Attorney says man innocent in Iran software case
A defense attorney conceded Tuesday that his engineer client took software from the nation's largest nuclear plant and used it while in Iran, but said he did it only so his Iranian relatives could see what he did for a living. -AP - 5/14/08
Award-winning Iranian journalist hospitalised in jail: report
"Emadeddin Baghi has once again been taken to Evin prison infirmary," the reformist newspaper Kargozaran said, without giving details about the condition of the anti-death penalty and prisoners' rights campaigner. -AFP - 5/12/08
Media banned every 36 hours in Iran in 2007
According to a new report, in 2007 Iran banned a media outlet, newspaper or journal every 36 hours. The report, released on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, May 3, was published by Iranian human rights activists groups in Europe and North America. - 5/8/08
Democracy Possible for Iran, Says Dissident Iranian Journalist
It is possible for democracy to take root in Iran, but it will not grow in the same way as democracy did in America, says Arash Sigarchi, an Iranian journalist who has been imprisoned for his outspokenness. - 5/5/08
Small Palestinian village faces slow death
Israel's High Court last month rejected petitions by Aqaba residents asking that it cancel the military's demolition orders, which include the kindergarten, the mosque, a health care centre and residential homes. -IRIN - 5/4/08
Iran: Woman activist Nahid Jafari receives suspended sentence
The Thirteenth Branch of the Revolutionary Courts has issued a suspended sentence of 6 months and 10 lashings in the case of Nahid Jafari, women's rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, who was arrested along with 32 other women's rights activist on March 4, 2007. - 5/3/08
More Countries Are Named For Violation Of Religious Freedom
A U.S. advisory panel is asking the State Department to expand its list of governments that it says routinely violate people's religious freedom. As VOA's Kent Klein reports from Washington, the group also wants the U.S. to keep an eye on religious repression in Iraq. - 5/3/08
Iran: Woman Activist Parvin Ardalan Receives 2 Years Suspended Sentence
The 13th branch of the Revolutionary Courts has issued a sentence in the case of Parvin Ardalan. Based on Amendment 610 and in accordance with amendment 25 of the Islamic Penal Code, the Court found Ardalan guilty on the charges of "illegal gathering and collusion and refusal to obey the orders of the police with the intent of endangering national security." - 5/2/08
Iran students stage hunger strike protest: report
Seventeen Iranian students have been hospitalised after going on a hunger strike to protest strict rules at a university in the northwestern city of Tabriz, press reported Wednesday. -AFP - 4/29/08
Iran women activists get suspended lashing sentences
Three Iranian women's rights campaigners have received suspended lashing and jail sentences for taking part in a rally, a fellow activist said on Tuesday. -AFP - 4/22/08
Iran: Three university students sentenced
On 15 April, the three Amir Kabir University students were sentenced to prison terms of between 22 and 30 months, by Branch 44 of the Appeal Court in Tehran. They remain at risk of torture and ill-treatment -Amnesty International - 4/18/08
Iran to confront 'bad veiling' in offices, cafes
Iranian police will confront women in private offices, or even socialising in cafes, whose dress is deemed improper, as part of a continued morality crackdown, Tehran's police chief said on Thursday. -AFP - 4/18/08
Amnesty International issues statement on jailed students in Iran
All the students named above have been released, except for Peyman Piran, Behrouz Karimizadeh and Ali Kantouri. Like the others, they were detained for their alleged role in demonstrations around the time of Iran's National University Students' Day, on 7 December 2007. - 4/16/08
Iranian President orders police to protect Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi
President Ahmadinejad ordered police to provide Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi extra protection, after she recently told police she has received an increasing number of death threats, Radio Farda reported, citing Iranian media. Ahmadinejad also instructed the police to find out who sent her threatening letters. - 4/16/08
Amnesty International calls on governments to lift the veil of secrecy around executions
In a new report published on April 15, Amnesty International revealed that at least 1,200 people were executed in 2007 and expressed deep concern that many more were killed by the state, in secret, in countries including China, Mongolia and Viet Nam. - 4/16/08
Iran: Arrests, Jailings Of Political And Rights Activists Continue
The Iranian authorities this month have added several more names to the list of political activists, human rights campaigners, and journalists who have been imprisoned for voicing dissent. -RFE - 4/15/08
Dissident cleric calls Iran vote unfair
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri accused the country's ruling Islamic establishment of imposing dictatorship in the name of Islam, according to a statement provided to The Associated Press by his office Monday. -AP - 4/14/08
Iranian Rights Activist Says Death Threats Intensifying
Iranian human rights lawyer and Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi says death threats against her and her family are intensifying. - 4/14/08
