Door: Marc E. Putto
April / Mei 2012
Door: Ingezonden
Dit is de voortzetting van de nieuwsdraad, welke ooit op www.joostniemöller.com begon, over het verzet van de groene beweging in Iran. Tevens worden hier links, video's en nieuwsberichten gepost over ontwikkelingen rond de nucleaire ambities van dit land. De draad wordt per 2 weken vernieuwd. Een chronologisch overzicht kunt u vinden in de categorie "Ondertussen in Iran".
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op 18 mei 2012. Gearchiveerd onder Ondertussen in Iran.
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Germany Halts Shipment Of Execution Drug To Iran
German customs officials said on April 2 that they have halted a shipment to Iran of a general anesthetic drug that also is used to execute people by lethal injection.
The shipment of 2.5 kilograms of sodium thiopental had not received export clearance as required by law.
Sodium thiopental is the first of three components used on death-row convicts to induce coma and death.
The European Union, which opposes the death penalty, has restricted its export.
Amnesty International has reported a sharp rise in executions in Iran during 2011.
More than 600 reported executions there last year included nearly 300 credible reports of “secret” executions.
http://www.rferl.org/content/germany_halts_shipment_of_execution_drug/24535471.html
Obama Says Global Markets Can Handle Iran Oil Sanctions
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama is moving ahead with sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports in a move that significantly ratchets up pressure on Tehran to abandon its sensitive nuclear activities.
The move allows Washington to sanction foreign banks involved in the transfer of funds for Iranian oil, which would force other countries to give up their trade with the Islamic republic or face prohibitively high penalties in any U.S. transactions.
Oil profits account for some 70 percent of Iranian government revenues, fueling Tehran’s controversial nuclear program.
http://www.rferl.org/content/obama_determines_global_market_allows_oil_sanctions/24532986.html
U.S. Senate Urges Iran To Release Imprisoned Baha’i Leaders
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate has urged Iran to release jailed leaders of the Baha’i faith.
A resolution passed unanimously on March 30 calls on Tehran to free seven Baha’i leaders sentenced in 2010 to 20 years in prison on charges that included spying for Israel.
The resolution also called on U.S. President Barack Obama to sanction more Tehran officials over human rights violations, including abuses against Iran’s Baha’i community.
http://www.rferl.org/content/us_senate_urges_iran_to_release_imprisoned_bahai_leaders/24532981.html
Baha’i community demands universal education in Iran
University organizations representing the Baha’i faith will come together Monday to raise awareness about persecution of the group in Iran, including limits on higher education, which has affected University students of the Baha’i faith.
The event will show the documentary “Education Under Fire” which is part of an international movement to stand alongside Baha’is in Iran, who have been imprisoned, killed, persecuted, barred from education and now punished after they constructed their own educational institutions.
Max Kharazmi, a senior linguistics major from Iran, said he has relatives in Iran who have been imprisoned by the government because of the Iranian-sanctioned persecution of the Baha’is and disregard for Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guaranteeing education as an inalienable right.
http://redandblack.com/2012/04/02/bahai-community-demands-universal-education-in-iran/
Iranian MP Says Former Tehran Prosecutor Does Not ‘Deserve’ To Hold Key Posts
MP Mohammad Dehqan says former Tehran prosecutor general Saeed Mortazavi does not “deserve” to hold an important post.
The appointment of Mortazavi as the new director of the Social Security Organization has drawn criticism from some parliamentarians who hold him partly responsible for the Kahrizak incident.
A parliamentary report issued on January 10, 2010 blamed Mortazavi for sending 147 inmates, charged with involvement in the political unrest that occurred after the Iranian presidential election of June 2009, to the substandard Kahrizak detention center on July 9, 2009.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/apr/1008.html
Worldwide pressure brings hope for teacher in Iran
A campaign to save the life of an Iranian teacher, Abdolreza Ghanbari, initiated by the Committee for the Defence of Iranian People’s Rights (CODIR) has brought international pressure to bear upon the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Abdolreza Ghanbari is awaiting execution after his final appeal against his sentence was rejected.
