Iran: crash

On Saturday, statetelevision of Iran reported that Friday on a road between Chabahar and Iranshahr in Sistan-Baluchestan a fuel tanker collided with a bus. The tanker was carrying diesel fuel and the two vehicles caught fire.
This killed 14 people and injured 15 others.
Other reports say there are 24 killed and 20 people injured.



An earthquake jolted the town of Masal town in province Gilan early Sunday morning.
It measured 4.2 on the Richter scale.
According to reports, there are no casualties or damage to property.



Workers from the garbage collection of the municipality Tehran spoke to members of parliament complaining that they have been expelled from Tehran Municipality.
The workers, from different provinces, including Sistan-Baluchestan, told reporters that they have worked in Tehran since three months ago but have been replaced by Afghan workers last week.
The workers’ representative said about 3,000 Iranian workers have come to Tehran from other provinces, but the municipality has reemployed the (cheaper) Afghan workers.
Members of parliament will follow up the issue via the Interior Ministry.


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: charges

Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO) made an appeal to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to condemn the wave of executions in Iran and call upon Iranian authorities to halt the imminent execution of Hamzah Sawari, Zamel Bawi, Abdulemam Zaeri and Nazem Boryhi.
The charges against them include hoisting the Ahwazi flag, naming their children Sunni names, converting from Shi'ism to Sunnism and preaching Wahabbism and being "Mohareb" or enemies of god, which carries death sentence.
Other charges are "destabilizing the country", "attempting to overthrow the government", "possession of improvised explosives", "sabotage of oil installations" and being a "threat to national security".
Last year, Mr. Emadeldin Baghi, a leading Iranian human rights activist, wrote in a letter to Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi, that the trials of Ahwazi Arabs were flawed and the charges baseless.
Mr. Nkbakht, a prominent defense lawyer in Iran, made a similar statement.
The EU, the UN, 48 British MPs, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the trials as unjust and unfair and appealed for a halt to further execution.


The Iranian justice system has made public charges against journalists Ako Kurdnasab and Soheil Assefi, more than one month after the two were arrested.
Ako Kurdnasab of the weekly Karfto is according to his lawyer, accused of “espionage”, “acting against national security” and “attempting to overthrow the regime through his journalistic activities”.
Since July he is detained in Sanandajprison with no right to receive visitors.
Soheil Assefi, contributor to several media including online publication Roozonline,is since his arrest in August, detained in ward 209, Evinprison with no right to receive visits from either his family or his lawyer.
He is charged with “publishing false news likely to disturb public opinion”.
Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand, arrested July 1st, still does not know what charges he faces.
At the moment a total of ten journalists are currently behind bars in Iran,
18 September 2007, Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji handed a letter signed by 300 intellectuals to Lynn Pascoe, deputy secretary general at the UN political affairs department calling for an improvement in human rights Iran.
Noam Chomsky, Umberto Eco, Jurgen Habermass and Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor are among the signatories.
At the same time, a collective of more than 100 Iranian journalists released a statement protesting at “illegal pressure”.
Newspaper editors have said they will not accept “orders from judicial or security authorities instructing them to prevent some journalists from working.”


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: option

In Babol, Mazandaran province are three men hanged in public.
Newsagency Fars said the men Hadi Jafartabar, Mirhadi Mirtaghi en Shojae Moussavizadeh, were convicted for the rape of 12 women.
Under customary Islamic practice, executions are not to take place during the month of Ramadan.


Last Wednesday Iran has signed the Optional Protocol of UNICEF's Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The Optional Protocol deals with the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
122 other countries have officially joined the protocol, which will be put into effect on October 25, 2007.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989.
Iran signed the convention in 1991.


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: filter

The website of RadioFreeEurop/RadioLiberty says that the Iranian "blogosphere" is full of criticism of Iranian President Ahmadinejad's activities and remarks during his visit to New York City this week.
Various bloggers were cited in this article, but lacking webaddresses, verification is hard.

