Iran: measures

A group of scientists and rights defenders in the U.S have established Committee against torture of Azerbaijani political prisoners in Iran.

They bring to attention the detained Azerbaijani activists in Iran: Said Matinpur, Saleh Karimi, Abdulla Abbas Cavan, Jalil Ganuli and Bahruz Safari.
The Iranian authorities also arrested Alirza, the brother of Behruz Safari and his spouse Leyla Heydari.
Said Matinpur and Behruz Safari are in Evinprison in Tehran for over three months.



Because of the terroristic attacks in Karbala, Iraq, a total of 6,000 Iranian pilgrims, presently in Karbala, are to return to Iran.
A total of 52 people were killed and 300 others wounded during recent attacks in Karbala.
The Iranian pilgrims will return to Iran under tight security measures.
According to Mehrnews are because of the unstable situation, Iranian pilgrims being transferred to the city of Najaf.


According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran reports say that in different prisons pain relief medicines prescribed to prisoners, contain a high level of addictive drugs.Drugs are also added to the food.
Reports also say that the Intelligence Ministry along with the infirmaries of prisons plan to force political prisoners into using addictive drugs.
In Gohardasht prison in Karaj they are reducing the prisoners' food rations.
The head of Orumieh Prison has banned contacts between political prisoners and other inmates.


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: expell

The Bahaí organization has published a copy of a letter, sent in 2006, which instructs administrators of Iranian universities to expel Baha'i students.
letter (persian, pdf) of Ministry.
letter (english,pdf) of Ministry.
According to The Baha'i International Community (BIC) the letter was sent to 81 universities.


Sunday is the journalist Farshad Gorbanpour released from Evinprison in Tehran, after paying bail of $54,000.
July 31 he was arrested for publishing "lies" about the ruling system in the Islamic Republic.
The also arrested journalist Masoud Bastani had already been released .


Reporters without Borders joins the families and lawyers of imprisoned Kurdish-Iranian journalists Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed “Hiva” Botimar in urging them to call off their hungerstrike.
They have passed the 47th day of their hunger strike and their condition is very worrying.
The journalists began the hunger strike in July to press their demands for improved conditions of detention and the right to see their family and lawyers.


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: void

President Ahmadinejad has in principle no objections to let Oliver Stone make a movie about him.
Stone requested earlier this year also to make a film about President Ahmadinejad but met negative responses from the president's office.
According to the media-advisor of the president the American cinema is void of real art and culture.


August 23 began in the city of Yasuj the trial against the writer
Yaghub Yadali. He has been charged with spreading false information in his novels.
The charges relate to two books by Yadali that were published years ago and that portray a woman in an extramarital relationship. Because his female character speaks in the Lori dialect of his native province, his critics have accused him of trying to insult all Lori women.
Yadali has rejected such accusations and said he is himself is an ethnic Lor and that he would never offend this ethnic group.

The lawyer for journalist Parnaz Azima, who has been prevented from leaving Iran since February says she is now facing a charge of acting against national security.
Already she faced charges of spreading propaganda against the Iranian state and has had to post bail to $550,000.
No date has been set for a trial yet.

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: roundabout-dog

Iran summoned Sweden for publishing a cartoon, drawn by the Swedish artist Lars Vilks, in the Swedish newspaper The Local. The cartoon shows the head of the prophet Mohammed on a dogs body.
He draw the caricatures for an art exhibition entitled “The Dog in Art”.
When the organizers found out, they removed the drawings immediately.


In Sweden is a craze about dogs shaped as streetfurniture.
All over Sweden people put out "roundabout dogs", typically made of wood on roundabouts.
These mostly humoristic figures are seen on the streets in Sweden since 2006.
There also is a website.

Photo: wikipedia Rondellhund i Vallarondellen i Linköping 2006-11-09. Foto av Skvattram
Drawing: Lars Vilks


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: guise

Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie said that students, currently studying under the guise of being students and having contact with foreigners and White House statesmen will be confronted.
He also said that Iran does not believe they are university students but that they are seeking to destroy the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran.


The director of Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ibrahim Sheybani was replaced by Tahmas Mazaheri, a former economy minister under president Khatami.
The replacement from Sheybani by Mazaheri can, according to Fars Newsagency, be seen as a part of changes in the banking system of the country, which has long been sought by president Ahmadinejad.


Two members of an anti-Iran armed group were arrested in West Azerbaijan while taking photographs from the artillery positions of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in north Iran.
Fars Newsagency reports that the two 16-year-olds were arrested in the village of Kani Sorkh near the border city of Oshnavieh.




