NEWS)))))
Iran’s State Security Forces (SSF) are carrying out a nationwide crackdown primarily targeting youths and women. The government-ordered clampdown is taking place under the guise of combating “trouble-makers” and “ma l-veilers”.Click below to watch a film showing the police brutality in Iran.
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11375
The clip which was aired on Simaye Azadi, Iranian resistance satellite television was captured by a bystander using a mobile phone and smuggled out of Iran. Simaye Azadi said it obtained the video from supporters of the People’s Mojahedin (MeK).The nationwide clampdown began in April. Some images of the crackdown have been aired daily on state television in what numerous Iran analysts believe is to spread fear in society. So far neither the European Union nor the United States have expressed condemnation of the government-orchestrated crackdown.
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An Islamic court in Iran sentenced two men to death by being thrown of a cliff, the official state daily “Iran” reported on Thursday. The sentences were issued in the central Iranian province of Fars. The two men were identified only by their first names Tayyeb and Yazdan. They were accused of rape.Iran’s Islamic penal system regularly practices centuries-old sentences for petty crimes, such as amputation of limbs, eye gouging, stoning to death, and throwing prisoners off a cliff in a sac.
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Two people were stoned to death in Iran and sentences of flogging, amputation and eye-gouging continued to be passed, the human rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday.In Iran "the human rights situation deteriorated, with civil society facing increasing restrictions on fundamental freedoms of expression and association", Amnesty International said in its 2007 annual report. "Two people were reportedly stoned to death. Sentences of flogging, amputation and eye-gouging continued to be passed", the report said. "At least 177 people were executed, at least four of whom were under 18 at the time of the alleged offence, including one who was under 18 at the time of execution. The true numbers of those executed or subjected to corporal punishment were probably considerably higher than those reported."Scores of political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience, continued to serve prison sentences imposed following unfair trials in previous years. Thousands more arrests were made in 2006, mostly during or following demonstrations. Human rights defenders, including journalists, students and lawyers, were among those detained arbitrarily without access to family or legal representation. "Torture, especially during periods of pre-trial detention, remained commonplace", the report added.
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Iranian regime’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country won't give in to Western requests to halt uranium enrichment, one day after the release of a UN atomic agency report which triggers new sanctions on Iran.A report by the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency transmitted to the Security Council yesterday said that Iran was defying UN orders to stop its enrichment program. The report will pave the way for discussion by the Security Council for a new round of sanctions against Iranian regime.
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Iran has arrested more than 15 people for calling for a demonstration in the northwestern city of Tabriz to mark the anniversary of the publication of a cartoon offensive to the Azeri minority, the ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday. The news agency said that the individuals arrested in East Azarbaijan province were inspired by foreign agents bent on stirring trouble to mark the first year since the government Iran newspaper published the cartoon. "In the past few days, a number of opportunists, who were guided from outside Iran, distributed pamphlets to call for a gathering in Tabriz for the first anniversary," said Tabriz chief prosecutor Yusef Firouzi. "In recent days, 15 have been arrested and we are currently interrogating them," he said. The Iran newspaper in May 2006 published a cartoon depicting an ethnic Azeri as a cockroach, sparking days of clashes between police and thousands of people which left four dead. Azeris form a majority in East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan and Ardebil provinces. They are Shiites who speak a Turkic language and are well integrated into Iranian society.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
NEWS)))))
Iranian authorities have hanged 15 people in the north-eastern city of Mashad, state-run media reported on Monday. The men were hanged over the past week, the hard-line daily Qods wrote. Gholam-Hossein Esmaeili, Mashad’s Chief Prosecutor, said that the judiciary was acting “decisively” against those creating instability. He added that the 15 individuals had been hanged for drug trafficking.Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges such as armed robbery and drug smuggling.Mashad was the scene of a major anti-government protest last week, with local residents attacking agents of Iran’s State Security Forces (SSF) who were attempting to detain a woman for “mal-veiling”. During the clashes, the SSF fired teargas and attacked angry protestors with batons. A nationwide clampdown mainly targeting women for “mal-veiling” began in mid-April.
