Iran: disruption

The women’s rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign Rezvan Moghaddam received a suspended sentence of 6 months and 10 lashings for the period of 3 years.She intends to appeal the sentence.
She is one of 32 women who got arrested March 4, 2007.
She was found guilty of illegal gathering and collusion intended to disrupt national security.
Rezvan Moghaddam is the fifth person in this case to receive a sentence.



Mehrnews reported that there was 8% increase in Iran's marriage rate in last Iranian calendaryear(ended March 19, 2008).
There were 798,283 marriages recorded.
There was also a rise of 5% in the country’s divorce rate, compared with the last year.
910,483 divorces were registered.




According to Iran Focus a tornado which struck the village of Bilverdi, East Azerbaijan Province, on Friday, left three women dead.
Several women were travelling from Tabriz to attend a funeral when they were forced to take shelter near a house.
The strong wind forced the wall of the house to collapse leaving six of the women injured.
Three of them died on their way to hospital.



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:distinction

The Iranian minister of roads and transportation announced plans to privatize the country's leading airline, Iran Air.
He said that they are ready to offer the Iran Air Company's shares to interested buyers.
He said that Iran Air, like the country's other airlines, is a profit-making company.
Iran Air, also known as Homa, is Iran's national airlinecompany. It operates flights to 20 scheduled and five charter destinations.
The cargo fleet flies to 35 international and 25 domestic destinations.
The Tehran-based company currently owns 54 aircrafts.



Minister Mohammad Hossein Safar Harandi said at a pressconference that writers have to to self-censor their books if they want to be published in the Islamic republic.
He said publications should be in line with the system's "religious, moral and national" sensitivities and warned writers against graphic descriptions of relationships or sex.
It is a clear violation of the law to give an excessive portrayal of a man and woman's private relationships and subject youth and adults to descriptions of intercourse.
Also if anyone makes fun of religion, be it islam or christianity it should not been allowed opposition to god to be reflected in the media.
He said this in reply to a recent letter from the Tehran Publishers Association complaining that the ministry employed a prolonged and arbitrary vetting process.
All publications in Iran must be approved by the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance. Publishers have complained of tighter censorship of new books in the past few years.
In the past two years, several new titles and reprints have been banned including the latest novel by celebrated Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Memories of My Melancholy Whores."
Various works of Iran's most famous contemporary writer, Sadegh Hedayat, are also been banned.


According to the National Council of Restance in Iran students of the Sahand Technology University in Tabriz entered the 5th day of their hungerstrike.
They protest with this among other things against security guards for insulting female students.
Protesting students chanted "We are angry at those who promote discrimination".
Twenty-one male and four female students are on strike.
Here and here are two videos.
They also protest to suppressive measures at the school against the students and demanded the resignation of the vice-president of cultural affairs and the dean of student affairs.


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: judicial - prejudice

Fars newsagency reported that Sunday two convicted drugstraffickers are hanged in the prison of the city of Qom.
M.N. 47, had been sentenced to death for purchasing and keeping 240 grammes of heroin.
The head of the public relations department of Qom’s prosecution office said that the man had been arrested several times for dealing in different types of narcotics since 1985.
Gh.A. 56, was arrested last year for trafficking opium in a truck disguised with watermelons.



Iran Human Rights reports that Behnood 17,is sentenced to death and will be hanged (fa), for a murder he alledgedly committed when he was 17.
The daily Etemad reported that his execution is planned for May 7.
He is convicted for a murder at Tehran’s Vanak park three years ago.


The daily Etemad reported on Sunday that a 17-year-old boy is sentenced by a court in Tehran to death after stabbing a rival for a girl.
The boy, Savar told the court that he killed the other, but not intentionally.
He asked the family of the victim to forgive him, but the father of the victim refused and said that Safar deserved the punishment.


ISNA newsagency reported that the general prosecutor for Iran warned Sunday for the negative impact which Western toys could have for Iranian children.
The ultra conservative cleric said that the mainly illegal imported toys like Barbie, Batman, Harry Potter and Spiderman might cause irreparable cultural damage.
In a letter to the Vice-President he asked to find alternatives for what he called the "cultural offensive.".
Despite the counter-measures, Western articles like toys, music CDs and DVDs of US movies have boomed in Iran, especially on the black market.

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: grounds

The appeal of Kurdish journalists Hiwa Butimar and Adnan Hasanpour is rejected and they are sentenced to death by Branch one of the Revolutionary Court in Mariwan city for the second time.
They are accused of selling arms to Kurdish guerrilla fighters and connections to the PKK.
According to sources in Kurdistan Hiwa Butimar has been in solitary confinement more then a year and has been tortured.
On the site of Mideastyouth is a template letter which can be sent to Iranian authorities.



