United Press International: The U.N. General Assembly Monday expressed concern at continuing human rights violations in Iran on the reported eve of an execution by stoning. Non-governmental organizations said it was the 52nd time a body of the world organization condemned Tehran’s human rights record.
U.N. condemns Iranian rights violations
Ex-enemy Iran may be biggest winner in Iraqi poll
Daily Telegraph: Iraqi officials fear that the big winner from next month’s historic election will be its powerful neighbour and former enemy, Iran. The countries share a 1,000-mile border, stretching from the flat desert wastes and marshes of the
south to the stark mountains of the north.
U.N. denounces Iran abuses
Reuters: The U.N. General Assembly has criticised Iran for public executions, torture, arbitrary sentencing, flogging, stoning and systematic discrimination against women. Sponsored by Canada, the human rights resolution was adopted on Monday by a vote of 71 in favour, 54 against with
55 abstentions in the 191-member assembly.
Iran Focus: Bush renews warning to Iran, Syria against ‘meddling’ in Iraq
AFP: President George W. Bush on Monday cautioned Iran and Syria not to interfere in Iraq’s internal politics, saying the United States had a variety of ways to retaliate if the two countries failed to heed his warning. The message is the second within
a week from the US president to Tehran and Damascus to refrain from “meddling” in Iraq.
Iran: One day left to save woman sentenced to be buried up to chest and stoned to death
Amnesty International: An Iranian woman charged with adultery faces death by stoning, reportedly by tomorrow (21 Dec) after her death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court last month. Her unnamed co-defendant is at risk of imminent execution by hanging. Amnesty International members are now faxing urgent appeals to the Iranian authorities, calling for the execution to be stopped. According to reports, Hajieh Esmailvand was sentenced to five years imprisonment, to be followed by execution by stoning, for adultery with an unnamed man who at the time was a 17 year old minor.
China’s Thirst for Oil Undercuts U.S. Effort to Rein in Iran
Bloomberg: U.S. efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear weapons program through economic sanctions are being stymied by China’s increasing reliance on the Islamic nation for oil. The U.S. has tried for more than a year to get the United Nations Security Council to impose restrictions that might deter Iran from building an atomic bomb; China, which holds one of five vetoes on the council, is threatening to block those attempts. At the same time, a decades-long U.S. economic embargo of Iran is being undermined by a growing China-Iran trade …
Iran: Judiciary Uses Coercion to Cover Up Torture
Human Rights Watch: The Iranian judiciary is using threats of lengthy prison sentences and coerced televised statements in an attempt to cover up its arbitrary detention and torture of internet journalists and civil society activists, Human Rights Watch said today. Since September, more than 20 internet journalists and civil society activists have been arrested and held in a secret detention center in Tehran.
Iran’s ambassador dismisses protestors
Aftenposten: Iran’s ambassador to Norway refused to meet the local head of Amnesty International on Monday. Amnesty is among those taking up the case of a young, retarded Iranian who’s been sentenced to death. The 19-year-old, known only as “Leyla M,” was forced into prostitution by her own mother at the age of eight.
Iran supreme leader says Israel, US behind attacks in Iraqi cities
AFP: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused American and Israeli intelligence services of being behind the weekend’s attacks in Najaf and Karbala which left 66 dead, state television reported on Monday. “I am certain that American and Israeli intelligence services are behind these events and that it is a plot aimed at distracting the Iraqis so that they miss the election.” Khamenei said.
