(Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty) | March 12, 2010
by Golnaz Esfandiari
The Iranian authorities in recent weeks have begun to release some of the former officials, activists, and intellectuals detained in last year’s post-election unrest.
Those released in recent days include former Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh, activist Abdollah Momeni, and student leader Mehdi Arabshahi.
Those detainees [...]

(The Newest Deal) | March 12, 2010
Masoud Shafaee
As the Persian Nowruz New Year fast approaches and Iran’s post-election crisis enters its ninth month, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani remains as mercurial a figure as ever in Iranian politics. True to his nickname of Kooseh, or “The Shark,” Rafsanjani has been paying lip-service to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei [...]

(Associated Free Press hosted by Google) | March 10, 2010
TEHRAN — Iran has freed for the new year holidays a prominent opposition figure rounded up during protests against the disputed June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, news reports said Thursday.
A number of activists and journalists have also been freed under varying conditions in the last [...]

(Radio Zamaaneh) | March 11, 2010
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council stressed the role of people in governance and maintained that with the growth and spread of media, governments that do not have popular bases can not last long.
ILNA reports that speaking in a meeting of members of municipal councils of Tehran Province, [...]

(Radio Zamaaneh) | March 11, 2010
Iranian Student Organization Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat called on the Head of Iran’s Judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani to release Ahmad Zeidabadi, Secretary-General of their organization.
In their letter they maintain that it is months since the required bail for Ahmad Zeidabadi was posted by his family and yet he remains in prison.
They [...]

(Kaleme [Persian]) | March 11, 2010
Mir Hossein Mousavi’s official website published an interview with Zahra Rahnavard, the popular wife of Iranian opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, in which she said that the current Iranian government (under the administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) is illegitimate, but because they occupy the executive branch of the Iranian government, they [...]

Iran: Shadi Sadr’s Speech for the International Women of Courage Award Ceremony
(Women Living under Muslim Laws) | March 9, 2010
Sadr dedicates her Award to imprisoned women’s rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari
Your Excellency Mrs. Clinton, Respected Members of the Jury, Ladies and Gentlemen, (cont…)
I am honored to be selected as one of the ten recipients of [...]

(The Pedestrian Blog) | March 10, 2010
The Pedestrian is an excellent blog providing insightful pieces on Iranian culture, politics and life.   Highly recommended by Iran News Now.
Emad Bahavar [1979] is a political activist, writer and the head of “Supporters of Khatami and Mousavi” in the 2009 presidential campaign. He was arrested shortly after the election, [...]

(TIME) | March 15, 2010
By Trita Parsi
Iran is the 21st century equivalent of 1930s Russia — a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The Iranians haven’t stumbled upon this mystifying state coincidentally, and the enigma isn’t the result of outsiders’ failure to try to understand them. Rather, the Iranian government has a deliberate [...]

(The New York Times) | March 4, 2010
By Roger Cohen
PARIS — A year has passed since President Obama’s groundbreaking Nowruz offer to Iran of engagement based on mutual respect. Iran is now a different country, its divided regime weaker and confronted by the Green movement, the strongest expression of people power in the Middle East [...]