts the regime in a difficult position. As the Los Angeles Times has reported, authorities have felt pressured to crack down harshly on dissent but want to avoid creating opposition heroes in a culture where celebrated martyrs can and have been catalysts for revolt.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: Sohrab Arabi, 19, was allegedly killed on June 15 but his family received the body 26 days later. Credit: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran: Video, from top: A montage of footage from today's funeral; amateur video of Parvin Fahimi, Sohrab Arabi's mother, searching for him in front of Evin Prison.

 “We began to hear strange sounds,” a family member who requested anonymity told the Saudi daily Al Watan. “At first we did not take it seriously, but then stranger things started to happen, and the children got particularly scared when the genie started throwing stones.”

The genie -- or genies -- had demands: “A woman spoke to me first, and then a man. They said we should get out of the house,” said the family member, adding that his clan fled their home near the city of Medina.

Jinns and genies are spirits born out of fire that have supernatural powers. They appear in the Koran and Arab mythology, creatures living between humanity and the elements. One of their most famous incarnations lived in Aladdin’s lamp.

Sheikh Amr Al Salmi, head of the local Sharia court, said he will investigate the family’s claims that it has been harassed for two years: “We have to look into this case and verify its truthfulness despite the difficulty of
its consideration,” he told the Saudi daily. “What is interesting is that the complaint has come from every member of the family, and not just one.”

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: A mural showing the genie from "One Thousand and One Arabian Nights" is featured on the ceiling of the Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Credit Laura Rauch / Associated Press

But despite these elaborate security measures, it seems one group has been crossing the security fence daily and with impunity. 

Lebanese shepherds report Israeli cows are being driven into Lebanese territory to drink from the Baathail Lake, which they claim lies entirely within Lebanon.

"Each Israeli cow drinks more than 40 of our goats put together," shepherd Ismail Nasser, from the border village Kfar Shuba, told the Daily Star's Mohammed Zaatari. "Why doesn't UNIFIL consider this as a violation of the Blue Line?"

The Blue Line was drawn in 2000 by the U.N. as a withdrawal marker for the Israeli army, but it has since been treated as a de facto border in the absence of a formal demarcation between the two warring countries. To complicate matters further, the Israeli security fence does not follow the Blue Line exactly, veering south in several contested areas.

Although Lebanese shepherds complain that the cows have been crossing through holes in the security fence, former senior U.N. advisor Timur Goksel told Babylon & Beyond that the Blue Line actually runs across the lake, which, he added, is really more like a pond.

"There is no dispute according the U.N. line; this is an Israeli area," Goksel said. "The U.N. doesn't take on the problem because, as far as they are concerned, [the cows are] in Israel."

But residents of Lebanese border towns are unlikely to let the issue rest, especially after a Lebanese teenager was shot and killed within Lebanese territory by Israeli soldiers just three years ago for allegedly approaching the border. 

According to the Daily Star article, the mayor of Kfar Shuba has been charged with submitting a formal complaint to U.N. forces regarding the cow incursion.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: Cows graze next to an Israeli artillery position during the 2006 monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah. Credit: Muhammed Muheisen / Associated Press

The most important thing for us stems from regional and international conditions of Iran. Should we lose what we've gained after three centuries we would never retrieve them in as many centuries. Ignoring our historical status and serving the interests of a specific faction would be a treason against millions of Iranians. 

Imprisoning the revolution politically is an unpardonable sin. Political disputes should not keep us from progress in economy and culture. We have no option but practicing unity to push ahead with the Islamic revolution. 

Anyone who has committed a mistake in the recent post-election events should compensate for and those who were damaged should be indemnified. We need cooperation and brotherhood. We have to respect civil rights. 

Political justice is more significant than economic justice. If we cannot let others participate in the state affairs, we are sailing into uncharted waters. Today, the Iranian society is at loggerheads with the supporters of the Islamic Republic. The revolution's family is flooded with accusations and certain groups describe them as new hypocrites. Is it not a conspiracy to pit the supporters of the regime against one another to set the stage for disintegration? 

The Bush administration and the Zionists failed to blunt Iran's growing influence in the region and they contemplated implosion. The best instrument to that effect was taking advantage of ignorance and emotionalism of certain individuals. 

Irrational sensationalism and fanaticism have been as effective as the interference of foreign powers in the recent events in Iran. Misters [Mir-Hossein] Mousavi, Ahmadinejad and [Mehdi] Karroubi have no other solution but to sit together if they intend to serve national interests.

-- Los Angeles Times

Although Iranian authorities were quick to condemn the killing of a Muslim Egyptian woman by an alleged racist in a German courtroom last week, allowing protesters to organize a demonstration and hurl eggs at the German Embassy in Tehran, they've been less than compassionate about scores of Muslims killed in western China.

