Iran to execute record numbers in 2011—rights groups

NEW YORK, United States—Iran, which set off a diplomatic storm by hanging a Dutch-Iranian woman, is on target to execute a record number of over 1,000 people this year, rights groups said Sunday.

And the execution of Zahra Bahrami is just the latest case of a "serious lack of transparency" in Iran's growing use of capital punishment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

The Netherlands froze contacts with Iran following Saturday's execution.

Many groups say Iran has the highest per capita execution rate in the world.

In 2009, the last year for which complete statistics are available, Iran executed at least 388 people and was second only to China in how many people it put to death, according to Amnesty International.

Rights groups believe there was a sharp rise in 2010 and with Bahrami's death, HRW now estimates that at least 74 prisoners have been executed since January 1. An AFP toll based on Iranian media reports found at least 66.

"At the current rate, authorities will easily have executed more than 1,000 prisoners before 2011 draws to a close," HRW's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said.

HRW's Middle East researcher Faraz Sanei denounced "the Iranian judiciary's serious lack of transparency surrounding the execution of individuals convicted of crimes carrying the death penalty."

The group said her execution and others highlight "a deepening of the human rights crisis that gripped the country following the disputed June 2009 presidential election" that secured a second term for hawkish President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Bahrami, a Dutch-naturalized Iranian, was detained after anti-government protests in Tehran in December 2009. She was later charged and found guilty of narcotics offenses.

The woman said she was tortured into confessing and denied the charges, according to her family and rights groups.

Her daughter, quoted by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said neither the family nor Bahrami's lawyer had been officially informed of the hanging.

"Shouldn’t they have informed her family and lawyer before executing her? We should have gone to see her before her execution," said Banafsheh Nayebpour. "Is it so easy—that my mother is no longer in this world? Did I not have any right to see her before her execution?"

A growing number of people are being charged and executed for what HRW calls the "vague" charge of "moharebeh," or enmity against God—the original charge against Bahrami.

HRW said at least 13 people have now been executed since November 2009 on these charges following what it called "flawed trials in revolutionary courts."

On January 24, Iran carried out the first executions of political activists—Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei—detained in street protests after the 2009 election. Both were accused of "moharebeh," according to HRW.


Read More

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20110131-317630/Iran-to-execute-record-numbers-in-2011rights-groups

Iran, Iraq 'War' Fails To Ignite in Qatar

Iran's Ehsan Haji Safi, left, fights for the ball with Iraq's Qusay Muneer.


After an eight-year war in the 1980s, the rivalry between Iran and Iraq is still fierce. Pitted in an opening-round game in the Asian Cup in Qatar, a screen was erected between Iraqi and Iranian supporters. But apart from a hair-pulling incident around the hour mark involving Iraq's captain Younis Mahmoud, the match was incident free. Iran snatched a late goal to win 2-1 after Iman Mobali's 84th-minute free kick.

Read More

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703791904576076121904942768.html

Iran accuses US, Britain, Israel of deadly suicide bomb attack

Iran on Wednesday accused the United States, Britain and Israel of involving in the deadly suicide bomb attack in the country which left 39 killed and more than 50 others wounded.

The attack occurred in front of the Imam Hussein mosque in southeastern port city of Chabahar on Wednesday when people gathered for a mourning ceremony on the religious occasion of Tasua, local satellite Press TV said.

Tasua is commemorated by Shiite Muslims, marking the eve of the day when Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, was killed.

According to media, the Pakistan-based Sunni rebel group Jundallah (God' s soldiers) has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

Chief of Iran's Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi accused the United States and Britain of involving in the attack, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

"The experience from the past incidents indicate that the U.S. and U.K. intelligent services are behind the crimes like the Wednesday morning bombing in Chabahar," Boroujerdi was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi told official IRNA news agency that the equipment and facilities nabbed on Wednesday revealed that the bombing agents were supported by the intelligent services of the region and the United States.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Wednesday that such terrorist acts "are funded by the U.S. and Israeli intelligent services," according to local Mehr News agency.

"In the past, the United States recruited some in Afghanistan to create discord among Shiite and Sunni Muslims (by carrying out terrorist acts)," Larijani was quoted as saying.

Chabahar is the Iranian port city on the coast of Oman Sea situated in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province with the majority of ethnic Baluchis and Sunni Muslims.

"Israel and the U.S. intelligent services are behind these terrorist acts and they should know that such behaviors will receive response from the Iranian nation," Larijani said.

