Iran: anhydrous

Another fatwah is issued on journalist Rafiq Tagi who wrote an article in newspaper Senet, which enraged azeri moslims. After Rafiq Tagi was sentenced to two months jail and a cleric offered his house to the person who kills Rafiq Tagi, another ayatollah, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Fazel Lankarani has set a fatwah for his death.
This ayatollah is a man with many followers. Iran media wrote that Grand Ayatollah Lankarani's followers inside the republic of Azerbaijan wrote to him asking for advice about what they called "the apostate writer".
They accuse Azeri writer of portraying Christianity as superior to Islam and Europe as superior to the Middle East.
They allege that he has ridiculed all the sanctities of Islam and done it knowingly, fully aware of the consequences of his action.





The editor Saeedpour of weekly Sepas has been arrested for printing "offensive material" about one of Iran's ethnic minority, the Lors.
According to ISNA, the weekly Sepas that was being published in the western province of Lorestan angered the ethnic minority by an "insulting question in a word puzzle."


Desertification threathens nearly 100 mln hectares of Iran’s arable lands.
Hossein Abdinejad of the Forest and Range Organization,told that five mln hectares of the lands in the country are plagued with physical and chemical harms that are mainly caused by human interference.
Also, 75 mln hectares of the fertile lands and 20 mln hectares of the native soil across the country are endangered by water and wind erosion.
If desertification continues to spread, the process will not only undermine the economy but also trigger a huge migration to the cities.
The rates of soil loss and desertification throughout the world is alarming, around 30% of the lands in the world face desertification.


Four bombs exploded minutes apart on a railway line linking Pakistan with neighboring Iran,There were no casualties.
The attack happened Tuesday, in Naushki, a town 200 km west of Quetta,Pakistan.
Similar attacks in the past have been blamed by police on ethnic-Baluch tribesmen.





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: journalists

Some 106 TV and radio channels in 31 languages are operating in Iran.
1,600 satellite channels can be received in Iran, of which 50 Persian channels are opposed to the Islamic system. This said deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting for Majlis and provincial affairs at the introduction of IRIB’s new director general for South Khorasan, Ali Darabi.
65 provincial channels are playing an important role in promoting subcultures, customs and values.
He added that 3,500 billion rials should be allocated for extending the coverage of IRIB programs across the country.
Darabi declared that IRIB is in the frontline of confronting the global media war.
“Boosting Islamic Revolution’s values, defending culture and upholding national dignity top IRIB’s agenda.“


Since the start of 2004, Reporters Without Borders has registered more than 30 cases of journalists fleeing Iran to escape prosecution.
Since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in June 2005 the repression of journalists in Iran has become more subtle and less visible.
Journalists are now often released provisionally after several days or weeks in detention, but no date is set for their trial.
Yesterday Reporters without Borders published a list of Iranian journalists who are banned from practising their profession in Iran.
This is the list:
Mr. Abbas Abdi,
Mr. Abbas Kakavand,
Mr. Abbas Dalvand,
Mr. Abolfazel Vesali ,
Mr. Abolghasem Golbaf,
Ms. Azam Taleghani,
Mr. Ahmad Zidabadi,
Mr. Akbar Ganji ,
Mr. Ali-Hamed Iman,
Mr. Ali-Reza Jabari,
Mr. Ali-Reza Redjaï,
Mr. Ali Reza Alavitabar,
Mr. Amin Movahedi,
Mr. Ali Mazroi,
Mr. Arash Sigarchi,
Mr. Behrouz Gheranpayeh,
Mr. Bjjan Safsari,
Mr. Ejlal Ghavami,
Mr. Ezatollah Sahabi,
Ms. Fariba Davoudi Mohajer,
Ms. Fatemeh Kamali,
Mr. Firouz Gouran,
Ms. Fatemeh Govarai,
Mr. Hassan Youssefi Echkevari ,
Mr. Hoda Saber,
Mr. Hossein Ghazian,
Mr. Hamed Motaghi,
Mr. Kivan Samimi Behbani,
Mr. Majid Tavaloui,
Mr. Iraj Jamshidi,
Mr. Latif Safari,
Mr. Madh Amadi,
Mr. Mana Neyestani,
Mr. Mashallah Shamsolvaezin,
Mr. Masoud Bastani,
Mr. Mohamad Ghochani,
Mr. Chammad Hassan Alipour,
Mr. Mohammad Sedigh Kabovand,
Mr. Mojtaba Lotfi,
Mr. Morteza Kazemian,
Ms. Narges Mohammadi,
Ms. Noushin Ahamadi Khorassani,
Ms. Parvin Ardalan,
Ms. Parvin Bakhtiarynejd,
Mr. Reza Alijani,
Ms. Saghi Baghernia,
Mr. Saide Madani,
Mr. Said Saedi,
Mr. Shadi Sadr,
Mr. Siamak Pourzand,
Mr. Taghi Rahmani,
Ms. Tonya Kabovand,
Mr. Yosef Azizi Banitrouf and
Mr. Mohammad Javad Roh.

