Iran: cost

Various unofficial newssites report that December 26 two people were stoned to death at a cemetary in Mashhad.
A third man, who was also sentenced to death by stoning, managed to rescue himself by pulling himself out of the hole.
Iran Human Rights is investigating the details.


Iranian judiciary confirmed the arrest of Hossein Derakhshan, nicknamed the "Blogfather".
Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said at a newsconference that Derakhshans case is in a preliminary investigative stage at a revolutionary court and that he is currently in incarceration in a jail in Tehran.
Other reports mention that Derakhshans was arrested November 1st.
The spokesman did not give further details.


Iranian students did temporarily occupy Gholhak Garden at the British Embassy in Tehran.
A spokesman of the British Foreign Office confirmed this.
Nobody of the British was hurt.
According to a student this happened to protest against the British government's support for the Israeli attacks on Gaza.


The Iranian Parliament has approved a bill presented by President Ahmadinejad to eliminate the subsidy on basic commodities.
Tuesday he presented a new bill to cut costly energy subsidies and redistribute a larger portion of the sum among citizens.
The bill is part of an economic reform plan of which the government claims it would enable to reduce dependence on oil revenues and tackle the country's root economic problems, including rising inflation.
Part of the sum will be spent on creating job opportunities, expanding the public transportation system and raising non-oil exports.
The newspaper Etemad wrote that the deputy director of Iranian Central Bank said that if the bill is approved, prices of vital supplies such as gasoline and electricity will dramatically increase and that inflation will rise 11 to 15%.
In recent weeks, the inflation rate has reached almost 30 %.


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: quantity

In the prison of the city of Ardebil is December 27 a man hanged.
The newspaper Etelaat reported that the man, Alireza Khosrozadegan was convicted of drugtrafficking.




The suicidebombing which Monday took place at a policestation in Saravan, Sistan-e-Baluchestan province is claimed by the Jundollahgroup.
Four people got killed, two of them were policemen.



A 75-year-old Iranian pathologist and Shiraz University professor has been donating blood for 53 years.
He now holds the worldrecord for donating blood.
Not only he donates twice the normal amount of 250cc, he is doing this every month for 53 years.
He says that if a human being has 5 liter of blood in his body, he has been giving blood for 17 people in these years.



Iranmania writes that 3.9 million tonnes of products worth around $2.4 billion have been exported via Khuzestan Province.
According to IRINN the main products were petrochemicals, minerals, metal products, agricultural products, industrial goods, and handicrafts.
The countries they have been exported to are European countries, Central Asia, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Kuwait.


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: explosion

The daily Kayhan reported that in Nikshahr, Sistan-e-Baluchestan province, a man is hanged in public.
The man Abdolrahman Baluch Zehi was sentenced to death for the murder in October on a woman and her daughter.
It was not said when the date of execution was.


Newspaper The Guardian.uk reports that Irans National Youths Organization has found out that one in four men aged 19 to 29 had experienced sex before marriage. In 13% of these cases this resulted in unwanted pregnancies that led to abortions.
The average marrying age had risen to 40 for men and 35 for women.
These figures were announced at a conference about family values.
Later these findings were dismissed as based on an unrepresentative sample and media that reported them were attacked.
Iran has around 15 million single young people and 1.5 million more are becoming eligible for marriage each year.
The government recommends a marrying guideline age of 29, seven million people have already past this age.
The government has already tried to boost the marriage rate by providing cheap "weddingloans" and to establish marriage bureaux to help people find partners.



In the city of Zarin, Isfahan province has an explosion destroyed a military compound.This happened Saturday night.
At least nine workers were killed.
The bodies of the dead have yet to be recovered.
Officials are investigating the cause of the explosion.



In the city of Saravan, Sistan-e-Baluchestan province, a suicide attack has killed two policeofficers and wounded 20 others.
The bomber tried to enter the policedepartment with his car.
The bomb went off and he was killed in the explosion.





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: causes

Last week 549 people died in Tehran due to heart and respiratory problems. According environmental experts this is because of air pollution.
Mehrnews reported that 481 of these people died of heartproblems.
Despite rainfall in the end of last week, airpollution in Tehran has reached a dangerous level.
The Ministry of Health warns that both the government and private organizations are legally obliged to regularly follow up the issue of air pollution.
It is almost impossible to blame airpollution as the solely cause of death.
The minister said that his ministry does not blame other institutions for problems related to air pollution, but issues warnings when the situation is critical.



According to reports Ebrahim Madadi is arrested (en) , (fa) from the Employment Office in Tehran by plain-clothed security personnel. Madadi is Vice-President of the ITF-affiliated Tehran Bus Workers' Union (Vahed Syndicate).
Two Executive Board members of the union have also been verbally summoned by the secret police.
They and other unionmembers protested to the arrest of Mohsen Hakimi, a member of the 'Iranian Writers' Association' and the 'Coordinating Committee to Form Workers' Organisations' December 22.
He is detained in section 209 of Evin prison.
In the previous week, an auto worker, Bijan Amiri, at Pars Khodro factory was also arrested for unknown charges.


