TASK DEFINITION: Given a document, find the main entity about whom the author is writing. Write the full name if mentioned in the text. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: This week  one of IRIBâs popular nightly talk shows was dedicated to the protests. The Channel Two show featured Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani  a conservative MP  and  Reza Seraj   introduced as an âexpert on strategic questions and a university professor.â
 Seraj  is well-known to many Iranian activists  although not exactly in those terms. Many of the thousands who have gone through the notorious interrogations blindfolded in Tehranâs Evin Prison remember his voice as an âexpert interrogator.â He is known for meting out psychological torture rather than physical torture by flaunting his supposed knowledge of the intricate webs of espionage with which any given activist is allegedly involved.
Born in the southwestern city of Ahvaz in 1966   Seraj  has cut  his  teeth in different wings of the IRGC  especially its autonomous volunteer paramilitary  the Basij. One story alleges that in 1988  the then-21-year-old Seraj galvanized a group of angry Basijis to stop a speech by Ali Khameneiâwho was president at the timeâto soldiers on the frontlines of the war with Iraq. Back then  President Khamenei was engaged in a power struggle with Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi  who was regarded as being more revolutionary and closer to the founder of the Islamic Republic  Ayatollah Khomeini.
As it turned out  two decades later  in 2009   Seraj  played a lead role in defending Khamenei  by then the supreme leader  harassing and torturing supporters of Mousavi  who was by that time the leader of the Green Movement that threatened Khamenei.
â 'The Americans  the Israelis and the Saudis had a strategic operational plan that was to be put in action next year '  Seraj  said  'but some factors led them into hastening  it .' â
 Seraj  headed the student organization of Basij from 2008 to 2010 and was lauded by the pro-IRGC Fars News Agency as a transformative Basiji figure. In the years since  he has become known for working with outlets like Fars and the state broadcaster to defend the regime and spin tales of foreign espionage.
His real identity didnât remain hidden for long. Ali Afshari  the student activist who was driven to exile after bouts of prison and torture in Iran  recalled  Seraj  very well in an interview he gave to the New Haven-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center.
âWhen I gave up  they had taken my blindfold [off] and I could see my interrogator â Afshari said. âHe introduced himself as Alavi but I later found out that his name was Seraj. He sometimes writes for Fars now and is the head of student Basij. I complained to the judge and asked for a different interrogator.  Seraj  used to tell me that it was  he  who told the judge what to do  not the other way around.â
Adding more to spice up the story  Amirabadi claimed that part of the U.S. plan was to bring the forces of ISIS to Iranian territory  but this had been thwarted by the Quds Force (a part of the IRGC which is not supposed to operate on Iranian territory) and the Unknown Soldiers of the Twelfth Imam (the name used for the forces of Iranâs ministry of intelligence.)  Seraj  quickly agreed with this claim.
According to  Seraj   now that the Americansâ âPlan Aâ had been defeated  they had resorted to âPlan B â which had been started by U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haleyâs calling on the United Nations Security Council to meet about Iran.
âTheir plan is to lead Iran to miscalculation and to change its behavior according to what U.S. and the European countries want â  Seraj  said. âThey had designed a game of dominoes. The Americans were to threaten us with leaving the JCPOA [nuclear agreement] and ramping up the sanctions while the Europeans were to play the good cop.â
Confirming "the Conspiracy" and Worries for Whatâs  Next
Seraj  doesnât officially speak for the IRGC so someone unfamiliar with  his  significance might dismiss  his  elaborate theory as the thoughts of one man. But Iranian Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri has given a version of events that coincides very closely with Serajâs.
Montazeri then gave numerous details to back up the story put forth by  Seraj  and Amirabadiâand added some new claims. The cities of Herat in Afghanistan and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan had been picked as centers of operation  he said  and ISIS forces were to come to Iran from there. He also claimed that Michael DâAndreaâwho was revealed in U.S. media reports back in June as the newly appointed head of the CIAâs Iran Mission Centerâhad organized the protests  a claim previously made by some pro-government Turkish newspapers (these reports were so inaccurate they had mistakenly published photographs of U.S. actors instead of DâAndrea.)
The Green Movement of 2009 was followed by Stalinesque show trials during which the accused confessed to involvement in elaborate espionage plans.  Seraj  is known to have played a role in concocting those fantasy plans. So  now  many worry that a similar fate awaits more than 1 500 people who have been arrested over the last few days.

