Iran: informed

The provincial policecommander of Sistan-e-Baluchestan province, says that 11 suspects have been arrested over the killing of judge Ebrahim Karimi.
Monday the judge was assassinated by two motorcyclists in the town of Saravan.
It is still unclear whether the killing was a terroristic attack.
Newsagency Fars reported that a "informed source" said that near Bampour, east of Iranshahr, 12 members of Jundullahgroup have been arrested.
3 members of Jundullah were also killed in the operation.

Reuters reports that an unknown Sunni dissident group claims it was behind a deadly mosque bombing in Shiraz last April.
The group, Jihadi Movement of the Sunna People of Iran has said that the attack was to avenge the execution of two Sunni-scholars in Sistan-e-Baluchestan province.
The statement was in English-language written and posted on a website linked to Sunni Muslim dissidents.
The authenticy of the statement could not independently be made.
The statement was accompanied by a video showing the moment of the attack on the mosque, which had been issued on the Internet two months ago, and apparently recorded by someone not involved in the attack.
The group added Islamic chants to the video, as well as warnings.


Near the bordertown of Marivan, Kurdistan province, were Tuesday 3 policemen killed by members of PEJAK.
A correspondent of Press-tv reported that this happened during an attack in Dalani region.



The seven in Iran detained Bahaíleaders, Mahvash Sabet, Fariba Kamalabadi,Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm have each been allowed a brief phone call to their families.
This was the first contact since their arrest on May 14. No charges have been filed against any of the seven.
Besides the seven committee members imprisoned in Tehran, about 15 other Baha’is are currently detained in Iran, some incommunicado.
Most are detained with no formal charges.


According to Human Rights Activities in Iran June 18, 3 people will be hanged in Karoun prison, Ahwaz, Khuzestan province.
Jalil Bani Khaled, 23 is accused of the killing of two security officers, Zarvani is mentally ill, and a third, unidentified person.
All 3 had been transferred to solitary cells in Karoun Prison yesterday.
Transfer of the prisoner to solitary confinement happens normally a few hours before 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: threats and deads

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has published a list with 114 names of childoffenders awaiting execution in Iran.
The list is the result of c research by Iranian human rights defender Emad Baghi. It forms part of his thus-far unpublished book “Right to Life II,” which demonstrates that such executions are not sanctioned by Islamic law as argued by Iranian authorities.
The Iranian censors have not permitted the book to be published.


The judicial spokesman in Iran has rejected reports of the execution of a 17 year-old juvenile. He says the boy was 18-year-old.
He said that “legislation pertaining to juveniles between 15 and 18 years old has to do with talion (punishment identical to the offense), which is totally different from the issue of execution.These two concepts must not be confused with each other.”
He added that the judiciary has a a tolerant approach towards under-18-year-olds who are sentenced to talion, according to the teachings of the Quran.
He was was referring to the judiciary's efforts to win the consent of the victim's family for the deathpenalty to be lowered to a prison sentence, particularly those involving minors.
The spokesman also said that a bill is getting prepared which could lead to certain measures that would clarify the position of juveniles who are sentenced to talion.
He did not say if and when this bill will be ratified.


Nine former student detainees are regularly contacted by security and intelligence officers threatened and terrorized that they will be prosecuted for apostasy a charge that can result in execution sentences.
Their names are Anousheh Azadfar, Bizhan Sabagh, Majid Ashrafnejad, Amin Ghazi, Behrouz Karimizadeh, Abed Tavancheh, Bita Samimizadeh, Peyman Piran, and Mehdi Geraylu. .
The students belong to a nation-wide student movement known as the “Freedom and Equality Seeking Group.”
In December and January security forces detained 51 students belonging to the group. They are also known for their leftist and Marxists beliefs.
They were released only after posting extraordinary sums of bail, as much as $330,000.
During the past few weeks,they are repeatedly called and threatened that they soon will be put on trial on charges of apostasy and sentenced to hanging.
The students are living in the fear that their trials will be held soon, during the summer recess, to prevent any protests within universities.


The Jundullah group group claims it has killed 2 of the 16 police personal it took hostage.
Their names are Ali Mohammadi-Raoufi and Mohammad Piri .
June 12 they took at a nighttime raid on a police station in Saravan 16 people and abducted them to Pakistan. The shot hostages were the commanding police officer and his deputy.
In a statement on Delavar website, the group also dismissed earlier reports that said three of its members had been arrested in the city of Khash.


