Iran: allegation

Monday is a man, named Mohammad Sadeghi,, 26, publicly hanged in the holy city of Qom. According to the daily Jomhouri Islami the man was accused of kidnapping and rape.






ISNA reported on Wednesday , that Tuesday , in Magour region in the country's southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan, two policemen got killed and four others have been abducted by bandits.
Police chief Brigadier General Esma'eel Ahmadi Moghaddam told that the not yet identified group of bandits came to Iran from Pakistan. They attacked from an armed car.
The motive is still unknown.


Sunday, February 25, was an article
in UK Sunday Telegraph and Washington Post suggesting USA's financial involvement in the opposition of ethnic groups like Arabs, Azeris, Balochis and Kurds, with the purpose to sow chaos in Iran.

On the website of BAFS write
Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO) and
Ahwaz Community Association of the UK (ACA-UK) and the
British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) a
statement against these allegations.
Iranian opposition groups representing Arabs, Azeris, Balochis and Kurds have repeatedly stated that they do not receive and do not seek to receive financial or military support from Western governments. They want to retain their political independence and do not want to be pawns in geopolitical power games.


In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: signal

Abdullah al-Mansouri is still in prison, somewhere in Iran.
He got permission to telephone with his family and told them he's still alive.
December last year Amnesty Nederland launched a big action to get a lifesign from Al-Mansouri.
May 2006 Syria extradited Dutch national Al-Mansouri to Iran, since then nothing was heard about him, not even the grounds for his arrest or the charges brought up against him.
Here is an article in English language.
December was told by the Dutch government that they received promises by the Iranian government that Al-Mansouri should have a fair trial en that familymembers could visit him.
Since then, except above mentioned telephonecalls, nothing happened.
Therefore his son asks Dutch government to intensify and persist their efforts.


In Kurdistan province more then 1500 teachers and professors have been laid off on religious grounds.
334 from Sanandaj, 281 from Meriwan, 230 from Bana, 244 from Saghaz, 116 from Kamyaran, 119 from Diwandarrah, 176 from Karway, and 10 from Bijar.
They wrote an open letter to Iranian government and are calling international organizations and human rights organizations to do the same.


In Kermanshah, same province, are four fingers from the right hand of
F. Hosseini, 46, amputated.
The man was accused of safe robbery.







Amnesty International has published a statement in which she expresses her great concerns about ethnic minorities, like Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baluchis, and Arab(ahwazi) facing a new wave of human rights violations.
Last week hundreds of Azerbaijani have been arrested in peaceful demonstrations on and round International Mother Language Day(February 21) .


In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: inappropriate

Frenchman Stephane Lherbier who was imprisoned after being caught November 2005 sailing in Iranian waters, has been pardoned and released.He and a German Donald Klein were sentenced to 18 months prison.
After his release he was handed to the French Embassy. The German is still in jail.



French and Iranian archeologists began a new phase of excavations of the Achaemenid palace in the controversial Bolaghi Valley in Fars Province.
The palace is discovered in the year 2006, but will be flooded by the Sivand Dam in the near future.
The Minister of Energy seems, also due to the many protests, convinced to temporarily suspend the filling of the reservoir of the Sivand Dam.



The annual returning crackdown on 'inappropriately dressed' women is about to start.
Saeed Mortazawi, Tehran hardline prosecutor said that those who spread prostitution and intentionally seek to disturb social and moral security by inappropriate clothing and behaviour will be firmly confronted.
The crackdown will also be targeted on "street women who get into cars as passengers and rob or extort the drivers."



In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: rotor

Near the border with Turkey and Iraq in West-Azerbaijan province, a helicopter from the Iranian army crashed.Eight people were on board, one got killed.
IRNA newsagency said that 17 Kurdish rebels have been killed by Revolutionary Guards.
The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an Iranian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claims to have shot down the helicopter with a shoulder-held missile, killing eight soldiers and capturing one.



