Iran: environment

In Khuzestan province(Ahwaz, Ramez, Tostar en Amedeya)), 12 people are convicted of armed robbery, involving the theft of 22 cows, 104 sheep, a television set and one million toman (US$1,100) in cash,

Abbas (aka Zeabel), 33 years old - public execution, 300 lashes and five million rials (US$550) fine
Hamad, 45 years old - 10 years imprisonment, public execution
Al C (aka Ka'abi), 37 years old - 10 years imprisonment, public execution
Rahim A (aka Askarawi and Bejawi) - amputation of right hand and left foot, 10 years imprisonment
Sabbah M - amputation of right hand and left foot, 10 years imprisonment
Hanash A (aka Kasraji) - 10 years imprisonment, 74 lashes
Salah Sh - 10 years imprisonment, 74 lashes
Karim Sh (aka Bader Na'ami) - 10 years imprisonment, 74 lashes
Marzogh A, 45 years old - 10 years imprisonment, 74 lashes
Mohammed Sh, 43 years old - 10 years imprisonment, 74 lashes
Jalil Kh (aka Jenadeleh), 27 years old - 10 years imprisonment, 74 lashes
Sadegh L - 10 years imprisonment, 74 lashes


Nasser Bani Assad, spokesman for the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS), said that timing of these convictions and the harshness of the punishments is alarming, that nobody wants to pretend that Ahwazis do not commit crimes, but they are aware that the regime wants to use executions, amputations, beatings and long prison sentences against Ahwazis as a show of force.
He added that last year's Eid al-Fitr was marked by peaceful protests by Ahwazis, which were violently put down by the government and this year, the regime wants to remind Ahwazis of its cruelty and that it is prepared to kill to silence dissent.
"These sentences are also intended to smear the Ahwazi people, sending out a message to the rest of Iran that Arabs are uncivilised and criminal. Such racism against non-Persian minorities is endemic in Iran - Arabs are criminals, Azeris are stupid, Balochis are drug smugglers, etc - and is intended to justify poor treatment of these groups.".


Qatar has imposed an indefinite ban on the import of all kinds of fish and seafood from Iran and Pakistan.
Kuwait discovered high rate of radiation in the imported shrimps.
Qatar has taken the samples of the shrimps and sent to the labs to check whether the shrimps in Qatar market are polluted or not.





An iranian petro-chemical factory denies the death of thousands of fish off the Mahshahr (Mashour) coast was related to its poor environmental standards.
The pollution is believed to have come from a nearby petrochemical complex run by the Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company , a subsidiary of the state-owned National Petrochemical Company,The manager claimed that further research was needed before a conclusion could be reached on the cause of the pollution.




In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: sight

UNwatch today called on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to denounce the government of Iran for sending Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, as its representative to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi is credibly believed to have been involved in the murders of thousands of political prisoners, writers, and dissidents in Iran.
It is not the first time Iran sent a human rights abuser as representative.
In June, Iran's delegation to the inaugural session of the new UN Human Rights Council included Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi, who stands accused of the 2005 torture and murder of Iranian-Canadian journalist Zarah Khazemi.




September 21st were Mostafa Evezpoor, 25years, his brother Mohammad Reza Evezpoor, 14years an 13 others, arrested during a demonstration in West-Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, another brother and several other people have been released.
Amnesty International said October 11th in a statement Fear of torture and ill-treatment and asks for urgent action.



About 300 security forces in the northeastern Iranian city of Gonabad, Khorassan province, surrounded the residence of a prominent Sufi leader on October 10 after he refused an order to leave his city of birth.

Dr. Nurali Tabandeh, also known as Majzub Ali Shah said he has no intention of altering his plans to remain in the city until October 13.
Nurali Tabandeh has been returning regularly to Gonabad from his home in Tehran during the Ramadan to meet with followers and pilgrims from all over Iran.

For more than a century, the leaders of the Nematollahi Gonabadi dervish order have lived and been buried in Gonabad.
In February, a Sufi house of worship was destroyed in Qom and hundreds of Sufis were detained and in May a court sentenced 52 Sufis and their lawyers to jail terms and lashings.
Many conservative clerics see sufi as a cult and a danger to islam.
Since hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad took office last year, harassment of Sufis has significantly increased.



