Iran: charge

The Tehran judiciary spokesman said according to IranDaily that five people were arrested in the recent demonstration of teachers near parliament.He also said that those arrested were neither teachers nor employees of Education Ministry. The dossiers of these people, who have been accused of disrupting public security, are currently under review, he said.
Referring to the necessity of obtaining permits from the Interior Ministry for organizing demonstrations, the judicial official said no one will be arrested in authorized demonstrations.
He also said that the two women who were arrested during a demonstration near the Court have been accused of committing acts against national security and that the demonstration was politically motivated.


Studentactivist Hamid Rahgozar who was arrested and released at bail of $25,000, during the incidents taking place at Hamedan University in June 2003, is convicted of ‘acting against national security and the Islamic system’ and was sentenced to a suspended two-year prison term.




The family of jailed Iranian journalist, Ali Farahbakhsh, has expressed concern over his health.
November 27 he was arrested at Tehran airport, returning from a conference in Bangkok.
His trial took place some three weeks ago but they have not been informed about the court ruling.
He has been reportedly charged with espionage.



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: opposites

For everyone who wants to see with his own eyes what kind of country this Iran is, Ali Majdfar made a photogallery with beautiful pictures.






Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Shadi Sadr are still detained in Evinprison section 209.
According to Farideh Gheyrat, their lawyer, a "Temporary Detention Order" is been issued for them.This means that investigation about them has not been completed and the file is under further review.
She also said that the Head of Tehran Judiciary has said that before Iranian New Year all of the detainees will be released.
Up till now Mahboubeh Abbasgolizadeh did not contact her family.
Omid Memarian, journalist, spoke with her daughter here, (Farsi).






The German, who was in prison with a Frenchman for illegally entering the country's waters has also been released from prison.
In January 2006 they were sentenced to 18 months jail.
Last month the Frenchman was already released.




In Shiraz, March 21 will
World Poetry Day be celebrated by literati and literature lovers, concurrently with the beginning of the new Iranian year.

Various Iranian professors are invited to hold speeches and there are plans to hold a book fair and poetry night and to see in the New Year at great Iranian poet Hafez’s mausoleum






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: point of view

Sunday the Tehran Press Court lifted the ban on the daily 'Sharq'.
Managing director Mehdi Rahmanian, is sentenced to a 9,000,000.00 IRRial=739.9852 EUR. fine.
February 3 the ban on the Persian daily Siasat-e Rouz was lifted.
The newspaper was banned for publishing material deemed insulting to Sunni Muslims.





The recently premiered movie '300' tells in Hollywoodway about ancient Greeks and Persians and the Battle of Thermopylae.The movie is based on the comic books from Frank Miller's graphic novel.On different sites like here and here or here, are articles about the way how the ancient Persians are portrayed in the movie.
They are portrayed like a kind of negroid barbarian bloodthirsty monsters.
An Iranian official has protested against this movie.
Greece also has objections.

In the meantime, the movie is boxtopper in USA.




The February disappeared Iranian ex deputy Minister of Defense Brigadier General Ali Reza Asgari, seems to have changed sides after all.
This weekend he is said to be debriefed at a Nato base in Germany.There are rumors that he already spied for NATO in 2003.
After he heard on February 7 that his family safely fled to the West, he disappeared through Istanbul.


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: concern

Several Ahwazi-journalists were arrested this week, and according to ISNA some confessed to promoting ethnic division.
An Iranian human rights organisation told BAFS that one of the arrested journalists is Mohammad-Hussein Falahieh, 29-years old.
Mohammad-Hussein Falahieh has worked as chief editor of Aghlam-ol-Talaba newspaper and has also worked as a radio and television journalist, including work as a news presenter on Al-Alam TV. He also worked for Dubai-based radio and television stations and had a regular newspaper column in leading Arabic newspapers in the Middle East. His last job was a Arabic/Farsi translator at the Algerian Embassy in Tehran.
He is reportedly held in Evinprison, section 209.



At the site meydaan.com is an interview with the daughter of
Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, one of the two womanactivists, who are jailed in Evinprison.
In this interview she tells, among other things, about her concern because her mother as only person has not called her family from prison, while everybody else has.

Also the presidency from EU has expressed its deep concern at the arrests.



