Swedish police probe murder of dissident Iran Kurd
- 25 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 25 An Iranian opposition activist was killed in the Swedish town of Lindsberg, onMonday by unidentified assailants, a Kurdish opposition website reported on Thursday.
7 boys under-18 executed in Iran since January: Amnesty
- 25 August 2005
Iran Focus: London, Aug. 25 - The human rights organisation Amnesty International expressed concern on Thursday at the imminent execution of two minors in Iran, who have been sentenced to death by hanging.
The group said that Iran had already executed seven children this year and called on the Islamic Republic to abide by its international commitments.
Sex orgies, STD on the rise in Iran, hard-line daily warns
- 25 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 25 An influential hard-line daily in Iran warned that young people were increasingly turning to sex orgies, drugs, and alcohol, all of which carry severe penalties for the offenders under Irans strict religious laws.
Iran questions EU-3 role in nuclear negotiations
- 25 August 2005
AFP: Iran's new hardline nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Thursday challenged the role of Britain, France and Germany as the leaders of diplomatic efforts over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.
Iran seeking nuclear bomb "booster," say exiles
- 25 August 2005
Reuters: Iranian agents have tried to obtain from South Korea a substance that can be used to boost nuclear explosions in atomic weapons, an Iranian exile group said on Thursday.
Prosecutor says Iran has 18 law enforcement agencies
- 24 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 25 Iran has 18 separate law enforcement and security agencies, according to the countrys top prosecutor.Persian-language websites reported on Thursday that Ghorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi, the State Prosecutor, told journalists in Tehran, There are about 18 different law enforcement agencies, and may be even more, in the country.
Iran Set to Offer New Nuclear Proposals
- 24 August 2005
AP: Iran will soon offer new proposals for negotiations with Europe on its nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on state-run television Wednesday. Ahmadinejad said he has instructed the Supreme National Security Council, the country's top security decision-making body, to draw up a new set of proposals over Iran's uranium enrichment program.
US lobbying for Iran to face UN Security Council on nuclear issue
- 24 August 2005
AFP: The United States is lobbying hard for Iran to be referred quickly to the UN Security Council if it fails to meet a September 3 deadline to suspend nuclear fuel work that could be used to make atomic weapons, diplomats said Wednesay. The United States is "working hard behind the scenes" to build consensus against Iran within the 35-nation board of governors of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which could send the matter to the Security Council for possible economic sanctions, a Western diplomat told AFP.
Irans President appoints hard-liner as spokesman
- 24 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 24 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided to appoint a lay member of the ultra-conservative Guardian Council to the post of government spokesman, a website close to the Islamist camp reported on Wednesday.
Irans new Foreign Minister was involved in terrorism
- 24 August 2005
Iran Focus: London, Aug. 24 Manouchehr Mottaki, 52, who was confirmed on Wednesday by Irans hard-line parliament (Majlis)
as the new Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
was involved in a series of terrorist attacks outside Iran,
according to Iranian exiles and defectors from the theocratic
regime.
Irans parliament confirms key hard-line ministers
- 24 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Aug. 24 Irans hard-line-dominated parliament gave thumbs up to 17 ultra-Islamists nominated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for ministerial posts, but rejected his choices for the four ministries of oil, welfare, education, and cooperatives.
Irans new elite army chief had Lebanese terror ties
- 23 August 2005
Iran Focus: London, Aug. 24 The new commander of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces was involved in terrorist activities in Lebanon during the 1980s, analysts say. Revolutionary Guards brigadier general Ahmad Kazemi was appointed on Saturday by Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to head the IRGC Ground Forces. Kazemi closely worked with the new Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar in Lebanon.
Iran towns jail has 30 prisoners on death row
- 23 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 24 There are 30 prisoners on death row in a prison in the town of Arak, central Iran, according to the areas Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor. Hamzeh Pakbin said that the prisoners had all been sentenced to hanging for a variety of crimes, local newspapers reported on Wednesday.