In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: price

"The hanging of Kobra Rahmanpour is suspended "while it waits for the husband's family to pardon her,"said in an interview to Adnkronos International (AKI) her attorney, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.
Past years, execution by stoning has been postponed twice.
Six years ago, the now 24-year-old woman was sentenced to death for the murder of her mother in law. The execution order of the death sentence has not been signed by Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the country's leading judiciaL authority,also due to International solidarity.


The final decision for execution from a murderer is laid in hands of the victims family.
When the family forgives the murderer, execution is off.



About 200,000 Iranian workers have not received their salaries for months. This was said by the head of the official Labour Union.

Alireza Mahjoub, the secretary general of Iran's House of Labour and member of parliament said some 18.5 percent of Iran's 70 million population live under the poverty line.
He expressed his concern over the high inflation rate during the past few months,describing the rising prices as the the root.


Past few weeks officials denied nflation is rising, even though staple items have become more expensive in markets and unofficial sources estimate the figure to have reached at least 20 percent.




In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: values

4,5 ton kg of narcotics is seized over the last 15 days during a anti-drugscampaign in Kerman province.
182 drugs distributors and smugglers as well as 170 addicts were arrested and 54 vehicles and 16 motorcycles have been confiscated by police.
Deputy head of the anti-drugscampaign, Colonel Ebrahim Shakeri,said 250 kg of opium was found in a village around Bam city and 61 kg of heroin in a car travelling from Kahnouj to Bandar Abbas.


Iran is planning to export 100 freight train wagons to Cuba.
Exports Development Bank of Iran (EDBI) has financed 85% of the seven-million-euro contract on the export of 100 freight train wagons from Iran to Cuba.
Earlier, the bank had undertaken to finance the export of 250 freight train carriages including 100 cementcarriers and 150 trailerwagons to Cuba.
The bank has also financed other projects, including the building of sewage pumping stations and water treatment facilities there.
Up till now the bank made some €200 million loans for development of various projects in Cuba.


Iran's Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, one of the current hardliners in government, has described Western values such as freedom and democracy as "the instruments of Satan."
In the holy city of Qum, he told the faithful that the devil presents himself in many forms, and employs every means such as liberty and democracy to achieve his plans.
"Only in appearance have human rights been invented to safeguard the rights of the people. In actual fact, they are just a way of spreading immorality," he said.
Several speakers at a conference hosted by Iran's foreign ministry have claimed pope Benedict XVI doesn't want a dialog with the islam, contrarily, he wanted the continuation of the first war between Christians and Islam, a war which has never ended.
Iranian ex-ambassadors at Vatican also accuse the pope of nazi sympathies during World WarII, and Mohaghegh Damad, director of Iran's Islamic Enyclopaedia said the Islamic Republic should seek to "elaborate a strategy of action against Catholicism."





In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: writings

The Iran Ministry of Education has ruled that only by them approved books are allowed for teaching in schools.
Teachers who fail to follow these regulations can be fired and private schools can loose their operating permits.
The Ministry of Education will examine all schoolbooks for "un-Islamic” or “against national security” paragraph's .



Last Friday, Danish television sent footage of members of the youth wing of the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DPP) drawing cartoons in August mocking the Prophet.
President Rasmussen of Denmark condemned the youths behavior.A new "cartoon-row"is feared.
Dozens of protesters pelted the Danish embassy in Tehran with stones and petrol bombs.



A blogcraze has risen in Iran under the country's conservative Islamic clerics.
Since president Ahmadinejad has started his own blog, ayatollahs, seminar students and theologians are trained in setting up their own blog.

Courses for this religious blogging are given in the holy city of Qom.
Some 300 clerics, religious students and writers have been signed up.





In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: risky

The fate of Abdullah Al-Mansouri is still unknown .

Yesterday in the city of The Hague, another demonstration at Iranian Embassy took place.
Among others, Gerd Leers,Mayor of the city of Maastricht, had a meeting with the Iranian Ambassador. No information came out.
Next week, lawyer Gerard Spong and Amnesty Nederland director Eduard Nazarski will see the ambassador.
Abdullah Al-Mansouri is jailed somewhere in Iran.
Abdullah Al-Mansouri is president of Ahwaz Liberation Organization (ALO).