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: shock(ing)

British Minister of State (Middle East), Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Kim Howells strongly condemned the death sentences for the Ahwazi Arabs in Iran.

In reply to a written question he wrote:
"...We oppose and condemn the death penalty in all its forms. In this case, we have specific concerns about the conduct of the trial including whether it was held secretly behind closed doors; whether a jury was present; and whether the defendants had adequate access to lawyers before the trial...."


An Iranian taxidriver has been arrested who tried to seduce women passengers in his car by showing them pornographic films. He had installed a video system in his car and showed obscene films to passengers.
At his arrest the driver told the police that he showed the movies trying to seduce women, but that they "strongly objected most of the time".
The woman who complained to the police told that she protested the minute she saw the film but the driver refused to stop,


Some 15 million Iranian students in different educational levels will take part in an earthquake response drill on Wednesday.
The drill, the 8th of its kind, will be held tomorrow in all Iranian elementary, secondary and high schools to create awareness and raise students' ability to respond properly when real earthquakes strike.
All students, from elementary school up, take part in this.
The drill starts with a warning siren on radio.
Students have to rush to designated safe places after they hear the siren.
The drill is to be reported live from television.


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: clause

Mondaymorning an Iranian military plane from the Islamic Revolution's Guard Corps (IRGC), carrying 32 passengers and six crewmembers, heading towards the southern Iranian city of Shiraz crashed at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran.

The plane, an Antonov-74 was heading for Shiraz. One of the engines caught fire during take-off. Two of the plane's passengers, were saved but suffered injuries and have been rushed to hospital.
The cause of the accident is still unknown.
The Iranian airfleet is known for bad maintenance.




FIFA temporarily lifted the ban on Iran, so the Iranian footballteam can take part in the Asia Games.
The FIFA extended the term for Iran to fullfill the FIFA's demands to 5 december.
Asian Games start on Friday.



After Iran paid a $400.000 fine, the international weightlifting federation agreed to review a doping ban on its athletes.
This summer, nine members of the Iranian national team tested positive for doping during their preparations for the 2006 international competitions in Dominican Republic.

By paying the fine, the Iranian weightlifting team will take part in the Asian Games




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: loss

According to newsagency Fars is Sunday a man publicly hanged in Kerman province.
Mohammad Reza Rafie, nickname Mohammad Khan, has been convicted of adultery and kidnapping.





In newspaper The Guardian tells an article about a video showing the hanging of two men, past July in Broudjerd, Lorestan province.
Alireza Gorji, 23, and his friend Hossein Makesh were hanged publicly, officially accused of "immorality".
However, anti-government campaigners and human rights activists say that they had been involved in anti-government protests and that everyone who watched, knew this.
The secret videorecording is obtained by The National Council of Resistance of Iran.
Wednesday, at the House of Commons, it will be shown to cross-party MP's together with documentation about execution of more than 20,000 political victims, including evidence for the involvement of President Mohammad Ahmadinejad.



The head of Gilan police told that last week 26 people were killed and 210 injured in 196 road accidents in Gilan province.
43% of the accidents involved motorcycle riders.
Over 4,000 accidents occur on 175,000 kilometers of Iranian roads annually, killing more than 30,000 people.
Material losses make about 4% of the gross domestic product,on the country's economy.






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: organ

An Iranian member of parliament notified Health Minister Kamran Baqeri-Lankarani about the large number of deaths caused by heart attacks in Iran.
The the daily death toll is 198 due to heart failure.
Parliamentarian and member of Majlis Health Commission,Hossein Hassani asked the Minister to clarify the reasons behind these deaths and increase efforts for curbing the number of deaths.
Earlier, the Minister said that cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer among Iranians and those who die of heart failure are mostly above 65 years.
According to a recent report by World Health Organization, road accidents are the second biggest cause of mortality after heart diseases in Iran.


Where countries all over the world have to wait for transplantable kidneys to get available, Iran legalized kidneytrade.

Allthough it is not encouraged and with 27,000 road deaths a year, there is a plentiful supply of young corpses, there is a market where recipients are willing to pay more than $1200, the amount which Iran's Association of Kidney Patients pays for a kidney.
Amounts are between $3000 and $4000.

The Association is responsible for all legal kidneytransplants in Iran.
With this Iran has solved a problem which in most Western countries is growing more acute.



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: procedure

Syrian human rights watch organization SHRC denounced the deportation of another group of Ahwazi citizens living in Syria to the Iranian authorities.
SHRC says thay this measure is a complete denial of the Syrian authorities' obligations towards Human Rights covenants that commit them to offer protection to individuals risking perils in case of their return to their countries of origin.
The Syrian authorities had previously provided them with a safe haven, permitting them to carry out their activities, viewing the issue of Arabism in the Ahwazi region as theirs.


