News of the Prisoners
A- Transfers
Mostafa Daneshjoo, Lawyer for Iran’s Sufi minority
- Incarcerated Gonabadi Dervishes’ lawyer Mostafa Daneshjoo has been hospitalized.
- Political prisoner Mashallah Haeri, 60, hospitalized
- Political prisoner Mohammadreza Motamednia on hunger strike was hospitalized Sunday due to poor health.
- Gonabadi Dervish, Hamid Reza Moradi sent to hospital in critical health condition then back to Evin 350.
- Political prisoner Mohammadreza Motamednia on hunger strike was hospitalized Sunday due to poor health.
- Alireza Rejaei was moved back to Ward 350 after one week of interrogation in Ward 2-A (IRGC) solitary and arraigned on new charges.
- Student activist Kaveh Rezaei transferred to drug addicts’ ward in Rejaei Shahr prison.
- Incarcerated labor activist Reza Shahabi has been taken to hospital.
B- Arrests/Incarcerations
- Mahmoud Reza Allameh, political activist, was arrested on 21st April in Sari.
- Activist Ali Doniari was arrested in Ahvaz on April 29th and sent to Sepidar prison to start serving 6 months sentence
- Amir Kazemi Tabrizi citizen arrested for displaying a billboard in Turkish language.
- Saman Nassim arrested in Marivan and sent to Mahabad prison.
- Gonabadi Dervishes member Mohammad Ali Shamshirzan was arrested at his work in Kovar.
C-Liberations
- Greens supporter Moazedin Eilati was released from Tabriz prison after completing his 15 months sentence.
- Mozhgan Emadi, Yekta Fahandaj, Mozhdeh Falah, Kambiz Habibi, Sam Jaberi, Sina Sarikhani, Farshid Yazdani, and Iman Rahmatpanah, Baha’is, released from Shiraz prison.
- Majid Enayat, Shahram Ghaedi, Rouhollah Hosseinian, Enayat Jafari, Fariborz Parsi Nejad, Keyhan Amiri, and Maryam Del-aram released on USD30,000 bail each in Isfahan.
- Meysam Hojati, Pastor Hekmat Salimi, and Shahnaz Zarifi released on USD50,000 bail each in Isfahan.
D-Other News
- Ali Moradi, Kurdish political prisoner in Bandar Abbas, sentenced to 30 years, on hunger strike to protest lack of medical treatment.
- Mousavi’s daughters urge political prisoners Mohammadreza Motamednia and Mohammad Ali Velayati to break their hunger strike.
- A prominent Iranian literary translator Soleimani Nia halts hunger strike.
- After 50 days on hunger strike, Mohammad Ali Velayati has ended his hunger strike
- Over-crowding at 5 times the capacity in Amol Prison ( built for 150 holds 850).
News of injustice in Iran
- Reuters bureau chief in Tehran, Paris Hafezi, summoned to court over ninja story.
- The Revolutionary Court in Mahabad has sentenced Ebrahim Isapour to death on Moharebeh charges.
- Gholam Reza Khosravi death sentence upheld by Supreme Court.
- Political activist Meisam Mashayekh has been sentenced to 2 years suspended sentence.
- Khabat Mohammadzadeh from Sanandaj sentenced to 8-years.
- The Revolutionary Court in Mahabad has sentenced Sirvan Nejavi on Moharebeh charges.
- Student environmentalist Sahand Nobakht sentenced to 1 year in prison + 3 years suspended.
- Houshang Rezaei sentenced to death on Moharebeh charges.
- Bail has been set at 50million Toman for student activist Amir Sheibanizadeh. Family says they can’t afford the bail.
- Four people hanged in Shahroud on Monday.
- Report of a homosexual man being hanged but no name or location provided.
University – Culture
- Sex change film from Iran wins award in US film festival.
- Iran identifies cyber attackers on Oil Ministry.
- After the oil ministry, Iran’s ministry of sciences under cyber-attacks.
- Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi plans short trip to Iran to support Afghans.
- Ministry of Science orders Dr. Hossein Vale and Mohammad Saeed Kashani, two senior philosophy lecturers from Beheshti University to be dismissed.
- Tehran bikers promote environment-themed movie “The Orange Dressed”.
- The Islamic Association of Students of Shahid Abbaspour University was suspended.