In British daily The Times an article is written about coming executions and (show)trials in Khuzestan province (Ahwaz).
At the moment 16 people fear imminent execution for insurgency.
Two of those people, Abdolreza Nawaseri and Nazem Bureihi were in jail when they were alleged to have been involved in bomb attacks.
Three others, Hamza Sawa- eri, Jafar Sawari and Reisan Sawari say that they were nowhere near the Zergan oilfield the day it was bombed.
Since last year 50 Ahwazi Arab activists have been charged with insurgency. They are accused of being mohareb or enemies of God, which is a capital crime. Other allegations include sabotage and possession of home-made bombs.
All face possible execution.
In the past year, 25,000 Ahwazis have been arrested, 131 executed and 150 have disappeared, reports AHRO( Ahwazi Human Rights Organisation ).



Human Rights Watch wrote letters to Dutch and Swedish authorities,saying that states cannot return people to countries where they face torture, ill-treatment or death.
This is due to the fact that both countries, The Netherlands and Sweden, want to send back lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender asylum seekers.
Both governments imposed a moratorium on the deportation of rejected gay and lesbian asylum seekers to Iran in 2005 after reports of executions there for homosexual conduct.
September 29th, Sweden announced that it would resume deporting gay and lesbians fleeing from persecution in Iran.

Almost immediately, the Swedish Immigration Department decided to return a gay man to Iran, despite evidence from medical experts that he had previously undergone torture there. The case is under appeal.
In The Netherlands deportations were 6 months stalled, awaiting an nearer investigation. That review is currently being completed.

Article 111 of Iran's criminal code, the Code of Islamic Punishments, states that lavat (sexual intercourse between men) "is punishable by death."
Articles 121 and122 of the Penal Code, tafkhiz (non-penetrative "foreplay" between men) is punishable by 100 lashes for each partner and by death on the fourth conviction.
Article 123 of the Penal Code further provides that, "If two men who are not related by blood lie naked under the same cover without any necessity," each one will receive 99 lashes.
Articles 127 to 134 stipulate that the punishment for sexual intercourse between women is 100 lashes; if the offense is repeated three times, the punishment is execution.



In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: Baluchi

Since begin 2006 there is unrest in Sistan-e-Baluchistan province.
In this province live Baluchi, a predominantly Sunni Muslim ethnic minority.
Past year several clashes and murders, mostly on officers of Iranian Security Forces, took place.
October 2nd 2006, the Guardian published an article
in which strong suggestion was made of close ties between Afghan Taliban and Jondollah of Balochistan.It was written:"They also have ideological ties with the Taliban, especially through Jundullah (Soldiers of God), a militant group with an extremist interpretation of Islam”.
The Jondollagroup has made a statement in which they clearly say not to have ties with Taliban and they're not having an extremist interpretation of Islam or are involved in the drugs trade.
Among other things, they literally write:
" We, the Jondollah of Baluchistan, are not "a militant group with an extremist interpretation of Islam. "We are a Political Organisation with strong ties with civil society institutions, human rights groups and political organizations. We believe in civil society principles and we strive to establish a system in Iran in which the principles of civil society direct the functioning of the system and the government.".



In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: religion, state, education

Several hundred supporters of Teheran ayatollah Kazemeyni Boroujerdi gathered today in the streets around his house to protest what they described as violation of "freedom of religion." .
They were trying to prevent the arrest of Boroujerdi by security forces.
Boroujerdi advocates the separation of religion from politics.
One of his supporters told that during the past two months there have been several attempts to arrest the ayatollah.
Iran's ILNA news agency reported that police used tear gas to disperse the protest but protesters resisted by burning tires to counteract the effects of the gas.
In recent weeks more then 40 of his supporters have been arrested and taken to Evinprison.
The ayatollah told RFE/RL among other things, that in the past 14 years, he has been summoned on numerous occasions to the Special Court for Clergy and spent months in prison.




At St. Andrews University, there is unrest against the decision to award an honorary degree to former Iranian president Muhammad Khatami.
Human rights groups criticises this decision because during his eight-year term thousands of iranians were jailed and tortured.
The National Union of Students wants his invitation withdrawn unless Ahmad Batebi, is freed.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews criticises the invitation, because of the fact Khatami likes Hezbollah.
Iranian exiles have drawn up a petition demanding St Andrews withdraw the invitation.
Khatami will open the university’s Institute for Iranian Studies, donated by Sadegh Kharazi, Iran’s former ambassador to France. The collection of Iranian texts, the largest of its kind in Europe, is estimated to be worth more than £100,000.
St Andrews Univerity said that the invitation was conferred only after the widest consultation with experts in modern Iran.



