Student activist Ali Kanturi has jumped bail and fled Iran after a two-year struggle against his country’s legal system. Last month he learned that he had been sentenced to 15 years in jail after being found guilty of abduction and extortion. His lawyer describes the charges as “astonishing” and Kanturi says he is innocent. He [...]

What Iran Threw Away A senior U.S. official Wednesday confirmed that the United States offered the first civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran in three decades under the terms of a deal that Iran walked away from last fall. Daniel Poneman, Deputy Secretary of Energy, said that had Iran accepted the deal – under which it [...]

By Alex Butterworth Reviewed by John Gray 18 March 2010 The early anarchists were a convenient enemy against which the status quo was strengthened. A world without rulers The problem faced by those who want to build a new future for humanity is that they have to start in the flawed world that exists at [...]

Firecrackers and homemade explosives were heard throughout the Iranian capital on Tuesday night as Iranians took to the streets in celebration of Chaharshanbeh Souri,  an ancient Zoroastrian fire festival held ahead of the Persian New Year, amid a heavy police and security presence. Opposition supporters had vowed to turn the event this year into a [...]

By CHIP CUMMINS A top Iranian opposition leader said the governing regime of the Islamic Republic is “plagued with despotism,” keeping up a war of words with leaders despite a crackdown that has kept protesters off the streets for more than a month. In comments posted on his Web site, Mehdi Karroubi heaped fresh criticism [...]

Iran has deployed hundreds of police across Tehran ahead of the beginning of Persian New Year celebrations. Authorities fear the occasion will be used by opposition supporters to protest against last year’s disputed presidential election results. Tehran’s police chief Gen Hossein Sajedinia told reporters police were out in force to “prevent any event” happening in [...]

By Shirin Sadeghi On this day every year for millennia, Iranians have started fires. Big bonfires and tiny ones made of tinder. Street blazes and backyard flickers. They jump over these flames during the ancient fire festival, Chaharshanbeh Suri, ushering in the festivities of the Norooz Festival that marks the vernal equinox worldwide, and the [...]

The wife of top Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi told AFP on Tuesday that she has been unable to see her husband in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since his arrest earlier this month. Fifty Iranian filmmakers and artists, in a signed letter released on Tuesday, urged the authorities to release Panahi, a news agency reported. “Ever [...]

An Iranian semiofficial news agency says police plan to deploy forces to the streets in strength during the night’s fire festival. The Tuesday report by ISNA news agency quotes Tehran City Police Chief Gen. Hossein Sajedinia as saying police forces will be stationed in the streets to prevent “any event,” apparently referring to possible political [...]