Ezzatollah Molainia, deputy director-general of State Prisons Organization, said yesterday: "The available statistics show that every 52 seconds, one person is taken to prison in Iran." The prison chief's remarks, reported by IRNA, means that more than 606,000 people are sent to jail every year in Iran.

Molainia also stated that "there is no balance between intake and outlet in prisons and this has created an overcrowding of huge proportions. This is the main problem our organization is facing."

The real number of prisoners is far higher than the official statistics. Excluded from the prison chief's statement and figures are the thousands of political prisoners and dissidents jailed for taking part in antigovernment protests and uprisings. Moreover, the plethora of secret detention centers run by the Intelligence Ministry, the State Security Forces, the Revolutionary Guards, and other repressive agencies are not included in the official statistics.

The shocking revelation by the deputy director-general of State Prisons Organization shows once again that the mullahs' medieval dictatorship cannot survive in power except through suppression, executions and terrorism. Khatami's rhetoric on "civil society" and "rule of law" boils down to more executions and more prisoners.
 

City Authorities Crack Down On Loud Pop Music, Reuters, July 25

TEHRAN - Authorities in an Iranian holy Muslim city have launched a crackdown on pop music, arresting dozens of youths for playing loud music on their car stereos, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Police also seized some 80 cars during a weekend outing at a recreational center outside the northeastern city of Mashhad, site of a major Shiite Muslim shrine, the Qods newspaper said.

A local judge told the daily that the youths faced up to 75 lashes, a fine and seizure of their music equipment.

Those repeating the offense could be exiled or receive harsher sentences under Iran's Islamic laws, he said.

The crackdown came despite a recent ruling by a high court that mere possession of "illicit" pictures, audio and videocassettes is not a crime.
 

Ahmad Shamlou, Leading Iranian Poet, Dies, Reuters, July 24

TEHRAN - Ahmad Shamlou, one of Iran's finest poets, who fell foul of the shah and grew disillusioned with the Islamic Revolution which overthrew him, died Monday after a long illness. He was 75.

Shamlou, who had lived in virtual seclusion in a Tehran suburb in recent years, died in hospital after a long battle with diabetes.

A major force in the secular intellectual movement opposed to the shah before the 1979 revolution, he developed a free-flowing poetic style at odds with the tightly-balanced rhymes of classical Persian poetry.

His books were banned for long periods before and after the 1979 revolution, although since the early 1990s his poems have appeared in literary magazines.

His criticism of the shah's regime cost him a brief stint in jail and forced exile in 1970s.

On his return he was immediately disillusioned as the Shi'ite clergy cracked down on secularism and intellectual movements, and took refuge in love poetry.
 

Court Closes 20th Paper, Reuters, July 25

TEHRAN - A hardline Iranian court closed a newly launched reformist weekly on Tuesday, the 20th national publication to be hit by a widespread crackdown on the press.

Iran's official news agency IRNA said the Press Court banned the weekly Gounagoun (Variety), set up by a group of journalists whose newspapers were recently closed.

The court cited a law that prohibits the launching of a publication markedly resembling a banned predecessor, IRNA said.
 

"Aboard A Roaring Surge Of A Rough Sea" - Paper, State-Controlled Jomhouri Islami, July 18

…It would be self-serving to say that "the reform process" has become so powerful that no one can stand in its way and everyone must ride of this wave. This is particularly the case as the "reform process" neither provides any specific definition, nor a clear goal.

Our situation today is not that much different with the situation in a ship. No one can say it is not anyone's business if I puncture the area under my own feet. For this reason, we are aboard a roaring surge of a rough sea and only "a healthy ship" can ensure our common destiny…

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