Eye on Iran: The Execution Wave in Iran: 30 Executions in 2 Weeks

Join UANI           Top Stories IHR: "The execution wave has resumed in Iran. In the last two weeks at least 30 prisoners have been executed, among them four juvenile offenders. A 24 year old man was hanged in the Vakilabad prison of Mashhad (Northeastern Iran) on Monday April 21. He was convicted of a murder allegedly committed in 2010, reported the Iranian daily newspaper Khorasan. The same newspaper reported about execution of two other prisoners on Sunday April 20. These prisoners were a 20 year old man and a 32 year old man both convicted of murder in two different cases. One of the prisoners is believed to be the juvenile offender Ebrahim Hajati whose execution was reported earlier by Iran Human Rights (IHR). According to reliable sources in Iran, five prisoners were hanged in the prison of Rajai Shahr of Karaj (west of Tehran) early this morning April 22... Al Arabiya reported about execution of six Afghan citizens in Iran. Quoting Afghan sources in the Takhar Province of Afghanistan, the report said that these prisoners were convicted of drug related charges." http://t.uani.com/PtarKY AP: "A U.N. committee took no action Tuesday on the U.S. refusal to grant a visa to Iran's chosen ambassador to the United Nations after hearing from both sides. The Committee on Relations with the Host Country could have made a recommendation to the 193-member General Assembly or asked the U.N. legal office for an opinion. Instead, Cypriot Ambassador Nicholas Emiliou, who chairs the committee, told reporters after the closed meeting that the issue remains on the committee's agenda 'and we will revert to it if necessary.' ... According to diplomats at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity because the session was private, North Korea, Cuba and Belarus spoke up in support of Iran." http://t.uani.com/1fpaq1E Guardian: "Political prisoners in Tehran's Evin prison have allegedly been subjected to humiliating physical abuse, including being forced to run a gauntlet of guards armed with batons, it has emerged... Dozens of inmates held in Evin's ward 350, including journalists, lawyers and opposition members, were injured, with some suffering skull fractures, broken ribs, wounds and swelling on their bodies after guards and intelligence officials created a tunnel and made prisoners run through it as they beat them with batons, according to opposition sources. Emad Bahavar, who is serving a 10-year sentence because of his political activities, recounted some of the horrific moments in a letter sent out of jail and published on an opposition website, Kaleme, on Tuesday. In separate interviews, a group of relatives who met a number of prisoners beaten up in Evin's violence last week echoed Bahavar, saying some could hardly speak and others had bruises on their bodies. The incident has been described by activists as Iran's 'black Thursday.'" http://t.uani.com/1k6fkEW        Nuclear Program & Negotiations Al-Monitor: "Iran and six world powers are closer to agreement on possible technical modifications for the uncompleted Arak reactor that would greatly reduce proliferation concerns, bolstering negotiators' confidence as they try to reach a final nuclear deal by July 20th, Iranian and US non-proliferation experts briefed on the discussions said... Under the plan proposed by von Hippel and colleagues, 'the amount of plutonium produced in the Arak reactor could be reduced drastically' by converting 'the reactor from using natural uranium fuel to low-enriched uranium fuel,' they write. 'With low-enriched fuel, the power could be reduced to 20 or even 10 MWt,' from the reactor's currently-planned 40-Mwt design, 'further reducing plutonium production,' they write. Their redesign proposals 'would reduce plutonium production to less than 1 kilogram per year, comparable to the reduction that would be accomplished by replacing the Arak reactor with a light-water research reactor,' the authors write... Such modifications, that would 'reduce the overall power level of the reactor, and thus decrease the amount of plutonium available in the spent fuel it yields, would indeed significantly reduce the proliferation threat,' Jofi Joseph, a former US government Iran non-proliferation expert said. 'However, this compromise could still run into political opposition from Israel, Gulf States, and the U.S. Congress,' Joseph added, because technically it still 'allows Arak to remain a heavy water moderated reactor. ...[which] is not necessary for the production of medical isotopes.'" http://t.uani.com/1pqBB63 Sanctions Relief Trend: "Iran has found new importers of its petrochemicals in African countries, including Mozambique and Tanzania. A number of petrochemical consignments have been exported to African countries, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on April 23. Iran's Khorasan Petrochemical Complex exported a consignment of urea fertilizer to Tanzania in the past Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20. China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Iraq are currently the main buyers of Iranian petrochemicals, especially urea fertilizer and ammonium. Iran exported $868 million worth of petrochemicals in the twelfth month of last Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20, 2014), which indicates an increase by 3.6 percent compared to the $835 million worth of petrochemical exports of the preceding month." http://t.uani.com/1jMa4Ve Trend: "Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) has invited South Korean companies to invest in mining projects in Iran. The invitation to South Korean companies was extended for investing in Sangan iron ore production and pelletizing projects, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on April 23. In a meeting with the head of the International Contractors Association of Korea (ICAK) in Tehran, IMIDRO director Mehdi Karbasian said that according to the Iranian law, if foreign companies develop a mine in Iran, the will be given the right to operate the mine for 25 years. So far, 20 European companies have announced readiness to invest in Iran's mining projects, he said. On January 18, Karbasian said renowned European mining companies have returned to Iran, adding that Iran's mining sector provides unlimited opportunities for foreign investors." http://t.uani.com/1jMayuu Human Rights AFP: "The families of men incarcerated in Tehran's notorious Evin prison protested Tuesday near the Iranian president's office, complaining of mistreatment of their loved ones, activists said. The gathering came after reports of violence in the jail during an inspection of inmates at Section 350, which houses political prisoners. Several prisoners were beaten and hurt in Thursday's incident, according to Kaleme, an opposition website, but Iran's prisons chief said it was 'totally wrong' to say guards had committed assault. In Tuesday's protest, filmed by one participant and posted on Kaleme.com, dozens of demonstrators gathered in a street near the presidential compound. In the short video, they chanted: 'Evin has become Palestine, government why are you sitting and doing nothing?' referring to alleged Israeli violence against Palestinians. The families, Kaleme said, want to meet government officials to discuss the alleged violence at Evin and they have also demanded a response from President Hassan Rouhani." http://t.uani.com/1k6fzQl ICHRI: "The Campaign calls on President Hassan Rouhani to put an end to the denials, address one of the most appalling acts of violence against political prisoners in Iran since he took office in 2013, and stand by his stated commitment to defend citizen rights. 