Ghanbari, was arrested at his workplace after anti-government demonstrations took place on 27th December 2009 to mark the Ashoura religious commemorations. Held in Evin Prison since his arrest, Ghanbari was tortured, ill-treated and denied access to a lawyer. Ghanbari was tried unfairly before Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on 30th January 2010 and sentenced to death for ‘moharebeh’ (enmity against God) for alleged links with the banned opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). The sentence was upheld on appeal, and his request for a pardon from the Amnesty and Clemency Commission was rejected at the end of February 2012.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/apr/1012.html
Iranian Americans report being targeted by FBI for Iran information
Washington, DC -- In recent weeks, Iranian Americans have increasingly been sought out by the FBI to participate in voluntary interviews that may be related to heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
In the past, the FBI has singled out members of diaspora communities in the weeks and months prior to U.S. military action.
It is unclear what methodology the FBI is using in selecting Iranian Americans to target for interviews. However, targeted individuals have reported that the FBI has been fairly aggressive and vague about the reasoning behind the interviews, causing panic and concern among ordinary Iranian Americans.
The FBI utilized similar methods in 2003 in an operation known as Operation Darkening Clouds, a pre-war intelligence-gathering effort focused on Iraqis in the U.S. More recently, the FBI aggressively sought out interviews with Libyans living in the U.S. shortly prior to the NATO-led intervention to obtain information about Colonel Qaddafi as well as to identify possible retaliatory threats against U.S. citizens.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/mar/1275.html
Campaign 2012: The Challenge of Containing Iran
Iran remains a central foreign policy challenge for the United States as tension mounts over its growing nuclear program. The country’s support for destabilizing forces throughout the Middle East, unpredictable domestic politics and hostility toward Israel pose a great threat to regional and international security. Although an international coalition has deployed an array of economic sanctions, dealing with Iran will remain a key challenge for the United States.
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2012/0410_campaign_2012_iran.aspx?rssid=iran&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BrookingsRSS%2Ftopics%2Firan+%28Brookings%3A+Topics+-+Iran%29
Iranian navy frees Chinese ship hijacked by pirates
Iranian naval forces freed a Chinese freighter hijacked by Somali pirates off southern Iran on Friday and arrested all the attackers, the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars reported.
“Through the successful mission of Iranian naval forces, the ship was released and nine pirates were arrested,” Iranian port official Saeed Izadiyan said, according to Fars. It did not say whether anyone had been hurt.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/06/us-china-hijack-idUSBRE8350H120120406?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
U.S. not backing off as Iran sanctions bite
The Obama administration’s man in charge of squeezing Tehran over its nuclear program is unapologetic for the difficulties faced by banks in their dealings with Iran since the U.S. tightened sanctions against the country.
Companies that trade with Iran are struggling to get paid and the biggest Asian countries are scrambling to work around U.S. sanctions that aim to deprive Tehran of revenue needed to develop its nuclear program. “I don’t feel apologetic about it because that is the consequence of these banks in Iran willingly facilitating transactions for Iran’s nuclear programs,” said David Cohen, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the U.S. Treasury Department.
“If they are going to do that, they shouldn’t be accessible to the international financial system. They shouldn’t be financial institutions that any reputable bank wants to deal with,” Cohen said in an interview.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/06/us-usa-iran-sanctions-idUSBRE8341AE20120406?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29
Loyalty to Syrian President Could Isolate Hezbollah
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Mazen, a carpenter who organizes protests against President Bashar al-Assad in a suburb of Damascus, Syria, has torn down the posters of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, that once decorated his car and shop.
Like many Syrians, Mazen, 35, revered Mr. Nasrallah for his confrontational stance with Israel. He considered Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party, as an Arab champion of the dispossessed, not just for its Shiite Muslim base but for Sunnis like himself. But now that Hezbollah has stood by Mr. Assad during his deadly yearlong crackdown on the uprising against his rule, Mazen sees Hezbollah as a sectarian party that supports Mr. Assad because his opponents are mainly Sunnis.
