TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's supreme court has confirmed a sentence of death by stoning against a woman convicted of adultery in the southern city of Shiraz, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The woman identified as Afsaneh R., was also given a second death sentence for murdering her husband with the help of a man identified only as Reza, who had an affair with her, Etemad Melli newspaper reported.

The report said the supreme court had in August confirmed verdicts first issued in April, but gave no reason for the delay in making the decision public.

It said Reza had also been sentenced to 100 lashes for having an illegitimate relationship and 15 years in jail for collaborating in murder.

Under Iran's Islamic law, adultery is still theoretically punishable by stoning, which involves the public hurling stones at the convict buried up to his waist. A woman is buried up to her shoulders.

An Iranian rights group said in July that eight women and one man had been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery over the past few years and urged the Islamic republic to halt their executions.

In August, the judiciary said it had scrapped the punishment in Iran's new Islamic penal code, whose outlines have been adopted by the parliament but its details are yet to be debated by MPs before final approval and coming into effect.

The judiciary also said stoning sentences against several convicts had been suspended and commuted to either lashes or jail terms but it was not known if any of the nine convicts were among those whose lives have been spared.

In July 2007, the Islamic republic drew international outrage by stoning to death a man convicted of adultery, Jafar Kiani, in a village in the northwest of the country.

Iraqi parliamentary sources revealed plans on Sunday to expand the representatives in the five committees formed to deal with the suspended problems between Kurdistan region and Baghdad.

Following the rise of tensions between KRG and federal government over Khanaqin town in the disputed territories and the other issues, including the oil deals with the foreign companies, Kurdish leadership and the other Iraqi parties last month agreed on forming five committees to prepare reports for finding solutions for the problems.

The major disputed between Erbil and Baghdad are mainly on the extend of the federal region's authorities in the new Iraq, resolving the fate of Kirkuk and the other disputed territories, Peshmarga budget and the oil deals of KRG with the foreign comapnies.

Abas Beyati, member of the security and defence committee in the national assembly said in a statement to al Hayat newspaper that the government was planning to expand the circle of the committees by including members form Sadr, Fadhila and other parties in the talks over the problems.

“The expansion of the committees could pave the way for the broader representation of the parties to set obvious solutions for the constitutional authorities and the problems between Erbil and Baghdad” Beyati was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

On the stand-still disputes over the Kurdish oil deals with the foreign companies, the MP said the sides were about to reach a breakthrough, especially after the landmark visit of Iraqi oil minister Hussein Shahristani to Erbil last week, in which the two sides agreed to put the Kurdish contracts under investigations and discussions according the enacted procedures pursued by the federal government.

However, a legislator from the Kurdish alliance list denied having information about such alleged expansion of the committees.
Kurdish lawmaker Khalid Shwani said he did not have information about such a move of Baghdad, but confirmed the works of committee formed to discuss the problems of the disputed territories had almost reached its finals.

Oil contracts signed by the Kurdistan region government (KRG) with foreign oil companies are not recognised by central government in Baghdad, Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain Shahristani said on Friday, leaving Kurdish observers at a surprise.

The comments come despite an initial agreement on Thursday between the central Iraqi oil ministry and the KRG to allow exports from Kurdistan to Turkey.

He repeated the illegality of the deals only two days after making a land mark visit to Kurdistan region capital Erbil, where he met with the Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan barzani and other top officials to discuss the suspended problems.

Norwegian oil company DNO has a concession with the KRG from which it hopes to start exports of 100,000 barrels daily in the first quarter of next year.

But Shahristani said the revenues from oil produced anywhere in Iraq belonged to central government for redistribution around the country.

"Those contracts have not been reviewed by the ministry of oil and have not been recognised by the federal government," he told reporters in Cairo.

"The decision is that any oil that is produced in any part of the country has to be handed over to the federal government and the ministry of oil will export it. The revenues will go to the central budget for distribution inside the country."

Shahristani was speaking to reporters before a Saturday OPEC meeting.

Turkish F-16s waged an air raid Saturday at several border areas of Kurdistan region under the pretext of chasing PKK guerrillas, who take Qandil Mountain as their base.

Sources in the area reported that the military planes shelled a number of locations and land forces stationed at the borders fired rockets at many positions.

Turkey had staged several attacks and carried out a major offensive in Kurdistan region to eliminate PKK since last February, but all the operations ended with no significant result.

KRG officials have for so long called the Turkish government to work on solving the problem through political means.

The fact that the 30 year old PKK issue had been counterproductive for the Turkish state as long as it pursues military means solely.

PKK operatives had attacked a Turkish military base earlier this month, killing 17 soldiers.

NCRI - On Wednesday, shortly after the execution of 10 prisoners in the notorious Tehran Evin prison, the mullahs' suppressive security forces arrested 228 youths on the pretext of fighting "thugs and hooligans" in Karaj, 40 kilometers west of the capital.

Brig. Gen. Akbar Shahi, chief of the State Security Forces (SSF) mullahs' --suppressive police -- for Tehran province was quoted by the official daily Kayhan as  saying on November 27, "The arrests are part of 'Discipline Plan' which is operational in all provinces of the country."

"As an example, 230 [SSF] teams comprised of 1,000 men from the early hours of yesterday [November 26] have begun their surveillance drills in Hesarak District of Karaj," Shahi said.

Implementing various security plans by the SSF is indicative of mullahs' increasing fear of the growing popular hatred for their regime. They are terrified mostly of the youths' uprisings 

The Iranian Resistance calls on all human rights organizations to condemn the Iranian regime's suppressive measures against the people and refer its human rights dossier to the UN Security Council for imposition of comprehensive sanctions.   

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has sentenced three men to death for being involved in the fatal bombing of a mosque that killed 14 Iranians in the southern city of Shiraz in April, the hardline Kayhan newspaper reported on Saturday.

Iran has accused the United States, Britain and Israel of being behind the blast that also injured 200 others.

Rouzbeh Yahyazadeh, 32, Mohsen Eslamian, 21, and Ali Asghar Pashtar, 20, will be hanged in Shiraz after the Supreme Court upheld their sentences, said Ali Akbar Haidarifar, representative of Tehran's prosecutor.

Haidarifar, who previously accused the three of being sent on a mission by Israeli intelligence services to carry out assassinations and military sabotage in Iran, did not say when the verdict was issued.

"A Tehran Revolutionary court has found the three guilty as 'mohareb' (one who wages war against God) and 'corrupt on the earth'," Kayhan newspaper quoted Haidarifar as saying.

Under Iranian law, all execution orders must be upheld by Iran's Supreme Court.

"After their verdicts being upheld by the Supreme Court, the three will be hanged in Shiraz," he added.

A little-known Iranian Sunni Muslim dissident group made a claim it was behind the blast on a website in June. Iran is overwhelmingly Shi'ite.

The death sentences follow the early November execution of an Iranian businessman convicted of spying on the military for Israel, the Islamic Republic's arch foe.

A further four people have been charged over the Shiraz blast and will be tried in the near future, said Haidarifar.

Tension between Iran and Israel have been running high in recent months amid speculation the Jewish state might attack Iranian nuclear facilities which it believes form part of a covert weapons programme.

Iran rejects the accusation and says it would retaliate for any military strikes launched by Israel, believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear arms, or the United States.

Last week, Haidarifar said the three had confessed in the hearing at a Revolutionary court, adding they had plans to carry out other bombings in the Islamic state.

Iran said on Monday its elite Revolutionary Guards had broken up an alleged Israeli-linked network and the prosecutor's office has requested from the court the punishment of execution for all members of "the spy network."

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Iranian Political Prisoners Association

Sadegh Shojaii, Mehdieh Golroo, Majid Dorri and Saiid Feizollahzade, the four students who had been deprived of their studies by the University Allameh Tabatabaii, have been arrested on Monday 24 November, after a sit-in and then transferred to Evin prison.

According to the students committee of Human Rights reporters, the four had begun a sit-in in front of the University which drew attention and support from other students.

The four students had been deprived after there were protests in Allameh for the shut down of Student press and clashes and harassments caused by the security forces of the University in the spring of 2007.

Their families had joined their protest in support of their loved ones outside the University.

Before being arrested, Ms. Mehdieh Golroo had spoken of the harassment by the University guards and said; "It was dawn, all four of us were sleep. Suddenly we were confronted with 25 people who dragged us out of the University Campus. I told them they have no right to speak and treat students like this, but the security agent began using foul language and begun hitting me instead, slapping me so much that I felt half of my face had gone paralyzed and swollen.".

At least 500 students rushed to support the four subjects and their demands; to be allowed to study.

It is noticeable that the Right to Education is one of the basic rights of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 26, and the Iranian constitution has also accepted this. But in reaction to the explosive situation and the student's activities, the Islamic Republic officials use the disciplinary committees created in the Universities to curb student movements.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Iran would welcome talks between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, the country's vice president said in an interview with Japan's Kyodo news agency.

Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie said in the interview in Tokyo that any such meeting must be held in an open manner and its contents made public, the agency said.

Mashaie told Kyodo the Iranian president had said "direct diplomacy is the best way to peace," but added that Obama must distance himself from Washington's stance so far in order to implement change, Kyodo said.

Iran has repeatedly refused to bow to Western pressure to halt its nuclear program, which many fear is aimed at making nuclear weapons. Obama this month called for an international effort to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb.

"Mr. Obama stands at a historically significant crossroads, but there are only two paths for him -- one which leads to good results through 'change' as promised in his slogan, the other with extremely grave consequences if he continues the same policies as previous administrations," Mashaie told Kyodo.

Iran said on Wednesday it was running 5,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges, signaling an expansion of work it says is aimed at generating electricity.

Analysts believe Iran could be as little as one or two years from stockpiling enough enriched uranium to use for a bomb.

Tehran says it wants to generate electricity to enable it to export more of its oil and gas.

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Paul Tait)

Press Release: ITF Press Officer
Iranian Teacher Unionist Still Alive, But Remains at Risk

BRUSSELS— Teachers, trade unionists and human rights defenders around the world are mobilising in defence of Farzad Kamangar, an Iranian Kurdish teacher and trade unionist who is at risk of execution.

Education International received information from reliable sources that on 26 November Kamangar was taken from his cell 121 in ward 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison in preparation for execution by hanging. However, the latest information is that he is still alive and was able to meet with his lawyer Wednesday. His situation remains precarious nonetheless.

Kamangar, aged 33, was sentenced to death by the Iranian Revolutionary Court on 25 February 2008 after a trial which took place in secret, lasted only minutes, and failed to meet Iranian and international standards of fairness.

The death penalty was met with widespread protest, and Education International, the global union federation representing 30 million teachers, took up Kamangar’s cause, along with other trade union and human rights organisations. Through an online campaign, thousands of letters have been sent to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Kamangar’s behalf.

Education International, the International Trade Union Confederation, the International Transport Workers Federation, Amnesty International and LabourStart are discussing a joint campaign to shine the spotlight on Kamangar’s plight.

“Teachers everywhere are shocked by the flagrant disregard for human and trade union rights, as well as a total lack of fair process,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “The death penalty is irreversible and no judicial system should risk condemning an innocent person.”

His lawyer, Kahlil Bahramian, said: “Nothing in Kamangar’s judicial files and records demonstrates any links to the charges brought against him.” Indeed, Kamangar was initially cleared of all charges during the investigation process.

NCRI – The mullahs' Supreme Court upheld a stoning sentence on Thursday for a young woman identified as Afsaneh R. A lower court first ruled in her case in the southern city of Shiraz.

An appeal on her behalf was turned down by the Supreme Court on August 4 -- the same day Alireza Jamshidi, mullahs' judiciary spokesman, announced that stoning as a sentence was abolished altogether from the Iranian criminal laws.

Despite much smoke screening by the mullahs' judiciary regarding the commuting of all such rulings, there has not been any change made in the stoning cases.

In July 2007, the Iranian regime caused international outrage when Jafar Kiani was stoned to death in the northwestern city of Qazvin. 

A man and a woman -- Abbas H. and Mahbubeh A. -- were also stoned to death in May 2006 in the northeastern city of Mashhad, although their execution has never been officially confirmed.

On February 4, the mullahs' Supreme Court upheld the death sentence by stoning of two sisters Zohreh (27) and Azar (28) Kabiri-Neyat in the notorious Gohardasht (Rajaishahr) prison in Karaj some 40 km west of the capital Tehran.

Similarly, in the winter of 2007, the death sentence by stoning of a 49-year-old man named Abdullah Farivar was upheld by the Supreme Court in the northern city of Sari. The man has two children.

By Kamal Chomani
The Kurdish Globe

 

 

Horse owners in the border region are given less than two weeks to get rid of their horses before they are fined.