In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: window dressing

A new daily is soon to be published in the place of the banned newspaper Sharq.

The editors weblog writes this. According to Alborz news, the new daily, called Ruzgar [Time] will have a different approach of the news than Sharq, but will be run by Sharq's former editorial board.
Chief-editor will be Mohammad Quchani, who was Sharq's editor-in-chief.
But, contrary to Sharq, Ruzgan will address the general public instead of the elite.
If everything goes well, October 7th the first edition of Ruzgar will be available at the newsstands.



EU sharply criticizes Iran for closing down newspapers and harassing journalists.
In a statement finnish president of EU expressed great concern about the deterioration in press freedom in Iran, especially the closure of four newspapers,inclusive the leading reformist daily Sharq.



Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said Iran always supported press and journalistic freedom within the framework of the law.
He said so in relation to european criticism on press freedom in Iran.
In a statement he said this criticism comes at a time, western media being dominated by zionist censorship.
He pointed out that such allegations are being raised in a time that incidents concerning the "mohammad-cartoons" took place almost a year ago and by Western newspapers were justified on the pretext of press freedom.
“The issue angered Muslims around the world, but Western governments refused to deal with offensive publications” .




In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: truthfinding

Over the last 2 weeks more then 4000 birds mysteriously died. This happened in West-Azerbaijan province, near a dam in Aras river near the city of Maku.
The cause is still unknown, but bird flu has been ruled out.
Investigation is still going on.




The positive doping results of the iranian wrestlingteam are under investigation and if necessary, parliament will react harsh.


Iranian speaker of parliament
Gholam Ali Hadadeadel said:"Generally doping is an indecent thing to do all over the world and this being done in our country which is an Islamic country is worse than all; because we claim to be Islamic, faithful and religious; we must never cheat, whether it is in politics, economics or sport."




Arrested dr. Hessam Firuzi has been released after holding for one day. His wife told radio Farda that authorities told him to deny imprisoned Ahmad Batebi's health problems and also say that in July died student leader Akbar Mohammadi was ill.

He didn't accept and they eventually told him he could go.
Dr. Hessam Firuzi was arrested after he urged iranian authorities to free student activist Ahmad Batebi due to his health condition.





In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: contact

A man, named Abbas A. (alias Za’bil), has been hanged in the city of Ahwaz, province Khuzestan.He was convicted of armed robbery of livestock.
Two other men, Hamid Kh.en Ali S. (alias Ka’bi) were also sentenced to death for taking part in the thefts.
According to news agency Fars their sentences would soon be carried out in public.



Fereshteh Dibaj, who was arrested September 26th, together with her husband Reza(Amir) Montazemi, was able to call her family October 4th.Since the day of her arrestment nothing was heard about her.
Her husband made already a short call to his family.

Today, October 5th, the news came the couple has been released from police custody.
The reason for the arrests remains unclear.




Monday, October 2nd, the estafette in favor of Abdullah al-Mansouri has started. Photo's are here .
Access to al-Mansouri is among other things requested,. Up till now all requests for where he is and what charges are brought against him, remain unanswered.
Also is asked that if no charges are brought against al-Mansouri, he has to be released immediately.
Action ‘Wij willen Al-Mansouri zien!’ (we want to see al-Mansouri) will last several weeks. A variety of citizens, politicians, lawyers and artists will address the embassy with their concern about the fate of Abdullah al-Mansouri.





In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: women's rights, women, rights

Irans first female national racing champion Laleh Seddigh has been banned from participating at a race by the country's motor racing authorities.
This happened at Azadistadion in Teheran.
It was the first time she had been excluded from a contest.
"Most of the federation members were not happy to have a female champion and would have preferred a man," she said. "Since I won, they have even eliminated the winner's podium. They were afraid that I would win again and they would be obliged to show me on the podium."
The federation's vice-president, Hossein Shahryari, said Seddigh had been barred because of a government circular restricting women to female-only events. That decree has now been lifted, he said.
But he added: "Women are speaking highly of themselves and that causes men who sacrifice their lives in this sport disappointment. Women are not champions in this sport, they are only participants. If they observed Islamic regulations more they would not have such problems."



