Executions on the rise in Iran

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Iran Focus: A religious court in Tehran sentenced two men to execution, bringing to more than 110 the number of people hanged since January 2004. Thet two were identified only by their first names as Mohammad and Fereidoon.
Dozens have been hanged in recent days in Iran, as the country  goes through another spate of politically-motivated executions.

Turning the heat on Tehran

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BBC: With Iraq’s government overthrown, Washington now sounds increasingly bellicose about Iran.
It is lobbying hard for Tehran to be referred to the UN Security Council for breaking agreements to stop nuclear development.
It wants fellow board members from the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, to take action against Iran when it meets on 13 September.

Iran’s hardliners roll back Khatami’s reforms, but how far?

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AFP: Iran’s dominant conservatives have been rolling back the tentative liberalisation of reformist President Mohammad Khatami since winning control of parliament in disputed polls earlier this year, but it remains unclear how far to the right they will take the Islamic republic.

EU calls on Iran to cooperate with nuclear watchdog

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Reuters: The Dutch government, holders of the rotating European Union presidency, has called on Iran to do more to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Dutch made the call in a statement late on Monday after a visit by Hassan Rohani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and after EU foreign ministers discussed the issue of Iran at a meeting in the Netherlands at the weekend.

Shock, outrage over execution of 16-year-old girl in Iran

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Iran Focus: News of the execution of a sixteen-year-old girl in northern Iran, first broken by Iran Focus, has been met with shock and outrage around the world. In a press statement on Monday, Amnesty International expressed ‘outrage” at the execution of Ateqeh Sahaleh on Sunday, August 15, in the town of Neka in Mazandaran Province.

Man hanged in public

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Iran Focus: An Iranian man was hanged today near the Iranian capital, Tehran, the fifth person to be executed in public in as many days. An Iranian judiciary official announced that two more  individuals would be hanged “imminently”.

Anti-government riot rocks Iran’s key Persian Gulf oil port

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Iran Focus: Ganaveh, Aug 25 – Government buildings in this major oil terminal and Persian Gulf port were still smoldering this morning after day-long clashes yesterday between several thousand protesters and security forces.

Iran missile program takes a long stride

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Iran Focus: Tehran, Aug 25 – A senior Iranian Defense Ministry official confirmed that contrary to the official announcement, the missile tested last week was a Shahab-4 and not simply an improved version of Shahab-3 missile, Iran Focus has learnt.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Defense Ministry experts described last week’s test as “an unprecedented success in Iran’s missile program.”

Iranian official confirms hanging of girl in northern Iran

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Iran Focus: Tehran, Aug 25 – After initially denying that a 16-year-old girl had been hanged in public in the northern town of Neka on Monday, August 16, the Iranian government has admitted for the first time that the hanging took place.

Iran’s judiciary chief, himself an Iraqi, praises Iraq’s “intifada” against U.S.

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Iran Focus: In a meeting of top judiciary officials, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the judiciary, praised the “emergence of the Iraqi people’s intifada, which will paralyse the Americans.”
Born and bred in Iraq, Shahroudi came to Iran for the first time after the 1979 revolution.