Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness news & views you may not have seen about...iran, the middle east, terrorism, islam, human rights, media bias, us politics, freedom, democracy & much, much more

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Man hanged in public in southern Iran
2007-06-21 16:00:00
Iran Focus dutifully reports. ...
Hanged  Iran 

British hostages held by ‘Iran-backed’ killers
2007-06-21 15:29:00
The Times of London ran a big story today on this. More wood to throw on the fire that's seemingly being ignored by the White House and definitely ignored by nearly all of the MSM.A group funded, trained and armed by Iran was responsible for kidnapping five British civilians in Baghdad last month, according to the commander of US forces in Iraq. General David Petraeus told The Times yesterday that he believed that the men, four security guards and a consultant, were alive and added that there had been repeated attempts to free them. No demands have been made for their release.......Of the cell responsible for the kidnap, he said: “They are not rank-and-file Jaish al-Mahdi. They are trained in Iran, equipped with Iranian [weapons], and advised by Iran. The Iranian involvement here we have found to be much, much more significant than we thought before. They have since about the summer of 2004 played a very, very important role in training in Iran, funding, arming.” He added that the ...
British  Hostages  Iran 

Rights group to Iran: Stop executing children
2007-06-21 13:11:00
From Fox News. The source article from HRW is here.An international human rights group has called on Iran to stop executing people under the age of 18, saying the country leads the world in the practice.Human Rights Watch said Iran had executed at least 17 juvenile offenders, eight times more than any other country, since the beginning of 2004, including two so far this year."Iran holds the deplorable distinction of leading the world in juvenile executions, and the authorities should end this practice at once," Clarisa Bencomo, HRW's Mideast children's rights researcher, said in a statement issued Wednesday.Iranian officials could not immediately be reached for comment. ...
Children  Iran  Rights 

Jimmy Carter: Father of the Iranian 'revolution'
2007-06-20 18:45:00
Well, if Jimmy 'Bob Joe Sue Cecil Rhodes Islamic Republic' Carter was the father, we all know who is the grandfather (and master planner)...that sly, old fox of world politics.Very good & interesting article by Michael Evans. Some of it is pasted below fyi.It seems this stuff is - very slowly - starting to come out of the wood works. Hopefully that trend continues and people begin to see the reality of this very complex history.Interesting points:Jimmy didn't want to stop Khomeini because 'you can't do that to a holy man'. Holy indeed.And the comments about meeting Huyser (a central operational figure in the planning and executing of the coup d'etat) are interesting...not sure he really cried over it though - probably only after he saw tens of thousands of innocent lives lost, if at all.Left in America is screaming to high heaven that the mess we are in in Iraq and the war on terrorism has been caused by the right-wing and that George W. Bush, the so-called "dim-witted cowbo ...
Father  Jimmy Carter  Revolution 

Carter gets down on his knees for Hamas
2007-06-20 16:34:00
He should be their PR spokesperson. He thinks they're very organized. Well, yes Jimmy 'Bob Joe Sue Cecil Rhodes Islamic Republic' Carter, they are a very well organized bunch of chaps...at murdering people - both their own, and other people who actually have a country. Evil Idgit. LGF reports here.Carter said Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have entitled it to lead the Palestinian government, had proven itself to be far more organized in its political and military showdowns with the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. ...
Hamas  Knees 

Theories on the mullahs' crackdown
2007-06-20 16:24:00
Not like this hasn't been going on since before Ahmadin-jihad's time, but the Seattle & Los Angeles Times try to analyze why it's sped up (or the media has given it more attention) in recent months.Why the regime has cracked down now remains unclear, although analysts offered several overlapping theories. The widespread purges and arrests are expected to have an impact on parliamentary elections next year and the presidential contest in 2009, either discouraging or preventing reformers from running against the hard-liners who dominate all branches of government, Iranian and U.S. analysts say. The elections are one of several motives behind the crackdowns, they add. Public signs of discontent — such as students booing Ahmadinejad on a campus in December, teacher protests in March over low wages and workers demonstrating on May Day — are also behind the detentions, according to Iranian sources....The current crackdown is a way to instill fear in the population in order to discoura ...
Crackdown  Theories 

