Iran sentences Al-Qaeda members after secret trial

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AFP: Iran confirmed Tuesday that it has tried and sentenced fugitive members of Al-Qaeda detained on its soil, but maintained a tight secrecy over which members of Osama bin Laden’s network were in the Islamic republic.

Iran, EU nuclear talks to begin next week: official

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AFP: Negotiations between officials from Iran and Britain, France and Germany aimed at building on the Islamic republic’s agreement to freeze sensitive nuclear work are to start next week, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday. Iran’s top national security official and nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani said the first round of the dialogue was likely to involve himself, the foreign ministers of the EU’s “big three” …

Iran: Torture Used to Obtain ‘Confessions’

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Human Rights Watch: Secret squads operating under the authority of the Iranian judiciary have used torture to force detained Internet journalists and civil society activists to write self-incriminatory “confession letters,” Human Rights Watch said today.

Iranian squads accused of using torture

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AFP: Human Rights Watch said Monday that secret squads operating under the Iranian judiciary have used torture to force detained Internet journalists and activists to write self-incriminatory “confession letters.”

Students heckle Iranian president

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BBC: Iranian students have interrupted a speech by
President Mohammad Khatami to mark Student Day at
Tehran university.
Students chanted “Shame on you” and “Where are your promised freedoms?” to express their frustration with the failure of Iran’s reform movement.

Iran denies returning Egyptian militant

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Reuters: Iran denied on Monday it had handed over to Egypt prominent militant Mustafa Hamza, leader of the Gama’a al-Islamiya group that tried to overthrow the Egyptian government in the 1990s. Hani el-Sibai, head of Egypt’s Maqrizi Centre for Historical Studies, told Reuters on Sunday Tehran handed
over Hamza to Cairo in October in exchange for information about members of an Iranian exiled group living in Egypt.

Swedish Parliament draws attention to human rights violations in Iran

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Iran Focus: Gothenburg, Dec. 6 – In a parliamentary conference in Stockholm last week, Swedish parliamentarians from different factions debated the growing trend of human rights violations in Iran.

Iranian students heckle Khatami

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Reuters: Students, once the backbone of Iran’s reformist movement, have barracked and harangued President Mohammad Khatami, accusing him of lacking the courage to deliver promised democratic reforms in the Islamic state. “Khatami, what happened to your promised freedoms?”, “Khatami, shame on you”, “Students are wise, they detest Khatami” groups shouted as the moderate cleric attempted …

Students in northeastern Iran demonstrate outside university campus

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Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 5 – Students from Payam University in the north eastern Iranian town of Nayshabour demonstrated outside the main university gate in protest to government crackdown.
Students also complained about the lack of welfare
opportunity and the quality of teaching.

Students give Iran’s Khatami turbulent reception

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AFP: Iran’s embattled reformist President Mohammad Khatami was given a mixed reception from university students on Monday, winning some cheers but also a tirade of jeers for his record in office.
In an difficult appearence to mark national students day, the beleaguered president even complained to students — once the
main supporters of the reform movement — of being “humiliated
and destroyed”.