UN official: Iran should stop executing children

Well, duh...

Iran should immediately halt the execution of children, the U.N.'s top human rights official said Monday.

Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said she met with Iranian officials during a visit to Tehran earlier this month and urged them to impose a moratorium on the execution of minors."

Even if the legislation in the books appears to permit the imposition of the death penalty on minors ... it would be imperative that they not be executed," she told journalists in Geneva.

Iran is one of the few countries in the world that executes minors, in violation of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Two hanged in Iran cities

Two towers on Sept. 11, two hangings in Iran.

Recent hangings in Iran

• Iran: Three prisoners hanged in Shiraz and Zahedan
• Iran: Eight hanged in Saveh, Naqadeh, and Zahedan

Iran authorities lash man for having bible in car

And this is the place that so many mainstream media organizations call a 'democracy' - get real.

Iranian authorities in Tehran lashed a man on his back earlier this year for having a bible in his car, an Iranian Christian group said in a report on its website on Friday.

The man was only identified by the initials A. Sh.

On 5 May, the man, driving his vehicle, was involved in a road accident with a car belonging to security guards for a government official in Tehran.

A bible and a video of Jesus Christ were found in the man's possession upon inspection of his vehicle by the state security forces (SSF).

A. Sh. admitted to being Christian, prompting the security agents to beat him up, the report said. He was arrested and taken to a holding cell in Detention Centre 102.

During interrogation security agents accused the man of converting from Islam to Christianity, a practice banned under Iran's strict theocratic laws.

He was subsequently subjected to lashes on the back and underwent physical and psychological torture, the report added.He was released two days later after his family made bail.

Video: Iranian girl shot down by the mullahs' henchmen

Iran: Release Mansour Ossanlu and Mahmoud Salehi and help end legalised discrimination against independent trades unions

Amnesty Int'l reports. What a shame, this guy seemed to genuinely be trying to fight against the regime...

In support of the International Day of Action for Mansour Ossanlu and Mahmoud Salehi on 9 August 2007, Amnesty International joins voices with the ITUC and ITF in calling for the two men to be released immediately and for any charges that have been levelled against them in connection with their peaceful and legitimate trades union work to be dropped.

Mansour Ossanlu, head of the Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, and Mahmoud Salehi, Spokesperson for the Organisational Committee to Establish Trade Unions and former head of the Saqez Bakers’ Union, are trades union leaders who have been detained on vaguely worded charge in order to halt their efforts to build strong trades unions capable of defending the human rights of workers against the discriminatory laws and practices that curtail workers’ rights in Iran.

Securing freedom for Mansour Ossanlu and Mahmoud Salehi will help independent trades unions move beyond the discriminatory ‘gozinesh’, or selection, regulations that enable the Iranian authorities to decide who is able to form trades unions and seek employment in a range of sectors.

Are these people (the BBC management) serious? Melanie Philips asks...

Nice little (and very appropriate) stab at the BBC from Melanie on her blog.

The BBC is apparently in crisis. We are told that its top brass take very, very seriously the blow to its integrity delivered by the recent series of scandals involving the reversed footage of the Queen and the phone-in scams. Yet the Chairman of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons, whose whereabouts when the furore exploded on July 19 in New Zealand were revealed when his phone-line went down in the middle of his interview on the BBC Radio Four Today Programme, appears therefore to have conducted his stern encounter the previous day with the Director-General, Mark Thompson — in which we were told Thompson was summoned to explain the BBC’s behaviour — in a long-distance telephone call. Some stern summons. Now we read today that the Commons Culture Select Committee, which was due to grill Mr Thompson yesterday, had to make do instead with his deputy, Mark Byford, since Mr Thompson had gone off on a family holiday - forcing the committee to listen incredulously as Byford declared that every BBC employee would be sent on courses teaching them about the importance of not lying to the public. Thus the BBC’s response.

Like Macavity, it seems, Mr Thompson is never there to face the music in person. What does this tell us about the seriousness with which the BBC takes this fundamental blow to its integrity?

Iran hangs man in public

Another day, another death by mullah.

Ayatollahs’ lobby In Washington offering human rights as a negotiating item

Interesting article on how the mullahs' lobbyists use human rights as a bargaining tool.

Binding accountability for Iran’s suppression of its population to nuclear issues and Iran’s meddling in Iraq amounts to doing the bidding of the ruling ayatollahs.

