Back to Brief on Iran
The clerical regime’s medieval courts sentenced five people to death on Saturday and Sunday, October 16 and 17.
More than 500 executions have been announced since Khatami took office in 1997. Twelve people have been sentenced to the anti-human punishment of stoning. Five of the victims were women.
The state-run media reported on Sunday, October 17, that a 33-year-old woman had been sentenced to stoning in public. One victim was sentenced to 100 lashes before execution and another to blinding of eyes before being put to death.
These executions and savage punishments are solely intended to step up terror and intimidation in the country in the face of growing discontent and anger expressed by citizens toward the clerical regime’s agents of repression in different cities.
The Iranian Resistance calls on international
human rights organizations to condemn the continuing human rights violations
in Iran, particularly the dramatic rise in executions.
Daily Warned, State-Controlled Daily Tehran Times, October 20
TEHRAN - The Press Department of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance warned the daily Abrar for its carelessness in carrying news stories. The ministry in a statement said that the daily mocked mosque’ which in a holy place in one of its articles on Oct. 11. The office has asked the daily’s director to give a convincing response about its violations.
The same daily in an article on Oct.
18 contrasted the emblem of Imam’s centenary with the Nazi swastika and
carried an improper article on Oct. 19.
More on Indictment of Khatami’s Advisor, Agence France Presse, October 17
TEHRAN - A court has postponed the trial of former vice president Abdollah Nuri until Khatami’s visit to France is under way, the daily Resalat reported Sunday.
The special court for the clergy "agreed to his request to avoid tensions in press circles during… Khatami’s expected visit to France," the paper said.
It is expected that the Nuri trial
will attract far less publicity in the Tehran press if it coincides with
Khatami’s visit to France, which has generated enormous media interest
here.
Regime Charges US with Wanting to Damage Its Regional Relations, Agence France Presse, October 19
TEHRAN - Iran’s foreign ministry on Tuesday accused US Defense Secretary William Cohen of seeking to spoil relations among regional states by implicating Tehran in the 1996 Saudi bombing of a US barrack.
Cohen wants to "exploit the differences between regional countries, and secure US interests and its arms sales," said ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi cited by the official IRNA news agency.
Cohen said Monday that Washington… still sees no movement toward meeting US conditions for improved relations.
He said that when in Saudi Arabia he planned to ask about the state of the Saudi investigation into the June 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, which killed 19 US airmen and injured some 300.
US officials have said Washington is
still investigating possible Iranian involvement in the attack. "We do
have specific information with respect to the involvement of Iranian government
officials. We have not reached a conclusion about the specific individuals,
or about the question of whether ... this terrorism was sponsored by Iran
itself," US State Department spokesman James Rubin said.
Tehran Slams US over Spy Case, Agence France Presse, October 19
TEHRAN - The Iranian foreign ministry slammed as "unacceptable" Tuesday sharp criticism voiced by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright of Tehran’s handling of the case of 13 Iranian Jews charged with spying for Israel.
Albright’s comments to CNN on Sunday were an "unacceptable ... act of interference" in Iran’s internal affairs, ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told the official news agency IRNA.
The US secretary of state had described the case against the 13 Jews as an "unacceptable trial." "There is absolutely no reason for them to be brought up on espionage charges," she said.
The 13 Jews were arrested with seven other Iranians in the southern city of Shiraz between March and April, but their arrest was not made public until reported in the Western media in June.
The 20 face a near certain death sentence if convicted under a 1996 law which calls for capital punishment against those found guilty of spying for Israel or the United States.