Iran: datum

October 29 is in the prison of Isfahan a juvenile offender hanged.
The official website of the Isfahan judiciary reports that Gholamreza H, an Afghan citizen, 19, is hanged for a murder, he committed when he was 17.




The two in June arrested physicians Kamyar en Arash Alaei, are still imprisoned in Evinprison, section 209.
A court date has not yet been assigned.
They are suspected from attempting to undermine the Islamic Republic by cooperating with non-governmental organizations which are influenced by the United States government.
Further details are still unknown.


Ten years ago, in September 1998 the residences of many Bahai families were raided by security guards and religious books,videos, photos and other personal belongings were confiscated.
Exactly ten years later, September 28, 2008 was the Bahai cemetary Golestan Javid,Isfahan, destroyed by unknown individuals.
2500 trees and bushes were cut down and destroyed, windows of a building were smashed and the walls blackened.
Six years ago he trees in this location were also cut down and taken away.

More then 1000 medical students in Tehran signed a petition, protesting the manner of investigation of the dead of dr.Zahra Bani-Yaghoub.
The petition is delivered by the Committee of Mothers in the OneMillionSignature Petition Campaign, Mothers for Peace, and representatives of the Iranian Women’s Center to the office of Hashemi Shahroudi, the head of the judicial branch.
Zahra Bani-Yaghoub, a physician died one year ago under suspicious circumstances in the detentioncenter of the police in Hamedan, after being arrested of malveiling.


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: man, woman, society

During a discussion about the impeachment of Interior Minister Ali Kordan, was Mohammad Abbasi, head of the Government's Office in parliament, who was trying to collect votes in favor for Kordan, attacked by a lawmaker from Tehran.
The official said he would file a lawsuit.
Kordan announced on Wednesday that he would never step down.
At an interview with Fars newsagency, member of parliament Avaz Heidarpour denied the attack and in turn accused Abbasi of paying US$5,000 in bribes to lawmakers in a bid to encourage them to withdraw their support from the impeachment motion.
These accusations were dismissed by Abbasi and another member of parliament, saing that the payment was part of the government's aid to the mosque construction projects in the parliamentarians' constituencies.




Human Rights Watch is concerned about the increasing pressure on woman rights activist in Iran.
In the past three years moren then 100 woman's rights activists were prosecuted and detained.

Ronak Safarzadeh and Hana Abdi remain detained in the city of Sanandaj, Kurdestan province , and Zeynab Beyezidi is imprisoned in Mahabad.




Other women are not allowed to leave the country, like Sussan Tahmasebi, who for the fourth time in two years is prevented from leaving the country.
Esha Momeni is arrested in Tehran and transferred to Evinprison, without having been charged with any offence.
The house of Parastoo Alahyaari is searched and she was presented with a summons to appear in court immediately.

All these women are members of One Million Signatures Campaign, a women's rights organization, founded by Iranian women to collect signatures in Iran, to raise awareness of Iranian laws that sanction discrimination against women.



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: future

80 boutiques in Hamedan, selling Tanakora outfits, a martial arts style outfit, popular among youths in Iran, are shutdown by State Security Forces (SSF) on Monday.
Most of these shops were owned by elderly citizens.
Some of the shop owners resisting the shutdown, were arrested and transferred to prison.



BBC published a video-interview with the mother of Mostafa Naqdi, a minor who was sentenced to death for killing another boy when he was 15 year old.
Mohammad Mostafaie is the defending lawyer of 25 young people, all facing the death penalty.
The interview can be read here.


According to PressTV, ex-president Khatami said during a visit to Freiburg, Germany that he is not inclined to run for president in the next election in Iran.
But he added that one never knows what the future brings.


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: trade

In the prison of the city of Mashhad, Khorasan province is October 27 one man hanged.
He was sentenced to death for murdering his father.

In the prison of the city of Zahedan, Sistan-e-Baluchestan province are October 27 two men hanged.
Newsagency Fars reported that the men, A.M. en Kh.N. were convicted for drugstrafficking.




The Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) opened a tradecenter in Rotterdam.
In the tradecenter is also a permanent exhibition of Iranian-made export goods and other services for streamlining the trade activity of Iranians residing in the Netherlands.



