Floods in Khuzestan have engulfed the protected park for Iran’s yellow deer, further threatening the survival of this endangered species.

The head of Khuzestan province’s Department of the Environment told ILNA on Sunday April 18 that it was still in the process of investigating the number of deer affected by the floods and had not yet found any carcasses.

The report adds that 35 head of deer were in the protected area but only a few have been sighted since the floods began.

Hoof tracks on the ground appear to indicate the deer may have escaped the protected area into the jungle.

The Environment Department reports that the park, which was specifically developed for the deer, has been completed demolished by the flood.

Iran’s yellow deer is seriously endangered, which has led to attempts to save them by providing protected areas where they could breed.

The last head count of the species reached only 75.

Heavy rains have affected sixteen provinces across the country in the past week.

April 18, 2016 at 7:21 pm

April 18, 2016 at 3:18 am

Omid Kokabi, the Iranian physicist who has been jailed for refusing to collaborate with Iran’s military research program, is reportedly suffering from cancer of the kidney.

Omid Kokabi

Saeed Khalili, Kokabi’s lawyer, told ILNA that a series of tests has finally retued the cancer diagnosis.

Khalili adds that Kokabi is in need of immediate surgery to remove the cancerous cells.

While serving time for over five years, Kokabi has repeatedly suffered from kidney stones and bleeding.

Kokabi is referred to as a physics genius with extensive qualifications in laser research.

He has been sentenced to 10 years in jail, and his lawyer says in view of his medical condition and that he has already served half of his sentence, the judge should grant him his release.

Kokabi’s mother has also written an open letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader requesting the release of her son. In another letter in 2014, 18 nobel laureates also urged Ayatollah Khamenei to secure the release of the young physicist.

Iran’s oil ministry says it will not take part in the OPEC meeting in Doha.

The SHANA website reported on Saturday April 16 that according to Bijan Zanganeh, Iran supports the plan to consolidate a cap on crude production but “caot give up its historic share of the world crude market.”

The OPEC members are meeting on Sunday April17 in Doha, Qatar, and non-member Russia will be joining the group to discuss a cap on oil production with an aim to control market prices for crude.

Zanganeh said Iran is not prepared to sign any deal on freezing oil production; therefore, there is no point in attending the meeting.

Saudi Arabia has said it will only sign a freeze on oil production if Iran does it too.

Zanganeh has responded that Iran has had no role in throwing the oil market into imbalance and will not approve the freeze.

Oil prices have fallen under $45 a barrel in recent months.

With the removal of inteational sanctions on its oil sector, Iran has increased oil production to two million barrels a day and plans to double that rate.

Iran’s oil minister has been quoted as saying that the country caot be expected to impose sanctions on itself.

Bears, tigers, crocodiles and lions can breathe a sigh of relief as their use as circus animals has been outlawed due to pressure from animal rights groups.

Iran’s Environmental Protection Agency aounced that the bill has taken effect six months earlier than plaed.

Farhad Dabiri told ISNA that many street performers and buskers have gradually developed into small and big circus acts using various species of animals and have been operating without any monitoring.

He added that in recent years, his organization has made every effort to register these operations and monitor their treatment of animals.

Dabiri said of the 26 circuses, 25 will eliminate their animal acts and only one will continue to operate with a number of tigers under strict monitoring of the Department of the Environment.

Meanwhile, animal rights groups have been pushing for legislation to outlaw animal abuse, which Parliament is now considering.

Iran’s meteorological reports wa of floods in 14 provinces including Tehran. Meanwhile the death toll from floods in weste Iran has reached three.

ISNA reports that flood waings have been issued in Khuzestan, Bushehr, Hormozgan, Kerman, Lorestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, Fars, Qazvin, Tehran, North Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi and Semnan.

The weste provinces have already been wrestling with the floods since Wednesday, with three people killed so far killed and another two missing.

Khuzestan has so far sustained the worst damage, and most of its northe townships have been evacuated.

Reports indicate that the Dez Dam in Khuzestan has reached four times its capacity. The National Crisis Headquarters has convened under the leadership of Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri to prepare an action plan to haess the dam water.

