Following the brutal suppression of a protest by inmates in Khorramabad's Qal'eh (Falak-ol Aflak) Prison (western Iranian province of Lorestan) on Thursday, May 13, the families of the 16 prisoners who are on the death row have staged a series of protests every day in front of the prison.

In another development yesterday, the students at Khorramabad University held a rally to protest the murder of a prisoner during the riots.

On Thursday, May 13, prisoners rioted in Qal'eh prison in protest to the appalling and intolerable prison conditions and broke their cell doors. A number of Guards were disarmed and taken hostage.

In the ensuing clashes, mullah Mohammad Keshvari, the prison's prayer leader, Changiz Rassoulzadeh, a Guard, and a prisoner, Shir-Mohammad Biranvand, were killed. Eight more Guards were seriously wounded.

The order to open fire and crack down on protesting prisoners came directly from Mohammad Khatami's office and the Interior Minister Abdolvahed Moussavi-Lari, according to a confidential report from within the Iranian regime's Interior Ministry

The regime plans to execute 16 inmates in Khorramabad prison in order to intimidate and terrorize the public and prevent future riots. Two months ago, 18 Mojahedin supporters held in this prison were executed.
 
 

Worried About Popular Discontents, Clerics To Stage War Games Outside Tehran, Reuter, Nay 16

TEHRAN - Iranian troops will stage war games outside Tehran next week to mark the liberation of a major city during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

A commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards said special forces would begin the 10-day exercises in an area west of the capital next Saturday "to ensure troop readiness in case of need."

Airborne and artillery units would also take part in the exercises, the commander said, but he gave no details of the number of troops involved.
 
 

"Blood Money" Set At $20,000 For Men, $10,000 For Women, Reuter, May 17

TEHRAN - Iran has set a maximum of $20,000 for the "blood money" a killer can pay to his victim's family to avoid execution, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The government daily Iran said the judiciary set the cash value of diyeh, or blood money, at between 61 million and 162 million rials. Blood money for a woman is half that of a man.

Despite annual increases to keep pace with inflation, the dollar value of blood money has declined since 1995.

Iran's penal code has kept an old Islamic definition of blood money as one of the following: 100 camels, 200 cows, 1,000 sheep, 200 silk dresses, 1,000 gold coins, or 10,000 silver coins. But authorities have set cash equivalents to simplify matters.
 
 

Is Iran's Rafsanjani Losing His Grip?, Reuter, May 16

TEHRAN - Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, for 20 years the consummate insider of post-revolutionary Iranian politics, appears to be losing control of the hidden levers of power in the Islamic Republic.

A string of recent political setbacks, on top of a legacy of grand development schemes gone sour, has badly dented the image of a man whose power and influence were once so awe-inspiring that ordinary Iranians dubbed him "Akbar Shah."

On the surface at least the record is clear, providing his critics with plenty of ammunition.

Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the former mayor of Tehran and a Rafsanjani protege, was jailed earlier this month on corruption charges. In his defense, the mayor said he was simply carrying out Rafsanjani's orders.

"He managed only a last-minute expression of regret after his behind-the-scenes efforts to prevent this incident came to nothing. Still, people expected more of him," said the economic daily Jahan-e Eqtesadi.

Rafsanjani, 64, also failed to defend publicly the minister of culture, once his vice president, from hardliners fearful of debasement of Iran's revolutionary values.

At the same time, the Revolutionary Court closed a daily run by his daughter, the MP Faezeh Hashemi, for alleged anti-Islamic activity, leaving the publisher to point helplessly at the past revolutionary contributions of the Rafsanjani family.
 

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