Human Rights
August 10-14, 1998 / Mordad 19-23, 1377
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* Majlis creates new
press restrictions
* PEN calls for Sa'idzadeh's
immediate release
* Action alert issued on
kidnapping of Saremi
* PEN calls for the immediate
release of Mr. Zaeri
Previous
* U.S.
eases immigration rules
* MKO
accuses Tehran of killing Kurdish dissident in Iraq
* Freedom
from religious persecution
* Publisher
found guilty of press violations
* Iran to offer
consular services to dissidents abroad
* Banned Iran
paper keeps publishing
* Iran writers
attacked
* Journalist
stands trial for insulting late Khomeini
* Khamenei gives
interior minister control of police force
* Yazdi calls
for closure of "illegal" paper
* Humanitarian plea: Child
May NEVER See His Family Again
* Magazine
chief detained for insulting Khomeini
* No press
law to stop Toos
* Pro-democracy
student leader claims abuse
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* Majlis creates
new press restrictions
TEHRAN (Hamshahri) - The Majlis has passed a law with
ambiguous terms which would make it easy to shut down publications which
publish "offensive" images or articles that defend women's rights
based on "un-Islamic" principles... FULL
TEXT IN PERSIAN
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* PEN calls for Sa'idzadeh's immediate
release
We write to you today about our colleague, prominent writer
and legal scholar, Hojatoleslam Mohsen Sa'idzadeh who was arrested on June
30, 1998, and has remained in jail ever since. We believe that his incarceration
is linked to his reformist views and writings in general, and his views
pertaining to women's rights in particular... FULL
TEXT
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* Action alert issued on kidnapping
of Saremi
LONODN, aug. 12, irna - concern about
the kidnapping of irna's bureau chief in afghanistan, mahmoud saremi, by
taliban militia was being put on the action alert network wednesday at
the request of the new york-based committee to protect journalists (cpj).
it called for appeals to be made to taliban leader mullah omar to ensure
that the iranian journalist is not mistreated and to be immediately released...
FULL
TEXT
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* PEN calls for the immediate release
of Mr. Zaeri
As an international fellowship of writers
dedicated to defending freedom of expression both in the United States
and abroad, we write to express our concern about the arrest and imprisonment
of Mohammad-Reza Zaeri, publisher of the weekly, Khaneh, on July 29, 1998.
Accused of "insulting Islam, the Shiite clergy and the late Ayatollah
Khomeini", as well as publishing photographs of an unveiled woman
playing football, Mr. Zaeri faces a two-year prison term. The charges essentially
amount to the July 15, 1998 publication of an anonymous letter criticizing
the death edict against the author Salman Rushdie... FULL TEXT
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* U.S. eases immigration rules to boost
`Wrestling Diplomacy' with Iran
WASHINGTON (Washington Post) - After having
warmly welcomed a U.S. wrestling team to Tehran, Iranians were incensed
when a dozen of their own wrestlers landed in Chicago last April only to
be promptly fingerprinted and photographed at the airport by immigration
officers. In a little-noticed regulation published July 17 in the Federal
Register, Attorney General Janet Reno, who oversees immigration officials,
allowed exemptions for "certain nonimmigrants" from four countries
[including Iran] "when such action is deemed to be in the interest
of foreign policy or national security."... FULL
TEXT
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* MKO accuses Tehran of killing Kurdish
dissident in Iraq
NICOSIA, Aug 6 (AFP) - Agents sent by
Tehran have killed a member of the Iranian Kurdish opposition at a base
in northern Iraq, Iran's biggest armed opposition faction, the People's
Mujahedeen, said Thursday. Mohammed Heidari of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party of Iran (KDPI) was gunned down late last Friday at a party base in
Iraq and died the following day, the People's Mujahedeen said in a statement
received here ... FULL
TEXT
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* Freedom from religious persecution
NEW YORK (New York Times) - On July 21
Iran hanged a citizen who follows the small faith of Bahai, on the charge
of trying to convert a man who follows the huge faith of Islam. Fifteen
other Iranian Bahais have been sentenced for the same crime; seven are
scheduled for hanging. The execution got four paragraphs in The New York
Times; other papers gave zero. The State Department condemned the execution.