Also on the site are addresses which are blocked for viewers in Iran:
www.orkut.com
www.youtube.com
www.flickr.com
The Kurdish version of Wikipedia's online encyclopedia www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish
www.amnesty.org,
Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org,
Reporters Without Borders www.rsf.org,
The official website of the Tahkim Vahdat Organization, the largest reformist university organization in Iran www.advarnews.us.
The www.gozaar.org website, a monthly Persian-English journal about democracy and human rights,
The www.meydaan.com website, a Persian site dedicated to women's rights and activism in Iran.
News and Political webstes:
The Persian language service from BBC, Voice of America, Radio Farda, Radio Zamaneh, www.Roozonline.com, www.Baztab.ir and the portal www.gooya.com.
Numerous personal weblogs from around the world:
www.doomdam.com (satirical blog in Farsi)
www.kosoof.com (photo blog)
www.khorshidkhanoom.com(Farsi)
www.z8un.com(Farsi)
www.sibiltala.blogspot.com
www.kamangir.net(English)
www.jomhour.org(Farsi)



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: open or closed

ISNA reported that Iran released Iranian-American Ali Shakeri.
He was released Monday night after his family posted bail of about $107,000.
He still needed permission from a judge to leave Iran.
Ali Shakeri was detained in Evinprison since May.





Iran closed major border crossings with northern Iraq to protest the US detention of an Iranian by US forces. He was detained on suspicion of smuggling sophisticated roadside bombs to militias fighting US troops. At least four border gates have been closed.
This has great consequences for local economy. There are a huge number of trucks waiting to cross the border. Kurdish authorities say the closed crossing points are near Banjiwin, Haj Omran, Halabja and Khanaqin.



A team of archaeologists has recently identified 100 ancient sites at the Seimareh Dam reservoir in Ilam Province.
The sites have been identified as belonging to a whole array of historical eras including Neolithic, Bronze Age, Copper Age, Stone Age, Parthian, Sassanid, and early Islamic.
The Seimareh Dam has been constructed over the river Seimareh and is located near the city of Darehshahr; the filling of the dam has been scheduled to commence by the end of the Iranian year (March 19, 2008).
The dam's height is 180 metres and has a 3215 million square meter water capacity.


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: president

Today the video of president Ahmadinejad at Columbia University, saying that there are no homosexuals in Iran.
He said so when he was asked about the nearly 200 executions this year, among them homosexuals.
He held a speech and answered on students questions.



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: governmental

The Iranian government will allow the wife of Robert Levinson to travel to Iran. She wants to go there to search for him herself.
Robert Levinson disappeared from Kish Island in March.
The Iranian government says that no sign of her husband's presence in Iran had been found, but his wife says this is in contradiction with an earlier rapport that he had left his hotel on Kish on March 8 by taxi.



Mehrnews reported that the website of Baztab news, a news website critical of President Ahmadinejad, is shut down.
After the April ban it was already inaccessible to users inside Iran.
The last newsupdate on the site is September 22.
Iran-daily reports that the website has been sealed on the order of the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Government Employees following a complaint lodged by the Presidential Office against Baztab.



Iranian motorists will from Sunday be able to buy an extra 100 liters of subsidized gasoline in a one-off allocation in addition to a monthly quota of 100 liters.
Saturday Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said that motorists would be allocated the extra fuel as a one-off "travel quota" to be used before the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2008).
He also said that the Oil Ministry has been ordered to allocate an additional 100-litre gasoline quota to the quota of private cars.


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: press

Human Righs Watch published a pressrelease in which she calls Iran to immediately release Ali Shakeri or charge him.
Ali Shakeri is held in detention for more than four months without charge and since then is in solitary confinement in Evinprison.
He is held without charging him with any offense or giving him access to counsel.




Also since May are four student journalists in Evinprison.
Soheil Assefi, 24 years, student and blogger was arrested August 4.
Majid Tavakoli, Ahmad Ghassaban and Ehsan Mansouri have been in Evin 209 since May, on charges of insulting state leaders, inciting public opinion, and printing inflammatory and derogatory materials in student publications.They have consistently maintained that the publications were forged and that they had no role in producing them.
Today Mehrnews newsagency reported that the trial of the three Iranian students has started in Tehran.
They have been charged with acting against national security and insulting Islam.



Studentnewsagency ISNA reported that two children of Che Guevara are visiting Iran and are due to meet with top officials.
They will meet Culture Minister Mohammad Hossein Safar Harandi, as well as with a deputy minister of foreign affairs and several lawmakers.
They started their trip by visiting the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini just outside Tehran.




