Saturday, August 18, 2007

NEWS))))))

A man was hanged in public in the northern Iranian province of Gilan on Thursday, state media reported.The unnamed man was hanged in the town of Astaneh Ashrafiyeh, the state broadcasting corporation IRIB said in a report on its website.He was accused of murder.


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Two men were hanged in the north-eastern province of Khorassan Razavi, state media reported.The men, identified only by their initials M. T. and M. R., were hanged in a prison in the town of Taybad, the state-run news agency ISNA said on Tuesday.They were accused of drug smuggling. The report did not specify the date when the execution took place.


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Iranian authorities in Tehran lashed a man on his back earlier this year for having a bible in his car, an Iranian Christian group said in a report on its website last Friday. The man was only identified by the initials A. Sh.On 5 May, the man, driving his vehicle, was involved in a road accident with a car belonging to security guards for a government official in Tehran. A bible and a video of Jesus Christ were found in the man's possession upon inspection of his vehicle by the state security forces (SSF). A. Sh. admitted to being Christian, prompting the security agents to beat him up, the report said. He was arrested and taken to a holding cell in Detention Centre 102. During interrogation security agents accused the man of converting from Islam to Christianity, a practice banned under Iran's strict theocratic laws.He was subsequently subjected to lashes on the back and underwent physical and psychological torture, the report added.He was released two days later after his family made bail.


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Iranian Regime Called For Cross-Country Maneuver in Fear of Uprising
State run news agency Fars, reported on Aug. 7, deputy leader of paramilitary force of Basij, Pasdar (member of IRGC) Majid Mir-Ahmadi said: “Based on our evaluation of threats from our enemy, and in order to confront it, defense readiness of members of Basij is our first priority.” He added: “most of the battalions participating in the maneuver are equipped with modern and appropriate weaponry and the maneuver will be held under real conditions.”


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The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran said in a statement on Monday that the State Security Forces (SSF) opened fire on a car at the entry point to the city of Baneh in the Iranian Kurdistan on Sunday, killing three and wounding another one seriously. Outraged by the heinous crime, the local residents took to the streets in protest and clashed with the suppressive forces. The SSF attacked the angry crowd wounding a number of local residents and arresting many others. In defiance, the demonstrators torched the SSF station. Fearing the spread of protest the regime called in reinforcements from nearby towns. The clashes and unrest continued until late evening.


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Upon calls by Amnesty International, the Confederation of International Unions and the International Federation of World Transportation, a series of rallies were staged in Paris and other European cities against the suppression of worker activists in Iran by the mullahs’ regime. The demonstrators carried placards saying: ' Syndicate Freedoms for Iranian Employees and Workers', and ' Stop Massacre', ' Release Workers and Students', and chanted slogans against the recent wave of suppression in Iran.


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A prominent international media rights group called on the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take action to save two Iranian journalists from execution.Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wrote on Monday to Secretary General Ban urging him to intercede in the case of Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed Botimar, two journalists who were sentenced to death on 16 July, and to ask the Islamic Republic of Iran to adhere to the international treaties it has signed concerning civil and political rights, the group announced in a public statement on Tuesday.“Their most basic rights were violated as they were barred from court when the sentence was handed down”, the letter said. “Even more egregiously, they were not notified of the sentence and only found out from a newspaper”.Hassanpour and Botimar (who is also known as “Hiva”), were allowed a visit from a family member in their prison in Sanandaj, in Iran’s Kurdish northwestern region, on 8th of August, RSF said. “They discovered they had been sentenced to death from a report in the daily Kayhan. They have been on hunger strike for nearly 30 days, and are consuming only water to which some sugar is added”.The letter pointed out that 11 journalists are currently in prison in Iran for “trying to do their job”. “Some are serving sentences imposed in trials with no due process. Others are being held without trial. The prison conditions are appalling and they are denied access to the medical treatment they need”, RSF said.“Journalists are being harassed and threatened by the regime, which is waging a witch-hunt against the independent media”, the letter said. “Many of them have been brought into court on charges which are baseless but are deemed admissible by a compliant judicial system”.The letter concluded, “These men need to know that they have your support. If the United Nations were to intercede on their behalf, they would be able to recover a degree of dignity and the freedom to work as journalists. We are convinced that you could find ways and arguments to get Iran to respect the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which it has signed”.


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The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances.The Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials have described as its growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the Middle East, the sources said. The decision follows congressional pressure on the administration to toughen its stance against Tehran, as well as U.S. frustration with the ineffectiveness of U.N. resolutions against Iran's nuclear program, officials said.The designation of the Revolutionary Guard will be made under Executive Order 13224, which President Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to obstruct terrorist funding. It authorizes the United States to identify individuals, businesses, charities and extremist groups engaged in terrorist activities. The Revolutionary Guard would be the first national military branch included on the list, U.S. officials said -- a highly unusual move because it is part of a government, rather than a typical non-state terrorist organization.The order allows the United States to block the assets of terrorists and to disrupt operations by foreign businesses that "provide support, services or assistance to, or otherwise associate with, terrorists." The main goal of the new designation is to clamp down on the Revolutionary Guard's vast business network, as well as on foreign companies conducting business linked to the military unit and its personnel. The administration plans to list many of the Revolutionary Guard's financial operations.Formed in 1979 and originally tasked with protecting the world's only modern theocracy, the Revolutionary Guard took the lead in battling Iraq during the bloody Iran-Iraq war waged from 1980 to 1988. The Guard, also known as the Pasdaran, has since become a powerful political and economic force in Iran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rose through the ranks of the Revolutionary Guard and came to power with support from its network of veterans. Its leaders are linked to many mainstream businesses in Iran."They are heavily involved in everything from pharmaceuticals to telecommunications and pipelines -- even the new Imam Khomeini Airport and a great deal of smuggling," said Ray Takeyh of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Many of the front companies engaged in procuring nuclear technology are owned and run by the Revolutionary Guards. They're developing along the lines of the Chinese military, which is involved in many business enterprises. It's a huge business conglomeration."The Revolutionary Guard Corps -- with its own navy, air force, ground forces and special forces units -- is a rival to Iran's conventional troops. Its naval forces abducted 15 British sailors and marines this spring, sparking an international crisis, and its special forces armed Lebanon's Hezbollah with missiles used against Israel in the 2006 war. The corps also plays a key role in Iran's military industries, including the attempted acquisition of nuclear weapons and surface-to-surface missiles, according to Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.


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On Monday a group of Iranian-Canadians gathered at the Human rights monument in Ottawa on Elgin Street. They were protesting against the mass executions in Iran by the Iranian regime. They were chanting slogans against the increase number of executions on the Iranian streets and the appeasement policy. They called upon Canada to support a resolution in condemnation of the Iranian regime in the United Nation.