The daily Kargozaran reported that at clashes in a electoral district in Ilam province, five people are killed and thirty people were wounded.
The riot started Friday when supporters of a candidate gathered in front of the town hall to demonstrate against rumours that the results would be changed in favour of one of his rivals.
The rumours turned out to be false and the candidate was re-elected to parliament



The Iranian police detained in Gilan province 37 illegal immigrants and deported them immediately to their home countries. The illegal immigrants came from Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Russia, and Bangladesh.
According to official estimates,there are currently two million illegal immigrants in Iran, of which 1.5 million are from Afghanistan.


The commander of the Tehran Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) said that at an action on April 20, more than 1,300 kilograms of opium were seized. The drugs were hidden in a oiltanker.
One man was detained in connection with the trafficking, and police is hunting down the remaining suspects.
Since the beginning of the Iranian New Year, more than two tons of narcotics had been confiscated, and 51 drug dealers were taken into custody.

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: review

Amnesty International calls for urgent action (PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/056/2008) for Hossein Haghi, 21, who is sentenced to death for stabbing another boy to death in a fight in 2004, when he was 16-year-old.
After a petition to review the case was rejected, the case was re-examined, and has now been referred to Branch 33 of the Supreme Court by the Head of the Judiciary.



Press-tv reports that according to the latest results from the run-off Majlis elections, 52 of the Principlist candidates and 30 reformists have won across Iran.
The Iranian minister of internal affairs said that the turn-out at yesterday's election was 5% higher than in the previous round.
The results are here.



Fars newsagency writes that former president Khatami has said on Friday that he plans to withdraw from politics.
He told this to journalists after he voted in parliamentary elections.
He also would not put himself forward for the presidential elections to be held next year.
Khatami said that he intends to withdraw from politics completely and do other things.


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: paper votes, paper voices?

Today has started in Iran the second round of parliamentary (Majlis) elections in 54 constituencies.
About 21 million Iranians are eligible to vote for 82 parliamentary seats out of 164 candidates.
People in Tehran are to choose 11 out of 22 nominees.
Traditionally, the Majlis speakers are chosen from Tehran MPs. This time could be a tough competition between Tehran's MP and the current Majlis speaker Haddad Adel and former top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani who represents Qom in the parliament.



Global Voices online reports that students at Sahand University in Tehran protest against genderapartheid, male and female students cannot attend classes together.
In the blog of Sahel (fa) is a post about the demonstration, it also says that some female students are victims of sexual and moral harrassment by employees.
The photo's are here.



Tuesday, the president of Iran National Library and Archives (INLA) said that Iran’s per capita book reading is two minutes in every 24 hours.
He said this at a conference in Mashhad, he also said that if students reading their schoolbooks are taken into consideration, book reading increases to six minutes per day.
He lamented that the national literacy rate is only 85 percent.
Iran has over 2000 public libraries and publishes at least 3000 copies of each book published.


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: condemnation

Womens rightsactivist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign Nahid Jafari is sentenced by the Thirteenth Branch of the Revolutionary Courts in Tehran to a suspended 6 months and 10 lashings.
She was found guilty of illegal gathering and collusion intended to disrupt national security.
She is the fourth person to receive a sentence, from the arrested 32 other women’s rights activists on March 4, 2007.
Minou Mortazi and Nasrin Afzali, both women’s rights activists, had received similar suspended sentences of 6 months and 10 lashings and Zeynab Payghambarzadeh, a women’s rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, received a 2 year suspended sentence on the same charges.
At least 12 of the 33 women charged in this same case, have been acquitted of charges.
All four women plan to appeal their sentences.


Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, british foreign minister for Africa, Asia and UN, slammed Hillary Clinton for saying in an interview with ABC, that, when she is president of USA, and Iran attacks Israel, she "totally obliterates" Iran.
The interview can be seen at youtube and also in The Guardian be read.

According to Press-tv, Malloch-Brown said among other things that it is not probably prudent in today's world to threaten to obliterate any other country and in many cases civilians resident in such a country.


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: unjustified

According to the newspaper Etemad-e-Melli is in the prison of the city of Isfahan a man hanged.
The man, Hassan M. was convicted for murder.
This morning are 5 men hanged in Evinprison in Tehran.
ISCAnews reported that 10 men should be executed, but 5 men were forgiven by the family.


Adnkronos reports that 75 young people were arrested at a birthdayparty for 'immoral acts'.
Police said the young people were dancing, drinking alcohol and listening to forbidden western music.
While they may not approve of such behaviour at parties, some Muslim clerics consider these kinds of police raids unjustified and an intrusion into people's private lives.


