Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday dismissed accusations by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that his country was moving toward a military dictatorship. Asked to comment on her remarks, Ahmadinejad told reporters that Clinton’s statement was more a reflection of the United States. “We don’t take her comments seriously,” he told a news conference [...]
By Andrew Lee Butters Even Iran’s irrepressible Twitter-powered opposition could not mask its disappointment. Before the Feb. 11 celebration of the 31st anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, some estimates predicted anti-government turnout to be as high as 2 million. Very little of that materialized. Now Iran’s emotionally deflated opposition is collectively scratching its head to [...]
Nasarin Sotoodeh, a prominent rights lawyer said that 10 days ago she received 2 SMSs over an interview she gave following the execution of one her clients, Arash Rahmanipour. The SMS informed her that as a result of interviews she gave to foreign media organization, despite being warned by the authorities, her phone service would [...]
2 Kurdish merchants were killed and seven others were injured in the Balkeh border region near Baneh, when security forces opened fire on their group. According to RAHANA’s correspondent in Kurdistan, during the shooting Gharib son of Karim and Najmeddin son of Ali, both of them residents of Kandehsour village, were killed. According to reports [...]
The 15th branch of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran found Amir Reza Arefi guilty of Moharebeh, and based on articles 186, 187, 189, 190, 191 and 46 of the Islamic Penal Law sentenced him to death. The 21-year-old Arefi is married and was arrested before the June presidential election on April 15th, 2009. Mohammad Mostafaie [...]
Mohammad Parsa told ILNA today that the activities of several producers in the Electricity Industry have been brought to a halt and others are working at minimum capacity. He maintained that government failure to honour its payments is the chief cause of this reduction in the industry and if this situation persist 900 thousand workers [...]
-50 days after his was arrested, author and film critic, Ardavan Tarakameh’s family announced that he has been granted release on $30,000 bail. Ardavan’s sister, Bahar, remains in prison. According to CHRR, Ardavan, whose father, Yunes Tarakameh is one of Iran’s most prominent authors, was arrested on December 27th, 2009 at Mahin Fahimi’s house along [...]
On Monday, February 8th, 2010, intelligence agents raided the residence of Asou Kolah-Ghoochi in the Bardasht neighbourhood of Sanandaj, arrested the female Kurdish activist and assaulted her family members. There is still no information on Kolah-Ghoochi’s current whereabouts or the reasons for her arrest. On Thursday, February 11th, 2010, Ali Ghadermarzi, a psychologist who works [...]
After admitting last week that Firoozi and Hashemi were indeed detained at Evin, the Tehran Prosecutor ordered the transfer of the 2 student activists to a public ward inside the prison. However, one week after the prosecutor’s orders, the 2 remain in solitary confinement. The families of the 2 detained activists, not having been contacted [...]
Vancouver, British Columbia welcomed the world, as over 2,600 winter athletes from 82 countries entered the BC Place arena, ready to compete in 86 events in 15 different sports. The opening ceremony focused on Canadian diversity and heritage, with emphasis on the many cultures of the First Nations. After the longest Torch Relay in history, [...]