In an attempt to narrow the activities of Iranian-Kurdish opposition, the Islamic Republic of Iran has informed all villagers on Kurdistan Region's border with Iran not to keep horses.

The Iranian government believes that smugglers on the border with are assisting Kurdish opposition.

"Any person who keeps horses will be fined by three million tuman (US$4,000) and will also be arrested," read the warning released by the Iranian government to border villagers.

Iran has first warned two villages, Zewa and Kona Lajan, but other border villages are expected to receive cautions soon.

Kona Lajan village is three kilometers from Kurdistan Region's border. The people of Kona Lajan told the Globe that, despite the official warning, the Iranian government's messengers throw warning letters into their houses and hang them on the gates at night.

"In the letters, it is written that we have only 10 days to sell our horses; after 10 days, the government will fine us and seize our horses. If we buy a horse again we will be arrested," Kona Lajan villagers told the Globe.

Horses are part of villagers' lives on the border; they are a beloved source of their income. Between the 350 families living in both villages are 300 horses.

Most of the villagers are smugglers. They smuggle between Iraqi Kurdistan Region and Iran; it is a deadly job, but it is also the only source of income for many families.

The villagers blame the Iranian government for giving them no alternate employment opportunities. They say there are no jobs for Kurds in Iran other than to become mercenaries and carry weapons to defend the Iranian government.

"The Iranian government pressures us to become mercenaries and fight Kurdish opposition groups, and the government knows very well that as long as we have horses, we will never become mercenaries," said the villagers, who were afraid to give their names.

One of the smugglers said Iranian authorities want to tighten the borders because they have noticed an increase in Kurdish opposition activity.

Ahmed Muhammadi, a villager, expressed his love for his horse. "It is impossible for me to get rid of my horse; it is more valuable than an Iranian-made car. I will hide my horse, even if I have to hide it in my own bedroom," he added emotionally.

Smugglers take a very narrow, difficult path loaded with mines left behind from decades of regional wars. According to the smugglers, 30 smugglers were shot dead by Iranian soldiers last summer.

Whisky, vodka, and champagne are most often smuggled into Iran and sold for twice the original price. For cities further from the border, prices progressively increase. Smuggled goods like alcohol and foreign cigarettes, including Winston, Easton, and others, are strictly prohibited by Iranian authorities. Alcohol sellers and even users may face sentences of whipping or at least a fine. Nevertheless, people, especially youths, buy it.

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Nov. 27 – An Iranian court sentenced a man to be blinded with acid as punishment for blinding a woman several years ago, state-run press reported on Thursday.

The defendant, identified only by his first name Majid, 27, was sentenced by the court to be blinded in both eyes, the hard-line daily Quds wrote. It added that Majid was found guilty of blinding a woman identified as Ameneh Bahrami in 2004.

The phrase "an eye for an eye" is very stringently adhered to in Iran's Islamic law.   Iran's Islamic penal system regularly practices centuries-old sentences for petty crimes, such as amputation of limbs, eye gouging, stoning to death, and throwing prisoners off a cliff in a sac.

Also on iran human right :
www.iranhr.net/spip.php?article800

Farzad Kamangar is a Kurdish teacher and activist who was arrested in August 2006 by the Iranian regime. There is breaking news that after fifteen months of torture and no fair trial he has been taken from his cell and is to be executed in the next few hours.

Farzad's crime was that he "belonged to the Teachers’ Union of Kurdistan and to other activist associations. He wrote for the review Royan, the review of Education department of Kamiyaran and for newspapers of local Human Rights associations", although the Iranian government prefers to describe this as “endangering national security”.

In this letter secretly sent out from jail he describes the abuse and conditions that he has been suffering whilst in prison.

Whilst Education International has a list of things you can do to push for a fair trial if we can't prevent his execution then those longer term efforts will be in vain. I know it's not much but I'd like to encourage you to send an email to the Iranian President to let him know that the outside world is watching and that Farzad's "crimes" of being a Kurd and a trade unionist do not justify his execution.

Please write to dr-ahmadinejad [at] president.ir when you read this.

Sample email;

Dear President Ahmadinejad,

Having learned today that teacher trade unionist Farzad Kamangar faces hanging in the next few hours, I call upon you to immediately commute his death sentence and have his case re-examined through a fair trial.

Sincerely,

Press Release: ITUC 

Iran: Imminent Execution of Farzad Kamangar

Brussels, (ITUC OnLine): Farzad Kamangar, the Iranian Kurdish teacher and social worker sentenced to death on, according to his lawyer, "absolutely zero evidence", could be hanged on Wednesday 26

November 2008.

According to the information received by Education International (EI), Farzad Kamangar has been taken from his cell 121 in ward 209 of Tehran's Evin prison in preparation for execution. Jail security officers are said to have told him he is about to be executed whilst making fun of him and calling him a martyr.

In a letter sent to Iran's supreme leader, http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/Imminent_execution_of_Farzad_Kamangar_26 -11-08.pdf , the ITUC declared that although Mr. Kamangar has been sentenced to death on 25 February 2008 by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, his lawyer has said: "Nothing in Kamangar's judicial files and records demonstrates any links to the charges brought against him." Kamangar was cleared of all charges during the investigation process. The last time Kamangar was seen was at the health clinic of Evin prison. He was in poor health and bore signs of having been beaten. Mr. Kamangar has not been allowed to see his lawyer or family members for the past two months.

The Iranian authorities have a history of sentencing Iranian labour activists for simply trying to exercise basis trade union rights and and for criticising maltreatment and torture of prisoners.

The ITUC is extremely concerned that the Iranian authorities are now seriously considering moving to execution of peaceful labour activists. ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder said:" The right to life is a fundamental human right. The Iranian authorities must stay the execution order of Mr. Kamangar, and ensure that he is given a fair trial."

The ITUC supports the EI's campaign to save Mr. Kamangar's life and its appeal to the ILO to intervene on his behalf. The EI campaign has generated 1,700 online messages appealing to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to ensure a fair trail for Mr. Kamangar, and the campaign has also appealed repeatedly to Iranian judicial authorities to halt the execution.

To see the EI campaign: http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=917&theme=rights&country=iran

To see Labour start petition: http://www.labourstart.org/farzad

The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates. http://www.ituc-csi.org

NCRI – Hundreds of Kiyan-Tire factory workers gathered outside the mullahs' Cooperation Ministry on Valiasr Avenue in Tehran.

The striking workers carried signs reading, "We demand our unpaid salaries" and "We don't have enough to buy a loaf of bread."

he authorities in the ministry called in the State Security Forces (SSF) -- mullahs' suppressive police -- to remove the demonstrating workers.

The SSF agents attacked the workers beating and arresting a number of them.  The strikers have not been paid for the past seven months.  

Nearly 7,000 families of the striking workers are in economic disaster with winter just around the corner in Iran. 

Nearly 1,200 workers walked out on April 12 for the first time when the hand picked management called in the SSF to crush their demonstration. A number of the workers were arrested in that incident.
 
The mullahs' inhuman regime, fearing the spread of the move, rushed hundreds of the SSF agents to the scene to suppress the strikers. However, the local residents and youths clashed with the SSF units in support of the striking workers. They threw stones and sticks at the security forces.
 
It has been one of the longest strikes by the workers in the country. Kiyan-Tire is only second to that of the Sugar Cane factory workers in the southwestern city of Shoosh in which more than 5,000 workers are still on strike over their unpaid salaries since last year.

Iran has summoned the British ambassador to Tehran over remarks by Foreign Minister David Miliband who had called on the Persian Gulf Arab sheikhdoms to increase pressure on Iran with regards to its nuclear ambitions, ISNA news agency reported Thursday.

The foreign ministry told Ambassador Geoffrey Adams that Milband's remarks on Monday were hostile, provoking and aimed at distorting Iran's brotherly relations with the regional countries and demanded an immediate halt to what it called London's interfering policies.

The news agency did not say when the meeting with Adams took place at the foreign ministry.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Wednesday criticised Milband's warning that the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran would pose the most immediate threat to regional stability and said London should avoid following the failed policies of outgoing US President George W Bush.

-----------------------------------
British servant pray for Queen

 Iranian authorities on Wednesday hanged 10 people, including a woman, in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.

All 10 were accused of murder, the state-run news agency Fars quoted the official presiding over the executions, identified as Mr. Jabberi, as saying.

The woman was identified by other state media as Fatemeh Pajoh. She was accused of killing her temporary husband, although there are reports that she did so since he had raped her daughter.

Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges such as armed robbery and drug trafficking.

Executions in Iran have risen sharply in the second half of the year. At least 63 people were hanged in August, and 29 people were hanged simultaneously in Tehran on 25 July.

Evin Prison was built by the Shah’s regime as a modern security prison to house political dissidents, but it became the Islamic Republic’s most dreaded gulag and the site of thousands of political executions. Ward 209 is exclusively set aside for political prisoners.

iranfocus

The New York Times

By NAZILA FATHI
Published: November 26, 2008

TEHRAN — Iran has broken a spy ring working for Israeli’s intelligence service, Mossad, and will seek the death penalty for three suspects in custody, Iran’s prosecutor general announced Tuesday.

The prosecutor general, Saeed Mortazavi, said that the suspects, members of Basij, Iran’s volunteer militia, were expected to get close to senior members of the Revolutionary Guards so they could “assassinate military scientists and blow up strategic military and missile facilities.” At a news conference covered by the semiofficial Fars news agency, he said they would be tried within a month and if convicted of “moharebeh,” crimes against Islam and the state, would be sentenced to death. Conviction on lesser charges could mean 10 years in prison, he said.

Mr. Mortazavi said the suspects had been trained in 21 sessions to carry out assassinations, plant bombs, drive cars and motorcycles professionally and use special cameras, computers and satellite equipment. Three additional suspects are under surveillance, he said.

The leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said Monday that its intelligence bureau had detected the spy ring.

Mr. Mortazavi said Tuesday that the inquiry started six months earlier.

Assessing the strength of the government’s case is difficult. The Israeli government has declined to comment on it.

Iran’s announcement was made amid severe tension between Israel and Iran, which does not recognize Israel and whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is hostile to it.

Israel, which has a nuclear arsenal, has said it is convinced that Iran will soon be able to make nuclear weapons.

Last week, Iran executed Ali Ashtari, who had been convicted of spying for Israel, and warned that its war with Israel had become “more serious.”

On Tuesday, Iran’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, discussed “the danger of Israel” with Lebanon’s president, Michel Suleiman.

Isabel Kershner contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

Iran Human Rights: One man was hanged in the central prison of Mashad, capital of the Iranian province of Khorasan, yesterday Monday November 24, reported the Iranian daily Quds.

The man who was not identified by name, was convicted of murdering his wife, 2 years ago, in the town of Torbate Heydariyeh, according to the report.

Three other men were hanged in the southeastern city of Zahedan on Monday November 24, reported the semi-official daily newspaper Kayhan.

They were all convicted of drug trafficking and were identified as: Hassan Nahtani son of Mohammad, Abdollah Dahmardeh son of Nazar and Mohammad Barahoi son of Baz Mohammad, according to the report.

BERLIN (AP) - An Iranian activist urged German lawmakers on Monday to help remove an Iranian opposition group from the EU's list of terrorist organizations.

"This terror listing is unjust, unlawful," Maryam Rajavi told reporters as she argued on behalf of the blacklisted People's Mujahedeen of Iran, or PMOI.

Rajavi is head of the Paris-based Iranian opposition group National Council Resistance of Iran, which has struggled for nearly 30 years against Iran's Islamic establishment. Her organization also is an umbrella group that includes PMOI.

"We expect the elected representatives of the German people, members of the Bundestag, to call on the German government to end this unjust label," Rajavi said, speaking through her translator.

The PMOI participated in Iran's Islamic Revolution but later became opposed to the clericalgovernment.
Members of the group moved to Iraq in the early 1980s and fought Iran's Islamic rulers from there until the United States invaded in 2003. U.S. troops have since disarmed thousands of PMOI members, and the group said it renounced violence several years ago.

In June, British lawmakers removed the People's Mujahedeen of Iran from their country's terror list, after a seven-year campaign by the group. The move gives it more freedom to organize and raise money in Britain.

Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the National Council Resistance of Iran in Germany, said 150 of the 612 lawmakers in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, have signed a petition calling for PMOI to be removed from the EU terror list.

Joerg Tauss, a legislator for Germany's center-left Social Democrats, said he hopes the petition will help change the perception of PMOI's tactics.

"I do not share the assessment that the PMOI operates as a terrorist organization," Tauss said.
The group also is on a U.S. terrorist blacklist.

