This is my country Iran and basic human rights violation continues.
Watch this video clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdCq9ovitmg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDkeX2qjaqc

For Immediate Release
Iran: Jailed Students Abused to Obtain Forced Confessions
Authorities Should Release 19 Detained Students and Activists at Once
(Washington, DC, July 27, 2007) – The Iranian government should immediately release 19 students and activists arrested in May and June on apparently politically motivated charges, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that the authorities have been subjecting them to abuse to coerce confessions.
On July 24, the families of detained students Majid Tavakoli, Ahmad Ghasaban, and Ehsan Mansouri sent an open letter to Ayatollah Shahrudi, head of the Judiciary, about the physical and psychological abuse of their sons in section 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison, a security section of the prison where Human Rights Watch has documented many cases of prisoner abuse, including torture to coerce confessions.
Following two visits with their sons, the families alleged that authorities have subjected them to 24-hour interrogation sessions, sleep deprivation, and threats of harming the prisoners and their families. The families also said that the detainees had been confined in cells with dangerous convicted prisoners, beaten with cables and fists, and forced to remain standing for long periods of time.
“Reports that Iranian authorities have beaten and threatened these students to obtain confessions are all too consistent with accounts we have collected in the past,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government should release these 19 students and activists immediately.”
The three students were among eight whom agents of the Ministry of Intelligence arrested in May on charges of “insulting state leaders,” “inciting public opinion,” and “printing inflammatory and derogatory materials” in student publications. The students consistently maintained that the publications were forged and that they had no role in producing them. On July 18, five of the students were released on bail.
Six additional students were arrested on July 9 during a peaceful demonstration to protest the detentions outside the main gate of Amir Kabir University. They were holding a sit-in at the university to commemorate the anniversary of extensive student protests in July 1999 that the government violently suppressed. According to reports from activists, police and plainclothes security agents beat and arrested the six students and transferred them to Evin section 209.
Later that day, at 11:30 a.m, plainclothes officers arrived at the Office of the Alumni Association of Iran. They fired in the air before forcefully entering the premises and arresting 10 students and activists. The police then closed down the offices.
The Office of the Alumni Association of Iran is legally registered in accordance with amendment 10 of the Law of Political Parties. According to Iranian law, written notices and court appearances are required for shutting down legally registered organizations.
On July 10, Alireza Jamshidi, the official spokesperson for the Iranian Judiciary, confirmed these arrests. He denied that any of the detainees were students and said that the charges against them related to “security issues,” including “gathering illegally” and “colluding to act illegally.”

Since the July 9 arrests, security officials stormed the homes of seven of the detainees and confiscated their personal belongings.
On July 18, security agents ransacked the home of Abdollah Momeni, bringing him along from prison in handcuffs. According to activists who met with Momeni’s family following the search, Momeni’s face and body showed visible signs of beatings, and he appeared to have lost a considerable amount of weight during his nine days in custody. Security agents reportedly conducted the other home searches in a similar fashion.
According to sources in Iran who have been in touch with Momeni’s family, security agents have been attempting to force him to confess to acts he has not committed, such as being connected to forces outside the country who are attempting to implement a “soft revolution.”
International human rights law protects detainees from mistreatment, including forced “confessions.” The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party, protects the right of every person “[n]ot to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt.”
Human Rights Watch is also concerned about the well-being of 19-year-old Amir Yaghoub Ali, a student supporter of the One Million Signatures Campaign, which aims to eliminate discriminatory laws against women.
On the evening of July 11, Yaghoub Ali was collecting signatures at Tehran’s Andishe Park on Shariati Street. Park security officers, after detaining him in the park’s security headquarters, transferred him to the 104th police station in Niloufar Square, where he spent the night. The next morning, authorities transferred him to the Revolutionary Court on Moallem Street, where Judge Sobhani ordered that he continue to be held pending completion of investigations into his case. His mother and sister were not able to obtain information about their son either at the police station or the courthouse on July 11. Upon their return to the court on July 12, Judge Sobhani informed them that he had ordered Yaghoub Ali’s transfer to Evin section 209.
Activists in Iran told Human Rights Watch that authorities are particularly vindictive toward male supporters of campaigns for women’s rights. A witness to the peaceful women’s protest of March 8, 2006 in Tehran’s Daneshjoo Park told Human Rights Watch that when security and police forces attacked the gathering with batons in order to disperse the crowds, they severely beat the men who were present.
The names of the students arrested on July 9 in front of the main gate of Amir Kabir University are:
1. Bahareh Hedayat
2. Mohammad Hashemi
3. Ali Niko-Nesbati
4. Mehdi Arabshahi
5. Hanif Yazdani
6. Ali Veghfi
The names of the students and activists arrested on July 9 at the Office of the Alumni Association are:
1. Abdollah Momeni
2. Bahram Fayazi
3. Morteza Eslahchi
4. Mojtaba Bayat
5. Habib Haji-Heidari
6. Massoud Habibi
7. Saieed Hosseinia
8. Arash Khandel
9. Ashkan Gheysvandi
10. Ezatollah Ghalandari
11. Mohammad Hossein Mehrzad
Activists who have been in contact with the detainees’ families have confirmed to Human Rights Watch that at least eight persons detained on July 9 are being held in solitary confinement. They are:
1. Bahareh Hedayat
2. Mojtaba Bayat
3. Abdollah Momeni
4. Ali Niko-Nesbati
5. Hanif Yazdani
6. Ali Veghfi
7. Mehdi Arabshahi
8. Mohammad Hashemi
To read Human Rights Watch’s June 22 news release on the detained students, please visit:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/06/21/iran16235.htm
For more information, please contact:
In Washington, DC, Joe Stork (English): +1-202-612-4327; or storkj@hrw.org
In Cairo, Gasser Abdel-Razek (Arabic, English): +20-22-764-5036; or +2-010-502-9999 (mobile); or razekg@hrw.org