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: campaign

A campaign is launched to free all women who were arrested on March 4. Since then most women were released.

According to Meydaan.com, Jila Baniyaghoub also is released.



Jila Baniyaghoub is a well-known journalist. She is the editor of the website of the Iranian Women's Society and the editor of the society and women's sections of Sarmaye newspaper . She is best-known for her book on Iranian women's journalism and for her reports from Iraq and Afghanistan.


Which means that all women are released from Evinprison, but Shadi Sadr and Mahbubeh Abbasgholizadeh.


Mahbubeh Abbasgholizadeh is the editor of the Zanan quarterly journal and is a key member of the Campaign Against Stoning. She has also served as the director of the NGO Training Center. In November 2004, Mahboobeh Abbasgholozadeh was arrested as a result of her activism on women's rights and was detained for over a month.

Shadi Sadr is a prominent lawyer, journalist, and activist. She founded Zanan-e Iran, the first website dedicated to the work of Iranian women's rights activists, and she has written numerous articles and several books on the subject of Iranian women and their legal rights. Shadi Sadr has represented a number of persecuted activists and journalists and has donated her time in successfully overturning the convictions of several women sentenced to execution.


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: rigid

Yesterday are 10 women arrested at a rally for International Women's Day, reports LA Times.
Approximately 50 women gathered on Baharestan Square near the parliament in Tehran.
Batons were used to spread the women.
The many riotpolice who was present beat at least one female photojournalist at the scene and briefly detained a television cameraman.








The Jondullahgroup (Sistan-e-Baluchestan) claims to have abducted four Revolutionary Guards on Thursday. As proof the Dubai-based televisionstation al-Arabiya broadcasted a video in which the four men were shown, sitting on the floor while two masked, armed militants stood behind them, one of the sitting men wearing a uniform.
The spokesman for the group denied every connection with al-Qaeda and Taliban.


Iran addressed Belgium and Germany for the fact that they allowed the PMOI to demonstrate in Bruxelles.
The PMOI is internationally listed as a terrorist organization.



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: demonstrate

Wednesday five men are hanged in
Evinprison in Tehran.
Fars newsagency reported that they were accused of murder.






All women, except three, arrested on Sunday, have been released.
Jila Baniyaghoob, Mahboubeh Abbasgholi zadeh, Shadi Sadr are still in jail.
The reason why is still unclear.
The released women were warned not to attend to International Women's Day, today March 8.
Nevertheless just a few hours after their release some of those arrested staged a rally with some 200 women in front of parliament, to demand that the three still detained in Evin be freed and to celebrate International Women's Day.
Witnesses in parliament's Baharestan square reached on the phone by Adnkronos said police tried to remove the women by force, in vain.
Fatemeh Govarai and Marzieh Mortazi Langharoudi, two of the 31 released from jail, were violently hit with batons by plainclothes officials.




Meanwhile, teachers also gathered in front of parliament in their third protest in a week demanding raises and asking that colleagues fired for political reasons, as many as 1,500 only in Kurdistan, be given their jobs back.
Saturday and Tuesday already hundreds of teachers already gathered in front of parliament threatening to block mid-term exams and not to resume work in rallies called by 30 teachers' unions.
Ali Akbar Baghani, coordinator of the Association of teachers' unions, told in an telephone interview that teachers across the country took part in assemblies despite the threats of school authorities.
Wednesday, only a few hours after this telephone interview Baghani was arrested, together with another 19 members of the teachers' union.
Protests by teachers on Thursday were staged nationwide in cities including Zanjan, Kermanshah, Rasht, Isfahan, Ardebil, Marivan, Mianeh, Shiraz and Sabzevar.


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: transfer

An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale jolted the city of Doroud, Lorestan province.
The epicenter of the quake was exactly in the center of the town.No one was killed in the quake, 35 people got injured and many houses were damaged.
Many people in the town spent the night outdoors.




The United Nations' high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour expressed her concern about the arrest last Sunday, of at least 31 women activists in Tehran.
Adnkronos reported that the women arrested on Sunday are on hungerstrike .Unofficial reports had suggested that the younger activists in the group would be released on Tuesday.
Eight women, Niloofar Golkar, Sara Leghaei, Saeghi Leghaei, Parastoo Sarmadi, Parastoo Dokoohaki, Sara Imanian, Nahid Entesari & Farideh Entesari, should have been released after paying bail and two women were transferred to an other prison.