April 15, 2016 at 5:40 am

Former Press TV newscaster Sheena Shirani has filed a formal complaint against network producer Mohsen Emadi for allegedly subjecting her to sexual harassment in the workplace.

Sheena Shirani

Shirani had earlier released an audio recording of an incident that captured the harassment. She has now aounced that she has filed an official complaint to pursue the matter in court.

On her Facebook page, Shirani wrote about the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace for women and stressed the need for women to take a stand so it won’t be so commonly accepted.

Sexual harassment in the workplace has not been specifically identified in Iranian jurisprudence; however, it is possible to file criminal complaints against an abusive person and demand criminal proceedings against the accused.

There are also provisions in employment law that provide support for any person who has been fired for refusing the sexual advances of a superior.

The Social and Political Activists Centre has issued a call for people who need legal advice on sexual harassment to seek its services.

Italian President Matteo Renzi arrived in Tehran with a delegation of 250 people on Tuesday April 12 to promote bilateral relations with Iran, signing seven cooperation agreements on the day of his arrival.

Renzi and Rohani in Tehran

The Iranian president received Renzi at SaadAbad together with his Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Moahhmadreza Nematzadeh.

The trip follows up on President Rohani’s visit to Italy to expand Iran’s inteational trade relations following the removal of inteational sanctions on Iran.

The Italian president is accompanied by his Minister of Education, deputy minister representatives of the Sace Export Credit Agency, the Eni oil company, the employers’ association Confindustria, I.C.E. the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade and various other companies, as well as senior managers of major Italian banks.

The agreements entail cooperation in tourism, industry, renewable energy, transportation, the gas industry and exhibitions.

Italy is aiming to re-establish the seven-billion-euro trade relationship it had with Iran in 2010.

After Germany, Italy is Iran’s second-largest trade partner in Europe.

The Italian president’s trip to Tehran comes three months after President Rohani and his 120 delegates paid a visit to Italy, during which 17 trade agreements were signed regarding air and land transport, health, agriculture and energy.

An agreement for the purchase of 20 small passenger planes from the Italian automotive company APR was also signed on that trip.

An archeological dig at Yalda Hill in Sistan has unearthed 5,000-year-old kilns with a capacity for the surplus production of ceramics.

The Shahrvand daily reported on Wednesday April 13 that the archeological team consisted of 25 archeology graduates headed by Hosseinali Kavosh, supervisor of the fourth season of archeological excavations from Zabol University.

Kavosh stated that the discovery of the kilns indicates that the settlers of the hill had the capacity to produce ceramics beyond their own needs and perhaps exported them to other settlements.

He added that in addition to the kiln, they have uncovered five architectural spaces, unique human and animal statuettes, seals, woven mats and counting tools.

Sistan-Baluchsitan in southeaste Iran has been the site of several ancient archeological discoveries.

April 12, 2016 at 3:41 pm

April 12, 2016 at 3:45 pm

The aroma of replenishment is gradually emanating from Lake Urmia. As waters from the Mahabad Dam, transferred waters from the the Simineh and Zarineh Rivers and chaels to the Aji Chai River are begiing to replace some of lake’s lost water, inteational groups are also rushing to the aid of the shrinking lake.

An agreement to replenish Lake Urmia with the assistance of the UN and the Japanese govement has finally been signed, with cooperative efforts set to start in 2016. Iran’s head of Wetland Protection reported on April 5 that the agreement contains a plan to replenish Lake Urmia, with the local community taking part in establishing sustainable agricultural activity and protecting vegetation and wildlife in the region. Mohsen Soleimani Roozbehani reported that the project is based on consultations between Iran and Japan which began in 2014. The project has three objectives: education efforts in local communities to impart the importance of sustainable farming, the development of sustainable farming in the 75 rural regions of the lake’s basin aimed at achieving a 35-percent decrease in water usage, and social mobilization for the replenishment of Lake Urmia and the protection of biodiversity.