Brave Iranian women resist daily against intimidation, arrest, imprisonment , violation of their basic human rights in the name of Islam by the Islamic Republic in Iran.

Here two women are arrested because of the way they are dressed. What is wrong with that?

The Only option left for all Iranian women, students, teachers, workers, journalists ,writers and human rights advocates is to come together under one banner of :

Human Rights and Democracy & then they will be able to push back Islamic Republic in Iran.

Allert- Urgent
Save the life of Adnan Hassanpoor an Iranian Kurdish journalist and Heywa Butimar a human rights advocate!
Both of these gentlemen are sentenced to death in Iranian courts.
Adnan Hassanpoor is editorial member of " Aso " a weekly Kurdish-Farsi publication and a member of the writers Association of Kurdistan.
Heywa Butimar was arrested by security agents and was kept as a hostage for the return of his brother Hadi Butimar who has escaped persecution and refuged to England.
The death sentence of Adnan Hassanpoor and Heywa Butimar has been approved by the court in Sanandaj an Iranian -Kurdish city.And the security agent have reported the aproval of the death sentence of Adnan Hassanpoor to his family.Now both of them are close to death and their lives is in danger.
They need our support .

Link to this news:
http://www.iran-emrooz.net/index.php?/news1/13653/

http://news.gooya.eu/politics/archives/2007/07/061710.php

About Said Mortazavi ,Tehran prosecutor and the number one enemy of journalists,press freedom and Human Rights and Democracy in Iran. He is as well one of the alleged interrogator and beating to death of Zahra Kazemi the Canadian - Iranian photojournalist.

Said Mortazavi :The reason for me being promoted is because of my virtue.
In the past week Said Mortazavi has ordered the execution of 16 rascals and villains and the order was carried out. He said: in near future he is going to execute another 17 people. These executions is taking place at time which a wave of arrest and imprisonment as well as violence is taking place against students , womens , teachers, workers, journalists and human rights advocates as well as lawyers. Two days after these executions he has appeared in national TV together with Tehran's police chief.

Link to this news:

http://www.roozonline.com/archives/2007/07/006364.php

Majid Tavakoli, Ahmad Ghasaban and Ehsan Mansuri are the three imprisoned students.

The families of this three students of "Tehran Polytechnic University" wrote a letter to Ayatollah Shahrudi The head of the Iran's judiciary power and complained about what has been going on to their son's and requested for immedita investigation to their situation. 80 days have past since their arrest and the students claime they have been physically and mentally tortured.

