AFP: The lawyer of two American hikers sentenced to eight years in jail on charges of espionage and illegal entry told AFP Sunday he has appealed the verdict, stressing his clients are innocent.
US hikers in Iran jail seek appeal
Iran launches production of banned carbon fiber
AP: Iran has inaugurated its own production of carbon fiber, a material under U.N. embargo because of its potential use in the country’s controversial nuclear program, the official IRNA news agency reported Saturday.
Iranian dissidents gather high-profile support
Washington Post: Politicians, former national security officials and thousands of others gathered outside the State Department on Friday to call for the removal of the Mujahedin-e Khalk, an Iranian opposition group, from the list of foreign terrorist organizations.
Region must solve issues on its own, Iran tells Qatar
AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the visiting Qatari emir the region must resolve issues on its own, saying Western “interference” would complicate the situation, the presidency website reported Friday.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad: No place for Israel in region
AP: Iran’s president says there will be no room for Israel in the region after the formation of a Palestinian state.
Protesters hope to end terrorist label for Iranian group
McClatchy Newspapers: Thousands of supporters of Iran’s leading opposition group rallied outside the State Department on Friday, calling on the agency to take the group off its list of terrorist organizations.
Russia ‘surprised’ by Iran’s legal complaint over S-300
AFP: Russia said Thursday it was surprised by Iran’s move to lodge a legal complaint against Moscow over the cancellation of an S-300 missile contract, insisting that sanctions had tied its hands.
Release Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal
New York Times – Editorial: The American hikers Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal have spent 755 days in Iran’s brutal Evin prison. They never should have been arrested, much less held for so long.
Ahmadinejad calls for Syrian dialogue
AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the main ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, called Wednesday for dialogue between Damascus and the opposition to end months of violence.
Europe accuses Iranian force of aiding Syrian crackdown
New York Times: The European Union announced on Wednesday that it was leveling sanctions against Iran’s Al Quds military force, saying it had given technical and material support to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in his efforts to crush the five-month-old uprising against his rule.
