AFP: International best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho said Thursday that his latest novel “The Zahir” had been banned in Iran, with some 1,000 copies confiscated this week at Tehran’s annual book fair. “The book was forbidden, even though we went through the normal procedures of getting a permit from the government for it to be published,” Coelho said in an e-mail message sent to AFP by his French publishers Flammarion.
Brazilian author Paulo Coelho says his latest book banned in Iran
France urges restraint on Iran nuclear programme
AFP: French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier on Thursday
urged Iran not to resume suspended nuclear operations, warning that to do so would incur “consequences.” “We continue to hope that Iran will not take this step, the consequences of which it is well aware,” Barnier said.
Iran won’t respect NPT if nuke rights denied – Rohani
Reuters: Iran warned on Thursday it would no longer respect the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if it was denied the right to pursue what it considers its right to develop a full civilian nuclear energy programme. “If Iran cannot use its legitimate rights in the framework of the NPT, it will no longer have respect for the treaty,” the semi-official ISNA students news agency quoted chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani as telling visiting Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Kislyak.
Blair backs Iran’s referral to Security Council
AP: Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that Iran should be referred to the U.N. Security Council if it breaches its nuclear obligations, while Tehran vowed to resume some activities that can be part of the process of making nuclear weapons. Hasan Rowhani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, said negotiations with key European powers were not balanced and were costly for Tehran.
Three convicted murderers publicly hanged in Iran
Iran Focus: Tehran, May 12 – Three Iranian men were hanged in public yesterday in the southern town of Susangerd, in the Iranian province of Khuzestan, according to the state-run news agency. The young men, who were identified as Nasser Ch., Aref S. and Ali S., were accused of abducting and murdering a six-year-old boy in February 2002.
Three convicted murderers publicly hanged in Iran
Iran Focus: Tehran, May 12 – Three Iranian men were hanged in public yesterday in the southern town of Susangerd, in the Iranian province of Khuzestan, according to the state-run news agency. The young men, who were identified as Nasser Ch., Aref S. and Ali S., were accused of abducting and murdering a six-year-old boy in February 2002.
Iran set to resume ‘noticeable part’ of uranium conversion activities
AFP: Iran has decided to restart a part of its nuclear programme that had been suspended as part of a deal with
the European Union and a “noticeable part” of uranium conversion activities will soon resume, a senior official said Thursday. “Based on the reviews and decisions which were made, we are going to restart a small part of the suspended activities,” Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, a vice president and
head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, told state television.
European Officials Warn Iran
Washington Post: European officials notified Iran for the first time yesterday that they will walk away from two years of talks and sign on to a Bush administration strategy for punitive measures against Tehran if it makes good on threats to resume nuclear work in coming days. In a sharply worded
letter to Hassan Rouhani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany warned that such work “would bring the negotiating process to an end.” The letter added: “The consequences could only be negative for Iran.”
Diplomat accused of murder
The Times: A Former Iranian diplomat has been charged in absentia with the murder of an Iranian opposition leader shot dead in Rome 12 years ago. Italian prosecutors said that Amir Mansur Assl Bozorgian was responsible for the killing in 1993 of Mohammed Hossein Naghdi, 42, who had joined the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran in 1981.
Europe on alert over Iran nuclear ambitions
The Guardian: European powers are poised to call an emergency meeting of the board of the UN’s nuclear watchdog after an escalating dispute with Iran about its nuclear projects. Iran appears about to renege on a six-month-old pact with Britain, Germany and France, which freezes all of its uranium enrichment activities – a gamble that could see it penalised by the UN security council but also win a diplomatic victory in the battle of wits over its ambitions.