UPDATE - IRAN
23 July 2007
Two Kurdish journalists sentenced to death
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
**New case (Botimar) and update to IFEX alerts on the Hassanpour case of 15
March and 30 January 2007**
(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has voiced deep concern on learning
that journalists Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed "Hiva" Botimar were
sentenced to death by a revolutionary tribunal in Marivan, in Iran's
Kurdish northwestern region, on 16 July 2007.
"These death sentences are outrageous and shameful," the press freedom
organisation said. "They show how little Iran is bothered by international
humanitarian law. They also show how determined it is to use every possible
means to silence the most outspoken journalists and human rights
activists."
Reporters Without Borders added: "We appeal to the international community
to ask Iran to reverse this decision and to refrain from executing two men
who did nothing but exercise their right to inform their fellow citizens.
Iran is in the process of becoming one of the world's biggest prisons for
journalists."
Hassanpour worked for the magazine "Asou", which has been banned since
August 2005 as a result of a decision by the Ministry of Culture and
Islamic Guidance. He wrote about the very sensitive Kurdish issue.
At his trial, which was held behind closed doors, he was found guilty of
"activities subverting national security" and "spying." His interviews for
foreign news media including Voice of America were cited by the
prosecution. According to his family and one of his lawyers, Sirvan
Hosmandi, he was transferred to Sanandaj prison on 18 July.
The charges on which Botimar, a contributor to "Asou" and an active member
of the environmental NGO Sabzchia, was sentenced to death were not
immediately known.
In addition, Reporters without Borders denounces the 21 July arrest of Ako
Kurdnasab, a journalist with the weekly magazine "Karfto", by agents of the
Information Ministry in Sanandaj, the capital of Iranian Kurdistan. The
journalist was taken to the ministry's prison after being interrogated by
the fourth chamber of the city court. The charges against him are not
known.
Par ailleurs, Reporters sans frontières dénonce l'interpellation, le 21
juillet, du journaliste Ako Kurdnasab par des agents du ministère des
Renseignements, au siège de l'hebdomadaire "Karfto", à Sanandaj, capitale
du Kurdistan iranien. Le journaliste a été conduit à la prison du ministère
des Renseignements, après avoir été mis en examen par la quatrième chambre
du tribunal de la ville. Les charges retenues contre lui ne sont pas
connues.
Three other Kurdish journalists are currently in prison in Iran. Ejlal
Ghavani of "Payam-e Mardom-e Kurdestan", a weekly that was suspended in
2004, was detained on 9 July of this year after being convicted by a court
in Sanandaj of "inciting the population to revolt" and "activities against
national security" (see IFEX alert of 12 July 2007 and others).
Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand, "Payam-e Mardom-e Kurdestan"'s editor and the
founder of a human rights organisation, was arrested on 1 July and
transferred to Evin prison (see alerts of 18 and 3 July 2007). He has not
been officially charged.
Kaveh Javanmard of the weekly "Karfto" is currently serving a two-year
prison sentence. He was not allowed access to a lawyer during his trial,
which took place behind closed doors (see alerts of 23 May and 11 January
2007).
With a total of eight journalists currently detained, Iran continues to be
the Middle East's biggest prison for the press and one of the world's ten
most repressive countries as regards freedom of expression in the media.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is on the Reporters Without Borders list of the world's
34 worst "press freedom predators." Since he became president in August
2005, the authorities have cracked down hard on journalists. The situation
is especially fraught in the Kurdish northwest.
For further information contact Hajar Smouni, RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie,
Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: moyen-orient@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org
The information contained in this update is the sole responsibility of RSF.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.
---------
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EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
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tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
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Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE News Flash AI Index: MDE 13/087/2007 (Public) News Service No: 135 17 July 2007 Iran:

Execution of child offender imminent
Amnesty International has just learned that 18-year-old Sina Paymard, who was sentenced to death in Iran for a crime committed when he was just 16 years old, may be executed within the next few hours. "Should this execution be carried out it would be in complete violation of international law," said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme. "It would also be a morally unjustifiable, abhorrent act carried out by a government against one of its young citizens." "The Iranian government must take immediate steps to halt this execution." Sina Paymard, a musician, was nearly executed in September last year for murder. On the gallows, Sina's last request was to play the ney (a Middle Eastern flute) for the last time. The family of the victim was so moved by his playing that they granted him a last minute reprieve. Instead, they asked for 150 million toumans (over $US 160,000) as compensation. Sina's family, however, has not been able to raise the full amount. Background Iran continues to have one of the highest rates of executions in the world. Amnesty International has recorded at least 124 executions since the beginning of 2007, suggesting that by the end of this year the total number of executions could exceed the total of 177 executions that Amnesty International recorded in 2006. Two recent victims of the Iranian authorities' use of the death penalty were child offenders, whose alleged crimes were committed before the age of 18, and a third was a man who was stoned to death. The two child offenders -- Mohammad Mousavi and Sa'id Qanbar Zahi -- were executed in April and May respectively, in direct contravention of international law, which requires that no-one should be executed for crimes committed while under the age of 18. While Amnesty International recognizes the right of governments to bring to justice those suspected of serious crimes, it opposes the death penalty in all cases as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. For a full account of the Sina Paymard case and Amnesty International's concerns regarding executions of child offenders in Iran, please see: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde130592007