The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its president Trita Parsi have organized a panel in the US House of Representatives on July 26th, 2007, titled “Human Rights in Iran and US Foreign Policy Options.”1 According to the published agenda, representatives from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch will participate. The sponsors of the program (NIAC and Trita Parsi) are key players in the lobbying enterprise of Tehran’s ayatollahs in the United States. The Iranian regime’s violations of human rights have reached unprecedented levels. Its barbaric suppression of women, workers, students and dissidents, and the stoning of a man after 11 years of imprisonment, have been the subject of broad international condemnation. The reason Iran’s lobby is organizing the program is twofold:

1. To present “human rights” as a negotiating item on the “engagement” table with hopes of having human rights entities argue for Tehran-friendly rapprochement, easing of sanctions, and tolerance of a nuclear Iran. In a nut shell, the lobby’s message is that the more the West pressures the regime, the more violent it becomes; hence, lift the pressure.

2. To keep the Ayatollahs’ friends and inner circle in control of international reaction to Tehran’s human rights abuses.

The Iranian regime’s lobby has continuously tried to justify Iran’s clerical behavior and especially its record of human rights violations, by arguing that its causes are external factors and coercive US policies. If Iranian-American scholars are arrested, blame the US administration for allocating funds for Iranian activists. If Ahmadinejad has embarked on a policy of total repression inside the country and antagonism abroad, blame the US administration for the famous axis of evil speech and not supporting Khatami.

For how much longer will the MSM crucify the Shah...

...while, at the same time, they place little or no scrutiny on the mullahs who have been ruling the country for the last +27 years in its downward spiral back to the dark ages?

My god, a group of Iranians can't even gather to pay their respects to the man, without being attacked as 'wealthy' in the Houston Chronicle.

What a world. At least I can be comforted by the glorious English weather this afternoon...and contemplate whose brainchild this downward spiral of modern civilization was...

I'm sure BORZOU DARAGAHI will get a lot of hate mail for his article, but why not join in? You can comment at the bottom of his article.

France condemns series of executions in Iran

Strangely enough, I found this headline on a Kuwaiti news site...

At least they're 'saying' better things now. I would never expect France to 'act' on it, but their propaganda is nicer now.

Saying it was strongly opposed to capital punishment in agreement with its European Union partners, France on Thursday condemned the execution of 12 Iranians on July 22 and expressed "particular concern" over the motivation behind them.

Upon a request by the French State Secretary for Human Rights at the Foreign Ministry Rama Yade, the French government summoned Irans Charge dAffaires here in Paris to express its strong position to the Iranian executions and to capital punishment "in all circumstances." France also expressed its support for a global abolition of the death penalty and urged Iran to respect a moratorium it declared on stoning in 2002.

Report on why the BBC is the laughing stock of the nation

From USS Neverdock:

Ann Treneman writing in the Times takes the piss out of the BBC. Deservedly so. It would all be funny if the BBC's lies and fabrications weren't so serious.

So, how serious does the BBC take the current crisis and how do they respond to Parliament's request for answers? "Mark Thompson, the DG, was on a 'family holiday'..."

Iranian movie: 'Half Moon'

I hadn't heard of it, but Potkin reports on it. Sounds interesting. Some excerpts from his post are below.

Half Moon, however is nothing like that. It will be amongst the best movies I have ever seen. Half Moon, is about the common struggle of all Iranians to preserve their joyous culture. Something that the intellectuals in the West just never understood or probably think of as "bourgeois nonsense". Ghobadi illustrates some of the hardship of what Iranians have to go through for what people in most other places take for granted, such as the baffling stupidity of why women can not sing in the Islamic Republic....

...There are some magnificent scenes in the movie. Such as when Mamo enters the forbidden village where women singers are held, and 1344 women perform the Daf in their colourful dresses.

The film is about a people who are struggling to keep their joyous culture and as such the movie can not just be a sad and depressing one. In fact it is full of unique humour and despite all that happens, its unique humour remains a central part of the movie.

Some are hesitant to take part in the journey, some give up half way and turn back, some die, but at the end an incredibly beautiful woman who remains a mystery shows them the way and saves the day. Again another symbolic piece for the belief that the saviour of Iran will be the women of Iran.

Jimmy Carter: I'll mediate between Hamas & Fatah

Hmm, let me see, that's akin to a leading an extreme Democrat asking to mediate between Iran & Syria to get them to stop causing trouble in Iraq. It doesn't suit any of their purposes. In this case, it only serve's Carter's continued desire for publicity, despite what an increasingly embarassing figure he's coming to the wider public (many of whom before actually supported the evil creep).

