Monday, May 10, 2010

Weekly Digest Monday May 10th, 2010

Weekly Digest Monday May 10th, 2010
Message from student.information.center@gmail.com:

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 205 - Monday May 10th, 2010


SIC wishes to give condolences to all Iranians and Kurds for the executions of the 5 Kurds earlier this week.

FUTURE PLANS
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills
--Being out in the streets on Thursdays

NEWS
--BBC: Tehran's Prosecutor's Office issued a statement early Sunday announcing the execution of 5 political activists. According to the official report these individuals were executed because of their terrorist activities including planting bombs in government centers. The suspects executed in Evin prison were: Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heidarian, Farhad Vakili, Mahdi Eslamyan and Shirin Elmhooli. It is reported that the families of the political prisoners were not informed that the execution was going to take place. It is widely speculated that these executions were timed to coincide with the approaching one year anniversary of the post-elections protests. 

--BBC: The lawyer of executed political prisoners Mr. Kamangar and Mr. Eslamian has told BBC that during the court hearing, the prosecution took an excessive amount of time questioning the defendant on such basic information such as their name etc. When the defendants' lawyer asked for time to speak, the ruling judge asked him to write down whatever he has to say because it is time for him (the judge) to go to his "daily prayer". In this way, according to the lawyer, he was not given proper time to discuss the case and defend his clients. 

--Radio Zamaneh: The execution of the 4 men and one woman has raised concerns with multiple human rights watch bodies outside of Iran where these actions have been strongly condemned. The International Campaign for Human Rights released a statement condemning the Iranian regime whereby the sudden and unannounced execution of the five individuals shows that the government is trying to terrorize the population and its opponents. 

--Radio France: After the execution announcement, hundreds of Iranians residing in Paris took to the streets and protested the executions. The crowd of protesters headed towards the Iranian embassy where they broke windows until the French police intervened. 

--Deutche Welle: The families of the executed have not yet received their bodies. A number of them were told to return on Tuesday. Since a number of the executed individuals were kurdish, their families would like a burial in the province of Kurdistan.

--BBC: It reported that earlier today (Monday May 10th) students at Shahid Beheshti University (north of Tehran) protested the presence of Ahmadinejad on their campus. Youtube videos show the scene where security forces disperse the students. A similar event happened last week when he was present on another University campus in Tehran. In similar news, the families of the executed planned a protest sit-in in front of Tehran University. But the security forces barrackated the area, preventing the sit-in from taking place. Similar protests broke out in multiple cities around Iran where protesters were met with heavy security and in general the atmosphere of these cities has become tense and heavy with police forces. Finally, a sit-in is also organized in the Iraqi city of Soleimanieh and this will continue until tomorrow evening. 

--Kalameh: Following the recent execusions, Mr. Mousavi has released a statement heavily condemning the unfair process that led to these executions. He also used this opportunity to point out that the assailants that attacked university dorms last June, and the individuals responsible for the Kahrizak detention center atrocities still walk free and have not been held accountable. The persian version of his statement is attached to this newsletter. 

--Radio Farda: For the second time in recent times, hundreds of people gathered outside the Iranian embassy in Kabul and protested the way in which the Iranian government treats afghani refugees and immigrants inside Iran. They also demanded that the Iranian regime stop executing afghan refugees. Many of the protesters were women.

--JRS: An internal investigative survey shows that the government of Ahmadinejad is the most corrupt government Iran has had in recent history with a 27% rank on the corruption assessment scale.

NEWS OF THE ARRESTED
--BBC: The sentences for some of the arrested activists were announced recently. These individuals include Abdollah Momeni, Feizollah Arabsorkhi, haleh Sahabi and Mehdi Kalari. According to the verdict, Abdollah Momeni is sentenced to 4 years in prison. Mr. Arabsorkhi (member of the Organization of Mojahedeen of Islamic Revolution) has been sentenced to 6 years in prison. Haleh Sahabi, women's rights activist, has been sentenced to 2 years in prison and was ordered to pay a fine (which replcaed her flogging punishment). Mehdi Kalari, student at Sharif University, has been sentenced to 3 years in prison. 