For Immediate Release
Iran: Cancel Televised ‘Confessions’
(New York, July 18, 2007) – The Iranian government should cancel the scheduled July 18 broadcast of the “confessions” of two detained Iranian-Americans, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that Iranian authorities have used coercive means to compel Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh to make statements that may be later used to incriminate them in court.
On July 16, 2007, Iranian television announced that Channel One would broadcast the “confessions” of Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh at 9:45 p.m. on July 18 and July 19. The authorities have held them in largely incommunicado detention for more than two months, preventing lawyers and family members from visiting them. They have only been permitted brief phone calls to family members.
“Public ‘confessions’ of this kind are a shameful tactic used by oppressive governments around the world,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s a way for governments to intimidate critical voices into silence and flaunt their disregard for fundamental rights.”
Iranian television on July 16 ran an advertisement for a program, “In the Name of Democracy,” that showed Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh speaking about “velvet revolutions.” Canadian-Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo, whom the authorities arrested in April 2006 and released after four months of detention once he had “confessed” that his scholarly work had contributed to the planning of a “velvet revolution,” is also featured in the video.
Iran has accused Esfandiari, head of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, and Tajbakhsh, a consultant for the Open Society Institute, of “spying,” “planning the soft overthrow of the government,” and “acting against national security.”
Esfandiari, 67, has been in Tehran’s Evin prison since May 8, 2007, when officials at the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence summoned her for questioning and then arrested her without warrant (http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/05/12/iran15914.htm). Several days later, authorities arrested Tajbakhsh and detained him at Evin prison. Both have been held in solitary confinement.
Esfandiari’s lawyer, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, says that authorities have not allowed her to meet with her client or to examine her case files. Ebadi also said that Esfandiari’s health was deteriorating as a result of the harsh conditions in prison.
International human rights law protects detained persons from mistreatment, including making forced “confessions.” The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party, protects the right of every person “[n]ot to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt.” It is unlawful for authorities to use coercive means to obtain incriminating statements. Broadcasting such statements is a form of degrading treatment prohibited by international law.
Two other Iranian-Americans, Parnaz Azima and Ali Shakeri, are also currently facing similar charges of “acting against national security.” Like Esfandiari, both were in Iran for family reasons.
Authorities have detained Shakeri in Evin prison since May, around the same time that Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh were arrested. Shakeri serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at the University of California, Irvine. He also belongs to a group that advocates for a secular and democratic Iran.
Parnaz Azima, a reporter for the US-funded Radio Farda, is not currently in custody, but authorities have confiscated her passport and have barred her from leaving the country. She is currently out on a 510 million Toman (approximately US$540,000) bail.
For more information, please contact:
In Washington, DC, Joe Stork (English): +1-202-612-4327; or storkj@hrw.org
In Cairo, Gasser Abdel-Razek (Arabic, English): +20-2-2-794-5038; or +20-10-502-9999 (mobile); or razekg@hrw.org
In London, Tom Porteous (English): +44-20-7713-2766; or +44-79-8398-4982 (mobile); or porteot@hrw.org

Students rallied for their rights.

Because of the students , teachers, women , labor movements; the movement for " Democracy and Human Rights " in Iran is becoming stronger. Despite of arrest, imprisonment , torture and expulsion from university the students continue their protest. I think what they want is just freedom. That simple .

watch this video clip on students protest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0cu4N1oSL4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRR2RFCawUc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNWGvrtzJDA

The life of Mansur Osanlou the leader of the Bus Drivers union who is still in Evin prison is in great danger . Here is a video clip from the past about him while in hospital talking about freedom , human rights , labor rights and ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Z65KRaWJU

Background :

Students that are in prison .