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Authorities have chopped off the hand of a man in public in the western city of Kermanshah, a state-run daily reported on Tuesday. “In order to deal decisively against those disrupting national security and order and to carry out the divine law, at exactly 4 pm on Sunday the sentence for Arash’s hand to be amputated in public was carried out in Kermanshah’s Jafaar-Abad Square”, wrote the hard-line daily Qods. The report said that Arash, whose hand was chopped off, had taken part in 16 robberies. The sentence had been upheld by Iran’s State Supreme Court, it added. It did not mention, however, which hand was amputated.
Iran’s Islamic penal system regularly practices centuries-old sentences for petty crimes, such as amputation of limbs, eye gouging, stoning to death, and throwing prisoners off a cliff in a sac.
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On Monday May 14th an official at Tehran’s governorate applauded the current nationwide crackdown on women who violate Iran’s strict Islamic dress code but said the initiative did not go far enough. “The actions of State Security Forces (SSF) against mal-veiled women are necessary but insufficient”, said Farahnaz Qandforoush, the governorates advisor on women’s affairs. The SSF should have decisively enforced the dress code over the past decade, Qandforoush told the government-run news agency Fars. She added: “The inaction in previous years has led women and girls to start thinking that they can appear in society in any way they want”.The nationwide clampdown on “poorly-dressed” women began in mid-April.
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Associated Press reported on Wed that Iran persists in its brazen defiance of U.N. Security Council demands that it halt uranium enrichment, the chief U.S. nuclear envoy warned Tuesday ahead of a fresh assessment that could lead to tougher sanctions against Tehran. Gregory L. Schulte said Washington "would welcome a report verifying that Iran has suspended its enrichment-related activities" when the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, delivers its latest update by early next week. "Unfortunately, I don't foresee such a report," Schulte said in a speech at the University of Vienna, calling Iran "a blatant case of noncompliance" with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Agency inspectors who visited Iran's main nuclear facility at Natanz on short notice Sunday found evidence to suggest that it may have overcome technological challenges and has started enriching uranium on a significantly wider scale, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Iranian authorities have hanged 15 people in the north-eastern city of Mashad, state-run media reported on Monday. The men were hanged over the past week, the hard-line daily Qods wrote. Gholam-Hossein Esmaeili, Mashad’s Chief Prosecutor, said that the judiciary was acting “decisively” against those creating instability. He added that the 15 individuals had been hanged for drug trafficking.Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges such as armed robbery and drug smuggling.Mashad was the scene of a major anti-government protest last week, with local residents attacking agents of Iran’s State Security Forces (SSF) who were attempting to detain a woman for “mal-veiling”. During the clashes, the SSF fired teargas and attacked angry protestors with batons. A nationwide clampdown mainly targeting women for “mal-veiling” began in mid-April.
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Authorities have chopped off the hand of a man in public in the western city of Kermanshah, a state-run daily reported on Tuesday. “In order to deal decisively against those disrupting national security and order and to carry out the divine law, at exactly 4 pm on Sunday the sentence for Arash’s hand to be amputated in public was carried out in Kermanshah’s Jafaar-Abad Square”, wrote the hard-line daily Qods. The report said that Arash, whose hand was chopped off, had taken part in 16 robberies. The sentence had been upheld by Iran’s State Supreme Court, it added. It did not mention, however, which hand was amputated.
Iran’s Islamic penal system regularly practices centuries-old sentences for petty crimes, such as amputation of limbs, eye gouging, stoning to death, and throwing prisoners off a cliff in a sac.
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On Monday May 14th an official at Tehran’s governorate applauded the current nationwide crackdown on women who violate Iran’s strict Islamic dress code but said the initiative did not go far enough. “The actions of State Security Forces (SSF) against mal-veiled women are necessary but insufficient”, said Farahnaz Qandforoush, the governorates advisor on women’s affairs. The SSF should have decisively enforced the dress code over the past decade, Qandforoush told the government-run news agency Fars. She added: “The inaction in previous years has led women and girls to start thinking that they can appear in society in any way they want”.The nationwide clampdown on “poorly-dressed” women began in mid-April.