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: shock

An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale struck Saturday around Haji Abad and Orzuiyeh, Semnan province. Four people got injured.
Later that day an eartquake measuring 4.5 struck the town of Javadabad, Tehran province. There are no reports of injuries.



Three people got wounded when a mine went off near the northwestern city of Sardasht, West-Azerbaijan province.
According to colonel Valizadeh, head of Sardasht border security forces, the mine was planted by the Kurdish rebel group Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PEJAK). According to him they often attack civilians. PEJAK is a militant group based in northern Iraq, which carries out armed attacks in Iran.
PEJAK is affiliated to PKK, which has been designated as a terrorist group by the European Union, United States, Turkey and Iran.


In the city of Mashhad a woman gave birth to quintuplets.
Mashhad Medical University announced that three of the newborn babies are girls and two are boys.The baby's are in good condition and kept in incubator.
The infants’ weight is between one and one and a half kilogram.
This was the first pregnancy of the 30-year-old mother who was undergoing treatment for infertility.



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: "harde maatregelen" = crackdown translated in Dutch

The journalist Yussef Azizi Bani-Torof will stand on trial Monday 27 August for "threatening national security" on charges relating to his reports on the indigenous Ahwazi Arab uprising more than two years ago.
Bani-Toorof was arrested in April 2005 and released in June 2005 with a $22,000 bail.
In August 2006, he was arrested after giving a lecture at a journalists' conference and his bail was raised to $ 90,000.


More than 650 Iran-based human rights activists and intellectuals have issued an open letter to condemn what they describe as increasing pressure on students, journalists, and workers.
The statement claims that an increasing number of students and political activists is facing "false" accusations of disrupting public order, insulting sacred values, or involvement in what officials have called a "creeping coup."
The letter's signatories are calling on Iran's leaders to prevent further arrests and to release those who have been detained in recent months.


Tehran police have closed two dozen barber shops and hairdressers in a fortnight in the latest phase of a '"morals" crackdown, after being identified as purveyors of decadent "western" culture.
Eleven women's hair-stylists were told to stop trading for offering customers' tattoos.This is popular amongst many young Iranian women.
13 barbers were closed for giving customers excessively eye-catching haircuts and plucking men's eyebrows.
Since last May the crackdown on islamic dresscodes, behaviour and public safety started, thousands of people are warned or arrested, and at least 30 people were executed.



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: to register

Tuesday two men are hanged in prison in Zahedan, Sistan-e-Baluchestan province.
The men were sentenced for drugstrafficking.




The families of the two journalists, condemned to death have great concern of the men's health.
Adnan Hassanpur and Hiwa Butimar are as a protest in hungerstrike since their conviction.
Their lawyers, who were able to meet them for the first time recently, have said that their psychological and physical conditions are a cause of concern.





The Committee To Defend Political Prisoners in Iran's Azerbaijan, a human-rights group in northwestern Iran, claims that state pressure on political activists in the region has increased in recent months.
More than 20 Iranian citizens have been jailed by authorities for their political activities.
A spokesman for the group said that a lack of media attention contributes to rights abuses in Iran's Azerbaijan provinces.


Iran is registering the country's oldest cypresstree as a UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
The tree is located in Abarkooh, Yazd province and is approximately 4,500 year-old .
In 1933, the 11.5 meters in diameter and 33 meters in height tree, was registered as a National Heritage .
The cypress tree plays a significant role in Persian culture and it has been used in the design of famous Persian Gardens.
The worlds oldest tree is located in California.


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: fish

Wednesday is in Shiraz, Fars province a man hanged.
IRNA reports that the man was convicted for murder and armed robbery and that the initial death sentence was confirmed by the supreme court.




The Pakistan police have not so far handed over the bandits who took 21 Iranian hostages from Sistan-e-Baluchestan to Pakistan,
The hostages returned to Iran on a charter Tuesday.
The Pakistani government claims that the hostage-takers are Pakistani nationals.Based on an agreement between Tehran and Islamabad, the Pakistani government should deliver armed insurgents to Iran.
Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said on Tuesday the hostage-takers are bandits, but not linked to terrorist Abdolmalek Rigi.



The Intelligence Ministry says members of a separatist group have been arrested in the city of Ahwaz.The Iranian authorities declared that they are arrested for causing rift and propagating sectarian and religious divisions amongst the people.
According to Mehrnews also a substantial cache of weapons were seized.
Earlier this month officials said members of a "terrorist" group had been arrested on suspicion of planning an attack.