According to the official IRNA news agency, Director General of Sistan-Baluchestan provincial Forensic Medicine Office Fariborz Ayati said some women and children were among the victims.

An unidentified police commander of Sistan-Baluchestan province was quoted as saying by ISNA that four policemen were among the victims as well.

According to an earlier report by ISNA, the explosion occurred at 10:30 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) in front of the governor's office building of Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchestan province close to an emergency car of the Red Crescent Society.

Over the past three days, there had been threats of bomb attacks against mourners in Sistan-Baluchestan, and the emergency staff has been on alert, Iranian Red Crescent Society chief Mahmoud Mozaffar was quoted as saying by ISNA, adding that among the injured, six were emergency workers.

Meanwhile, the state IRIN TV said three suicide bombers were involved in the attack. Only one of them succeeded, the second was shot dead, and the last was arrested.

Read More:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-12/16/c_13650701.htm

Government fears nuclear war in Middle East

The cables present Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd as being very "supportive" of Israel.

The Federal Government fears a nuclear confrontation between Iran and Israel could draw Australia into another war in the Middle East, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks and published in Fairfax newspapers today.

The cables present Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd as being very "supportive" of Israel and he is praised for his tough stance against Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But the cables also reveal serious concerns within Australia's intelligence bureaus that Australia and the US could be drawn into a nuclear war if Iran and Israel come to blows.

Dr Michael Wesley, executive director of the Lowy Institute, says the revelations are interesting but hardly surprising.

"That's the nightmare scenario that's worried a lot of people for a long time," he said.

"Even though Israel hasn't formally acknowledged that it has nuclear weapons, most people understand that it is a nuclear-armed state.

"Obviously with Iran rapidly gaining those capabilities and having made some fairly uncompromising statements about wiping Israel off the face of the map, you would have to think there would be a considerable threat if Iran does get nuclear weapons."

It has been a tough few weeks for Mr Rudd, who has withstood a barrage of embarrassing revelations contained in the WikiLeaks cables.

Among the cables were perceptions within the US embassy that he is a micro-manager as well as more potentially damaging remarks revealing he favours a tough stance against China.

But for now at least it appears Mr Rudd is among friends in Israel.

He is presently touring the Middle East, where he took the time to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.

Mr Rudd paid his respects to those who died in the Holocaust and admitted Australia could have done more to help Jewish people before World War II.

"We as Australia among the other nations of the world attended the conference at Evian in 1938 and we, in Australia, like so many countries around the world, closed our hearts," he said.

"What we did then as a nation was wrong and we know what happened when others did the same."

Embarrassment

Dr Wesley says the WikiLeaks cables with the most potential to harm Australia's foreign policy are the ones with the revelations about China.

"The Chinese are, to use a well-known phrase, brutal realists themselves," he said.

"They had little doubt about where Australia stood, so probably in terms of its embarrassment value, it gives them a chance to exercise a tiny bit of leverage against Rudd in particular.

"But I don't think it's a huge revelation to the Chinese."

Dr Wesley says most of the cables will do little more than embarrass those people named.

"It basically puts some issues on the table that probably the Government would rather not be out in the open," he said.

"A lot of what governments do depends on them keeping their rather frank assessments of each other secret and not in public view.

"If some of this material, for instance, impacts on Australia's image in China or any other country, then that will be a step backwards.

"But in terms of actual hard strategic interests, I don't think it will do a lot of damage."

WikiLeaks has still only released a small percentage of the 250,000 documents it is believed to possess.

Read More

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/13/3091889.htm

The best age to marry – according to Ahmadinejad

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has said that the best age for girls to marry is between 16 and 18, rather than at the younger ages allowed by law.

"The best age for marriage is between 16 to 18 for girls and 19 to 21 for boys," the Mardomsalari newspaper quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as saying. The pronouncement is being interpreted as an effort by the government to gain support among young voters. In 2004, Iran's parliament raised the legally acceptable age of marriage for girls to 15 from nine.

The president's popularity has been harmed since the disputed 2009 presidential vote, which the opposition says was rigged to secure his re-election. "We have a parliamentary election in 2012 and hardliners want to win young people's votes in order to win the assembly vote," said an Iranian political analyst who asked not to be named.

Iranians are struggling to cope with international sanctions and economic uncertainty. The inflation rate is about 10 per cent and unemployment is running at 15 per cent.

Read More

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-best-age-to-marry-ndash-according-to-ahmadinejad-2140318.html