Category: English News
Iran Steps Up Crackdown On Journalists
By Alex Johnston Epoch Times Staff Iran has stepped up efforts to harass journalists and media companies in the past several weeks, Reporters Without Borders says. Cartoonist Mahmud Shokraieh, who drew a caricature portraying a local member of parliament as a soccer player, was sentenced to 25 lashes. “The court ruled that Shokraieh had ‘insulted’ [...]
Iran threatens to expel Afghan refugees if Kabul ratifies US strategic partnership
By Ben Farmer, Kabul Fazel Hadi Muslimyar, speaker of the Afghan senate, said the Iranian ambassador had made the threat last week as he demanded senators reject the deal between Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai. His intervention triggered a diplomatic row as senators denounced his meddling in Afghan affairs and called for his removal. “He told me that if [...]
Iran may be ‘cleansing’ suspected nuclear site, analysis says
Los Angeles Times A flurry of recent activity at an Iranian military compound, spotted on commercial satellite photos, has raised concern that Iran may be “cleansing” a building before nuclear inspectors can examine it, said an analysis by a Washington-based security institute. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, has been trying [...]
Iran calls for killing of musician Shahin Najaf
By Al Arabiya Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani, a Shi’ite cleric based in the holy Iranian city of Qom, has issued a death sentence against rap artist Shahin Najafi for apostasy, the Persian-language Al Arabiya website reported on Wednesday. The sentence was issued after Najafi released a controversial song called “Naqi.” The song sparked a furor among [...]
Clinton to decide Iranian exiles’ fate after they move
By Ashish Kumar Sen- The Washington Times Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will decide on removing an Iranian dissident group from the U.S. list of foreign terror groups only after all its members have left a camp north of Baghdad, a Justice Department lawyer told a federal court Tuesday. Robert Loeb, who is representing [...]
Lawyer who defends Iran activists jailed
BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 9 (UPI) — Iranian lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, who has defended political and human rights activists condemned to death, has himself been sentenced to nine years behind bars amid a crackdown on dissent that has resulted in a sharp increase in executions. “I’ve been convicted of acting against the national security, spreading [...]
Iran: Free Students Jailed for Speaking Out
Iranian authorities should immediately free dozens of university students currently behind bars solely for peacefully expressing political opinions, and end harassment of student activists on university campuses throughout the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch issued the call as part of a joint campaign initiated by Iranian and international student and rights [...]
Image shows more activity at Iran site
United Press International WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) — A satellite image of an Iran military site a U.N. watchdog suspects may house a nuclear weapons program shows signs of increased activity, weapons experts say. David Albright and Paul Brannan of the Institute for Science and International Security, based in Washington, wrote in a report the [...]
Iran’s Web censorship filters supreme leader’s own statement
Ars Technica by Cyrus Farivar Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s own words have now become a victim of Iran’s massive online censorship infrastructure. According to Radio Free Europe (RFE), last week Khamenei issued a “fatwa,” or religious edict, confirming that anti-filtering tools and software are illegal in Iran. The decree came in response to [...]
Biden pledges to prevent Iranian nuke ‘by whatever means necessary’
Los Angeles Times By Morgan Little Vice President Joe Biden, seeking to reaffirm the White House’s support for Israel and, in turn, its tough stance on Iran’s alleged efforts to gain nuclear weapons, promised economic sanctions would have an effect on the Iranian regime and predicted the current leadership’s fall within two years. “The U.S. [...]
A letter by death row prisoners Zanyar and Loghman Moradi for May 9
Persian2English, May 9, 2012 — Zanyar and Loghman Moradi, two Kurdish citizens held in Rajai Shahr prison, who are at imminent risk of execution, have written a letter about Farzad Kamangar and the other political prisoners executed by Iranian authorities in Evin prison on May 9, 2010. The letter was sent by Iranian activists to Iran Human Rights [...]
Afghan FM summons Iranian ambassador
TREND-The Meshrano Jirga (upper chamber of Afghan parliament) chairman on Tuesday said Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan would be summoned by the foreign ministry in Kabul over his recent remarks on the US-Afghan strategic partnership agreement, Afghan media reported. Ambassador Abul Fazal Zuhrawand requested the upper house of Parliament to reject the recently-signed strategic deal between [...]
Night, lashes, poetry and torture: a poem Farzad Kamangar
On the second anniversary of the death of Farzad Kamangar, we remember him and those that stood with him; Shirin Alamhouli, Ali Heidarian, Farhad Vakili, and Mehdi Eslamian What follows is a rough translation of a poem Farzad dictated while in prison. The audio of the poem can be viewed in the video below. Night, [...]
Iran executes 9
TEHRAN: Iran on Monday hanged nine men in a prison in Tehran after they were convicted of trafficking “glass”, or methamphetamine, a statement from the Tehran prosecution office said. Seven of the men had been sentenced to death after a consignment of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of the drug was seized in a cargo ship [...]
British MPs condemn Iraqi government’s conduct during transfer of Iranian dissidents
LONDON, May 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom (BPCIF) strongly condemns the Government of Iraq’s outrageous conduct of returning the utility vehicles accompanying the fifth convoy of Iranian dissidents who were transferred from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty. The covetous act of the Government of Iraq was in clear violation [...]
US eyes more cuts in India’s oil imports from Iran
The Associated Press By MATTHEW LEE DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will use a two-day visit to India this week to urge further reductions in Indian imports of Iranian oil. A senior official traveling with Clinton in Bangladesh ahead of her arrival in India on Sunday said the matter [...]
United States is Iran’s handmaiden against opposition
The Tampa Tribune By LEO MCCLOSKEY, DAVID PHILLIPS, WESLEY MARTIN One year ago, the peace at a refugee camp under the “protection” of Iraq’s government was shattered by the thunder of military vehicles storming the gates. Iraqi soldiers murdered 36 defenseless Iranian dissidents, and left hundreds injured in the rampage. Despite calls from the U.S. [...]
Parliament rejects Iran subsidy cuts proposals
By Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) – A committee of Iranian lawmakers has rejected a government plan to increase prices for subsidised food and fuel in a move that threatens to derail a drive to rein in the country’s sanctions-squeezed budget, Iranian media reported late on Saturday. International sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear programme have sharply [...]
Access to Iran army site “priority” in talks: IAEA
(Reuters) – Gaining access to a key Iranian military facility will be the priority for the U.N. nuclear watchdog when it resumes talks with the Islamic state in mid-May, agency head Yukiya Amano said on Friday. Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the Vienna-based U.N. body did not yet have [...]
Conservative factions dominate Iran’s run-off elections
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, now out of favour with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suffered more setbacks in a run-off parliamentary election seen as a pointer for next year’s presidential race, results showed on Saturday. The authorities hailed the outcome as a resounding triumph for Iran as it prepares for nuclear negotiations [...]