Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jul. 20 – A Tehran district mayor’s decision to destroy makeshift accommodation in a shanty
town on the outskirts of the capital led to pitch battles between government agents and residents on Tuesday. Armed troops
of the State Security Forces and agents of the local city council moved into the impoverished district of Qiyam-Dasht in the suburbs of Tehran to arrest construction workers putting up buildings for homeless residents.

Iran Focus: Paris, Jul. 20 – A state-owned newspaper accused Iran’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and the wife of jailed journalist Akbar Ganji of being part of a foreign-backed conspiracy to compel him to starve himself to death in a bid to embarrass the clerical regime. The daily Kayhan also pointed the finger at President George W. Bush and the U.S. administration for being involved in the “plot”.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jul. 20 – Iran will no longer be permitted to host international wrestling events because of its refusal to allow women to take part in bouts as well. The head of Iran’s Wrestling Federation announced that FILA, the main international body in charge of wrestling competitions, had banned the Islamic Republic from hosting games for all international and Asian championships.

Iran Focus: London, Jul. 20 – Several members of the United States Congress are expected to introduce a bill on Wednesday calling on the U.S. judicial authorities to begin legal proceedings against Iranians who were involved in the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and the subsequent captivity of 52 American hostages for 444 days, the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat reported today. The bill’s principal sponsor, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who chairs the Sub-committee on the Middle East and Central Asia, said she and her colleagues in Congress want U.S. courts to try those …