The decline in biodiversity, expanding desertification and disappearing farmland are among the chief problems resulting from the drying of Lake Urmia in recent years. Urmia’s drying crisis includes the formation of more than 300,000 hectares of desert around the lake and the destruction or departure of 16 birds species from the region.

Reports indicate that the Japanese govement has invested $2 million for the replenishment project, and a Japanese govement representative had earlier aounced that it has donated 436 million yen ($4 million) to FAO offices in Tehran. The Japanese govement has not yet aounced any details regarding its objectives in spending these amounts.

Meanwhile, the secretary of the Restoring Lake Urmia Committee aounced that the govement has budgeted $7 billion to replenish the lake. Previously, the secretary had criticized the govement executive bodies for their slow processing of projects in this regard. Issa Kalantari recently called for “stronger and firmer determination on the part of regional organizations” to implement the lake-restoration plans. The efforts, however, have been effective, and most recently the head of the Easte Azerbaijan Department of the Environment reported an eight-centimetre rise in the water level in the past year.

Waters Rising Due to Water Transfers from Dams and Rivers

Iran’s Department of the Environment says the recovery of Lake Urmia is due to the replenishment activities of the Restoring Lake Urmia Committee, reparation of the river beds leading to the lake and the release of some of the water held behind dams.

Mahabad water resource officials aounced last Monday that they have released 75 million cubic metres of water toward Lake Urmia from behind the Mahabad Dam. They report that the Mahabad Dam was allotted a share of 40 million cubic metres to be released into the lake, but since the dam had a greater volume of water this year, almost twice that amount was released. The Mahabad Dam continues to release 40 cubic metres of water per second toward Lake Urmia.

In addition to water from the Mahabad Dam, the Simneh and Zarineh Rivers have also been coected to Lake Urmia. The Boukan Dam releases into these rivers, allowing for an aual transfer of 200 million cubic metres of water into the lake. The Aji Chai River has also been chaelled to Lake Urmia to contribute to the lake’s replenishment.

Latest Satellite Photos of Lake Urmia

Experts say accomplishing the objectives of the restoration plans for the region, which include the establishment of sustainable farming and the retu of biodiversity, will take at least 10 to 15 years.

The lake has been drying at a rapid rate in recent years, and at this time only seven percent of it remains. The disappearance of the lake could result in severe environmental consequences affecting the lives of at least five million people in region, with perhaps even more far-reaching effects.

Jailed Iranian human rights activist Nargess Mohammadi has finally been allowed to contact her children after 10 months in Evin Prison.

Mohammadi was forced to send her children abroad to France to stay with their father when she was summoned to serve out her sentence, despite having received an earlier exemption for medical reasons.

The Centre for Human Rights Defenders reports that Mohammadi was allowed to talk on the phone with her children on April 2 but she was denied the right to speak to her husband.

Mohammadi’s spouse, political activist Taghi Rahmani, has gone into exile in France to avoid govement persecution.

Rahmani says Mohammadi has already served a third of her six-year sentence and, in view of her medical problems, she could be found legally eligible for release.

The judiciary, however, has filed new charges against Mohammadi, and she is scheduled to face them in court on April 21.
Mohammadi’s six-year sentence was reduced from the preliminary court sentence of 11 years, based on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security, membership in the Centre for Human Rights Defenders and propaganda against the regime”.

On Sunday April 10, Iranian Parliament ratified the budget for the new Iranian calendar year begiing March 21, with 135 voting in favour, 37 against and six abstaining.

The parliamentary report concludes that three-quarters of the budget is unchanged from the preceding year.

One of the differences is a 12-percent reduction in the share of oil and gas revenues apportioned to the National Development Fund, based on an oil price of $40 per barrel.

The budget also eliminates the subsidy-restructuring benefits paid to 30 percent of recipients on the basis of high income, which frees up an extra five trillion toumans for the budget.

The administration was tardy in presenting the budget to Parliament, which means that prior to the new calendar year, MPs could only approve a preliminary budget for just the first two months. The approval of the complete package was left for now.

The Rohani administration has been hard at work trying to compensate for declining govement revenues caused by the fall in inteational oil prices.