Women's rights advocates together with many other civil rights activists are demanding for detained students release.

Iran – the last executioner of children
UPDATES
Two weeks
after his 18th
birthday in
2006, Sina
Paymard (left)
was taken to
the gallows
to be hanged
for murder. As
he stood there
with a noose around his neck, he was
asked for his final request. He said that he
would like to play the ney – a Middle
Eastern flute. Relatives of the murder
victim,who were there to witness the hanging,
were so moved by his playing
that they agreed to accept the payment of
diyeh (blood money) instead of retribution
by death, as is allowed under Iranian law.
Sina Paymard remains on death row pending
negotiations with the victim’s family.
Other young people facing execution in
Iran have not been spared. Sa’id Qanbar
Zahi,who was sentenced to death when he
was 17,was hanged in Zahedan prison on
27 May 2007. Mohammad Mousavi was
reportedly hanged a month earlier in
Shiraz for a murder allegedly committed
when he was 16.
Iran has the shameful status of currently
being the world’s sole executioner of child
offenders – people convicted of crimes
committed when they were under the age
of 18. It also holds the macabre distinction
of having executed more child
offenders (24) than any other country
in the world since 1990. Eleven of those
sentenced to death were still aged
under 18 when executed.
Today,AI knows of 71 child offenders on
death row, but the true figure is probably
much higher. They include Delara Darabi
(right), convicted of a murder committed
when she was 17, and Hossein
Gharabaghloo, who was 16 when he
allegedly stabbed a friend to death during
a fight.
In most cases, child offenders
sentenced to death in Iran are kept in prison
until they reach 18,before being executed.
In this period, some win appeals or are
reprieved by the murder victim’s family.
Elsewhere in the world, executions of
child offenders have all but stopped,
reflecting the widespread recognition
that because of children’s immaturity,
impulsiveness, vulnerability and capacity
for rehabilitation, their lives should never
be written off – however heinous the
crimes of which they are convicted.
A growing movement has emerged in
Iran that is pushing for abolition of the
death penalty for child offenders. It is
driven by courageous human rights
defenders and activists who carry on
despite threats and harassment from the
authorities.
Such campaigning inside and outside
Iran has made a difference. Occasionally,
convictions leading to death sentences
have been overturned and the person has
been released.
One such case was that of Leyla Mafi,
who was sentenced to death in 2004 in
Arak for "acts contrary to chastity" after
she was arrested in a brothel when she was
17. Following an energetic campaign by
her lawyer, Shadi Sadr, and AI, the
Supreme Court overturned her death
sentence in March 2005.
The Iranian authorities have a historic
opportunity to join the world consensus
against the execution of child offenders
and end this unacceptable practice. It
should announce an immediate moratorium
on all executions of child offenders
and urgently revise the law so that it
explicitly prohibits the death sentence for
people aged under 18 at the time of the
crime, as an important step towards
abolishing the death penalty altogether.
See Iran: The last executioner of
children (MDE 13/059/2007).

IRAN: Four years after journalist Zahra Kazemi's death, her lawyers expect
a new trial
IRAN: Les avocats de la journaliste Zahra Kazemi attendent une réouverture
du procès quatre ans après son assassinat
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________
UPDATE - IRAN
11 July 2007
Four years after journalist Zahra Kazemi's death, her lawyers expect a new
trial
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
**Updates IFEX alerts of 11 July 2006, 21 November, 26 May, 13 and 1 April
and 11 February 2005, and others**
(RSF/IFEX) - On 10 July 2007, Reporters Without Borders said it hoped
Iran's supreme court will rule in favour of a new investigation into the
death of Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi from a beating while in
custody four years ago. After hearing an appeal from the Kazemi family's
lawyers on 2 July about the irregularities in an appeal court's verdict,
the supreme court is supposed to issue a decision this week.
The press freedom organisation has written to the Canadian authorities
urging them to continue to condemn the denial of justice in this case.
"We see this appeal as the last hope for shedding light on the
circumstances of Kazemi's murder," the press freedom organisation said. "We
support her lawyer's request for a new investigation to be conducted in an
independent and impartial manner, covering all that took place from the
time of her arrest until her death."
Reporters Without Borders added: "The case has been hampered by many
obstacles, including the apparent implication of senior officials. The
participation of international experts would help to resolve some of these
difficulties and to put an end to a situation of impunity that has gone on
for too long."
The Kazemi family's lawyers sought to demonstrate the "intentional" nature
of Kazemi's death in the 2 July hearing before the supreme court's 15th
chamber. If the court accepts their argument, it should order a new
investigation.
Kazemi, 54, was arrested on 23 June 2003 while taking photos of the
relatives of detainees outside Evin prison, in north Tehran. She died on 10
July 2003 from cerebral bleeding that was the result of blows to the head
received while in detention.
The prison authorities initially claimed that her death was the result of
an accidental fall. After they subsequently acknowledged that she was
beaten during interrogation, prosecutors named Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, an
intelligence official, as the personal responsible for her death. A court
acquitted Ahmadi in July 2004 and his acquittal was confirmed in November
2005 by an appeal court, which said the investigation should be reopened.
For further information contact Hajar Smouni, RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie,
Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: moyen-orient@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org
The information contained in this update is the sole responsibility of RSF.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.