Former deputy Minister of Defense, Ali Reza Asghari disappeared three days after arrival in Turkey.
He disappeared after checking into an Istanbul hotel on February 7.
Speculations are that he was kidnapped by Western countries because of his knowledge of Iran's nuclear program, it is also said that Israelian secret service is involved.
The New York Post says that he defected and fled to USA but US officials denied the report,



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: restraining

Amnesty International asked for the immediate and unconditional release from the 30 women who were arrested Sunday.
Amnesty thinks that the arrests of the women may be intended to deter activists from organizing events to mark International Women's Day on 8 March.




IRNA reported that the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence says that several Iranian journalists have been arrested on charges including acting against national security with foreign backing.
It says they have spread reports to create divisions among Iran's ethnic groups using funding from abroad.
The news agency did not say how many journalists were arrested or exactly where the arrests occurred.
Several Iranian journalists and activists have been detained in recent months or barred from attending training courses abroad.



About 100 parliamentarians were absent from parliamentary session to decide about the budget bill for the next Iranian year
Fars newsagency reported that representatives appear to be indifferent toward the most important agenda.
As per the rules governing parliamentary proceedings, of the total 290 representatives, the presence of a minimum of 195 parlementarians is necessary in Majlis formal sessions. This is while 191 MPs attended the Monday’s session.
Although Majlis microphones announced on several occasions that the session lacked quorum, parlementarians present in the corridors did not bother.


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: women arrested

Yesterday, at the Tehran courthouse where the trial was hold for the five women, who got arrested at the demonstration on June 12th, 2006, more then thirty women arrested.
Also the women on trial were arrested.The police was acting intimidating and violent.
Almost all the leaders of Iran's women's movement were arrested.
Thomas Erdbrink, Tehran correspondent for the Dutch daily NRC, was also arrested but released shortly afterwards.
Here a blog reporting.

Here a site where a petition can be signed.
The names of the arrested women are:

ANooshin Ahmadi Khorasani,
Parvain Ardalan,
Nahid Keshavarz,
Mahboubeh Hosseinzadeh,
Mahboubeb Abbasgholizadeh,
Niloofar Golkar,
Parastoo Dokoohaki,
Maryam Mirza,
Mariam Hossein Khah,
Nahid Jafari,
Minoo Mortezayee Langroodi,
Fatemeh Govarayee,
Shahla Entesari,
Soosan Tahmasbi,
Azadeh Forghani,
Jila Bani Yaghoub,
Nahid Entesari,
Shadi Sadr,
Saghi Laghaee,
Saghar Laghaee,
Elnaz Ansari,
Sara Imanian,
Jelveh Javaheri,
Zara Amjadian,
Zeinab Peyghambarzadeh,
Nasrin Afzali,
Asieh Amini,
Mahnaaz Mohammadi,
Somayeh Farid,
Farideh Entesari,
Sarah Loghmani, and
Rezan Moghaddam.

Photoos of the women are here and here

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: incompetence

Saturday, teachers protested in Tehran against the government’s non-allocation of resources for implementing State Services Management Bill in the next annual budget.
The Bill is aimed at removing discrimination plaguing the payment system, by removing the disparity in salaries paid to workers by state entities. The disparity is likely to be narrowed when the bill becomes law.
The protesters also demanded the resignation of Iran’s Education Minister, and chanted "President’s Promises, Nothing But Propaganda“, and “Guardians Council, We Want Justice“
Shortly after beginning of the demonstration a large number of agents of the state security forces swarmed around the Majlis building and prevented people in the vicinity from joining the protestors.
Here are pictures of the demonstration.




Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi has in response to the escape of Shahram Jazayeri-Arab, dismissed the director of the Economic Affairs Center of the Judiciary, the warden of Evin Prison, and two judges who had been investigating economic corruption in the Jazayeri case.
February 21, Jazayeri escaped from the police while being escorted to the office of court-appointed financial experts.


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: censorship

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance refused 16 foreign publications to participate in the 20th Tehran International Book Fair .
The books are from writers from Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
According to the Ministry they promote superstition and untrue religious issues and damage the unity in the world of Islam.



