Iran Update
Volume: 1 - Issue:  6826 July 2010
Iran Update
Dear Friend,
We are delighted to present you with the current issue of Iran Update, a publication of International Solidarity for Democratic Change in Iran (ISDCI).    
Iran opposition group to State Dept's terror list?
Human Events
David Alan Coia
26 July 2010

...The court did find a small opening for MOI's possible non-FTO future in Secretary Rice's 2009 FTO designation filing.  "In light of the evidence submitted by the MEK that it has renounced terrorism and the uncertainty surrounding the MEK presence in Iraq, the continued designation of the MEK should be re-examined by the secretary of State in the next two years even if the MEK does not file a petition for revocation," she noted.
What PMOI expects from the State Department is "a fresh look" at the evidence. 
"The next step is for us to basically have a dialog with the State Department in which they tell us what they're thinking about that's not classified, that's adverse stuff, so that we get a chance to make a submission to them and explain it and argue why it's not reliable, why it wouldn't justify the terrorist designation," Frey said.  "I don't know that [Secretary Clinton] has given it much thought until now.  The whole time she has been in office, the case has been in the court." 
"If the secretary makes a good-faith, honest decision that's not guided by some ulterior political motive, [PMOI] ought to be taken off the list," Frey said.   "At least we're given the chance to make the case to her, and it's a strong case."
 ...
Read More

UK to follow-up claims on Manx link to Iran
IOM Today
ADRIAN DARBYSHIRE
26 July 2010
UK Lord Chancellor Ken Clarke says he will investigate claims made in a BBC Radio 4 documentary that Isle of Man shipping companies were involved in sanction-busting shipments of arms to Iran.
The allegations, which repeat those first made in the New York Times in June, are strenuously denied by the Manx Government.
It insists no current sanctions have been breached and there is no evidence that Manx-registered ships have been involved in carrying illicit cargoes.
Allegations centre on the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line, which is accused of setting up a web of shell companies in the Isle of Man to circumvent US and EU trade sanctions.
 ...
Read More
Iran stoning case lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei's relatives arrested
The Guardian
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
26 July 2010

Authorities in Iran have issued an arrest warrant for an acclaimed Iranian lawyer and arrested his wife and brother-in-law over his involvement in the case of a woman sentenced to death by stoning.
Lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei's office in Tehran was ransacked, and he was interrogated in Evin prison for four hours on Saturday over his human rights activities and involvement in the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 43-year-old mother of two who was convicted of adultery and whose plight in Iran has drawn international attention since her children launched a campaign for her release almost a month ago.
Mostafaei called Sakineh's stoning sentence "a bogus conviction" and "absolutely illegal" in an interview with the Guardian earlier this month.
He was released, then called back for further questioning before being set free. Authorities then issued an arrest warrant.
 ...
Read More

Global support for woman condemned to death for adultery in Iran
The Herald Scotland
Grant Collinson
25 July 2010

Supporters of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was jailed in 2005, held demonstrations in more than 30 cities worldwide, including London and Birmingham in the UK, as well as in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
Ashtiani was sentenced to be stoned to death but this was postponed after an international outcry. However, a death sentence remains in place.
Ashtiani, 43, received 99 lashes from the Iranian judiciary for what was described as "an illicit relationship outside marriage". The mother-of-two was then found guilty of adultery after a man was convicted of murdering her husband in 2006.
Ashtiani's lawyer said that she confessed to the crime after being subjected to the lashing, adding that she later withdrew the confession and has maintained her innocence.
 ...
Read More

EU poised to impose new sanctions on Iran
The Financial Times
James Blitz
25 July 2010

The European Union is expected to impose new economic sanctions on Iran today, going well beyond the measures approved by a UN resolution last month.
The EU's foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, are likely to ban all new investment by European companies in the Iranian oil and gas sectors. This will form part of what some diplomats describe as the most wide-ranging sanctions the EU has ever agreed against any country.
The measures are expected to include an asset freeze on some 40 Iranian companies believed to be linked to the country's nuclear programme. This would be in addition to the 40 companies singled out in last month's UN resolution.
 ...
Read More

 
Thank you for your reading Iran Update. We welcome your comments. 
 
 
Sincerely,
 
ISDCI News Group
In This Issue
Iran opposition group to State Dept's terror list?
UK to follow-up claims on Manx link to Iran
Iran stoning case lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei's relatives arrested
Global support for woman condemned to death for adultery in Iran
EU poised to impose new sanctions on Iran
Quick Links
 
 
 
 
 
By David Klein
Putting Human Rights
First
We invite you to write to your national government officials to ask them to freeze all commercial and diplomatic ties with the Iranian regime until there is a full stop to repression of protests in Iran, release of political prisoners and respect for human rights as demanded by the UN Human Rights Council. Please support sanctions of economic relations that only benefit Iranian regime's repressive elite, enable its suppressive forces (IRGC), and prolong its illegitimate rule in Iran, and its export of terror and instability to the region and world.