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Associated Press reported on Wed that Iran persists in its brazen defiance of U.N. Security Council demands that it halt uranium enrichment, the chief U.S. nuclear envoy warned Tuesday ahead of a fresh assessment that could lead to tougher sanctions against Tehran. Gregory L. Schulte said Washington "would welcome a report verifying that Iran has suspended its enrichment-related activities" when the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, delivers its latest update by early next week. "Unfortunately, I don't foresee such a report," Schulte said in a speech at the University of Vienna, calling Iran "a blatant case of noncompliance" with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Agency inspectors who visited Iran's main nuclear facility at Natanz on short notice Sunday found evidence to suggest that it may have overcome technological challenges and has started enriching uranium on a significantly wider scale, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
NEWS)))))
Thousands of people staged a protest against the regime’s vigilantes in Mashhad north east of Iran. This protest began after the state police attacked a woman and intended to arrest her. It’s been weeks since the authorities are heading the streets in Iran and bothering women about their un-Islamic dress code! A gentleman tried to free her. The people who witnessed this barbaric act came to their rescue. They managed to free the woman and the man. According to reports 6 thousands were on the street where this incident happened. Police fired tear gas.
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Students in Tehran’s Polytechnic University staged a protest on campus on Sunday.The protest erupted outside the main entrance of the university.“Jailed students must be freed”, the students chanted. “Ansar, get lost”, they added, referring to Ansar-e Hezbollah, a paramilitary force that acts as the clerical regime’s storm troopers to put down anti-government demonstrations and instil terror in members of the public. Iranian officials have conceded in the past that the Ansar-e Hezbollah has been organized and led by close confidants of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, such as Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati.The student protest took place as hard-line vigilantes loyal to the Supreme Leader arrived on campus and began a counter demonstration. “Un-Islamic students must be executed”, the vigilantes yelled.Meanwhile, the student protestors called for the expulsion of the university’s chancellor and an end to the government-sponsored crackdown on student rights activists.Polytechnic University - also known as Amir Kabir University - has been a hotbed of anti-government demonstrations in recent months.
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Students at Amir Kabir University fended off club-wielding university security guards on Monday and went ahead with elections for a pro-democracy association. Despite the successful election at Amir Kabir, it is not clear that balloting for student associations will be allowed at other universities. The associations, a powerful center of support and communication among student democracy advocates, are a constant irritant to the government, which seeks to maintain strict control over politics and cultural norms.The University of Science and Industry, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad taught before he was elected, has not been permitted to hold elections for the past two years. Students at Tehran University have vowed to hold a ballot, but have yet to do so. Amir Kabir University has long been a center of student political activities. Students there chanted against Ahmadinejad when he visited the university late last year and set fire to posters bearing his likeness.A student leader, Mehrdad Khalilpour, was arrested Monday by security officials, but two of his comrades managed to escape. Among other student leaders, Babak Zamanian was arrested late last month and Ahmad Ghassaban was arrested on Friday.However, the student democracy advocates said they scored a victory on Monday when they managed to hold their annual elections. “The students reached the conclusion that the only way was to resist,” said Ehsan Mansouri, a student leader who has been banned from attending classes. “The students guarded the ballot boxes as they were attacked and clubbed severely by the university security guards.”Protests erupted last week after four student publications appeared with articles that offended religious sensibilities. Student advocates denounced the articles, saying the publications had been forged in an effort to frame the students.Under Iran’s Islamic law, punishment for the offense, technically “insulting religious sanctities,” can be death. One of the articles had risen what were seen as offensive questions about the return of the 12th Imam — the messiah in Shiite Islam.Conservatives protested last week inside and outside the university, calling for a second cultural revolution. Under the first, which followed the 1979 Islamic revolution, universities around the country were closed, and liberal students and professors were purged. The pressure on student advocates seems to be part of a major social and political crackdown. Women and younger men have been the target of the vice police in the past two weeks, with officers patrolling the streets and cautioning or arresting people they accused of looking immodest. The police also started seizing satellite dishes last week. Because the dishes provide access to opposition television channels they are officially banned, but that does not stop large numbers of people from using them. Reformist politicians, who were marginalized after Ahmadinejad’s election two years ago, became alarmed last week when a former nuclear negotiator, Mohammad Hussein Moussavian, was arrested on espionage charges. To many, the arrest seemed to signal a new crackdown on social freedoms. “No one should be surprised if they stage another cultural revolution and shut down the universities,” said Saeed Leylaz, an economist and political commentator in Tehran. “The Islamic Republic has reached a stage that wants to suppress any kind of dissent, even if that means creating a police state.”
