NCRI - The clerical regime's judiciary sentenced five men to death in Tehran.

According to state-run daily Javan and Fars news agency, the five men were identified by their first names as Kheirollah, Gholam, Ebrahim, Mohammad Reza and Vali.

Human rights situation in Iran has deteriorated since Ahmadinejad's appointment as mullahs' president last summer. The number of executions has reach 200 during his presidency.

In recent wave of executions grave concern have been expressed by international human rights bodies over the plight of political prisoners in Iran. On February 7, Hojjat Zamani, a member of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran was secretly executed in Gohardasht prison. His family was only informed of his execution after two weeks. In protest to his execution other inmates have gone on hunger strike which still continues.

An iranian soldire in front of Azadi complex sport hit a girl who wants to enter for watching Iran and Costa Rica football in Tehran on Wednesday March, 1, 2006(Yalda Moayeri/sarmayeh photo)

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Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Mar. 02 – Two men accused of carrying out a recent bombing in the south-western city of Ahwaz were hanged in public on Thursday morning, a government-owned news agency reported.

The two, Ali Afrawi and Mehdi Navasseri, appeared on state television the night before and “confessed” to having carried out the attack. Televised recanting by political dissidents is regularly aired on Iran’s state-run media and has drawn international condemnation in the past.

One of the two men said that he had been in contact with groups in Britain and Canada who were seeking to destabilise the oil-rich Khuzistan province. Ahwaz is the provincial centre of Khuzistan.

Iran’s Minister of Intelligence and Security, or secret police chief, announced on Wednesday that more than ten people had been arrested in connection with the recent spate of bombings in Ahwaz.

He repeated the charge that the attackers were guided from abroad.

A string of top Iranian officials, including hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have accused Britain of being behind the bombings.

London has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks. Dissidents believe the bombings are the work of Iranian intelligence in a bid to smear opposition groups. Iran’s intelligence services have in the past acknowledged that they have carried out bombings and assassinations to tarnish the image of their opponents and brand them as terrorists.

Ethnic Arabs despise what they describe as the central government’s discriminatory and repressive policy against them in the oil-rich Khuzistan Province. Many Iranian officials and politicians have accused the United States, Britain, and exile opposition groups of stirring up unrest in the province.

The following are pictures of the execution of the two men:

Iraqi official lauds great changes in post-revolution Kurdestan

Islamic Republic News Agency(IRNA)- Iran-Iraq-Kurds - An Iraqi official said here Wednesday evening that there have been great changes in Kurdestan province since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Abdullah Haji Saeed, Iraqi presidential economic advisor for Kurdish affairs, added that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani had in mind using Iran's Kurdestan province as a model for developing Iraqi Kurdistan.

During a meeting with Kurdestan Governor-General Ismail Najjar, he recalled that the Islamic Republic of Iran was the only safe haven for the Iraqi people during the bloody rule of the Baathist regime.

President Talabani is a close friend of the Islamic Republic of Iran and has always stressed expansion of economic ties with neighboring Iran, he added.

The current security situation in Iraqi Kurdistan gives Baghdad a compelling reason to work for development of the region into a vibrant economic center of the country, he said, adding that his country desperately needs the technical knowhow available in Iran's Kurdestan.

The Iraqi official, heading a trade delegation, is currently in Iran to attend the International Persian Gulf Exhibition.

During meetings with Iranian economic officials, several agreements amounting to USD 1 billion in Iranian private sector investment in Iraq were inked by the two sides.

Currently, 340 foreign companies including 100 Iranian ones, have invested in development projects in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Iraqi official informed.

Middle East online

Kurdish, Sunni political factions think they cannot form a cabinet with Jaafari as he is not neutral.

BAGHDAD - The Kurdish and Sunni political factions of Iraq are opposed to incumbent Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari staying on in his post in the next government, a Kurdish leader said Thursday.

"The Kurdish and the Sunni groups think that he (Jaafari) is not appropriate and they cannot form a cabinet with him as he is not neutral," Mahmud Othman, a senior Iraqi parliamentarian said.

Last month, Jaafari was re-selected for the post of prime minister by Iraq's dominant Shiite United Iraqi Alliance after it won 128 out of 275 parliamentary seats in the December general elections.

Jaafari was narrowly reselected for the top job by the Shiite religious-based parties, defeating Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi by just one vote.

But his candidacy is now opposed by the two key political factions, including the Kurds who are part of the outgoing government coalition and who control 53 seats in the new parliament and a Sunni-backed alliance which controls 44 parliamentary seats.

Othman said even former premier Iyad Allawi, who controls 25 seats in the new parliament, has raised objections to Jaafari's candidature.

"The Kurdish and the Sunni lists will ask the Shiite list to revise their decision about him as the PM candidate," Othman added.

"The prime minister should be somebody who is agreed upon by everyone. They (Kurds and Sunnis) have decided to talk to Shiites on this in the next couple of days."

He said the two groups see Jaafari as an unsuccessful premier last year, adding "they think the experience with him has not been good and may lead to similar problems in future."