“Now, I hate Hezbollah,” he said. “Nasrallah should stand with the people’s revolution if he believes in God.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/world/middleeast/hezbollahs-syria-policy-puts-it-at-risk.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
The regime’s brutal instincts for self-preservation and Israel’s Holocaust complex
Shlomo Ben-Ami, the Israeli foreign minister who came closest to devising a viable peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, writes the following at Project Syndicate:
•Iran’s theocratic regime, immersed in a momentous struggle for survival against what it regards as an unholy alliance of Israel, the American “Great Satan,” and a surrounding Arab world that abhors its hegemonic ambitions, will not surrender its nuclear ambitions easily. Indeed, nuclear weapons appear to be the regime’s only real route to self-preservation.
•Yet, however crippling the effect of sanctions might be, they will not bring the regime to surrender its nuclear program. The most for which one can hope is that sanctions enhance the chances of regime change by reawakening popular protest, thereby triggering an Iranian version of the Arab Spring.
•This might be wishful thinking, however. And, even if social unrest does erupt, repression might succeed again.
•But an attack by either Israel or the US on Iran’s nuclear installations would be a calamitous mistake, or, as Meir Dagan, a former chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, put it, “the stupidest idea” possible. So it is to be hoped that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s war rhetoric and vulgar manipulation of the memory of the Holocaust are nothing more than a ploy to divert the world’s attention from the Palestinian problem that he has done nothing to resolve.
http://www.irannewsdigest.com/
Clinton Warns Iran That Diplomatic Efforts Won’t Be ‘Infinite’
WASHINGTON — The United States has again warned Iran that it must get serious about proving to the international community that its nuclear program isn’t hiding weapons development activities or face further isolation and economic sanctions.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on April 4 that EU officials are trying to nail down a date with Tehran for the resumption of negotiations but that the United States isn’t “interested in talks for the sake of talks.”
She said there is still time for diplomacy to solve the crisis.
“We want to see a peaceful resolution of the international community’s concerns but the time for diplomacy is not infinite and all options remain on the table to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” Clinton said.
“Until Iran comes into compliance with its international obligations and demonstrates the peaceful intent of their nuclear program, they will continue to face strong pressure and isolation.”
http://www.rferl.org/content/clinton_warns_iran_that_diplomatic_efforts_wont_be_infinite/24538057.html
Iran’s Parliament Questions A Dismissive Ahmadinejad
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has defended his leadership style in the first appearance by an Iranian president before parliament since the Islamic republic was founded in 1979.
Ahmadinejad was summoned on March 14 by lawmakers who are dissatisfied over his handling of the economy and political management.
Ahmadinejad, whose speech to the chamber was broadcast on state media, told legislators that if his government were judged to be “less than 100 percent, it would be unfair and cowardice.”
The defiant Iranian president was asked 10 questions that were read out by one of his staunchest critics, lawmaker Ali Motahari. He responded dismissively and, at times, made jokes.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_ahmadinejad_questioning/24514729.html
IRANIAN WRITERS UNCENSORED: Freedom, Democracy, and the Word in Contemporary Iran
As poet Mohammad Hoghooghi says, “[Writing] constitutes resistance. Because, in any age, the poet has been a protestor of a kind; resisting the thought-molds of the day. However, this protest might be political, it might be social, or it might even be philosophical. At any rate, the artist is at odds with the prevalent conduct and thinking of his age; this has always been the case.” The 1979 Revolution in Iran was meant to bring freedom, hope, and prosperity to an oppressed people, but the reality is well known-the poets and writers interviewed by Shiva Rahbaran speak instead of humiliation, despotism, war, and poverty. These interviews with poets and writers still living and working in Iran demonstrate their belief that literature’s value is in opening spaces of awareness in the minds of the reader-and pockets of freedom in society.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/apr/1052.html
State-dominated media and Iran
The New York Times this morning is prominently featuring a long article documenting the Terroristic aggression of Iran, as evidenced by that country’s attempts to exert influence and foment unrest in Afghanistan: because, as all decent people know, only tyrannical fanatics would attempt to interfere in Afghanistan (similarly, a couple months ago, President Obama and Secretary Clinton both sternly warned the rest of the world, particularly Iran, not to “interfere” or “meddle” in Iraq; they did so as Clinton simultaneously announced that the U.S. “will have a robust continuing presence throughout the region“). The International Community knows that interfering in those countries is the exclusive prerogative of the U.S. and its allies, and Iran’s attempt to assert influence — in countries that directly border it — is clear evidence of its status as a rogue, Terror nation.