'Mr. Rouhani's silence is unacceptable. What happened was against the laws that he is expected to enforce, but he has chosen to let such actions happen before his eyes,' said Ghaemi." http://t.uani.com/1noy5Hm AP: "Iran's official news agency says the official in charge of the country's prisons has been removed from the post. The development follows reports of alleged abuse of inmates at a Tehran penitentiary. IRNA said on Wednesday that Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli, a cleric and the head of the government's judiciary branch, replaced chief of prisons Gholamhossein Esmaili with Asghar Jahangir. Jahangir has for years been the cleric's close adviser. Esmaili was named head of the justice department of Tehran province." http://t.uani.com/1iKJygW RFE/RL: "'Parisa' is among the thousands of young women who have transformed the once male-dominated field of medicine in Iran. Whereas men made up 70 percent of the country's medical students and physicians about 20 years ago, women have reversed the situation to the point that women like Parisa -- who asks not to use her real name -- now account for 70 percent of Iran's medical students. 'It demonstrates what women can achieve despite all the limitations they face in [Iranian] society,' she tells RFE/RL. 'It offers them job security and independence.' Under a new plan being discussed by Iranian authorities, however, women's advancements in the field of medicine could be flatlined. Health Ministry officials have indicated that measures would be taken 'to balance' the percentage of male doctors by introducing gender quotas at medical schools. Last month, Health Minister Hassan Hashemi said Iran was considering ways to curtail the number of female medical students." http://t.uani.com/1tBV8Qs Domestic Politics Reuters: "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, already under pressure from conservatives for his tentative opening to the West, was criticized on Tuesday for what his opponents called a "lavish ball" thrown by the first lady. Held in a palace of the deposed Mohammad Reza Shah in wealthy northern Tehran, the all-female dinner was held to mark Women's Day on Saturday which coincides with the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad's daughter Fatima, a paragon of Muslim virtue. But hardliners in parliament said the event showed Rouhani was indulging in luxury while normal Iranians suffer economic hardship, caused in part by Western economic sanctions. 'Can one preach austerity and financial sacrifice and yet throw a lavish party on the public coffers?' one of them said in parliament where at least eleven members signed a petition chastising the president." http://t.uani.com/1novD3D Opinion & Analysis David Ignatius in WashPost: "As the Iran nuclear talks reach roughly the halfway point in the six-month timetable for negotiating a comprehensive agreement, both sides report slow, steady progress in closing gaps - but no deal yet. A positive sign was a tentative plan floated this month to reduce the threat posed by Iran's heavy-water reactor under construction at Arak. When I talked in Tehran with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in December, Arak appeared to be a deal-breaker. But negotiators seem to have found what they like to call a 'win-win' solution. The Arak compromise formula was outlined recently in the journal Arms Control Today. It proposes feeding the reactor with low-enriched fuel and operating it at lower power. The output would be more of the medical isotopes Iran says it needs and much less of the plutonium that the West fears could fuel a bomb. 'The issue is virtually resolved,' said Iran's chief negotiator, Ali Akbar Salehi, last week. The agreed proposal is 'to redesign the Arak reactor and to reduce its plutonium production to one-fifth.' ... U.S. and European officials initially believed a rollover of the interim freeze might be needed, adding another six months after July 20. But there now appears to be renewed focus on the deadline - partly because Iran wants relief from sanctions, and partly because November's U.S. elections may yield a more conservative Congress that's less supportive of an agreement. Iranian and Western negotiators are now beginning to draft proposed language for a final, comprehensive pact. They'll begin comparing those texts next month, officials expect. The trickiest remaining problem is limiting Iranian enrichment to a level consistent with a civilian nuclear program. The Geneva agreement affirmed Iran's 'right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,' including a 'mutually defined enrichment program with practical limits and transparency measures.' But what will such language mean in practice? Iran currently has 19,000 centrifuges; how many would have to be mothballed? Secretary of State John Kerry suggested in Senate testimony this month that the U.S. goal was to extend Iran's current 'breakout' time for producing enough highly enriched uranium for a bomb from 'about two months' to something longer. 'So six to 12 months is - I'm not saying that's what we'd settle for - but even that is significantly more,' Kerry said... Negotiators will be focused on such highly technical calculations over the next three months, while the clock ticks. The deeper question is whether Khamenei's Iran is really ready for fundamental accommodation with the West. Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace rightly cautions: 'I don't see how you can get a technical resolution to what's essentially a political conflict.' The details of a possible agreement are visible, but not yet the will in revolutionary Iran to compromise." http://t.uani.com/1f5GyN4 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.