For Immediate Release
Iran: Prevent Stoning of Condemned Mother
Government Should Revoke Laws That Permit Execution by Stoning
(Washington, DC, July 11, 2007) – Iran’s top Judiciary official must act immediately to prevent the execution by stoning of Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, a 43-year-old mother of three, Human Rights Watch said today.
In a letter to the official, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi, Human Rights Watch urged prompt action to prevent the stoning and called on the Iranian authorities to revoke regulations under the country’s Islamic Penal Code that permit execution by stoning. Despite a written stay of execution, local officials stoned to death Jafar Kiani, the father of two of Ebrahimi’s children on July 5.
“Government officials stoned Jafar Kiani to death despite a stay of execution from Iran’s top Judiciary official,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch. “Ayatollah Shahrudi must make sure that Mokarrameh Ebrahimi does not meet the same terrible end.”
Kiani and Ebrahimi were convicted of adultery 11 years ago and sentenced to death by stoning by Branch 1 of the Criminal Court in Takistan, a city in the north central province of Ghazvin. On June 20, 2007, Ayatollah Shahrudi issued a written order staying the execution, which had been scheduled for the following day. Previously, in 2002, he had ordered a moratorium on executions by stoning to Iran’s judges.
Despite the written stay of execution and the 2002 moratorium order, officials stoned Kiani on July 5 in Aghche-kand, a small village near Takistan.
“Unless Iran excises stoning from the penal code, officials will feel free to impose such sentences and then carry them out,” Stork said.
Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all circumstances because of its cruel, inhumane, and irrevocable nature. Iran is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states in Article 6 that “in countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes.” According to Article 7 of the covenant, “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Watch this documentary about the Gay situation in Iran:

http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2007/03/030407_1.html

A video clip on Iran's human rights situation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huL1iO5LLd0

THE BUZZ: BREAKING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Iran launches English TV all-news channel
AFP
July 3, 2007
Tehran -- Iran's state broadcaster launched a 24-hour English-language news channel yesterday in a bid to break what it called the "stranglehold" of the West over the world's media.
The Tehran-based Press TV is promising the usual diet of twice-hourly news bulletins, talk shows and documentaries, but with a distinctly Iranian spin.
"There are few media which rightly fulfill their responsibilities," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at the opening ceremony. "The media are used by the domineering powers to occupy lands and people's hearts," he said.

Picture shows "Ham-Mihan's" journalists without job.

News in brief
Daftare Tahkime Vahdat ( A student organization) has protested to the recent attack on newspapers and media. In their communique we read:
In the past week " Ham-Mihan" newspaper for no reason was banned. " Mosharekat " newspaper's permission to publish was cancelled. pressures on "Etemade Melli" newspaper was increased. " Nedaye Kordestan" Weekly was banned and many kinds of pressure on " ILNA " (Iran's Labor News Agency) forced its president to resign and of course during these time there were alot of illegal and immoral confrontation with other independent newspaper as well.
In the communique we also read:
In this situation these newspapers are trying to publish the truth about the society but even this is not being tolerated by the Government's media watch dogs.
At the end "Daftare Tahkim" has greeted the independent journalists and newspapers including "ILNA" and condemned pressure by Government on media and journalists.