Rajavi said the group's status in the United States and the European Union is hindering its ability to fight for regime change in Iran.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki on Monday evening agreed on doubling contacts to pass the security pact currently debated by the national assembly.
Iraqi government has signed an agreement with U.S allowing U.S forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, but the pact needs the approval of national assembly to crystallize it.
Parliamentary blocs are divided among approving and refusing the agreement, and that has made the approval quite difficult.
A statement from Iraqi presidency revealed that president Talabani on Monday evening received Prime Minister al Maliki and discussed on many important files.
“Talks went on the latest developments of the security pact” according to the statement, adding that the two leaders had agreed to intensify connections to pave the way for approving the agreement, considering it a guarantee to achieve the national sovereignty and protecting the country’s money in the world banks.

Kurds not move to overthrow Maliki

The meeting came at a time observers believe the honeymoon between the Kurdish list and the Shiite majority is sliding to its end due to the rhetoric of Maliki against the Kurdish constitutional achievements, and his aims to limit the power of the regions.
Speculations spread lately that a new movement, led by the Kurdish list, has taken action to overthrow Nouri al Maliki for his rhetoric and monopole of power.
But the Kurdish list denied such moves and stressed that Kurdish alliance was still stick to its coalitions with the Shiite major parties.

Friyad Rawaduzi, spokesman of the Kurdish list said in a statement that such speculations were inauthentic and there was not such a plan to draw confidence form Maliki.
“Quite reversely, al Maliki still has the support of Kurdish alliance”
Kurdish alliance list is the second major list in the national assembly, having 53 seats.
Rawanduzi stressed that the Kurdish alliance with the Shiite majority settled on many bases, and the Kurdish-Shiite coalitions were still stand despite having some difficulties.
Also Ali al Adib, member from the Shiite coalition expressed doubt over the truth of Kurdish intentions to remove Maliki from power and said such rumors were baseless.

LONDON (AFP) — Foreign Secretary David Miliband will Monday urge Arab leaders to clearly state their opposition to a nuclear-armed Iran and to engage more fully with the Middle East peace process.

During a visit to Abu Dhabi, he will say the prospect of Iran having nuclear weapons poses "the most immediate threat" to Middle East stability, and appeal to Tehran's neighbours to put pressure on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"A nuclear-armed Iran would be a decisive blow against those seeking to promote pragmatic and peaceful solutions to the region's problems," Miliband will say, according to a pre-released copy of his speech.

"The consequent nuclear arms race would be very dangerous. The acquisition of a nuclear weapon would strengthen Tehran's regional position, injecting its attempts to stoke up division and promote instability with much greater confidence."

Iran says its nuclear programme is intended only for civilian energy purposes only, but it has refused to comply with UN Security Council demands that it cease uranium enrichment activities.

European Union and United Nations sanctions on Iran are not intended to bring about regime change in Tehran, nor are they a prelude to military action, Miliband is to say, according to the advance text.

There is "much that the Arab countries could do to counter Tehran's claims that their quest for greater influence and their nuclear programme enjoys tacit support throughout the region," he is to say.

His speech suggests offering economic incentives to Iran to cooperate, as well as "clamping down on smuggling or tightening up export controls on goods which could support the development of nuclear weapons".

Miliband will also say Arab nations must become more engaged in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying: "For too long, the countries of the region have been kept at one if not several removes from the peace process".

A lack of progress is threatening this process, and if nothing changes, "I believe the prospect of peace could disappear forever."

"Why? Because the situation on the ground, that leaves too many people insecure, in poverty and despair, is rapidly undermining the political process," Miliband is to say, according to the advance text.

"And because while both sides are tiring of the conflict, they are also tiring, faster, of efforts to resolve it."

NCRI – Four prisoners were transferred on Sunday to solitary confinements in preparation for their execution at a later date in the notorious Gohardasht prison, 40 kilometer west of Tehran.

The prisoners were identified as Javad Tahori, Seed Mohsen Hosseini, Abbas Checkub and Ali Athari. The men were in their late twenties. 

The UN's Third Committee -- the world's authority on human rights -- condemned unanimously in a resolution the Iranian regime for its human rights record on Friday.  

The UN body expressed deep concern over the "ongoing systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran" such as "torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment such as flogging and amputations, public executions, stoning as a method of execution, execution of persons who were below 18 years of age at the time their offence was committed, arrests of and violent crackdowns on women exercising their right to assembly, increasing discrimination and other human rights violations against persons belonging to religious, ethnic, linguistic or other minorities, ongoing and serious restrictions of freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the increasing harassment, intimidation and persecution of human rights defenders." 

NCRI – The State Security Forces (SSF) -- mullahs' suppressive police --arrested on Friday night a group of people in a wedding party in the western city of Hamedan.

The SSF agents arrived in remote district outside the city where a wedding party was in progress and ordered it to stop. But the participants, mostly youths, resisted by saying that the party was in accordance with the strict codes imposed by the regime on such events.

Since there was no sign of any wrong doing, even by the SSF rules, the agents tried to come up with reasons to seal off the party, a young man present in the wedding said.

When they found noting, the security agents beat up some of guests and arrested a few others before leaving the place, another young man at the party said.

The detainees later were charged with assaulting law enforcement officers.
Attacking parties has been a longtime practice under the mullahs' rule in Iran.
 
In an incident of the kind 70 were arrested in the southern city of Shiraz on July 19.  Again, on April 15, the semi-official daily Jomhouri-Islami 67 youths were arrested in mixed-gender party in northern Tehran.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at his residence in Baghdad on Sunday met with Mr. Murat Ozcelik, in charge of Iraq’s file in the Turkish Foreign Ministry, and the delegation accompanying him.
During a meeting, the Turkish envoy conveyed to President Talabani the greetings of President of the Turkish Republic Abdullah Gul and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding that preparations are under way in Turkey to Turkish President’s expected visit to Iraq to meet with senior Iraqi officials, particularly President Talabani.

Iraqi President expressed satisfaction with the expected meeting with his Turkish counterpart, President Abdullah Gul, saying that “this visit will contribute to strengthening the historical ties of friendship and mutual trust between Iraq and Turkey”.

"The expansion and closer relations between the two friendly neighboring countries is important particularly in the development of the political process, reconstruction operations, economic recovery and serving the common interest of the peoples of the two countries.”

President Talabani reviewed the overall situation in Iraq, highlighting the debates taking place now between the political blocs on the Convention over the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

For his part, Mr. Ozcelik renewed his country's support for the political process in Iraq, stressing that "Turkey supports the Convention on the withdrawal of troops which will enhance Iraq's independence and national sovereignty."

kurdsat

The governor of the city of Sulaimani Dana Ahmad Majeed on Sunday met with a delegation of the Norwegian immigration office.
During the meeting, they discussed the Norwegian government's plan to voluntarily repatriate Kurds asylum seekers in Norway.

The governor told the Norwegian delegates that the Kurdish government rejects deportation of the Kurdish asylum seekers in Europe.

The Visiting delegation stressed that the Norwegian government is doing all it could to resolve the issues of the Kurdish asylum seekers in Norway.

London (KurdishMedia.com) 21 November 2008: The Revolutionary Court of Islamic Republic of Iran in Makoo condemned Fasih Yasamini and Rostam Arkia to death, reported Kurdistanmedia.com on Friday. The revolutionary court condemned Hossein Yasamini (father of Fasih Yasamini) to 2 years prison term and Fahim Rezazadeh to 15 years in jail. They were accused of affiliation to Kurdish opposition groups, undermining the national security of Iran.

 

The security forces opened fire on a group of people in the Oshnavieh region, which resulted in killing 5 people and wounding 3 others, according to Kurdistanmedia.com.

 

In Saghez, the security forces have extensively engaged in searching residential areas and personal properties such as mobile telephonins looking for illegal phone numbers, according to Kurdistanmedia.com.

 

Since January 2008, according to Kurdistanmedia.com, at least 250 Kurdish NGO and advocates have been detained by the Islamic Republic. Over 58 people have been killed and at least 36 have been injured by the security forces. During the last ten months at least 16 people have been killed or injured by landmines, that are being planted by the security forces of the regime.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Western nations claimed a success on Friday when a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning human rights violations in Iran passed through a key committee more easily than in the past.

Iran's bid to halt action on the resolution in the assembly's third committee -- meaning it would have been shelved -- was defeated by 81 votes to 71. A similar move on a similar resolution last year was stopped by just one vote.

The committee then passed the resolution by 70 votes to 51, although 60 countries abstained. The resolution goes to the full assembly next month, but diplomats said the outcome was expected to be the same and the key vote was in the committee.

The nonbinding resolution, sponsored mainly by Western countries and put forward by Canada, expresses "deep concern at serious human rights violations" in Iran.

It urges Iran to end alleged torture and cruel punishment of detainees, executions of juveniles, stonings to death, violent repression of women demonstrators, discrimination against ethnic minorities and members of the Baha'i faith, and restrictions on freedom of religion and belief.

"The importance of this resolution is to put the spotlight on Iran's very poor human rights record," British Ambassador John Sawers told reporters.

"This is a political motivated resolution, lacks the minimum legitimacy and is an obtrusive example of selectivity and double standard," Mohammad Mir Ali Mohammadi of the Iranian U.N. Mission said in a statement.

"It contains a number of falsified and unsubstantiated elements that contradict the realities of human rights situation in Iran."

Bani Dugal, a New York-based Baha'i spokeswoman, said the assembly action had "cleared the way for a thorough investigation of human rights abuses in Iran."

She said the entire seven-member Baha'i national leadership in Iran was being held in jail in Tehran.

(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Xavier Briand)

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian judiciary spokesman says a man convicted of spying for Israel has been hanged.

Judicial spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi says Ali Ashtari was hanged on Nov. 17 after being sentenced to death on June 30 by a revolutionary court in Tehran.

The spokesman said Saturday that Ashtari was found guilty of relaying sensitive information on military, defense and research centers to Israeli intelligence officers.

The 45-year-old electronics salesman worked in supplying military, security and defense centers across the Iran.

The Daily Telegraph

A millionaire Iranian businessman faces jail for "mutilating" a number of priceless rare books, some almost 500 years old, to improve his own collection.

By Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent

Knightsbridge-based Farhad Hakimzadeh, chairman of the Iranian Heritage Foundation, cut out pages from manuscripts at the British Library and Oxford University's Bodleian Library.

He removed the pages with a scalpel that he smuggled into the institutions' rare books reading rooms, hiding his actions from CCTV cameras installed to protect the books. Then he took the pages home and inserted them in his own inferior copies.

Police said Hakimzadeh, 60, the director of a company that publishes books on the Middle East and a published author, was likely to be jailed for his actions.

He pleaded guilty to 14 counts of theft in May, relating to pages found by Metropolitan Police officers at his large personal library. They were from 10 British Library books four Bodleian works.

The 10 British Library books which he admitted damaging were worth £71,000 alone. A single page that he cut out from one 1537 book - a world map by Hans Holbein the Younger, who painted Henry VIII - was worth £30,000.

But staff at the British Library, who checked 842 books borrowed by Hakimzadeh, said they believed the actual number of damaged works was much higher.

Dr Kristian Jensen, head of British collections at the British Library, said: "We believe that 150 items have been mutilated by him between 1997 and 2005. Mr Hakimzadeh used considerable skill and deceit to carry out these mutilations and in many instances they were initially difficult to detect."

Staff think many stolen pages will never be recovered.

Dr Jensen said he was "extremely angry" about what Hakimzadeh had done "for his own personal gain".

He said: "Obviously I'm angry because this is somebody extremely rich who has damaged something which belongs to everybody, completely selfishly destroyed something for his own personal benefit which this nation has invested in over generations."

Most of the books he damaged concerned West European experiences of travel and colonisation in the Middle East and dated from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

Hakimzadeh's "targeted mutilation" was "an attack on the nation's collective memory of its own past", Dr Jensen said.

He said he could "not really speculate on his motivation" but added: "Clearly he inserted these pages into copies of his own books. Our copies are in considerably better condition than his."

By doing so "he could end up - to the superficial eye - with a better copy".

But the products of Hakimzadeh's work were merely "pieces of historical falsification", he said.

The library proved some pages were stolen by matching bookworm holes in them with the original text.

Hakimzadeh's crimes came to light when a reader alerted British Library staff that a book had been damaged.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Cobb, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "It proved extremely difficult for the libraries to detect the absence of these pages as Hakimzadeh took care to select material that only an expert would be able to identify.

"He chose unique and rare editions and was therefore able to go undetected for some time. Some of the stolen pages were recovered at his home address but many more have been lost forever."

The businessman, of Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge, is due to be sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court in north London on November 21.

The British Library has launched separate civil proceedings against him.