But next to the story of the hanging was another, continued from the front
page. Headline: "Senate Drops Bill Punishing Lands That Persecute
Religion."... FULL
TEXT
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* Publisher found guilty of press violations
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (Reuters) - A court on Monday found the
publisher of a journalists' newspaper guilty of violating press regulations
after the weekly printed a letter attacking Iran's late spiritual leader
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinei. Justice Department Secretary Saeed Nobari
said a press court found cleric Mohammadreza Zaeri, publisher of the weekly
Khaneh (House), guilty but released him after he paid 20 million rials
($6,700). Nobari said the sentence was relatively light because of Zaeri's
record and an apology to the public... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran to offer consular services to dissidents abroad
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (AFP) - Iran said Monday it had started
to offer consular services to dissidents living abroad, in line with new
efforts to persuade Iranian exiles to return home. "All our diplomatic
missions abroad are ready to provide services to Iranians, independent
of their political tendencies," said Mohammad-Ali Hadi, deputy foreign
minister for consular affairs... FULL
TEXT
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* Banned Iran paper keeps publishing
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A pro-democracy newspaper defied two
orders to shut down and began publishing under a new name Sunday, setting
the stage for a clash with powerful hard-liners opposed to Iran's reformist
president. The paper's editor, Mahmoud Shams, said it was published under
the name Aftab'e Emrooz, or The Sun Today, with the lead story an account
of an attack Saturday on the newspaper's offices by thugs believed tied
to ultra-conservative politicians... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran writers attacked
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Hard-liners in Iran's government banned
a liberal newspaper Saturday, dealing a blow to the moderate camp of President
Mohammad Khatami. Hours before the ban was served on Tous, demonstrators
assaulted the newspaper's editor and two Associated Press reporters who
arrived on the scene afterwards... FULL
TEXT
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* Journalist stands trial for insulting late Iranian
leader
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (AFP) - The director of an Iranian weekly
stood trial on Monday, accused of "insulting" the late founder
of the Islamic republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the official IRNA
news agency reported. But Mohammad-Reza Zaeri, director of Khaneh (Home)
magazine, said the charges arose from a "misunderstanding." "This
is a misunderstanding and I ask for pardon because I never intended to
insult our Imam," he told the court in a reference to the late Iranian
leader... FULL TEXT
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* Iranian leader gives interior minister control of
police force
TEHRAN, Aug 2 (AFP) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei on Sunday gave new Interior Minister Abdol-Vahed Musavi-Lari
expanded powers by also naming him commander of the police force, the official
IRNA news agency said. Khamenei made the move at the request of Musavi-Lari,
who took over as interior minister late last month after his predecessor
Abdollah Nuri was ousted by parliament ... FULL
TEXT
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* Yazdi calls for closure of "illegal" paper
TEHRAN, July 31 (AFP) - Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah
Mohammad Yazdi on Friday branded as "illegal" the return under
a new name of a banned moderate newspaper which supports reformist President
Mohammad Khatami. "The publication of a previously forbidden newspaper
under a new name is illegal, and we are asking the culture ministry to
take action before someone else does," Yazdi said during the weekly
Moslem prayers at Tehran University... FULL
TEXT
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* Humanitarian
plea: A child With Profound Disabilities Who
May NEVER See His Family Again
Iranian American Republican Council: Ali Aleaziz is a
13 year old boy who is a US citizen born in Oregon to Iranian Nationals
(Farzad and Roya Aleaziz). The Immigration and Naturalization Service is
trying to force Ali's parents to leave the country and abandon Ali in the
United States. They are unable to take Ali with them due to his chronic
and serious medical condition. Ali is a quadriplegic, has epilepsy and
suffers from cerebral palsey and profound mental retardation. (see report in
The Oregonian).
Ali lives at the Children's Nursing Center at Providence
Child Center in Portland, Oregon, a pediatric skilled nursing facility,
because at this time his family cannot manage his multiple disabilities
and fragile health condition at home... FULL
TEXT
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* Iranian magazine chief detained for insulting Khomeini
TEHRAN, July 29 (AFP) - Police have arrested the director
of a weekly magazine for publishing "insults" about the founder
of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran's official news
agency IRNA said Wednesday. Mohammad-Reza Zaehri, a conservative cleric
who heads the weekly Khaneh, was detained for "offending Islam, the
Shiite clergy and Imam Khomeini and for publishing photgraphs which violate
public modesty," justice ministry spokesman Said Nobari said ... FULL TEXT
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* No press law to stop Toos
ORUMIYEH (IRNA) - minister of culture and islamic guidance
ataollah mohajerani said here on wednesday that the current press laws
do not cover a case where the staff of a banned paper transfer to another
daily. mohajerani was commenting on the 'toos' daily which has employed
at least part of the staff of the recently banned controversial daily jame'e
... FULL TEXT
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* Pro-democracy student leader claims abuse
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A student leader said he was beaten
and detained by security men to prevent him from speaking at a pro-democracy
rally at Tehran University. Manouchehr Mohammadi said he was kicked and
punched by five intelligence agents and university guards Tuesday, and
then hauled away to a police station, where he was held for five hours
... FULL
TEXT
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