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: success

Healthauthorities in Iran said that Iran has been one of the most successful countries in AIDSprevention..
According to the Chairman of Iran's AIDS Control Bureau, Iran has been the most successful country in the Middle East, North Africa and Mediterranean region.
The ministry of education has scheduled plans to provide the country's students, teenagers in particular, with adequate information about the infection and its deadly consequences.
Recently is in Iran a herbal medicine introduced that improves the human immunity system against the killer virus and can be used alongside other anti-retroviral drugs.


Four computer projects of researchers of Tehran University, Islamic Azad University, Sharif University of Technology and Iranian Informatics Center are taken part of the semi-final of an International Computer Competition.
The first stage was during a venue of International Inventors in Switzerland.
Iran ranked second and is part of the semi-final in Taiwan on September 24-28.



IRNA reported that Iran successfully completed a test flight of two domestically manufactured fighter jets. The jets are a new generation of the Azarakhsh jet fighters, called the Saegheh.
Both Azarakhsh and Saegheh mean lightening in Farsi.
The two will officially join the air force on Saturday.


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: humans and rights

September 17 Amnesty International published a report about Human Rights abuses against the Baluchi Minority in Iran.
In this report Amnesty writes recommendations as for the Iranian Government, as for the armed oppositiongroup Jondallah, Iranian Peoples’ Resistance Movement (Jonbesh-e Moqavemat-e Mardom-e Iran), as for the international community, to improve the human rights situation.
The text can be found
here (English)) and
here (Persian, pdf).
Also there will be a one and half hour TV program about Human Rights abuses in Balochistan (Iran).
The broadcast is through satellite on Tishk TV (The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran):
22 September, 2007 ; at 20:30 ECT , 19:30 UK time , 22:00 Iran time.
The subject: The recent Amnesty International report on Human Rights violation and atrocities by the Iranian regime in Balochistan.
More info.



Human rights activist Peter Tatchell wrote a column on The Guardiansite about the last week executed three Ahwaz-Arabs in Iran, just days after a visit from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour.

An interview on Talking With Tatchell TV with Dr Karim Abdian of the Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO), held on August 17, subject: ethnic cleansing in Khuzestan(Ahwaz) can be viewed
here (English).


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: assumability

Yesterday Iran released the American Kian Tajbakhsh,. He was detained since May on security-related charges.
Earlier this month was Haleh Esfandiari who was detained on the same accusations, released and returned to America.
Past Monday, the reporter Parnaz Azima was finally allowed to leave Iran and returned to America. She was stuck in Iran since February.
Kian Tajbakhsh had been detained for more than 130 days and had been held in solitary confinement.
There is still one American, Ali Shakeri, detained at this moment in Iran.
Also there is still no sign of missing Robert Levinson.He got missing on Kish Island.


City officials in New York have denied Iranian President Ahmadinejad's request to visit the site of the destroyed World Trade Center and lay a wreath next week.
CNN reported that the request is denied because workers are rebuilding the foundations of the site, and admittance is impossible. Also there are security risks.


Human Rights Watch urged that Iran should immediately end practices aimed at barring Bahaí students from attending universities.
Some 800 Bahaí students are prevented from obtaining their educational records and completing the university admission process. The test is a national matriculation exam required for admission to Iran's universities.
The deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch says that this week, as universities begin the new academic year, hundreds of Iranian students will be absent from campuses because of religious discrimination.
The 2007 National Entrance Examinations were administered on June 28-30, and the National Education Measurement and Evaluation Organization made the first results available on their site on July 31. Some 800 students of the Bahaí faith logged on to the website, they received an error message informing them that their files were incomplete.
Three of them told Human Rights Watch that authorities at the National Education Measurement and Evaluation Organization did not respond to numerous phone calls and letters requesting clarification about why their test results were inaccessible.
Two other students who inquired in person in Tehran told Human Rights Watch that officials said explicitly that they had been targeted because they were Bahais.


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: time

A Dutch company is charged by the USA for violation of the trade-embargo of Iran.
The company has been accused of exporting parachutes, aircraft parts and equipment to Iran. The charges also include making false statements on export control documents.
An arrest warrant has been issued forthe managing director of the company.
The charges are for Aviation Services International B.V and the other defendants are Delta Logistics L.V. en TPC, B.V.
The company claims to be not guilty to the charges.



