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TEHRAN - An Iranian court has sentenced a woman to have her hand amputated and then be hanged for killing an elderly woman and stealing her belongings, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The daily Salam said the Tehran court found the 38-year-old woman, identified only as Jamileh, guilty of strangling her 70-year-old victim with the help of an accomplice and stealing gold objects from her home.
The accomplice received a 15-year jail sentence, the newspaper added. Both convicted women were described as drug addicts.
Under Iran's Islamic laws, the amputation
of fingers or a hand are possible punishments for theft.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Warn Against Any Compromise with US, Agence France Presse, February 2
TEHRAN - The hardline commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned against any "compromise" with the United States on Tuesday saying that it went against the teachings of the 20-year-old Islamic revolution.
"There is great antagonism between the United States and the revolution," General Yahya Rahim Safavi told a crowd of youngsters gathered to mark the revolution's 20th anniversary.
"Those who want to prepare the ground for a compromise should know that the path of struggle against the United States was set out by Khomeini and the people will follow this path," the official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
Safavi was referring to members of
Iran's government who advocate a thaw in relations with the United States
and have been calling for greater concessions from Washington in return.
Iranians to Get Russia Nuke Training, Associated Press, February 2
MOSCOW - A group of Iranian specialists will come to Russia early next month for training in operating a nuclear power plant that Russia is building in Iran, according to a news report.
Thirty Iranians will be trained at the Novovoronezh nuclear plant in southern Russia as part of the $800 million plant construction deal signed with Iran in 1995, the Interfax news agency reported Monday.
In all, several hundred Iranians will
be trained in Russia before the plant is fully staffed in 2000 or 2001,
Interfax reported, citing Russia's Nuclear Ministry. About 1,000 Russians
are working on construction in Iran, it said.
Rafsanjani: Enemies Are Working Hard, IRNA (State News Agency), February 1
TEHRAN - Chairman of the Expediency Council,… Rafsanjani said on Monday the enemies of the Islamic revolution are now working hard to sow discord among the Iranian people.
Addressing a special ceremony at the mausoleum of… Khomeini, Rafsanjani said the enemies have embarked on a conspiracy to separate the Iranian people from the Islamic republic.
He said the enemies have also targeted the young generation to tarnish the youth's clear and productive minds.
He called on the officials of the Islamic republic to exercise vigilance to deal with the conspiracy…
He said, ''the enemies are working to strike at the foundations of the Islamic revolution and the mobilized masses of people…"
He said, ''by honoring velayat-e-faqih
and cooperating with the government we can well neutralize the enemies'
futile attempts to divide the nation…''
Iranian Central Bank Demands Rescheduling of Bills, Agence France Presse, February 2
SEOUL - Iran, hit by currency shortages and falling oil prices, has asked South Korea to reschedule some 100 million dollars worth of import payments, officials said Tuesday.
The requests were contained in a letter from Aziz Farrashi, a senior Iranian central bank official, to two foreign banks and 14 South Korean firms including the trading arms of Daewoo, Hyundai and other conglomerates.
"Iran has asked us for an additional 18 months after it failed to remit overdue payments," a Daewoo Corp. spokesman told AFP.
Some newspapers in Seoul expressed concern over Iran's worsening financial status.