April 11, 2016 at 7:50 pm

The Iranian judiciary has aounced that the president’s adviser on women’s and family affairs has been summoned to court.

The Tasnim daily reports that at a news conference on Sunday April 10, the spokesman for the judiciary said a complaint against Shahindokht Molaverdi was filed by Sistan-Baluchistan provincial officials and it has now has been now forwarded to Tehran.

On her trip to Sistan-Baluchistan last March, as she argued for extending govement support the families of executed prisoners, Molaverdi said that there is a village in the province where all the men have been executed due to drug charges and all the people still living there are potential smugglers because they have no other means of making a living.

The statements became very controversial, and the Zahjedan MP aounced that he knows of no such village, maintaining that Molaverdi’s statements are an affront to the reputation of Sistan-Baluchistan.

The provincial court also aounced that it will file slander charges against Molaverdi.

The judiciary spokesman said Molaverdi will appear in court to offer her explanations.

Iranian political prisoners Mostafa Azizi and Payam Bastani Parizi were released on Saturday April 3 after a receiving a “pardon from the Leader”, according to HRANA.

Mostafa Azizi

Mosatafa Azizi was sentenced last June to eight years in jail for “assembly and collusion against national security, propaganda against the regime and insulting the leader”.

The sentence was later reduced to three years and a fine in the appeals process.

Azizi, a 53-year-old television producer, was arrested in 2015 when he retued for a visit to Iran from Canada, where he had been residing since 2010.

Payam Bastani Parizi, 26, was sentenced to two years in jail and 30 lashes for insulting the Imam, the leader and the president”.

He was released after suffering the 30 lashes.

April 10, 2016 at 12:59 pm

Mehdi Karroubi has reportedly written an open letter to Iranian President Hassan Rohani calling on him to compel the establishment to comply with the Article 168 of the Constitution and give him his day in court.

Mehdi Karroubi

Karroubi, who has been under house arrest since February of 2011 for challenging the 2011 elections and triggering mass protests, refers to the establishment as “despotic” and says he will reveal in court “how the children of the country have been treated in prison”.

He adds that he does not ask for the president to secure his release because he is aware that it is not in his powers to do so; however, he urges Rohani to give him his day in court and a chance to defend his allegations of “fraud in the 2009 presidential elections and what the children of the country suffered in the legal and illegal detention centres.”

The letter comes as a reaction to the most recent statements of Iran’s Supreme Leader regarding the latest elections in the country, in which Ayatollah Khamenei favourites Yazdi and Mesbah did not ea the necessary votes to join the Assembly of Experts and almost all of the candidates endorsed by reformists got in.

Khamaeni said the behaviour of the two defeated members of the clergy was noble and the behaviour of those who lost in 2009 was indecent.

Karroubi writes that his testimony in court will reveal the “true indecent elements” in the system.

Karroubi became a whistleblower for the extremely abusive treatment of prisoners in detention centres following the 2009 protests leading to the Kahrizak scandal, in which the revelation of abuses and even the death of prisoners under torture finally forced the hand of the authorities to shut down the centre.

Protesters gathered in front of Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art on Saturday April 9 to oppose the handover of the institution to the Roudaki Foundation.

The protesters insist that Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art is part of the country’s national heritage and should not be transferred to the private sector.

When the handover hit the news on Friday April 8, a group of citizens aounced their intention to gather in protest in front of the museum on Saturday.

The deputy head of the Ministry of Culture denied the handover on Thursday, but Architectural News published a series of documents which appear to confirm the arrangement.

The Roudaki Foundation is a non-govemental organization with a board of directors comprised of the Minister of Culture, the ministry’s deputy for Artistic Affairs, the head of National Plaing and Management and two experts appointed by the minister

About 700 workers of Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Factory resumed their protests on Saturday April 9 to demand their delayed wages and benefits and challenge the privatization of the factory.

(archival)

ILNA reports that the workers say that wages for March and New Year bonuses have not been paid to two thirds of the workforce.

The company had promised they would all get paid by April 5, which has not yet happened.