Irans new defence minister may impact Iraqi insurgency
- 23 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 24 Analysts and defectors from Irans booming arms industry believe that the appointment as Defence Minister of an ultra-Islamist regarded as the father of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards operations beyond the countrys borders could have a direct impact on the supply of sophisticated weapons and bombs to terrorist groups operating in Iraq.
17-year-old musician to be hanged in Iran capital
- 23 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 24 A seventeen-year-old musician in Iran is facing imminent execution in public after his death sentence was upheld by Irans hard-line Supreme Court,
a state-owned daily reported on Wednesday.
The teenage boy, identified by his first name Sina, was found
guilty of murdering another individual after a dispute over
cannabis last October, the daily Etemaad reported.
Iran to hang 16-year-old schoolboy
- 23 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 24 Irans clergy-dominated Supreme Court has given the green light for the hanging of a 16-year-old schoolboy in Tehran, a state-owned daily reported on Wednesday.
Top negotiator says Iran firm on nuclear enrichment
- 23 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Aug. 24 The United States and the Europeans will gain nothing from adopting a tough line
against Iran and taking it to the United Nations Security
Council, Irans new hard-line chief nuclear negotiator
warned in an interview that appeared on Wednesday on a
Persian-language website.
Halliburton-linked company stripped of Iran contract
- 23 August 2005
AFP: A private Iranian oil company linked to the US oil giant Halliburton has lost a multi-million dollar contract to drill for natural gas amid accusations it won the deal through bribery, officials said Tuesday.
Iran hangs four men aged between 17 and 23
- 23 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 Four young men between the ages of 17 and 23 were hanged in public in the port city of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, on Tuesday, according to the state-owned daily Kayhan. News of the hanging was posted on the ultra-Islamist dailys website late on Tuesday. The four were identified only by their initials. Two of them received 74 lashes in public before their execution, the daily reported.
Irans ultra-Islamists burn French flags outside embassy
- 23 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 Several hundred radical Islamists from the para-military Bassij force of Irans Revolutionary Guards set fire to French flags outside the embassy of France in Tehran on Tuesday, amid chants of Death to France. The militants, who described themselves as members of student organisation of Bassij, later demonstrated outside the embassies of Britain and Germany, Frances two other European partners in the two-year talks with the Islamic Republic on Irans nuclear activities.
Europeans call off key nuclear talks with Iran
- 23 August 2005
Reuters: European powers have called off August 31 talks with Iran over its nuclear programme, France said on Tuesday, marking a breakdown in two years of negotiations with Tehran to halt its sensitive atomic work. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said talks on a formal European proposal made earlier this month would not now go ahead because Iran had resumed certain nuclear work in breach of a promise to freeze it while talks lasted.
Iran's para-military students rally outside European embassies
- 23 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 - Several hundred members of Iran's para-military Bassij forces in universities demonstrated outside the embassies of the three main European powers in Tehran on Tuesday afternoon as the Islamic Republic continues its campaign to force the Europeans to retreat from their position on Irans nuclear activities.
Irans top nuclear man accuses U.S. of blustering
- 22 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 - Irans new hard-line secretary general of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and chief nuclear negotiator said on Tuesday that the United States strategy vis-à-vis Tehrans suspected nuclear weapons program was not to wage a war, but to force the Islamic Republic to commit suicide.
Cholera outbreak reported in Irans notorious jail
- 22 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 There has been an outbreak of cholera in Tehrans notorious Evin Prison, a committee in defence of political prisoners said on Tuesday. Numerous cases of the deadly virus, which has recently killed at least 10 people in Iran, have been reported in wards seven, eight, and nine of the prison, according to the Student Committee in Defence of Political Prisoners.
Iran shuts down arts university in historic city
- 22 August 2005
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 The closure of the Arts University in Isfahan, central Iran, has angered arts students and lecturers. An official decree gave the university staff three months to clear out of the campus so that the buildings could be used by Bonyad Mostazafin (Foundation of the Deprived). Bonyad Mostazafin was formed in 1979 to take control of the huge assets of the abolished royal household, as well as much of the assets and funds confiscated from businessmen associated with the former regime.
