NEWS))))))

- Iranian regime hung 5 political prisoners in Evin prison
- Objection to Iran being seated at UN Commission on Women
- US Schools Receiving Iran-linked Money from Alavi Foundation



Iranian regime hung 5 political prisoners in Evin prison
According to news from Iran, the Iranian regime hung 5 political prisoners including one woman on charges of belonging to opposition groups on Sunday. Farzad Kamangar, Ali Haydari, Farhad Vakili, Mehdi Eslamian and the female prisoner; Shirin AlamHouli were excecuted by hanging in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. We have learned since the excecution that two days before, the Iranian regime had cut all telephone lines in the prison and did not inform their lawyers. Two of the prisoners were in the middle of the appeal process. It is been reported that the female prisoner; Shirin AlamHouli the offer by the authorities in which to appear on television and show remorse instead they wouldn’t excecut her. Shirin a Kurdish citizen did not speak Farsi and learned to speak during her2 year imprisonment. She mentioned this fact in her letter and said that she did not understand the questions and couldn’t reply. She also talked about the physical and psychological torture she was going through and said: “Today is 2nd of May 2010 and they took me for interrogation again and they repeated their baseless accusations. They wanted me to cooperate so they stop my execution. I don’t know what this means and I don’t have any thing to say more than I’ve already said”. She writes: “The interrogator told me we wanted to free you last year and we’re here because your family did not cooperate. The interrogator confessed that I am a hostage in their hands and they would keep me here until they get what they want or they will execute me but never free me”. The families of the 5 executed who are going from their cities to Tehran have announced a protest in front of the Tehran University and have asked others to join them. The Iranian regime has increased numbers of their security and military personals in Kurdish area such as Kamiaran, Sanandaj and Mahabad.
In other news the Iranian regime executed 6 poeple by hanging yesterday May 8 in the charges of involving in drug trafficking. They victims were identified by the state-run news agency IRNA as Arsalan Asadi, Mohammad Ali Fakhri, Abbas Geravand, Rahman Biabani, Parviz TaqiZadeh and Saeed Mikaili.

Objection to Iran being seated at UN Commission on Women
examiner.com, wrote May 7, 2010 reported that datelined New York and Washington, “International human rights and women’s rights leaders, attorneys, scholars, columnists, Iranian human rights activists, media figures, women in the arts, and other prominent women” “urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to denounce the recent election of Iran to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.” They asked her why she let Iran be seated on the commission by acclamation, without demanding a vote [and objecting, and voting nay, for the record]. The letter explained, “There are sickening and horrific videos, websites, documented reports of gang rapes, stoning, mutilations, hangings, beatings, burnings and other barbaric acts of violence, intimidation, and humiliation against the women of Iran.
Political dissidents, gays, non-Muslim minorities, apostates, and infidels are also targeted in widespread human rights violations and gruesome attacks -- all these atrocities are egregious violations of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
It is not as the UN delegations were uninformed. A couple of hundred Iranian women sent them a message that in Iran, women have no right to choose their husbands and to education after marriage, to divorce, to child custody, and to protection from violence in public. Quotas restrict their college admission. They are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for peaceful reform efforts.
Elections are not free and criminal trials are not fair and the judiciary is not independent. Security forces and vigilante auxiliaries held incommunicado, killed, raped, and tortured detainees and election protesters and political prisoners.

US Schools Receiving Iran-linked Money from Alavi Foundation
Iran Focus, Washington, DC. May 7, 2010: The New York-based Alavi Foundation, accused by federal prosecutors of acting as a front to provide money and services to Iran, donated $3.1 million to U.S. universities and other schools in North America from 2000 to 2008, an investigation by Iran Focus has found. Iran Focus is publishing a list of the schools that received funds from the foundation, which is suspected of attempting to buy academic support for Iran, although its stated aim was to encourage Persian studies and Islamic educational programs, particularly Shiite ones. In November, U.S. authorities moved to seize properties owned by the foundation, including a 36-story building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and four mosques, effectively shutting down its operations. The foundation was set up in the 1970s by the late shah of Iran as the Pahlavi Foundation. It was taken over by the Islamic Republic of Iran after the shah was overthrown in 1979. The U.S. government claims it funnelled money to Iran’s Bank Melli which is accused of supporting the country’s nuclear and ballistic missiles program. The foundation’s president, Farshid Jahedi, 55, was arrested in late 2008 on charges of obstruction of justice after he threw away documents sought by a grand jury. He was sentenced Friday to three months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts.
The Iran Focus investigation has determined that the activities of the foundation were in fact directed by Iran’s then-ambassador to the United Nations, Javad Zarif.
According to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the Alavi Foundation has provided substantial funds to numerous educational institutions, including Columbia University and Harvard. Some experts believe that such largesse was designed to entice scholars to write articles or policy recommendations advocating against a tough U.S. policy on Iran and proposing conciliation and engagement. The following is a list of schools that received funding from the foundation between 2000 and 2008. Amounts are in U.S. dollars.