The people who helped escape topcriminal and businessman Shahram Jazayeri,will be arrested in the next few days, said a high-ranked judiciary official on Saturday.
Jazayeri is a criminal businessman who is convicted to jail for 27 years in 2002 on charges of corruption, fraud, misuse of powers, using fabricated documents and numerous other delicts.
He escaped February 21, while he was sent on a supervised trip with guards to identify property.
Some of those who assisted him to escape have already been arrested, including the police staff and wardens, they will remain under custody till Jazayeri is recaptured.
Even if he were to leave the country, he will be caught with the help of Interpol, the official said.



In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: turn

Human Rights Watch published more information on the arrest of Somayeh Bayenat.
February 21 she was arrested in Gorgan in a way that looked more like a kidnapping, than an arrest.
She was pushed in a car by plainclothed men and although her anxieted familymembers phoned policestations and hospitals, nobody knew where she was.
It was not until afternoon February 22, they got the message she was held in Gorgan's Womens Prison, also the reason why was unknown for a long time.
She told her family she had been arrested in connection with a group of medical doctors with whom the authorities are alleging she works, and that she had been charged with several criminal offences, including forging medical documents and performing illegal abortions. She claimed that she would be released within five to seven days.
Her brother told Human Rights Watch that his family is not aware of any such group of doctors and does not believe any of these allegations, as Bayanat is a dentist.

Human Rights Watch asks Iranian government to release Somayeh Batebi and drop the dubious charges against her.
Also they ask Iranian government to grant proper medical care for her husband Ahmad Batebi who after being transferred on February 18 to Tajrish Shohada Hospital, was brought back to Evinprison on February 20.
According to his physician Dr. Hisam Firoozi he needs immediate proper medical attention.




Unionleader Mansour Osanloo is due to go on trial on February 24 on charges of acting against Iran's national security.
He told Radio Farda that authorities turned a simple case dealing with union and workers problems into a security [issue], which was really not the case.




In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: violence

Somayeh Bayenat, the wife of jailed studentleader Ahmad Batebi was arrested on Wednesday night after denouncing to the international media, that her husband was still in detention despite his poor health. Plainclothes officials reportedly brought the woman to an undisclosed location.
At Global Voices are bloggers expressing their concern about the international situation and the human rights issues in Iran.






At the site of Assyrian International News Agency is an article about the spreading Shia-Sunni Violence in Iran.
The impoverished Sistan-e-Baluchestan province is exactly on the main drug-trafficking route from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Europe. According to the article in Aina, desperate and frustrated locals will go to groups like Jundallah as poverty, the main problem in the province, remains unsolved.Sectarian discrimination is another factor, but those arrested belong to impoverished groups in Baluchistan and have no support among Sunni intellectuals.


The bombing last week in Zahedan, Sistan-e-Baluchestan province where the people mostly are Sunnimuslims, has been claimed on sattelite-tv and on the internet by Abdolmalik Rigi, leader of Sunnigroup Jundallah, now named: People 's Resistance Movement of Iran.
This statement emphasizes that they have not any kind of relationships and links with Alqaedah, Taleban and other fundamentalist groups, nor any kind of relationships with foreign countries including USA and UK.



In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: blocking

In Iranshahr, Sistan-e-Baluchestan province, took armed clashes place between a group of people and Iran’s State Security Forces which killed a man called Vahed.
Brigadier General Mohammad Arab said in the newspaper Jomhouri Islami that Vahed together with three other individuals were planning to carry out a road block in the village of Kheyrabad.


After Saudi-Arabia, Iran also condemned the remarks from Dutch MP Geert Wilders for local muslims to throw away half the Koran to show national loyalty,
The Iranian embassy in The Hague has made a statement saying that these remarks are (a) direct insult to sanctities and ethical values of Islam.
The Iranian embassy called upon the Dutch government to take appropriate measures.