The Iranian Fisheries Organization has arrested over 1,400 illegal fishermen and confiscated over 9,000 kilograms of cartilaginous fish over the last five months.
Some fishermen illegally net fish in Iran's Caspian waters in an effort to obtain caviar.
336 illegal fishing vessels, over 23,000 kilos of shrimp and 62,000 kilos of other fish that were illegally harvested, have also been seized.


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 high cost

Iran released Haleh Esfandiari on bail set at the equivalent of $333,000.
She is still accused of espionage and may not leave the country.
ISNA news agency reported that a source in the Tehran prosecution office said that it is possible that Kian Tajbakhsh,'s situation also changes the coming days.



The Dresdner Bank also has decided to wind up its remaining business in Iran.
A spokesman said that the administrative costs of doing business in Iran had become too high.
Dresdner Bank, part of German insurer Allianz, has been scaling back its activity in Iran for months.


Last Friday the Dutch RTL4 broadcasted an item (in Dutch) about Dutchman Abdullah al Mansouri who is imprisoned in Iran for over a year.
The Dutch government is tapping Iran about this. Iran doesn't recognize any other nationality than Iranian, although Al Mansouri is Dutch citizen since 1988.
Iranian authorities said Al Mansouri is on trial for terroristic activities.
There have been reports of torture.
When found guilty Al Mansouri faces deathpenalty.


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: lost and found

The wife of Robert Levinson, since March missing American in Iran, plans to go to Iran to look for her husband herself.
Levinson disappeared on the island Kish where he investigated cigarette smuggling.
After a meeting with Dawud Salahuddin, he disappeared.
His wife says in an interview, also aired in Iran by Radio Free Europe, that she is planning to go to Kish to search for him, even though the American State Department has advised against it.
She also is hoping that anyone who has seen him or heard anything about him will contact the website.



Iranian and Pakistan authorities say Pakistani police have freed 21 Iranian hostages.
Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said that during this operation, they also arrested 16 kidnappers.
He added that the kidnappers have links with Abdelmalek Rigi's group, but that Rigi was not among those captured.
An exchange of fire took place that lasted for about two hours, and one kidnapper was killed and two were wounded.
IRNA reported that all the hostages are in good health.

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: conceptions

An Iranian military chief told that the yesterday abducted 21 people, were abducted by the group of Abdelmalek Rigi.
The group around Rigi(Jundallah) has been responsible in recent years for several kidnappings and attacks in Sistan-e.Baluchistan.





The two Chinese arrested for spying last month are freed.
China's foreign ministry told Reuters in a fax that all was based on a misunderstanding.
In July both men were arrested while taking photographs of military nuclear installations in Arak.


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: investigate?

In Saveh, southwest of Tehran, 3 men are hanged in public.
IRNA reported that they were convicted for rape and that the verdict was endorsed by the Supreme Court.




Armed bandits kidnapped 31 passengers on the Chabahar-Iranshahr road in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
They also attacked a number of passing cars, set them on fire, wounded some of the passengers and took some people hostage.
Fars Newsagency reports that the bandits have abducted the director of the education ministry's regional office in Chabahar, Ali Zare'ee.
A local ministry official said that Za'ee was accompanied by an expert, who was freed, being a Balouchi, while Za'ee is Fars.


Iranian police anti-drug squad has busted an international band of drug traffickers. 90 members of the band were arrested, including 85 individuals from Tanzania, Nigeria, and Ghana, two individuals from Pakistan and three Iranians.
General Hamid Reza Hossein-Abadi told reporters that they have received reports early this year that African nationals smuggled drugs through Iran.
After five months of intensive investigation together with police in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey, they could identify this international network of drug traffickers.



According to an article in The Observer Iran has hanged up to 30 people in the past month.
Many executions have been carried out in public. Opposition sources say at least three of the dead were political activists, contradicting government insistence that it is targeting 'thugs' and dangerous criminals.
The executions have coincided with a crackdown on student activists and academics accused of trying to foment a 'soft revolution' .
The government has also sought to publicise executions conducted behind closed doors. Last month state television broadcast footage of 12 condemned men as they were about to be hanged in Tehran's Evin prison.
However, there have been signs of official disquiet over the recent trend. Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the relatively moderate judiciary chief, has openly criticised President Ahmadinejad's government on a range of issues and also ordered to investigate claims that student activists were tortured during a recent detention in Evin prison.
He also was unhappy over the stoning to death last month of a man convicted of adultery after he had ordered a stay of execution.
However, for the moment it doesn't look like the end of the mass executions is near.
Saeed Mortazavi,Tehran's prosecutor has announced that he is seeking the death penalty against 17 'hooligans'.


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