Week 12 - 2012

News of the Prisoners

A-Transfers

• Kurdish political prisoner Habibollah Golparipour transferred to solitary in Oroumiyeh prison
• Political prisoner Mohammad Ali Velayati on hunger strike since 3/14 was moved to Evin 240 solitary.

B- Arrests/Incarcerations

• Kambiz Habibi, Baha’i from Shiraz arrested and sent to Intel. Detention center.
• Kavoos Samimi, Baha’i from Shiraz arrested and sent to Intel. Detention center.
• Political prisoner Mostafa Tajzadeh is back in Evin after only one day out on furlough.
• 70 Kurds arrested in Dehgolan and Kermashah in Nowrooz fests 

C-Liberations 

• Arya Aramnejad, political prisoner and singer, was released.
• Amir Bahmani on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Rajabali Dashab on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Political prisoner Abbas Esfandiyari was released from prison after completing five years sentence.
• Hamidreza Eizadyari on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Hassan Faraji on five days furlough for Norooz.
• 63 years old political prisoner Abolfazl Ghadyani has released on bail on furlough.
• Ali Goudarzi on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Behnaz Hadadzadeh, Baha’i, released on bail from Mashhad prison.
• Fataneh Hajipour, Baha’i, released on bail from Mashhad prison.
• Behzad Houshmand on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Mohsen Javadi Afzali on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Hamzeh Karami on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Mehdi Karimian Eghbal on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Hamid Reza Khadem on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Dr. Mehdi Khazali has been released on day 70 of his hunger strike.
• Political prisoner Hamid Reza (Mahan) Mohammadi has been released on furlough.
• Ali Akbar Mohammadzadeh on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Koohyar Gourdarzi's mother Parvin Mokhtari has been released after 8 months in prison.
• Journalist Seyyed Ali Mousavi Khalkhali has been released on bail.
• Navid Nabili, Baha’i, released on bail from Mashhad prison.
• Labor activist Ali Nejati has been released on medical furlough.
• Omid Norouzian on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Didar Raoufi on five days furlough for Norooz.
• Advar(Alumni Association) member Moussa Saket was released from Tabriz prison last Friday after finishing 7 months term.
• Dr Masoud Sepehr, a high-ranking member of Organization of the Mujahedin of the Islamic Revolution and an activist reformist in Fars Province was released after four months imprisonment ahead of Norooz.
• Mostafa Tajzadeh on five days furlough for Norooz.

D-Other News 

• Cleric/blogger Ahmad Reza Ahmadpour in Ahvaz prison is banned from phone calls and visits.
• Student activist Payman Aref is on hunger strike protesting his illegal detention. Bail has been set and posted but he is still detained.
• Opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, under house arrest, met with his family, without presence of Intelligence ministry agents.

News of injustice in Iran

• Dari Amri, Baha’i  from Mashhad, sentenced to one year.
• Gholamreza Hosseini, Workers’ Rights activist, accused of collaborating with hostile governments, gets 9 years in prison.
• Mona Rezaei, Baha’i  from Mashhad, sentenced to one year suspended.
• Azari activist Behnam Sheikhi has been sentenced to five years suspended sentence.

University  - Culture

• Britain says "UK for Iranians" website, launched on Wednesday, had been blocked three days later.
• Iranian government turns to Gmail and Yahoo for support in online crackdown.
• Jalal Zolfonun, master of the setar, as well a composer and teacher of Persian music, passed away.
• Ansar Hezbollah rally outside the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to protest the approval of two films.
• Rahman Yaghubi, a student activist from Mazandaran University, was expelled from the university, one week after finishing his prison term.
• Conservative blog Zahra HB blocked immediately after openly and vehemently criticizing closed, rigid and inflexible structure of Iranian regime.

Economy in Iran

• UAE traders refuse all monetary transactions in Iranian currency for fear of rial's free fall.
• Iran central bank: Licensed exchange houses given permission to buy and sell foreign currencies.
• In Asia, importers of Iranian oil are trying to escape European sanctions.
• Iraq proposes its oil to Sri Lanka which imports 92% of its oil from Iran.
• South Korea, Taiwan, South Africa cut Iranian oil imports.
• Deputy Commerce Minister Hamid Safdel said that the import of 600 types of was temporarily banned: “The restrictions apply to goods that are either produced in Iran or for which there are no recorded statistics of import.” There is another list of 180 types of luxury items, which although not restricted, the government does not allocate a foreign exchange rate for their import.”
• The city of Tabriz signed a 12 billion rial contract with the IRGC Rehabilitation and construction Command to build a second Metro line in Tabriz.

Iran  abroad

• 20 International organisations urge renewal of mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Iran.
• US grant exemption on Iran sanctions to 10 EU countries, Japan.
• Treasury issues subpoenas in investigation into funding for pro-MEK lobby campaign. 
• Iran accused at UN of shipping weapons to Syria.
• Iran resumes funding Hamas.
• India sells 3 millions tons wheat to Iran.
• Mandate of UN Human Rights special rapporteur for Iran is extended (22-5-20)
• Ahmadinejad will attend Norooz Festival in Tajikistan on March 24-26.
• Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay an official two-day visit to Iran on March 28 and 29 to inaugurate the Turkish Cultural Center in Tehran.
• EU to add 17 Iranians to its sanctions list for Human Rights abuses.
• EU foreign ministers agreed a ban on the export of equipment and software to Iran that can be used to monitor or intercept telecommunications.

Politics in Iran

• Iran will hold runoff elections for 65 parliamentary seats on May 4.
• After fiasco of "Year of economic Jihad" Khamenei declares 91 "Year of national production, support of Iran labour/investment" 
• Al Alarabiya news agency has claimed that Kamran Daneshjoo, the Iranian Science Minister, has converted to Christianity.

Miscellaneous 

• Iran removes World AIDS day from state calendar.