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: fugacious

Irans saffronexport has fallen down to 5,900kg in the previous two calendarmonths.
Over the same period last year, the export was 20,500 kg.
This is due to the recent drought.
Before the fall in exports, Iran was the provider of nearly half of the saffron imported by Spain, which would then reprocess the product for exports around the world.



New oilresources of more than 10 billion barrels were found in the Masjed Soleimanoilfield in South West of Iran.
The oilfield was tapped for the first time 100 years ago.
The head of the Research and Development Center at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said that without modern technologies such amount of oilresources could not have been found.
According to him this discovery shows that the earlier assessments about Iran's oil resources should be revised.



Iran builds the sixth cross-country gas pipeline to transfer sweetened gas in phases 9 and 10 of the South Pars field.
The gas is for the provinces of Khuzestan and Bushehr and it also raises the prospect of Iran beginning gas exports to Kuwait.
The 492km pipeline has the capacity to carry 110 million cubic meters of sweet gas per day.


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: international

President Ahmadinejad's alternative Christmas speech on Channel 4 can be viewed here



Presstv reports that Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS) will send an aid ship with medicaments, rice, flour and sugar to the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
There will also a medical team and a group of reporters on the ship.
The closing of the Gazastrip by Israel is causing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The UN accepted 65 resolutions condemning Israeli actions, but due to the veto powers, on at least 42 occasions the resolutions were not carried out.


The Iranian Minister of Information Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei told reporters that no British national is varrested. He also said that the Ministry is highly sensitive about any sabotage activities.
Referring to possible illegal activity of political parties on the threshold of 2009 presidential contest, the official called on all political factions to apply for a permit from the Intelligence Ministry or "the ministry will curb their activities."


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: trivial

In the prison of the city Noshahr is December 24 a man hanged.
The man, F.S. was convicted for drugstrafficking.


In the city of Malayer, Hamedan province, is December 24 a man hanged.
The man was convicted to death for murder.



Channel 4 invited Iranian president Ahmadinejad to give the broadcaster's alternative Christmas message.
Channel 4 airs each year an alternative Christmasspeech apart from the speech of the Queen.
Humanrightsdefenders and politicians criticise the broadcast.
Ahmadinejads speech will be in Farsi with English subtitles and will be aired at 7.15.


Iranian judiciary said in a statement faxed to Reuters that the closure of the office of the humanrightsorganization of Shirin Ebadi is temporary and that "if the group obtained the necessary legal permit" the group can continue with its activities.
The deputy head of the centre says that they have the permission but the Interior Ministry refuses to hand over legal documents.


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: futuristic

This morning are in Evinprison Tehran eight men and one woman hanged.
The woman's name was Tayebeh and she was convicted for murdering her stepdaughter.
The men also were convicted of murder.
The execution of the juvenile Behnood Shojaee is once again postponed. His name was removed from the executionlist, but he still can be executed in the near future.


The annual amount of marriages has to be increased by nearly four-hundred thousand to limit potential problems after a period of five years.
Although marriage is recognized to be a stabilizing factor in today's society, the National Organization for Civil Registration (NOCR)says there were 53,000 divorces to 486,000 marriages in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year.
According to a presidential aide there are 1.2 million marriages per year necessary around 2013.
Many couples have been unable to marry due to economic and societal problems, and unemployment.


The air pollution levels in Tehran have reached a height that schools and nurseries almost may close.
Since early December Tehran has been suffering from severe smog and only sporadically rain has helped pull down the level of air pollution.
Environmental authorities will advise children, the elderly, and people suffering from heart and lung diseases to stay indoors if air pollution rises to dangerous levels.
Three million cars are driven in Tehran on a daily basis.


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: pressure

The juvenile offender Behnood Shojaee is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday.
Shojaee killed another boy when he was 17-year-old.
His execution has been halted several times, mainly due to the attention his case got internationally.



Azerbaijan human rights activist and journalist Shahnaz Gulami went on hungerstrike in the Tabriz prison from December 19. The cause of the hunger strike is her illegal arrest.
In November of 2008 the Tabriz Revolutionary Court sentenced Shahnaz Gulami to 6 months in prison charging her with holding a propaganda against the state.
From 1999 until 2003 Gulami was held in jail for her political activity, in 2006 she was impsisoned for a month due to participation in protests against publication of a caricature, humiliating Azerbaijanis,in an Iran newspaper.



An Iranian policecommander says the authorities have carried out a 'crushing blow' against the Jundullah group. According to him, in the last 3 months 16 members of the group and the brother of the leader have been killed. He pleaded, according to Mehrnews, to stop at nothing until the terrorist group is disbanded in Iran.
A report by Arabic website Nahrainnet claimed that Saudi Arabian intelligence agencies had helped Jundullah in the abduction of Iranian police officers.

Fars newsagency reported that 14 members of a group from Sistan-e-Baluchestan in a country bordering Iran, handed over their weapons and explosives and have requested forgiveness through mediators.The agency did not report what group the terrorists are connected to.
The major groups in Iran are Jundullah and the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), which is based in Camp Ashraf, Iraq.
The Iraqi government, however, has ordered the main members of the MKO currently residing in Iraq to leave the country.
"Staying in Iraq is not an option for them," Baghdad said in a Sunday statement.


