AFP, TEHRAN — Four people were killed and 26 injured late on Friday when a train derailed in central Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran – Blogger and Political Prisoner Dies Under Torture
Stop Fundamentalism – Iranian opposition sources say that an Iranian blogger and political prisoner by the name of Sattar Beheshti, has died under torture after eight days in custody in Iran.
Iran Denies Nuclear Enrichment Halt
Stop Fundamentalism – Iran continues its uranium enrichment to 20 percent purity as usual, Iranian state-run Fars News agency reported from official government sources yesterday.
Iranian Women Prisoners on Hunger Strike to Protest Guard Abuse
Stop Fundamentalism – At least nine Iranian women prisoners, jailed on political charges, have gone on hunger strike as of yesterday to protest abusive behavior by prison guards against women at the notorious Evin prison. The strike is concurrent with that of another female political prisoner, the internationally known Nasrin Sotoudeh, winner of the 2012 European Union Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, who has been on a hunger strike for two weeks to protest harsh prison conditions at Evin.
Sale of VPN Software in Iran is a Cybercrime
Stop Fundamentalism – The number of Iranian internet users who use various ways to circumvent the country’s internet filtering system in order to access particularly social networks such as Facebook is very high and on the rise, reports Iranian state-run news website, ISNA.
Sakharov Prize for 2012 Goes To Iranian Sotoudeh and Panahi
Stop Fundamentalism – Iranian rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh and filmmaker Jafar Panahi are the winners of this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, announced European Parliament President Martin Schulz today at the parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg.
Jailed Iranian Sakharov Prize Nominee on Hunger Strike
Stop Fundamentalism – Iranian woman lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh who has recently been named by the European Parliament as one of the candidates nominated to receive Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought award, is currently on a hunger strike in Iran’s notorious Evin prison where she is serving an eleven-year jail sentence for “conspiring against national security and running propaganda against Islamic Republic.”
Iranian Political Prisoner Moved to Solitary for Refusing Court Apearance
Stop Fundamentalism – According to reports from Iran’s Human Right Activists, Mr. Ali Moezi, 59, was transferred to a solitary confinement at Iran’s Evin prison for refusing three times to attend a court hearing. He says the court is illigitimate, illegal, and unfair.
MEPs: Don’t Send Mixed Messages To Tehran
Stop Fundamentalism – The following press release, dated October 16, 2012 is by ‘Friends of a Free Iran’ in the European Parliament.
Euro MPs call for the trip to Iran to be cancelled
A press conference was held today in the European Parliament-Brussels to discuss the EU’s policy towards Iran and a planned controversial trip of a group of parliamentarians to Iran at end of October. This was organised by Friends of a Free Iran intergroup which was formed in 2004 and has the active support of over 200 MEPs. Vice-President of the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, chaired the conference.
Iran Uses Retirement Funds to Evade Sanctions
Stop Fundamentalism – Iranian opposition sources revealed yesterday in Brussels that the clerical government of Iran is using front companies in Europe to evade European sanctions established to persuade it to set aside its suspicious nuclear program.
The Iranian opposition, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) told Belgian “Le Soir” that Iran is using an “Oil Pension Fund Investment Company” as a cover to circumvent nuclear sanctions. The company would allow Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Dastjerdi, an IRGC Brigadier General, to legally do business in the international market. Such access would allow Dastjerdi to acquire the necessary technology for Iran’s missile and nuclear program that otherwise would be forbidden for sale to Iran by sanctions.
Dastjerdi in Reality has nothing to do with Iran’s oil industry let alone retirement matters, says La Soir.
Brigadier General Dastjerdi, for years, has been the head of Iran’s Air and Space industry which is the body involved in advancing Iranian regime’s missile and nuclear warhead technology.
The European Union established new stronger sanctions against Iran yesterday targeting the country’s banking system and also imposed an all around gas embargo.
The Mujahedin-e Kalq (MEK) which is the main Iranian opposition movement in exile having recently been removed from United States foreign terrorist organizations list aims to overthrow the Iranian clerical regime in order to establish a democratic government. Its leader, President Maryam Rajvai, hailed the new expanded sanctions yesterday calling it “an essential step to preclude this regime from acquiring nuclear weapons.”
Rajvai urged the European countries to break all commercial and economic ties with the Iranian government.
