RTT – 5.22.2014 UN human rights experts have appealed to Iranian authorities to halt the scheduled execution of two members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority after their death sentences were reportedly upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court.
Archive for News
Iran Urged To Halt Execution Of Two Ahwazi Arabs
Iran opposition activist free after serving term
Washington Post – By Associated Press, Published: May 22 TEHRAN, Iran — A semi-official Iranian news agency says a prominent opposition figure has left prison after serving his five-year sentence. Thursday’s report by ISNA quotes an unnamed official as saying authorities released Behzad Nabavi, a deputy parliament speaker in the 1990s and a close ally of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Iran says ‘blood money’ saved 358 from death penalty
April 28, 2014 – globalpost – The payment of “blood money” spared 358 Iranians from execution last year, the country’s prosecutor general said on Monday. The practice, made possible under the Islamic sharia law of diya (restitution), allows a convict to be pardoned by a victim’s family if they receive financial recompense.
Iran ex-president urges freedom for political prisoners
April 28, 2014 – globalpost – Iran’s former president Mohammad Khatami has called for the release of political prisoners and urged an end to house arrest for two leaders who alleged fraud after the 2009 election. In remarks published by ISNA news agency, Khatami, in office between 1997 and 2005, said such steps would benefit the country.
In Iran, Medical Authorities Say Government Censorship Causes Cancer
io9 – Mark Strauss: For years, Iran has been blocking foreign television channels. Now, the country’s medical community is convinced that these electronic countermeasures are responsible for a growing number of cancer cases—and their concerns recently received support from a Grand Ayatollah.
Iran prison chief replaced after alleged beatings
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Wednesday it had replaced the country’s prisons chief amid an uproar over alleged beating of political prisoners last week in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison
Families of the dozens of political prisoners held there have been protesting outside parliament and the presidential complex and the issue came up in the legislature on Wednesday.
Families of Iran prisoners stage protest outside parliament
Families of Iran prisoners stage protest outside parliament
April 20, 2014 – Chicago Tribune – DUBAI (Reuters) – Families of Iranian prisoners charged with political offences demonstrated outside parliament in Tehran on Sunday to protest at what they said was violent treatment of their relatives at the Evin prison, the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported.
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Ex-Marine Held in Iran Asks Official for Help
Amir Hekmati
The New York Times – By RICK GLADSTONE; APRIL 18, 2014 – Amir Hekmati, an American incarcerated in Iran since August 2011, recently wrote to its foreign minister seeking help in gaining his release, after Mr. Hekmati learned from his new lawyer that he had been secretly tried and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on a charge of collaborating with the United States government, family members reported Friday.
Rouhani has not increased freedoms in Iran, U.N. chief says
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
BY STEPHANIE NEBEHAY – GENEVA Tue Mar 11, 2014 7 (Reuters) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has failed to fulfil campaign promises to allow greater freedom of expression and there has been a sharp rise in executions since his election, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday.
My dad, Iran’s hostage
Robert Levinson
Los Angeles Times – By Dan Levinson – March 10, 2014 – Seven years ago Sunday, my father, Robert Levinson, was taken hostage while visiting Kish Island, Iran. He is currently the longest-held hostage in U.S. history, and will likely be marking his 66th birthday Monday in captivity, thousands of miles from his wife, seven children and four grandchildren — three of whom have been born since he was kidnapped. We have not been able to communicate with him at all in those seven years.