Continued devolution of Iranian society under the Islamic Republic - Drugs & HIV spreading rapidly
2007-06-20 15:17:00
Sad times continue in Iran...medicalnewstoday reportsThe number of HIV cases in Iran is increasing rapidly because of the increased flow of heroin into the country from Afghanistan, and an increasing number of HIV cases are being transmitted sexually, Christian Salazar, UNICEF coordinator for HIV in Iran, said recently, Reuters/Javno.com reports. Iran is located along a "key heroin smuggling route" from Afghanistan to the West, and injection drug users are the highest-risk group in the country, according to Reuters/Javno.com. Iran has an adult HIV prevalence of about 0.16%, but the number of cases is "skyrocketing," Salazar said, adding that in the "worst of cases we are moving toward 1% or even 1.8% to 1.9% of the population." ...
Society 

In case you were wondering...
2007-06-20 15:12:00
Bush is leaving 'all options' on the table with Iran - reaffirmed yesterday. ...
Wondering 

Fred Thompson highlights serious Iran threat
2007-06-20 15:01:00
Right said Fred.Tougher sanctions or a blockade on Iran could help foment growing internal dissent to topple the government, former U.S. Republican senator Fred Thompson, a potential presidential candidate, said on Tuesday.Military action must always remain an option and world powers must agree on the nature of what Thompson called the "very, very serious threat" from Tehran.Thompson, who has taken an early step toward a 2008 presidential bid for the Republicans, suggested most Europeans did not view the threat from "radical Islamic fundamentalism" with the same gravity as most Americans.Iran's poor economy and domestic opposition to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could prompt "regime change", Thompson said."We have a lot of friends in Iran who apparently feel their leader is trying to drive them off of a militant, religious extremism cliff," he said."Some of these problems might work in our favour especially if we ratcheted the sanctions a bit more. I would think that certainly a bloc ...
Fred Thompson  Highlights  Iran 

Iran: Amnesty International appeals against planned executions by stoning
2007-06-20 14:51:00
Two more to get stoned in Iran - hopefully people will be able to stop it. The question is, how many stonings are there that go unreported and un-protested by the likes of Amnesty...According to activists involved in the ‘Stop Stoning Forever’ campaign in Iran, (which can be viewed in Persian at http://www.meydaan.com/news.aspx?nid=391) Mokarrameh Ebrahimi and the unnamed man were sentenced to death after conviction of adultery. Under article 83 of Iran’s Penal Code, execution by stoning is prescribed for adultery committed by a married man or a married woman. Under Iranian law, adultery can only be proved by the testimony of eyewitnesses (the number required varying for different types of adultery), a confession by the defendant (repeated four times), or the judge's "knowledge" that the adultery has taken place. In this case, the basis for the conviction of adultery was the judge’s “knowledge”, apparently on the basis that they had a child together.Mokarrameh Ebrahimi and ...
Amnesty  Amnesty International  Appeals  Executions  International  Iran 

Good post on Fakhravar
2007-06-19 16:35:00
Azarmehr has a good article on Fakhravar's trip to the UK. Worth a read. Is the the genuine, untouched-by-the-IRI article? Guess we'll find out in time. ...

BBC didn't exactly report this...
2007-06-19 16:23:00
They mentioned that students/teachers had been detained, but didn't say what really happened to them...as usual.In a statement issued on Saturday the students of Polytechnic University of Tehran condemned the physical and psychological torture of detained students being kept in ward 209 of notorious Evin prison by the agents of mullahs Information Ministry.The statement said: The innocent students of Polytechnic are days and nights in the ward 209 of Evin prison at fault for no reason. The news of the physical and psychological tortures inflicted on them for obtaining forced confessions has caused great concern.The statement concludes: “We expect the freedom loving forces not to forget the imprisoned Polytechnic students, whose only fault is the struggle for democracy and freedom in Iran, and ask them not to stay silent.” ...
Bbc  Report 

Press center near White House evacuated
2007-06-19 16:20:00
Anyone catch this? Under-reported for sure. This at a time when Bush is meeting Olmert...strange.A government building near the White House was ordered evacuated Monday, apparently because of a bomb scare. Security in the area was heightened because of the visit to Washington of Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert. Olmert is staying at the Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House. The evacuated building was the White House conference center, which is around the corner. The conference center temporarily houses the White House press corps during a renovation in the West Wing. ...
House  White House