NEWS))))))

Student demonstration in the streets of Shiraz
Tuesday, 06 January 2009NCRI - Following the arrest of four students of Shiraz University on Saturday by the mullahs’ notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), the students took to the streets to gain their release in the southern city of Shiraz. The detained students were identified as Abdol-jalil Rezaii, Kazem Rezaii, Mohsen Zarrin Kamar, and Loghman Ghadiri Goltappeh. Officials from the MOIS avoid responding to inquiries from families of these students on Sunday. In the beginning of Monday’s demonstration, the participants gathered on the campus of the university and gave a 30 minutes ultimatum to the MOIS to free the four arrested students. However, the official refused to give in to protesters’ demand which triggered anti-government slogans from the demonstrators. They shouted, 'Free the detained students,' 'Free all political prisoners,' 'Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] Pinochet, Iran can’t become Chile' and 'Death to dictator.' Local residents passing by joined the protesting students and the demonstrators marched toward nearby Danshjo Square. Members of the anti-riot units of the State Security Forces (SSF) --mullahs’ suppressive police-- attacked the demonstration fearing its spread to other parts of the city.

Washington Sit-in participants ended with the victory in achieving Ashraf’s rights to protection
On 29 December 2008, the Ashraf residents’ families and supporters of the Iranian Resistance staged 109th day of sit-in in Lafayette Park, in front of the White House. The sit-in began nearly four months ago in New York, outside of the UN headquarters, and later in Washington D.C., in front of the White House. Finally, the sit-in ended after the US embassy on 29 of December 2008 in Iraq released a statement emphasizing on the rights of Ashraf residence in Iraq. U.S. officials in Iraq pledged to Iranian dissidents residing in an enclave in Diyala province they will be secure once the U.N. mandate for Iraq expires.Around 3,500 members of an Iranian Opposition group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, reside under U.S. military protection at Camp Ashraf in Diyala province. The group is under U.S. military supervision as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Conventions, A statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Iraq said the U.S. military would work with the Iraqi government to ensure the residents of Camp Ashraf are treated humanely.'The government of Iraq has provided the U.S. government written assurances of humane treatment of the Camp Ashraf residents in accordance with Iraq’s Constitution, laws, and international obligations,' the statement said.The statement of the US embassy brought joy and happiness to tens of thousands of Iranian who participated in the sit in and other Iranians around the world. In Ottawa a joyful Caravan hit the streets on Tuesday. The cars were decorated with the Iranian sun and the lion flag and the flag of PMOI and the city of Ashraf’s.

Hundreds of supporters of the Iranian Resistance demonstrate outside EU headquarter
Hundreds of family members of the main Iranian opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) residing in Camp Ashraf, Iraq and supporters of the Iranian Resistance gathered outside EU headquarter in Brussle for the eight times in a row.
The participants are calling on the EU to abide by the rule of law and remove the PMOI form the bloc’s terror list. The human rights activists, political dignitaries and jurists have also joined them. On December 10, a similar demonstration was held at the French Foreign Ministry with the same demands.

Iranian regime stoned two prisoners in north eastern Iran
According to National Council of Resistance of Iran, two prisoners were stoned by the mullahs’ judiciary in Behesht-Reza cemetery in the holy city of Mashhad. One of the victims managed to get out of the hole while the other died. The two men were sentenced to death by stoning at the same time. However, one of them identified as Mahmoud escaped with minor injuries. According to mullahs’ penal codes he will not be stoned to death for the second time. A local judge sentenced the prisoners to death by stoning in Khorasan’s province Fifth Circuit Court. In July 2007, the Iranian regime caused international outrage when Jafar Kiani was stoned to death in the north western city of Qazvin. A man and a woman, Abbas H. and Mahbubeh A. were also stoned to death in May of 2006 in the north eastern city of Mashhad, although their execution has never been officially confirmed. On February 4, the mullahs’ Supreme Court upheld the death sentence by stoning of two sisters Zohreh (27) and Azar (28) Kabiri-Neyat in the notorious Gohardasht (Rajaishahr) prison in Karaj some 40 km west of the capital Tehran. Similarly, in the winter of 2007, the death sentence by stoning of a 49-year-old man named Abdullah Farivar was upheld by the Supreme Court in the northern city of Sari. The man has two children.

1000 workers strike in Qazvin
1,000 workers of two textile factories, Farnakh and Mahnakh, walked out over their unpaid salaries, reported the state-run news agency ILNA on Sunday. The two are located on the International Qazvin Highway, 165 kilometer northwest of Tehran. 'The workers blocked the highway and burned used tires to get the attention of travelers,' said one of the workers to regime’s state run news agency ILNA.