Iran: honorary degree

During his worldtrip former Iranian president Muhammed Khatami will also visit Great-Brittain.Over there he gets awarded by a honorary degree at St.Andrews University in Scotland. Khatami will also open the university's Institute for Iranian Studies.
Protests from students and iranian exiles are expected.
The former president, called a 'reformer', has during his presidency also ordered the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Ahwazi Arabs in a programme of "demographic restructuring".
On the website of British Ahwaz Friendship Society, you find this picture, showing Khatami as a spectator.
Human rights of other minorities, students and dissidents are also violated during his term as president of Iran.
Even questioning by british police is possible.
Two iranian exiles claim they were falsely imprisoned and brutally tortured while Khatami was in office.





In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: profit and loss

Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has signed a $500 million contract with Iranian shipbuilers for 16 cargovessels.
IRISL is waiting for financing from Iranian banks for the new fleet of 16 panamax and handymax bulk carriers.




Russian automaker GAZ signed a $250 million contractwith Iranian truck manufacturer Iran Khodro Diesel Co.to produce the new version of Gazelle vans.



Iran goverment has come under fire for her sudden decision last week to extend the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Instead of one, it lasted three days.

Beginning the three-day-holiday on Tuesday, and Friday being a weekend-holiday, banks, governmental buildings and businesses suddenly were closed for four days.
No reason was given for the move but some critics said the government may seek to increase the number of Islamic holidays at the expense of non-religious days off.
Mohammad Ali Moghanian, spokesman for parliament's social affair's committee said that the extended holiday had cost the economy hundreds of billions of rials.




In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: disturb

November 1, the 2nd hearing of former member of parliament Mohsen Armin will be held in Tehran in Tehran Public Court, presided by judge Husseinian.
According to Hussein Saatchi, lawyer to Armin, the first hearing took place August 16, where Armin had to answer the charges.
The majority of the complaints against Armin are related to his interviews and speeches delivered in 1996, 2000 and 2001.
Armin is a member of the Islamic Revolution Mujahedeen Organization (IRMO).
ILNA reports that Armin is charged with
"propaganda against the Islamic system, insulting officials and spreading lies with the intent to disturb public opinion".




In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: ministry of intelligence

Former reformist member of parliament Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoini has been released from Evinprison section 209.
He has been there since his arrest in June.
He was released on a $163,000 bail.
Evinprison section 209 is a section of the Iran Ministry of Intelligence.
In this prison are among political prisoners, many prisoners from other provinces of Iran who have been transferred to Evin from their local prisons.
At this site you find a petition asking an independent investigation of Section 209 of Evin Prison in Iran.




Kianoosh Sanjari, student and internetblogger has been arrested together with many others on October 7 at the house of ayatollah Boroujerdi. He wanted to report about the clashes between Ayatollah Boroujerdi’s supporters and the security forces of Tehran Police.
He is being hold in Evinprison, Section 209.
Amnesty International fears for torture and ill-treatment and asks for urgen action (MDE 13/121/2006).
Since 1999 now 24-year-old Kianoosh Sanjari has been arrested several times and subsequently held in solitary confinement for many months.
Prior to his recent arrest, he lived in Tehran and was reportedly closely monitored by the authorities.




Italian prosecutors have officially charged a top Iranian official of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), Amir Mansour Bozorgian, for the murder in 1993 of Mohammad-Hossein Naghdi, the representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Italy.
Naghdi was killed when a gunman opened fire from a motorcycle on route to his office in Rome.






In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: internal, external

Columnist AZADEH MOAVENI of TIME has written a column about raising a cild in nowadays Iran.
A country where private and public life is a difficult skill even for adults to manage.
Children want to know always everything, and the honest answer to "why you wear a veil outside in Tehran, but not at home and not on trips"., (Mommy doesn't believe in the veil, but the government denies her right to choose) could be punishable, if repeated by a child in a classroom.



Daily Iran will resume its publication on Saturday.

On May 23 the daily was closed down after publishing a cartoon which caused anger and riots at the Azeripopulation.
On September 27 the ban was lifted. The Minister of Culture appointed Kaveh Eshtehardi to the post of ICPI caretaker .
The new managing director of Iran Cultural and Press Institute (ICPI) Kaveh Eshtehardi told that no major change will take place in the daily.



