HAPPY NEW YEAR

NEWS))))))

Three men were hanged in public in the south-eastern Iranian city of Zahedan, the state-run news agency ISNA reported on Sunday.Two of the men were accused of being Mofsed-o-fel-Arz (meaning corruptors of society, whose blood can be spilled) and “mohareb”, a religious term that describes someone who wages war on God. The charge mohareb is often applied to those accused of armed resistance to the state.The report said that Mohammad Sh. had been convicted of kidnapping and spreading fear in society, among other charges.Changiz N. was charged with armed robbery and murder.Ali B. was accused of drug trafficking.All three men were hanged in public in the city's Kargar (Worker) Square the report said. Since 2005, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive province.

******
A man was hanged in public in the south-eastern town of Saravan, a semi-official daily reported on Saturday.The man, identified only by his first name Amanollah, was accused of armed robbery, the hard-line Jomhouri Islami wrote. Amanollah was hanged in public on Thursday. He was sentenced to death by a court in the nearby city of Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province. On Monday, Iranian authorities executed two men identified as Youssef H. and Pordel B. in Zahedan. Sistan-va-Baluchistan has been a hotbed of anti-government activities since 2005. since then the Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive province.

******
Some 600,000 people are sent to prison each year in Iran, a state-run news agency reported on Tuesday.Mehr News Agency also said that at any given time the prison population was approximately 158,000.


******
A United States federal judge ruled that the Iranian government was involved in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia which left 19 U.S. Air Force personnel dead.On December 22, District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that the government of Iran, as well as its Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was responsible for the attack, adding that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei personally gave the go-ahead for the operation.The judge ordered Tehran to pay $254 million in damages to the relatives of those killed in the attack, which was carried out by operatives of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.


******
Iran's Justice Minister died on Thursday in a road accident, state-run media reported yesterday.Jamal Karimi-Rad was killed when a truck slammed into his car between the towns of Saveh and Tafresh, central Iran, the news agency Mehr said.Two of his relatives sustained injuries in the accident and where taken to a hospital in the holy city of Qom, the report added.As both Justice Minister and Judiciary Spokesman, Karimi-Rad was a senior official in Iran's executive and judicial branches.He was previously a revolutionary prosecutor in Zanjan and Qazvin provinces, and director of Taazirat Department (agency for implementation of corporal punishment, including flogging in public, etc) in Qazvin.

******

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki described the Islamic Republic as a "nuclear state", the state-run news agency ISNA reported on Tuesday."The United States and other Western countries are opposed to Islamic states obtaining new technologies. This is why they are running a technological apartheid", Mottaki said. He made the remarks at a meeting with Libya's visiting Minister of Planning."Iran has become a nuclear state. In the coming months, we will hold a grand celebration for our country's nuclearization". !!!

Marry Christmas

NEWS)))))))

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose sanctions on Iran for failing to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.The Security Council adopted the measures under Article 41 of Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which provides for sanctions but does not authorize military action.The resolution, drafted by Britain, France, and Germany, targets Tehran's nuclear industry and ballistic missile program.The council ordered all member states of the UN to prevent the supply, sale, or transfer of all material and technology which could contribute to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.The U.S. and its European allies had been involved in intense diplomatic maneuvering for weeks to get the backing of Russia and China, who both have major commercial ties with Iran.This was the first-ever sanction resolution on Iran which is now one of only 11 countries in the world to be facing a UN embargo.The council gave Tehran two months to suspend its uranium enrichment activities and heavy water-related projects or face further measures.Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States are permanent members of the 15-member Security Council and have veto power.The council, currently presided over by Qatar, also includes Argentina, Denmark, Ghana, Greece, Japan, Peru, The Republic of the Congo, Slovakia, and Tanzania.
The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, on Saturday welcomed the adoption of a resolution by the UN Security Council against the mullahs’ regime and called it the first necessary step towards preventing the ruling religious fascism in Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. She reiterated that giving more time to the terrorist mullahs will bring them a step closer to obtaining a nuclear bomb. She called on the UN Security Council to ignore the mullahs’ threats and blackmail and impose comprehensive arms, technological, diplomatic and oil sanctions against the regime.Mrs. Rajavi added that the clerical regime's nuclear projects were completely against the interests of the Iranian people and that an absolute majority of Iranians supported the imposition of comprehensive sanctions.She emphasized that, contrary to the mullahs' claims, the regime is extremely vulnerable to such sanctions. Mrs. Rajavi said that the regime was weak and engulfed in internal turmoil but had benefited from the West's policy of indulgence. Mrs. Rajavi concluded that the effective solution to the present crisis in Iran was democratic change by the Iranian people and their Resistance. The Iranian people have demonstrated the desire for change through increasing protests against the ruling religious fascism. Therefore, in addition to sanctions, a correct policy vis-à-vis the Iranian regime requires lending support to the Iranian people and their Resistance as they strive to bring about democratic change in Iran.