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: float

According to newsagency Fars are June 16 two men hanged in Sistan-e-Baluchestan province.
Alireza Barahoei, also known as Abdollah was charged with "Moharebeh" and alledgedly a member of Abdelmalek Rigi's group Jundullah.He is hanged in the prison of Zahedan.
Yunes Rahmandoost is gehanged in the prison of Chah Bahar.
He was also convicted of Moharebeh.

President Ahmadinejad said during a meeting in Isfahan that the high price of oil is artificial and the market is well supplied.
The rise in consumption is lower than the rise in production, but according to him "certain powers" are keeping an artificial oil price to finance their wars and occupations and to justify investments to exploit new sources of energy at the bottom of the oceans and the poles. Ahmadinejad's comments came a week ahead of a meeting of OPECcountries organised by Saudi Arabia to bring together major oil producers, including those outside OPEC, and consumers to discuss oil prices.
OPEC, which pumps some 40 percent of oil supplies is widely blamed for rise in prices since 2003, but insists the oil market is well supplied.
Ahmadinejad says that the fall in the dollar is one of the main causes and he suggests that OPECcountries change the dollar for a new currency.


Iran qualified Saturday with a 2-0 victory on Syria for the 4th qualificationround in the South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifier.
UAE ranks second and only needs a draw in their final game against Syria to qualify.
Iran will play Kuwait in their final game on Sunday June 22.


The government in Iran plans to ask the parliament $7billion to import gasoline and diesel despite a fuel rationing program.
The director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) warned that if global gasoline prices continue to rise, this amount will be around $9 billion.
He said that the $3.5 billion of credit allocated according to the Budget Law for the current fiscal year will have been spent by the end of August.


Iran is to send archeologists to the ancient Achaemenid site of Passargad to assess possible moisture damage to the tomb of Cyrus the Great.
Scientists are concerned the Passargad ruins are threatened by moisture originating in the nearby Sivand dam.
A damp odor in the air and traces of moisture on the structure's walls has worried some scientists.
The tomb of Cyrus the Great is according to the head of the Research Center of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization unique in the world and it must go under documented examinations scientifically.

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: morals and ethics

June 12 are in the prison of the city of Mashhad four men hanged.
The daily Khorasan (fa) says that the four were convicted of rape.
There was no mention of any other evidence, testimony or report of prior crimes and assaults by these 4 men, except identification of a young woman that they assaulted her.
Their names are: Sadegh, Hamid, Esmaeil en Alireza.


The daily Etemad (fa) writes that in the city Haj Adad near Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan province, a man as a "honour killing" hanged his sister because she wanted to marry a man, the family did not approve on.
In anger because she had run away he hanged and stabbed her.
Since the parents of the victim file no complaint, he is not going to be punished as a murder and he is most probably going to get a 3-5 years prison sentence.




About 3,000 students at the university in the northwestern city of Zanjan staged a protest against the attempted sexual harassment by a vice chancellor against a girl while she was in his office to resolve a problem with the committee of conduct.
The daily Etemad reported that they broke into the vice president's office and handed him over to security after finding out that he had sought to (sexually) harass a student.
The report furthermore says that he had on several occasions tried to shut down the "students' Islamic association" while its "members have moral problems and do not have an Islamic behaviour".
The university's head said that they thank the students for their alertness and they have always supported students in removing any kind of corruption.


Reuters reports that the newspaper Farhang-e Ashti writes that Iranian police have launched a wider crackdown which has started from Saturday on "social corruption" such as women flouting Islamic dress codes.
According to the newspaper police will not only confront those who appear in public in an indecent way but will also seal off shops selling un-Islamic dresses.
The police will seize women with tight coats and cropped trousers but also men with Western-style hair cut will be arrested.
Barber shops that gave them such haircuts were sealed off on Sunday.

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: free

The in October abducted Japanese student Satoshi Nakamura has been released.
Saturday the kidnappers released him together with the Friday prayer leader of Fahraj city in Kerman Province, Hojjat ul-Islam Javad Taheri,
who was kidnapped last April.
Whether a ransom was paid, has not been told.
According to Iran both Nakamura and Javad Taheri were abducted by Esmail Shahbakhsh, who wanted the release of his arrested son in exchange .