ILNA reported that the managing director of the banned daily ‘Sharq’, Mehdi Rahmanian has been found guilty on several counts, but acquitted of some other charges.
The 76th Circuit of Tehran Province Criminal Court found him guilty of:
‘publishing articles against Islamic regulations, promoting vice and immoral articles, insulting the sacred religion of Islam and the sources of emulation, mispresenting others’ remarks (Seyed Hassan Nasrollah), insulting President Ahmadinejad and launching a propaganda campaign in favor of the organizations against the Islamic system’.
Plaintiffs were the public prosecutor, the Press Supervisory Board and the Foundation for Maintenance of Sacred Defense Values


In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nll

Iran: persecution

Yesterday, IRNA reported that in West-Azerbaijan province in clashes with the Revolutionary Guards 17 members of the kurdish PEJAK have been killed.
They did not specify when the fighting took place.
Iran told Iraq that it if necessary pursuits Kurdish rebels inside Iraq.





Iranian universities expelled almost 70 students after discovering they were of the Baha’i faith. This reported the Baha’i International Community on Wednesday.
After more than 25 years during which Iranian Baha'is were outright banned from attending public and private universities in Iran, some 178 Baha'i students were admitted last fall to various schools around the country after the government changed its policies and removed religious identification from entrance examination papers.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution the Baha'i, as largest religious minority in Iran faced systematic religious persecution.
More than 200 Baha'is have been killed, hundreds have been imprisoned, and thousands have had property or businesses confiscated, been fired from jobs, and/or had pensions terminated.
According to a secret 1991 government memorandum, Baha'is must be expelled from universities, either in the admission process or during the course of their studies, once it becomes known that they are Baha'is.
Diane Ala'i, the Baha'i International Community's representative to the United Nations in Geneva asks the international community to continue to continue to monitor this situation closely, and also continuing the efforts of educators and university administrators around the world who have participated in a campaign to protest the treatment of Baha'i students in Iran.


Sunday, March 4, five women are on trial charged with "acting against national security by participating in an illegal gathering.". The names of the women are:
Nusheen Ahmadi Khorasani, Parvin Ardalan, Sussan Tahmasebi,
Shahla Entesari and Fariba Davoodi Mohajer.
With the same offense, but not set their court date yet, are charged: Alieh Eghdamdoost, Bahareh Hedayat, Delaram Ali and Azadeh Forghani.
All these women are charged for peacefully protesting laws that discriminate against them at a demonstration, held 12 juni 2006.
This demonstration was ended by brute police force and a lot of women got arrested.




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: right

According to the BAFS website, Iran is preparing to put last year by Syria deported Ahwazi Abdul Rasoul Mazrae,( Abdullah Abdulhamid Al-Tamimi) to trial within 20 days.
Mazrae is a by UNHCR registered refugee and was about to leave for Norway from Syria when he was arrested together with other members of ALO.
His son, who lives in Norway, told that his father spent the past 10 months in solitary confinement and was tortured.
As result of these torture he suffers severe kidney and liverproblems.
About the other in May 2006 by Syria to Iran deported Ahwazi, Saeed Saki, Taher Mazrae and Jamal Obidawi is nothing known at the moment.




Abdullah Al-Mansouri 's son said in an interview in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that since December 2006, there had been different phonecalls between his father and his family.
During these phonecalls first an Iranian official emphasized the need for the son to stop all activities concerning ALO, otherwise this could be a great disadvantage to his father.
Finally when his father himself spoke to him, it was clearly heard that other people were in the same room and that his father could not talk freely.
In the interview Al-Mansouri's son told about his deep concern for his father's life because of the fact that in the past year soon execution followed after prisoners were allowed to contact their family.


On BAFS website European governments are urged to do everything possible to grant asylum for Ahwazi dissidents.
The historical safe havens for Ahwazis - Syria, Iraq and Kuwait - can no longer be regarded as safe.
Syria is willing to break to international law on Iran's behalf and send Arabs back.
Ahwazi exiles have been ejected from their homes in Iraq and some have been murdered.
Kuwait also has an understanding with Iran under which Ahwazi activists may be deported to Iran, although no deportations have yet been carried out.
Ahwazis also feel unsafe in the UAE and Bahrain, where Iranian intelligence agents are active.

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