In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: attention

Approximately 25% of registered offenses pertain to Greater Tehran. Probably the actual figures of these crimes are more, but people often avoid taking legal action.
During the inauguration ceremony of Tehran Police Chief Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan, commander of Police (IRIP) Esmaeel Ahmadi-Moqaddam asked measures to enhance security.
“Tehran as the capital of Iran should be paid more attention than other cities.“



Iran women's karate team boycotts Asian Games, which are being held December in Doha, Qatar.
The Asian Karate Federation doesn't approve the women wearing headscarves during fights.
Iranian female athletes only ake part in competitions where men are present as spectators and referees in such sports as archery, shooting, fencing, and equestrian where their body and hair can be fully covered.
The Asian Games are due to start in Doha December 1.





In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: holiday

Last Monday, the office of Irans Supreme Leader announced the end of ramadan for the following day.

Iranian gouvernment announced a three day holiday to celebrate the end of ramadan.
Since Friday is the weekend holiday in Iran, Iranians can enjoy a four-day holiday after ramadan.




October 20th, a high ranking member of Iran National Front(INF) Korosh Zaim has been arrested. He is an author of many bestseller books in Iran.
The INF wrote a letter to Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General of the United Nations and president George Bush.

He has been transported to Evinprison.




In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: consequences

President Ahmadinejad wants Iranians to have more children then the average two per family.
At this moment the country has a population of 70 million people and a very high rate on youth unemployment.
He said that he was ready to decrease the working hours of married women or women with children to make it easier for them to take care of more children.
He said:"I am not saying that women shouldn't work but they presence outside of the home should not in any way compromise their principal mission which is to educate their children," .
Furthermore he said that Iran has the capacity to fill the needs of 120 million citizens.
"The West fears more than anything else, our population growth and we must defeat them in this battle," he said.




Over 200.000 workers in 500 factories have not received any salary for months.
This was said by Alireza Mahjoub, the general secretary of Iran’s House of Labor and member of parliament.
More then 18.5 percent of Iran’s 70 million population live under the poverty line.




An Iranian head of prison told newsagency FARS that Aharprison (West-Azerbaijan) is severely overpopulated.
The small prison in Ahar has a capacity of 50 prisoners, but is housing 235 prisoners instead.
Earlier this month, the chief of Iran’s prisons Ali Akbar Yessaghi told that a prison in the city of Abadan (province Khuzestan) with a maximum capacity of 70 people was housing some 500 prisoners.



In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: evin 209

On the site petitiononline one finds a petition addressed to The Secretary General of the United Nations, The UN Human Rights Council , Amnesty International ,Human Rights watch in which the addressed are asked to assign a special investigating committee to visit Section 209 of Evin Prison in Iran and publish a report on their findings.
Section 209 of Evin Prison in Iran is run by the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic and except for the ministry agents no other government bodies have any control over the prison affairs.
During the last years many of Iran political prisoners have died in this Section under torture and many others kept in it have ended up being executed by firing squads or hanged.
Those currently held at the Section include political dissidents, human rights activists, students, trade union officials and workers, as well as many other Iranians from all walks of life.
The following people are among the prisoners at Section 209:
Ali Akbar Mussavi Khoini,
Dr. Saeed Masoori,
Ahmad Batebi,
Kayvan Rafii,
Kianoosh Sanjari,
Dr. Kayvan Ansari,
Abulfazl Jahandar,
Kheirullah Derakhshandi,
Abdullah Al Mansouri,
Ayatollah Kazemi Boroujerdi and many of his followers,
as well as many prisoners from other provinces of Iran who have been transferred to Evin from their local prisons.

According to ISNA is yesterday the journalist of ‘Aftab-e Yazd’ daily, Mansour Mozaffari, found guilty on one count of "publishing sheer lies".
The press court found him not guilty on the count of "propaganda against the Islamic system and libel".




In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: political or traditional

The managing director of the daily "Aftab-e Yazd", Mansour Mozaffari, has to stand trial at a Tehran Public Court today to answer charges.

A judge and jury will be present.
October 29th, managing directors of the publications ‘Yalesarat Al-Hussein’, ‘Iran’, ‘Taak’ and ‘Maahin’ have to appear for the Tehran Province Criminal Court.


