NEWS))))))
In its second statement entitled "Iranian Intelligence and Qods Force agent under the cover of human rights organization", the Association of Iraqi Academicians and Intellectuals condemned continuance of the conspiracies by the Iranian regime’s embassy against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), and called for ending presence of Iran’s Intelligence agents in Iraq. The statement reads: The Iranian embassy has established a charity association named 'Sahar' in order to finance its Intelligence agents. This association is in connection with the death squads in Khalis, Iraq, including Abdurrasoul Mulla Hamid, Abu Tabarak al-Saedi and Khudhair Muhammad Ahmad. The last person is accused of explosion of the bus near Khalis in 2005 which led to killing and injury of many workers who worked in Ashraf City. The region’s inhabitants hold Iranian Intelligence and the Qods Force agents responsible for explosion of the water pumping station of Ashraf City which provided water for 20,000 inhabitants. The Association of Iraqi Academicians and Intellectuals calls on all nationalistic and patriotic forces to be aware of anti-Iraqi activities of Iranian Intelligence agents and to ask for ending the presence of these agents in Iraq.
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The Iranian Resistant important revelation on Wednesday about the Iranian regime's secret nuclear projects is still in focus of the international media. Times Magazine, The New York times, The wall street journal, Reuters, DPA (The Deutche Press), The EU Observer, The ANH Global News reported, France 24 TV reported: A leading Iranian opposition group claimed on Wed. that Tehran was speeding up a program to develop nuclear weapons. "The Iran regime entered a new phase in its nuclear project," said Mohammad Mohaddessin of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran. He also said the NCRI has identified a guest house on a military compound near Khojir that the group says houses North Korean specialists working at the warhead facility. The information was finalized in recent weeks and is current. An IAEA representative said the organization would check the NCRI's claim against the agency's own data and pursue it "if appropriate." The commercial satellite images depict a system of heavy security within the Khojir site restricting access to the alleged nuclear-warhead facility. Visitors to the facility -- which is known as "Eight-five hundred" -- have to leave their cars and drivers behind at the car park, according to Mr. Mohaddessin. A car is then sent to collect the visitors, who pass through two checkpoints to get onto a road that ends at a small group of buildings cut into the hills about 1.25 miles away. "Lack of firmness by the international community has offered the regime the opportunity to get closer to obtaining the atomic bomb," Mohaddessin said.
Referring to the "huge trade" between Europe and Iran, Mr Mohaddessin said: "The EU is trying to achieve security through appeasing the Iranian regime." "The EU is appeasing the Iranian regime and it is a disaster for the Iranian people. You remember what happened in the 1930s?” "They carried out exactly the same policy with Hitler that the EU is doing now with the Iranian regime."The NCRI spokesperson said that after April 2007, the Iranian regime entered a new phase in its nuclear project and for the first time established a centre for command and control for the completion of nuclear bombs.At the first site, in the Noor suburb of Tehran, the command centre coordinates all the other sites that are involved in the production of nuclear weapons.The command centre is situated across from the Malek Ashtar University, which the group says the school does not operate like a normal university and only has a handful of students. "Rather, it is a centre for research and development of weapons that works in conjunction with the [command centre]," said Mr Mohaddessin. The second site, a military-secured zone in Khojir region southeast of Tehran, is home to the government's project to manufacture nuclear warheads, the group says.When quizzed on their sources and the provenance of the satellite photographs, the group said that they come from "hundreds of sources and reports" from within the country. 'The Iranian regime is undoubtedly developing the nuclear bomb. None of the essential work has been halted ... All three parts have been speeded up,' he said, referring to uranium enrichment, weaponisation and missile development.“We would like to urgently ask the IAEA ... to immediately send inspectors to the sites, he said. “Time is running out to stop the regime acquiring a nuclear bomb. If we do not act today, tomorrow might be too late.”
The NCRI is the Paris-based political wing of the Mujahedin e-Khalq, an exiled military group that has been seeking to overthrow the current Iranian regime since the mid-1980s.