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Reuters reported that the Senior officials from six world powers met in Berlin on Thursday to discuss Iran's defiance of U.N. demands that it stop uranium enrichment work the West believes is at the centre of a secret atom-bomb plan.The United Nations has already imposed limited sanctions after Tehran rejected resolutions ordering it to freeze the work. Political directors from the five permanent U.N. Security Council members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- plus Germany assessed the situation on the sidelines of a Group of Eight (G8) meeting in Berlin.An official at the U.S. embassy confirmed that the meeting was over and that Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns would be leaving Berlin shortly and heading to Croatia.It was not immediately clear what decisions, if any, were made at the closed-door meeting. Diplomats from countries participating said the Americans had been eager to discuss possible language for a new sanctions resolution. Discussions on Iran will continue in Berlin during a G8 political directors meeting to prepare for the summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.
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Iranian authorities hanged five men in public in the southern town of Ravar, state media reported on Wednesday. The men were convicted of drug trafficking, the official state daily Iran wrote.Ravar is situated in the Iranian province of Kerman.
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A young man set himself on fire outside Iran’s Presidential Offices, the press office of Tehran’s Medical Emergency Centre said on Tuesday.The incident occurred at 14:11 on Sunday outside the public relations headquarters of Iranian regime’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the centre said.The man, who was not identified by name, was immediately rushed to a burns unit of a local Tehran hospital by ambulance.He has suffered 80 percent burns.Suicide among youths in Iran has reached an alarming rate in recent years. Many young people with no hope of a prosperous future are increasingly committing suicide, in some cases immolating themselves. Experts say that suicide is more common among young women and girls in Iran.
Thousands of people staged a protest against the regime’s vigilantes in Mashhad north east of Iran. This protest began after the state police attacked a woman and intended to arrest her. It’s been weeks since the authorities are heading the streets in Iran and bothering women about their un-Islamic dress code! A gentleman tried to free her. The people who witnessed this barbaric act came to their rescue. They managed to free the woman and the man. According to reports 6 thousands were on the street where this incident happened. Police fired tear gas.
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Students in Tehran’s Polytechnic University staged a protest on campus on Sunday.The protest erupted outside the main entrance of the university.“Jailed students must be freed”, the students chanted. “Ansar, get lost”, they added, referring to Ansar-e Hezbollah, a paramilitary force that acts as the clerical regime’s storm troopers to put down anti-government demonstrations and instil terror in members of the public. Iranian officials have conceded in the past that the Ansar-e Hezbollah has been organized and led by close confidants of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, such as Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati.The student protest took place as hard-line vigilantes loyal to the Supreme Leader arrived on campus and began a counter demonstration. “Un-Islamic students must be executed”, the vigilantes yelled.Meanwhile, the student protestors called for the expulsion of the university’s chancellor and an end to the government-sponsored crackdown on student rights activists.Polytechnic University - also known as Amir Kabir University - has been a hotbed of anti-government demonstrations in recent months.