The Chinese government seeks to describe what is happening there as a tribal dispute, but the worst clashes have erupted between Muslims and racist Han Chinese. The Chinese government's backing of the violent suppression of Muslims and the closure of mosques indicate that a conspiracy is underway against Muslims in the region. . . . Our people expect the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to not remain silent and adopt a stronger position instead of abandoning our Muslim brethren to their own fate.

The news website Tabnak, backed by conservative Ahmadinejad challenger Mohsen Rezai, carried an even sharper commentary, accusing the government and state-controlled media of hypocrisy in ignoring violence against fellow Muslims by a communist government:

When Israel was striking Gaza, state radio and television aired round-the-clock reports and analyses about the massacre of Muslims, but now only short reports are heard. . . . During the Israeli invasion of Gaza, nearly 1,000 died in 20 days -- or 50 per day. In China's riots, nearly 100 Muslims were killed in a day. Our government is silent regarding clear carnage.

Due to its unique features, the Chinese economic model has been a hard sell for the Westerns. The Chinese never respected the standards set by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and they did not tie their fates to dishonest Western institutions. That is why China was spared the spiraling East Asia crisis. That, along with other reasons, prompted the Americans to target the internal unity and integrity of China in a last-ditch attempt.

Photos: Top, a woman and a boy belonging to the ethnic Uighur minority sit outside a shop as security forces march past in Urumqi, in China's Xinjiang region. Credit: Diego Azubel / EPA

A prominent Sudanese female journalist faces 40 lashes for the crime of dressing in a way that contradicts the country's social and religious values.

Lobna Ahmed al Hussein, whose daily column Men Talk often criticizes the Sudanese regime and Islamic fundamentalists for their oppression of women, was charged with violating a 1991 law that forbids women to dress in a manner that causes "public discomfort." She was wearing a loose hijab, top and pants and allegedly wasn't covered in the traditional way of Sudanese women.

The journalist reacted to the charge by sending the media, as well as her supporters, thousands of printed invitations to attend her upcoming trial. Al Hussein said that if convicted she will send similar invitations to her public whipping.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information expressed its disappointment, called for human rights organizations to support al Hussein and requested the Sudanese government to end a case that violates all international treaties.

"Such accusations are a cheap way to undermine this brave reporter. Only tyrannical governments would stoop so low. The Sudanese government should have been as brave as Lobna and declare resentment to her writings instead of this brutal vengeance that aims only to break a free pen," said Abeer Soliman, programs manager at ANHRI.

The Sudanese general discipline law is known to be one of the most oppressive in the world, as it deprives citizens in general and women in particular from many basic rights.

"The law targets female students and working women as though it was tailored for persecuting, humiliating and isolating women from contributing to public life in Sudan," added ANHRI's statement.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Sudanese women. Credit: BBC.

Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi (at right), a prominent reformist who served twice as speaker of Iran's parliament, issued a scathing letter about the June 12 presidential election and subsequent crackdown on protesters that was featured today on the front page of his newspaper, Etemad-e-Melli. 

Below is a rough translation of excerpts from the letter, which was delivered to outgoing judiciary chief Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, a conservative cleric who analysts say may be replaced by the even more conservative Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani in the coming days:

The June 12 election could have bolstered the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and guaranteed ethnic and factional convergence as well as national unity. But on the contrary, the election made the Iranian nation disappointed and depressed. 

Had the authorities handled the election correctly, the 85% turnout could have served national unity, social understanding and economic prosperity, but now the outcome of the election has turned to a dangerous tool in favor of national divergence, division, political depression, social suspicion and mistrust as well as economic recession. 

Roughly half the votes cast in previous elections went into the reformist camp while the turnout was around 60%. Now, the authorities have manipulated the election result as if the 25% of silent voters, who had always boycotted general elections, had come to keep the current government in power.

In the wake of the hasty and illegal announcement of the election results, millions of people protested. The authorities could have convinced them through legal means, but they rounded up the protesters, launched night raids on residential compounds and vandalized public properties. 

Plainclothes security forces . . . attacked student dormitories and kidnapped some of them. 

Those who orchestrated these provocative actions to touch off bloody incidents have to be accountable. The government officials may have stifled this movement temporarily by using threats, but how will they deal with this powder keg? 

You are in the waning days of your responsibility as the head of the judiciary. You should not let unjustified arrest and illegal detention of hundreds of Iranian citizens registered in your record. 

Many of the detainees are patients, pregnant women and former high officials. They have been banned any access to lawyers. . . . They have protested the election result and demanded that an independent committee handle their complaints. Why are they described as rioters and velvet subversives? 

I predict unimaginable consequences if you fail to settle the case of these detainees in the dying days of your term in office. Please take serious and swift action to secure the release of the detainees; otherwise, they would languish in jail until your successor takes office.