The FIFA suspended Iran from all international soccer activity.
Reason is governmental interference in running the game in the country.
The Iranian federation was given a term from August untill November 15 to reinstall elected president Mohammad Dadkan and to comply with the relevant provisions of the FIFA Statutes.
Iran is the second country being suspended within a month.
Kenya got suspended in October.


The head of Iran's police, Esmail Ahmadi Miqadam, warned women in Iran to take care of hidden cameras in places where they undress, such as fitting rooms, gyms and swimming pools.
Iranian authorities want to stop a wave of secretly-filmed pornographic DVDs hitting markets and internetsites..
Meanwhile the story about moviestar Zahra Amir Ebrahimi continues.
The actress told in an interview that she has not been the collaborator in the sex-video. She said the video is a fake, made by a jealous ex-boyfriend. The ex-boyfriend fled to Armenia but got extradited. He admits having cooperated to the video, but says the idea of producing and distributing is hers.
If found guilty she can be punished by flogging and jail, he faces 3 years of jail and a fine.
In Iran is the making and distributing from these kind of films forbidden by law.


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: straighten

The execution of the 11 Ahwazi Arabs seems to be delayed.
Execution was apparently scheduled for November 14. Foreign governments have lobbied intensively to save the men's lives.
On November 21 the UN General Assembly condemned Iran's justice system and the continued persecution of ethnic minority groups.
The delay is unofficially and the death sentences have not been commuted.
The BAFS thinks that the executions will not be carried out until after the weekend when Bashar Assad's visit to Tehran is ended, this not to cause embarrassment to the Syrian leader.



According to conservative newspaper "Jomhouriye Islam"Iranian authorities should also take
fingerprints from British nationals by entry of Iran.
The newspaper said that the British government has ordered the British Embassy in Tehran to fingerprint Iranian visa applicants during recent weeks.


Tehrans prosectution seeks death penalty for seven individuals, accused of producing and distributing pornographic CDs.
Minister of Justice and judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimi-Rad said that 35 persons were arrested and that the prosecutor’s office is seeking the death penalty for seven of them.



Population in Iran has doubled over the last 30 years.
This is the outcome of the newest official counting since the last official count took place in 1976.
49,1% of the country's inhabitants are women and 68,4% of the population lives in urban areas.

The city-region of Tehran with some 13 million inhabitants is the country's most populous.



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: reveal

Fam.Al-Mansouri said they're not going to vote today.
"We don't vote until our father is safe and sound brought back in Maastricht by the Dutch authorities, otherwise they don't get our vote."
Adnan Faleh Al-Mansouri, spokesman for the family announced this.

In DDL Editie Maastricht is an article in which Eduard Nazarski, director of Amnesty Nederland, says that Abdullah Al-Mansouri is in a prison somewhere in Iran, but is known there under a different name.
Nazarski told: "Al-Mansouri is a member of an Arabic minority in Iran. When he got drafted for the military he got a different Persian name. It is most likely surname Nikosheresht.
The Iranian ambassador informed me that a person by that name is in an Iranian prison.".
He also said that according to international law, Al-Mansouri never should have been extradited to Iran, and that the Netherlands honorably are obliged to do their utmost to at least guarantee a fair trial and if possible get him a safe return.


Saturday, 11-25-2006 l a demonstration will be held in front of the Iranian embassy in Sweden against the deathsentences in Iran. In one month at least 26 people were sentenced to death.
Other countries where action against the deathsentences will take place are: Canada, Austria, Switzerland and England.


Here is the complete text of the resolution on Iran as adopted by European Parliament.



An Azeri biweekly, Sana'at Gazeti, (art and cultural newsletter),published November 1 an article completely with the so-called Mohammed-cartoons.
An Azeri court has sentenced the journalist, Rafika Tagi to two months in prison for reprinting Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
The editor, Samira Sadagatogli is also convicted.
According to newsagency Fars a imam, Ayatollah Morteza Bani Fazl, offered his house as a reward to the person who
kills the journalists.
In Tabriz, religious figures and theological students protested against the weekly in front of the residence of the Supreme Leader's representative and Friday prayers leader Ayatollah Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestari.
Businessmen shut down the market (Bazaar) and held demonstrations against the Gazeti.


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: commute

In Golestan province, Sunday in a stadion, five men publicly have been hanged.
According to daily Etemaad the men, Khashayar J., Ismail B., Abolghasem H., Ruhollah T., and Hassan B. were sentenced for rape and kidnapping.