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Students at Amir Kabir University fended off club-wielding university security guards on Monday and went ahead with elections for a pro-democracy association. Despite the successful election at Amir Kabir, it is not clear that balloting for student associations will be allowed at other universities. The associations, a powerful center of support and communication among student democracy advocates, are a constant irritant to the government, which seeks to maintain strict control over politics and cultural norms.The University of Science and Industry, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad taught before he was elected, has not been permitted to hold elections for the past two years. Students at Tehran University have vowed to hold a ballot, but have yet to do so. Amir Kabir University has long been a center of student political activities. Students there chanted against Ahmadinejad when he visited the university late last year and set fire to posters bearing his likeness.A student leader, Mehrdad Khalilpour, was arrested Monday by security officials, but two of his comrades managed to escape. Among other student leaders, Babak Zamanian was arrested late last month and Ahmad Ghassaban was arrested on Friday.However, the student democracy advocates said they scored a victory on Monday when they managed to hold their annual elections. “The students reached the conclusion that the only way was to resist,” said Ehsan Mansouri, a student leader who has been banned from attending classes. “The students guarded the ballot boxes as they were attacked and clubbed severely by the university security guards.”Protests erupted last week after four student publications appeared with articles that offended religious sensibilities. Student advocates denounced the articles, saying the publications had been forged in an effort to frame the students.Under Iran’s Islamic law, punishment for the offense, technically “insulting religious sanctities,” can be death. One of the articles had risen what were seen as offensive questions about the return of the 12th Imam — the messiah in Shiite Islam.Conservatives protested last week inside and outside the university, calling for a second cultural revolution. Under the first, which followed the 1979 Islamic revolution, universities around the country were closed, and liberal students and professors were purged. The pressure on student advocates seems to be part of a major social and political crackdown. Women and younger men have been the target of the vice police in the past two weeks, with officers patrolling the streets and cautioning or arresting people they accused of looking immodest. The police also started seizing satellite dishes last week. Because the dishes provide access to opposition television channels they are officially banned, but that does not stop large numbers of people from using them. Reformist politicians, who were marginalized after Ahmadinejad’s election two years ago, became alarmed last week when a former nuclear negotiator, Mohammad Hussein Moussavian, was arrested on espionage charges. To many, the arrest seemed to signal a new crackdown on social freedoms. “No one should be surprised if they stage another cultural revolution and shut down the universities,” said Saeed Leylaz, an economist and political commentator in Tehran. “The Islamic Republic has reached a stage that wants to suppress any kind of dissent, even if that means creating a police state.”
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Reuters reported that the Senior officials from six world powers met in Berlin on Thursday to discuss Iran's defiance of U.N. demands that it stop uranium enrichment work the West believes is at the centre of a secret atom-bomb plan.The United Nations has already imposed limited sanctions after Tehran rejected resolutions ordering it to freeze the work. Political directors from the five permanent U.N. Security Council members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- plus Germany assessed the situation on the sidelines of a Group of Eight (G8) meeting in Berlin.An official at the U.S. embassy confirmed that the meeting was over and that Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns would be leaving Berlin shortly and heading to Croatia.It was not immediately clear what decisions, if any, were made at the closed-door meeting. Diplomats from countries participating said the Americans had been eager to discuss possible language for a new sanctions resolution. Discussions on Iran will continue in Berlin during a G8 political directors meeting to prepare for the summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.
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Iranian authorities hanged five men in public in the southern town of Ravar, state media reported on Wednesday. The men were convicted of drug trafficking, the official state daily Iran wrote.Ravar is situated in the Iranian province of Kerman.
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A young man set himself on fire outside Iran’s Presidential Offices, the press office of Tehran’s Medical Emergency Centre said on Tuesday.The incident occurred at 14:11 on Sunday outside the public relations headquarters of Iranian regime’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the centre said.The man, who was not identified by name, was immediately rushed to a burns unit of a local Tehran hospital by ambulance.He has suffered 80 percent burns.Suicide among youths in Iran has reached an alarming rate in recent years. Many young people with no hope of a prosperous future are increasingly committing suicide, in some cases immolating themselves. Experts say that suicide is more common among young women and girls in Iran.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
NEWS))))))
Two Iranians were hanged on Thursday in the southern town of Roudan, the official news agency IRNA reported. Yadollah Esmaeili-fard, a local judicial official, identified the two individuals as M. Salari and Z. Hashemi. Roudan is situated in the province of Hormozgan.
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Iranian authorities hanged a man in a prison in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, the state-run news agency ISNA reported on Saturday. The man, identified as Amin A., was charged with murder, the report said. Bandar Abbas is the provincial capital of Hormozgan Province.