More than 130 members of Iranian parliament have protested to President Ahmadinejad about the banning of the conservative newssite Baztab.com that has been critical of the president.
For the first time is the law with the aim of facilitating control of the Internet, accepted on 27 November 2006, openly used by the Iranian authorities to justify blocking access.
According to Reporters without Borders are also the sites Flickr.com, YouTube.com, and rsf.org partial or complete blocked.



In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: with or without

The island of Nazarouh, one of 102 islands in Lake Oroumiyeh will be equipped especially for women.
According to newspaper Tehran Emrouz all public transport, restaurants and facilities on the island will be staffed only by women, and there will be no men on the island.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's provincial representative had no objections and declared that a women-only island is not against Islamic law.

Photo Urmia Lake NASA



The "One Million Signatures Campaign Demanding an End to Discriminatory Laws against Women" started 5 months ago and on we4change.com is an article (Farsi), written by Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani.
On Payvand.com is a translation (English) by Sussan Tahmasebi.
The aim of the campaign is to collect one million signatures over the course of 2 years, with the intent of presenting these signatures to the parliament.
The priorities identified by those who sign the petition will in turn define the priorities of the campaign with respect to changes proposed to the law. Legal changes will be proposed through draft legislation and presented to the parliament for consideration. Finally all this improves the legal situation for women in Iran.
From the beginning the government acted like the campaign was a criminal offence.
Seminars were banned through lack of approval, members of the campaign got arrested for shorter or longer periods and almost everything is done to ridiculize this campaign.


In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: at the cost of

Jailed studentleader Ahmad Batebi suffered a stroke on Friday and was transported to the hospital and was in a coma for a few hours.
After his return he suffered a second stroke and was transported to the hospital from Evinprison.
According to his cellmates, Batebi was only half-conscious when he was being transported to the clinic.

After his second stroke it was reported that prison officials had confiscated and taken away all of Batebi’s personal belongings



Like last year, those arrested on “Chaharshanbeh Souri“, the last Wednesday of the Iranian year (ending March 20), will remain in detention centers until the end of Norooz (Iranian New Year) holidays.
On the traditional “Chaharshanbeh Souri“
Iranians jump over bonfires, light light firecrackers and host relatives and friends for dinner.
Tehran’s deputy police commander, Brigadier General Hossein Sajedinia also said that any form of gathering that causes traffic on the main streets is forbidden and will be confronted by the police,and that traffic police force will be doubled as of March 6th.
The last few years "Chaharshanbeh Souri" is forbidden in many cities and also last year many people got arrested.


In Tehran a stadium for only womensoccer will be constructed. The stadion will be roofed, multifunctional and have tracks for the running races .
How much the costs are and when the stadium will be finished is not told.


In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: speedy

Monday in Zahedan, a man who had reportedly confessed to a bomb attack last week in Zahedan in south-east Iran,is hanged.
Newsagency Fars reported that Nassrollah Shabeh-Zehi is publicly hanged, there where the bomb exploded, last Wednesday.
The man was found guilty and sentenced to death by a revolutionary court which is in charge for cases related to national security.





The Iranian judiciary announced that in the last minute it decided not to execute an Ahwazi prisoner.
Reports came (ILNA, Persian) that the execution of Ghasem Salami (Salamat) was postponed, instead, Reisan Sawari got executioned, although his execution had not been scheduled and there are doubts as to whether the Supreme Court had approved the sentencing.



At the last minute Iran withdraw permission for the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior to enter the port of Bushehr . Greenpeace wanted to hold a press conference on board the Rainbow Warrior in Bushehr, Iran, to present the results of research into different energy options for Iran which would allow it to meet its energy needs without recourse to nuclear power.
The planned Bushehr press conference was one of a series of events that Greenpeace has been holding around the Middle East as part of a campaign for a nuclear-free region.
Photo Greenpeace



In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: cause and effect

According to Tabriz MP Mohammad Reza Mir-Tajeddini, who is also the deputy chairman of Majlis Cultural Commission banning of newssites on the internet should be clear.
He said in an interview with Mehr News that banning of websites and newspapers should follow the same rules.
Last week the newssite Baztab was banned for the second time this (Iranian calendar) year.

