Tehran - Iran amputated the fingers of seven robbers simultaneously Wednesday and hanged four other men for murder, newspapers reported Thursday.

The seven thieves aged 18 to 53 had their fingers amputated simultaneously in the northeastern city of Mashhad, according to the daily Ghods newspaper.

The penal code applied strictly in Iran stipulates amputation of limbs for multiple offenders who commit armed robbery.

Four Iranians charged with murder were hanged at dawn in the grounds of Ghasr prison in Tehran, the Kayhan newspaper reported.

Alireza Taraghikhah, Mohammad Beighi, Nur-Khoda Mahmudi, and Ali Salehi, were condemned to death by hanging, the newspaper reported.
 

Daily Mocks Party Politics, (IRNA) State News Agency, , January 20

Tehran - Iran News here Thursday focused on the verbal altercations between two principle members of the Executive of Construction party, namely Mohammad Hashemi, and Minister of Culture, Ataollah Mohajerani, saying the deplorable fact was that country's parties had sprung up according to the need of time without ever having a mandatory charter or putting together their basic platforms.

"Some were formed to counter a common foe or to serve factional interests," said the daily in its editorial, adding "the upshot is that at some extremely crucial junctures, such as the upcoming Majlis election, when the need for absolute uniformity and congruity is of paramount importance to hype up the public enthusiasm and participation, they begin to fall out and wash their dirty linen in public.

The article further commented, "another agonizing fact is that our politicians come together and create parties at a time when they feel threatened with being rudely shoved out of the political arena. Their mentality of 'safety in numbers' gives them the spurious belief that they can transform their enfeebled power into a political powerhouse.

It said, "the experience has only taught us too well that these seasonal or periodic political parties actually fail soon after their inception and cannot brave the many trials and tribulations that lie in their paths."
 

Super Radical Ally of Khatami Slams Rafsanjani's Candidacy, Agence France Presse, January 19

TEHRAN - One of the leading figures of the radical Iranian movement of the 1980s and ally of Khatami hit out Wednesday at the candidacy of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani for February's legislative elections.

"If Rafsanjani wants our support, he must clearly and transparently choose his political side," said Hadi Ghafari, a former Tehran MP who is himself standing in the polls. Ghafari said that Rafsanjani, who has said he would stand as an independent, "would be elected but with very few votes."

"Sadly, Rafsanjani no longer has the courage to express his political position clearly," Ghafari said.

The candidacy of former president Rafsanjani has shaken up the political scene in Iran one month before the elections.

Rafsanjani, 65, belongs to one of the leading conservative factions, the Association of Combatant Clergy.
 

Committee Formed to Protect Authority of Mullahs' Top Leader, Associated Press, January 18

TEHRAN - A hard-line Iranian assembly reportedly has formed a committee to safeguard the authority of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

"The responsibility of this committee is to spell out the authority of the leader logically and protect it against possible doubts raised naturally in the society or injected artificially from abroad," Tuesday's Arya daily quoted a member of the Experts Assembly as saying.

The Experts Assembly, which elects and supervises the supreme leader, last week condemned any opposition to Khamenei and appealed to voters "not to elect pro-West" candidates in the Feb. 18 elections.
 

Cleric Bans Chess In Kashan, Agence France Presse, January 18

TEHRAN - Chess players in the central Iranian city of Kashan were aghast when their local cleric issued a religious decree or fatwa against their favorite game, the daily newspaper Arya said Tuesday.

The fatwa, issued by Ayatollah Jafar Saburi, has had "a negative impact on the Kashan population and their religious life," chess association chairman Ali Hashemi-Tehrani was quoted as saying.
 

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