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Reuters:
"India is set to pay Iran $1.65 billion over the next three months
under an interim nuclear deal that eases sanctions on Tehran and gives it
access to $4.2 billion in blocked funds, four sources with knowledge of
the matter said. As long as Tehran complies with the terms of its
preliminary agreement with western powers, which took effect on Jan. 20,
Iran receives some of its funds frozen abroad in eight payments from
various buyers over six months... This means Tehran will have access to
the next two installments, each of $550 million, which are due on May 14
and June 17. The final $550 million installment, due on July 20, is
contingent on confirmation that Iran has fulfilled all of its commitment.
The Indian government has asked refiners to make the first payment by
mid-May, three of the sources said, adding that refiners will settle all
three tranches if payment is allowed by the United States and European
Union... Iran has so far received $2.55 billion in frozen oil funds, in
five payments, four from Japan and one from South Korea. Three of the
sources said Iran had asked India to make payments into the Central Bank
of Iran's account with Oman's Bank Muscat BMAO.OM in Omani rails...
Indian refiners Essay Oil, Bangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, Hindustan
Petroleum Corp and HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd together owe $3.6 billion to
National Iranian Oil Co." http://t.uani.com/1l6QFBq
Reuters:
"The United States on Wednesday sharply criticized the election of
Iran to the United Nations' committee on non-governmental organizations,
saying it was a "troubling outcome." ... 'The unopposed
candidacy of Iran, where authorities regularly detain human rights
defenders, subjecting many to torture, abuse, and violations of due
process, is a particularly troubling outcome of today's election,' U.S.
Ambassador Samantha Power said in statement. The committee decides on
which NGOs will be accredited at the United Nations. Conservative
developing nations worked to block accreditation of an international
gay-lesbian NGO several years ago and the issue was taken to the General
Assembly, which voted to accredit the group... 'Today is a black day for
human rights,' said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. 'By
empowering the perpetrators over the victims, the U.N. harms the cause of
human rights, betrays its founding principles, and undermines its own
credibility.'" http://t.uani.com/ROiGTQ
AFP:
"Ninety-five percent of the Iranian population signed up to a cash
handout programme, dealing a blow to the government which wanted to spend
the money elsewhere, a top official said Wednesday. Mohammad Baqer
Nobakht, vice president for management and development, said 73 million
out of the country's 77 million people had opted to receive the $14
monthly payments. The government employed celebrities in a media campaign
to discourage families from taking the handouts. The International
Monetary Fund is among global institutions encouraging Iran to drop
subsidies and increase prices to regulate its economy after years of
ongoing sanctions. But Nobakht said only 2,400,000 people -- three
percent -- chose to waive the cash payments, which aim to provide help in
paying energy and utility bills as well as basic food costs." http://t.uani.com/1k8XW2i
Sanctions Enforcement & Impact
WFMZ: "The U.S. Department of Justice has charged a Schuylkill
County firm and its chief officer with conspiracy to evade export
reporting requirements and attempting to smuggle a lathe machine to Iran
in violation of U.S. export regulations. Hetran Inc., an engineering and
manufacturing plant in Orwigsburg, and its chief executive officer,
Helmut Oertmann, were charged Wednesday, according to a release from the
Department of Justice. According to U.S. Attorney Peter Smith, Hetran
allegedly manufactured a horizontal lathe, valued at more than $800,000
and weighing in excess of 50,000 pounds, for shipment to Iran without
obtaining a required federal license. The machine is used in the
production of high grade steel or bright steel, a product used in the
manufacture of aircraft and automobile parts. Federal officials said
three Iranians and two Iranian firms are also connected to the criminal
scheme: Mujahid Ali, Khosrow Kasraei, Reza Ghoreishi, FIMCO FZE, and Crescent
International Trade and Services FZE. Also charged was Suniel Malhotra,
an Indian national and overseas sales representative for Hetran
Inc." http://t.uani.com/1tGkWec
Terrorism
Jewish Week: "The house, a handsome, three-story Tudor, sits on a
leafy street in the posh Forest Hills Gardens section of Queens.