--Radio Farda: Mr. Karroubi has visited the family of Mohammad Davari, an emprisoned journalist. Mr. Davari hs been arrested for 8 months now because of the journalism work he did on the sexual abuse that goes on in detention centers. He had gathered video and other documents regarding these abuse claims.


Email: student.information.center@gmail.com








Google Docs makes it easy to create, store and share online documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
Google Docs logo

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Weekly Digest Monday 3 May 2010

Weekly Digest Monday 3 May 2010
Message from student.information.center@gmail.com:

Student Information Center (SIC)

Newsletter Issue 203 - Monday May 3rd, 2010

FUTURE PLANS
--Efforts focused at increasing non-violent civil disobedience in the society.
--Allah o Akbar during the nights
--Writing slogans on the walls and bills
--Being out in the streets on Thursdays
--Attending Labor's Day Demonstration

NEWS
--BBC: Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the opposition leaders have urged all reformist groups to obtain protest permits for June 22nd, to mark the one year anniversary of the post-elections protests. During their meeting, they emphasized the constitutional right of the Iranian people to rally.

--BBC: Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi released statements commemorating Worker's day. On this occasion, they urged all workers and teachers to join the struggle for freedom.

--JRS: In honor of Worker's day and Iranian Teachers day, a group of political prisoners announced their solidarity with Iranian workers and teachers by going on a hunger strike. They also criticized current regime policy that has left many without their rights, with unemployment and no retirement insurance.

--Kalameh: It is reported that Ahmadinejad visited Tehran University campus last Saturday for an unannounced speech. The student body was not informed of his visit to the campus but it is reported that as soon as it was revealed that he was present at the University, student gathered outside the hall where he was giving his speecha nd protested his presence.

--Radio Farda: Security and judicial pressure continues to increase on Iranian human rights activists and teachers. Two member of the Teacher Trade association were summoned ot the Intelligence ministry last week and subsequently arrested.

--BBC: ENI, a large Italian oil company has announced that it is canceling its operation in Iran because of US embargo pressures. According to officials of ENI, Italy's share in Iran's oil production in 2009 was equivalent to 35 thousand barrels per day.

--Radio Farda: Based on the latest situation report from Freedom House press freedom in the world, Iran ranks at 187 for freedom of press. It is only ahead of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, North Korea. Iran is now notably worse than Burma. In 2008, Iran ranked 181 ahead of China and Rwanda.

--Radio Farda: Zahra Rahnavard, wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, has asked the Islamic Republic authorities to free all prisoners and to hold free and democratic elections for the country.

--BBC: A special commission has requested that two reformist parties (The participation front and the Revolution Mujahedeen Organization) be resolved. In response to these political moves, the leaders of these parties have stated that they will continue their legal political activity.

--Radio Farda: After nearly a year since the post-elections unrest, Jamshid Ansari, member of Fraction of Imam's line party has stated that despite was was initially claimed, no investigative body was formed to investigate the brutal events that took place in the Tehran University dorm. It was reported that 5 students lost their lives after the Basij raided the dorms last summer.

--JRS: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran published a statement on Tuesday where it expressed concerns over the death penalties given to protesters arrested after the post-elections events last year. They also demanded a halt of these political executions. According to this organization, at least 11 protesters have so far been sentenced to death.









Google Docs makes it easy to create, store and share online documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
Google Docs logo

Newer Posts Older Posts Home

Google Groups
If the videos or photos are not available on this page, please subscribe to the group's mailing list. The newsletter and the videos and photos will be send to you directly. Your email address will not be released to any third party organization, and we will not use it for anything except sending the newsletters.

To subscribe please enter your email address in the form below:
Email:
Visit this group