2008:
Columbia University: 50,000
Harvard Seminary: 17,500
Harvard University: 41,000
Kutztown University: 4,000
McGill University: 40,000
Portland State University Foundation: 16,750
Sacred Heart University: 5,000
San Diego State University: 40,000
University of Alberta: 5,000
University of Michigan: 16,000

2007:
Carleton University: 10,000
Catholic University of America: 45,000
Columbia University: 100,000
Harvard Law School: 17,000
Harvard University: 41,000
Hunter College: 6,000
Kutztown University: 5,000
Lake Forest College: 20,000
McGill University: 80,000
Portland State University Foundation: 32,500
Rutgers University: 72,500
Sacred Heart University: 39,000
San Diego State University: 48,000
The City College of New York: 1,000
University of California, Berkeley: 30,000
University of California, Los Angeles: 10,000
University of Maryland: 50,000

2006:
Binghamton University: 7,500
Catholic University of America: 60,000
City of Knowledge (Islamic schools): 50,000
City University of New York: 1,000
Columbia University: 20,000
Harvard University: 36,000
Hunter College: 6,000
Kutztown University: 3,000
New York University: 350
Portland State University: 20,000
Rutgers University: 40,500
Sacred Heart University: 60,000
The Ohio State University: 3,000
University of Michigan: 16,000
University of Pennsylvania: 5,000
University of Southern California: 3,000

2005:
Binghamton University: 5,000
California State University Los Angeles: 2,000
Catholic University of America: 75,000
City of Knowledge: 30,000
Harvard University: 36,000
Hunter College: 6,000
McGill University: 30,000
Portland State University Foundation: 47,500
Rutgers Foundation: 75,000
Rutgers University: 163,600
Sacred Heart University: 10,000
University of Pennsylvania: 40,000
University of Southern California: 10,000

2004:
Catholic University of America: 75,000
City of Knowledge: 20,000
Columbia University: 50,000
Georgia State University: 13,000
Harvard University: 41,000
Hunter College: 14,000
Portland State University: 18,000
Rutgers University: 137,500
Sacred Heart University: 3,000
San Diego State University: 3,000
University of Alberta: 5,000
University of California, Berkeley: 30,000
University of California, Los Angeles: 10,000

2003:
Bard College: 3,000
California State University, Fullerton: 3,000
Catholic University of America: 45,000
City of Knowledge: 48,750
Georgia State University: 16,000
Harvard University: 30,000
Hunter College: 2,500
Rutgers University: 81,000
The University of Arizona: 22,000
University of Akron: 3,000
University of California, Berkeley: 13,000
University of Pennsylvania: 25,000
University of Utah: 5,000
University of Virginia: 25,000
University of Wisconsin: 6,000

2002:
Brigham Young University: 3,000
Catholic University of America: 75,000
City of Knowledge: 29,250
Drew University: 3,000
Harvard University: 54,000
Hunter College: 5,000
McGill University: 12,000
Rutgers University: 75,000
University of Arizona: 15,000
University of Michigan: 32,000
University of Utah: 3,000
University of Virginia: 6,000
University of Wisconsin, Madison: 19,500

2001:
Binghamton University: 3,000
City of Knowledge: 20,000
Harvard University: 23,500
Hunter College: 5,000
Rutgers University: 30,000
The University of Arizona: 35,000
University of Texas: 10,000
University of Utah: 5,000
University of Virginia: 15,000
McGill University: 24,000
University of Alberta: 5,000

2000:
Columbia University: 32,000
Harvard University: 23,500
Ohio State University: 20,000
University of Arizona: 51,800
University of Utah: 3,000
University of Virginia: 21,000

Payments made over these nine years totaled: $3,110,000 according to documents filed with the IRS.