The Sunday Times: An alliance of religious parties that want to turn Iraq into an Islamic state is facing a growing challenge in the countrys election and is accused of having secret links
with Iran. As campaigning was launched last week, a coalition of leading Shiite parties called the United Iraqi Alliance began as firm favourites for the poll on January 30.
Iranian links undermine mullah’s drive for power
Two face death after Iran morality trial
The Observer: Two women convicted of crimes against morality in Iran are facing imminent execution, one by being buried up to her chest and stoned, Amnesty International said last night. One of the women, a 19-year-old with a mental age of eight who was forced into prostitution by her mother, is to be flogged and executed. An official said yesterday he was waiting for orders on whether to stone or hang her.
Under Iran’s ‘divinely ordained justice’, girls as young as nine are charged with ‘moral crimes’. Th
Sunday Telegraph: As one young woman awaits sentence and another faces death this week, Alasdair Palmer reveals the Iranian legal system’s shocking barbarity towards children. “My mother doesn’t visit me in prison. If you see her, tell her she promised to bring me cheese curls and chocolate. And she shouldn’t forget to bring my red dress.” Those pathetic words may be among the last utterances of a 19-year-old girl, identified only as Leila M, who has been condemned to death in Iran for “acts incompatible with chastity”.
Iran’s secret plans for ‘nuclear’ gas go ahead despite earlier promises
Sunday Telegraph: Teheran had assured European leaders that it would suspend uranium enrichment activities, but new information suggests otherwise. Iran has drawn up secret plans to make large quantities of a gas that can be used to produce highly enriched uranium, despite promises to suspend enrichment activities.
Iraqi Forces Detain 45 Crossing From Iran
AP: Iraqi police detained 45 men who illegally entered the country from neighboring Iran, and American troops said Sunday they captured eight Iraqis fleeing the scene of a roadside bombing. Also, insurgents claiming to represent
three Iraqi militant groups issued a videotape saying
they had abducted 10 Iraqis working for an American security and reconstruction company.
More than 600,000 children in employment in Iran
Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 18 – There are at least 600,000 children officially in employment in Iran at present, according to newly released figures. An Iranian official said that the figure comprises of children under the age of 15, according to the Iranian regimes news agency. Unfortunately we are witnessing an increase in the number of children forced to work, said Arash Faraz.
Iranian adulteress faces noose or stoning
Reuters: An Iranian official says he is waiting for orders on whether to stone or hang a woman convicted of adultery, the latest in a chain of death sentences passed against young women for “fornication”. The official from Iran’s conservative judiciary said on Saturday that Hajieh Esmailvand’s prison sentence, that began in January 2000, would end in less …
Iran cleric warns of possible fraud in Iraq poll
REUTERS: A leading hardline cleric in Shi’ite Muslim Iran warned on Friday of possible vote-rigging in next month’s Iraqi elections in the latest of a series of barbed exchanges
between the two neighbours. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, speaking after U.S. President George W. Bush this week told Iran and Syria not to meddle in the forthcoming Iraqi vote, proposed that Iraqi clerics should supervise the Jan. 30 vote
to ensure it is fair.
Iranian nuclear ambitions worry Gulf Arab states
Financial Times: In public, Arab governments have little to say about international concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme. Even Arab members of the International Atomic Energy Agency board try to keep out of discussions on Iran, rarely expressing an opinion. When pressed to react, Arab officials bring up Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal and ask why no one is interested in disarming the Jewish state.
Tehran plans to purchase Moscow jets
Gulf Daily News: Russian and Iranian officials yesterday discussed trade and economic co-operation, including a possible purchase of Russian passenger jets by Iran. The contract for the delivery of five Russian Tu-204-100 aircraft to Iran could be signed next year, Russia’s Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said after talks with Iranian Economy Minister Safdar Hosseini.