-- Los Angeles Times

Photo: A copy of Saturday's edition of Etemad-e-Melli.

Credit for Mehdi Karroubi photo: Atta Kenare / AFP/Getty Images

The sentiment behind the song could also be applied to the protesters in Iran, which is precisely what U2 did during two huge concerts in Milan and Barcelona:

The performance is quite a visual spectacle (after all, it is a rock concert), and the symbolism is less than subtle: the entire stage is flooded in green light, the signature color of the protests, and Persian text scrolls across the screen.

The text reads “Listen! Listen! Listen!” which one blogger attributed to "The Song of the Reed Flute," by famous Persian poet Jalaladdin Rumi. 

Persian poetry and Rumi in particular are some of the strongest sources of Iranian national pride.

The history of a violent crackdown behind the original song coupled with Rumi adds some intellectual weight to the visual spectacle of a rock concert.

It looks like the selection of the work itself was not coincidental. A reading of the poem suggests allusions to the violent crackdown in Iran as well as the disputed elections:

This isn’t the first rock 'n' roll tribute to the protesters in Iran. Jon Bon Jovi collaborated with Iranian artist Andranik Madadian to cover  "Stand By Me." Both artists sing in Farsi and English.

-- Jahd Khalil in Beirut

The first shaky amateur videos are emerging from today's protests in Iran, where thousands of people have taken to the streets in defiance of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has made it clear that further opposition will not be tolerated.

But the protesters are not only marching but also upping the ante with new slogans slamming Khamenei's son Mojtaba, who, according to analysts, is the leading force behind the violent crackdown. 

In the following clip, protesters can be heard shouting "Mojtaba, we're not going, we won't give you the supreme leadership."

The protest today was intended to coincide with the anniversary of the student uprising of 1999, which was also suppressed, with hundreds of dissidents jailed, injured or killed.

Reports of attacks on protesters by pro-government Basiji militiamen have been difficult to verify because most journalists either have been expelled from the country or severely restricted in their ability to report. 

The government began its media crackdown shortly after the disputed presidential elections in June that sparked widespread protests across the country.

The featured videos were posted on YouTube and several Iranian opposition websites, which claim it was shot today, although verification is difficult with cellphone lines cut and Internet access slowed.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Videos: Protesters take to the streets in Tehran. 

In an essay in Al-Ahram Weekly, Mustafa Labbad writes that “Arab public opinion is divided between support for the demonstrations as the legitimate right of all peoples and rejection of them as a product of the West and a tool for bringing down the Iranian regime.”

Two dynamics are unfolding: The peaceful demonstrations, Labbad says, have turned into a global war against Iran while the supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “sum up Iran and its unique culture in the president's persona, and in doing so, they come very close to classic models of dictatorship and its political values from the Middle East -- one opinion, one voice, one group.”

This raises an intriguing notion. In countries like Iran, where security forces have tightened their grip, can democracy be willed through popular resistance, or does it need a bit of help from outside forces?

Click here for Labbad's full essay.

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Protests in Iran. Credit: AFP 

It started out as a frantic Facebook message plea for help about a tense confrontation at an airport in Istanbul between Amir Farshad Ebrahimi (above, right) and Turkish security officials in March 2008.

As a onetime member of the Revolutionary Guard, he says his military superiors were impressed by his enthusiasm and writing skills and one day, they recommended him for the Quds Force, the unit described by U.S. officials as the Islamic Republic’s elite branch for overseas subterfuge. The 19-year-old readily agreed.  

Ebrahimi offers evidence of his work, including a document he says was the equivalent of his discharge papers (at right), evidence that he lived in Beirut and training manuals he designed. 

“Iranians don’t send the weapons directly,” he said. “We give you money. You want to build hospitals, or buy missiles? If you want to build missiles, here’s a contact that will help.”

One day, he recalled, an argument had broke out between the Beirut Quds force commander and Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, some minor point about domestic Iranian politics.

From the beginning, the Quds Force worked to tap Ebrahimi’s communications gifts. He claims he was placed in the directorate of intelligence and operations and quickly sent off to North Korea for six months of training in counter-intelligence and propaganda. 

Based on his lessons in North Korea, he was asked to design a course to train recruits in Iran. He authored course materials on subjects such as “psychological operations” or “propaganda and its role in foreign affairs,” copies of which he provided to the Times (at right). 

Aboul-Fetouh, who is also secretary general of the Union of Arab Doctors, was among detainees facing various charges, including conspiring with international terrorist organizations against the country and money laundering.

The prosecutor's report alleges that those detained were responsible of forming terrorist cells inside Egypt and funneling Muslim Brotherhood members to be trained in the Gaza Strip under the supervision of Hamas. The report also alleges connections between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Lebanese Hezbollah party.