- More than 10 publishers absent from Tehran Book Fair.
- Google eliminates “Persian Gulf” from google maps.
- Pouya Muhammadi-Dehaj student in orthodontics, expelled from Esfahan University because he is of Baha’i faith.
- Iran to change all textbooks according to religious concepts during 6 years; said Minister of Education.
- Iran is scheduled to hold the 12th International Radio Festival and the 4th International Radio Forum in the northern province of Gilan.
- Revolutionary Court suspends publication of Nasime Bidari.
Protests
- Shushtar workers rally to protest against job insecurity on Labor Day.
- Security forces and plainclothes agents attacked workers gathering with pepper gas and batons in Sanandaj-Kurdistan province.
- Workers of the Khuzestan pipe factory gathered in front of the governor’s office to protest not having been paid for 25 months.
Economy in Iran
- Iran Buys 70,000 Tons of Brazilian Corn.
- Tabriz match factory laying off workers.
- 12 shops shut in Qazvin by police.
- 1 USD =1700 tomans; gold coin=680,000 tomans on Saturday – 1 US Dollar : 1705 Toman on Sunday.
- 14 to 20% reduction in consumption of dairy products in Iran due to high inflation.
- New minimum wage in Iran is below the poverty line.
- Ahmadinejad Chief of Staff Mashaei ordered illegal transfer of Steel Company to Aria Group.
- Iran allocates $22 billion for importing basic goods including rice, cooking oil, sugar, and meat.
- 19 businesses in Ardebil province, mostly cafes and restaurants, shut down by internal security forces this week.
- IMF pressured to suspend Iran, close central bank account.
- Child labour; 3.4 million children deprived of education in the country.
- 40 trading premises shut in Malard and Shahriar.
- Cooking oil factory closure makes 200 men jobless.
- Iran has imported $286 billion of goods over the past 5 years.
- Iran has signed a new contract with Spain, worth EUR 1,600,000, despite international sanctions against the Iranian oil industry.
- The Poliaklil Factory of Isfahan has not paid its workers for more than a year.
- Construction workers on Gotvand dam have been laid off without getting paid.
- Sharp price increases in Iran: Dairy products up 51.6%; fresh vegetables, 91.1%; beef, 45.4%.
Iran abroad
- Guam joins international condemnation of Iran’s Human Rights abuses.
- Iran hosts third international Persian Gulf conference.
- Canadian Embassy in Tehran has stopped issuing visas. People seeking visas to Canada must go to their Embassy in Ankara.
- Iran expresses willingness to mediate between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
- Implementation of free trade agreement between Iran and Syria commences.
- Iranian Vice President visits Lebanon.
- No Country Ready to Shelter MKO Terrorists.
- Iranian plot to kill Saudi envoy in Cairo foiled.
Politics in Iran
- Callous border security guns down 70 couriers in Kurdistan.
- Arrest of Ali Akbar Heidari Fard, one of the three suspended judges of Kahrizak camp, after he disturbed the peace by firing a handgun at people queuing for petrol.
- Ahmadinejad and Minister of Youth and Sports will likely not attend the 2012 Olympics because of fingerprint demands for visa – Saudi soccer players fingerprinted at Imam Khomeini International Airport.
- Qom Lecturers Society urges the government to look into high prices; “weak strata of society will be faced with serious difficulties, if the high cost of living continues”
- Religious police on motorbikes monitor bad-hejab women in Tehran.
- Café Honar which belongs to the famous cinema actor Shahab Hosseini in Lavasan was closed by the government.
- Kahrizak arrest: Ali Akbar Heydarifard, deputy to former Tehran Prosecutor, sent to Evin.
- Iran to give 100 licenses to mosques to launch Preschools.
- Iran imported weapons worth over £350 million in space of 3 years despite being the target of UN arms embargo.
- Judiciary Chief accused the government of violating the law.
Miscellaneous
- 500% rise in deaths resulting from addiction in “holy” city of Qom.
- Death of Kurdish tradesmen in border regions.
- Iran, China to cooperate in traditional medicine, acupuncture.
- Another part of Oud-Lajan, one of Tehran’s oldest and most colorful neighborhoods destroyed by fire.
@lissnup 
One thought on “News from Iran – Week 18 – 2012”