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/05/state_dominated_media_and_iran/singleton/
“What must be said”: Poem about Iran-Israel relation by German poet Grass draws fire
A new poem by Günter Grass, the prominent German author and 1999 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, has stirred controversy for its portrayal of Israel as threatening world peace with its plots against Iran.
Martien Lezen, Ook Iraanse nieuwsagentschappen zijn het niet eens met Grass.
Published in the magazine Süddeutsche Zeitung, the poem entitled “What must be said” expressed frustration with the “Western hypocrisy” that challenges Iran’s nuclear program when Israel’s own secretive nuclear program has never been officially acknowledged.
Grass writes: “Why do I say only now, aged and with my last drop of ink, that the nuclear power Israel endangers an already fragile world peace? Because that must be said which may already be too late to say tomorrow.”
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/apr/1035.html
Campaign 2012: The Challenge of Containing Iran.
Iran remains a central foreign policy challenge for the United States as tension mounts over its growing nuclear program. The country’s support for destabilizing forces throughout the Middle East, unpredictable domestic politics and hostility toward Israel pose a great threat to regional and international security. Although an international coalition has deployed an array of economic sanctions, dealing with Iran will remain a key challenge for the United States.
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2012/0410_campaign_2012_iran.aspx?rssid=iran&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BrookingsRSS%2Ftopics%2Firan+%28Brookings%3A+Topics+-+Iran%29
Iran Able to Make Nuclear Weapons
Iran has the knowledge and scientific capability to produce nuclear weapons but will never do so, a prominent lawmaker said.
Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam said Iran can easily produce the highly enriched uranium that is used to build atomic bombs but it isn’t Tehran’s policy to go that route.
“Iran has the scientific and technological capability to produce (a) nuclear weapon, but will never choose this path,” Mr. Moghadam told the parliament’s news website, icana.ir, late Friday.
Mr. Moghadam is a parliamentarian not a government official and his views don’t represent the Iranian government’s policy. It is the first time that a prominent Iranian politician has publicly stated that Iran has the technological capability to produce a nuclear weapon.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303447804577329121712914662.html?mod=fox_australian
This Week at War: Syria as Prologue
The uprising could be the sign of even bigger battles to come in the proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The Turkish government hosted a conference last weekend in Istanbul to discuss possible international responses to Syria’s budding civil war. The conference attendees, including the United States along with dozens of other countries and organizations, called themselves the “Friends of Syria” and declared open support for the rebels fighting the Syrian army. The Friends also announced substantial financial support for the rebellion, including $100 million — pledged by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — to pay salaries to the fighters, a direct inducement to government soldiers to defect to the rebellion. For its part, the U.S. government pledged an additional $12 million in humanitarian assistance to international organizations aiding the Syrian opposition. This assistance will include satellite communications equipment for rebel fighters and night vision goggles. Attending the conference, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said discussions were occurring on “how best to expand this support.”
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/05/this_week_at_war_syria_as_prologue
Loyalty to Syrian President Could Isolate Hezbollah.
Mazen, a carpenter who organizes protests against President Bashar al-Assad in a suburb of Damascus, Syria, has torn down the posters of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, that once decorated his car and shop.