The Iranian parliament speaker,Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, says in an answer to criticism from president Ahmadinejad, that he has not violated the constitution.
Ahmadinejad criticized the Majlisspeaker for giving a list of approved bills to be published in an official newspaper.
The civil code requires the president to sign, issue, and order the publication of passed legislation within five days of receiving it.
If the president fails to do so, the Majlis speaker is required to order its publication.
According to Haddad-Adel, the three endorsed bills had not been published in the official newspaper for two months after being forwarded to the president.
The laws included 'the agreement for civil and criminal legal cooperation between Iran and Kyrgyzstan', 'the agreement to support mutual investment between Iran and Kuwait', and 'the law for registration of industrial designs and trademarks'.



Reporters without Borders condemns the 11 April decision of a criminal court in Sanandaj, to close the Kurdish-language daily Rouji Ha Lat for good on the grounds that it had received money from abroad.The court decided it broke the law by selling copies across the border in the Kurdish part of Iraq.
Three journalists who had been charged with “activity against national security” Farhad Aminpour, Reza Alipour and Saman Solimani were fined 300 euros.


April 16 has a court in Tehran ordered the suspension of the newspaper Rah Ayandeh in response to a complaint brought by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Orientation’s press department.

The bans on the newspapers Rouzegar en Ashtai are lifted.


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: one or the other

IRNA reported that four convicted drug traffickers were hanged in a prison in the city of Kerman on Monday.
Their identity was not revealed.
The amount or kind of narcotics they were convicted of trafficking is also unknown.


The police department of Iran's Kerman province says that the leader of Friday-Prayer of Fahraj, Hojjat ul-Islam Javad Taheri is abducted.
The site Tabnak says that he was abducted late Monday by four Baluchi on the main street of Fahraj.
The police started an investigation.



Tehran Times says that the director of the State Audit Court Mohammad-Reza Rahimi will soon take over the position as interior minister.
A spokesman who wants to be anonymous says that President Ahmadinejad has talked to Rahimi and his appointment to the post has been confirmed.


Drivers in Iran who get convicted of speeding or driving dangerous, face a sentence of 74 lashes or three months to a year in jail.
According to the newspaper Kayhan the chief of traffic police also said that the vehicle will also been sized for a week.
Tthe new measure would come into effect from early May.


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: borders

In Afghanistan is an Afghan teacher killed in a clash between Afghan and Iranian border guards over a small piece of land on the frontier.
This happened Saturday, when, according to the Afghan interior ministry, Iranian border guards claimed a piece of land on the border.
They did not say how much land the Iranians had claimed except that it was not large and added that the Afghan owner, who was using it for farming, had documents proving his ownership.
The Afghan troops sealed off the area.

The Iranian Border Security Forces have arrested 14 Pakistanis on the Iran-Pakistan border. They entered Iran without any legal documents.
According to reports the Pakistani wanted to go via Iran to some European countries in search of job opportunities and a better life.
The Pakistani will be handed over to Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency after preliminary investigation



Iran's national gas exports company managing director said Iran will begin the first gas delivery to Switzerland in 2009.
Iran will export 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas in the first phase of the project.
In the second stage this will increase to 4 billion cubic meters.
Iran and Switzerland signed a contract to export gas for 25 years.
The costs for transiting gas to be delivered thorough Turkey’s pipeline will be paid by Bern.


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: (il)legal

According to the daily Etemad six students of Shahid Rajaei Teacher Training University in Tehran have been summoned by the supervisory committee of the university.
Ruhollah Damavandi, Hadi Sadeghi, Yaser Rigi, Kiumars Fathi, Ahmad Karami and Arman Zahedi are charged with participating in two recent sit-ins.



According to the website of National Council of Resistance of Iran, two former students of Gachsaran University are charged with murder.
Mohammad Kishavarz, 26 and Hamid Nargose-Nejad,25 are detained in the prison of Yasuj.
Familymembers say that both students were very active in anti-government protests during the past year and are at risk of soon being executed.



The 2nd international nanotechnology congress wil be hold October 28 to 30 in Tabriz.
Among other things there will be discussion of recent research results for industrial applications.
During the three-day congress, the participating scientists and experts will review nano-biotechnology, nano-composites, nano-electronics and mechanics, nano-medicine, nano-photonics, nano-scale characterization, nano-scale fabrication, nano-structured materials, nano-sensors and the social impact of nanotechnology.
The congress is organized by Iranian Nanotechnology Society (INS) and the University of Tabriz.


Iranian coast guards has according to Press-tv intercepted 12 boats for illegal fishing near Dayer port, Bushehr province at the Persian Gulf.
12 captains and 46 Asian national crew members were arrested.

More than 100 tons of illegal fish is confiscated.


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