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Human Rights
April 24-28, 2000 / Ordibehesht 2-6, 1379

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Latest

* Hardliners in elite force 'plotting coup against Iranian president'
* Judiciary shuts last two reformist papers
* Khamenei endorses media crackdown
* Student protests grow at press closures
* New ban on papers fuels Iran crisis
* Election campaign reopens in Iran as political confusion persists
* Iran frees eight accused of serial killings

* Four coups against the press

Recent

* Reformers Say Iran's Hard-Liners Plan Revolt
* Students across Iran protest press bans
* Date for second round of elections finally set
* Iran pro-democracy newspaper warned
* Pro-reform cleric rejects charges against him
* Protests mount at closure of pro-reform press

* Iran waives ban on daily, protests mount
* Hard-liners boost Khatami pressure
* Arrest warrant issued for Ashkevari
* Trial of Hajarian attack suspects open
* Iran bans 14 pro-reform publications
* Khatami appeals for calm after press suspensions
* U.S. condemns pro-reform media closings in Iran
* U.S. amends sanctions on Russian entities over Iran
* Iran jails another publisher
* Iran ex-police chief blames student unrest on higher authorities
* Reformists battered from all sides
* Rallies in Iran following call by Guards, but turnout low
* Iranian demonstrators, police clash
* Mohajerani summons newspaper chiefs for meeting
* Iran rejects US remarks about freedom of the press

News | Sports | Arts | Business| Community


Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday


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Thursday
April 27, 2000

* Hardliners in elite force 'plotting coup against Iranian president'

Thursday April 27, 2000 (The Guardian, London) -- Several commanders in Iran's Revolutionary Guards have mapped out a strategy to force reformist foes to "stay silent or pull aside" in a planning session which it is claimed could be described as a precursor to a coup against President Mohammad Khatami. Three senior officials of the Revolutionary Guards and their allies outlined a three-stage plan to be carried out by a "crisis committee", according to notes taken from a tape of the meeting two weeks ago, which have been made available to the Guardian >>> FULL TEXT

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* Judiciary shuts last two reformist papers

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's hard-line judiciary shut down the last two major national newspapers from the reformist camp Thursday, bringing to 16 the number of publications banned this week. The two newspapers, including a leading daily published by a brother of President Mohammad Khatami, were the last hit in a wave of closures that began Sunday >>> FULL TEXT

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* Khamenei endorses media crackdown

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's supreme leader on Wednesday endorsed the recent crackdown on reformist newspapers, describing the publications as ``deviant'' and urging his supporters not to remain silent. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned what he called ``a deviant media movement that is trying to shape public opinion and turn it against Islam, the revolution and the Islamic Republic.'' >>> FULL TEXT

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* Student protests grow at press closures

TEHRAN, April 27 (AFP) - Students held their biggest protest yet late Wednesday at the closure of pro-reform newspapers by Iran's conservative press court, press reports said Thursday. The daily Bayan, one of the few pro-reform dailies to escape suspension, said 5,000 students demonstrated peacefully at Ahvaz University in the south of the country in support of reformist President Mohammad Khatami >>> FULL TEXT

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* New ban on papers fuels Iran crisis

TEHRAN, April 27 (AFP) - Iran's conservative judiciary stoked up tension again Thursday by ordering the closure of the two most important reformist newspapers, including that of President Mohammad Khatami's brother. The move, reported by the official news agency IRNA, on top of previous suspensions left the reformist camp without a voice for the second round of the parliamentary elections on May 5 >>> FULL TEXT

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* Election campaign reopens in Iran as political confusion persists

TEHRAN, April 27 (AFP) - Campaigning opened for the second round of Iran's parliamentary elections Thursday amid continued political uncertainty. But analysts said the mere fact that the polls were taking place, coupled with a strong expression of support for reformist President Mohammad Khatami from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had helped to calm the volatile situation >>> FULL TEXT

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* Iran frees eight accused of serial killings

TEHRAN, April 27 (AFP) - Iran Wednesday freed eight of the 22 people accused of serial killings of opponents of the regime and intellectuals in late 1998 on "clear proof" they were not guilty, the justice department said. The reason the case has gone so slowly up to present is precisely because of the charges against the eight were baseless, the department said in a statement quoted by the official IRNA news agency >>> FULL TEXT

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* Four coups against the press

April 27, Ham-Mihan -- A look at the struggle between the press and the government in nearly a century >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

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Wednesday
April 26, 2000

* Reformers Say Iran's Hard-Liners Plan Revolt

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's reformers say they have learned of a ``master plan'' by hard-liners in the security forces and their allies to crush the movement for change and even topple the government of moderate President Mohammad Khatami. They say some elements of the elite Revolutionary Guards, the police and the state broadcast monopoly have formed a ''crisis committee'' to fan social, political and religious tensions and pave the way for a possible coup d'etat >>> FULL TEXT