A spokesman of Iranian judiciary, Jamal Karimirad,denied that stoning sentences have been carried out recently in Iran.
He said this to a letter by women's rights activists who have called on the head of Iran's judiciary to end the Islamic practice of stoning convicted adulterers to death.
Activists say that May 2006 a man and a woman were stoned to death despite a moratorium.
Karimirad said some courts might have issued stoning sentences but that the sentences have subsequently been commuted.



According to the Iranian advisor and managing director for foreign refugees of the Interior Ministry Ahmad Hosseini one million Afghan refugees are now living illegally in the country.Also 60,000 Iraqis have been documented as living in the country.
Over the last five years, 14,000 Iraqi nationals and 1.4 million Afghans have been repatriated to their countries of origin.
In the current Iranian year 250,000 Afghans have been arrested while attempting to enter the country without valid entry permit.He added that another 10,000 refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan had been arrested while trying to illegally leave the country for Turkey.
500,000 refugees had been scheduled for repatriation to their home states in accordance with the voluntary tripartite repatriation program of the UNHCR, Iran and Afghanistan, but official figures show just 15,000 have been repatriated so far.
Since the war 400,000 Afghans are born in Iran and have now been living here for some 15 years.
The continuing violence, poverty and inability to find jobs in their country are the main reasons why Afghans refuse to avail of the voluntary repatriation program.




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: imprint

November 19 is prominent union leader Mansur Osanloo,president of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran Bus Company, arrested by plainclothed security agents.
He was released on bail in August, after being arrested in January.
The cause for his arrest is unknown.






Journalists Reza Alipour and Saman Solimani of the weekly Rouji Ha Lat were released after paying Euro 5000 in bail.
Both were arrested October 12.
A third journalist Farhad Aminpour is still being hold while bail money is raised.
They are accused of “actions against national security,” and face high jailterms.

According to Hojattoleslam Mohammad Mohammadian, who represents Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in universities, are Iran's enemies trying to corrupt university students by using an arsenal of weapons such as decadentie en sex .
Conservative leaders have often voiced concern over a Western "cultural invasion" targeting young people in Iran, and accuse the West of seeking to impose its values.
During the presidency of Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005, people enjoyed some social liberties, like lighter dress code.
Although president Ahmadinejad pledges for a return to revolutionary values, since his election he resisted taking a tough line against lapses in the dress code.



Iranian parliament approved, despite strong opposition, a bill requiring immigration officials to fingerprint U.S. passport holders.
The law still needs approval of the Guardian Council.
The bill has been drafted by conservative members of parliament as a countermeasure to the American measure to fingerprint every Iranian visitor.





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: condemn

In Khorasan Razavi province are five men hanged to death for trafficking drugs.
According to daily Etemad-Melli were the men, whose name not were mentioned, hanged in a prison, Friday.


ALO announced that the vice-president from ALO is also extradited to Iran.
Abdulrasoul Ali Mazrae ( Abu Toufiq ) also known as Abdullah Abdulhamid,was arrested by Syriatogether with Abdullah al-Mansouri in May. Since that day his whereabouts were unclear.
November 18 word came out that he is extradited to Iran, and sentenced to death.
The deathsentence possibly will be carried out within 48 hrs.
The families of the Ahwazi men sentenced to death have urged the authorities not to execute them.According to ISNA they appeared before the Association to Defend Prisoners' Rights Saturday and urged them to lobby with judiciary officials to stop the hangings.
Headed by reformist journalist Emaddedin Baghi, the Association wants a halt to the death penalty for a number of crimes.
ISNA also said the convicts' families also plan to meet several MPs in their bid to halt the executions.
UNPO continues appeal to halt executions of Ahwazi Arabs in Iran.
European Parliament has adopting a resolution with 27 articles where article 9 calls for an immediate halt to their executions.
Swedish members of parliament also made an appeal to president Ahmadinejad to stop executions.



Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini has condemned the Tuesday attack by university police on an Iranian student in Los Angeles.
The student had forgotten to carry his collegeID on him, and was tasered and abused by the universitypolice of the University of California (UCLA).

film




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: different ways

Another 3 Ahwazi have been sentenced to death.
Abdul Housain Haribi, Housain Maramazi and Housain Asakre were sentenced to hang by a one-day closed trial at the Revolutionary Court in Falahiyah (Shadegan) on Thursday.
They were accused of bombing oil pipelines in the Al-Ahwaz region.


A helicopter crashed in central Iran on Saturday, killing 4 people.
The crash happened outside Najafabad, about 400 kilometers south of the capital Tehran.
The cause of the crash is being investigated, further details are unknown.


Manouchehr Mohammadi, brother of in July under suspicious circumstances in prison died Akbar Mohammadi has fled Iran 3 months ago.Although he like his brother, was jailed since the student demonstrations in 1999, he got permission to attend his brothers funeral.
He is now in Washington, USA.
In a telephone interview he told Adnkronos International (AKI) that he had left "to continue his battle for democracy from abroad."
At gozaar.org, is an article about this to read



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