Saturday, Iranian state television reported that former Iranian police commander Reza Zareie has been released on bail of $54.000.
Zareie was detained for about five months over moral accusations and was retired as a colonel.
Several Iranian newsagencies alleged that Zareie, who enforced one of the toughest moral crackdowns in Iran last year, was found in a "house of corruption" with naked prostitutes.
It was added that a former Iranian MP has also been detained over moral issues while another lawmaker facing the same allegations was released on bail.


In the Southwest Jofeir oilfield is a new oilfield discovered.
The estimated reserve of 750 million barrels.
With this new oilfield, the production of the Jofeirfield will increase from 25000 to 33000 barrels a 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: resist

Mehrnewsagency says that at a clash near Piranshar, West-Azerbaijan province near the Iraqi border are two people killed.
A provincial police spokesman said that a group of six men entered Iran to sabotage.
After two of them were killed they fled across the border.



Blogger Azarmehr writes that all demands made by the Teacher Training Students in Pardis near Karaj were met after the students went on hunger strike for 11 days.
120 students had taken part in the hunger strike and 3500 had joined the sit in protest in solidarity with the hunger strikers.
Forty other universities across Iran had threatened to join their hunger strike if the demands made by the Teacher Training College students were not met.
Sixteen hunger strikers were taken to hospital.
Negotiations between student representatives, the university officials and the university Herasat (university informers) are ended Friday, after these demands were met:
Resignation of the university deputies
Written apology by university Herasat (university informers) who had made threats against families of the students
Maintaining minimum standards of dormitories
Improvement in canteen food and hygiene
return of the use of central library facilities to students
No disciplinary action against the protesting students



In the city of Saravan, Sistan-e-Baluchestan province are 16 police officers kidnapped by a group of armed men and transferred to Pakistan.
Newsagency Fars says that no group has officially claimed responsibility for this attack but some sources blame it on Abdolmalek Rigi and Jundullah. Jundullah is a violent sunni-muslem group which is linked to al Qaeda in Iran.
ISNA says that provincial police says that the bandits were related to "international drug smuggling networks".


Breaking News: Iran's New Voice: Martin Luther King, Gandhi and JFK in
a video on You Tube.


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: need

Eight women’s rights activists were arrested June 12, on the anniversary of the national day of solidarity of Iranian women (22nd of Khordaad, June 12).
Their names are Aida Saadat, Nahid Mirhaj, Nafiseh Azad, Nasrin Sotoodeh, Jelve Javaheri, Jila Baniyagoub, Sarah Loghmani and Farideh Ghaeb.
They were arrested outside Rahe Abrisham Gallery, where they wanted to attend a seminar.
When they arrived they found the doors closed and security officers were present in large numbers outside.
GlobalVoicesOnline reports that blogger Varesh (fa) writes that all women are released today.


The Iranian Minister of Commerce announced that Iran will have to import many grains this year to combat the drought.
Iran also has to import sugar, oilseeds, barley and corn to satisfy national demand.
Minister Mir-Kazemi said that Iran also has to import between one and 1.2 million tons of rice.


A group of 42 Dutch graduates and athletes plans to travel through Iran on their way to the Beijing Olympic Games.
They intend to visit various sites as a message of peace and friendship to the people of Iran and the world.
The voyage through Iran goes from Isfahan to Qazvin, Tehran and then Gorgan.


The Iranian Minister of Oil Gholam Hossein Nozari says that the global oil market is 'saturated' and that there are no problems with oil supply.
The OPEC supplies oil based on the needs of the market.
Nozari's remarks came at the day that in New York crude oil was traded at $135.40 a barrel.



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: connections

Abbas Palizdar, the man who accused several high clerics of corruption, is Wednesday arrested on charges of "spreading lies".
Fars newsagency reported this; in May Palizdar held speeches in Hamedan and Shiraz in which he also accused authorities of assassinating two prominent officials.
One of those speeches can be seen through YouTube .
Palizdar is supporter of president Ahmadinejad and some of the accused are opponents of the president.
The bank Melli also pressed charges against Palizdar for not paying back a business loan worth approximately $6.6 million that he received 16 years ago.
The government denied any connection to Palizdar, also Iranian newspapers and newsagencies denounced the speeches. The website Tabnak published transcripts in which Palizdar accuses prominent clerics of corruption, including ex-president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the current political opponent of Ahmadinejad.