As Washington continues a policy of isolating the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, former President Jimmy Carter reportedly has offered to mediate between Hamas and rival Palestinian faction, Fatah.

The Palestinian News Agency Ma'an reported that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh met with Scott Custer, West Bank director of the Carter Center, in Haniyeh's Gaza Strip office. Custer told Haniyeh that Carter, a Democrat, was willing to mediate between the factions. Haniyeh okayed Carter's offer, the report said....

...Carter's willingness to deal with Hamas appears to fly in the face of official U.S. policy.

After Hamas won the January 2006 elections, the U.S. cut aid to the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) over the faction's refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence, and abide by previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Amid bloody factional violence, Hamas last month seized power in the Gaza Strip.

Video of hanging in Iran

I saw a video of a recent hanging that took place in Iran on Harry's Place. Please see the post below. It is correct in saying that 'who the hell knows' if the people being hung are actually guilty of anything aside from opposing the mullahs' rule. And the sickos observing shout Allah Akbar, god is great. At least 92% of the Iranian people oppose their current illegitimate regime, according to the most recently carried out poll.

To watch the video, click here or on the picture above (be warned, it is graphic).

Wonder when the BBC will be discussing this on the televised news...guess it's 'not in their interests'...

So says Iranian blogger Arash Kamangir, speaking of course from Canada, where he is a student. In Teheran, of course, he would also be executed for this blasphemy....

...Now, according to some reports, the four were executed for murder and conspiracy. This might be the case, but, frankly, who the hell knows? Iran's judiciary routinely trump up ludicrous charges or tag on extra charges like 'rape' or 'murder' to sow confusion amongst local and international human rights campaigners.
Take for example this case.

According to Mr Kamangir's blog, a student leader was beaten, tortured and then executed as "a gang member".

Iran - Further information on fear of torture or ill treatment/ arbitrary arrest of Adnan Hassanpour & Mansour Tayfouri

Amnesty reports.

Adnan Hassanpour and his cousin Abdolwahed (known as Hiwa) Butimar have been sentenced to death. Adnan Hassanpour, a Kurdish journalist and advocate of cultural rights for Iranian Kurds, was detained on 25 January and environmentalist Hiwa Butimar on or around 23 December 2006, both in Marivan, Kordestan province. They were reportedly held incommunicado in a Ministry of Intelligence facility in Marivan, and transferred to Marivan prison on 26 March.

Following his arrest Hiwa Butimar‘s home was searched by members of the Intelligence Service, who are said to have confiscated items including Kurdish flags, videos in Kurdish and family pictures of a trip to Iraqi Kurdistan. The confiscated items were also reportedly used as evidence against the cousins, who reportedly appeared before a Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj on 12 June, in the presence of their lawyer.

Adnan Hassanpour and Hiwa Butimar were reportedly returned from Marivan prison to an unconfirmed place of detention, possibly the detention facility run by the Ministry of Intelligence in Sanandaj, the capital of Kordestan province, early in the morning of 15 July. On 17 July the men were told that they had been sentenced to death on charges of espionage and Moharebeh (being at enmity with God). If confirmed on appeal, the sentences would then have to be further confirmed by the Supreme Court.

In an interview carried by the online publication Rooz, the two men's lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said that Adnan Hassanpour’s charges related to "a phone conversation he had with a staff member of Radio Voice of America". He also said that Hiwa Butimar had been charged with carrying lethal weapons, although he denied his client had ever done so, and stressed he had not been in contact with any armed group (see: http://www.roozonline.com/english/archives/2007/07/006302.php).

Two great Pahlavi Kings

Aryamehr remembers the two last legitimate leaders of Iran, and focuses on Reza Shah. Good summary for those who have formed their opinion of the Pahlavis based on what you've heard in the mainstream media. They did so much to help rebuild their country, but unfortunately the world (or at least our major media outlets) decides to brand them as brutal dictators - even at a time when the ruling mullahs continue to execute and torture thousands, which goes unreported in the world press. With rulers such as Kim Jong-Il receiving little real scrutiny - in a country where you can be executed if you don't have 1 of 2 mandated haircuts - it makes you wonder why media organizations such as BBC and CNN until very recently couldn't let a month go by without talking about how awful the shah of Iran was...

The major part of Aryamehr's post is pasted below. Also background info can be found here and here.