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The ruling mullahs in Iran hanged 10 prisoners in Tehran and Zanjan on Wednesday. Four of the prisoners executed at Evin Prison in Tehran were Payman 34, Saber 32, Mohammad 31 and Ali Akbar 27.The other six who were hanged in Zanjan were Hassan Rezaiian, Sohrab Rezaiian, Mehdi Dashti, Morteza Jaafari, Manouchehr Mohammadi and Nejat Ahmadi. The Iranian regime also hanged 2 youths in Isfahan Isfahan’s central prison and released death sentences for another 3 prisoners in Tehran. The two prisoners hanged in Isfahan were Iraj 24 and Omid 30. According to another report, the regime’s judicial system has released the order of hand amputation and 40 slashes for a 60 years old man named Mehdi in Tehran.
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New York Times reported on Friday that the Security Council on Thursday began formal consideration of a new resolution on Iran’s nuclear program that imposes restrictions on cargo to and from Iran, travel bans, the freezing of assets for people involved in the program and tightened monitoring of Iranian financial institutions.Britain and France introduced the measure but said they would leave it open for “further substantive comments” from other Council members next week before pushing for a vote in March.The tactic was adopted to meet objections from Council members Indonesia, Libya, South Africa and Vietnam, who said they wanted to await the conclusions of a report by Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to be made public in Vienna on Friday before committing themselves to a final text.The measure’s backers argue that the ElBaradei inquiry is about Iran’s atomic past, not its current activities, and should have no bearing on the draft. But they agreed to the continued consideration in the interests of obtaining unanimity among the 15 Council members.The Council has twice voted unanimously to impose sanctions to stop Iran from enriching uranium, in December 2006 and March 2007. This third measure tightens and extends earlier ones but does not significantly broaden them.The new sanctions resolution would, for the first time, authorize inspections of cargo on aircraft and vessels, particularly those owned or operated by Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line.The new measure would also ban all trade and supply of so-called dual-use items, materials and technologies that can have both civilian and military uses.It also expands the list of Iranian officials and companies subject to sanctions.In one recommendation that was softened in the drafting process to gain the unanimous support of the 15 Council members that the sponsors seek, the resolution calls on countries to “exercise vigilance” over the activities of financial institutions connected to Iranian banks, in particular Bank Melli and Bank Saderat and their branches and subsidiaries abroad. Western countries originally argued for an outright ban on transactions with both banks.The text has the backing of the five permanent members of the Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and Germany, a sponsor that is not a Council member.
Monday, February 18, 2008
NEWS))))))
Reuters reported that the Iranian police have detained two women's rights campaigners and accused them of spreading propaganda against the Islamic state, a fellow activist said on Saturday. Raheleh Asgarzadeh and Nasim Khosravi were detained in a Tehran park on Thursday while collecting signatures in support of a campaign to demand greater female rights, activist Sussann Tahmasebi told Reuters. A court set bail of 200 million rials (around $21,400) each, but they could not pay so they were sent to the capital's Evin prison on Saturday, she said. The ISNA news agency carried a similar report, quoting their lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.
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Adnkornos International reported on Feb. 12th that Yaghoub Mehrnahad, a student and journalist from the Beluchi ethnic group, is the latest person to be condemned to death in Iran. The trial against Mehrnahad took place behind closed doors on Monday without legal representation or his family.According to the student site of the Amir Kabir University of Technology in Tehran, the young journalist was arrested last April at the end of a debate organised in Zahedan, capital of Iranian Beluchistan.His family last saw him in Zahefan prison last December saying his body showed obvious signs of torture.Quoted on the Amir Kabiri site, Yaghoub's younger brother said it was being said that his brother had died in prison after being tortured and his trial and death sentence was only a way to hide the truth.Mehrnahad is accused of having had contact with the armed group of Jondollah, that operates in Iranian Beluchistan.Mehrnahad is not the first journalist condemned to death in recent years. Two other Kurdish journalists, Hiwa Boutimar and Adnan Hassanpour were condemned to death last July and are awaiting execution.