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New York times reported on Thursday that only days after Iran’s annual crackdown on immodest dress began in mid-April, with teams of police officers stopping women in major squares and subway stations to warn them about their attire, the security authorities came under fire.Many women who were stopped on the street and told to dress properly reacted angrily. A parliamentary commission complained about the campaign to the chief of police, and the head of Iran’s judiciary warned that a too repressive policy could bring a backlash. Even an adviser to the president urged caution, saying the police “should not go to the extreme,” according to the daily Etemad-e-Melli.The Tehran chief of police, Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, said during the drive that the security forces would single out women who wore only small head scarves or short tight coats and short pants. He also said the police were turning their attention to men in the second phase of its campaign, which began Saturday. He insisted that the authorities would avoid force and arrests and would only talk to violators to urge them to dress appropriately. Still, he said 150 women a day had been taken to detention centers as the crackdown began. At a parliamentary hearing of the Commission for National Security that was convened to hear complaints, “Some of the members of Parliament complained that the security force should not put itself in a position to deal with such issues,” said Dariush Ghanbari, a member of the commission. When one woman, Nazanin, 28, was stopped last month in Vanak Square, she thought she had dressed more modestly than usual, she said. But she was told that her coat was tight and showed the shape of her body. “I just joked with them and tried to stay calm, but they told me to sit so that they could see how far my pants would pull up in a sitting position,” said Nazanin, a reporter. She was told by the police officers that they wanted to help her look modest so men would not look at her and cause her inconvenience, she said. She received a warning about her large sunglasses, her coat, her eyeliner and her socks, which the police officers said should be longer. She was allowed to go after she signed a letter, which included her name and address, saying she would not appear in public like that again. The police have said the letters will be used against violators in court if they defy the rules a second time. Another woman, Niloofar, 28, who responded angrily to the police when she was told to fix her head scarf because too much of her hair was showing, said she was kept in a bus for five hours.Somayeh, 31, who was crying after she was stopped at the Mirdamad subway station, said, “They want to intimidate us.” She was asked to call home and get her national ID number, the equivalent of a Social Security number, for the letter she had to sign, promising not to wear makeup in public again.The women who were interviewed refused to give their full names because they feared they could be identified by the police. Women have been required by law since the 1979 Islamic revolution to cover their hair and wear long, loose clothing. The ideal dress is considered to be the chador, a black head-to-toe garment. In the early days of the revolution, women were flogged, jailed and fined for what was considered immodest dress. But many women defy the law and the government has been engaged in a constant battle over how they should look. At least three state-sponsored fashion shows were held in the past year to encourage women to wear more “Islamic” clothes. This year, the publicity campaign has been especially large and loud, with the security authorities insisting that people are happy with the restrictions.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has backed the campaign, saying, “Those who have indecent appearances are sent by the enemy.” The second phase of the crackdown began Saturday as planned. Not only women were scrutinized. The police also arrested men who wore wild hairstyles and T-shirts that were considered un-Islamic. The student news agency ISNA quoted a police statement on Sunday as saying, “In an official order to barbershops, they have been warned to avoid using Western hairstyles and doing men’s eyebrows.”
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Reuters reported: world powers warned Iranian regime on Wednesday a third round of U.N. sanctions loomed if it did not halt its uranium enrichment work, which the West suspects could be used to build nuclear weapons.Earlier, Iran underlined its determination to press on with the work when Ali Akbar Velayati, international affairs adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tehran was capable of mass producing machines used for enriching uranium."One day Iran had problems to produce one centrifuge but right now we have obtained the technology for mass production of centrifuges," Velayati told the Jomohouri Eslami newspaper.It was believed to be the first time a senior aide of Khamenei, who has the final say on nuclear and other policies, has said it could make centrifuges on a large scale.The sanctions warning followed a meeting in London of senior officials from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- plus Germany.A British Foreign Office statement said the political directors from the six major powers had concluded a negotiated solution was still preferable but that further action would be taken if necessary to get Iran to comply."There was strong agreement on the way ahead, reflecting our shared concerns about Iran's non-compliance with (the U.N. nuclear watchdog) and Security Council requirements and our common interest in a negotiated solution," said the statement."All agreed that if Iran failed to meet international requirements the Security Council would need to take further action," it said. The United Nations has already imposed two sets of sanctions on the Islamic Republic since December over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
Two Iranians were hanged on Thursday in the southern town of Roudan, the official news agency IRNA reported. Yadollah Esmaeili-fard, a local judicial official, identified the two individuals as M. Salari and Z. Hashemi. Roudan is situated in the province of Hormozgan.
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Iranian authorities hanged a man in a prison in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, the state-run news agency ISNA reported on Saturday. The man, identified as Amin A., was charged with murder, the report said. Bandar Abbas is the provincial capital of Hormozgan Province.