********

Iranian authorities have hanged three men in the south-western city of Ahwaz, state-run press reported on Thursday.The three men, who were not identified by name, were hanged on Tuesday, the daily Tehran Emrooz wrote.They were accused of taking part in a recent spate of bombings in the restive city and charged with "acting against national security" and being a mohareb, a religious term that describes someone who wages war on God.In the past, Iran’s judiciary has executed political opponents of the Islamic Republic on the charge of being a mohareb.Earlier this year, two other Iranian Arabs were hanged for their alleged role in the bombings.Ahwaz, provincial capital of Khuzistan, is home to Iran’s ethnic Arab population and has been a hotbed of anti-government demonstrations.The latest hangings bring to at least 12 the number of officially-reported executions carried out this week.

******

Nine men were hanged in Iran, state media reported on Wednesday.Six of the men were hanged at dawn in Tehran, while another three were hanged in public in the town of Rafsanjan, southern Iran.The men hanged in Rafsanjan, identified as Gholam Hazrat, Nour Ahmad, and Shah Mir, were of Afghan origin, the daily Tehran Emrooz wrote. The hangings took place in public on Monday. They were accused of rape.The government-run news agency Fars separately reported that six men were hanged at dawn on Wednesday in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.The men were only identified by their first names Hassangholi, Hossein, Kheyrollah, Mohammad-Hadi, Vahid, and Yadollah.The report said that Vahid was a 22-year-old Afghan.All six men were accused of separate murders.

News))))))

Europe’s second highest court on Tuesday annulled a European Union decision that had frozen the funds of an exiled Iranian opposition group and called into question the group’s label as a terrorist organization.The ruling by the European Court of First Instance was more than a financial victory for the group, the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People’s Holy Warriors, which has long argued that its terrorist label is unfair.The European court ruled that the European Union had not provided adequate reasons or a fair hearing in deciding to freeze the organization’s assets in 2002 and that the decision “must be annulled.”The European Union issued a statement in response to the ruling saying that the organization remained on the terrorist list and that it would consider appealing to the higher European Court of Justice.“All restrictions resulting from the terror tag should be removed from the Iranian resistance immediately,” the group’s leader, Maryam Rajavi said during a visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. She said that the ruling proved that her organization was a legitimate resistance movement rather than a terrorist group.The Mujahedeen Khalq was formed by leftist students in Iran in 1965 and quickly became one of the most active groups opposing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. But the Islamic government of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini turned against the group after the shah’s overthrow in 1979.The group moved its headquarters to France and then to Iraq in 1986, when it set up a well-financed military base. The American military disarmed the militia in May 2003 and has since kept its members confined to the camp near Baghdad.Ms. Rajavi remained in Paris, in charge of the group’s political activities as head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. She has been lobbying to be taken seriously as a viable opposition movement to topple the theocracy in Iran.She argues that the organization has been unfairly labeled a terrorist organization out of the West’s misguided efforts to engage the Iranian government, and that the only real hope to effect change in Iran, short of war, is to support her organization and give it free rein.

************

The European Union condemned on Wednesday the arrest of an Iranian union activist in Iran.In a statement issued by the EU's Finnish Presidency, the 25-nation block strongly condemned the arrest of Tehran bus union leader Mansour Ossanlou by Iranian authorities."The EU strongly condemns the re-arrest of Mansour Ossanlou, the President of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, which appears to be without credible justification", the EU statement said. "The EU is deeply concerned by reports that Mr Ossanlou was arrested by plain clothes officers who did not present an arrest warrant and that he has not been allowed proper access to legal assistance", it added.It urged Tehran to respect fully the rights to freedom of expression and association and the right to form or join trade unions. "The EU calls on the Iranian regime to uphold its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and to honor its commitments under the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work", it said.On Tuesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini voiced concern over "increasing inhuman practices" in Europe.