An Oxford University spokesman said it was "pleased" that the criminal case was being brought to a close.

Iraqi prime minister on Thursday accused Kurdistan region leadership of violating constitution and strongly criticized Iraqi presidency council of turning blind eye on such violations.

Speaking at a press conference in Baghdad, Maliki expressed surprise over what he called the silence of presidency council on the “constitutional deviations” of Kurdistan region through opening diplomatic headquarters without referring to Baghdad, sending the region’s forces to fight against federal forces and supporting the tribal councils.

Maliki directed the accusations to the Kurdish leadership in response to the criticisms the Kurdish main parties about the supporting councils Maliki intends to form in the disputed territories.
Of the Kurdish oil deals with the foreign companies, Iraqi premier stressed that all such deals were also non constitutional.

About the constitution amendments he had sought before to maintain the authority of federal government on the account of the regions, Maliki repeated his call and said that all the Iraqi parties had already agreed on amending the constitution and the national assembly had formed a committee to take care of that issue, confirming the necessity of amending certain articles of the constitution.

Tensions rose between the Kurdish leadership and Maliki, after Prime Minister ordered forming special armed groups in the disputed territories under the pretext of imposing security and his call for empowering central government, demands Kurds consider as moving back to the ironing central government, on which Iraq had suffered a lot.
Accusations of Maliki did not pass without Kurdish reactions and counter attacks, as one of the Kurdish officials accused Maliki
of controlling power and violating constitution.

Falah Mustafa, Head of KRG foreign relations office told voices of Iraq news agency that Kurdistan region was committed to the Iraqi constitution.

“KRG is committed to the constitution and Kurds are a major part of the federal Iraq. We have a main part in the process of rebuilding Iraq, so we cannot have responsibilities without having authority” said Mustafa.

“We will keep committed to the constitution until the point where all the parties stay committed to that same constitution, including Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki” he added

The Kurdish official also said Malikis speeches would not serve Iraq and its peace process, calling him to avoid individually making decisions and refer to the council of ministers.
Mustafa described Malikis individualism as non constitutional that reminded Iraqis the dark days of dictatorship of Saddam regime.

Also Kurdistan region presidency chief of staff said Kurdistan presidency would announce its response as soon as Premier al Maliki answered the letter of Iraqi presidency he had been addressed about the supporting armed groups.

A prehistoric burial ground has been discovered near the Iranian city of Sanandaj, which dates back to 3,000 years. Sanandaj is located in the western Kurdistan Province of Iran.

According to a report by the FARS News Agency, the 3,000 year-old cemetery was found during a road construction project, that is located 500 meters from the previously found ancient mound of Zagros.

Kurdistans provincial cultural heritage office confirmed that so far five squat burials have been found in the cemetery along with spears, bronze bracelets and earthenware.

Excavations, which started four days ago at the site, will continue for another week, reports from Press TV indicate.

Irans Kurdistan Province contains 218 natural, cultural, historical and religious sites including numerous historical villages.

Ancient bridges, the Safavid Asef Divan monument and the Khosrowabad structure are among Kurdistans many tourist attractions.

Second week of student sit-in started in Sistan and Baluchestan University 

NCRI - Second week of student sit-in started on Monday on the campus of Sistan and Baluchestan University.

On November 15, Three thousand students gathered on university grounds protesting to police brutality on campus. A student was seriously injured by the security guards.

Participating students demanded the resignation of the university chancellor and his deputies connected with the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). The scheduled classes came to a complete halt because of the protests. Many faculty members also joined the protests.

Separately, a number of students went on hunger strike over the suspension of five of their classmates at Tehran's Khajeh Nasir Toosi University. The suspended students had earlier in the year protested to the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988.

Agents of MOIS assigned to the school with the Bassij paramilitary students attempted in vain to breakup the strike. The protesting students vowed to stay on as long as their friends' suspensions were lifted.

In the meantime, hundreds of female students on Tuesday protested to restrictions imposed on them by the university administrators in Free University in the southwestern city of Dezful.

In the western city of Hamedan, students demonstrated on the tenth anniversary of "chain murders" which took the lives of some Iranian intellectuals and writers under former mullahs' president Mohammad Khatamei on the campus of Boali Sina University.

In past weeks, students protested to mullahs' suppressive measures against students in Shiraz University in southern Iran.

With December 6, the Student Day, closing in, the clerical regime is in fear of student demonstrations and protests which is marked by thousands of students all over the country.

The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights organizations in particular student unions to condemn the suppressive measures imposed by the Iranian regime and support their protests.  

A funeral on Thursday was held at Erbil Airport for the remaining parts of 150 Kurdish martyrs who were slaughtered by the former dictator regime of Iraq and brought back to Kurdistan yesterday, after two months of unearthing them in a mass grave in the southern province of Najaf.
The remaining of the Kurdish victims of Saddam’s genocide had been discovered by the local authorities of Najaf province.
Kurdistan region president and his vice, KRG premier with his deputy, parliament speaker and his vice, as well as a number of Kurdish officials and diplomats of the foreign countries attended the funeral.
Also Najaf governor, who played important role in bringing back the corpses, attended the ceremony.
Wrapped by the Kurdish and the new Iraqi flags, the martyrs will be engraved here in Kurdistan in the coming few hours.
The remains of 150 Kurdish martyrs, found in a mass grave in Nejaf, were flown back to home to Kurdistan on Wednesday, after a moving ceremony that paid tribute to victims of repression under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
The mass grave was first discovered by a farmer in an area near the southern city of Najaf three months ago, containing the remains of men, women and children. All of them Kurds by documents on some of the bodies.
For the ceremony at Najaf airport, the coffins were set out in five rows wrapped in flags of Kurdistan, before being loaded into a cargo plane and flown to the capital Erbil.
As many as 182 thousand of Kurdish innocent persons were slaughtered and bombarded with chemical weapon, villages were razed, and many civilians were rounded up into camps in southern Iraq during Saddam's inhumane "Anfal" campaign in 1987-1988.
"The mass grave is one of 45 mass graves found in Najaf. Men, women and children were buried alive by the regime," said Asaad Abu Gilel, governor of Najaf Province, at the ceremonyTop of Form
"The remains of 150 people means 150 cases for which the previous regime should face justice," said Wijdan Michael, Iraq's Minister of Human rights.
Thousands of bodies were found in mass graves after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple the dictator, many of them were Shi'ites and Kurds killed during uprisings in the south in the 1990s. Michael apologized for having only one team in her ministry working on mass graves of the ousted regime.

Iran Human Rights: Two men were hanged in the prison of Zahedan, capital of the Iranian Baluchestan province, reported the semi-official newspaper Jomhury on Thursday November 13.

The men were identified as Nazir Ahmad Nasiri and Jamal Boulizadeh and were convicted of drug trafficking, according to the report.

The report didn’t mention the men’s age and when exactly the executions took place.

Iran has blocked access to more than five million Internet sites, whose content is mostly perceived as immoral and anti-social, a judiciary official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

"The enemies seek to assault our religious identity by exploiting the Internet," Abdolsamad Khoram Abadi, an advisor to Iran's prosecutor general, was quoted by Kargozaran newspaper as saying.

The Internet "inflicts social, political, economic and moral damage, which is worrying," he said, adding that "social vice caused by the Internet is more than that by the satellite network," Mehr news agency reported.

With about 21 million users, the Internet is widely popular in Iran, which information ministry officials say ranks among the top 20 user countries.

In recent years, Internet service providers have been told to block access to political, human rights and women's sites and weblogs expressing dissent or deemed to be pornographic and anti-Islamic.

The ban has also targeted such popular social networking sites as Facebook and YouTube, as well as news sites.

Iran's reformist press was hit by a massive crackdown in 2000, and many journalists turned to blogging after their publications were shut down.

The closures have continued under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, elected in 2005, and have targeted newspapers and other media, including web sites and news agencies, of all political persuasions.

Conservatives have also warned against "cyber imperialism" targeting developing countries.

In its latest edition, Sobh-e Sadegh, the publication of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said, "The Internet, satellite (channels) and text messages played an important role in colour revolutions in Serbia, Ukraine and Georgia."

The weekly said Internet search engines Yahoo and Google, BBC and CNN televisions and even international news agencies including "Reuters, Associated Press, UPI, AFP and DPA" operated as "tools of diplomacy conducted through media."

The magazine accused the European Union of seeking to "develop anti-Iranian cyber space" by supporting dissident bloggers.

Despite a strict ban on satellite television, dishes dot many Iranian rooftops and people have access to dozens of Persian-language channels, including the Voice of America, broadcasting a daily dose of politics and entertainment.

Islamic republic officials have been concerned about BBC Persian-language television which is yet to be launched and warned against interviewing or cooperating with such media.

The head of Iran's state-run television recently said that 30 percent of Iranians watch satellite channels, but observers say the figures are likely to be higher.

AFP

The remains of 150 Kurdish martyrs, found in a mass grave in Nejaf, were flown back to home to Kurdistan on Wednesday, after a moving ceremony that paid tribute to victims of repression under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
The mass grave was first discovered by a farmer in an area near the southern city of Najaf three months ago, containing the remains of men, women and children. All of them Kurds by documents on some of the bodies.
For the ceremony at Najaf airport, the coffins were set out in five rows wrapped in flags of Kurdistan, before being loaded into a cargo plane and flown to the capital Erbil.
As many as 182 thousand of Kurdish innocent persons were slaughtered and bombarded with chemical weapon, villages were razed, and many civilians were rounded up into camps in southern Iraq during Saddam's inhumane "Anfal" campaign in 1987-1988.
"The mass grave is one of 45 mass graves found in Najaf. Men, women and children were buried alive by the regime," said Asaad Abu Gilel, governor of Najaf Province, at the ceremony
"The remains of 150 people means 150 cases for which the previous regime should face justice," said Wijdan Michael, Iraq's Minister of Human rights.
Thousands of bodies were found in mass graves after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple the dictator, many of them were Shi'ites and Kurds killed during uprisings in the south in the 1990s. Michael apologized for having only one team in her ministry working on mass graves of the ousted regime.

Four members of the PJAK terrorist group have been arrested and several others have been killed in clashes with Iranian forces in the west of the country.

The militants were arrested in the western province of Kurdistan late on Sunday, an official said on Tuesday, adding that a cache of arms was confiscated from them.

Kermanshah province's deputy governor general for political and security affairs, Hojjatollah Damyad, told reporters on Tuesday that a number of PJAK militants, all Turkish nationals, were killed in the west of the country.

The Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) is an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and is responsible for carrying out various bombings in western Iran and southern Turkey.

Iranian security forces have fought Kurdish militants on the country's western borders with Iraq and Turkey for years.

According to a November 2006 article published by The New Yorker, the US military and Israel provide PJAK with equipment, training, and intelligence as part of their ongoing efforts to destabilize the Iranian government.

Press TV

The Iranian Majlis (parliament) on Tuesday endorsed, with a simple majority, the appointment of Sadeq Mahsouli as the new interior minister.
Some 138 deputies said "yes" while 112 others said "no" to the appointment, with 20 abstentions.
Addressing the parliament, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke of Mahsouli as a person who would further develop the management of the country's domestic affairs and help realize major goals.
The president also said that Mahsouli is a committed manager and a hardworking person who would fulfill his plans and programs at the ministry.
Earlier in November, former Iranian interior Minister Ali Kordan was given the axe after confessing to a forged law degree from the University of Oxford.

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has raised concerns about nearly 3,500 opposition Iranians living in exile in Iraq and regarded as terrorists by the Baghdad government, which wants to expel them.

The Iranians, who include members of the exiled opposition People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran, have been housed at Camp Ashraf, 70 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, for two decades.

U.S. forces have protected the exiles since 2003, but the Iraqi government views them as members of a terrorist group and wants them out of Iraq, though it has said it would not forcibly return them to Iran.

Ban has cited a letter circulated last week by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Iraqi government outlining concerns about the Iranians at Camp Ashraf.

The letter "urged the government of Iraq to protect Ashraf residents from forcible deportation, expulsion or repatriation ... and to refrain from any action that would endanger their life or security," Ban said.

In September a group called the International Committee of Jurists in Defense of Ashraf said that if the U.S. military handed control of the camp to Iraq, the Iranians would be in danger of expulsion to Iran by pro-Shi'ite elements in the Iraqi government

Iraq and the United States signed an accord on Monday requiring Washington to withdraw its forces by the end of 2011.

A group of Iranian exiles has demonstrated for weeks outside the United Nations building in New York to highlight the plight of the people at Camp Ashraf.

A spokesman for the protesters, Nasser Rashid, said the Camp Ashraf exiles would fear for their lives under the Iraqis.