The second time in one week a helicopter crashed in Maharlou Lake, a saltlake south of Shiraz, Fars province.
Thursday, a helicopter from the Ministry of Oil crashed in the lake, leaving three persons dead. Saturday a helicopter which was on its way to recover the wreckage of the chopper from the previous incident crashed. The two people on board got killed.
Officials blamed technical faults for that crash, although investigations are still ongoing.


Employers of illegal foreign workers will have to pay heavy cash fines as of next Iranian calendar year (starts March) if they continue to recruit the laborers.
The punishment is a cash fine of 300,000 rials per each day of the foreign worker's work, which would double on the second day of his/her work.
The employer would be sentenced to 91 to 180 days in prison in case of continuing to recruit the illegal foreigners.



In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: ties

According to the daily Kayhan, Thusday are four men hanged in \Evinprison, Tehran.
Their names are: Najmoddin 24, Mohammad, Behrouz 27, and Reza.
They were accused of various crimes.




In Zahedan, Sistan-e-Baluchestan province, clashes between armed militants and police have erupted after the funeral Friday, of the 11 Revolutionary Guards, who got killed Wednesday at the bombing.
According to newsagency Fars 65 people are Friday arrested in relation with the blast.
Friday exploded another bomb near a school in Zahedan. Nobody got wounded.
Iranian government accuses foreign governments and Jundolla, a terroristic group with ties to Al-Queda.
Jundollah has claimed the blast, but last year denied in this statement to have ties with extremist organizations.


In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: two-sided

Various rights organizations protested against the execution of the Ahwaz Arabs on February 14.

Amnesty International condemned the executions in Iran.



The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) has made an appeal to the president of the UNHCR "to cease in the use of the death penalty as a weapon of fear and oppression".


Also the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization has issued to urgent action in relation to the executions.



Nose jobs are a big hit for women in Iran.
ABCnews made a video here to this article about cosmetic surgery in Iran.
Also because of Iranian women have to dress according to the dresscode, the part of the face people cán see, has become a hot item.The noseplaster is a cool fashionsign.
The prices for a nose job are between $1000 and $6000.
A humoristic article about nose jobs as part of the social life in Iran can be found on www3.estart.com.



In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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

Iran: executions

Yesterday, February 14, Iran executed 3 Ahwazi by hanging.
Ghasem Salami (Salamat), 41, married, 6 children, from Ahwaz City,
Majad Albughbish, 30 from Maashur (Mahshar),
Abdolreza Sanawati (Zergani), 34, married, from Ahwaz City.
On February 13, prison officials informed the families, who were visiting the prisoners, that the three men, would be executed the next day.
These executions brings the total executions of the last 2 months at 10.
With these executions Iran has, despite strong international condemnation of people, organizations and governments now executed all 10 men sentenced on July 17.


Reisan Sawari, 32, married, teacher, died February 13 in prison on hungerstrike. He had been held in solitary confinement for a year and was protesting against his conditions.




There are another 13 people sentenced to death in Ahwaz Khuzestan) for armed activity against the state.



Zamel Bawi;
Awdeh Afrawi;
Nazem Bureihi;
Alireza Salman Delfi;
Ali Helfi;
Jaafar Sawari;
Risan Sawari;
Mohammad Ali Sawari;
Moslem al-Ha'I;
Abdulreza Nawaseri;
Yahia Nasseri;
Abdulzahra Helichi; and
Abdul-Imam Za'eri.
Human Rights Watch calls on the Judiciary to rescind their death sentences, and to grant new trials that meet international fair trial standards and are open to the public.


In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

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