Iran before Reza Shah the Great was a an impoverished, disease-stricken, bandit-ridden, land with society being controlled by the poisonous grip of the Arabo-Muslim clergy. The ruling dynasty was the Qajar (Kadjar) who where known for spending more time and money travelling abroad than actually being present in the country they ruled. The Qajar's have gone down in Iranian history as one of the worst and most incompetent dynasties to rule Iran due to their complete incompetency and failure in defending Iran's borders with the entire northern parts of the country having been conceded to foreign nations. The Qajar's did not care for Iran as much as they cared for their harem's and trips abroad which had led to a disastrous socio-economic state in the country - the majority of people during the Qajar Era did not even know about their Great historical figures like Cyrus the Great, instead they had been fed Arabo-Muslim propaganda for 1400 years which had made them loose touch with their roots and Iranian identities. Not being able to tolerate the status quo and the threat which foreign powers posed to the integrity of the nation any longer (in particular the threat posed by the Bolsheviks and the Imperialist threat of Britain) a saviour rose up amongst the ranks of the Iranian Cossack Brigade - a man who would become Commander of the Imperial Armed Forces and Minister of War.

Reza Shah went on to quell all unrest across the nation in particular those separatist ambitions which the Soviets had nurtured in the northern provinces (Azerbaijan and Kordestan) and also in the south in Khuzestan were an Arab Sheikh had tried to claim Iranian territory for being Arab land. Reza Shah dealt with these enemies with an iron fist to secure the territorial integrity of Iran. Order had been established in a country which had been lawless for centuries. Having proven his worth and loyalty to his nation the Iranian parliament declared Reza Shah the new King of Iran - and thus the Pahlavi Dynasty replaced the now defunct Qajar Dynasty.

Reza Shah would come to be known as the man who laid the foundation for modern Iran - he set out rebuilding, modernizing, reforming, and improving the peoples' quality of life. Apart from the few accomplishments listed already Reza Shah is credited for:

• Building the trans-Iranian railway
• Introduction of modern education after 1400 years of the Arabo-Muslim clergy having a stranglehold on the Iranian populace through religious brainwashing/indoctrination schools
• Establishment of modern Iran's first University with many more following suit
• Introducing government sponsorship for many Iranian students at foreign educational establishments in Europe and America
• Restricting the rule and power of the Arabo-Muslim clergy
• Emancipation of Iranian women from the imposed Arabo-Muslim all-enveloping dress (chador)
• Judicial reform
• Social and Economic progress
• Introduction of reformed financial and administrative systems
• Reform of the Imperial Iranian Navy and Army
• Creation of the Imperial Iranian Air Force
• Recognizing and respecting Iranian religious minorities who had been oppressed and neglected by the occupying Arabo-Muslim clergy
• Cancelling agreements which worked against Iranian interests that had been signed before his coming to power
• Construction of roads, schools, hospitals
• Nationalization of several economic sectors

The BBC says Cuba is a wonderful place

But why don't they look at the real Cuba?

Because, obviously, they have to support its Dictator, and so do you, Joe Public.

(Hat tip: USS Neverdock)

Iran launches new crackdown on unIslamic dress

As predicted...details below and here:

UPDATE: I hadn't noticed this angle on it (provided by USS Neverdock)...

According to the BBC this is a 'subtle' Iran.

Iran on Monday launched a new wave of a moral crackdown against women who "dress like models" and men whose hairstyles are deemed unIslamic, police said.

Tehran's police force dispatched dozens of police cars and minibuses into the early evening rush-hour to enforce the dress rules at major squares in the city centre, an AFP correspondent said.

92% of Iranians oppose current regime...

...says another survey. That must be pretty close to the truth. It also says that "many would endorse 'Velvet Revolution' or even foreign military intervention."

Read more about the survey here. WND has the scoop:

A new survey reveals that 92 percent of the subjects of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's totalitarian government do not believe their nation's role is positive, and two-thirds would support a "Velvet Revolution" to remove him from power.

The survey, by the Center For the Promotion of Democracy and Human Rights, found that almost six out of 10 Iranians would support a foreign military action for the purpose of taking Ahmadinejad out of the role as dictator.

"There is clearly a huge distinction between the Islamic Republic of Iran and its intentions as a regime and its people," reported Said Jabbari, a senior analyst with the center.

"As a totalitarian regime it does not represent the aspirations of the Iranian people," he said. "Don't use 'Iran' and 'this regime' to represent each other."