Iran sends a movie defending women's rights to represent the Islamic republic at the Academy Awards next year in the best foreign film category,

"Cafe Transit" by Kambosia Partovi tells the story of widowed woman who decides to run her husband's truck-stop restaurant near a border village while fending off solicitations of her brother-in-law, who according to tradition has to marry her as a second wife.
Only films that have been shown in their homeland are eligible for the best foreign film category, effectively disqualifying movies from some of Iran's best-known directors that have failed censorship.




In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: article 19

Article 19 Universal Declaration of Human Rights :

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.


September 27th, the international human rights group article19 in London, held an event, titled "Voices of Iran".
The report in .pdf can be found here.
During this meeting, Hussein Baqerzadeh, a veteran human rights activist and political dissident living in England.held a keynote speech about the worsening situation in Iran, regarding the right of free expression.
This right is slowly silenced in Iran, for all population in every part of society.
Complete (english) text of this speech, can be found here.



In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be

Iran: development

Last week born 2nd cloned iranian sheep is in good condition now, so told a doctor at Royan Research Center in the city of Isfahan. It is able to successfully drink milk.The sheep was born by Caesarean.
Cloning is an advanced technology only possessed by developed countries, said the doctor adding that obtaining the technology would enable Iranian specialists to use it in different fields of medical treatments.




The natural gas pipeline from Iran to Turkey has been repaired and will be in use again October 2nd.
Thursday the pipeline was blasted.
Sunday, iranian police-officers accused Kurdish separatists of blowing up the section of pipeline.
Iran exports 22million cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey daily.






Iranian security forces have recently arrested a network of “separatists” in the Iranian capital Tehran and the oil-rich south-western city of Abadan,
he report said that the network was being supported by certain neighbouring states and a European country which it did not identify.
In February, a bomb exploded at the local governor's office in Abadan, which is one of the largest cities in the Arab-dominated province of Khuzestan.





In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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

Iran: sticks and stones

Agents of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), have arrested a daughter of 1994 murdered christian priest Mehdi Dibaj.


Fereshteh Dibaj, 28 year old daughter of reverend Mehdi Dibaj, was arrested on Tuesday with her husband Reza Montazami, 35, in their home in the north-eastern city of Mashad, the news agency Compass Direct News reported.
The report said that secret agents raided their apartment at 7 am and transferred the couple to a local intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Their six-year-old daughter was reportedly in the apartment at the time.
The couple lead an independent house church in Mashad.
In 1994 Mehdi Dibaj was murdered together with two other Christian bishops.
Tehran initially blamed and arrested several members of the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK) for the 1994 murders.
Lateron, in the aftermath of the 1997 “serial murders” of dissidents and intellectuals in Iran, it occurred that these murders were political murders, committed by MOIS itself.



Amnesty International September 28th,has published a statement,expressing concern over the plight of seven women in Iran who are at risk of execution by stoning :


AI Index: MDE 13/113/2006
Parisa
Iran
Khayrieh
Shamameh Ghorbani (ook bekend als Malek)
Kobra Najjar (44jaar)
Soghra Mola'i
Fatemeh
Amnesty International is aware of two other women under sentence of execution by stoning in Iran, Ashraf Kalhori (see UA 203/06, MDE 13/083/2006, 27 July 2006; and updates), and Hajieh Esmailvand (see UA 336/04, MDE 13/053/2004, 16 December 2004; and updates).


October 9th,the Mayor of the dutch city of Maastricht, Gerd Leers, will go to the iranian ambassador in The Hague and demand access to Abdullah al-Mansouri, dutch human rightsactivist, who is in prison in Iran after been extradited by Syria.
Amnesty.nl will start a rally near the iranian embassy at Monday, to ask the iranian ambassador in The Netherlands, admittance to Abdullah al-Mansouri.
Several members of parliament, Harry van Bommel (SP), Farah Karimi (GL) en Fatma Koser Kaya (D66) join the action.
Known dutch lawyer Gerard Spong will go to the embassy at October 16th. He said he wants to be attorney of Mr.al-Mansouri.



In Iran deathpenalty is in use. Also for child offenders.

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