December 26
Relatives of jailed writers to rally outside courts
TEHRAN, Dec 26 (AFP) - Relatives of jailed pro-reform journalists will
stage a rally next week to protest their "illegal" detention,
the state IRNA news agency said Tuesday. It cited a statement announcing
the demonstration outside a Tehran court Monday against the "long
and illegal" detentions as well as the "ugly and inappropriate
behaviour" of judges toward relatives of the detained >>>
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December 25
Closed door trial over killing of dissidents enters second day
TEHRAN, Dec 25 (AFP) -The trial of 17 secret service agents accused
of killing leading dissidents resumed Monday behind closed doors. "The
second court session has opened in front of the fifth chamber of the Military
court with Judge Reza Aghihi," Mohammad-Reza Zarandi, director of
the the military courts' public relations, told AFP >>>
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Sahabi's wife protests his transfer to solitary cell
TEHRAN, Dec 25 (AFP) - The wife of Iran's longtime secular political
opposition leader Ezatollah Sahabi spoke out Monday against the government's
jailing of her husband, criticising his transfer to solitary confinement.
In an open letter to President Mohammad Khatami, Zarindokht Attai said
her 75-year-old husband and Ali Afshari, a key figure in the student reformist
movement, had been transferred Sunday to single cells at Evin prison in
Tehran >>>
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December 21
Iran readies for trial in political killings that shocked nation
TEHRAN, Dec 21 (AFP) - Iran on Saturday will open the much-anticipated
trial of 18 men accused of carrying out the brutal 1998 serial killings
of several leading dissidents and intellectuals that shocked the nation.
The assassinations, blamed on a network of "rogue" agents within
the secret police, and the controversy that has dogged the case have underscored
the still explosive political tension in the country >>>
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December 20
Families of murder victims decide not to attend trial
TEHRAN, Dec 20 (AFP) - Relatives of several slain dissidents and intellectuals
have dismissed their legal team in the latest twist to the controversial
case, the official IRNA news agency said Wednesday. The dismissal comes
just three days before the long-awaited trial of the alleged murderers
is due to open in a Tehran military court on Saturday in a case that has
galvanized public attention for more than two years >>>
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Germany condemns Iranian charges of Berlin conference participants
December 20, Berlin (dpa) - Germany on Wednesday condemned charges made
against 17 Iranian nationals who attended an Iran conference in Berlin
earlier this year sponsored by the Greens Party. ``The German government
views the charges ... as wrong,'' said an official reply by Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder's government published by parliament >>>
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December 18
Two dissidents arrested
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Two leading Iranian dissidents were arrested Sunday
on charges of insulting Iran's supreme leader. Ezatollah Sahabi, a member
of the dissident Freedom Movement that opposes Iran's clerical rule, was
interrogated and arrested on the orders of the hard-line Tehran Revolutionary
Court, said Reza Alijani, an editor of the now banned Iran-e-Farda magazine
>>>
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December 16
Pro-reform journalist freed on bail
TEHRAN, Dec 16 (AFP) - Veteran pro-reform Iranian journalist Massud
Behnud, facing a battery of serious charges including harming national
security, was freed on bail Saturday, his lawyer said. Behnud was released
after putting up his house as collateral, lawyer Amir Hossein Abadi told
the state IRNA news agency >>>
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December 14
Lawyer for families of assassination victims freed on bail: press
TEHRAN, Dec 14 (AFP) - A lawyer for the families of two Iranian dissidents
assassinated in 1998 was released on bail three days after his arrest,
a newspaper said Thursday. Nasser Zarafshan, who was arrested Sunday just
days before the trial of the alleged killers begins in a Tehran military
court, was freed Wednesday on 27,000 dollars bail, the Khorassan paper
said >>>
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December 13
High-profile reformist journalist denies all charges
TEHRAN, Dec 13 (AFP) - High-profile Iranian journalist Massud Behnud
denied Wednesday a battery of serious charges levelled at him in Tehran's
press court, including offending public morals and acting against national
security. The 52-year-old Behnud, in jail since August, wrote for several
of the pro-reform newspapers closed by the conservative courts since a
press crackdown was launched in April >>>
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December 12
Journalists' guild lashes out against judiciary for press crackdown
TEHRAN, Dec 12 (AFP) - Iran's pro-reform journalists' guild has vehemently
denounced the arrest of journalists and the conservative-led judiciary's
crackdown on the country's press since April. In an open letter Sunday
to judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahroudi, a copy of which
was received by AFP, the guild criticised the way in which journalists
and writers were being treated, saying the judiciary's arguments for the
mass suspensions and the arrest of journalists lacked foundation >>> FULL TEXT
December 11
Lawyer in chain murders case arrested after speech
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A lawyer for the families of two dissidents killed
in 1998 was arrested after he gave a speech about the slayings, a fellow
attorney said Monday. Naser Zarafshan, who represents the families of slain
pro-reform writers Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh and Mohammad Mokhtari, was
detained Sunday on orders from a military court, said the lawyer, who spoke
on condition of anonymity >>>
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Hamshahri banned outside Tehran
TEHRAN, Dec 11 (AFP) - Iranian press court Monday banned top-selling
Iranian daily Hamshahri, published by the municipality of Tehran, from
being distributed outside the capital, official IRNA news agency said.