The daily Etemad reports that Pars Special Economic Energy Zone Company told her workers they have to marry before September 21, or they lose their jobs.
Most refineries are situated near Assalouyeh, Bushehr province, where in summer temperatures can get up to 50 degrees and hardly a place for families.
Employees often are young men seeking to earn a good income and it seems that the decree is meant to keep them away from sexual temptations during their stay away from home.
Prostitution and sexual relations outside of marriage are forbidden in Iran.
Also Iran is having a moral crackdown which has seen tens of thousands of women warned by the police for dress deemed to be unIslamic.
Approximately 12 million Iranian between 15 and 29 are unmarried, but last year there were only 840.000 marriages.
The governor of North Khorrasan said in a similar warning that only married civil servants will be allowed to take up official posts in the region.


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: pattern

This morning are 8 men are executed by hanging in Evinprison in Tehran.
Kiarash (32) convicted of murder in 2005, Alireza (28) convicted of murder and robbery, Abdolmajid (34) convicted of rape in 2001, Ali Akbar convicted of murder, Mohammad (27) convicted of murder in 2001, Farhad (31) convicted of murder and two cousins Ali and Ali convicted of rape in 2005.
The execution of Behnood Shojaee, Mohammad Fadaei and Davoud Mahdoor was postponed.
In the prison of Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, are June 10, 2 men hanged.
Mohammad Hassanzadeh, 17 is hanged for a crime he committed when he was 14 years old.
Rahim Pashabadi, 60 is hanged convicted of murder.


The execution of Mohammad Fadaie and Behnoud Shojaee, who should be executed June 11, is one month postponed by Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi .
A judiciary official said that in this month the convicts can try to find an agreement with the victims' families.
The stays of execution came after the top UN human rights official, Louise Arbour, asked Iran to keep the also by Iran undersigned international conventions which "prohibit the death penalty for juvenile offenders."
Shojaie and Fadaie were among the four named by Arbour.
The other two were Saeed Jaziie and Behnam Zareh.
According to the judiciary official, Jazie was not in the original executionlist, because his execution is scheduled for June 25.



Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi has published a book on legal structures in Iran and refugees.
She hopes it will encourage other human rights activists in the Islamic world to work for the legal protection of refugees.
"Refugee Rights in Iran" is the outcome of a long collaboration between Ebadi and UNHCR in Iran.
An initial Farsi-language version was produced with cooperation from UNHCR in 1994, and used for years as handbook by the UN refugee agency, is revised by Ebadi and translated into English, donating her rights from it to UNHCR for the benefit of Afghan and Iraqi refugee children.


Mohsen Namvar, 44, a christian leader from a housechurch was arrested May 31 in Tehran.Authorities did not provide any reason for his arrest.
Personal belongings, like a computer, cd's, books and money were confiscated.
His location remains unknown.
His arrest came after arrests of several christians in Amol, 80 miles northeast of Tehran, releasing them over the following weeks.
According to reports these arrests always follows a customary pattern, authorities put them in jail for a few weeks and beat them in an attempt to get information about other converts.
Namvar had been arrested in 2007 for baptizing converts to christianity.
He was severely abused and they told him he would die if he keeps his house open for church.


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: responsibility

Dutch Foreign Minister Verhagen answered the questions from the member of parliament Peters(GroenLinks) in the case of Dutch citizen Abdullah Al Mansouri, who is detained in Iran.
(Due to the fact this is a governmental letter and I am no translator, the language is in Dutch).



Vraag 1
Is het waar dat de onderminister van Buitenlandse Zaken van Iran kortgeleden bij u op bezoek is geweest?

Antwoord
Ja.

Vraag 2
Wat is tijdens dit bezoek besproken? Is de rechtzaak tegen Al Mansouri besproken? Is tijdens het gesprek het vonnis aangekondigd tegen Al Mansouri en de termijn waarop dit bekend gemaakt wordt? Is het vonnis inmiddels bekend?

Vraag 3
Heeft u de wens van de Kamer overgebracht dat Al Mansouri consulaire bijstand krijgt en dat een vertegenwoordiger van de Nederlandse ambassade bij het proces aanwezig is?