The human rights group with Shirin Ebadi, Defenders of Human Rights Center criticised the arrest of a controversial cleric and some of his supporters,who advocate the separation of religion and politics,a taboo in Islamic Iran.
In a statement from Defenders of Human Rights Center they say"The arrest of Ayatollah Borujerdi and a number of his followers was contrary to Iran's constitution and penal code."
Questioning a pillar of the Islamic republic, the ayatollah has said 'We believe people have grown tired of political religion and they want a return to traditional religion.'.
"My objective and that of my followers is to defend traditional religion," the semi-official ILNA news agency quoted him as saying.
His aims breach a taboo in Islamic Iran, a theocracy in which the all-powerful supreme leader is a cleric chosen by a top Shiite clerical assembly.



In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: to connect to

President Ahmadinejad said that he "talks" with Allah.
"I often connect with Allah and he has assured me that the infidels will never be able to overpower the faithful."
This he told at an iftar dinner in Tehran.
The term connection he used, is in Farsi the same word people use to connect to the internet.
Once before, in 2005, Ahmadinejad said he was surrounded by "a bright light" during his address to the General Assembly in New York.
Nobody in Iran, not even the founder of the Islamic Republic, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Rouhollah Khomeini, had ever alleged they had direct contact with Allah.



Some 80 former Iranian reformist lawmakers called for the release of their colleague Ali Akbar Musavi Khoeini.
He was arrested in June during a peaceful women’s rights gathering in Tehran.The charges are still unclear and authorities have not allowed him to connect to a lawyer.
The open letter's 81 signatories has been published at least at two iranian websites(farsi) and says Musavi Khoeini's detention has no legal basis and that he should therefore be freed at once.





In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: preparations

ALO president Faleh Abdullah Al Mansouri is imprisoned in Section 209 of notorious Evinprison in Tehran.
Section 209 where high-profile political prisoners are held, is under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence, which conducts continuous interrogations involving torture.


Dr Awdeh Afrawi,humanrightsdefender and psychologist at Ahwaz's Shahid Chamran Hospital has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in Ardabil prison.His trial was held behind closed doors.
His daughter was killed during demonstrations.

Dr. Afrawi and his 17-year-old son were arrested October 2005 following bomb attacks on oil facilities in Ahwaz.
His son was sentenced to death and in March 2006, after a forced confession on Khuzestan tv publicly executed.
Both were charged with "waging war on God", which carries the death penalty.


Colonel Matin-Rad, commander of Iran's State Security Forces in the border city of Abadan, has announced that 1442 people were arrested in the Arab-majority province of Khuzestan in the space of just one month.
During the Iranian month of Shahrivar (23 August-23 September), which precedes ramadan, hundreds of mostly Ahwazi Arab people were rounded up and detained. Security Forces also seized 200 satellite dishes, 120 low-noise block (LNB) converters used to convert satellite signals, 167 relays, 100 receivers and 250 antennas.
Last year, during Mahibis, a popular event performed during iftaar, following fasting in the month of Ramadan, serious clashes took place, where deads occurred.


New daily Ruzegar (The Times), was forced to close just three days after its first edition. It failed to obey orders from the ministry of Islamic culture and orientation, to ignore politics.
"Publishing a daily which has no right to discuss domestic and international politics has no sense, but that is what we will be forced to do if we want to start publishing again," Ruzegar's managing editor Abdol Reza Tajik, told Adnkronos International (AKI).



A court in Sanandaj,province Kurdistan has ordered all assets of Roya Tolouii, feminist activist who is now living in USA, to be confiscated.
The court tried her in absentia and found her guilty of threatening national security.




In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: words?

Human Rights Watch called on Iran to immediately revoke bans on students from attending university because they hold political beliefs not to the government�s liking, and to allow registered students to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and association.
At least 12 students were banned from university registration this past year, despite the fact that graduate programs had accepted them on the basis of successful competitive entrance examinations.
Another 54 students who were allowed to register only after agreeing to sign statements that they will refrain from peaceful political activities.
Since July 2005, the Judiciary has convicted and sentenced 24 students to prison terms for their political activities. The authorities have prosecuted another 11 students on politically motivated charges, but have not yet announced the verdicts.
Iran is a party to both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). As a party to the ICCPR, Iran has undertaken to respect the rights of freedom of expression and association. Under the ICESCR, Iran has undertaken to make higher education equally accessible to all without discrimination.