Founded in 1992 by former-mayor Gholamhossain Karbastshi, Hamshahri has
a 460,000 circulation and is read throughout the country >>>
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December 10
Montazeri's son arrested
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A son of Iran's most prominent dissident cleric
has been arrested for distributing his father's memoirs, his brother said
Sunday. Saeed Montazeri made 100 photocopies of the 1,600-page book, which
describes the political life of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri,
according to Saeed's brother, Ahmad Montazeri >>>
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December 9
Press court suspends another reform newspaper
TEHRAN, Dec 9 (AFP) - An Iranian press court suspended publication for
three months of Ahrar, a reform newpaper in the northern city of Tabriz,
the official news agency IRNA reported Saturday. The court found the newspaper's
director, Mohammed Hossein Kuzeh-Gar, guilty of printing false information,
IRNA said >>>
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December 6
Cartoonist regrets "extremism"
Tehran (Hambastegi) -- "We went too fast," says cartoonist
Nikahang Kosar, whose cartoons critical of the conservatives have caused
him legal troubles >>>
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December 5
Tehran rejects UN human rights resolution
TEHRAN, Dec 5 (AFP) - Iran energetically rejected Tuesday a resolution
adopted by the UN General Assembly a day earlier expressing "deep
concerns" about press freedom in Iran, the official IRNA news agency
reported. "This resolution, voted by a small majority of the UN General
Assembly, is too categorical and does not correspond to the reality of
Iranian society", IRNA quoted foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza
Assefi >>>
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December 4
U.N. General Assembly raps Iran on rights abuses
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Rebuking Iran on a series of human rights
abuses, the U.N. General Assembly narrowly adopted a resolution on Monday
calling on Tehran to end torture, particularly amputations. The vote was
67 in favor, 54 against with 46 abstentions on the resolution that chastised
Iran for executions, a crackdown on freedom of speech and press, and discrimination
against religious minorities, such as the Bahais. Last year the Assembly
voted 61-47-51 on a similar measure >>>
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Top Iran judge to challenge murder accusations by Akbar Ganji
TEHRAN, Dec 4 (AFP) - The head of a powerful Tehran clerical court said
Monday he would defend himself against recent allegations by a top journalist
implicating him in the 1998 killing of a communist militant in Iran. Gholam-Hossein
Mohseni Ejei, the head of the conservative-run Special Court for Clergy
(SCC) said he would "soon" respond to the accusation made by
jailed journalist Akbar Ganji in late November >>>
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Kin of slain writers freed
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iranian authorities have released eight relatives
and friends of slain dissident writers after detaining them for four days,
a relative said Monday. The eight - among hundreds of people who attended
a ceremony Thursday marking the second anniversary of the death of dissident
writer Majid Sharif - were released Sunday, political activist Habibollah
Peyman told The Associated Press >>>
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December 3
Judge, defense attorney clash over evidence in dissident's trial
TEHRAN, Dec 3 (AFP) - The judge and a defense attorney in the trial
of 18 reformists for endangering state security by attending a conference
in Berlin clashed Saturday over whether a document found at one defendant's
home was classified. The "confidential document was destined for the
Ministry of Information and for Justice and should not have been found"
at the home of journalist and defendant, Akbar Ganji, said Hassan Ahmadi-Moqadessi,
the revolutionary court's chief judge >>>
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Berlin seminar aimed at overthrowing regime, court told
TEHRAN, Dec 3 (AFP) - Reformists on trial for attending a controversial
conference in Berlin faced the prospect of heavier punishment Sunday after
the prosecution claimed the aim of the seminar was to overthrow Iran's
Islamic regime. Revolutionary court prosecutor Abdollah Sharifi revealed
the accusation for the first time when he read the charge sheet for one
of the interpreters at the April conference, Khalil Rostam-Khani >>> FULL TEXT