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Clashes erupted between the Guards Corps and security forces and several thousand students at Tehran's Elm-o San'at University (Science and Industry University) yesterday. The students had staged a large gathering to protest the regime's suppressive measures and presence of agents of Intelligence Ministry, Guards Corps and Bassij on campus.
More than 3,000 protesters chanted, "death to despotism" and "free all political prisoners."
Shortly after the protest began, members of the Bassij and Revolutionary Guards, posing as the Students' Bassij, attacked the crowd with clubs and knuckle-dusters. Clashes continued from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. and a number of students were arrested.
The Elm-o San'at is one of the biggest universities in Tehran.
U.N. Concerns about Rights in Iran, Voice of America, Editorial, December 2
Members of the United Nations General Assembly recently adopted a resolution on human rights abuses in Iran. The resolution reflects the findings of Maurice Copithorne, U.N. Special Representative for Human Rights in Iran…
Iranian human rights abuses cited in the resolution include extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, unfair trials, and restrictions on freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion. Iranian women suffer official discrimination in family and property matters. Freedom of expression remains subject to inconsistent and ill-defined government regulations. The U.N. is particularly concerned over recent closures of publications and the jailing of editors.
Religious intolerance is especially harsh in regard to Iran's three-hundred thousand Baha'is. In July, Ruhollah Rowhani was executed for his Baha'i faith. Six other imprisoned Baha'is are currently threatened with execution. In September, the Iranian government shut down the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education, which offered a university education to Baha'is denied the right to attend government-run universities. Iranian officials also harass or repress Christians, Zoroastrians, Sunni Muslims and Jews.
More Bad News for Iran Economy as Non-Oil Exports Down, Agence France Presse, December 1
TEHRAN - Iran's non-oil exports have fallen nearly three billion dollars below expectations for the current fiscal year, an Iranian official said Tuesday, bringing further bad news for the Islamic republic's faltering economy.
Customs Director Mehdi Karbassian said non-petroleum exports would reach just three billion dollars for the fiscal year that ends in March and not the 5.7 billion as planned in the budget.
The fall in non-oil exports has increased the nation's dependence on oil revenues, which have taken a battering as the price of crude has plummeted worldwide.
Iran is currently facing a 6.3 billion dollar shortfall as Iranian crude trades at around 11 dollars per barrel, well below the 16 dollar mark provided for in this year's budget.
The Plight of the Persian Carpet, Agence France Presse, December 1
TEHRAN - Ali Bidani sits disconsolately in his corner shop in a passage in Tehran's sprawling old bazaar, surrounded by piles of luxurious hand-woven carpets he says he cannot afford to sell.
After almost two decades running a business that has been in his family for generations, Bidani is considering joining some of his fellow Iranian carpet merchants and simply shutting up shop.
The industry is also by far Iran's largest employer, providing jobs to around two million weavers -- mainly working in small family related businesses in villages across the country -- and 300,000 others in related industries.
Prized for centuries for their fine workmanship, quality wools and silks and exquisite designs, Persian carpets now face stiff competition from aggressive new exporters such as India, Pakistan, Turkey and Central Asian states.
But local traders complain that their industry is facing a greater challenge at home -- crushing state bureaucracy.
Traders complain that the dollar value set for carpets by customs is too high, often well above the price they can hope to gain in Europe, say, a shortfall exacerbated by the difference between the official dollar rate of 3,000 rials and a black market rate closer to 7,000.
Bidani also complained that private merchants were losing out to government bodies and even powerful Islamic clergymen with access to cheaper carpets but which are exempted from the cumbersome customs regime.