Link to this news in Farsi:

http://www.roozna.com/Negaresh_site/FullStory/?Id=41304

Judge Said Mortazavi

In Iran :
"Based on article 168 of the constitution, the media trial must take place with the presence of media juries ( media watchdogs ) and it must be an open court trial and the manager in charge of the newspaper must be tried by the jury but in Iran if the manager in charge is not present in the court his lawyer will be tried and sentenced. "
As in the case of "Ham Mihan" newspaper.In this case the presiding judge was Said Mortazavi the interrogator and suspect in the murder of Zahra Kazemi

News in brief-
Once again " Ham-mihan" newspaper is closed !
According to a report from "Etemad Melli" newspaper, After 43 issue " Ham-mihan" newspaper once again has been closed by the order of Tehran's prosecutor ( Judge Said Mortazavi).
"Ham-mihan" had resume its publication after seven years with an order from division 1083 of Tehran's general court. But the manager in charge of the newspaper Mr. Karbaschi have annouced that the newspaper once again has been closed.
Link to this news in Farsi:
http://www.roozna.com/Negaresh_site/FullStory/?Id=41261

ALERT - IRAN
3 July 2007
Three more journalists imprisoned; another arrested and released on bail
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has learned of the arrests of three
more Iranian journalists, one of them on 1 July 2007. They bring the number
of journalists detained in Iran to six.
"The Iranian regime is one of the most repressive in the world towards the
media," the press freedom organisation said. "Independent journalists are
closely watched and constantly harassed. Arrests are frequent, and months
can go by before the place of detention and charges are discovered. With
six journalists detained, Iran continues to be the Middle East's biggest
prison for the press."
Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand, the editor of "Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan" (a
weekly that was closed down in 2004) was arrested on 1 July by intelligence
ministry agents, who searched his home and seized personal files, his
computer hard disk and CD-ROMs. He was immediately taken to Evin prison.
Kabovand was sentenced on 18 August 2005 to 18 months in prison and a
five-year ban on working as a journalist for "upsetting public opinion and
spreading separatist ideas." The sentence was reduced on appeal to a year
in prison, which he never served. He founded a Kurdistan human rights
organisation last year along with other journalists. Access to its website
( http://www.insaniyet.com ) has been blocked several times.
Said Matinpour of "Yarpagh" (an Azeri-language weekly based in Tehran) has
been detained since 28 May, when he and his wife were arrested at their
home in the northwestern city of Zanjan. He was transferred to Tehran two
days later and is now being held in security section 209 in Evin prison. He
has not been charged and neither his relatives nor his lawyer have been
able to see him.
Mohammad Hassan Fallahieh, a journalist with the Arabic-language service of
the public radio and TV broadcaster Al-Alam, has been detained since last
November. He was tried by a revolutionary tribunal on 29 April on a charge
of spying and was sentenced to three years in prison. He is also now being
held in Evin prison's security section 209. His lawyer says he has many
health problems and needs a thorough medical examination.
The three journalists whose imprisonment was already known are Adnan
Hassanpour of the weekly "Asou", Kaveh Javanmard of the weekly "Karfto" and
Ali Farahbakhsh, a contributor to several business newspapers including
"Sarmayeh".
Hassanpour was arrested on 25 January and is being held in Sanandaj, the
capital of Kurdistan province (see IFEX alerts of 15 March and 30 January
2007). Javanmard was arrested on 18 December and is also being held in
Sanandaj (see alerts of 23 May and 11 January 2007). Farahbakhsh was
arrested on 27 November 2006 and is being held in Evin prison's security
section 209 (see alert of 30 March 2007). Reporters Without Borders has
already voiced deep concern about the state of health of Farahbakhsh, who
has requested release for hospitalisation.
Said Mohamadi, who is the editor in chief of "Al-Alam" as well as being a
writer and poet better known as Moghanlou, was arrested by intelligence
officers at Tehran airport on 22 June on his return from a trip to the
Azerbaijani capital of Baku. He was freed two days later on bail of 100
million toumen (80,000 euros) pending trial on charges which the
authorities have refused to reveal. His passport has been taken and he is
banned from leaving the country.
The High Council for National Security has meanwhile written to the Iranian
news media banning them from publishing articles about disturbances
resulting from the petrol rationing that was introduced on 27 June. Reports
about these developments are nonetheless being posted on blogs and
websites. Several reporters and photographers who went to the scenes of the
disturbances were attacked by members of security forces or by rioters.
For further information contact Hajar Smouni, RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie,
Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: moyen-orient@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org
The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of RSF.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.
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