Eye on Iran: 49 Executions in Iran Since the Presidential Elections

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories Iran Human Rights: "Six prisoners were hanged in the prison of Bam (Kerman Province, Southeastern Iran), reported the Iranian state media today. According to the state run Iranian news agency Fars six prisoners who were not identified by name, were hanged in the prison of Bam early this morning Thursday July 4... Yesterday Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported about execution of 25 prisoners in the prisons of Ghezelhesar and Rajai Shahr (both in Karaj, west of Tehran). According to the official and unofficial reports at least 41 prisoners have been executed since the Presidential elections in mid-June in Iran. 19 of the executions have been reported by official Iranian sources." http://t.uani.com/1cYGPKB AFP: "Iran's outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday defended his government's rights record, saying he was not responsible for other branches of the Islamic regime. 'The highest level of respecting freedoms was (recorded) during my government,' Ahmadinejad said on state television in a late night address. 'No one was reprimanded or prosecuted for criticising the government,' he said, stressing that his office was not responsible for the conduct of the other branches of the regime... Ahmadinejad said he had done his best to steer the Islamic republic through 'very difficult' times marred by harsh economic sanctions designed to force Iran to cut back on sensitive parts of its nuclear drive. 'I governed the country under very difficult conditions ... Americans threatened Iran every day and we were also hit by unfair, unilateral sanctions,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1276ZG9 Platts: "The United States should have waited for Iran's new government to settle in before bringing into effect on July 1 the latest layer of sanctions aimed at Tehran's nuclear program, Iranian oil minister Rostam Ghasemi said Friday. 'We always seek to interact with the world. It was only fair that they [the US] had waited for the new government to take office...given that people stabilized the system with so many votes and the new president was elected with the slogan of interacting with the world,' Ghasemi said in a speech broadcast on state television. 'Unfortunately, they imposed new sanctions. At least, they should have delayed them,' he said... 'They deprived us from international shipping insurances and banned refineries from using Iran's oil,' Ghasemi said, referring to the EU sanctions. He also referred to the pressure exerted by Washington on various countries to limit Iran's ability to move oil to its customers. 'They banned all ships to sail towards Iran. We were using the flags of different countries to sail in international waters but they forced those countries to stop that too.'" http://t.uani.com/1cYKJ66   Nuclear Program Fox News: "The U.S. State Department has quietly offered to enter into bilateral talks with Iran based on 'mutual respect,' according to an interview an American diplomat gave to the Islamic republic's state-run media. In the interview, which was mysteriously taken down shortly after publication by Fars News, a semi-official media outlet with suspected ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, State Department spokesman Alan Eyre said the Obama administration 'is ready for talks with Iran.' Eyre said the talks could be one-on-one or through the so-called P5 +1, which is comprised of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. Although Fars News took down the interview, Eyre has the cached version posted on his Facebook page, text of the interview is posted on other Persian media sites and a State Department official confirmed to Fox News that Eyre's olive branch was officially extended." http://t.uani.com/12L394s Reuters: "Russia voiced concern on Thursday that no progress has been made towards organizing new talks between Iran and six world powers on Tehran's nuclear program, despite the election of a relative moderate as Iran's president. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said a diplomatic push had been launched to arrange a new round of talks after Hassan Rouhani was elected president on June 14 but made clear there had been no breakthrough. 'There is no agreement now on when and where the next round will be. That worries us,' Ryabkov told Interfax news agency. 'After the election of the Iranian president, we stepped up work in preparation for a new round of talks but so far the work is not being done transparently.'" http://t.uani.com/17RtfYY AP: "The U.S Navy says three coastal patrol boats have arrived at 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain to boost its fleet of the rapid-response craft in the Persian Gulf, where U.S. and Iranian forces often operate within close range. The Navy says the new vessels Wednesday bring the total to eight patrol boats as part of plans to have 10 stationed in Bahrain by early next year. The 5th Fleet is one of the Pentagon's main counterbalances to Iran's military expansion, including plans for the significant enlargement of Tehran's naval power." http://t.uani.com/1276n3h Human Rights Human Rights Watch: "The hospitalization of a detained opposition figure and the death of an imprisoned labor rights activist highlight the problems that prisoners in Iran face in accessing adequate medical care and regular visits, Human Rights Watch said today. On July 2, 2013, security forces took Mir Hossein Mousavi, a 2009 presidential candidate, from house arrest to a Tehran hospital, where doctors treated him for complications related to his blood pressure. Security forces have prevented Mousavi from receiving the regular medical checks doctors had recommended for a serious heart ailment. Mousavi's transfer to a hospital came less than two weeks after the sudden death of a 42-year-old trade union activist, Afshin Osanlou, who was serving a five-year sentence at a prison near Tehran. Authorities say he died from a heart attack. Families and associates of other detainees serving time on politically motivated charges have said that authorities have denied them access to medical care or regular family visits, deepening their isolation and increasing fears for their safety and well-being." http://t.uani.com/14Xnkiv AFP: "An Iranian woman has claimed that the authorities in the Islamic republic have denied her a free water swimming record after saying that her costume failed to meet the standards of sharia law. Elham Asghari, 32, who also teaches swimming, says she swam 18 kilometres (just over 11 miles) in eight hours in the Caspian Sea in northern Iran on June 11 off a 'women only' beach. The sports ministry refused to approve the record, saying she was not wearing an approved costume under sharia (Islamic) law, Asghari said in a video posted on YouTube after the swim. 'I had an Islamic dress and I went into the sea with the permission of the (swimming) federation,' Asghari was also quoted as saying by Bahar newspaper on June 26. But a representative of the federation refused to certify her record, saying 'the deputy sports minister told him that her costume was not suitable for free water swimming.'" http://t.uani.com/17RsCie Foreign Affairs Reuters: "Iran on Thursday gave a guarded response to the army's removal of Egypt's Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, calling for the people's 'legitimate demands' to be fulfilled and warning of 'foreign and enemy opportunism'. Iran welcomed the popular overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 as part of an 'Islamic awakening' and has sought to repair its strained ties with Egypt since Mursi's election victory last year. Mursi visited Tehran on one of his first official trips abroad, but the two countries have found themselves supporting opposite sides of a civil war in Syria that has taken on increasingly sectarian overtones." http://t.uani.com/12Lf9ao Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.