"Our concerns are heightened because of the ... unstable security circumstances in Iraq and Tehran's considerable infiltration within Iraqi security forces," he said.

Amnesty International has urged Iraq and the United States to treat members of the Iranian rebel group, also known as the Mujahideen e-Khalq, as "protected persons" under the Fourth Geneva Convention, and not to deport them to Iran.

The 1949 pact bans extradition or forced repatriation of people who could face torture or persecution.

The People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran began as a leftist-Islamist opposition to the Shah of Iran but fell out with Shi'ite clerics who took power after the 1979 revolution.

Tehran has long demanded the expulsion of the rebel group, which is officially listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.

(Editing by Chris Wilson)

Iran Human Rights: Two men were hanged in the prison of Rasht (capital of Gilan province, north of Iran) early Thursday morning (Nov. 13), reported the Iranian daily Etemaad.

The men who were identified as "Afrasiab" and "Parviz" were convicted of murdering a man in March 2005, said the report.

According to the report, Afrasiab and Parviz were hanged in the "Lakan" prison of Rasht, early Thursday morning.

NCRI – Brig. Gen. Azizollah Rajabzadeh, Mullahs' suppressive police chief in greater Tehran announced the end of a six day long "drills" in the capital, reported the state-run news agency ISNA on Saturday.

"With the new plan the police has in mind for Tehran, there will be no room for criminals to commit a crime," Rajabzadeh said.

Police will turn Tehran into an island of security and serenity soon, he added.

Many local residents were astonished by the tactics the State Security Forces (SSF) -- mullahs' suppressive police -- had employed throughout the games. Using at times heavy weapons not customary even by the Iran regime standards; mortars, military vehicles just to name a few.
Rajabzadeh called the new move "public security and serenity."  He then went on to say,"30,000 SSF agents with 4,000 military vehicles and 50 helicopters will guarantee Tehran's security during the maneuvers."
 
On November 1, Brig. Gen. Abdullah Iraqi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops (IRGC) Prophet Mohammad's garrison in charge of Tehran's protection announced a new security plan for the capital, reported the state-run news agency Fars.
 
"Units from Bassij [paramilitary Bassij force] joining the regular SSF units began patrolling the streets of capitals," Iraqi said.
 
"We tested these units for their performance on duty with regular SSF units and the results were overwhelming. Thus, since October 28, the mix Bassij and SSF units went fully operational throughout Tehran. The units will replace the fixed check points operating in the capital," Iraqi added.
 
He said that the reasons for the changes were a better security respond to the citizens' growing need for higher security in Tehran's districts.

However, the real reason behind the IRGC and SSF new plans are adopting more suppressive measures against rising popular protests in Tehran and elsewhere in the country.

London (KurdishMedia.com) 14 November 2008: The security forces of Islamic Republic of Iran shot a 4-year-old Kurdish boy in Dalaho, Sare Pole Zahab region, Iranian Kurdistan. The boy pronounced dead immediately after he was shot, reported Kurdistan media on Friday.

 

The boy was shot, according to the source, when the military forces of Islamic Republic exercised a military manoeuvre in Sare Pole Zahab region of Iranian Kurdistan. During the manoeuvre the security forces shoot the boy.

 

No further information was available.

HAKKARI, Turkey, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Six 13- and 14-year-olds should face 23-year prison sentences for allegedly taking part in violent demonstrations in Turkey, a prosecutor says.

 

A Diyarbakır chief public prosecutor's office indictment recommends that the teenagers be punished severely for allegedly being involved in the illegal protests organized by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, Today's Zaman said Friday.

Some protesters taking part in the demonstration in the Turkish city of Hakkari on Nov. 1 hurled Molotov cocktails and stones at police, authorities said.

The protests were coordinated around the arrival of Prime Minister Recap Erdogan in the southeastern city. The protesters were dispersed by tear gas and warning shots from police.

See online : Saeed sentenced to death for an offence he committed when he was 16

By Catherine Bosley

LONDON (Reuters) - Whether photographing prostitutes in a Tehran brothel or Saddam Hussein's chemical attack against Kurds, Pulitzer Prize-winner Kaveh Golestan wanted to shock viewers "like a slap in the face."

Golestan's photographs, which have graced the covers of Time magazine and The Economist, are the subject of the show "Recording the Truth in Iran" at the London School of Economics.

Golestan died in 2003 after stepping on a landmine while covering the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

"His main point was people," Golestan's widow Hengameh told Reuters as she walked along a row of large black and white photographs.

"Nobody can ignore the truth," she said, adding that Golestan wrote that he intended his work to slap the viewer in the face.

DIE FOR THEIR BELIEFS

Golestan is best known for his photographs of the riots that brought down Iran's Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1979 and ushered in a government based on Islamic law, for which he was awarded a Pulitzer.

Among the pictures on display at the LSE is one of a crowd of young men in suits throwing stones at police. In another, a student with a carnation in his hand scratches his head as he stares at a blood-stained pavement.

Iranians forced the U.S.-backed Shah, whom they accused of neglecting the poor, from power and replaced him with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had spent some 15 years in exile.

When in February 1979 Khomeini returned to Tehran, Golestan was on hand to photograph him getting out of the airplane.

During Iran's bloody eight-year conflict with Iraq, Golestan headed for the frontline, covering Iraq's siege of the southern Iranian city of Abadan.

"I was amazed by how youngsters were willing to die for their beliefs," Golestan said in a quote displayed alongside his pictures at the LSE.

Because Iran was outmatched by Iraq's military, Khomeini recruited thousands of teenaged boys imbued with religious fervour and sent them into battle.

"I felt I had to show this though my photos," Golestan said. "I was in search of the deep human feelings that are buried within each person."

One of Golestan's photographs on display at the LSE exhibition shows a wounded young soldier lying on the ground, his face a mask of agony and a picture of Khomeini peering out from his shirt pocket.

EXPOSING INJUSTICE

Hengameh, who lives in London, says that among her favourites are her husband's pictures of prostitutes, which he took before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"With prostitutes you usually think they're dirty women. But he totally changed my mind," she says, pointing to a shot of a heavy-set woman clutching a cat. "These people are poor. You can see they're not horrible women."

Hengameh says her husband, like many Iranians, initially supported Khomeini.

"The revolution wasn't just mullahs. It was everybody in Iran. He wasn't against the revolution. He was pro-people," she said, adding that Golestan ran into trouble with the shah's regime.

Golestan's first photo exhibition, which featured pictures of children in mental hospitals, was closed down by the shah's secret police.

"He was always exposing some injustice in Iran," she said.

"Recording the Truth in Iran" runs from November 10 to December 19.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

Iran Focus

Iran’s State Security Forces (SSF) are carrying out a nationwide crackdown primarily targeting youths and women.

The government-ordered clampdown is taking place under the guise of combating "trouble-makers" and "mal-veilers".

Click below to watch a film showing the police brutality in Iran.

The footage, which was captured in Khorramabad, western Iran, first aired on the Iranian opposition satellite station Simaye Azadi on Tuesday. Simaye Azadi said it obtained the video from supporters of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (MeK). 

Click here to watch the film.

NCRI – The mullahs' regime announced the start of a new "security drills" in Tehran for a six day period beginning on Monday.

Simultaneous with the games, the State Security Forces (SSF) – mullahs' suppressive police – has tightened the security by having Special Patrols on Tehran traffic jammed streets.

According to reliable reports from the Resistance sources in Iran, most street corners are manned with 10 SSF agents. In addition, there are Special Patrol Vehicles roaming around the city districts making their presence visible to local residents. They intentionally turn on their sirens and beacon lights to terrorize the public.  

Rajabzadeh called the new move "public security and serenity."  He then went on to say,"30,000 SSF agents with 4,000 military vehicles and 50 helicopters will guarantee Tehran's security during the maneuvers."
 
On November 1, Brig. Gen. Abdullah Iraqi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops (IRGC) Prophet Mohammad's garrison in charge of Tehran's protection announced a new security plan for the capital, reported the state-run news agency Fars.
 
"Units from Bassij [paramilitary Bassij force] joining the regular State Security Forces (SSF) – mullahs' suppressive police-- began patrolling the streets of capitals," Iraqi said.

"We tested these units for their performance on duty with regular SSF units and the results were overwhelming. Thus, since October 28, the mix Bassij and SSF units went fully operational throughout Tehran. The units will replace the fixed check points operating in the capital," Iraqi added.
He said that the reasons for the changes were a better security respond to the citizens' growing need for higher security in Tehran's districts.

However, the real reason behind the IRGC and SSF new plans are adopting more suppressive measures against rising popular protests in Tehran and elsewhere in the country.

NCRI - Morteza Tamadon, Tehran's governor introduced on Tuesday a new security apparatus called "Council for Providing Security," reported the state-run Shahabnews.  "The new body is consisted of thirteen other security council working in Tehran Governorate to ensure durable security for citizens," Tamadon said.

Tehran's officials' talk of more security comes at the time when another body named "Province Security" is already operating in the capital and 29 other provinces, Shahabnews added.

Tamadon did not go into the details of what specifically this new "council" will do. However, he did say that we should expect the security forces to perform their best. Rather, security in cultural and economic aspects is very important too.

"Peace and serenity are two very important components in a healthy society. We need a stress free environment to do our job," the governor said.

The timing for the new announcement is of considerable importance since it comes simultaneous with the six day "drills" already in progress by the State Security Forces (SSF) – mullahs' suppressive police – in Tehran.       

Ankara, 13 Nov. (AKI) - Turkey has reached agreement with the Kurdish regional administration in northern Iraq on a strategic plan to counter violent separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). According to Turkish media reports citing the Firat news agency, the administration in northern Iraq led by Massoud Barzani will cut links between Europe and the PKK, which uses bases in northern Iraq as a springboard to launch cross-border attacks on neighbouring Turkey.

Turkey also wants Barzani to force PKK militants to leave northern Iraqi territory, the agreement says.

The agreement also includes the deployment of special Turkish forces to strategic locations in northern Iraq, in addition to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, in a bid to cut logistic, political and military support to the PKK.

In return Turkey will recognise the Barzani administration, Firat reported. Turkey will also open an embassy in Erbil and invite Barzani to the Turkish capital of Ankara, it added.

Turkish officials claim 2,000 PKK terrorists are hiding in the mountains of northern Iraq, where they enjoy free dom of movement.

Turkey, backed by intelligence from the United States, has stepped up its campaign to crackdown on the PKK both inside Turkey and in northern Iraq, since the organisation increased its attacks on Turkish soldiers, as well as civilians.

The PKK is classified as a terrorist organisation by the European Union, the US and several other countries.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar says his country has successfully test-fired a new generation of surface-to-surface solid-fuel missile.

Najjar said Wednesday on state television that the high-speed missile was manufactured at an aerospace organization affiliated with the Defense Ministry.

He did not say when the missile was tested.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has test-fired a new generation of surface-to-surface missiles, state television reported on Wednesday.

Iran's armed forces have staged frequent maneuvers in recent months, coinciding with speculation of possible U.S. or Israeli strikes against the Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear ambitions.

The reports came a day after Iranian media said the elite Revolutionary Guards had tested a new missile, named Samen, near the Iraqi border.

"Iran successfully test-fires new generation of ground-to- ground missiles," state television said in a scrolling headline.

Another Iranian channel, the English-language Press TV, said the missile, named Sejil, was of a type that used combined solid fuel and described it as a "deterrent."

"Launch aimed at clarifying Iran's conventional missile aims," Press TV said in a scrolling headline.

The Press TV newscaster said the missile had two stages and showed the Islamic state's capability to "defend its soil."

The United States and its Western allies suspect Iran is seeking to build atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies.

Iran has said it would respond to any attack on its territory by targeting U.S. interests and Washington's ally Israel, as well as closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for world oil supplies.

(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian and Edmund Blair; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Louise Ireland)

NCRI – Nearly 3,000 students gathered on campus of Sistan and Baluchistan University in the southeastern city of Zahedan, on Tuesday. Protesting students chanted anti-government slogans such as: "The incompetent university chancellor must resign," "The incompetent chancellor must be fired."

Angry demonstrators protested to an earlier attack by the school security guards on students which left two casualties among their classmates.

The striking students gathered outside Examinations Hall on the university grounds and called for an end to student harassments by the university officials.

According to last reports, a graduate student was stabbed by the mullahs' agents and is in critical condition at a nearby hospital.

Sistan and Baluchistan province is the most deprived part of Iran. Mullahs' regime pays no attention to the problems of the local residents and utilizes extreme measures in suppressing popular protests in the region.

Religious beliefs play an important role in Sistan and Baluchistan region. The majority of the people are Sunnis and that alone is considered a big crime in the eyes of the ruling clerics in Iran.