Like many Syrians, Mazen, 35, revered Mr. Nasrallah for his confrontational stance with Israel. He considered Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party, as an Arab champion of the dispossessed, not just for its Shiite Muslim base but for Sunnis like himself. But now that Hezbollah has stood by Mr. Assad during his deadly yearlong crackdown on the uprising against his rule, Mazen sees Hezbollah as a sectarian party that supports Mr. Assad because his opponents are mainly Sunnis.
“Now, I hate Hezbollah,” he said. “Nasrallah should stand with the people’s revolution if he believes in God.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/world/middleeast/hezbollahs-syria-policy-puts-it-at-risk.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Obama’s signal to Iran.
President Obama has signaled Iran that the United States would accept an Iranian civilian nuclear program if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei can back up his recent public claim that his nation “will never pursue nuclear weapons.”
This verbal message was sent through Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited Khamenei last week. A few days before traveling to Iran, Erdogan had held a two-hour meeting with Obama in Seoul, in which they discussed what Erdogan would tell the ayatollah about the nuclear issue and Syria.
Obama advised Erdogan that the Iranians should realize that time is running out for a peaceful settlement and that Tehran should take advantage of the current window for negotiations. Obama didn’t specify whether Iran would be allowed to enrich uranium domestically as part of the civilian program the United States would endorse. That delicate issue evidently would be left for the negotiations that are supposed to start April 13, at a venue yet to be decided.
Erdogan is said to have replied that he would convey Obama’s views to Khamenei, and it’s believed he did so when he met the Iranian leader on Thursday. Erdogan also met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior Iranian officials during his visit.
The statement highlighted by Obama as a potential starting point was made on state television in February. Khamenei said: “The Iranian nation has never pursued and will never pursue nuclear weapons. . . . Iran is not after nuclear weapons because the Islamic Republic, logically, religiously and theoretically, considers the possession of nuclear weapons a grave sin and believes the proliferation of such weapons is senseless, destructive and dangerous.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-signal-to-iran/2012/04/05/gIQApVLDyS_story.html?wprss=rss_todays-opeds
Iran Dismisses Turkey As Site Of Nuclear Talks
The head of Iran’s foreign policy committee says Iran does not want Turkey to host talks with world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi said that Iranian officials are “not interested in Turkey as the host.”
Boroujerdi supported Baghdad as a venue.
He made the remarks after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Iran to commit to nuclear negotiations as soon as possible.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_turkey_nuclear_talks/24539161.html
Iraq Says Iran Wants Nuclear Talks In Baghdad
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry says Iran has proposed holding the next round of talks with six world powers on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program next week in Iraq, instead of Turkey.
The ministry said an Iranian delegation visited Baghdad on April 3 to pass on the request.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iraq_says_iran_wants_nuclear_talks_in_baghdad/24536866.html
Grass Responds To His Critics
German poet Günter Grass has responded to harsh criticism of his recent work that accuses Israel of threatening world peace, saying that although the media has piled up on him, he will not back down from the truth.
In an exclusive interview last night on Germany’s ARD network, the German Nobel laureate Günter Grass talked about the reception of his poem “What Must be Said.”
Published in the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Italian daily La Repubblica, the poem is critical of Israeli policies and expresses fear that Israel’s nuclear capacity is a direct threat to the “fragile world peace.”
The winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize for literature has become the target of media attacks for his poem, accused of anti-Semitism by several critics.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/apr/1057.html
Regime Change in Iran?
There is every reason to believe that the Islamic Republic’s days are numbered. The current government, lorded over by the religious supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, and his Guardian Council of aging mullahs, who can overrule any policy change by the pseudo-elected president, seem wildly out of touch with the general populace. Not only are the youth of Iran—some 70 percent of whom are under the age of thirty—chaffing under the “guardianship of the Islamic jurists” (velayet-e-faqih)—but so is the economy, due to sanctions imposed by the West in response to the regime’s insistence on pursuing its nuclear program.[1] Inflation has long been out of control and trade and tourism a tiny fraction of what it could be, and yet the establishment has on the whole shown little interest in sacrificing militant, revolutionary principles for economic, and indeed, political expediency. Can this approach be sustained in view of the tightening economic noose around Tehran, and at what cost?
http://www.meforum.org/3225/iran-regime-change
Sentence For Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Condemned .