In Semnan province are 14 abattoirs for livestock and poultry.
There are 10 abattoirs for livestock. The daily capacity per abattoir is 551 heads of light cattle and 32 heads of heavy livestock.
In the poultry abattoirs, 8,400 chickens are slaughtered per hour.



Past week are on the Iranian silver bourse 76.391 tons of steel, copper, zinc, barley, maize, oily seeds meal, tar, poly-ethylene and gold traded with a value of 650,997,902,000.00 IRR (52.936.642. EUR).
All transactions of the bourse showed a decrease by 60 percent in volume and 53 percent in value.


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: investigation

The Principalists bloc in Iranian parliament has voted in favor of impeachment of Interior Minister Ali Kordan.
November 4 he will face an impeachment vote.
The session will take 5 hours of which Kordan can use 3 hours to defend himself. President Ahmadinejad will also be present.
Kordan faces impeachment for possessing a forged Oxford University degree.



October 18, the house of Parastoo Alahyaari, a member of the Campaign was searched and a laptop, CDs,pictures and documents were seized.
Alahyaari, a member of the Volunteer Committee of the Campaign in Tehran,was at her work, but immediately came home after she was telephoned.She was summoned to appear in court immediately, where she was interrogated by Mr. Sobhani the investigative judge in charge of her case.Later that day she was released while she had to go on a business trip, but she is expected to turn herself in to the courts for more interrogation upon her return.
Friday, October 17, Alahyaari along with other members of the Volunteers Committee, was in Laleh Park, where they were approached by security agents who told them to leave the park.
Alahyaari and another member of the volunteers were asked to submit identification cards to the police, simply because one of the volunteers asked why they were being ordered to go.
It happens repeatedly that security agents go to the homes of members of the Volunteer Committee of the Campaign, to break up their meeting or deny public space in the form of conference halls and office space to convene their meetings.
This is why these volunteers decided to meet in Laleh Park.


Women’s rights defender and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, Sussan Tahmasebi was prevented from traveling on Imam Khomeini International Airport tovisit her family and speak at several conferences on the One Million Signatures Campaign and women’s rights in Iran.
Her passport was restrained and when she returned home, 5 security agents presented a court order to search her home. A laptop, CD's books, papers and other personal belongings were taken.
They also presented her a summons, which requires that she present herself to Security Branch of the Revolutionary Courts within three days.


According to Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, lawyer to Esha Momeni, her parents said that she is accused over her activities in the women's signature campaign.
The lawyer was still not allowed to visit her.
Momeni was arrested October 15 and is detained in Evinprison. She holds both Iranian and US nationality.
The Iranian minister of foreign affairs said today that he had still not been informed of her situation by the judiciary.
Last year were four Iranians with American citizenship arrested and detained for more then 100 days.



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: rumors and facts

October 25th, 23,47 local time, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5 on Richterscale, occurred near the port of Kong, Hormuzgan province.
Reports say that 8 people got wounded.



Amirkabirnews report that political activist Mohammad Ali Mansouri is sentenced to 17 years in prison in exile in Gordasht for having participated to commemmorate the political prisoners massacre in 1988.
In september 2007 he was arrested, three days after the memorial.
He spent 4 months in solitary confinement in Evinprison section 209.
According to members of his family he has been subjected to violence during his detention.



The September 12 in his Tehran house arrested Hasan Rahimi,a member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, was released from Evin prison October 16, after paying a bailbond.He was last detained along with eighteen other well-known activists from Azerbaijan during a fast-breaking session.
Ninety days ago the ethnic rightsactivist Sajad Radmehr was arrested. Reports say that he has a bad medical condition as a result of physical and psychological torture.
judicial and security authorities have not given any information about his charges or the location where he is being kept.
He is an ex-member of Islamic Society in the Technical University, a member of the Paper Media Review Board in Azerbaijan, a central council member of Sahand Literary Society in Tabriz University, and the managing editor and editor of a number of university publications.
October 14 ended the two-months detention of Amir Mardani, a student active on ethnic issues.
However he was not released and judicial authorities have not taken any action to release him or extend his detention.


PressTV reports that former Iranian foreign minister Ali-Akbar Velayati will not run in the upcoming presidential elections.
Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani has also confirmed that he will not stand for election.
At the moment only secretary-general of Iran's National Confidence Party, Mehdi Karroubi, is the only candidate.
Whether the former president Khatami will run in the elections, is still unclear.
Maybe the major of Tehran Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf will also run for presidency.
President Ahmadinejad himself also can run for another term, he did not confirm yet that he will participate in the election.