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* Students across Iran protest press bans

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Students at Tehran's technical university said on Wednesday they had suspended classes for the day, as peaceful protests spread against the banning of 13 pro-reform publications spread across the country. Hundreds of students at the University of Science and Technology rallied inside the enclosed campus, chanting slogans, clapping and stamping their feet in unison >>> FULL TEXT

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* Date for second round of elections finally set

TEHRAN, April 26 (AFP) - The run-off second round of parliamentary elections in Iran will be held on May 5, state radio said Wednesday, quoting an official announcement by the interior ministry. "The second round will take place on Friday, May 5 in 52 constituencies," the announcement said, adding that the total of 132 candidates for the 66 seats could begin campaigning Thursday >>> FULL TEXT

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* Iran pro-democracy newspaper warned

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A court representing Iran's hard-line clergy has sent a warning to the president's brother to rein in his pro-democracy newspaper or face sanction, state radio reported today. Saeed Mortazavi, a judge of the Press Court, notified Mohammad Reza Khatami by letter Tuesday that his Mosharekat daily newspaper had broken press laws by publishing additional copies in recent days, the radio said >>> FULL TEXT

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* Pro-reform cleric rejects charges against him

PARIS, April 26 (AFP) - Iranian pro-reform cleric Hassan Yussefi Eshkevari rejected Tuesday charges brought against him by hardline Tehran clerics and described the accusations as "strange and incredible". Iran's Special Court for Clergy issued an arrest warrant against Eshkevari for having attended a controversial seminar in Berlin on April 7 and 8, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported earlier Tuesday >>> FULL TEXT

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Tuesday
April 25, 2000

* Protests mount at closure of pro-reform press

TEHRAN, April 25 (AFP) - Anger at a crackdown on the pro-reformist press spilled on to the streets of Tehran for the first time Tuesday as students staged demonstrations in favour of freedom of expression. Meanwhile the conservative-dominated courts kept up their offensive against the allies of President Mohammad Khatami, levelling serious charges against a cleric who attended a controversial seminar in Berlin >>> FULL TEXT

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* Iran waives ban on daily, protests mount

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's hardline judiciary lifted a ban on a popular pro-reform daily, allowing it to appear on newsstands Tuesday, but 13 other publications remained closed. Sobh-e Emrouz newspaper, whose publisher Saeed Hajjarian was gravely wounded in an assassination bid last month, was ordered closed late Monday afternoon, journalists told Reuters >>> FULL TEXT

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* Hard-liners boost Khatami pressure

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's hard-liners have stepped up pressure on President Mohammad Khatami, annulling another election result in a legislative district won by a moderate Khatami ally. Alarmed by the sound beating they took from reformists in February's legislative elections, hard-liners are trying to roll back Khatami's reforms in a bid to protect their own rule. In addition to annulling election results in 12 seats won by Khatami allies, they have closed 13 pro-democracy publications and jailed two journalists in recent weeks >>> FULL TEXT

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* Arrest warrant issued for Ashkevari

TEHRAN, April 25 (Reuters) - Iran's hardline clerical court has issued an arrest warrant for an outspoken cleric who took part in a seminar in Berlin on the reform movement, the official IRNA news agency said on Tuesday. It quoted prosecutor Mohammad Ebrahim Nekounam of the Special Court for Clergy as saying Hasan Yousefi-Ashkevari would be arrested on his return to Iran >>> FULL TEXT

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* Trial of Hajarian attack suspects open

TEHRAN, April 25 (AFP) - The trial of 10 defendants accused of planning the assassination of leading Iranian reformist Said Hajarian last month opened here Tuesday amid extreme political tension in the country. Despite a statement by the judiciary last week that the hearings would be in open court the foreign press was banned from the tribunal, with only local journalists being admitted >>> FULL TEXT

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Monday
April 24, 2000

* Iran bans 14 pro-reform publications

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's hard-line judiciary has suspended 14 pro-reform publications in the biggest blow yet to press freedoms championed by President Mohammad Khatami. The state news agency IRNA said early Monday eight dailies were among 12 publications banned without trial by the Tehran justice department for printing material that ``disparaged Islam and the religious elements of the Islamic revolution.'' >>> FULL TEXT

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* Khatami appeals for calm after press suspensions

TEHRAN, April 24 (AFP) - President Mohammad Khatami appealed for "calm and solidarity" on Monday, a few hours after Iran's press court suspended publication of eight daily newspapers politically close to the reformist Khatami. "Iran today, more than ever, needs calm and solidairty to achieve our aims. Today, we need tranquility, especially at the start of a new Majlis (parliament)," he said at military parade commemorating the Iranian army and the 20th anniversary of a failed attempt to free US embassy hostages then held in the eastern city of Tabas >>> FULL TEXT