AFGHANISTAN: Ten schools torched in past three weeks
At least 10 schools have been attacked by unidentified gunmen in different parts of Afghanistan in the past three weeks, Ministry of Education (MoE) officials told IRIN. - 4/13/08
Iran: Detained Students May Face Torture
Iranian authorities should immediately investigate allegations that Ministry of Information agents and interrogators tortured four detained student activists, and punish officials involved in such abuse, Human Rights Watch said today. - 4/11/08
Prominent reformist cleric in Iran reported jailed and ordered defrocked by Clerical Court
A prominent reformist cleric has been jailed and ordered defrocked several months after an Iranian court convicted him of endangering national security and insulting authorities, his brother said Wednesday. Hadi Ghabel was taken to jail after he was invited for questioning at the Clerical Court in the holy city of Qom -AP - 4/10/08
Iran: Khadijeh Moghaddam Member of Campaign and Mother's Committee Arrested
On the morning of April 8th, security police forcibly entered the home of Khadijeh Moghaddam, women's rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign and arrested her. -Change for Equality - 4/9/08
Iran: Award-Winning Rights Activist Charged With Spreading Propaganda
Noted Iranian rights activist Parvin Ardalan has been interrogated at the security branch of a Tehran court after being charged with spreading propaganda against the government. -RFE - 4/9/08
Iran: Amnesty International and international labour organisations welcome release of Mahmoud Salehi
The ITUC, ITF and Amnesty international today welcomed the release from Sanandaj prison, in Iran's Kordestan Province, of independent labour activist Mahmoud Salehi, after one year of imprisonment. - 4/8/08
Parvin Ardalan summoned and questioned in the Revolutionary Court
Following the summons of Parvin Ardalan, women's rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, she appeared on Saturday April 5 at the 1st Security Branch of the Revolutionary Courts. - 4/7/08
Iran: Private Homes Raided for 'Immorality'
The arrest of more than 30 men attending a party in a private home in the city of Esfahan signals renewed efforts by Iranian authorities to enforce "morality" codes, and highlights the fragility of basic rights in a country where police powers routinely undermine privacy, Human Rights Watch said today. - 3/29/08
FM spokesman protests fingerprinting Iranian pilgrims on Iraq border
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini on Thursday voiced strong protest at the US occupying forces' recent "willful" act of fingerprinting and imposing restrictions on the Iranian pilgrims on the officially recognized Iran-Iraq borders. - 3/27/08
Iran: Treatment of trade union leader condemned by international bodies
Amnesty International and international trade union bodies condemn repressive measures meted out against trade union leader Mahmoud Salehi - 3/21/08
Iran: Magazines Shut Down Over 'Immoral' Coverage Of Hollywood Celebs
Iranian authorities have closed down nine, mostly lifestyle, magazines this week for publishing photos of "immoral" Western celebrities and reporting about their private lives. -Thirteen other publications were warned to avoid printing similar photos and stories -- or face losing their publishing licenses. -RFE - 3/20/08
POLITICS-IRAN: "The Government Suffers From Delusions"
If your grandfather was the founder of the first Islamic Republic of Iran, you would probably expect to have a very comfortable life in the land of Ayatollahs, where Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is president and Khomeini's successor has absolute power. But you would be wrong. -Omid Memarian, IPS - 3/19/08
Woman sentenced to be stoned to death is released
Mokarrameh Ebrahimi was released from Choubin prison in Qazvin province, northwestern Iran, on 17 March, along with her youngest child, a son named Ali, who was living in prison with her. -Amnesty International - 3/19/08
Iran bans magazines for showing 'corrupt' foreign stars
Iran has banned nine lifestyle and cinema magazines for publishing pictures of "corrupt" foreign film stars and details about their "decadent" private lives, the student ISNA news agency said Sunday. -AFP - 3/17/08
Iran sentences four journalists to prison
Just days preceding the March 14 parliamentary elections in Iran, four journalists from the Iranian northern province of Gilan have been sentenced to prison for crimes that include "publishing lies with the aim of creating anxiety in the public mind" and "insulting ýImam Zaman" (the 12th hidden Shia Imam), the Rooz online portal reports. - 3/16/08
Iranian-born officer promoted to UK police commander
Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei has been promoted to the rank of commander in London's Metropolitan Police at the fourth attempt after previously being at the center of a controversial four-year internal inquiry. - 3/15/08
Revisiting Halabjah: Survivors Talk About Horror Of Attack, Continuing Ordeal
Radio Free Iraq correspondent Ahmad al-Zubaidi traveled to Halabjah recently to talk to survivors of the March 1988 attacks about the physical and psychological effects of the tragedy. - 3/15/08
Author jailed for writing ethnic romance as Iran's censors crack down on dissent