*************

CNN reported that the Iranian students staged a rare demonstration on Monday against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, setting off firecrackers and burning pictures of him as he delivered a speech at Tehran University.Iran's semi-official FARS news agency and a student news Web site also reported that a group of students Monday briefly interrupted Ahmadinejad's speech at Amir Kabir University by booing and chanting "Death to dictator."A student who attended the speech but did not want to be named confirmed those reports to CNN.But Iran's official state-run news agency, IRNA, said the students "expressed their views in a cordial atmosphere," and chanted "Down with dictators," which was met with agreement by Ahmadinejad, who denounced the "dictatorships" in the United States and Britain.A spokesman for Ahmadinejad's office downplayed the incident, saying that the students burned some papers but it was not clear if they were pictures of the president, as others reported.The spokesman confirmed some firecrackers were set off during the speech, and that students shouted "Death to the dictator" or "dictatorship" but said they could have been referring to London or Washington.And while there was some pushing and verbal arguments among students in the crowd, the spokesman, said he was present at the speech and saw no scuffles or fisticuffs.He said some students approached Ahmadinejad after the speech and the president listened to their criticisms and requests, and assured them they would not be harassed or arrested for the incident.However, an Amir Kabir University student, who witnessed the incident and did not want to be identified, told CNN that the protesting students interrupted Ahmadinejad's speech with slogans, including "Death to the dictator," "Get lost Basijis" -- a reference to right-wing students who support the government -- "Get lost liars" -- referring to the state-run press -- and "Political prisoners must be freed."The student also said he witnessed the protesters burning pictures of Ahmadinejad, tossing firecrackers, and fighting with the pro-Tehran students.

***********

A man was hanged in public on Tuesday in the southern town of Jahrom, state-run media reported.The man, identified as Ali Mohammad A., was hanged in a public square, according to the state-run news agency ISNA.

*********


Reuters reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday the international community must use all diplomatic options, including sanctions, to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Merkel said this was why Germany and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- are working on a resolution that would impose sanctions on Iran."It must be unmistakable and clear to Iran that (getting a nuclear weapon) would not be acceptable," Merkel said."That is why the time has come ... not just to think about, but to work on sanctions," she said.Tehran has rejected an offer made by the six powers in June. The sixth, offered Iran, economic and political benefits in exchange for a suspension of its nuclear enrichment program, which could produce an atomic bomb.

************

According to Reuters, the incoming U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Iran on Thursday it was unacceptable to deny the Holocaust or call for Israel to be wiped off the map.Ban, at a news conference, was asked about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who since coming to power in August last year has caused an outcry by terming the Holocaust a "myth" and calling Israel a "tumor" in the Middle East.Ahmadinejad just ended a two-day international conference on the Holocaust that was dominated by speakers who questioned the extermination of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in World War Two."Denying historical facts especially on such an important subject as the Holocaust is just not acceptable," Ban said."Nor is it acceptable to call for the elimination of states or people," Ban said. "I would like to see this fundamental principle respected in both rhetoric and practice by all the members of the international community."A former South Korean foreign minister, Ban spoke to reporters after he took an oath of office in the U.N. General Assembly as secretary-general to succeed Kofi Annan. He assumes his post on January 1.

NEWS))))))

A man was hanged in the western city of Kermanshah, the semi-official daily Kayhan reported on Tuesday.The report did not identify the man by name but said that he had been convicted of murder and armed robbery.It said that he was hanged in public in the city’s Freedom Square on Monday.

******

Two young men were hanged in public in the northern Iranian province of Gilan, state media reported on Sunday.The government-run news agency Fars identified the two men as 25-year-old Taqi J. and 28-year-old Massoud M.They were hanged in public in the town of Langeroud on Sunday.They had been accused of murder.

******

Iranian authorities have hanged two men in public in the restive south-eastern city of Zahedan.The government-run news agency Fars reported on Saturday that the two men were hanged in the early hours of the day at the junction of Saadi and Amir-ol-Momenin streets.The two men, who were accused of kidnapping several years ago, were not identified by name.Their sentences had been upheld by the State Supreme Court.Zahedan is the provincial capital of Sistan-va-Baluchestan, which has been a hotbed of anti-government activities since 2005.


******

Iran Focus an Iranian news agency reported on Thursday that the Iranian regime has sent 30 mobile rocket launchers over the border to insurgents in neighboring Iraq.Iran Focus added: a secret document bearing the stamp of the State Security Forces (SSF) in the south-eastern city of Khorramshahr, states that between 17th and 21st of November of 2006, 30 Peugeot-make vehicles fitted with rocket launchers were smuggled over the border to Iraq.The rocket launchers can be mounted on the vehicles or dismounted to be carried by hand.The white and grey Peugeot vehicles were smuggled through Iraq’s al-Sha’ab and al-Jamila regions.The United States and Iraqi officials routinely blame Tehran for aiding Shiite militias responsible for dozens of assassinations every day.