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* U.S. condemns pro-reform media closings in Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday condemned Iran's hardline judiciary for closing 14 pro-reform publications, saying the move was a ``blow to the Iranian people.'' State Department spokesman James Rubin told a regular news briefing: ``These actions are a blow to the people of Iran, which have clearly expressed their desire for openness and this kind of freedom in successive elections.'' >>> FULL TEXT

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* U.S. amends sanctions on Russian entities over Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it would slap sanctions on the head of a Russian university suspected of helping Iran develop a missile program and lift restrictions against two enterprises it said had stopped helping Tehran. ``The United States intends to remove restrictions imposed in July 1998 on two Russian entities -- INOR Scientific Center and Polyus Scientific Production Association -- which have ceased the proliferant behavior that led to the imposition of these penalties,'' State Department spokesman James Rubin said >>> FULL TEXT

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* Iran jails another publisher

TEHRAN, April 23 (Reuters) - The publisher of a banned newspaper was jailed on Sunday when Iran's Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, the official IRNA news agency said, in a continuing clampdown on the liberal press. Latif Safari had been sentenced to 30 months imprisonment by the hardline press court for offences including insulting religious sanctities -- the most common charge brought against pro-reform journalists in Iran >>> FULL TEXT

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* Iran ex-police chief blames student unrest on higher authorities

TEHRAN, April 24 (AFP) - Tehran's former police chief on Monday rejected all charges against him and his officers over their role in last year's attack on student demonstrators, insisting that they were only acting on orders. "Regarding the attack against the university site, there is a chain of command, which is why it is up to my superiors and politicians to respond" to the charges, said Farhad Nazari during the eighth hearing at Tehran's military court >>> FULL TEXT

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Friday
April 21, 2000

* Reformists battered from all sides as Iran political tensions mount

TEHRAN, April 20 (AFP) - Supporters of Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami came under increasingly heavy attack Thursday as political tensions mounted in the country. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei flayed pro-reform newspapers and a hardline court summoned Khatami aides for questioning, accusing them of making anti-Islamic statements at a recent conference in Berlin >>> FULL TEXT

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* Rallies in Iran following call by Guards, but turnout low

TEHRAN, April 21 (AFP) - Thousands of Iranians demonstrated here Friday to denounce reformist politicians, including allies of President Mohammad Khatami, following a call from the regime's elite Revolutionary Guards corps. Similar rallies were held nationwide, notably in the holy city of Mashhad, but turnout was relatively low for the demonstrations, called by the Guards as a show of support for supreme leader, or Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei >>> FULL TEXT

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* Iranian demonstrators, police clash

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Demonstrators clashed with police Friday and at least 150 people were arrested in the third day of protests after hard-liners annulled a reformist's election victory, a local journalist said. ``The protesters hurled stones at anti-riot police and set one of the police cars on fire,'' said the journalist from the town of Sarvestan in southern Fars Province >>> FULL TEXT

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* Mohajerani summons newspaper chiefs for meeting

TEHRAN, April 21 (AFP) - Iran's culture minister called for a Saturday meeting of Iranian newspaper chiefs amid mounting pressure on the pro-reform press, the official IRNA news agency said. Ataollah Mohajerani, a close ally of President Mohammad Khatami, called for the meeting following strong criticisms of the reformist press by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday >>> FULL TEXT

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* Iran rejects US remarks about freedom of the press

TEHRAN, April 21 (AFP) - Iran rejects remarks made by the US State Department expressing "concern" about attacks on the press by the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the official IRNA news agency reported Friday. Iran rejects the comments by the State Department, and regards them as "flagrant interference in Iran's internal affairs," said foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi, quoted by IRNA >>> FULL TEXT

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Iran Country Report

As of December 31, 1998 (Committee to Protect Journalists) - Since President Muhammad Khatemi took office in August 1997, Iran's press has benefited from his agenda of social and political reforms. Newspapers are now tackling political subjects that would have been unthinkable only a year earlier. But almost as quickly as journalists realized their new freedoms, the press found itself the target of a relentless attacks from hard-line supporters of Iran's spiritual guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ... FULL TEXT

Missing

Missing: Pirouz Davani

A special web page has been created for Pirouz Davani, a political activist who left his home in Tehran on the 25th of August 1998 and has not been heard from since. On the 27th of August foreign radio stations quoted reports that he had been arrested ... GO TO WEB SITE

Feature

Stoning

Video showing a stonings in Iran in 1991. Extremely disturbing. Not recommended ... VIDEO CLIP HERE

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