Two leading human rights groups have condemned a nine-year prison sentence upheld by a Tehran court for prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah.
Dadkhah also received a 10-year ban on practicing law.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_dadkhah/24570333.html
Iranian Prosecutor Accused Of Torture Arrested For ‘Disrupting Public Order’
Former Tehran deputy prosecutor Ali Akbar Heydarifard, who was suspended for ordering the transfer of political detainees to a detention center where they were allegedly brutally tortured, has been arrested.
The torture allegations, however, do not seem to be the reason why Heydarifard has ended up in Tehran’s Evin prison. The head of the Tehran Province prison organization, Sohrab Soleimani, said Heydarifard was being held on allegations of “disrupting public order.”
Iranian media reported in mid-March that Heydarifard had fired a gun in the air at a gas station in Isfahan, apparently to warn other customers who were angry at him for not waiting in line.
http://www.rferl.org/content/tehran_deputy_prosecutor_arrested/24567816.html
‘Khamenei Sat Here’ — Mountain Shrine Erected ‘To Supreme Leader’s Bottom’
Gekker kunnen we het niet maken moet men gedacht hebben.
The rock on which Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei sat on in 2005 while taking a rest from trekking a mountain in Kerman has been memorialized with a sign bearing his image, according to a picture shared by Iranian bloggers.
The rock and its sign have been described by critics as “a pilgrimage site for Khamenei’s bottom.” The sign says Khamenei gracefully perched on the spot and gives the exact date — May 6, 2005.
http://www.rferl.org/content/khamenei_sat_here_bottom_shrine/24566091.html
Khamenei factions look set to dominate in Iran vote
Iranians voted on Friday in a run-off parliamentary election in which allies of hardline Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hoped to complete victory over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative increasingly criticised by the clerical elite.
Khamenei’s expected majority is likely to mean a tougher final year for Ahmadinejad in his second and last term.
With reformists mostly sidelined and opposition leaders under house arrest, the vote is a test of the popularity of Khamenei’s clerical establishment rather than an opportunity for fundamental change in the way the Islamic Republic is run.
Sixty-five of parliament’s 290 seats are being contested after Khamenei loyalists led the first round in March. More than 50 percent of seats have already been filled by new members, including a large number of independents, so the Iranian Majles is undergoing an extensive face-lift.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/5/4/worldupdates/2012-05-04T150601Z_1_TRE84311L_RTROPTT_0_UK-IRAN-ELECTION&sec=Worldupdates
Protestant Pastor Sentenced to Six Years
After detaining 33-year-old Christian pastor Farshid Fathi for 16 months without indictment, judicial authorities finally sentenced him to six years in prison in April 2012. Fathi’s indictment is part of a continuing pattern of discrimination and prosecution of Christian converts in Iran.
Authorities allegedly kept him in solitary confinement the vast majority of his detention, and according to one family friend, beat him. Behnam Irani, a Christian pastor whose prison sentence was extended by five years just before his October 2011 release, is reportedly in dire physical condition. Irani and Fathi have both appealed their sentences.
In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a source close to Farshid Fathi and his family said that all of Fathi’s alleged “crimes” were simply his work as a pastor: “The Bibles we brought to the country were seen as a crime, having more than one Bible or distributing Bibles were seen as a crime, having Christian literature was part of the crime …”
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/may/1045.html
Iranian leaders united against journalists: RWB
Reporters Without Borders has once again ranked Iran as “one of the world’s biggest prisons for journalists” on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, May 3.
The press rights group stated today that “the Islamic Republic of Iran has both Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad, who -- despite their rivalry -- agree on gagging the media.”
Iran has been ranked at 175, or fifth from the bottom, on the World Press Freedom Index rankings.
The statement also reports that: “Freelance journalists, a growing number of whom are covering wars, have paid a high price in the past four months.”