One of the leaders of the main Sunni-based party confirmed their objection to Jaafari's candidature.

"We have nothing against him (Jaafari) but his performance has been below expectations," said Alaa Maki, parliamentarian and senior leader of Islamic Party, which is part of the National Concord Front alliance.

"He was unable to control the security situation... and what has happened in the last few days is a proof of what we have said," he said referring to a surge in violence across Iraq that has left hundreds dead.

Maki said the government has been inefficient and he (Jaafari) "should go and give his seat to someone competent."

"It is not a Sunni question," Maki told AFP.

"It is a question of Iraq and we have to be unified and have a common goal. Even the Shiite alliance understands that it is a political question and not a sectarian one," he said.

By HENRY MEYER

Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW (AP) - Iran refused to back down Wednesday in crucial talks on Russia's offer to enrich uranium for Tehran, but negotiators agreed to resume discussions Thursday on a plan meant to ease Western fears Iran wants to build an atomic bomb.

The chief Iranian nuclear negotiator also said his country did not intend to agree to Russian demands to impose another moratorium on uranium enrichment activity.

"I want to say that the process of enrichment is the sovereign right of any country," Ali Larijani said after nearly five hours of talks in a Moscow hotel. "You should not take away this right from nations which have a peaceful nuclear program, which consequently, includes also enrichment."

That drew an immediate response from the United States, which fears Iran will use enrichment to make uranium for a weapons program. Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Larijani's declaration was "a move in the wrong direction" and cause for concern.

Iran's decision was "one of the reasons why, after trying to resolve this issue through negotiations and through a good and reasonable proposal from Russia, we're having to go to the (U.N.) Security Council," Ereli said.

Russia, whose offer to host Iran's uranium enrichment program has been backed by the United States and the European Union, acknowledged the talks were deadlocked. The enrichment offer is seen as a way to provide more assurances that Tehran could not divert uranium for military purposes.

"There was a constructive and serious discussion, but many questions remain unresolved," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

However, with pressure mounting to move toward sanctions against Iran when the U.N nuclear watchdog's board of governors meets Monday, a joint statement said efforts to resolve the nuclear dispute should remain within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"Both sides underlined the importance of talks and consultations for the resolution of the nuclear problem through diplomatic means and within the framework of the IAEA," said the statement issued by Russia's Security Council.

In Malaysia on Thursday, Iran's president accused Western powers of trying to control the world's oil resources and of creating a climate of fear he said was forcing countries to stockpile weapons.

"The main root cause of this is because of the excessive demands of certain ruling powers," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech to Malaysian and Iranian business leaders. "They want to have control over all world resources, financial markets of the world and state of the art technology."

Iran insists its nuclear program is only to generate power, but many in the West - particularly the United States - fear Iran is aiming to develop atomic weapons. Enrichment is a process that can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a weapon.

Larijani said that talks would resume Thursday ahead of the Iranian delegation's departure that day, according to RIA Novosti.

However, Kseniya Roshchina, a Russian spokeswoman, said she could not confirm whether further discussions would take place Thursday.

Wednesday's meeting marked a third round of talks after two previous negotiating sessions last week that made no visible progress. Igor Ivanov, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, led the Russian delegation.

Russia's top diplomat reiterated Moscow's call for Iran to return to a moratorium on enriching uranium as a condition for going forward with the Kremlin plan.

"What is necessary is for Iran to come back to the moratorium, to accept the joint venture proposal as a package that would be supported by the members of the governors' board of the IAEA," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Budapest, where President Vladimir Putin was on a state visit.

The Vienna-based IAEA board of governors is to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue on Monday, and it could start a process leading to punishment by the U.N. Security Council, which has the authority to impose sanctions on Iran.

But it remains unclear if veto-wielding council members Russia and China, which have close economic and political ties with Iran, will back sanctions.

A confidential IAEA report made available to The Associated Press this week said a more than three-year-long investigation had not revealed a secret nuclear weapons program in Iran, but cautioned that a lack of sufficient cooperation from the Iranian side meant the agency could not rule it out.

The report said Iran plans to start setting up thousands of uranium-enriching centrifuges this year - a possible pathway to nuclear arms - even as it negotiates with Russia.

Iran Focus – Iran’s State Security Forces attacked female football fans in Tehran on Wednesday after they held a defiant protest against the government decision to ban women from football stadiums.

Dozens of young women, who had bought tickets and hoped to cheer on their national team, were all banned from entering Tehran’s Azadi Stadium. The ban has been in force for years, but a few dozen women have challenged it in recent months. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hard-line government recently decided to enforce the ban more strongly.

After being refused entry into the stands, the women organised a demonstration outside the stadium and quickly brought to the scene banners which read, “Azadi Stadium: 100,000 men-only arena” and “We also want to cheer on our national team”

They were immediately threatened with arrest by police who had been placed on standby.

Within minutes, the security forces started to attack the teenage girls and young women. They were all forced into a bus and driven away.