Reuters reported that the Iranian police have detained two women's rights campaigners and accused them of spreading propaganda against the Islamic state, a fellow activist said on Saturday. Raheleh Asgarzadeh and Nasim Khosravi were detained in a Tehran park on Thursday while collecting signatures in support of a campaign to demand greater female rights, activist Sussann Tahmasebi told Reuters. A court set bail of 200 million rials (around $21,400) each, but they could not pay so they were sent to the capital's Evin prison on Saturday, she said. The ISNA news agency carried a similar report, quoting their lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.
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Adnkornos International reported on Feb. 12th that Yaghoub Mehrnahad, a student and journalist from the Beluchi ethnic group, is the latest person to be condemned to death in Iran. The trial against Mehrnahad took place behind closed doors on Monday without legal representation or his family.According to the student site of the Amir Kabir University of Technology in Tehran, the young journalist was arrested last April at the end of a debate organised in Zahedan, capital of Iranian Beluchistan.His family last saw him in Zahefan prison last December saying his body showed obvious signs of torture.Quoted on the Amir Kabiri site, Yaghoub's younger brother said it was being said that his brother had died in prison after being tortured and his trial and death sentence was only a way to hide the truth.Mehrnahad is accused of having had contact with the armed group of Jondollah, that operates in Iranian Beluchistan.Mehrnahad is not the first journalist condemned to death in recent years. Two other Kurdish journalists, Hiwa Boutimar and Adnan Hassanpour were condemned to death last July and are awaiting execution.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
NEWS))))))
According to a report by The Daily Telegraph on Feb. 9th Iran's ambassador to Spain has compared chopping off the hands of thieves to a "surgeon amputating a limb to prevent the spread of gangrene". Seyed Davoud Salehi called for "the traditions, religion and economic development" of Iran to be taken into account by those monitoring human rights in the country. He also argued that the death penalty was necessary "to preserve the health of society as a whole". Salehi said during a speech in Madrid that the highest court in Iran had decided to limit public executions to prevent images of hangings and stoning in public squares being broadcast around the world and used as propaganda against the regime. "Our laws allow for the amputation of the hand that steals. This is not accepted by the West, but the field of human rights should take into account the customs, traditions, religion and economic development," he said in comments reported by the newspaper El Mundo. "Some laws are needed to preserve the health of society, if not, it would be in danger."Iran has the second highest number of recorded executions in the world after China, according to Amnesty International. More than 300 people were condemned to death last year, an increase of more than 70 per cent on 2006. So far this year 20 public executions have taken place and the hands or feet of at least five offenders have been amputated. The ambassador criticised claims that Iran had a poor record in human rights and attributed it to "the arrogance of the West", which used the argument to harm the image of the country.
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Amnesty International warned on Thursday that two sisters, Zohreh and Azar Kabiri-niat, were facing execution by stoning in Iran for adultery. The women were arrested on 4th of February 2007 after Zohreh Kabiri-niat's husband filed a complaint against her and her sisters, Azar and Azzam, and also Azar's husband, Mohammadreza Bodaghi, and another man, according to the group. Zohreh’s husband claimed that they had had “illicit relations” and submitted as evidence video footage from a camera he had secretly installed in his house, which reportedly showed the two women with another man. The five were tried in March 2007 and sentenced to flogging for "having illicit relations"; Zohreh also received five years' imprisonment for forming “a centre of corruption”, Amnesty said in a statement. “But after the floggings were carried out, fresh charges of ‘committing adultery while being married’ were brought against Zohreh and Azar Kabiri-niat. On August 6, 2007. Both were found guilty and were sentenced to death by stoning”, it said. The charge of "adultery" was substantiated solely by the judge's “knowledge”, based on the video evidence and statements the sisters had made during their interrogation, according to the human rights group. Zohreh Kabiri-niat later said, "I do not accept my “confessions” under interrogations, and I deny whatever it is that they claim I said".Iran’s Supreme Court has rejected Zohreh and Azar Kabiri-niat’s appeal and ordered that the stoning sentence be carried out.