The Reporters Without Borders statement pays tribute to the efforts of these citizen journalists.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/may/1036.html
A Journalist’s Account: What Happened at the Election Commission in Tehran in 2009?
The 2009 presidential elections in Iran were a turning point in the history of the Islamic republic. They created a crisis in trust for the regime, which continues till today. Specifically, the results of the vote count that reinstated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were challenged on a large scale resulting in massive demonstrations that eventually put the two leading candidates who challenged the sitting president under house arrest. They are still confined to that today. But details about how the elections were rigged leak out occasionally while much speculation continues as well. This week, Rooz spoke with Ehsan Mehrabi, a journalist who was at the Ministry of the Interior on that fateful election date; but not monitoring the election results at the Election Commission in the agency. He, and other journalists there, were sort of locked-up at the ministry’s conference hall, prevented from having any access to the election commission at the agency on the actual voting day, where conflicting announcements were made at the last hours of the day.
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/may/1037.html
They Were Arrested Too: Iran’s Harried Student Movement
Die Weissen Rose in Iran.
Abbas Hakimzadeh is a good listener. He’s not prone to talking about himself but he is eager to talk about the status of the student movement in Iran, of which he himself is a seasoned veteran and three-time political prisoner.
“There are no longer student protests in the streets of Tehran,” said Mr. Hakimzadeh, who is the chief editor of AUT News and currently on the board of the largest student website in Iran, Daneshjoonews, which gets more than 5,000 hits a day. “Because of extreme repression the students are now pursuing university demands instead of political demands,” Mr. Hakimzadeh continued, “The political demands are there, but they have to hide them. For example, the young student activists secretly place political newspapers in the dorms or paste fliers about student political prisoners on the walls. This is risky in Iran, very risky.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-shourd/they-were-arrested-too-irans-students_b_1475567.html
Journalism conference addresses Iran’s problems
Iran was a major topic of discussion as about 700 journalists attended a UNESCO conference in Tunisia called New Voices – media freedom helping to transform societies.
“Since 2009, the Iranian regime has arrested more than 290 journalists, handing them jail terms ranging from six months to six years,” Iranian journalist and women’s rights activist Asieh Amini told the conference.
Zamaneh’s correspondent reports that the conference, which began on May 3 on World Press Freedom Day, was attended by close to 700 journalists, bloggers and civil activists from Tunisia and 88 other countries.
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/journalism-conference-addresses-iran%E2%80%99s-problems
Rights of Iranian People Abandoned in Shadow of Nuclear Talks
Shirin Ebadi protests against the G5+1 meeting with Iran in an interview with Radio Zamaneh
“The negotiations of the G5+1 with Iran were limited to nuclear issues, and the champions of human rights forgot that, as in other countries, the Iranian people have had their rights violated, which needs to be focused on in international negotiations about Iran’s situation.”
These are the words of Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer and Nobel Peace laureate, as she protests against the outcome of the G5+1 meeting with Iran in Istanbul on April 14.
Ebadi told the Political Bureau of Zamaneh: “Nuclear negotiations should not overshadow the issue of human rights violations in Iran, and the West should not look out only for its own security at the price of overlooking the security of the Iranian people, because human rights is an international issue, and any country that believes in the tenets of human rights should support it.
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/rights-iranian-people-abandoned-shadow-nuclear-talks
Arab States Hold War Games as Tensions With Iran Mount
Gulf Arab states are beginning two days of joint military exercises, as fears of an armed conflict with Iran continue to grow.
The drills, dubbed “Islands of Loyalty,” come amid an escalating territorial dispute between the United Arab Emirates and Iran over three strategic islands in the Persian Gulf.
Earlier this month, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited one of the islands, Abu Musa, sparking a war of words between Abu Dhabi and Tehran.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Arab-States-Hold-War-Games-as-Tensions-With-Iran-Mount-149425335.html
Ahmadinejad Rivals Score In Election
Partial results from the May 4 runoff election in Iran show opponents of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad winning many of the seats up for grabs.
