AFP: The United States has not waited for the first ballot to be cast before dismissing Iran’s presidential election as rigged and exhorting the Iranian people to rise up for democratic reform. US officials took no pains to hide their concern after Iran’s hardline clerical regime barred more than 1,000 hopefuls from next Friday’s poll and narrowed the field to a handful of mostly conservative candidates. US dismisses Iran election as rigged
AFP: The United States has not waited for the first ballot to be cast before dismissing Iran’s presidential election as rigged and exhorting the Iranian people to rise up for democratic reform. US officials took no pains to hide their concern after Iran’s hardline clerical regime barred more than 1,000 hopefuls from next Friday’s poll and narrowed the field to a handful of mostly conservative candidates. U.S. Helsinki Commission Members Denounce Iran’s Human Rights Record, Call for Joint U.S.-Europe Res
U.S. Newswire: The human rights situation in Iran is deteriorating, and the United States and its European allies need to develop a joint strategy to pressure Tehran to improve its record. That was the key point made yesterday in what will be the first in a series of hearings held by the U.S. Helsinki Commission to examine rogue regimes and their impact on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) region. Iran reporter back in jail after going missing
Reuters: An Iranian investigative journalist, jailed for linking officials to political murders, was back behind bars onSaturday and resuming a hunger strike after vanishing for three days. Akbar Ganji was granted home leave last month to have medical checks for asthma and back pains. Iranian authorities said he should have been back in jail on Wednesday but had given them the slip. On Saturday, Ganji returned alone to Tehran’s Evin prison, clutching a hold-all and a bag of medicines.
Iran impedes inspectors’ access to nuke site – UN diplomats
Reuters: Experts from the U.N. nuclear watchdog have inspected an underground uranium enrichment plant in Iran and verified that Tehran has kept its word by freezing all sensitive nuclear work there, diplomats said on Friday. A team from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) went to the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz in central Iran on Thursday and verified that no activities related to the production of uranium fuel were taking place. Iran: Man sentenced to have eyes gouged out for teenage crime
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 10 Irans State Supreme Court has upheld a sentence for a young mans eyes to be gouged out and sprayed with acid, for blinding another man at the age of 16 some 12 years ago.
Iran: Man sentenced to have eyes gouged out for teenage crime
Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 10 Irans State Supreme Court has upheld a sentence for a young mans eyes to be gouged out and sprayed with acid, for blinding another man at the age of 16 some 12 years ago.
Iran’s hardline cleric urges high turnout
Reuters: A leading hardline cleric urged Iranians on Friday to turn out in force for presidential elections next week, warning that a low turnout would be a defeat for the Islamic republic. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati refrained from endorsing any of the eight men vying for the job in June 17 polls, but called on people to defy Iran’s “enemies” by ensuring a high turnout.
UN nuclear chief faces Iran challenge in third term
Reuters: The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, has won the support of Washington but now faces the greater challenge of dealing with an Iranian atomic programme that many suspect is aimed at building weapons. Iran voters look to end hand-to-mouth daily grind
Reuters: When Reza finishes work at his military base around 2:30 in the afternoon, he rushes to his boxy, old car, flings his uniform into the trunk and heads out into Tehran’s crowded, noisy streets. It is often 10 at night or later when the 44-year old army lieutenant finally gets home after hours of moonlighting as a driver for a telephone-taxi agency. Iranian reformist injured in campaign attack by mob
AFP: A top Iranian reformist said Friday he suffered a fractured skull and facial bruising when he was attacked by an extremist mob after a campaign speech in the central city of Qom. “About 30 people tried to disturb the speech from the beginning, but they failed … After the speech, I was told by police that … 