In September, an entire theology school belonging to Sunni denomination was completely leveled by the State Security Forces (SSF) – mullahs' suppressive police in Sistan and Baluchestan.
 
The mullahs' inhuman regime leveled Abu Hanifa Sunni School of Theology on August 27, using bulldozers and other heavy building machinery in Azimabad, a suburb of the city of Zabol.
The school belonged to Sunni Muslims who are brutally suppressed by the Iranian regime since the early days of the clerical rule.
 
The SSF demolition units arrived at the school in the early morning hours and leveled all the buildings including a few mobile homes used by the summer students as sleeping quarters.
The SSF units also brought down a few donated houses by local residents providing much needed class rooms.
 
Despite the mullahs hypocritical claim that they respect the Sunni followers of Islam when it comes.

Iran Human Rights: According to the reports published by Iran Human Rights at least 13 people were executed in the months of September (1) and October (12) 2008. There was one minor offender among those executed in October.

The numbers reported here are solely based on the official reports by the Iranian media. However there is at least one unofficial report about a public hanging in the Caspian province of Gilan in October.

Suspicious death of a political prisoner on October 29 raised concerns about safety of the political prisoners in Iran

Number of executions were lower than normal probably due to the muslim month of Ramedan were no executions are normally reported.

Executions:

13 people were executed in the following cities: Isfahan (2), Mashad (1), Zahedan (6), Doroud in Lorestan province (1), Hamedan (2) and Arak (1) One unofficail report about public hanging in the Caspian province of Gilan is not included in this report.

Minors:

One minor offender was hanged on October 29. Gholamreza H. (19) was hanged in Isfahan convicted of a murder he allegedly committed when he was 17 years old. He was an Afghan citizen.

Suspicious death of a political prisoner:

The news of the suspicious and unexpected death of the political prisoner Abdolreza Rajabi in Gohardasht prison of Karaj (west of Tehran) has raised new concern about situation of the political prisoners in Iran. We have received reports regarding increased pressure on the political prisoners in different Iranian prisons

Flogging:

According to the official media 50 people were flogged in the prison of Tabriz (north-western Iran) charged for eating or drinking in public in the month of Ramedan.

Three boys were flogged 90 times in Tehran on September 3. At least one of them was a minor (17 years old) convicted of an offence allegedly committed when he was 15 years old.

Nine men were flogged 74 lashes each, in public in the city of Qom on October 18.

NCRI – Brig. Gen. Azizollah Rajabzadeh, Chief the State Security Forces in greater Tehran – mullahs' suppressive police -- announced the start of a six day "maneuvers" by the force under his command in the capital, reported the state-run Mehr on Saturday.

Rajabzadeh called the new move "public security and serenity."  He then went on to say,"30,000 SSF agents with 4,000 military vehicles and 50 helicopters will guarantee Tehran's security during the maneuvers."

On November 1, Brig. Gen. Abdullah Iraqi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops (IRGC) Prophet Mohammad's garrison in charge of Tehran's protection announced a new security plan for the capital, reported the state-run news agency Fars.

"Units from Bassij [paramilitary Bassij force] joining the regular State Security Forces (SSF) – mullahs' suppressive police-- began patrolling the streets of capitals," Iraqi said.

"We tested these units for their performance on duty with regular SSF units and the results were overwhelming. Thus, since October 28, the mix Bassij and SSF units went fully operational throughout Tehran. The units will replace the fixed check points operating in the capital," Iraqi added.
He said that the reasons for the changes were a better security respond to the citizens' growing need for higher security in Tehran's districts.

However, the real reason behind the IRGC and SSF new plans are adopting more suppressive measures against rising popular protests in Tehran and elsewhere in the country.

NCRI – A mix party of 20 men and women was raided by the mullahs' State Security Forces – mullahs' suppressive police – for second consecutive month in the holy city of Mashhad, the state-run daily Qods reported on Monday.

In the early evening hours of Sunday the SSF agents acted on a lead and attacked a party in a garden in Shandiz -- a famous summer resort of Mashhad, Qods added. Twelve men and eight women were arrested and taken away by the police. 

All were turned over to the branch 802 of the mullahs' local judiciary where they were reined by an on duty judge and sent to jail.

On October 8, the SSF arrested 44 people in another party in Mashhad but in a different area of the city.

Attacking parties has been a longtime practice under the mullahs' rule in Iran.
In an incident of the kind 70 were arrested in the southern city of Shiraz on July 19.  Again, on April 15, the semi-official daily Jomhouri-Islami 67 youths were arrested in mixed-gender party in northern Tehran.

In that incident SSF agents were dispatched to the house where the party was already in progress in Moqadas-Ardibily Street, according to eyewitness accounts.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian newspapers are reporting that 60 economists criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his economic policies.

In a letter published Sunday, the economists complain that the government's "tension-making interaction with outside world" has deprived Iran from foreign investments.

The economists also criticize Ahmadinejad for Iran's 30 percent inflation rate. The economists are independent, with most working at universities.

The letter is the third from economists to Ahmadinejad in recent years. The president never formally answered the others, published in 2006 and 2007.

Some say Ahmadinejad's efforts to inject liquidity into the economy to create jobs led to higher inflation.

By MATTHEW LEE

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) — Senior U.S. and European officials met with several Arab leaders Sunday who are worried about the international community negotiating a deal with Iran that would give the Islamic Republic more power in the Middle East, said a U.S. official and a meeting participant.

The meeting comes less than a week after the victory of President-elect Obama, who has said he is more open to holding talks with Iran on the country's controversial nuclear program.

The sentiment expressed in the meeting by the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates indicates they are concerned about what Obama would be willing to offer Iran to strike a deal.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who attended the meeting along with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, assured the Arab foreign ministers that Washington would not offer Iran greater influence in exchange for nuclear concessions, said a meeting participant.

"The United States' view is that Iran should not gain a privileged role in the region," the meeting participant quoted Rice as saying during the discussions, which were held on the sidelines of a meeting on Israeli-Palestinian peace in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheik.

The Arab foreign ministers were most concerned about Iranian influence in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and other areas of the Gulf, said the meeting participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity along with the U.S. official because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Rice's assurances may mean little to Arab officials since she is not able to speak for the incoming administration. However, while Obama has signaled a greater willingness to talk to the Iranians, he has also said it is unacceptable for Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

The U.S. and many of its allies have accused Iran of using its nuclear program as a cover for weapons development. Iran denies the charge, saying it is focused on building reactors to generate electricity.

Many Arab countries in the Middle East, which are predominantly Sunni Muslim, have also expressed concern about Shiite Iran's intentions in the region.

NCRI – The mullahs' judiciary ordered two men's hands cut off in return for their car theft changes, reported the state-run daily Etemaad on Sunday.

Two prisoners identified as Sohail.M and Nader.KH were charged with nine counts of car thefts. 

According to the mullahs' penal code numbers 197, 198, 199, 200, 201 and 667 four fingers of their right hands will be chopped off. However, it is clear in the codes that the palm of victim's hand should remain intact.

Since the victims have not filed for appeal, it is likely that the sentences will be carried out any time soon.

This is not the first time that the mullahs’ criminal judiciary has issued such savage and inhuman verdicts. In the past, many victims have been condemned to eye gouging, stoning to death and limb amputation.

London (KurdishMedia.com) 10 October 2008: Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, a deputy leader of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has resigned from his post, allegedly due to health problems. This resignation follows a number of public disagreements between Firat, a Kurd, and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan on the Kurdish issue. Following an increase in Turkish-Kurdish tensions, the AKP seems to be taking a hard line on the Kurdish issue.

The AKP's hard line stance is likely to harm the party's chances in the upcoming elections in March. The party is unlikely to win support from secular Turkish voters who increasingly view the party's reign as ineffectual, and the Kurdish masses, many of whom voted for the Islamist party as a protest vote, will be more hesitant to support AKP.

Source: Right Side News and ncri

The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom

British MPs urge UN ban on Iran after torture to death of political prisoner British MPs and Peers on Thursday strongly condemned the death under torture of a political prisoner belonging to the main democratic Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

At a conference in Parliament the lawmakers urged the British government to work for imposing comprehensive sanctions on Iran over its flagrant human rights abuses. The MPs focused on the case of Mr. Abdolreza Rajabi, a PMOI member who had spent seven years in Iran's notorious prisons until he was finally tortured to death on October 30.

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Chairman of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom described human rights violations in Iran as "appalling", and said, "The Iranian regime has been censured by the United Nations at least 54 times for its consistent, persistent and worsening human rights abuse".

"The regime claims to speak and act on behalf of Islam", Lord Corbett told the meeting. "In fact, it defiles that religion".

Former UK Solicitor General, Rt. Hon. Lord Archer of Sandwell QC, said, "Abdolreza Rajabi was tortured to death at the hands of those whose duty was to protect the law. His death was ordered by the mullahs".

"The mullahs don't debate with those who disagree with them; they silence them. They don't justify their position, because they cannot justify them", Lord Archer said. "The torture committed by the mullahs is a crime against humanity".

Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen said that by inflicting torture, the mullahs were carrying out "heinous crimes against the individual as well as the individual's family and supporters"

Welsh MP Mark Williams said, "I am not a lawyer, but I do have a gut reaction to the issue of human rights. Over 120,000 people have been executed in Iran for supporting the PMOI".

"As we speak, there are some 500 prisoners on death row in a jail in Mashhad (north-east Iran)", Mr. Williams said.

Mr. Rajabi's two sons and daughter addressed the meeting by live satellite phone from Camp Ashraf, the main base of the PMOI in Iraq's Diyala Province.

His daughter, Faezeh Rajabi, said, "For seven years, my father resisted the Iranian regime in its prisons. During those years, I was always waiting for him to come back. I always thought to myself that when I see him again, I would hug him very tightly and tell him everything about myself, until last week, when I was informed about his death.

"When we used to go visit my father in prison, I was very little. But I remember that every time, he was smiling and was very lively. Although I later found out that he had been horrendously tortured at that time, he never showed it and would not let us realise that he had so much pain.

"When I got older, my father would tell us in every visit, 'Go to Ashraf - that is where you belong.' He would say that Ashraf is the hope of the Iranian people. At that time, I didn't understand what kind of a place Ashraf is. All I wanted was to be near him and hug him and kiss him in the visits we had once in a while, and tell him how much I missed him.

"When I came to Ashraf for a visit and then decided to stay here, I finally understood what he had said all along about Ashraf, and why he said it is the hope of our people", Ms Rajabi said.

Lord Clarke of Hampstead said, "I reaffirm my resolution to raise my voice and support the PMOI at every opportunity".

The parliamentarians also denounced provisional plans by the U.S. to hand over security of the PMOI's base, Camp Ashraf, to Iraqi forces. Iran is pushing the Iraqi authorities to take over protection of Ashraf from U.S. forces. The mullahs know that if U.S. forces stand aside, they could step up attacks on the PMOI, the MPs said.

Rt. Hon. Lord Slynn of Hadley, a former Judge at the European Court of Justice and UK law lord, said, "The people in Ashraf are wonderful people who clearly need protection".

"Nobody doubts that if the people in Ashraf were contrary to international law sent back to Iran, or to an authority that might seek to do so, there would be a grave risk of them being tortured to death".

"It is essential that the people of Ashraf should continue under international law to be protected by U.S. forces. ... The Iraqi government, under pressure from Tehran, would not be able to protect the residents of Ashraf.

Baroness Turner of Camden said, "PMOI members in Ashraf must continue to be protected by international law".

"Anyone who is complicit in returning the residents of Ashraf to the authorities in Iran would be complicit in their torture", Lord Archer said.

"The government wants to appease the Iranian regime, but appeasement will never get us anywhere with this regime", Baroness Gibson said.

The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom

Change for Equality: Leading women and human rights organizations have issued a statement objecting to the recent increase in pressures on women’s rights activists involved in the One Million Signature Campaign. The letter issued by: Human Rights First; International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific; Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights; International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH); Equality Now; Center for Global Women’s Leadership; Association for Women’s Rights in Development; Human Rights Watch; The Asia Pacific Forum on Women and Development (APWLD); International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran; Front Line – The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders; Foundation for Women, Law and Rural Development (FORWARD); World Organization Against Torture (OMCT); and Women Living Under Muslim Laws – International Solidarity Network appears below. Read the original.

We, the undersigned international women’s and human rights organizations, submit this letter to express our deep concern regarding the increasing harassment of women human rights defenders in Iran. Over the past three years, the Iranian regime has engaged in a systematic campaign of repression against women’s rights activists. Since their heavyhanded break-up of a peaceful women’s rights demonstration on June 12, 2006, the authorities in Iran have arrested, detained, interrogated, and prosecuted dozens of Iranian women human rights defenders active on numerous fronts to promote human rights and gender equality in Iran.