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New York times reported on Thursday that only days after Iran’s annual crackdown on immodest dress began in mid-April, with teams of police officers stopping women in major squares and subway stations to warn them about their attire, the security authorities came under fire.Many women who were stopped on the street and told to dress properly reacted angrily. A parliamentary commission complained about the campaign to the chief of police, and the head of Iran’s judiciary warned that a too repressive policy could bring a backlash. Even an adviser to the president urged caution, saying the police “should not go to the extreme,” according to the daily Etemad-e-Melli.The Tehran chief of police, Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, said during the drive that the security forces would single out women who wore only small head scarves or short tight coats and short pants. He also said the police were turning their attention to men in the second phase of its campaign, which began Saturday. He insisted that the authorities would avoid force and arrests and would only talk to violators to urge them to dress appropriately. Still, he said 150 women a day had been taken to detention centers as the crackdown began. At a parliamentary hearing of the Commission for National Security that was convened to hear complaints, “Some of the members of Parliament complained that the security force should not put itself in a position to deal with such issues,” said Dariush Ghanbari, a member of the commission. When one woman, Nazanin, 28, was stopped last month in Vanak Square, she thought she had dressed more modestly than usual, she said. But she was told that her coat was tight and showed the shape of her body. “I just joked with them and tried to stay calm, but they told me to sit so that they could see how far my pants would pull up in a sitting position,” said Nazanin, a reporter. She was told by the police officers that they wanted to help her look modest so men would not look at her and cause her inconvenience, she said. She received a warning about her large sunglasses, her coat, her eyeliner and her socks, which the police officers said should be longer. She was allowed to go after she signed a letter, which included her name and address, saying she would not appear in public like that again. The police have said the letters will be used against violators in court if they defy the rules a second time. Another woman, Niloofar, 28, who responded angrily to the police when she was told to fix her head scarf because too much of her hair was showing, said she was kept in a bus for five hours.Somayeh, 31, who was crying after she was stopped at the Mirdamad subway station, said, “They want to intimidate us.” She was asked to call home and get her national ID number, the equivalent of a Social Security number, for the letter she had to sign, promising not to wear makeup in public again.The women who were interviewed refused to give their full names because they feared they could be identified by the police. Women have been required by law since the 1979 Islamic revolution to cover their hair and wear long, loose clothing. The ideal dress is considered to be the chador, a black head-to-toe garment. In the early days of the revolution, women were flogged, jailed and fined for what was considered immodest dress. But many women defy the law and the government has been engaged in a constant battle over how they should look. At least three state-sponsored fashion shows were held in the past year to encourage women to wear more “Islamic” clothes. This year, the publicity campaign has been especially large and loud, with the security authorities insisting that people are happy with the restrictions.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has backed the campaign, saying, “Those who have indecent appearances are sent by the enemy.” The second phase of the crackdown began Saturday as planned. Not only women were scrutinized. The police also arrested men who wore wild hairstyles and T-shirts that were considered un-Islamic. The student news agency ISNA quoted a police statement on Sunday as saying, “In an official order to barbershops, they have been warned to avoid using Western hairstyles and doing men’s eyebrows.”
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Reuters reported: world powers warned Iranian regime on Wednesday a third round of U.N. sanctions loomed if it did not halt its uranium enrichment work, which the West suspects could be used to build nuclear weapons.Earlier, Iran underlined its determination to press on with the work when Ali Akbar Velayati, international affairs adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tehran was capable of mass producing machines used for enriching uranium."One day Iran had problems to produce one centrifuge but right now we have obtained the technology for mass production of centrifuges," Velayati told the Jomohouri Eslami newspaper.It was believed to be the first time a senior aide of Khamenei, who has the final say on nuclear and other policies, has said it could make centrifuges on a large scale.The sanctions warning followed a meeting in London of senior officials from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- plus Germany.A British Foreign Office statement said the political directors from the six major powers had concluded a negotiated solution was still preferable but that further action would be taken if necessary to get Iran to comply."There was strong agreement on the way ahead, reflecting our shared concerns about Iran's non-compliance with (the U.N. nuclear watchdog) and Security Council requirements and our common interest in a negotiated solution," said the statement."All agreed that if Iran failed to meet international requirements the Security Council would need to take further action," it said. The United Nations has already imposed two sets of sanctions on the Islamic Republic since December over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
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