SOLUTION: Reza Seraj

PROBLEM: Minnie Mouse finally got  her  due on Monday afternoon   earning a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 40 years after  her  male counterpart   Mickey Mouse . Bob Iger   chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company   and " American Idol " judge Katy Perry were on - hand for the festivities and gave brief remarks about  Minnie Mouse  before  her  star was unveiled . Leron Gubler   the president and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce   also declared Jan .  22 Minnie Mouse Day in Hollywood  . " I ' m so grateful and I want to thank all my friends from around the world . And Mickey   I ' m so happy you ' re here to share  this wonderful day  with me  "  Minnie Mouse  said . " This really is the best day ever !"  Minnie Mouse  first appeared in the 1928 film " Steamboat Willie " and since then   has been in more than 70 movies   Iger said . However   many Disney characters received stars before  she  did   including Donald Duck   Tinkerbelle   Winnie the Pooh   Snow White and Kermit the Frog . Speaking to Minnie Mouse ' s lengthy career in Hollywood   Iger called  her  " the official first lady of the Walt Disney Company " and said the honor was well - deserved . Walt Disney Family Foundation " Minnie can hold her own in any situation  " he said . " She ' s bopped more than one bully on the head and come to Mickey ' s rescue quite a few times !" Meanwhile   Perry   who wore polka dots in homage to Minnie Mouse   gushed over how nice it has been to visit with her at Disney parks around the world over the years . " It ' s always so comforting to see her face  " she said . " Seeing Minnie is like returning home . It is a special skill to bring joy to so many and she does it with an effortless bat of a lash ." Walt Disney Archives   Photo Library Disney is the parent company of ABC News .

SOLUTION: Minnie Mouse

PROBLEM: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to up to five years in prison Tuesday for violating the terms of his probation stemming from his conviction for lying under oath about an affair with his chief of staff.
 Groner said Kilpatrick would have to serve at least one-and-a-half years in prison. He is still obligated to pay back the remaining balance of his $1 million debt to the city of Detroit.
 Shortly after the sentencing  Compuware Corp. said that Kilpatrick has being fired from his job as a medical software salesman for its Dallas-based subsidiary  Covisint.
 Groner ruled last month that Kilpatrick failed to report all of his assets and meet other conditions of his probation. In court Tuesday  Groner scolded Kilpatrick for his continued lack of candor about his finances.
 "Your continued attempt to cast yourself as the victim  your lack of forthrightness  your lack of contriteness and lack of humility ... clearly rehabilitation has failed " Groner told Kilpatrick after the former mayor spent about 15 minutes explaining why he should be allowed to return to his family in Dallas.
 "I want to go home your honor  where I belong " Kilpatrick told Groner. "I'm not here because of a gun charge  or a drug charge. I'm here because of my confusion over some of the written orders that have been before me."
 At issue is the restitution Kilpatrick was ordered to pay the city after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to obstruction of justice. Kilpatrick testified in a whistle-blowers' lawsuit that he was not romantically involved with his chief of staff  but text messages between the two later showed he was lying. Before the text message scandal broke  the city paid the two whistle blowers an $8.4 million settlement.
 After Groner announced the sentence  a loud  collective gasp rose from many of Kilpatrick's supporters in the packed courtroom. Kilpatrick appeared shaken.
 Kilpatrick has 42 days in which to file an appeal.
 After he was released from jail in February 2009  Kilpatrick found a job with Covisint. Since then  he has said he is working on his marriage and trying to be a better father to his three sons. He also has been making $3 000 monthly payments to the city of Detroit  saying he hopes to repay everything he owes.
 But prosecutors contend he continues to lie -- that Kilpatrick could afford to give more and has intentionally hid assets.
 Groner agreed  saying Kilpatrick failed to disclose $240 000 in loans from prominent businessmen. He also said Kilpatrick failed to surrender nearly $23 400 in tax refunds and a share of cash gifts from two people.

SOLUTION:
Kwame Kilpatrick