On the occasion of Eid al-Ghadir the Supreme Leader of Iran, ayatollah Khamenei granted amnesty to prisoners. Based on article 110 of the Constitution has the Head of Justice, Hashemi Shahroudi handed over a list of 1874 prisoners.
Article 110 grants the Leader the possibility of pardoning or reducing the sentences of convicts, within the framework of Islamic criteria.

Physicians for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, en The Harvard Friends of Alaeis, call in a joint statement to the Iranian government for the immediate release of Dr. Arash Alaei and Dr. Kamiar Alaei.
Both physicians are detained since June 2008. They are known worldwide as HIV/AIDS physicians.
Last month it was known that they are suspected of communicating with an "enemy government".
The brothers have already been detained two months longer than Iranian penal code allows. They are also legally eligible for bail, but the judge in the case has not issued bail nor held a bail hearing.


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: turn and turn

Thursday five people are hanged in the prison of Qom, south of Tehran.
Mohammad Reza (37), convicted of sexually abusing a boy two years ago,
Hamid (22) convicted of sexually abusing a boy,
Alireza (41) convicted of immoral relationships and claiming that he was the 14th Shiite Imam,
Hossein (37) and Ismaeil (26) convicted of drug trafficking.


In Tehran is the Center for the Defense of Human Rights, headed by Shirin Ebadi closed by the police.
Plainclothed and uniformed police-agents shut down the Centre hours before a ceremony was to take place commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
A special prize for oppressed dissidents was supposed to be given to Taghi Rahmani, an opposition figure who had been arrested several times, for his work promoting human rights in Iran.
According to the organization police knew about the activities, the police says that the center did not have the appropriate permits.
Mehrnews wrote that an Interior Ministry commission that issues permits for political organizations said the center was carrying out illegal activities, such as publishing statements, writing letters to international organizations and holding news conferences.
In a telephone interview, Ebadi called the shutdown illegal and unacceptable, she wants to reopen the center and said that the police actions are against the law.
Since its founding, the organization has taken on 5,000 pro bono cases defending politically active women, journalists and students.
The center was financed with the $1.4 million Ebadi received when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003.

The validity of official statistics on the unemployment rate in Iran has been questioned.
The recent figures released by the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) put unemployment at 10.2 percent, indicating a 3.3 percent increase compared to the corresponding figure last year. The SCI statistics have been used to suggest that the problem of unemployment is being dealt with by the government.
Fars newsagency reported that the recent drought has led to the unemployment of 400,000 rural women that increased unemployment rate.
The site Tabnak says in a critical report that the unemployment rate in Iran is rapidly rising.
At a population of over 70 million people,each year 750,000 people seek spots in the job market each year.According to Tabnak, however, only 250,000 people entering the market per year have been able to find jobs in the past three years.
The report further suggests that Labor Ministry requirements are that people with one work hour per week be classified as employed.


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: wage for work

Iran has sent a warship to the Gulf of Aden to protect ships from hijacking by the Somali pirates.
The Iranian warship will join vessels from the US, Denmark, Russia, Italy and other countries to make a safe corridor.
At this moment are 14 vessels and more than 250 crewmembers in the hands of pirates.




Iranian security forces killed a notorious drugslord.
IRNA reported Saturday that the drug lord was heading a convoy smuggling some 513kg of narcotics from Sistan-e-Baluchestan into Kerman.
In the past six months Iran has seized nearly 370 tons of narcotics.


According to the managing director of Khorasan Razavi Regional Water Company,24 dams will soon become operational across Khorasan Razavi province with a total reservoir capacity of 509 millions cubic meters.
Referfing to the government focus on the industrial sector he stated that in the province dams, including Doosti, Tabarak, Sangerd, Zavin, Dahan Qaleh and Kamaistan, with a total reservoir capacity of 421 million cubic meters, are on stream.


The website Shahabnews reported that 1200 workers are laid off at Ardebil Tire Company , for "necessary repairs and maintenance". A deputy from parlement said that it is disappointing that they throw workers out for what they call "repairs of the equipments".
These people have families. He added that Ardebil's Textile Factory in the same area has not paid salaries to 650 workers for the past six months.
$2 million had been allocated to pay the textile workers, however, the money is nowhere to be found.


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: film

The site ozpersia.com shows an Iranian movie Shahre Ziba (Beautiful City-2004) fa lenght about 90 minutes, made by Asghar Farhadi, which can be watched online.
The film is about a young boy in the juvenile prison who plans a birthday party for a friend.
But the birthday turns out to be a sad because his friend, having reached 18, will soon be executed.
He is sentenced to death for having murdered a girl that he loved in a joint suicide attempt.
After his release on parole, the boy attempts to convince the family of the victim to forgive his friend.
He obtains the pardon of the victim's father with the condition of paying blood money retribution. He does not have the money. The victim's step mother instead asks the boy to marry her physically challenged daughter in exchange for the blood money.
The film shows the dilemma's of the main characters and shows a picture of the Islamic judicial system and its monetary values .
The moviereview can be read hier.



A video from the site StopChildExecutions in Iran.








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