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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 stoning woman 'tortured' to confess on TV
LONDON - A lawyer for an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning in the Islamic republic told a British newspaper she was tortured before confessing on state television to involvement in her husband's murder.
Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani's lawyer told The Guardian newspaper on Thursday that his client, a 43-year-old mother of two, was forced to give the interview, recorded in Tabriz prison where she has been held for the past four years.
"She was severely beaten up and tortured until she accepted to appear in front of camera," lawyer Houtan Kian said on the newspaper's website.
The lawyer said he feared the Iranian authorities would act quickly to carry out the death sentence, which was reportedly commuted to hanging after an international outcry against her sentencing last month.
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Why have Western feminists been so muted in their criticisms of Iran?
The Telegraph
Toby Young
13 August 2010
The fate of the 43-year-old Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning took a sinister turn yesterday when she appeared on Iranian state television to confess to her "crimes". Her lawyer fears she will now be executed imminently, probably hung by the neck until she is dead.
Many human rights groups have criticised the Iranian authorities for their brutal treatment of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, including Amnesty International and the International Committee Against Stoning. The mother of two has already received 99 lashes for committing adultery and according to her lawyer, who has fled the country after a warrant was issued for his arrest, she has been beaten and tortured in jail. Yet the response of feminists in the West has been strangely muted.
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British ambassador to Iran hits back after 'thick' jibe
The Telegraph
Alastair Jamieson
12 August 2010
The UK ambassador to Iran has angrily attacked comments by a senior Tehran government minister that the English are "a bunch of thick people".
Simon Gass said the comments were "illogical and worthless" and showed "a lack of respect for human dignity".
The remarks were made by Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, a vice-president of Iran, in a speech on Monday to education officials.
Mr Rahimi railed against various countries supporting UN sanctions on Tehran, calling Australians "a bunch of cow herders" and saying South Koreans should be "smacked in the face until they become human". He said: "England has nothing. Its inhabitants are not human, its officials are not responsible, and it doesn't even have any natural resources. [They are] a bunch of thick people ruled by a mafia. "They have plundered the world in the last 500 years and the young lad in charge now is even more stupid than his predecessor," Mr Rahimi added. ... Read More | |
The Atlantic
Jeffrey Goldberg
12 August 2010
For the Obama administration, the prospect of a nuclearized Iran is dismal to contemplate- it would create major new national-security challenges and crush the president's dream of ending nuclear proliferation. But the view from Jerusalem is still more dire: a nuclearized Iran represents, among other things, a threat to Israel's very existence. In the gap between Washington's and Jerusalem's views of Iran lies the question: who, if anyone, will stop Iran before it goes nuclear, and how? As Washington and Jerusalem study each other intensely, here's an inside look at the strategic calculations on both sides-and at how, if things remain on the current course, an Israeli air strike will unfold. ... Read More | |
AP Interview: US. contractor recounts kidnapping
Associated Press
JULIE WATSON
12 August 2010
SAN DIEGO - A U.S. Army contractor kidnapped in Iraq earlier this year described how his captors easily maneuvered past Iraqi checkpoints as he was held bleeding on the floor of their car.
In his first media interview since he was freed safely in March, Issa Salomi told The Associated Press he was handed over in exchange for four militants in Iraqi detention.
Shiite extremist group Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or "the League of the Righteous," claimed responsibility for his kidnapping. The group is believed to be close with Iran, and agreed last year to lay down its arms and join the Iraqi political process. Their current role is unclear.
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Release Iranian opposition from terror list
Human Events
Rt. Hon. Lord Waddington
12 August 2010
A federal appeals court in the United States ruled last month that the U.S. secretary of state had violated the rights of Iran's largest opposition group by refusing to revoke the designation of the PMOI as a terrorist organization. The secretary of state had not given the group a chance to rebut the allegations made against it. Furthermore the court made clear that a strict application of the principles of law would require revocation of the terrorist designation and it was only in light of the foreign policy and national security concerns asserted by the secretary of state that they were returning the case to her with an instruction that she give the PMOI the chance to refute the allegations on which she had relied. ... Read More | |
Clinton backs Argentine bid to try alleged terrorists
WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday the United States backs Argentina in its call for Iran to extradite the suspects in a deadly bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center in 1994.
"Argentina and the United States cooperate closely in the fight against terrorism," the chief US diplomat said as she appeared before the news media with Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman.
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