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The European Union criticised Iran on Thursday for the rise in the number of executions carried out by the state. “The EU condemns the increasing recourse to death sentences and executions in the Islamic Republic of Iran”, the 27-nation bloc said in a statement issued by Slovenia, the current holder of its rotating Presidency. It urged Iran to abolish the death penalty in line with the United Nations General Assembly resolution adopted in December 2007 on a Moratorium on the use of the death penalty.It highlighted the case of Zohreh Kabiri, Azar Kabiri and Abdollah Farivar, who it said were at imminent threat of death by stoning. “Despite the moratorium on stoning, which the EU was informed of by the Iranian side during the second round of the EU-Iran human rights dialogue in 2003, these punishments remain on the statute books in the Islamic Republic of Iran and sentences are still handed down by judges and carried out in practice”, it added.“The EU urges the Iranian Government to abolish the use of cruel and degrading punishments and to abolish immediately, in law and in practice, the use of stoning as a method of execution - as called for in the most recent UN General Assembly resolution on the Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, adopted by the General Assembly in December 2007”, the statement said.“The EU is also deeply concerned about three cases of juvenile offenders who have been sentenced to death. The EU notes that this is a direct contravention of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s international commitments, specifically the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both clearly prohibiting the execution of minors or people who have been convicted of crimes committed when they were minors. “The EU urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to comply with International Law and to immediately halt the executions of Mr Mahyar, Mr Mohammad Latif, Mr. Behnam Zare and of all other juvenile offenders, taking in consideration alternative sentences for juvenile offenders”, it said.
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Two Kurdish students have been arrested in Iran for unknown reasons, increasing the number of arrested Kurdish students to 11.Jamshid Bahrami and Salam Nabati, art and psychology students respectively, were reportedly taken away by agents belonging to Iran's Intelligence Ministry from their house in Mariwan, in western Iran.It has been common practice for a few months now, that Kurdish students, feminists, religious, union leaders and journalists are being arrested without a precise reason.Two weeks ago, arrested Kurdish student Ebrahim Lotfollahi died during interrogations while reportedly being tortured by the authorities in the city of Sanandaj.A judge has rejected the appeal of the family to have an autopsy performed on Lotfollahi's body.The Iranian government considers the minority Iranian Kurds as potential enemies.
According to a report by The Daily Telegraph on Feb. 9th Iran's ambassador to Spain has compared chopping off the hands of thieves to a "surgeon amputating a limb to prevent the spread of gangrene". Seyed Davoud Salehi called for "the traditions, religion and economic development" of Iran to be taken into account by those monitoring human rights in the country. He also argued that the death penalty was necessary "to preserve the health of society as a whole". Salehi said during a speech in Madrid that the highest court in Iran had decided to limit public executions to prevent images of hangings and stoning in public squares being broadcast around the world and used as propaganda against the regime. "Our laws allow for the amputation of the hand that steals. This is not accepted by the West, but the field of human rights should take into account the customs, traditions, religion and economic development," he said in comments reported by the newspaper El Mundo. "Some laws are needed to preserve the health of society, if not, it would be in danger."Iran has the second highest number of recorded executions in the world after China, according to Amnesty International. More than 300 people were condemned to death last year, an increase of more than 70 per cent on 2006. So far this year 20 public executions have taken place and the hands or feet of at least five offenders have been amputated. The ambassador criticised claims that Iran had a poor record in human rights and attributed it to "the arrogance of the West", which used the argument to harm the image of the country.
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Amnesty International warned on Thursday that two sisters, Zohreh and Azar Kabiri-niat, were facing execution by stoning in Iran for adultery. The women were arrested on 4th of February 2007 after Zohreh Kabiri-niat's husband filed a complaint against her and her sisters, Azar and Azzam, and also Azar's husband, Mohammadreza Bodaghi, and another man, according to the group. Zohreh’s husband claimed that they had had “illicit relations” and submitted as evidence video footage from a camera he had secretly installed in his house, which reportedly showed the two women with another man. The five were tried in March 2007 and sentenced to flogging for "having illicit relations"; Zohreh also received five years' imprisonment for forming “a centre of corruption”, Amnesty said in a statement. “But after the floggings were carried out, fresh charges of ‘committing adultery while being married’ were brought against Zohreh and Azar Kabiri-niat. On August 6, 2007. Both were found guilty and were sentenced to death by stoning”, it said. The charge of "adultery" was substantiated solely by the judge's “knowledge”, based on the video evidence and statements the sisters had made during their interrogation, according to the human rights group. Zohreh Kabiri-niat later said, "I do not accept my “confessions” under interrogations, and I deny whatever it is that they claim I said".Iran’s Supreme Court has rejected Zohreh and Azar Kabiri-niat’s appeal and ordered that the stoning sentence be carried out.