According to CNN president Ahmadinejad is ill from exhaustion. An aide told that it is not as serious as political opponents suggest,
Various reports say that the president is ill, but Saturday he attended a religious ceremony in Tehran and today state TV also showed him.
Monday he turns 53 years.



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: desk-job

Gulamrza Amani (35), an activist of Azeri in Iran, died in a car accident.
Reports say that the accident occurred near Tabriz.
Amani was one of the activists of the movement for the rights of Iranian Azerbaijanis.
He was arrested several times for his political views and last detained in May, 2006.



A report made by an Iranian inspector in Iran confirmed that the activities from the in 2006 arrested group of Bahaí were strictly humanitarian in nature and did not involve the “illegal” teaching of the Baha’i Faith.
In 2006 a group of moslims and Bahaí were arrested, the moslims were released and 54 Bahaí were detained.
In 2007 they stood trial and three of the Bahaí,Haleh Rouhi, Raha Sabet, and Sasan Taqva were sentenced to prisonterms.Later a government spokesman said they had been engaged in anti-government "propaganda.”
The report said that the group was only engaged in humanitarian work for underprivileged youth in Shiraz. The group held classes in writing, drawing, hygiene and so on.
The confidential report, dated June 16th, 2008 and addressed to the representative of the Supreme Leader in Fars province and the imam Jum'ih of Shiraz, says that all of those interviewed for this investigation, indicated there was no mention of the Baha’i Faith during the classes.
The original report can be found here (fa).



According to information received from section A-D in Isfahan Prison, many bazaar merchants and young people who had participated in the demonstrations held in Isfahan Bazaar, are being detained and transported to this section of the prison.
At this moment they all are in solitary confinement.This section, like section 209 in Evin Prison, is managed by the Ministry of Intelligence.
The political prisoners are tortured in here and have no access to a lawyer or family.
Also Omid Khodaei, 29 was transferred to this section on the eve of his execution, October 14th, when he was hanged.



Hasan Zebhi, deputy prosecutor of Iran, told that over one hundredthousand people are banned from traveling or conducting transactions outside of Iran.
He also said that the cases are being reviewed in an effort to reduce the total numbers.
Sanction orders issued by subordinate Islamic organizations must be cleared with the deputy prosecutor’s office.
He said that the passport office is ordered not to accept any traveling sanction from any office, even on security-related cases.Such orders can only be issued by the deputy prosecutor’s office.
This prevents various agencies from taking any action on their own so that peoples’ rights are respected.
Also a traveling or a tradingban for economical reasons must be ordered by the deputy prosecutor’s office. After the revolution the central bank was mandated to issue a traveling ban against people who owed a bank. The order is still in effect.
The rule will be for six months, which, if necessary, may be extended.


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: issues

The president of California State University has issued a statement of great concern about the arrest of Esha Momeni.
October 15th, Esha Momeni was arrested in Tehran.
He states that Esha Momeni is a US-citizen, who is arrested while conducting research as part of her Master’s degree requirements in Mass Communications at California State University, Northridge.Her thesis is focused on women’s issues in Iran.
He also stated that the university supports the efforts of the American government to secure Ms. Momeni’s immediate release.



The Iranian Labor minister said Thursday in the financial newspaper Sarmayeh that at the moment more the 1 out of 10 people is jobless.
The unemployment rates are risen this summer from 9.6% to 10.2%.
He said that 15.6 % of those without work were university graduates, but gave no further details.
In March it was said there was a continuing decline in unemployment rate compared to the same month in the previous year.



Wednesday Iran forced a Belarusian fighter jet , a Ilyushin Il-76, to land on a airfield near Bushehr.The fighterjet violated Iranian airspace.
The plane was carrying a Belarusian military delegation to Doha in Qatar.
Members of the military delegation aboard the plane were interrogated by Iranian officials before they were permitted to leave Iran.
Belarus' Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to Belarus, who apologized and assured that Tehran would conduct a comprehensive investigation into the incident, which he said occurred due to lack of coordination.