******

The international press freedoms watchdog Reporters Without Borders accused Iran of stepping of censorship of websites on Wednessday.“Reporters Without Borders expressed deep concern for the future of the Internet in Iran where censorship is now the rule rather than the exception, after the video sharing website YouTube and that of the U.S. daily New York Times were added to the country’s blacklist”, the group said in a statement.“The government is trying to create a digital border to stop culture and news coming from abroad - a vision of the Net which is worrying for the country’s future”, it said.The group described Iran’s hard-line government of being a “threat” to the worldwide web which, instead of aiding understanding between peoples could be changed into a “medium of intolerance”.Tests carried out by Reporters Without Borders confirmed that the YouTube (www.youtube.com) and the New York Times had been inaccessible in Iran since December 1st, it said.In addition, the English version of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia was blocked from 1-3 December 2006. These steps come two months after Iranian regime banned high-speed Internet access.The head of the Agency for the Development of Information Technology in Iran, Vafa Ghafaryan, told the official news agency ISNA that the government planned to enhance surveillance of “harmful” text messages.Iran is on the press freedom group’s list of 13 enemies of the Internet.

Hello to all;

It's been one year today since Irava started it's English segment on CHUO 89.1 FM.
We'd like to thank you for listening and visiting this weblog. We'd also like to thank the wonderfull CHUO staff and management for their afforts and letting radio irava reach you.
We feel it is our obligation and so we are determind to bring you the news regarding Iran and the human teragedies that go on in that beautiful country.
We'd like to thank those who has contacted us with their encouraging emails and phone calls.

THANK YOU AND KEEP LISTENING TO RADIO IRAVA

News)))))))

Iranian authorities hanged a man in public in south-eastern Iran for adultery, a state-run news agency reported on Sunday.The man identified as Mohammad-Reza Rafie (alias Mohammad Khan) was hanged Sunday morning in Khajouyeh Square in the city of Kerman, the news agency Fars reported.He was charged with adultery, organising a “corruption ring”, and kidnapping.

******

The international press freedoms watchdog Reporters Without Borders expressed concern on Thursday on the Iranian government’s decision to order all websites dealing with the issue of Iran to be registered.“Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about a government decision, taken at a cabinet meeting on 27 November, that all websites dealing with Iran will have to register with the culture ministry in the next two months”, a statement by the group said. “The new rule will probably be difficult to implement and seems designed above all to give the authorities grounds to close down independent news sites”.“It will be impossible to force the tens of thousands for websites dealing with Iran, most of which are hosted on servers abroad, to register with the authorities. But this rule could serve as pretext for arbitrarily closing or filtering news websites. It will give a legal basis for the online censorship that already exists in Iran”, it said.In August, Iran Focus reported that Iran would soon issue licences for websites operating from within its borders in an effort to place further controls on the contents being published online.

******

Tehran, Iran, Nov. 29 – A group of Iranian Majlis (Parliament) deputies are launching a probe into the conduct of the Canadian embassy in Tehran, accusing its staff of spying on the government.The lawmakers have charged that the embassy has been “acting against the national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and has effectively “replaced the embassy of the United States in Iran”.They are seeking the closure of the mission.The state-run daily Etemaad quoted on Wednesday Majlis deputy Javad Arianmanesh as saying that lawmakers would move to close down the embassy if it was determined that the Canadian mission was spying.Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ezhei will soon be summoned to explain the “espionage activities of the Canadian embassy in Tehran”.Earlier this month, Canada sponsored a resolution, adopted by the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, accusing Tehran of torturing its political opponents which angered the mullahs.



******

The Associated Press, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina Dec. 2, 06— A court on Friday declared former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and eight others fugitives from justice in Argentina, where they are wanted in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center.Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral said the nine must be considered fugitives for failing to respond to arrest warrants he issued earlier this month, when he said he had "serious" evidence of the suspects' involvement in the attack.Some 85 people were killed and more than 200 were injured 12 years ago when a bomb exploded in a van outside the seven-story AMIA center in the capital of Buenos Aires.Iran has denied any involvement and has said it does not recognize the validity of the arrest warrants. It said it would oppose any attempt to detain the former president or other Iranian citizens.Canicoba Corral also ordered the state public defender's office to represent Rafsanjani and the others because they have not named their own attorney.Chief prosecutor Alberto Nisman has alleged that the decision to attack the Jewish center was made in 1993 "by the highest authorities" in Tehran, and that the attack itself was entrusted to the militant group Hezbollah.The destruction of the AMIA center, symbol of a Jewish population numbering more than 200,000, was the second of two attacks targeting Jews in Argentina in the 1990s. In 1992, a bomb flattened the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people in a case that also has been blamed on Hezbollah.Rafsanjani was Iran's president between 1989 and 1997 is now the head of the Expediency Council, which mediates between the parliament and ruling clerics. The other eight named in the warrants include a former Iranian government and military officials and an ex-security chief for Hezbollah.