Week 07 - 2012

News of the Prisoners

A-Transfers

• Davood Bahmanabadi has been transferred from Evin to a hospital.
• Dr. Mehdi Khazali on his 35th dy of hunger strike was taken to medical clinic in Evin. He remains on hunger strike.
• Hunger striking political prisoner Mohammad Reza Motamednia was taken to Modarres hospital in grave condition.
• Issa Saharkhiz has been transferred to the heart hospital of Amirabad chained to bed.

B- Arrests/Incarcerations

•  Worker rights activist in Sanandaj Mehrdad Amin was arrested. 
• Omid Dehdarzadeh, a member of the Pan-Iranist Party was arrested on charges of writing slogans on walls to mark 25 Bahman.
• Ali Reza Firouzi summoned to serve his 4.5 years prison sentence.
• Dr. Khazali's wife and daughter arrested on Feb. 14th were released on bail on Feb. 15th. 
• Masis Mossian, clergyman in Narmak Church in Tehran, arrested and sent to Rejaei Shahr prison.
• Esmail Ravangard, student in Payam e Noor University in Marivan, summoned to Intelligence Ministry in Marivan and arrested.
• Aziz Tazik, student in Payam e Noor University in Marivan, summoned to Intelligence Ministry in Marivan and arrested.
• Widespread arrest of ordinary citizens in Kerman, Isfahan et and in Gilan, Khouzestan and Khorasan provinces for calling to boycott of elections.
• 17 people were arrested in Kerman during 25 Bahman protest. 8 were charged and jailed rest released on bail.

C-Liberations 

• Women's rights activist Kobra Farajzadeh was released from Tabriz prison after completing her sentence.
• Journalist Saeed Razavi Faqih released.
• Student activist Younes Soleimani was released from Ardebil prison after completing 6 months sentence.

D-Other News 

• Human Rights activist Mohammad Sedigh Kaboudvand started a hunger strike Sunday 2/12 and breaks it on 2/14 after authorities accepted his demands.
• Memorial for martyr Mohammad Mokhtari cancelled under regime’s pressure.
• Roars of "Ya Hossein Mir Hossein" and "death to dictator" were heard Friday night in Ward 350 of Evin prison.
• Rajai Shahr prisoners support demonstrations on 25 Bahman.

News of injustice in Iran

• Esmail Barzegar, Dentist from Tabriz, sentenced to 7 years in prison.
• Nabiollah Bastani, teacher and workers’ rights activist sentenced by Appeal to 6 months prison and 5 years in exile in Boroojerd.
• Goudarz and Roofia Beidaghi sentenced to one year prison and three years exile.
• Sooran Daneshvar, Kurdish student activist, sentenced to one year in prison.
• Rasoul Heidarzadeh, musician and singer from Tabriz, sentenced to 7 years in prison.
• Appeals Court has upheld the 6 months sentence of Ahmadinejad's media adviser Aliakbar Javanfekr.
• Javad Zadekam, sportsman from Tabriz, sentenced to 3 years in prison.
• Possible elimination of stoning as a form of punishment in IRI.
• Charges dropped against Ahmadinejad aide Mortazavi over Kahrizak.
• One man hanged in Zanjan on Tuesday.

University  - Culture

• Iranians get back Internet email access.
• Internet restrictions getting so bad even basijis protesting.
• Saeed Kian Hashemi, Tehran University student, expelled for being of Baha’i faith.
• Shima Mofeghi, student in management at Amol University, expelled for her Baha’I faith.
• Fatemeh Nouri, Christian student, suspended of her studies for one year.

Economy in Iran

• Seventeen European countries import Iranian petrochemicals.
• Exchange rate for 1 US Dollar: 1920 Toman -- for 1 Euro: 2500 Toman (12 Feb)
• Total replaces Iran oil with Saudi oil.
• Sanctions tighten as some companies refuse to ship Iranian crude.
• German traders to participate in international forum in Tehran. 
• Iran cuts oil exports to six EU countries The 6 countries are Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Portugal, Netherlands. But oil Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister denied the news.
• A group of Eastern European countries urged not to approve the bill to cut off oil exports to Europe; Majlis decided to postpone discussions until after election.
• Iranian businessmen attempting to import grains from Russia using roubles.
• One-fourth of industrial units close down in Tehran Province.
• Iran to build new power plants in Africa and Syria.

