Iran Focus: Tehran, May 18 An Iranian woman was sentenced yesterday to death by stoning in Tehran, according to a state-run daily.
Foreign Affairs Canada: Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Pettigrew issued the following statement in response to yesterdays court proceedings in Iran: Yesterdays events illustrate once again that the Iranian justice system has neither the capacity nor the will to confront the perpetrators of the brutal murder of Zahra Kazemi. Canada will not accept justice being denied. 
Canadian Press: About 60 Iranian-Canadians staged a raucous rally outside a downtown courthouse Monday to protest the Iranian government’s handling of the case of slain Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi. Waving Iranian flags and holding Kazemi’s cardboard portrait, the group gathered in front of Toronto’s Old City Hall to protest the Iranian government and its perceived role in the death of Kazemi, who died two years ago while in Iranian custody. 
New York Times: Britain, one of the three European Union nations negotiating with Iran over its nuclear project, has concluded that Iran is “quite serious” in its threats to resume uranium enrichment activities that would be likely to lead to 
Reporters Without Borders: Reporters Without Borders today called on bloggers throughout the world to post messages in support of Iranian blogger Mojtaba Saminejad, who has been in prison since 12 February and who began a hunger-strike on 14 May. “The life of this young blogger is in danger as he is being held in a prison where several detainees have died or have been injured in violence between inmates,” the press freedom organization said. 
Washington Post: The foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany agreed yesterday to meet with a senior Iranian official next week in an effort to pull Tehran back from threats to resume its nuclear program, diplomats representing all four countries said. Iranian officials characterized the meeting as a last chance at avoiding crisis and said it will be held May 23 in Brussels. European officials said it probably will take place
The Guardian: Sitting in Tehran’s grand bazaar, once the spiritual heart and financial lifeblood of Iran’s Islamic revolution, the man fidgeting with the prayer beads ventured a fiercely uncompromising opinion of his country’s ruling elite. “We won’t vote for any of them, they are all robbers,” he declared, his voice rising with indignation. “All of them have been lying to us.” 
United Press International: The U.S. State Department said Monday Iran must make its ties with Iraq “transparent” and stay out of its neighbor’s politics. “Iran’s relations with people inside Iraq are not transparent,” spokesman Richard Boucher said. “They need to be made transparent.” 
Reuters: Human rights lawyers on Monday accused Iran’s hardline judiciary of permitting an illegal trial that acquitted a government agent of the killing of a Canadian photojournalist. However, a judge gave the lawyers’ arguments short shrift and indefinitely postponed giving his verdict on their appeal, one of the human rights team said. 
AFP: A Tehran appeals court handling the case of murdered Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi on Monday wrapped up its first hearing in less than one hour after turfing out reporters and refusing to hear arguments from family lawyers. The intelligence agent accused of the murder but acquitted in the first trial was absent from the hearing, which may prove to be Iran’s last look into a controversial case that has badly damaged relations with Canada. 