In the past Iranian calendaryear Iran privatized 12 petrochemical companies.
They accounted for 35 percent of the sector’s subsidiaries.
The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) reported that the petrochemical companies of Khorassan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Bisotun in Kermanshah, Fanavaran, Shahid Tondguyan, Amir-Kabir, Razi in Mahshahr, and Ghadir in Assaluyeh will be offered in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) by the end of current year.
The NPC plans to privatize over 60 companies.



The Guardian Council has approved a law to reinstate daylightsaving time , a measure scrapped by President Ahmadinejad in 2006.
Parliament passed a bill in August demanding the practice be reintroduced.
The Guardian Council has found the bill on the official time change was not against (Islamic) sharia (law) or the constitution, so approved it.
Daylight saving time, when clocks move forward by one hour, previously began in Iran on March 21 and clocks were put back an hour again on Sept. 22.


The court in Shiraz sentenced two teenagers to death on the charges of rape and murder. Reza, 16, and Mohammed, 18, confessed to have raped 9-year-old Karim and 10-year-old Mohammed, tying them up and then tossing them into the river in Marvdasht town to drown them.
There were two other suspects in the crime, one of whom was acquitted and the other sentenced to flogging.

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: view

Another four Ahwazi-Arabs accused of taking part in a series of bombattacks in 2005 are in imminent danger of execution.
Hamzeh Savari, Zamel Bavi, Abdolmam Zaeri and Nazem Barihi could be executed at the end of this week.




The EU has made a declaration which says that the EU is deeply concerned by the news of the imminent execution of Behnam Zare, who was sentenced to death by a judge of the Shiraz Court for a crime committed when he was a minor.
The EU also calls on the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the advent of the month of Ramadan, to announce a temporary halt to all executions in order to initiate an urgent review of Islamic Republic of Iran's international position and to remind the Judiciary of Iran's international obligations.

Mehrnews reported that Iran has blocked access to the Google search engine and its Gmail email service as part of a clampdown on material deemed to be offensive,
Hamid Shahriari, the secretary of Iran's National Council of Information. said that he could confirm that these sites have been filtered," though he didn't say why.
Newsagency Fars reported that due to an error, the Google site was "filtered" on Sunday evening. The error was corrected and now Google and its different sites like Gmail can be used.
Iranian weblogs tell that both Google and G-mail still are unreachable from Iran.
Screenshot
The message is on this site(Farsi).



Yesterday a bus left London for the longest bustrip ever. The journey goes from London to Sydney, 15,000-miles, a 84-day trip with various stops underway for sight-seeing on different locations. For each of the intervening 84 days, it will average just 180 miles.
One of the 20 countries which the bus visits, is Iran.
The bus will cross Iran’s border in the northwest. then Tabriz, Isfahan and Shiraz. Further it will continue the tour by a final stop in Bam. Then through Iran’s east border in Sistan va Baluchistan province it will head for Pakistan.


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: recognize

The Iranian police has over the past five months, as part of a campaign against immorality, seized hundreds of alcoholsmugglers.
Newsagency Fars reported that 53 groups of alcohol traffickers have been dismantled and 435 people are arrested.
943.000 bottles of alcohol were seized.
Alcohol is forbidden in Iran. Only recognized christian minorities, like for instance Armenians are allowed to produce and consume alcohol discretely.



Since April, Iran broadcasts a television series about a young Iranian diplomate, situated in Paris 1940, who with forged passports helps Jews escape from the Holocaust.The name of the series is "Zero Degree Turn". The series is, though fictional, based on a true story of diplomats in the Iranian Embassy in Paris in the 1940s who gave out about 500 Iranian passports for Jews to use to escape.
Also because of the love story woven in the series, it is a great success.
About 25,000 Jews live in Iran, the largest Jewish community in the Middle East after Israel. They have one representative in parliament.
For the first time, many actresses appear without the state-mandated Islamic dress code. The producers wanted to realistically portray 1940s Paris, and thus avoided the headscarves and head-to-foot robes that all women must normally wear on Iranian TV.
The series has won support even from hardliners.
The series could not have aired without being condoned by Iran's clerical leadership. The state broadcaster is under the control of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomenei, who has final say in all matters inside Iran.
Photo AP

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