The company has been delaying payment of the workers’ insurance premiums. The concurrence of these problems with the plan to privatize the company has caused further conce among the workers.

Meanwhile, the company’s sugarcane cutters and transport workers have all stopped work until their conces are addressed by management.

April 9, 2016 at 12:59 pm

The situation of Afarin Chitsaz, an Iranian joualist who was arrested in Iran last November by the Revolutionary Guards, remains completely in the shadows.

Afarin Chitsaz

A knowledgeable source has informed the Inteational Campaign for Human Rights In Iran that in the more than five months since she was arrested, Chitsaz has not even had access to a lawyer.

There is no information about her, the source says, other than the fact that she is in Evin Prison.

The source adds that the family of the jailed joualist is not prepared to provide any information regarding her situation.

Chitsaz was arrested last November at the same time as Issa Saharkhiz, Ehsan Mazandarin and Saman Safarzaiyi in an operation the IRGC claimed was countering “enemy infiltration” through cultural means.

While the administration has been critical of the arrests and tried to secure their release, the joualists remain in jail.

Babak Zanjani, the jailed Iranian tycoon accused of financial fraud, has reportedly provided Iran’s Ministry of Oil with a list of his foreign assets and the power of attoey to obtain them.

Babak Zanjani

His lawyer told the Tasnim daily on Friday April 8 that his client’s cooperation is aimed at recovering public funds and compensating the Treasury.

Rasoul Kouhpayehzadeh said that because his client had been sentenced to death, his executors outside the country stopped cooperating with the govement to recover the money, so Zanjani has made all the arrangements to once again facilitate the transfer of all funds.

Koupayehzadeh stressed that his client’s cooperation should be considered enough of a mitigating factor to have the death sentence reconsidered.

Zanjani amassed great wealth during the Ahmadinejad administration, acting as a go-between in circumventing inteational sanctions to sell Iranian crude. The Ministry of Oil maintains that he owes the govement billions of dollars.

He has been quoted as saying that everything he did was in the service of his country.

The Ministry of Culture’s public relation’s department aounced that Ali Rahbari has retued to the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.

Ali Rahbari

In an aouncement, the ministry said: “Master Ali Rahbari will continue his activities with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra”.

Rahbari, who had been the head of the orchestra for over a year, aounced in March that he was resigning his position due to the lack of independent funding and decision-making for the orchestra.

Iran’s Minister of Culture then reportedly managed to convince him to retu to his position following a series of consultations.

Ali Rahbari had told ILNA that the orchestra needs an independent artistic head in order to function.

The Tehran police department says it has installed surveillance cameras in parks and coffee shops in the city’s weste neighbourhoods.

The Tasnim website reported on Thursday April 7 that all parks, coffee shops and hookah cafés will be under surveillance to assure compliance with Islamic codes of behaviour.

The police department reports that about 460 cafés have been closed for such violations.

On Wednesday April 6, a photo of the France Bakery on Enghelab Avenue, a popular café in Tehran, was circulating on social media. It showed the café was closed with a sign indicating the shutdown was due to a failure to comply with Islamic codes of behaviour.

Iranian police consider the enforcement of Islamic behaviour and dress codes in public as one of its priorities. Many Iranians consider police interference with their choice of clothing and public behaviour as one of the chief pressures in their lives.

Iran’s reformists report that they are endorsing 52 candidates in the second round of parliamentary elections next month.

Al Sufi, a spokesman for the group, told the Shargh daily on Wednesday April 6: “In some ridings we are not endorsing anyone; in others we are endorsing reformists or independent candidates, and in a very few cases, we are supporting the moderate conservative.”

He said only four moderate conservatives are being endorsed by the reformists in the second round.

He reported that the reformists will be silent in four ridings in Yazd Province, in all of Mazandaran, and in one riding each in Markazi, Zanjan, Kurdistan, Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari and Golestan provinces and in the cities of Kermanshah, Abadan, Izeh and Masjed Soleyman.

138 candidates will run for the 68 remaining spots in Parliament on May 1.

221 candidates were already elected to Parliament in the first round of voting on February 26, wiing a quarter of the votes in their ridings.