"Aboul-Fetouh led a cell that received instructions from Hezbollah. The orders focused on staging streets protests in Egypt and other Arab countries," the report read.

The movement is similarly accused of receiving large sums of money from unknown foreign sources and using it to finance terrorist activities in addition to diverting to its own uses money raised for Palestinians during the Israeli bombing of Gaza in December 2008 by its affiliates in the United Kingdom (Islamic Daawa).

Government critics and Muslim Brotherhood supporters say the recent purge is part of a decades-long effort to taint the organization, the nation's most formidable opposition party with control of 20 percent of Parliament. Despite the long history of enmity between successive Egyptian ruling regimes and the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement's lawyer, Abdel Moneim Abdel-Maksoud, confirmed that this was the first time the country's biggest opposition movement had been officially accused of terrorist activities.

"The government regularly accused us of trying to take over certain public organizations and workers unions in order to recruit more people to the movement, but it is the first time we get indicted for terrorism," Abdel-Maksoud said.

The recent detentions are seen by many to be part of the government's efforts to limit the Muslim Brotherhood's popularity as the group prepares its candidates to run for seats in the Shura Council and People's Assembly elections to be held next year.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fetouh. Credit: Al-Masry Al-Youm.

"The heaviest weapon to carry is one rose in the hand," it says. 

One video making its way around the Internet shows demonstrators how to make devices to disable the motorcycles used by truncheon-wielding Basiji and Ansar-e-Hezbollah militiamen. 

The marches, which are taking place amid continued political discord over the June 12 election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are  meant to mark the 10-year anniversary of the storming of Tehran University dormitories by pro-government militias and subsequent weeks of unrest. 

The circular urges marchers to avoid wearing the green that has become the official color of the Mousavi campaign or "flashy make-up" in order to demonstrate the marchers' serious intent. 

It suggests demonstrators leave cellphones and jewelry at home and carry only an identification card and relatives' phone numbers.

If protesters decide it's too risky to take part in the rally, the circular advises them to walk or drive around in their own neighborhoods, flashing the "victory" sign with their fingers.

"Bear in mind the most important point is to walk to the destination and not follow the exact path," the message advises. "Wherever you see the anti-riot police or militia ... hindering you ... change your path ... the goal is to keep on going."

-- Los Angeles Times

Photo: A protester shows a victory sign and white rose as people protest in front of the Iranian Embassy in Brussels on June 20. Credit: Yves Logghe / Associated Press

Arab royalty is famous for its ability to resolve familial disputes in private, but that isn’t the case with Saudi princes Khaled and Al-Waleed bin Talal.

In an act of rare public criticism, Prince Khaled bin Talal openly criticized his billionaire brother for propagating vice, and attempting to change the traditionalist norms of the kingdom. In an interview with an Islamist blog, Prince Khaled said, “the objectives of Prince Al-Waleed and others are to open a wide range of intellectual, religious, and ethical changes.”

 He also leveled the charge of violating Shariah, or Islamic law, which makes up the majority of Saudi law.

Prince Al-Waleed is one of the better-known Saudi royals, due to his extensive financial power and his extravagant lifestyle. So extravagant that his 460,000-square-foot palace was featured on VH1.

He is also among the less-conservative Saudi princes and has suggested reforming the legal code to allow modest reforms such as allowing women to drive. This has put him at odds with conservative members of the Saudi royal family, as well as the Saudi clerical establishment.

The feud itself is not a new development. Prince Khaled said that he tried to privately resolve his arguments with his brother over the past decade, but after Prince Al-Waleed’s media companies began to distribute films in Saudi Arabia, it was too much, and he went public online.

Prince Khaled suggested treating Al-Waleed’s immorality by freezing his assets, estimated at $13 billion. After “repentance” from “personal motives,” the assets would be freed. Prince Khaled could be airing his grievances ignored by the rest of the Saudi family, or his criticism may be part of a liberalizing trend—although limited to the Saudi royal family. Prince Khaled’s criticism of his brother comes during a week in which Prince Fahad bin Saad criticized the uneven distribution of wealth in the kingdom.

Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi reformist believes it to be a part of that liberalizing trend. While speaking to the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper the National, al-Qahtani said: “There is a big change in the mindset of the young generation of Saudi princes. They are more critical than the previous generation and they are more open for criticism.”

Others, like Ali al-Mosa take the more traditional line, arguing that the Royal family should be more cohesive in public appearances: “The [royal family] should remain an umbrella [impartial] above all.”

— Jahd Khalil in Beirut

Photo: Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, right, and his wife, Princess Amira al-Tawil, visit the Al-Waleed group-funded resident complex for people affected by a landslide at al-Dhafeer village in Yemen in May. Credit: Yahya Arhab / EPA