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The European Union criticised Iran on Thursday for the rise in the number of executions carried out by the state. “The EU condemns the increasing recourse to death sentences and executions in the Islamic Republic of Iran”, the 27-nation bloc said in a statement issued by Slovenia, the current holder of its rotating Presidency. It urged Iran to abolish the death penalty in line with the United Nations General Assembly resolution adopted in December 2007 on a Moratorium on the use of the death penalty.It highlighted the case of Zohreh Kabiri, Azar Kabiri and Abdollah Farivar, who it said were at imminent threat of death by stoning. “Despite the moratorium on stoning, which the EU was informed of by the Iranian side during the second round of the EU-Iran human rights dialogue in 2003, these punishments remain on the statute books in the Islamic Republic of Iran and sentences are still handed down by judges and carried out in practice”, it added.“The EU urges the Iranian Government to abolish the use of cruel and degrading punishments and to abolish immediately, in law and in practice, the use of stoning as a method of execution - as called for in the most recent UN General Assembly resolution on the Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, adopted by the General Assembly in December 2007”, the statement said.“The EU is also deeply concerned about three cases of juvenile offenders who have been sentenced to death. The EU notes that this is a direct contravention of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s international commitments, specifically the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both clearly prohibiting the execution of minors or people who have been convicted of crimes committed when they were minors. “The EU urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to comply with International Law and to immediately halt the executions of Mr Mahyar, Mr Mohammad Latif, Mr. Behnam Zare and of all other juvenile offenders, taking in consideration alternative sentences for juvenile offenders”, it said.
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Two Kurdish students have been arrested in Iran for unknown reasons, increasing the number of arrested Kurdish students to 11.Jamshid Bahrami and Salam Nabati, art and psychology students respectively, were reportedly taken away by agents belonging to Iran's Intelligence Ministry from their house in Mariwan, in western Iran.It has been common practice for a few months now, that Kurdish students, feminists, religious, union leaders and journalists are being arrested without a precise reason.Two weeks ago, arrested Kurdish student Ebrahim Lotfollahi died during interrogations while reportedly being tortured by the authorities in the city of Sanandaj.A judge has rejected the appeal of the family to have an autopsy performed on Lotfollahi's body.The Iranian government considers the minority Iranian Kurds as potential enemies.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
NEWS))))))
Iranian authorities hanged two men in public in the central province of Markazi on Monday, state media reported. The men, identified as Yazdan Karimi and Abu-Taleb Mohammadi-Nasb, were hanged in a public square in the city of Arak, the semi-official daily Jomhouri Islami reported in its Tuesday edition.Also on Saturday, authorities executed a man, identified as Reza Sharifi, in the city of Mobarakeh in the central province of Isfahan, the government-run news agency Fars reported.
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The Associated France Press reported that Iran's judiciary said on Tuesday it has sentenced 54 members of the Bahai religious community, whose faith is banned in the Islamic republic, for anti-regime propaganda. "Three Bahais have been sentenced to four years in prison for propaganda against the regime," judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters, adding that 51 received suspended one-year jail terms. He said the suspension of the sentence for the 51 Bahais was conditional on their attendance of courses held by state Islamic Propaganda Organisation. In the past few months, government own newspapers in Iran have criticised what they said was a rise in the activities of Bahais throughout the country, especially in Shiraz. The Islamic republic does not recognise the faith of Bahaism -- which was originally developed in 1863 in Iran -- and it is officially prohibited. Its followers are regarded as infidels and have been persecuted since the 1979 Islamic revolution and also under the deposed shah. Iran's constitution recognises only Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism as minority religions. Bahais consider Bahaullah born in 1817 the last prophet sent by God to the earth, while Muslims believe the last messenger of God is the Prophet Mohammed. Bahaullah was banished and lived 40 years in exile. He died in 1892 and was buried in the Holy Land, close to what is now the northern Israeli port of Haifa.
