Monday, May 11, 2009

NEWS))))))


White House praises release of journalist in Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is praising the release of American journalist Roxana Saberi from a jail in Iran. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that the administration continues to stress that Saberi was wrongly accused, "but we welcome this humanitarian gesture." The 32-year-old dual Iranian-American citizen was released Monday after four months in jail. An Iranian appeals court suspended her eight-year prison sentence on charges of spying for the U.S. Gibbs said Obama looks forward to welcoming Saberi back to the United States.

Iraqi Independent writers and scholars ask for lifting Ashraf siege
The founder board of ‘The Association of Iraqi Independent Writers and Scholars’, in a statement, asked the Iraqi government to implement the European Parliament resolution in defence of the legal rights of Ashraf residents.The statement reads: “Emphasizing the respect for refugees and guests and their protection, the inhuman treatment toward the Iranian Resistance members who have taken refuge in Iraq is the violation of Arabic and Islamic principles and has discouraged the international community. This prompted the European Parliament to ask the Iraqi government to lift Ashraf siege; the Ashraf residents are internationally protected according to the Fourth Geneva Convention. We, therefore, call on our brothers and colleagues, the Iraqi and Arab writers and scholars, to raise their voice to condemn such treatments and to reach the Iraqi public opinion to the Iraqi government that Iraq acknowledges the international Law and asks for respect to these laws. We ask the Iraqi government to immediately lift the imposed siege on Ashraf and let the Ashraf residents choose their path freely and make their own destiny”.

Anti-government protests across Iran
According to NCRI (National Council of Resistance of Iran), Workers from the Bus Drivers Union staged a protest gathering on Tuesday across from the Iranian regime’s office of Labour Organization in Kermanshah. They protested against layoffs and demanded continued employment in addition to receiving deferred salaries.

Two prisoners hanged in Shiraz
NCRI, 09 May 2009 - The Iranian regime hanged two men, 29 and 36, in a prison in the southern city of Shiraz, the state-run daily Etemad reported on Saturday without identifying them or specifying a date.On Thursday other state-run media also reported that nine prisoners were hanged in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison and in southern city of Kerman. Among them was a 30-year-old woman who was hanged after two years of imprisonment.Iranian regime does not publish official figures on executions. The number of executions since the beginning of 2009 has reached 170.Iran under the mullahs currently ranks first for per capita executions in the world.In a statement on Wednesday, the National Council of Resistance of Iran called on all international human rights organizations, especially the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to condemn the deplorable human rights situation in Iran and adopt immediate and binding measures to stop suppressive policies of the clerical regime.

Iranian regime hangs nine, including woman
Iranian regime has hanged nine people, including a woman, state media reported on Thursday. Four of the people, including the woman, were hanged on Wednesday, the official state daily Iran wrote. Another state daily Vatan Emrooz identified the men as Hamid Mohammadi, Safarali Nassiri, and Hosseinali Robatseyli and the woman as Zeynab Nazarzadeh. It said they were hanged in Tehran’s Evin Prison.All four were accused of murder.Five other people were hanged in a prison in Kerman, south-east Iran, according to the Fars news agency, which is operated by the Office of Iran’s Supreme Leader. It did not give their full names and it was not clear when they were hanged.The report described the five as drug traffickers.The semi-official daily Jomhuri Eslami wrote on Wednesday that another man, identified as Abdolbaret Noorzehi, was hanged in a prison in the town of Khash , south-east Iran. It said he was accused of murder but did not say when he was hanged.Iran’s judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi confirmed on 5 May that a man had been stoned to death for adultery one month earlier in the northern city of Rasht. In January he confirmed that two men had been stoned to death for adultery last December in Mashhad while a third man managed to struggle out of the hole he had been buried in. Delara Darabi, 23, a talented Iranian artist who was accused of a committing a crime when she was 17 and whose sentencing had been condemned by international human rights organizations, was hanged on 1 May in Rasht. She denied carrying out the murder of which she was accused.Under increasing international pressure, the Iranian regime keeps children on death row in Juvenile Prison until they turn 18.

Iran: Appeal to stop imminent execution of two young men
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in a statement on May 5th that two young prisoners are going to be hanged in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on Wednesday, May 6, for crimes alleged to have been committed when they were only 16, according to their lawyers. The prisoners are identified as Amir Khaleqi and Safar Angooti. The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights organizations including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to condemn this barbaric crime and to adopt immediate binding measures to save the lives of the youths.