Yaghoub Yaadali, a 36-year-old television director, received a suspended jail sentence last summer on charges of "spreading lies, defamation and insulting a tribal minority". In his book, The Rules of Restlessness, a fictional character has an affair with a woman from an ethnic Bakhtiari village. It won Iran's highest honour for literature, the Golshiri award, in 2004. As with any other work, it was only published after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. -Independent - 3/15/08
Canada unjust in Kazemi case, Iranian official says
An Iranian official leading the latest investigation into the 2003 death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi is accusing Ottawa of illegal and biased behaviour in the case. -CBS News - 3/15/08
Iran: Voters See Little Choice, Less Democracy In Parliamentary Poll
Here's one, just in: "Participating in this election means supporting the regime. Those who are for it can go and vote." So says Saeed from Tehran, one of scores of Radio Farda listeners who have sent in their views -- by text message or email -- on what the Iranian authorities insist will be democratic parliamentary polls on March 14. Most, if not all, disagree with that description. -RFE - 3/14/08
Iran: State-Controlled Media Coverage Under Fire Ahead Of Elections
Iranian law requires state-run television to provide equal airtime to all political groups during the run-up to elections. But many opposition politicians allege that has not happened ahead of the March 14 parliamentary elections. -RFE - 3/14/08
Iran: Reformist Candidates Barred From Election
Iran's exclusionary process of vetting candidates for the March 14 parliamentary elections violates the principles of a free and fair election, Human Rights Watch said today. The widespread disqualifications of candidates, most from reformist factions, show that authorities are rejecting candidates on politically motivated grounds. - 3/14/08
Statement from the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors On Iranian Member of Parliament Nouradin Pirmoazen
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) deplores threats by a senior Iranian official against reformist lawmaker Nouradin Pirmoazen, who criticized government actions in the run-up to Iran's March 14 Parliamentary elections during an exclusive interview with the Voice of America's Persian News Network. - 3/14/08
Iranian woman looks to flee after years of battling regime
Soroya Malekzadeh wanted to test Iran's claim to being an open democracy, so she submitted her nomination papers to be a candidate for this month's parliamentary elections. -Toronto Star - 3/13/08
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: IRAN
The Islamic Republic of Iran, with a population of approximately 70 million, is a constitutional, theocratic republic in which Shi'a Muslim clergy dominate the key power structures. Government legitimacy is based on the twin pillars of popular sovereignty-–albeit restricted--and the rule of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution. -U.S. State Department - 3/12/08
Iran: Fashionistas Push Back Against Strict Dress Code
Ali Mohammadi -- or Ali M., as he likes to be called -- spends most of his salary on trendy clothes, haircuts, and expensive skincare products. He is just one of many Iranians for whom fashion -- besides being fun -- has become a form of protest against the country's strict Islamic dress code. -RFE - 3/8/08
Iran: Shiraz University Students Arrested After Week Of Protests
At least 12 students from Shiraz University have been arrested and summoned to a revolutionary court over their participation in more than a week of demonstrations. -RFE - 3/8/08
Iran: International Unions Highlight Solidarity With Jailed Labor Leaders
Thousands of trade unionists, transport workers, and other people around the world have united in a show of solidarity with jailed Iranian labor leaders Mansur Osanlu and Mahmud Salehi. -RFE - 3/8/08
"Tragedy of Democracy in Iran" put on trial
The court session for studying the accusations of persons involved in the publication of the book "Tragedy of Democracy in Iran" was held in the branch 1083 of Tehran's general court chaired by judge Hoseynian. According to ISNA, Emadedin Baqi, who had previously been sentenced to three years of jail on charges of publication of lies and a one year jail on charges of propaganda against the system, was present in the court as witness. - 3/7/08
Iran: Support the Global Trade Union Action Day for imprisoned Iranian trade unionists
Amnesty International joins The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) in calling for the immediate and unconditional release from prison of trade union leaders Mansour Ossanlu, President of the Tehran Bus Workers' Union, and Mahmoud Salehi, the spokesperson for the Organisational Committee to Establish Trade Unions. Both are prisoners of conscience. - 3/7/08
UK aid agencies say Gaza humanitarian situation dire
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is "man-made" and worse than it has ever been since the Israeli occupation in 1967, a coalition of British organisations said in a new report released on 6 March, urging better regional cooperation and saying Hamas can no longer be ignored. -IRIN - 3/7/08
Panel Spotlights Iran's Human Rights Violations
The government of Iran has been criticized for many things: its nuclear program, controversial comments made by its president, and its support for insurgents. However, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), it is time for the U.S. to look at Iran’s internal politics with the same scrutiny as Iran’s foreign policy. -Arash Hadjialiloo, NIAC - 3/7/08
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