Among those targeted have been members of the One Million Signatures Campaign, a grass-roots movement launched over two years ago to promote gender equality in Iranian laws. The Campaign aims to raise awareness of Iranian laws that sanction discrimination against women by collecting one million signatures in support of their repeal.

Law enforcement bodies have responded by prosecuting at least 45 members of the Campaign. Campaign members have been sentenced for writing, for meeting in homes (which they are forced to do as public spaces are not made available to them), and for collecting signatures. The government continues to detain, intimidate, and prohibit the women’s rights activists from traveling.

Recent developments include:

• The sentencing of Campaign member Zeinab Peyghambarzadeh;

• The October 15, 2008 arrest and continued detention of student and Campaign member Esha Momeni;

• The prevention of Campaign member Sussan Tahmasebi from traveling; and

• The search of Campaign member Parastoo Alahyaari’s home and the seizure of her laptop computer and other Campaign-related materials.

On November 2, 2008, an appeals court sentenced Zeinab Peyghambarzadeh to a one-year prison term. The sentence, suspended for a period of 3 years, will require Peyghambarzadeh to report to the Intelligence Ministry every 4 months during this time. This sentence is in connection with her arrest on March 4 2007 during a peaceful protest in support of women’s rights activists on trial, during which 32 other women’s rights activists were also arrested. Peyghambarzadeh is also the first Campaign member to have been arrested while collecting signatures.

On October 15, 2008, two individuals who identified themselves as traffic police pulled Esha Momeni over on the pretext of illegally passing another vehicle and arrested her. Momeni, a dual American-Iranian citizen, is a graduate student at California State University, Northridge who is conducting research for her Master’s thesis on the Iranian women’s movement. She is detained in Section 209 of Evin Prison. Security officials also searched Momeni’s home and seized her computer and her films of interviews with members of the One Million Signatures Campaign as part of her thesis project.

On October 26, 2008, security officials at Imam Khomeini Airport confiscated Sussan Tahmasebi’s passport and prevented her from traveling. The same day, Tahmasebi’s home was searched by five agents who seized Tahmasebi’s laptop computer, books, and other materials. This is the fourth time Tahmasebi has been prevented from traveling; despite repeated inquiries, she has yet to be given a reason for the travel ban. Three days later, Tahmasebi was interrogated for five hours at the security offices of the Revolutionary Court.

On October 18, 2008, two officers from the Gisha Police Station searched the home of Parastoo Alahyaari while she was at work. The officers took her laptop, CDs, books, picture albums, and other Campaign materials, leaving a summons with Alahyaari’s mother. Later, security officials escorted Alahyaari to the Revolutionary Court, where she was interrogated by an investigative judge assigned to her case. The previous day Alahyaari and other Campaign members met in Laleh Park in Tehran, but had to disperse when police officers ordered them to do so.

We strongly object to the continued harassment of these women’s rights activists, who are being targeted for non-violent activity to promote women’s rights.

We urge the Iranian government to respect the right of these activists to freedom of association and assembly. These rights are enshrined in and protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Iran is a state party of the ICCPR and therefore legally bound to implement it. We note, in particular, that the actions of the Iranian authorities directly contravene several provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular: Article 1 (recognizing everyone’s right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights); Article 5 (recognizing the right of defenders to meet and assemble peacefully, to join and form non-governmental organizations, associations or groups, and communicate with non-governmental or intergovernmental organizations); and Article 9 (granting defenders unhindered access to and communication with international bodies on matters of human rights). On October 24, 2008, Iran publicly proclaimed its support for the protection of human rights defenders by actively participating in the interactive dialogue at the UN General Assembly with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. Yet on this tenth anniversary of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the actions of the Iranian government violate the letter and spirit of the declaration. Civil society organizations must be allowed to associate freely and to travel and participate in international conferences, if the Iranian government is to abide by its commitment to the international human rights instruments to which it is party. Accordingly, we call upon the Iranian government to:

• overturn the conviction of Zeinab Peyghambarzadeh;

• release Esha Momeni and return her property;

• return Sussan Tahmasebi’s passport and other confiscated possessions to her and lift the ban that has repeatedly prevented her from traveling; and

• return the property of Parastoo Alahyaari to her and refrain from bringing charges against her.

• End the harassment and prosecution of members of all women’s rights activists and defenders in Iran, including members of the One Million Signatures Campaign.

Thank you for your attention to these urgent matters.

Matthew Easton

Director – Human Rights Defenders Program

Human Rights First

Sunila Abeysekera

Executive Director

International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific

Nehad Abul Komsan

Executive Director

Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights

Souheyr Belhassen

President

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

Taina Bien-Aimé

Executive Director

Equality Now

Charlotte Bunch

Executive Director

Center for Global Women’s Leadership

Cindy Clark

Acting Interim Director

Association for Women’s Rights in Development

Farida Deif

Women’s Rights Division

Human Rights Watch

Lynnsay Francis

Regional Coordinator

The Asia Pacific Forum on Women and Development (APWLD)

Hadi Ghaemi

Coordinator

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Mary Lawlor

Director

Front Line – The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Virada Somswasdi

President

Foundation for Women, Law and Rural Development (FORWARD)

Eric Sottas

Secretary General

World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)

Women Living Under Muslim Laws – International Solidarity Network

Iranian Political Prisoners Association

Second Branch of the revolutionary courts of Sanandaj (Iranian Kurdistan) has sentenced Yasser Goli to 15 years prison term in exile.

"The sentence ordered by the court is only 10 lines! This court order which is supposed to be based on article 168 of the Islamic penal code has no reference on any evidence provided against my client Yasser Goli. My client has in none of his interrogations, let alone in the court sessions held against him, confessed against himself" Reiterates attorney Nemat Ahmadi.

According to Human Rights defense organization in Kurdistan (Iran), while rejecting all charges against his client of being affiliated to opposition Kurdish groups Mr.Ahmadi said: "Unfortunately there is a plot here to handicap Kurdish writers and give them guns and send them off for battle in the mountains". Mr.AHmadi continues" I see no logic in labeling civil activists as supporters of political parties, while there is no proof supporting this claim, and no crime committed to prove this and no pretext for the prison term".

Mr. Ahmadi refered to Yasser Golis' high marks in the national University exams said " Is it just to label such highly enthusiastic youth of our nation and dispose of them in different corners and prisons of our land and waste them, instead of encouraging them? What lies ahead for such youth, after they spend 15 years of their best and ripe years behind bars?".

Dr.Ahmadi adds; "I shall put on trial all judicial conscience with regards to this court decision". He then reiterated a point for the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Intelligence and said "As a jurist, I am not against clarifying crimes, but I like to ask Mr. Shahroodi and Mr. Ejei both with practical experiences in both domains, specially that the agent who has been directly involved in fabricating the case against my client has been a direct employee of Mr.Ejei ,to call my clients case from the Sanandaj tribunal and review it with a righteous conscience, the true Islamic and judicial values , so that the innocence of my client be revealed".

Yasser Goli is the first secretary of the Kurdish Student union of Iranian Universities and a civil activist in Sanandaj. It is now 13 months since Yasser has been arrested and imprisoned by the Intelligence of Sanandaj.

According to Dr. Nemat Ahmadi, he has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has set up new barriers to Iran's access to the US financial system by banning certain types of fund transfers, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

The Treasury said it would prevent so-called "U-turn" transfers to Iran as part of efforts "to expose Iranian banks' involvement in the Iranian regime's support of terrorist groups and nuclear and missile proliferation."

The action prevents fund transfers made on behalf of Iranian banks, persons or the Iranian government that are initiated offshore by non-Iranian banks or financial institutions and passed through the US financial system en route to other offshore, non-Iranian, non-US financial institutions, the Treasury said in a statement.

Prior to the ban, US financial institutions were authorized to process U-turn transfers for the direct or indirect benefit of some Iranian banks, persons Iran or the government.

The Treasury noted that it had previously designated five state-owned Iranian banks -- Melli, Mellat, Sepah, Future Bank and the Export Development Bank of Iran -- for "their role in Iran's weapons proliferation activities" as well as Bank Saderat "for providing support to terrorism."

"As a result of today's action, US financial institutions are no longer allowed to process these U-turn transfers" for any Iranian banks, state-owned or private, including the Central Bank of Iran, the Treasury said.

The move "protects our financial sector from the risks posed to the international financial system by Iran," the US State Department said in a statement.

"Last month, the Financial Action Task Force warned about the risks posed to the international financial system by the continuing deficiencies in Iran's anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regime, and in particular, highlighted Iran's lack of effort in addressing the risk of terrorist financing," it said.

The Treasury underscored that its move would not impair funds transfers by US financial institutions related to humanitarian aid or family remittances and travel-related remittances for Iranians.

Washington has steadily upped sanctions against Iranian businesses and financial institutions over the past several months in hopes of pressuring Tehran to pull back on its nuclear program -- which the US says is aimed at developing nuclear weapons -- and to halt its alleged support for groups Washington has labelled "terrorist," including Lebanon's Hezbollah and armed Palestinian groups.

An sweeping amendment to a 1959 law will punish those who try to force marriage upon family members. 

The personal status law, in place in the country for decades now, is undergoing sweeping changes.

Kurdistan Region Parliament held continuous sessions this week and amended items of the 1959 personal status law. The amendments punish relatives who force unwanted marriages or prevent wanted marriages. Kurdish lawmakers failed on Wednesday to pass the amendment regarding family costs.

"No relative or others have the right to force any person [male or female] to be married without his or her approval. Forced marriage is regarded as invalid before entering. But if it is entered into, it will be suspended. Also, no relatives or others have the right to prevent anyone who wants to get married from marrying," read the amended and translated Article 9 of the original law.

In another item, the law punishes relatives who force anyone into marriage. Relatives of first degree [parents] will be sentenced to prison for a period of between two and five years. For other relatives, the sentence will be imprisonment for no less than 3 years and no more than 10 years. This was passed with 34 approving and 27 opposing it.

The marriage age was fixed at 16 years with the condition the person marrying must be competent and physically grown.

By a vote of 31 to 24, Parliament failed to impose fines and imprisonment on those who contract marriage bonds outside court.

Muslims in Kurdistan sign their marriage bonds in the attendance of a Muslim cleric and then register at court.

Parliament is discussing a law project presently by the KRG to amend the personal status law, which has been in place for decades in the country. Parliamentary committees of human rights, religious affairs, and defenders of women rights as well as the legal committee are offering suggestions to the amendments.

In Wednesday's session, Parliament discussed items about family finances, but the session was postponed when 10 members walked out of the session as protest against the new amendments.

The husband affords the wife's costs, and when the wife is financially competent, then the family costs will be common. This item was approved with a majority of votes. "If the man can't afford his wife's costs, the costs will remain as debts on the man, according to this law," read another amended item.

Lawmakers couldn't agree on passing the item about family duties. As mentioned in the amendments, if the husband doesn't fulfill family duties (this would be defined as "nushuz" in Arabic), he has to pay the woman's costs until the day of separation. But if the wife was committing "nushuz," she will be deprived from the costs and marriage bond money. The controversial issue among the member regarding this item was whether to mention the word "nushuz."

Members from the Islamic bloc objected removing the Arabic word, saying that it is a word of Holy Quran and must be inserted. Because of this issue, 10 members left the session, forcing Parliament speaker Adnan Mufti to postpone the rest of the discussion for the coming session.

"Nushuz" is a religious Arabic word meaning "not to sleep with."

alternet.org

TEHRAN (AFP) — The Iranian press watchdog has banned popular moderate weekly, Shahrvand Emrouz, which has been critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the magazine's lawyer told AFP on Thursday.

"Unfortunately Shahrvand has been banned although we have not been officially notified yet," lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai said.

He said the closure had been ordered "under the pretext that the magazine is licensed as a cultural and social publication so it cannot have political material."

Since hitting stands in March 2007, Shahrvand Emrouz has covered current Iranian and international politics and cultural issues in its 70 editions.

It featured articles by economists critical of Ahmadinejad's policies as well as regular interviews with veteran revolutionary figures and clerics plus the memoirs of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Fars news agency, which is close to conservatives, said Shahrvand had been banned for an "unreal portrayal of some government measures."

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Wednesday criticised Iranian press saying "this careless atmosphere of talking against the government is not to be easily forgiven by God."

Khamenei's comments came a day after the parliament ousted interior minister Ali Kordan for "dishonesty" and presenting a fake degree from Oxford University.

