Security forces attacked Iran Newspaper, one of IRNA s major publications, to arrest Ali Akbar Javanfekr, the President s press adviser and Managing Director of IRNA News Agency. Javanfekr was sentenced to one year in prison for publishing articles and photographs considered against public morality in Khatoon, a special insert in Iran Newspaper. He held a press conference about his sentence this morning. At the end of his press conference, he was approached by representatives from the Tehran Prosecutor s Office who had come to arrest him, leading to the confrontation with the entire editorial staff. In a November 19 interview with Etemad Newspaper, Javanfekr sharply criticized Iran s Prosecutor General, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, and former Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki.

As I watched the 23-minute video of Monday's raid by Iranian security forces on the offices of the newspaper Iran, using tear gas and electric batons to seize President Ahmadinejad's senior advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr --- while Javanfekr's staff tried to block their way and set fire to papers --- I was reminded of our response last week to the declaration, "Ahmadinejad has risen like a phoenix from the ashes": "The pendulum does not swing that far. Rocky does not throw a climactic punch. The Phoenix does not rise."

Conservative blogger and journalist Mohammad Mohajeri, who used to write for the ultra-hard-line "Kayhan" daily, seems to believe it was wrong to vote for Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. He says those who made that "mistake" should now admit it:

Several associates of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad s closest adviser have been arrested in the past few days, Iranian Web sites reported Friday. Among them is the cleric who leads the prayers at the presidential mosque, Abbas Amirifar, as well as a person accused of sorcery, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.