Protests

• One opposition party calls for street protests on 25 Bahman.
• Explosion during pro-regime rally in Tehran on Feb. 11th. 
• Tehran University students issue a statement in support of 25 Bahman.
• Activists and previous prisonners summonned at the Ministry of Domestic Affairs to sign a commitment not to take part in 25 Bahman protests. 
• A group of municipal employees in Tabriz demonstrated in front of the district office to protest use of temporary workers.
• 25 Bahman in Tehran: around three times more police forces than protesters – First appearance of women anti-riot staff – Six arrests confirmed: three men and three women.
• According to Tehran General Prosecutor, the Iranian public loves to shop early for the holiday and enemies occasionally take advantage of this to claim that these are protests.

Iran  abroad

• India rejects European Union call to boycott Iranian oil.
• Khamenei meets with Hamas Prime Minister.
• Syrian National Council backs Green Movement protests on 14 February.
• British FM calls for release of Iranian opposition leaders.
• Man, believed Iranian, has both legs blown off by bomb he was carrying in Bangkok. A second one arrested; third Iranian suspect arrested and detained in Malaysia and fourth, a woman, is back in Iran.
• Green Movement protest in Boston ahead of 14 February.
• Statement by EU's Catherine Ashton on the continuing detention of opposition leaders.
• Iranian human rights activists outside Iran got emails threatening prosecution.
• Vancouver demonstration in support of 14 February.
• French Foreign Ministry communiqué calling on Karroubi and Moussavi to be liberated.
• Yemeni authorities seize weapon-loaded Iranian ship.
• Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, Interior Minister, arrived in Vienna to attend the third Ministerial Conference of the Paris Pact Partners on Combating the Afghan Illicit Opiate Trade. 
• Thais seek fifth Iranian over bomb plot.
• Iranian exile group to start evacuating Iraqi camp = Read: Organisation of People Mojahedins start evacuating Ashraf camp.

Politics in Iran

• Hamas PM of Gaza, Ismail Haniya, gave a speech at Ahmadinejad’s side on Iran's revolution anniversary.
• Weekly meetings between Rafsanjani and Khamenei stopped.
• Deputy Speaker of Iran Majlis Shahabeddin Sadr disqualified from running in upcoming Parliamentary elections .
• Rafsanjani continues to refuse to sign Farhad Daneshjoo's appointment letter.
• Association of Qom and  Najaf Scholars and Teachers: Boycotting the upcoming Iran Majlis elections is your religious duty.
• Ali Khamenei pardoned and commuted prison terms of 761 inmates on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the revolution.
• Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi make joint statement marking anniversary of Revolution. They compare the current situation with the oppressions suffered by the people during the Shah’s era which resulted in the Islamic Revolution. They urge the military, police, IRGC and  Basij to side with the people.
• Iran summons Azeri envoy over scientist killing.
• More than 400 Activists demand release of opposition leaders Mousavi and Karroubi.
• Out of 261 MPS, 33 of them who want to be candidates were not agreed. 
• Rafsanjani in a bad position : extremist paper Keyhan claims he will resign from Guardians Council, which Rafsanjani denies. 
• Iran's Foreign Ministry summons ambassadors of six EU countries to talk about sanctions.
• Ahmadinejad's governmentt had to borrow $6.5 billion from Iran Central Bank to pay for subsidy reform.
• Ahmadinejad's son-in-law, Mehdi Khorshdi, has a new appointment to serve on Expediency Council Secretariat.
• Eight lists of principalists for the elections.
• Trilateral summit opens: Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan.
• In a letter to senior religious leaders in Iran, Zahra Rabbani Amlashi (daughter of Ayatollah Mohammad Mehdi Rabbani Amlashi, former Prosecutor General of Iran and member of the Guardian Council) and daughter-in-law of the late Ayatollah Montazeri  calls on Iran’s religious leaders to break their silence and express their opinions about the evil being perpetrated against political prisoners and their innocent families and to work to resolve this injustice.
• IRGC to establish its own clerical centers under tutelage of Mesbah Yazdi.

Miscellaneous 

• Rivers feeding lake Urmiah have been reopened and allowed to flow to the lake.
• Rain causes damage to Private Palace of Cyrus the Great.
• Northern Iran without natural gas due to main compressor failure.
• Latest IRGC commander to die of cardiac arrest has asked for an autopsy of his corpse in his will.
• Valentine day forbidden in Iran, selling red roses also forbidden.