Back to Brief on Iran
PARIS - The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) on Wednesday voiced concern that many Iranians could be sentenced to death for their role in civil unrest that swept Tehran last July.
The Paris-based FIDH, in a statement asking Iranian authorities to review death sentences passed recently against four of the protesters, said more than 800 people were being held and prosecuted in revolutionary courts.
"Sentences already passed raise fears
that they also face death sentences," it said.
EU to Urge Mullahs to Reprieve Condemned Students, Reuters, September 15
LONDON - The European Union is to urge Iran not to execute four alleged leaders of student pro- democracy protests last July, EU diplomats said on Wednesday.
The head of Tehran's Revolutionary Courts, Gholamhossein Rahbarpour, disclosed in a weekend newspaper interview that four accused ringleaders in the turmoil had been tried and sentenced to die.
A senior diplomat said EU ambassadors led by Finland, the 15-nation bloc's current president, would make an official approach to the Iranian Foreign Ministry urging that the death sentences not be carried out.
He declined to say what the consequences
for EU-Iranian relations would be if the executions went ahead but another
source said several high-level visits hung in the balance, including a
planned trip by Austrian President Thomas Klestil. His office declined
to comment on any possible link between the trip and the death sentences.
U.S. Warns Americans against Traveling To Iran, Reuters, September 14
WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department on Tuesday warned Americans not to travel to Iran, saying despite calls by national leaders for more person-to-person contacts, there was some "harassment by vigilante groups."
"The Department of State warns U.S. citizens to defer travel to Iran," a statement said.
The statement, issued as a Travel Warning,
said the threat to Americans in Iran had risen since violent demonstrations
in Tehran and other cities in July.
Listless Economy Drags Down Iran, 'Major Surgery' Needed, Expert Says, The Washington Post, September 15
TEHRAN - Ali Abrishami, a fourth grade teacher, recently asked a group of students how they view their economic future in Iran. The responses were bleak. "I'm afraid of rising prices," one boy said. "I don't think I will find a job," said another. A third said simply: "I don't want to grow up…"
Despite Iran's oil wealth, which brought in $15 billion last year and accounts for 80 percent of the country's hard currency earnings, the economy has declined in the past 20 years…
The level of frustration is high, and political leaders have heard the message… The Khatami administration is working on a reform plan to be presented to parliament next year... But Iranian economists say the task is daunting.
"We need major surgery to improve our economy," said Fariborz Raisdana, a Tehran economist and commentator. "Unless the government is prepared to take radical steps, we will remain mired in our current state of stagflation."
The numbers are grim. Inflation is officially estimated at 20 percent while wages are stagnant. Unemployment hovers at about 15 percent, while the country needs to create an estimated 1 million jobs a year to keep up with the growth of the population, half of which is under 21. Meanwhile, red tape chokes the private sector; inefficient, government-run factories stagnate; tough restrictions limit foreign investment; and business corruption rises.
"The problems are so deep that we will need a bulldozer to get through the mess," said Raisdana…
Many well-connected businessmen have accumulated massive wealth over the years through real estate and currency speculation and trading, prompting criticism from economists, such as Bijan Khajepour. "Much of this wealth has been created by abusing the system," he said.
Khajepour, however, is more concerned with deterioration of the middle class. "In 18 of the past 20 years, the average middle class family sold off assets, such as gold or carpets or property, in order to survive," he explained. "This is the most serious aspect of the economic crisis…"
As with all important issues in Iran, the economic crisis is not immune from politics, which has intensified in the two years following the election of Khatami.
Mohammad Rezai, a 51-year-old former truck driver, has little stomach for the debate.
"The government doesn't care about the people," he said. "These factional politics are just games."