Iran: counting

Ex-president Mohammad Khatami and the head of the reformist National Confidence Party, Mehdi Karroubi, wrote a joint letter to the Guardian Council, calling for a recount of votes in the capital Tehran.
ISNA reported that the letter asked for recount of all votes in Tehran and if this is not possible a random recount of ballot boxes in the presence of the candidates' representatives.
Conservatives took 19 of the 30 seats available in Tehran.
The rest will be decided by a run-off vote in around a month.
The conservative news website Tabnak wrote that 19 conservative candidates only achieved the minimum required 25 percent cut-off because 170,000 void or blank ballots were ignored.
According to Tabnak, only 11 conservative MPs should have been elected in the first round in Tehran.

Amnesty International, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) are calling on the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mahmoud Salehi, the former leader of the Saqez Bakers’ Union, who was imprisoned in 2007 for the pursuit of legitimate trade union activities.
Mahmoud Salehi, who has serious long term medical concerns, is now on a total hunger strike and there are serious fears for his safety.
He went on hunger strike after he was summoned to appear for questioning by Branch 4 of the Sanandaj Courts on 17 March 2008 when, new charges were issued against him.
He is accused of ‘communicating with those outside prison for the purposes of issuing messages of solidarity’ for other individual prisoners on hunger strike and students facing arrest.
It looks like the new charges have to justify a continued detention of Mahmoud Salehi.
23 March 2008 release date, when he will have completed a one year prison sentence.
Amnesty International, the ITUC and the ITF are calling on the Iranian authorities also for the immediate and unconditional release of Mansur Osanloo, leader of the Tehran bus workers’ union, who is imprisoned since 2007.


March 21 will the Daylight Savings Time (DST)(summertime) be adjusted for Iran; the clocks will be adjusted forward one hour.
President Ahmadinejad had abolished summertime, but the Parliament approved the bill in August 2007.
The official Iranian time will change once at the beginning of the Iranian calendar year, and once again at the start of the second half of each year, on September 23.

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