Antwoord
In het gesprek met de Iraanse onderminister van Buitenlandse Zaken Safari op 11 maart 2008 zijn van de zijde van de regering ondermeer de zorgen uiteengezet met betrekking tot het nucleaire programma van Iran, de Iraanse opstelling in de regio en de mensenrechtensituatie. De zaak met betrekking tot de heer Al Mansouri is eveneens besproken, waarbij is aangedrongen informatie te blijven delen over het welzijn van de heer Al Mansouri en de procesgang, zodat een vertegenwoordiger van de Nederlandse ambassade in de gelegenheid wordt gesteld om openbare rechtszittingen te kunnen bijwonen. De onderminister gaf aan dat de heer Al Mansouri in goede gezondheid verkeert, een vonnis op korte termijn verwachtbaar is en dat Nederland hierover zal worden geïnformeerd. Tijdens eerdere besprekingen met de Iraanse autoriteiten gaven deze aan dat de heer Al Mansouri beroep zal mogen aantekenen tegen een vonnis. Een complicatie is dat de heer Al Mansouri eveneens de Iraanse nationaliteit bezit en Iran om die reden geen consulaire bijstand van Nederland toestaat.

Vraag 4
Wat heeft u sindsdien ondernomen richting de Iraanse autoriteiten en de Iraanse ambassadeur om meer helderheid te krijgen over de precieze aanklacht tegen Al Mansouri?

Vraag 5
Wat bent u van plan te doen om de druk op Iran verder op te voeren en de veiligheid van Al Mansouri als Nederlands staatsburger te garanderen, gezien het feit dat het 16 mei aanstaande twee jaar geleden is dat Al Mansouri aan Iran is uitgeleverd?

Antwoord
De heer Al Mansouri wordt beschuldigd van terroristische activiteiten. Recentelijk heeft het EU-voorzitterschap namens de EU-lidstaten de Iraanse autoriteiten opgeroepen volledige informatie te verstrekken over de procesgang. Op 7 mei jl. is op hoog ambtelijk niveau bij de Iraanse ambassadeur in Nederland eveneens aangedrongen op het verstrekken van informatie over het welzijn van de heer Al Mansouri en de procesgang. De Nederlandse regering zal deze zaak nauwgezet blijven volgen en de Iraanse autoriteiten zolang als nodig blijven wijzen op hun verantwoordelijkheden.

Vraag 6
Bent u bereid deze vragen vóór 16 mei a.s. te beantwoorden?

Antwoord
Helaas is dat niet mogelijk gebleken.

Abdullah Al Mansouri's son Adnan was very disappointed of the outcome.
He wrote that everything the Minister wrote is already known and that it is a pity and an outrage that this seems to be everything the Dutch government is capable of doing for one of her citizens.


The newspaper Etemad reports that Wednesday in the prison of Tehran 11 people are scheduled to be executed by hanging.
Among them are three childoffenders Behnood Shojaee, Mohammad Fadaei en Saeed Jazee (Jazi).
They have been transferred from the Rajaee Shahr prison (Gohardasht) to the solitary confinements in the Evin prison where hangings normally take place.
Human rights organizations call upon Iran to halt the executions.


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: costly

The newspaper Jomhouri reports that in the prison of the city of Bojnourd, North Khorasan province a man is hanged.
He was convicted to death for buying and trafficking four kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine.



Global Voices Online report that update several Iranian bloggers write that
Abbas Palizdar, a judicial investigator accused senior ayatollahs and officials of corruption.
This is the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Blog of RSO (fa).



According to the Central Bank of Iran, the inflation rate for the past month was 25.3%, this is an increase of 1.7% compared to last month.
Strong domestic demand for consumer goods, surging food prices, and high housing costs are causing the increasing inflation.


The foreign deposits of Iran are $35 billion, while its obligations amount to $25 billion.
This reported the Bank for International Settlements, BIS, located in Basel, Switzerland.
The deposits in foreign banks increased by $3.6 billion in 2007 compared to the previous year.
The obligations increased with $700,000 during that period.
The positive balance of Iran's foreign exchange transactions at banks and other financial institutions was $9.43 billion at the end of 2007.



A Tehran province governor general deputy in charge of security said that the bomb which exploded in Tehran, May 26, was made by a saboteur.
The carbomb caused damage to nearby buildings but no deaths.
According to the newspaper Siasat-e Rouz the official said that those behind this action only wanted to showoff and that the Islamic revolution has always been threatened by enemies with ill intentions.

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