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: outspoken

Newspapers Etemad and Kargozaran report that the execution of Reza Alinejad is imminent.In 2003, when he was 17-year-old, he stabbed another boy, he claims in selfdefense.
He was sentenced to death, the verdict was thrown by the supreme court and the case sent to another court. The other court sentenced him to death and this time the verdict was approved by the supreme court.
The head of justice Hashemi Shahroudi has now approved the death sentence and sent the execution order to the prison where Reza is being held.


A Malaysian university has cancelled a scheduled speech by the Iranian human rights defender Nobel Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi entitled Islam and Cultural Diversity .
The University of Malaya has withdraw the invitation and an official said that the Malayan foreign office sent a letter "strongly advising" the organisers not to go ahead with the speech.
The vice-chancellor of the university told the French news agency AFP that the decision was made "out of respect for our Iranian students, who were not very happy".
The speech was supposed to begin a series of talks with speeches from among others Nobel laureate President Jose-Ramos Horta of East Timor and American activist Jesse Jackson.


Iraq has imported over half of the handicrafts produced in Hamadan over the past 6 months.
Hanmade glassware, wooden and leather handicrafts have been the main categories of exports to Iraq over the past two years.
France ranks second with imports for stone, ceramic and clay products.
Italy and Turkey come next with most of their purchases to ceramic and clay goods. Hamadan is known for her pottery since pre-history.
The city of Hamadan was founded by the Medes and was the capital of the Median empire around 600 BC.
After that Hamadan became one of the capital cities of the Achaemenid Dynasty.(558-330BC).


On the website of the National Council for Resistance in Iran is the report that a former member of the Research Division of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), Reza Malek made the shocking confession that during the execution of political prisoners in Iran 33,500 people were murdered.
He made this confession on a videotape addressed to the Secretary General of UNO.
Malek worked for MOIS during the time that Ali Fallahian was minister.
He was a collegue of Saeed Emami and was after Emami was arrested in connection to
the chain murders, arrested and transferred to section 209 of Evin Prison, which is led by MOIS and kept 7 years in solitary confinement.
In this video Malek says there are between 170 to 190 mass graves in various locations.
In Tehran alone, there are 100 secret prisons and torture chambers affiliated with the MOIS.
In the video addressed to Ban ki Moon he speaks about an underground expand of section 209 with soundproof cells and torturechambers.
He also said that 170 to 190 massgraves contains truckloads full of bodies.They included 11-12 year old children and pregnant women.
Malek says that this is the result of the velayat-e faqih (absolute clerical rule) regime, which has subjected all that is humane to death and destruction.

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: the nature of the beast

Iranian security forces arrested two pigeons near the Natanz nuclear facility.
One of the pigeons was caught near a rose water production plant in the city of Kashan in Isfahan province.
Daily Etemad Melli wrote that metal rings and "invisible" strings were attached to the bird, suggesting that the bird communicated what it had seen.
Earlier this month, a black pigeon was caught also bearing rings with invisible strings.
Last year there were reports of spying squirrels.



About ten villages have been destroyed by heavy bombardments of the Iranian army near Zahedan, Sistan-e-Baluchistan province.
Since October 11th, when the bombardment has started, shootings take place, and the government tries to prevent the news from spreading, they only showed a picture of four killed members of Jundullah.
According to Jundullah more then forty security forces died and as many are wounded. Also a helicopter was shot.
Balochistan PeoplesParty says that electricity in the area as well as all telephone links are cut off.
The clashes in the area started after Sjiite militias demolished a Sunni mosque and school near the city of Zabol at August 27, 2008.
Over the past three years, hundreds of people have been executed or are in prison without having the right to have a lawyer.
In Sistan-e-Baluchistan most people are sunni moslim and the majority of people in Iran are shia.



Esha Momeni,, member of the OneMillionSignatures Campaign and a student from California was arrested on Wednesday October 15, 2008, while on a visit to Tehran.
She was pulled over on Moddaress highway, by "under cover traffic police" on the pretense that she had unlawfully passed another vehicle while driving.
After her arrest she was transferred to Evinprison. Prior to this, officials with a searchwarrant searched her home and seized property, including her computer and films which were part of her thesis project.

While security forces had promised Esha’s family that she would be released quickly if news of her arrest was not published, the news came out with a delay.
Two months ago she came to Iran to visit her family and to work on her Masters thesis project, focused on the Iranian women’s movement.
To this end she had conducted video interviews with members of the One Million Signatures Campaign in Tehran.
Friends of Esha established a weblog (for Esha) as a support for her release.


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