Shourd's release seen as part of Iran power struggle

Tehran: For Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the release of Sarah Shourd is just one more chapter in the power struggle that's been unfolding for months below the surface in Iran.

His attempt to orchestrate Shourd's release as a "gift" ahead of his trip next week to the United Nations riled conservatives in Iran's judiciary, who made it clear that Shourd would be released only on their terms.

"Ahmadinejad does interfere in the work [of the judiciary and parliament], he comes and announces this woman will be released, and it's not his job to do that," says Massoumeh Torfeh, an Iran specialist at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

"That problem is related to the fact that Ahmadinejad announced it first, in order to put himself across as a good candidate for talks with the United States. He wanted to say he did it," she adds. "But the judiciary wants to say, ‘It has nothing to do with you, shut up and be quiet, it's our affair.' "

Shourd's freedom had originally been slated to begin Saturday, in an act portrayed by some officials as an act of clemency after Ramadan. The sudden announcement came via text message to journalists in Tehran from the Islamic Guidance Ministry. At first, it was to take place at the same north Tehran hotel where the three were allowed to meet with their mothers last May.

Larger venue

But then news spread that the release of the American was thanks to the intervention of Ahmadinejad, and that a larger venue had been chosen for the event. Reports from inside Iran suggested that the release was taking on greater pro-Ahmadinejad political significance, at a time when Iran is under immense pressure and sanctions from the West over its nuclear policies, the stoning execution of a woman, and other issues.