Last Monday, over 500 students from Tehran’s Amir-Kabir University protested against the takeover of universities by Islamist groupslike theparamilitary Bassij Daneshjui and Jihad Daneshgahi.

Also they want the release of political prisoners and wanted release of Keyvan Ansari, Central Council member of the Alumni Association
of Iran and former studentleader who was arrested some weeks before, together with
Keyvan Rafi'i , human rights defender
Kheyrollah Derakhshandi, member of the Alumni Association of Iran and
former student activist
Abolfazl Jahandar, journalist and former student activist.
Amnesty International has called for urgen action October 3rd.



Reports say that Iran cut down the speed of Internet access to homes and cafes to 128k.

Iranian surfers will now find it much slower to download music or anything else from the Web. The restriction will also hinder the work of students and researchers.
Businesses have not been affected by the move.
Critics say that the restrictions are part of the crack-down to media-access.





In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: in and out

Dutch Minister Verdonk sent a letter to parliament, saying that homosexual asylumseekers in fear of prosecution or ill-treatment, are granted special asylumrights.
Furthermore it is decided to extend a moratorium for Iranian Christian asylum seekers to remain in the Netherlands until May 19th 2007.




The estafette-action for Abdullah al-Mansouri is in its third week. It is still unknown where al-Mansouri is. Amnesty International thinks he is in Karounprison, in Ahwaz City, Khuzestan province.

Lawyer Gerard Spong did October 16th apply for a visum for Iran. He wants to defend Abdullah al-Mansouri, if there is a case against him.In two weeks he'll hear if a visum is granted.




Unconfirmed reports from Baku, Azerbaijan say that iranian journalist Reza Abbasi has been sentenced to one year in prison for insulting state officials and conducting antigovernment propaganda.

Abbasi was detained in the northwestern Iranian city of Zenjan in June after he reportedly refused to comply with a verbal summons to be questioned by Iranian security officials.
September 12th, Amnesty International reported that Abbasi's trial was under way and said the defendant was at risk of torture and ill treatment.
Abbasi is a member of the Association for the Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners (ASMEK) and of the Alumni Association of Iran, an organization that has been active in promoting democracy and human rights.



During the last few weeks Iran has detained at least 40 people from the Kurdish cities of Sanandaj, Saghez, Kamiaran, Divandareh and Degolan in Kurdistan province.

Following are the names of some of the detainees that PDKI’s Bureau of International Relations has received:
Eghbal Javanmardi, Javamirawa
Asad Khani, Degolan
Kouroosh Ranjbar, Degolan
Mrs. Sorraya Ghasemi, Degolan
Vahed Gharibi
Many of the detainees are transferred to unknown locations, and their families have no information about their whereabouts.



In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl

Iran: closed

According to ILNA weekly ‘Safir-e Dashtestan’ is temporarily closed by the Bushehr province judiciary on charge of “insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution’.
Hussein Rouin, editor-in-chief has been arrested for publishing the article.



In Kurdestan province, three members of the editorial board of the ‘Rojeh Halat’ weekly have been arrested.Their names are Farhad Aminpour, Reza Alipour and Saman Soleymani.

The reason behind their detention remains unknown.
The weekly went in publication 2004 and is published in two languages of Farsi and Kurdish.



In Iran has the anti-smoking law put in effect.
The law was ratified September 5th and approved by Guardians Council September 27th.
Any kind of advertisements, direct or indirect support, or encouragement of the others to smoke is strictly forbidden.
Article 12 of this law reads, "Selling, or presenting tobacco products to individuals under 18 would result in confiscation of all tobacco products of the violator, in addition to a cash fine between 100,000 to 500,000 rials (around 10-50 US dollars) for the first time, and if repeated, he would be fined 10 million rials (around $1,000), and annulment of his tobacco products sales permit."
Smoking in public places and public vehicles is forbidden and the violators would be fined between 50,000 to 100,000 rials (US $5 to 10).




In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl