In lack of a law that specifically deals with curtly towards animals, Iran judiciary is now making up stances for those accused of aggravated animal abuse. In the latest example an accused that abused a dog and caused bodily harm to the animal was sentenced to two months in prison in the northe city of Astara.

In mid May 2016, the pictures of the brutally tortured dog were distributed online and they went viral. Animal rights groups in Iran were infuriated and once more raised this issue that there are no laws within the Iranian legal system that specifically deal with animal cruelty.

The accused in Astara was arrested for torturing the dog, but was eventually charged with article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code that deals with “Public Display of a Haram (Forbidden) Act.” Article 638 is often used to convict those who drink and or eat in public during the holy month of Ramadan.

The judge in the Astara case argued that torturing an animal in public and in front of the public eye is a Haram (religiously forbidden) act and sentenced the accused to two months imprisonment at a local jailhouse.

In another example the torture of a dog in the northe Golestan province was sentenced by 74 lashes and 270 hours of community work for the environment.

While most animal rights advocates and environmentalist groups in Iran come from a progressive stand point and do not agree with the sentences that are being carried out, the groups have been vocal about the need for an animal cruelty article in the penal laws.

In March 2016, Mohammad Darwish – director of public accountability division of the Department of the Environment – aounced that this office is trying to work out a deal with the Iranian Parliament to introduce a bill that will deal with issues of animal cruelty and animal rights.

Seyyed Javisd Al-e Dawoodi, president of the Society for the Protection of Animals in Iran said that the presence of three veterinarians among MPs in the current parliament is good news and he expects the pill to criminalize animal cruelty to pass.

Some human rights groups are conceed that within the construct of the current Islamic Penal Code, animal cruelty will be punishable by even more crueler punishment like lashes, causing humans accused of the crimes bodily harm.

Fourteen Iranian human rights organizations in a joint statement have waed the public about the health and the medical condition of Afshin Sohrabzadeh, a Kurdish political prisoners who is serving a 25 year sentence in Iranian prisons.

Sohrabzadeh is a member of Iran’s Kurdish minority. He was sentenced to 25-years in prison for an alleged affiliation with Kurdish dissident groups.

He was also sent to “inteal exile”, to a remote prison in Minab, located in southe Hormozgan province where his relatives do not have access to him.

The rights groups emphasize that Sohrabzadeh is in need of urgent and specialized medical care outside of the prison.

He was diagnosed with a life-threatening form of colon cancer, went through surgery but was taken to prison where he is now bleeding with a gastrointestinal infection.

His condition has worsened because of the lack of adequate medical care.

The human rights groups all based outside of Iran including the Center for Human Rights Defenders, the Inteational Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, Justice for Iran, Alliance for Iran, Human Rights Activists in Iran, Iranian human rights organization, the Pourzand Foundation and the campaign of Baluchi activists.

They wa that Sohrabzadeh is dying inside the remote prison that is not providing for his medical needs.

By Naimeh Doustdar

A film about an interrogation session was aired by the media inside Iran. In it the Tehran Prosecutor General, is interrogating a woman, a famous fashion model: Elham Arab.

The televised confession of Elham Arab

Elham Arab is a female bridal fashion model that stirred much controversy when she made a guest appearance in a TV program called Mah-e Asal (Honeymoon). She is now the subject of a publicly aired interrogation and prosecution. She was arrested in the midst of revolutionary guard raids on scores of photo studios, fashion houses and hair salons in Iran. A film of her confessions was aired by the state run television.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran media, modelling is presented as involvement in “a network of organized crime” as a official statement on the new raids reads. On Sunday 15 May, Tehran Prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said the courts are ready to give “support to serious legal action against obscenity in cyberspace”. He stated that the head of cyber crimes courts has opened two cases in the past two years entitled “Spider I and II” to deal with “hair salons and fashion houses linked to modelling.”

Operation Spider Web or Project Spider is a surveillance programme first introduced by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to monitor Iranian inteet users on social media such as Facebook. A similar inteet surveillance operation started in 2010 by targeting Iranian poographic sites and it was called Gerdab. In January 2015 with a statement issued by The Center for Investigation of Organized Crime (IRGC) Operation Spider expanded to monitor users on Instagram, Viber, Telegram and WhatsApp as well as all other social media, digital messaging tools and applications.

Spider I and II operations have now expanded to include prosecution against 50 hair salons, 50 fashion houses and 50 photo studios. Tehran Prosecutor added that they have made some arrests and shut-down a number of Facebook and Instagram pages in coection with these files. Those who were arrested, were fashion models who were also active on social media mobile applications such as Instagram in which they post photos of themselves.
Jafari Dowlatabadi said: “…with this blow we have managed to throw against these inteet sites, they are no longer able to continue their activities so easily because they know there is serious monitoring of Facebook and Instagram pages.”

Confessions of Members of the “Fashion Mafia”

Elham Arab admits in the her televised confession that she has attended the interrogation session voluntarily: “I am speaking here because I love the Iranian family and my country and I hope that what I have to say would help young women who are interested in such things.”

Iranian human rights groups in the past have raised awareness on the issue of forced televised confessions and how those who are arrested by Iranian intelligence services are forced to confess in front of a camera.
Elham goes on: “Everyone by nature likes beauty and being looked at but what is important is to understand the price of that self-display and if it is really worth it. Many of our actors are seen but they do not compromise their values. But a model loses her hijab and has no place in the Iranian family.”

Elham in the televised confession shapes the idea of the existence of a “fashion mafia” that is attacking Iranian family values. Here is what these “Mafiosi” activities which have led to the opening of two Spider I and Spider II cases by the judiciary entail.

Elham Arab explains: “You may enter the network by choice but you caot leave it whenever you chose to. The main reason for entering is to be seen and make money. There is a range of incomes; I made 10 million toumans [$3000] per month on average.”

Elham adds that she was first introduced to the business through a hairstylist and then continued through other hairstylists and photographers. “Now there are thousands of photos of me as a model on the inteet while I regret having them published but I have no way of taking them back.”

She also mentions that she has travelled abroad as part of her modelling activities adding that while it did not provide much in terms of income, it did promote her image.

She displays herself as a victim of abuse. “Photographers and hairstylists use models for advertising and put their photos on their pages. A model receives 500 thousand toumans for a picture. The hairstylist makes millions of toumans from it. The more likes the picture receives in Instagram, the value of the picture and the model also goes up.”

“Discovering the chief guiding lines of the project to seduce Iranian citizens” was allegedly the second phase of Spider II project which according to the Center for Investigation of Organized Crime “through complex investigations by experts led to the identification of the principle members of the think-tank which aims at altering the fashion and lifestyle of Iranian citizens.” Elham Arab reveals that “most modeling photographers do not have studios or offices and only run their business and advertising through the inteet especially Instagram.”

One hundred and seventy directors and managers of inteet sites including 58 models, 51 heads of fashion houses and designers, 59 photographers and hairstylists as well as two active organizations involved in modeling business, have reportedly been identified. Of these, 29 individuals have been arrested and are now facing charges, another eight have been summoned and the establishments linked to them have been shut down.

The Center for Investigation of Organized Crime also refers to “taking action against heads of a number of inteet advertising pages in foreign communication networks and the presence of a number of individuals in neighbouring and Weste countries”. The foreign operations branch of the centre to identify and expose these networks adding that they will soon publish photo evidence of these operations. The centre also alleges that it has managed to identify inteational links to the domestic modelling business disguising themselves as cultural organizations”.

Why is Modelling and Instagram Bothering the Tehran Prosecutor

Instagram, Telegram, and Facebook are fields of war. The Islamic govement fears anything that is shared on the sites and applications. Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi Tehran Prosecutor says they have established intelligence and judicial monitoring over Facebook and Instagram pages linked to modelling and a number of hair salons, fashion houses and photography studios are under their surveillance.

The Islamic govement does not get along with inanimate modelling either and security officers and guidance patrols do not even pass on maequins on display in shops. The maequins have to have their breasts cut off and show no protrusions or curves. How could they bear live models on the catwalk; it would wreak havoc on the Islamic social values they promote.

According to Islamic Republic ideology, the family is the main focus for Islamic propagation for society in general and especially for women. In compliance with the recommendations of the Islamic Republic’s leader “Islamic lifestyle” has to be implemented.

While professional Iranian models walk on catwalks in private events in north of Tehran, modelling in the official literature and the minds of traditional groups is akin to licentiousness and is considered an immoral activity.
Even though there have been some efforts to present modelling with a somewhat Islamic face advertising “Islamic Models” for promotion of Islamic outfit and hijab, modelling remains a way of “promoting looseness and vulgarity” for traditional classes and in their view it ends up in “production of un-Islamic outfits which are not compatible with the lifestyle the govement is trying to establish.”

The chief trigger of all these conces is ultimately women or linked to women: designers, hairstylists, makeup artists, fashion show promoters and salespersons, photographers or models.

In this construct, “model” is the “promoter of immorality and lust and a threat to the family structure”. The model who has been forced to confess in public hammers this point: “In Iran many men may be attracted to a model but do you think they will also choose such a girl if they are thinking of marriage?”

Narges Mohammadi, human rights and anti death penalty activist who is the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Nargess Mohammadi

On 18 May 2015, Judge Abolghasem Salavati who heads the 15th division of Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court stretched the already long prison sentence of Narges Mohammadi by sentencing her to 16 years in prison.
This new 16 year sentencing is in addition to all of Mohammadi’s pervious sentencings.

On the most recent of the charges that the Iranian state brought against Mohammadi, she is now “convicted” of leading a right to life campaign which aimed to end capital punishment in Iran.

Mohammadi, who is already serving numerous prison sentences on different charges, inaugurated the “Step by Step to Stop the Death Penalty” (Lagam in Persian). She is also charged with “assembly and spreading propaganda against the state” as well as “acting against the national security of Iran.”

According to Taqi Rahmani – Mohammadi’s husband who now lives in exile – of the 16 years, 10 years is on the account of Mohammadi’s involvement with “Step by Step to Stop the Death Penalty”, 5 years for “assembly and spreading propaganda against the state” and one year is for “acting against the national security of Iran.”

The trial of the most recent charged brought against Mohammadi started in 20 April 2016 and was rescheduled numerous times since its original date of 3 May 2015.

The “Step by Step to Stop the Death Penalty” campaign which seems to be the main reason Mohammadi is convicted this time, is now completely crumbled with this sentencing.

Mohammadi’s lawyer was present during the trial but the trial was closed to the public and members of the press.

Her husband, Taqi Rahmani has been living with their children outside of Iran. Rahmani on a number of occasions has told the media that Evin prison officials have denied his wife the right to be in contact with her children regularly. Mohammadi’s Children have only had one single phone call during her time in prison and Rahmani has never spoken to her wife since her arrest.

Mohammadi was first arrested in 1998 for her criticisms of the Iranian state and spent a year in prison. In April 2010, she was summoned to the Islamic Revolutionary Court for her membership in the Defenders of Human Rights Center and sent to Evin prison.

Mohammadi’s health declined while in custody and she developed epilepsy and some form of muscular dystrophy. In July 2011, Mohammadi was prosecuted again and found guilty of “acting against the national security of Iran, membership of the Defenders of Human Rights Center and propaganda against the state”. In September 2011 she was sentenced to 11 years. In March 2012, the sentence was upheld by an appeals court, but it was reduced to six years. On 26 April 2012, she was arrested to begin her sentence.

The head of Iran’s census department has aounced that despite the overhaul of population-control policies, the fertility rate in the country is on the decline.

The report adds that gains of 4.25 percent in earlier years have suddenly declined to only 2.3 percent in the past year.

He added that Qom, Yazd Hormozgan and Hamedan have the highest fertility rates, ranging from 4.8 to 5.6, and Gilan, Lorestan, Kermanshah and Easte Azeybaijan have the lowest, reaching as low as negative .2 to negative 3.4.

In recent years, Iran’s Supreme Leader has withdrawn his earlier recommendation to control the population and called for policies to encourage childbearing.

Iran’s Supreme Leader has spoken with Tehran seminarians and waed them to be on the lookout against “reactionary Islam” and “American-style Islam” as opposed to the “real Islam”.

ILNA reports that on Saturday May 14, Ayatollah Khamenei told Tehran seminarians that virtual space has resulted in an “increase in religious doubt”.

He stressed that there are strong political incentives for “injecting the minds of our young with deviatory ideas” and added that “this is the real field of battle, and our clergy members and seminarians should be armed and ready to face misguided and deviatory thoughts and doubts.”

He described “reactionary Islam” as misguided and added “the other edge of these scissors cutting away at the real Islam is the eclectic or American-style Islam.”

In the aftermath of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the 5+1, Iran’s Supreme Leader has become very vocal in attacking the U.S., despite efforts by the Rohani administration to normalize relations with the West.

The head of Iran’s Teachers’ Association, Esmail Abdi, who had been in jail since last July and was sentenced to six years in jail, was released on Saturday.

Esmail Abdi

The Teachers’ Rights website reports that Abdi was released from Evin Prison on May 14 on bail until the finalization of his sentence by the appellate court.

Abdi was baed from travelling abroad last July and was stopped at the airport on his way to Armenia to take part in an inteational Teachers’ Conference. Later, in March of 2016, he was sentenced to six years in jail for propaganda against the regime and acting against national security.

Two weeks ago, Ismail Abdi and Jafar Azimzadeh, another jailed labour activist aounced in a statement on the occasion of Inteational Workers’ Day that they would begin a hunger strike to protest the govement’s hostility toward labour activities, the inadequacy of teachers’ wages and the refusal of the authorities to allow independent labour organizations to mark May Day and World Teachers’ Day.

Abdi was also arrested in 2011 for his labour activities and sentenced to 10 years in jail, which was later changed to a suspended sentence.

Three days ago, Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroodi, the spokesman for the Teachers’ Association, was also released from Evin Prison, having begun a hunger strike to protest the judicial process of his charges and his nine-year sentence as unjust.

The head of Iran’s Teachers’ Association, Esmail Abdi, who had been in jail since last July and was sentenced to six years in jail, was released on Saturday.

Esmail Abdi

The Teachers’ Rights website reports that Abdi was released from Evin Prison on May 14 on bail until the finalization of his sentence by the appellate court.

Abdi was baed from travelling abroad last July and was stopped at the airport on his way to Armenia to take part in an inteational Teachers’ Conference. Later, in March of 2016, he was sentenced to six years in jail for propaganda against the regime and acting against national security.

Two weeks ago, Ismail Abdi and Jafar Azimzadeh, another jailed labour activist aounced in a statement on the occasion of Inteational Workers’ Day that they would begin a hunger strike to protest the govement’s hostility toward labour activities, the inadequacy of teachers’ wages and the refusal of the authorities to allow independent labour organizations to mark May Day and World Teachers’ Day.

Abdi was also arrested in 2011 for his labour activities and sentenced to 10 years in jail, which was later changed to a suspended sentence.

Three days ago, Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroodi, the spokesman for the Teachers’ Association, was also released from Evin Prison, having begun a hunger strike to protest the judicial process of his charges and his nine-year sentence as unjust.

Iran’s Supreme Leader has spoken with Tehran seminarians and waed them to be on the lookout against “reactionary Islam” and “American-style Islam” as opposed to the “real Islam”.

ILNA reports that on Saturday May 14, Ayatollah Khamenei told Tehran seminarians that virtual space has resulted in an “increase in religious doubt”.

He stressed that there are strong political incentives for “injecting the minds of our young with deviatory ideas” and added that “this is the real field of battle, and our clergy members and seminarians should be armed and ready to face misguided and deviatory thoughts and doubts.”

He described “reactionary Islam” as misguided and added “the other edge of these scissors cutting away at the real Islam is the eclectic or American-style Islam.”

In the aftermath of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the 5+1, Iran’s Supreme Leader has become very vocal in attacking the U.S., despite efforts by the Rohani administration to normalize relations with the West.

Iran’s Assessment and Education Organization has aounced that foreign nationals will not be allowed to enroll in universities in 19 provinces across the country, adding that they are also barred from physics and aviation majors.

The Mehr News Agency reports that in a statement on Saturday May 14, the Assessment and Education Organization published a new list of cities and majors closed to foreign nationals.

The document also indicates that Afghan nationals are barred from residing in 19 of the country’s provinces. Residing in Tehran, Alborz, Qom and seven other provinces is, according to the list, still allowed.

Iraqi nationals in Iran also face restrictions on their place of residence and are barred from border provinces.

In his most recent meeting with Christos Stylianides, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Iran’s interior minister requested assistance in retuing and resettling Afghan refugees back in their own country.

Faezah Hashemi and her father, the moderate cleric Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, have become the target of serious criticism by conservative factions of the establishment after the daughter met with a Baha’i community leader.

Faezeh Hashemi and Kamalabadi family

Hashem Bothayi, a Tehran member-elect of the Assembly of Experts, described “friendly relations with members of the misguided Baha’i cult” as “treason against Islam and the Revolution” and he urged Ayatollah Rafsanjani to reprimand his daughter.

Faezeh Hashemi recently met with Fariba Kamalabadi, a Baha’i community leader who has been given a furlough after eight years in prison.

A photo of the meeting with Hashemi sitting among the Kamalabadi family in their home has raised some eyebrows, as the women other than Hashemi have no headscarves.

Bothayi has told Tasnim that the actions of Faezeh Hashemi have damaged her father’s reputation, adding that religious conces should take priority over familial bonds.

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani has also been attacked for the actions of his daughter by an organization identified by Tasnim as the Independent Association of Islamic Students, which questions Faezeh Hashemi’s support for Baha’i rights and describes it as an attack on Islam.

Faezeh Hashemi has defended her actions, saying Baha’is have “every right to all citizen rights in the country but are unfortunately denied even the most basic rights.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader has decreed that relations with Baha’is should be avoided.

The Islamic Republic does not recognize the Baha’i faith as a legitimate religion and Baha’is in Iran face severe persecution and discrimination.

The head of Iran’s census department has aounced that despite the overhaul of population-control policies, the fertility rate in the country is on the decline.

The report adds that gains of 4.25 percent in earlier years have suddenly declined to only 2.3 percent in the past year.

He added that Qom, Yazd Hormozgan and Hamedan have the highest fertility rates, ranging from 4.8 to 5.6, and Gilan, Lorestan, Kermanshah and Easte Azeybaijan have the lowest, reaching as low as negative .2 to negative 3.4.

In recent years, Iran’s Supreme Leader has withdrawn his earlier recommendation to control the population and called for policies to encourage childbearing.

Iranian women were excluded once again from entering a sports stadium to watch their favourite team compete in Iran’s Premier Football League.

The Varzesh 3 sports news website reports that a woman tried to pass herself off as a man to enter Azadi Stadium on Friday May 13 to watch her favourite team, Persepolis, compete against Rah Ahan, but she was discovered by security persoel and prevented from entering the venue.

Reports indicate that she claims to be 15 and says she entered the venue three weeks ago to watch Persepolis win against Esteghlal.
In the past, some women have managed to get into stadiums dressed as men to watch their favourite matches.

The exclusion of women from sports spectacles was the theme of the Jafar Panahi film, Offside, which won the Berlinale’s Silver Bear award in 2007.

Despite some attempts by the Rohani administration to end the ban on female spectators in stadiums, ultra conservatives in the Islamic Republic have dug in their heels on this issue.

By Ehsan Mehrabi

They did not want to transfer prisoners to the hospital so they brought the hospital to the prison. The plaed building of a hospital in Evin Prison was the mark of the judiciary’s reluctance to transfer sick prisoners to hospitals outside of the prison. That plan, however, like many other projects undertaken by the Islamic Republic, lacked the necessary preparatory studies and assessments and was ultimately reduced to a clinic.

Evin Prison

Arash Alai, an Iranian physician and researcher who currently resides in the U.S. and previously spent three years in Evin Prison, says it would never have been economically feasible to have specialists and specialized equipment related to all diseases in the prison.

Anyone who has spent time in Evin Prison knows of a prisoner who has passed away there due to a lack of adequate medical treatment.
Prisoners who were there in the eighties probably came across more of these cases, because at that time of fierce crackdown on opposition forces, the provision of adequate medical care was probably regarded as a joke by prison authorities.

According to Taghi Rahmani, who has endured 14 years of imprisonment at various stages of the Islamic Republic govement, in those days if they dressed a wound caused by cable lashings, it was only so they could then give more lashings. Rahmani remembers Parvin Abkenari, who after 12 hours of lingering at the edge of death, was transferred to the infirmary only to die there. “Ali Ansari was in a similar situation. Providing care for prisoners who were on hunger strike was also unheard of by the authorities in those days. If some prisoners went on a two-day hunger strike, the prison authorities would cut off prison rations for another day in memory of the first Evin Prison warden under the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Lajevardi, who set the precedent of ‘nipping prisoner freshness in the bud’.”

Transfer to the Hospital Subject to Permission of the Interrogator
Those prisoners who went on hunger strike individually would be transferred to the infirmary and forced to get an IV. In those days, physicians and infirmary persoel treated you in the same way as interrogators. There is a well known anecdote from those days about the lab technician who would ask prisoners in the infirmary if they were repentant of their opposition to the Islamic Republic, and if he felt a prisoner was not repentant enough, he would give the shot without removing the prisoner’s pants. These days, prisoners would rarely get physicians or infirmary staff with such an attitude. That is why in June of 2011, when prisoners heard that instead of transferring Hoda Saber to the hospital, the physicians had hit him on the head and retued him to his cell, they were in disbelief.

Hoda Saber had gone on a hunger strike after the death of Religious-Nationalist leader Ezzatollah Sahabi resulted in the suspicious death of Haleh Sahabi, his daughter, who was attending her father’s funeral on leave from prison. Jailed physician Arash Alai was monitoring Saber’s condition and told his cellmates that he had suffered a heart attack and would only survive if they could take him to the hospital right away. Saber’s close friend, Taghi Rahmani, says their own investigations in coection with his death revealed to them that the reason for the delay in transferring him to the hospital was that the infirmary persoel had to wait for permission from his Revolutionary Guards interrogator.

While regulations indicate that judiciary officials have jurisdiction over the transfer of prisoners to hospitals, for years now they have been under the thumb of the Revolutionary Guards and have to seek their permission in coection with many political prisoners in this regard.

Medical Treatment is a Right, Not a Demand
In the course of political disputes, sometimes it is forgotten that receiving adequate medical treatment is not a concession demanded by prisoners from prison authorities; it is rather a right provided for even in the Prison Rules and Regulations.
Arash Alai, who researched healthcare in Iranian prisons both before and after his own imprisonment, says the Prison Rules and Regulations document contains detailed articles regarding health, nutrition and the prisoners’ living space. According to the Rules, if the prison incarceration poses physical or mental risks to prisoners, they must be released following the receipt of relevant medical reports. However, for years this article of the Rules, known as “inability to endure the sentence”, has been disregarded for political prisoners, and in effect they are even denied hospitalization in the face of serious medical problems.

Inmates in section 35 of Evin Prison have seen many prisoners in recent years enduring serious medical problems while prison authorities ignored their suffering and allowed them to die right before the eyes of their cellmates or in hospital, after the transfer there had been critically delayed. Mohsen Dogmehchi, Hassan Nahid, Alborz Ghassemi and before them Akbar Mohammadi can be named among those who have met such a fate.

Islamic Republic judicial authorities who have ordered the execution of thousands of prisoners probably could not care less about the death of a few more. In this vein, it is only natural to hear the current spokesman of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, say this in response to the outrage regarding jailed scientist Omid Kokabi, who is suffering from kidney cancer: “Don’t people outside the jail get kidney problems? Just because someone gets sick in prison, we caot just tu around and say your sentence is null.”

The head of Iran’s Judiciary, Ayatollah Larijani, has also been quoted as saying that “the death of prisoners, especially in the case of older prisoners and those suffering from addiction, is a distinct possibility in any prison.” This line of reasoning, which relies on the presumption that anyone, anywhere in the world could get sick, may appear full proof. However, those who have experienced Iranian prisons know that prison conditions are highly conducive to sickness and the exacerbation of medical problems.
The high number of prisoners in Iran has led to prisoners getting only a small fraction of the space envisioned for them in the Prison Rules and Regulations. When the writer of this article was in prison, 25 prisoners were on average given a 50-square-metre room, allowing them a living space of two square metres. The 200 inmates in the prison had little chance of getting any exercise in the 300-square-metre yard. On top of it all, the psychological pressures endemic to prison conditions naturally exacerbate any medical problems.

Progressive Premeditated Murder
The removal of Omid Kokabi’s kidney following his diagnosis of kidney cancer has focused attentions once again on sick prisoners: prisoners such as Zeinab Jalalian, Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, Issa Saharkhiz and Abdolfattah Soltani, who are in need of immediate medical care. The Human Rights Defenders Centres says in a report that according to Prison Rules and Regulations: “Any delay in the treatment of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience has serious consequences for the judicial system, and in case of a prison death, prison authorities could be accused of manslaughter.”

Ignoring the medical needs of prisoner should be regarded as premeditated murder as opposed to manslaughter. However, compliance with this article of the Prison Rules and Regulations is also regarded as a joke by Iranian prison authorities, because to date there has been no mention of a disciplinary reprimand against any prison official for having delayed the provision of medical services to prisoners, let alone laying charges against them or accusing them of manslaughter.

Mahmoud Alizadeh Taheri, the founder and proponent of a form of alteative medicine referred to as Faradarmani who has been jailed for over five years, will have to remain in jail, according to his lawyer.

Mahmoud Taheri

Taheri had received a death sentence which was overtued in the Supreme Court. His lawyer reports that he has now served his five-year sentence and should be released.

He told the Tasnim News Agency on Friday May 13 that his client’s arrest warrant has been renewed.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that a gathering of Taheri’s supporters in front of the Dena Tyre Store was swarmed by police and many were arrested.

Taheri was originally charged with “blasphemy, illegal medical intervention and treatment, and the unlawful touching of strangers, unauthorized use of academic titles (doctor of engineering), and publishing false work” and sentenced to five years in addition to 900 million toumans in fines and 74 lashes.

The corruption scandal at the Tabriz municipal offices has deepened with the arrest of two more senior managers accused of “receiving bribes and collusion charges”.

The Tabriz Prosecutor General told Seda va Sima broadcasting on Friday May 13 that the latest detainees are the city’s Security Manager and the Manager of Tabriz City Hall.

He added that so far 24 people have been arrested in coection with this matter and the investigation is ongoing.

Two years ago, seven senior officials of the Sirjan municipal offices were arrested on corruption charges.

Despite efforts by the new administration to root out corruption in govement offices, it appears to remain a systemic problem across the country.

Officials of the historic village of Abyaneh say they are faced with a tsunami of tourists.

Mohammad Adeli told ISNA that the village faces a tsunami of tourists especially on weekends and holidays.

“Last Thursday and Friday, 40,000 tourists arrived at this historic village”, Adeli said. He maintained that the high number of tourists has put serious pressure on the village’s infrastructure.

He added that they have been forced to close some of the historic sites when tourists arrive in large numbers to prevent damage to the sites.

Abyaneh is located in central Isfahan on the slopes of Mount Caracas.

The World Health Organization has ranked Zabol in the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan as having the dirtiest air because of its sand storms.

Reuters reports that according to the WHO, the air in Zabol is the most polluted in the world, and Zabol residents spend many summer months each year in sandstorms.

Following Zabol are the Indian cities of Gwalior and Allahabad, followed by Riyadh and Al Jubail in Saudi Arabia and then two more Indian cities, Patna and Raipur.

Tiny particulate matter in the air can cause lung cancer, strokes and heart disease over the long term, and the WHO has stated that seven million premature deaths occur every year due to air pollution.

Ali Akbar Nasiri, the head of the Zabol University of Medical Sciences, had previously said that 500 people in Zabol contract tuberculosis each year due to dust particles in the air.

The Zabol goveor has also confirmed that the rate of tuberculosis cases has been on the rise since the drying out of Hamoon Lake.

Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroodi, the jailed Iranian teacher who was hospitalized following his hunger strike, has reportedly been released.

ILNA reported on Wednesday May 11 that Beheshti Langaroodi’s family, who have been at his bedside since his hospitalization, have reported that he has been released.

After his arrest last September for taking part in labour activism, he was sentenced in court behind closed doors to nine years in jail.

On April 22, he began refusing food and last week he began also refusing water to protest his sentence.

In recent years, Iranian teachers have been engaged in protests across the country to challenge their low wages and meagre benefits.

The head of Iran’s Guardian Council says the council’s responsibility to oversee elections is “general and at every stage” and has been so in the past.

Ahmad Jaati

The Fars News Agency reports that Ahmad Jaati told a meeting of Islamic Propagation officials on Wednesday May 11: “The Guardian Council’s supervision is general and at every stage, and it has happened in the past that a candidate’s degree was found to be false and their votes were voided.”

Jaati’s statements come after the council voided Minoo Khaleghi’s votes in Isfahan, stirring widespread controversy among Iranian officials. Khaleghi came third in the Isfahan election but her votes were voided.

While the council has given no official reason for its action, some unofficial statements indicate that she has allegedly not complied with Islamic principles during her trips abroad.

Khaleghi, however, has challenged that explanation and is appealing the council’s decision.

Keyvan Mehregan, the Iranian poet, joualist and filmmaker, was released from Evin Prison on Wednesday May 11.

Keyvan Mehregan

Mehregan’s wife, Afsaneh Parchekani, reports that the prosecutor and the judge agreed to a conditional release for her husband, who had been on a furlough.

Mehregan was arrested last September to serve out a one-year sentence in coection with his joualistic activities with the Shargh daily.

In 2011, he was sentenced to one year in jail and a five-year ban from joualism for the charge of “propaganda against the regime”.

Since the 2009 election protests, which led to wave after wave of a widespread crackdown on joualists, Mehregan has been arrested and released on bail on several occasions.

A dispute over the distribution of water among a number of farms in Susa, Khuzestan has left one person dead and three injured.

IRNA reports that the conflict arose in Susa on Monday evening, adding that the deceased and the wounded are all members of the same family and between the ages of 30 and 33.

The report goes on to say the dispute was over water for agricultural use.

The victims were reportedly all targeted with shots from a Kalashnikov.

Many regions in Iran are faced with a water crisis due to continuing drought conditions and the mismanagement of water resources.

Keyhan Kalhor’s concert in Neyshapour was cancelled on Tuesday May 10 by the order of the city’s prosecutor.

Keyhan Kalhor

ILNA reports that the famous Kamancheh player and musician is being accompanied on this tour by the Rah-e Rouh music group as well as Navid Afghah (Tombak), Ali Bahramyfrd (santour) and Hadi Azarpira (tar).

The Our Music website reports that the concert was to be held for two nights and it had obtained all necessary performance permits from the Ministry of Culture and Guidance.

The concert is also scheduled to play in Yazd, Kermanshah, Khorramabad and Tehran.

Last June, Kalhor’s concert with the mode chamber group Brooklyn Rider at the Milad Tower was also cancelled.

Ultra-conservative forces in the Islamic Republic have been showing widespread resistance to music concerts across the country, defying the decisions and permits issued by the Ministry of Culture and Guidance.

Keyhan Kalhor is the wier of four Grammy awards and has performed with many inteational musicians such as Yo-yo Ma and the Kronos Quartet.

Rasoul Bodaghi, the Iranian teacher and activist recently released after seven years in jail, has been attacked by police and arrested once again.

Rasoul Bodaghi

The Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that Bodaghi was beaten and arrested on Sunday as he was visiting his colleague, Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroodi, another jailed teacher who was recently transferred to hospital from prison.

Beheshti Langaroodi has been on a hunger strike to protest his sentence and was transferred to hospital after his refusal to drink further exacerbated his health complications.

HRANA reports that a source close to Bodaghi has been informed that during the interrogation session on Monday May 9, his bail was set at 700 million toumans.

Bodaghi was arrested following the widespread arrest of activists and joualists in the aftermath of the 2009 election, which was marred by allegations of vote fraud.

He was sentenced to six and a half years in jail and baed from social activities.

A police car chase of a truck in Kerman led to the death of five immigrants and injured another 13.

ISNA reports that the truck carrying illegal immigrants sped away when the police tried to stop it, resulting in a chase in the Anar region of Kerman on Saturday May 7.

The driver reportedly ignored police waings and tried to get through a police blockade and was finally stopped by police gunfire.

The police report the truck was carrying 28 illegal Afghan immigrants.

Recent reports indicate that anywhere between two to three million Afghan immigrants live in Iran, and over a third of those have no legal status in the country.

More than 100 Iranian MPs have called on the president to reconsider the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action drafted after the nuclear agreement was reached last summer between Iran and the 5+1 and to resume Iran’s nuclear activities within the framework of the NPT as in the past.

The Fars News Agency reports that the waing to the president by 103 MPs was read in Parliament. The president is called upon to “resume all legal activities in the framework of the NPT, to take appropriate and reciprocal action in terms of foregoing commitments in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in case the U.S. refuses restitution of Iran’s stolen assets and continues to threaten the country and persist in maintaining inteational sanctions.”

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a court ruling that 1,000 victims of terrorist attacks in Lebanon can seize $2 billion from Iranian assets frozen by the U.S. The ruling has spurred opponents of the nuclear agreement in the Islamic Republic establishment.

President Rohani and his administration have denounced the ruling and say it goes against inteational law.

Mohsen Khalili, the head of the disciplinary branch of Iran’s Medical Council, reported this week that complaints against physicians rose by five percent last year.

Khalili told IRNA on Sunday that the highest number of complaints were in coection to obstetrics, surgery and dentistry.

The latest report published by the Medical Council also lists orthopaedics and plastic surgery among the top six sources of public complaints.

Khalili indicated that in 55 percent of the complaints, the physicians have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

He added that in the case of obstetrics, physicians are dispatched to remote areas where the lack of facilities and equipment sometimes leads to incidents beyond the physician’s control.

Last year the highest number of complaints were related to plastic surgery matters.

The third leg of Shahram and Hafez Nazeri’s Persian classical music concert tour is set to kick off in Isfahan on May 19 and 20, and the group’s female musicians have been baed from appearing on stage.

The concert is to take place in the Gol-e Nargess stadium, and the efforts by organizers to get permission for the women in the group to perform have been rejected.

They report that the ban has been issued by provincial authorities in Isfahan, Yazd, Easte Azerbaijan and Khorasan Razavi and is related to the permit issued for the concert’s general performance by the Ministry of Culture and Guidance.

The ministry has said that provinces have been given the power to issue their own permits for concerts of up to 1,200 people.

In recent years, concerts with female performers in cities other than the capital have faced cancellations, and the Ministry of Culture has not been able to enforce its own permits against ultra-conservative forces in the provinces.

Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroodi, a jailed Iranian teacher serving a nine-year sentence, was transferred to hospital on Saturday May 7 due to his continuing hunger strike.

Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroodi

Beheshti Langaroodi has been on hunger strike since April 20 and in recent days he has also been refusing water.

On Friday May 6, after five days without water, he was reportedly in a severe state of health.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that a preliminary checkup shows the political prisoner’s stomach is bleeding.

Activists have been drawing attention to Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroodi’s case on Twitter by trying to trend Freebeheshti# and the demand for his release has become the third-most important item on Twitter today.

Beheshti Langaroodi challenges his sentence and has vowed to reject all food and drink until his case is reviewed by the courts.