Iranian media say rivals of the Iranian president had won 20 seats, while his supporters got only eight seats. Independents won another 11.
Sixty five seats were contested in the runoff election.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_election_/24570546.html
Mystery Surrounds ‘Cyberattack’ On Iranian Oil Facilities
Iran says it is investigating a suspected cyberattack on its main oil-export terminal and on the Oil Ministry itself. As of April 24, no signs of lasting damage had been discovered, but what do we know about the attack and its potential effect on Iran’s oil industry?
RFE/RL correspondent Antoine Blua discussed these issues with Boldizsar Bencsath, assistant professor at the Laboratory of Cryptography and Systems Security (CrySyS) in Budapest.
RFE/RL: Iran has set up a crisis committee to counter what officials described as a “cyberattack.” Officials said a data-deleting virus hit the Internet and communications systems of the Iranian Oil Ministry and national oil company late on April 22, forcing Iran to temporarily disconnect the control systems of a number of oil facilities to curb the virus. What do we know for certain about this attack?
http://www.rferl.org/content/mystery_surrounds_cyberattack_on_iranian_oil_facilities/24559002.html
Rights of Iranian People Abandoned in Shadow of Nuclear Talks
Shirin Ebadi protests against the G5+1 meeting with Iran in an interview with Radio Zamaneh
“The negotiations of the G5+1 with Iran were limited to nuclear issues, and the champions of human rights forgot that, as in other countries, the Iranian people have had their rights violated, which needs to be focused on in international negotiations about Iran’s situation.”
These are the words of Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer and Nobel Peace laureate, as she protests against the outcome of the G5+1 meeting with Iran in Istanbul on April 14.
Ebadi told the Political Bureau of Zamaneh: “Nuclear negotiations should not overshadow the issue of human rights violations in Iran, and the West should not look out only for its own security at the price of overlooking the security of the Iranian people, because human rights is an international issue, and any country that believes in the tenets of human rights should support it.
“I and other human rights activists have said on many occasions that the West’s negotiations with Iran, especially those of the G5+1, should not be monopolized by nuclear talks, but rather human rights issues should also be on the agenda.
“Unfortunately, as soon as the G5+1 countries, who claim to be supporters of human rights and have issued several announcements in this regard, reach serious negotiations, they never mention human rights and do not pay any attention to the legitimate and legal demands of the Iranian people.”
http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/rights-iranian-people-abandoned-shadow-nuclear-talks
Iran claimt recht op uraniumverrijking
TEHERAN -- Iran heeft het recht uranium te verrijken tot 20 procent. Dat dit een stap is naar een atoombom, is een leugen. Dat zei de Iraanse president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad woensdag in een vraaggesprek met een Frans tv-station.
Westerse mogendheden willen dat Iran stopt met de verrijking van uranium tot 20 procent omdat dat Iran technisch dichter bij de ontwikkeling van een atoombom brengt. Iran zegt dat het nodig is voor de productie van medische isotopen.
Ahmadinejad zei tegen France 24 dat Iran geen wonderen verwacht van het overleg met zes wereldmachten over zijn nucleaire programma, op 18 en 19 juni in Moskou.
Een 2-daagse gespreksronde tussen beide kampen vorige week in Teheran leverde geen concrete resultaten op, behalve het besluit om in Moskou verder te praten.
Iran heeft steeds gezegd dat met zijn nucleaire programma alleen vreedzame doeleinden te hebben, maar het Westen en Iraans aartsvijand Israël verdenken het streng islamitische land ervan bezig te zijn met de ontwikkeling van nucleaire wapens.
Iran, dat te maken heeft met (economische) sancties wegens zijn nucleaire programma, zit aan de onderhandelingstafel tegenover de vijf permanente leden van de VN-veiligheidsraad (de Verenigde Staten, China, Rusland, Groot-Brittannië, Frankrijk) plus Duitsland.
http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/12252538/___Iran_mag_uranium_verrijken___.html