The scandal has been the focus of Iranian press over the past months, and the subsequent impeachment, pursued by mainly conservative MPs, was seen as a defeat for Ahmadinejad who had defended Kordan throughout the controversy.

In its latest editorial Sunday, Shahrvand Emrouz described as a secularist move Ahmadinejad's efforts to keep Kordan in the post despite his lying.

It said Kordan should remain in the job "to show how the most conservative government in the Islamic republic has desacralised all its religious and political concepts such as the clergy, honesty, fighting the West and Zionism."

"How open secularism has turned into veiled secularism," chief editor Mohammad Ghoochani wrote.

Under Ahmadinejad, Iranian media including newspapers, news websites and agencies of all political persuasions, have been hit by a string of closures.

Shahrvand was launched by the directors of leading daily Shargh which was shut down in August 2006 for interviewing a lesbian expat poet.

LONDON (AFP) — An army interpreter accused of spying for Iran was found guilty by a court in London Wednesday.

Daniel James, 45, was arrested in 2006 when he was working for General David Richards, who was then commanding international forces in Afghanistan and is now head of the British army.

Reservist James, a salsa teacher in civilian life, was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court, or Old Bailey, of sending coded emails to the Iranian military attache in Kabul.

Jurors will continue their deliberations Thursday on a second charge against him relating to a memory stick containing secret documents found in his possession plus a third count of misconduct in a public office.

James, who styled himself "General James", was born in Tehran and his trial heard from colleagues that he had expressed sympathy for Iran in conversations with them.

He also got within 20 metres (yards) of then British prime minister Tony Blair and took pictures of him when he visited Afghanistan in 2006. James told a colleague he did not like Blair, the court heard.

Prosecutor Mark Dennis accused James of "the height of betrayal" and the court was told that senior intelligence officers believed his acts could have cost the lives of British soldiers and possibly endangered Britain itself.

James denied the charges against him, saying he was trying to help set up a gas deal between Afghanistan and Iran which he hoped would promote trade and peace between Iran and the United States.

Kurdishaspect.com
Translated by Sayeh Hassan

In the past few days and through different sources we have received very troubling news in regards to the oppression of Kurdish students in Iran. Currently at least one student Mr. Habiblollah Lotfi who is a student at the "Payame Nour" University has been sentenced to death.

Further from "Razi" University in Kermanshah Mr. Sattar Parvizi has been sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment, Mr. Khabat Yousefi to 13 years of imprisonment and Mr. Hosseing Rahmani to 6 years of imprisonment.

In further disturbing news the Revolutionary Court in the City of Sanandaj sentenced Mr. Yaser Goli to 10 years of imprisonment. Mr. Goli is a student at a private university in the City of Sanandaj. Mr. Goli is also a social work Major, the president of The "Democratic Organization of Kurdish Students in Iran." He is also an editor for a Farsi Kurdish Student newsletter in the University of Sanandaj.

Further the 3 year prison sentence agasint Mr. Khazur Rasoulmorut has been confirmed by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Appeal. Mr. Morut was a literature major in the University of Sanandaj, he resided in the village of "Talavo" where the residents are mostly of Kurdish ethnicity. Mr. Mourt also taught Kurdish language.

Also news received from the Evin Prison indicates that two Kurdish students Mr. Sabah Nasri and Mr. Hedayat Ghazali were taken to solitary cells and have been subjected to continuous interrogation for the past 20 days. The reason behind this is their involvement in a hunger strike.

The arrest of Kurdish Students also continues. A student named Varya Moruti was arrested in the city of Sanandaj and take to an unknown location. Mr. Moruti is a 25 year old student at "Payame Nour" University. He is also a member of a group called "Jiyareveh". He was arrested at his home.

Two other Kurdish students Mr. Pejman Zafari and Mr. Peyman Hosseini who had been arrested a few months ago were released on a 30 million toman bail.

Currently there are at least 15 Kurdish students in Islamic Regime Prisons. These individuals are:

1. Habbibollah Lotfi- death sentence

2. Yaser Goli- 10 years imprisonment

3. Sattar Parvizi- 16 years imprisonment

4. Khebat Yousefi- 13 years imprisonment

5. Hossein Rahmani- 6 years imprisonment

6. Sabah Nasri- Originally sentenced to 2 years, court of appeal reduced it to 1.5 years

7. Hedayat Ghazali- Originally sentenced to 2 years, court of appeal reduced it to 1.5 years.

8. Khodro Rasoul Morut- 3 years imprisonment

9. Jamal Rahmani- 6 years imprisonment

10. Amir Reza Ardalan- Originally sentenced to 1 year imprisonment, court of appeal reduced it to 6 months.

11. Rashid Abdollahi- 3 years imprisonment.

12. Ms. Hanna Abdi-Originally sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, it was reduced to 1.5 years.

13. Ms. Ronak Safarzadeh- She is in custody, no conviction or sentencing as of yet.

14. Siyvan Farokhnejad- In custody, no conviction or sentence as of yet

15. Varya Moruti- In custody, no conviction or sentence as of yet.

KurdishMedia.com By Dr Afrasiab Shekofteh

The Khorasani Kurdish region is found within the current north-eastern borders of Iran and the southern borders of Turkmenistan, in the northern sector of what has historically been known as the Province of Khorasan.

Geographical coordinates of Khorasani Kurdish region is between N(36.5–38.3)° and E(56-61)°. The area of Kurdish inhabited region in Khorasan estimates about 64144 square kilometres.

This Kurdish region is located on the Revand Heights, two parallel ridges running in a south-easterly direction from the Caspian Sea to the borders of Afghanistan where they join the Parapamisus Mountains.

The Revand forms a bridge between the high Alborz Mountains to the west and the Hindu-Kush massif to the east. The Revand may be considered the eastern third of the Alborz.

 On this part of Alborz as the southern parallel ridge; the Aladaq mountains range is in South of Bojnurd, Saluk mountain (the highest summit; 2670 meters) is as western part of Aladaq, Shahjahan mountain (the highest summit; 3032 meters) is as the eastern part of Aladaq located in south of Shirvan and Quchan, and the Binalud mountain (the highest summit; 3211 meters) is in south of Quchan-Mashhad valley and or north of Neishabur.

Read More: http://kurdmedia.com/article.aspx?id=15188

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's parliament on Tuesday began a process to impeach Interior Minister Ali Kordan for "dishonesty" after he confessed to holding a fake Oxford University degree.

The row has caused major embarrassment to the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has defended Kordan throughout the controversy and who refused to appear in parliament for the impeachment session.

"A person who has to be entrusted with the country's security has mocked parliament's trust," MP Ebrahim Nekunam said in a speech carried live on state radio.

"The sensitive position of interior minister requires that Mr Kordan serve in another post. What is important today is the reputation of the Islamic republic system," added another lawmaker, Ali Asghar Dastgheib.

Kordan had been under pressure to quit the cabinet post he took up in August after the prestigious British university denied awarding him any qualification through a representative, as he had claimed.

He had shown the purported degree to MPs in a controversial vote of confidence on August 5 when he was confirmed in office by 169 votes to 100.

The minister replaced Ahmadinejad critic Mostafa Pour Mohammadi in one of the many cabinet reshuffles since the president took office in 2005.

TEHRAN (AFP) — An Iranian government aide was banned from parliament on Sunday for seeking to pay MPs to vote against impeaching the interior minister, who lied about his education.

Government parliamentary representative "Mohammad Abbasi is not allowed to enter parliament," parliament speaker Ali Larijani said in a speech to the house carried live on the state radio.

Last week Abbasi offered MPs cheques for 50 million rials (5,215 dollars) to help mosques in their districts.

The MPs were unaware that a second sheet they were signing along with the receipt was a pledge not to vote to censure Interior Minister Ali Kordan.

Larijani denounced Abbasi's "deception" and urged the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to deal with the issue and remove "all ambiguities."

"Nobody has the right to play with parliament's honour like this," he said.

Parliament will vote on Tuesday whether to impeach Kordan for "dishonesty" after he confessed to holding a fake Oxford University degree, an admission which has caused major embarrassment to Ahmadinejad's government.

Kordan, who only took office in August, has been under pressure to resign since the prestigious British university denied awarding him a qualification through a representative, as he had claimed.

On Wednesday a conservative Tehran MP reportedly slapped Abbasi across the face in the corridors of the parliament over cash handouts and obtaining signatures.

Several MPs have complained that provincial representatives to the house came under pressure and were given promises to make them abandon their intention to vote to impeach Kordan, press reports said.

"The 50-million-rial cheques are part of the interior ministry's campaign against the impeachment motion," MP Rouhollah Jani Abbaspour said, quoted by Kargozaran newspaper.

Kordan replaced Ahmadinejad critic Mostafa Pour Mohammadi in one of the many cabinet reshuffles. The president has been supporting Kordan throughout the controversy.

Ahmadinejad's aide in parliamentary affairs, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, has also infuriated MPs by defending Abbasi and accusing the lawmakers of lying.

Nearly 200 Kurdish protesters who were arrested after staging a protest in the Syrian capital at the weekend have been freed, a human rights group said on Monday.

The demonstrators were held on Sunday after staging a sit-in organised by Kurdish political parties that was dispersed by security forces.

"Late on Sunday night the authorities released 191 Kurdish militants who were detained that morning," the National Organisation of Human Rights in Syria said in a statement.

The rights group said on Sunday that the parties had organised the sit-in "in protest at a decree forbidding the sale without prior authorisation of land and property in border areas."

On Monday, the group said the interior minister met those arrested before they were released "to reassure them that the decree was not aimed at the Kurdish population but applied to all of Syria's border regions."

More than 1.5 million Kurds live in Syria, mainly in the north bordering Turkey and Iraq. They comprise nine percent of the population and have long sought official recognition of the Kurdish language and their culture.

Dozens of protesters were arrested on Sunday as Syrian authorities broke up a demonstration by Kurdish parties in Damascus, a human rights group reported, cited by AFP.
"The parties had organised a sit-in in protest at a decree forbidding the sale without prior authorisation of land and property in border areas," the National Organisation of Human Rights in Syria (NOHRS) said in a statement.
"Police dispersed the demonstrators and detained dozens before removing them to an unknown location," it added, listing the names of 18 of those held.
The NOHRS called on the authorities to "free demonstrators who were exercising their constitutional right to protest."
More than 1.5 million Kurds live in Syria, mainly in the north in areas bordering Turkey and Iraq. They comprise nine percent of the population and have long sought official recognition of the Kurdish language and their culture.

ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) – A top Iraqi Kurdish leader has said the US military could have bases in northern Iraq if Washington and Baghdad fail to sign the controversial security deal, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.

Massud Barzani, the president of northern Iraq's regional Kurdish administration, said that his government would "welcome" such a move, the Khabat, the newspaper run by Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party, quoted him as saying.

"All the attempts are going right now to sign the pact, but if the pact is not signed and if US asked to keep their troops in Kurdistan, I think the parliament, the people and government of Kurdistan will welcome this warmly," he said at the Centre of Strategy and International Study in Washington.

Baghdad and Washington are currently engaged in drawn out negotiations over an arrangement that will determine the presence of American forces in Iraq beyond 2008 when the current UN mandate expires.

Barzani has strongly backed the controversial security deal but the signing of the pact was delayed after the Iraqi cabinet decided to seek changes in the latest draft of the agreement.

Barzani and other Iraqi Kurdish leaders have been strong US allies since the 1991 Gulf War that pushed former dictator Saddam Hussein's troops out of Kuwait and established a no-fly zone over the country's northern Kurdish region.

The Kurdish leader is currently in Washington for a series of talks with President George W. Bush and other American officials.

See online : Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union .......

Iran Human Rights: A man has killed his own 14 years old daughter because of what he called "her suspicious behaviour".

According to the Iranian daily newspaper Quds, a 14 years old girl identified as Maryam was found dead in her home in the city of Shiraz. It was the girl´s mother who found her dead in her bedroom.

After some investigation teh girl´s father confessed to the police that he had killed his daughter Maryam.

He explained: "Maryam had been acting suspiciously lately, and I suspected that she was having an affair with a man. The night before her death she had nausea and abdominal pain. This made me certain about my suspicion. Then I decided to kill her to save my family´s honor"

He continued:" In the middle of the night, when she was asleep, I went to her room and strangled her with her head scarf".

The father is going to be tried for killing his daughter.

However, he is not going to be charged with murder, since according to the Iranian law, if a father or grandfather (on father´s side) kill his child or grandchild, he will not be charged and punished for murder. They normally get few years in prison or have to pay blood money the the victim´s family. But since they are head of teh family, normally they are not punished.

According to human rights lawyers, this law is one of the reasons for the increasing number of "honor killings" in Iran.