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Five men were hanged in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, state media reported on Thursday Jan. 31th. The men, identified only by their first names Faraz, Mohammad, Mohammad, Mohsen, and Ramezan, were hanged on Wednesday, the official state daily ‘Iran’ wrote. They were accused of murder.
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A young Iranian man is facing execution after a court judged him a 'hardened and incorrigible drinker," Iranian daily Etemad Melli reported. A section of Tehran's criminal court is currently deciding whether the 22-year-old man, known as Mohsen, should be executed. Mohsen was arrested after allegedly being caught for the fourth time in possession of alcohol and in a state of drunkenness. He has already been sentenced to a flogging. Article 179 of Iran's penal code punishes with the death sentence anyone caught drinking alcohol more than three times."Under Iran's new computerised systems, re-offenders have no chance of escape," prosecutor Jalil Jalili was quoted as saying. He has requested the death penalty for Mohsen. Iran is one of the countries carrying out the highest number of executions annually. At least 177 people were executed in 2006, according to campaign group Amnesty International's annual report for 2007. These included one minor and at least three others who were under 18 at the time of the alleged offence, Amnesty said. Methods of execution in Iran include hanging, stoning, throwing off a cliff.
Iranian authorities hanged two men in public in the central province of Markazi on Monday, state media reported. The men, identified as Yazdan Karimi and Abu-Taleb Mohammadi-Nasb, were hanged in a public square in the city of Arak, the semi-official daily Jomhouri Islami reported in its Tuesday edition.Also on Saturday, authorities executed a man, identified as Reza Sharifi, in the city of Mobarakeh in the central province of Isfahan, the government-run news agency Fars reported.
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The Associated France Press reported that Iran's judiciary said on Tuesday it has sentenced 54 members of the Bahai religious community, whose faith is banned in the Islamic republic, for anti-regime propaganda. "Three Bahais have been sentenced to four years in prison for propaganda against the regime," judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters, adding that 51 received suspended one-year jail terms. He said the suspension of the sentence for the 51 Bahais was conditional on their attendance of courses held by state Islamic Propaganda Organisation. In the past few months, government own newspapers in Iran have criticised what they said was a rise in the activities of Bahais throughout the country, especially in Shiraz. The Islamic republic does not recognise the faith of Bahaism -- which was originally developed in 1863 in Iran -- and it is officially prohibited. Its followers are regarded as infidels and have been persecuted since the 1979 Islamic revolution and also under the deposed shah. Iran's constitution recognises only Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism as minority religions. Bahais consider Bahaullah born in 1817 the last prophet sent by God to the earth, while Muslims believe the last messenger of God is the Prophet Mohammed. Bahaullah was banished and lived 40 years in exile. He died in 1892 and was buried in the Holy Land, close to what is now the northern Israeli port of Haifa.
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Five men were hanged in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, state media reported on Thursday Jan. 31th. The men, identified only by their first names Faraz, Mohammad, Mohammad, Mohsen, and Ramezan, were hanged on Wednesday, the official state daily ‘Iran’ wrote. They were accused of murder.
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A young Iranian man is facing execution after a court judged him a 'hardened and incorrigible drinker," Iranian daily Etemad Melli reported. A section of Tehran's criminal court is currently deciding whether the 22-year-old man, known as Mohsen, should be executed. Mohsen was arrested after allegedly being caught for the fourth time in possession of alcohol and in a state of drunkenness. He has already been sentenced to a flogging. Article 179 of Iran's penal code punishes with the death sentence anyone caught drinking alcohol more than three times."Under Iran's new computerised systems, re-offenders have no chance of escape," prosecutor Jalil Jalili was quoted as saying. He has requested the death penalty for Mohsen. Iran is one of the countries carrying out the highest number of executions annually. At least 177 people were executed in 2006, according to campaign group Amnesty International's annual report for 2007. These included one minor and at least three others who were under 18 at the time of the alleged offence, Amnesty said. Methods of execution in Iran include hanging, stoning, throwing off a cliff.
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