Unbeknownst to all but a handful of people, it was the subject of a
heated tug-of-war between the Iranian government and relatives of a
former Bronx butcher who died of injuries sustained in a Jerusalem
suicide bombing. It is just one of several properties, bank accounts and
other assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran that have been seized by
U.S. courts and quietly turned over to the families and victims of Hamas
and Hezbollah terrorist attacks in Israel... Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an
Israel lawyer and director of the Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center, said
that since then victims of state sponsored terrorism and their families
have received more than $120 million in compensatory damages from Iranian
assets. No one has yet received any punitive damages that have been
awarded and which total in the billions of dollars. Bank Melli, an arm of
the Iranian government, had owned the Queens house that was the subject
of litigation. Robert Tolchin, a Brooklyn lawyer who worked with
Darshan-Leitner on the case, said the home on Puritan Avenue was sold
April 5, 2011 for $1.6 million." http://t.uani.com/1f75h3C
Human Rights
IHR: "One prisoner was hanged in the prison of Sari (Northern Iran)
early this morning April 24, reported the official website of the Iranian
Judiciary in Mazanderan Province. The prisoner who was identified as 'M.
R. Gh.' was convicted of murdering another person under a street fight.
According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Organization a Kurdish prisoner
was hanged in the prison of Sanandaj (western Iran) early Wednesday
morning April 24. The prisoner was identified as Rafigh (22), convicted
of murder said the report." http://t.uani.com/1pt4VbP
NYT: "The head of Iran's judiciary removed the country's highest
prison official on Wednesday, after what human rights advocates said was
a violent raid on political prisoners in Tehran's largest prison
facility. The official, Gholam Hossein Esmaili, the head of the Iran
Prisons Organization, was promoted to a new position, the semiofficial
Fars news agency reported, quoting a directive by the head of Iran's
judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani. Only a day earlier, Mr. Esmaili
appeared smiling on state television repeating denials of the attack and
showing what he said was a surveillance video proving that nothing out of
the ordinary had happened in Evin Prison in Tehran. Last week, according
to reports from outside the country, more than 30 detainees were hurt,
some seriously, when a cellblock in the prison was stormed by guards,
along with forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the
Intelligence Ministry... On Wednesday, Mr. Esmaili was given the title of
director general of the Justice Department in Tehran Province. The move
seemed aimed at silencing critics, and Mr. Esmaili himself told the
Iranian Labor News Agency that he was promoted to a better job that would
put him in charge of several high-profile judicial cases." http://t.uani.com/1jUw8NF
Trend: "While finger-pointing regarding last week's incident in
Iran's Evin prison is increasing, the senior judiciary official has made
an important announcement. Head of the country's Judicial, Sadeq Amoli
Larijani said that those who try to start a 'sedition' in Iran, will be
seriously confronted. 'Henceforth Iranian judiciary will not show any
tolerance towards such people,' Larijani said, Iran's IRIB news agency
reported on April 24. The 'sedition' particularly used by Iranian
officials referring the mass protests in the country after the disputed
presidential elections in 2009. Commenting on the Evin prison incident,
Larijani said that the inspection in Evin prison was a completely legal
procedure, adding that 'according to the report of the head of Iran's
prisons, there was no wrongdoing during the inspections'... Larijani said
that the people planning 'sedition' and foreign media are using the
incident as a tool to cause unrests in the country. 'Some people inside
Iran are involved in this anti-Iran movement, accompanying the foreigners
and the anti-revolutionary media,' he added." http://t.uani.com/1nILTd7
RFE/RL: "Dozens of Iranian men and women have sheared their hair and
posted their pictures online to demonstrate solidarity with political
prisoners. The campaign was launched following reports that prison guards
had shaved the heads of some political prisoners in Tehran's notorious
Evin prison in order to humiliate them after some inmates were reportedly
beaten up during an inspection of the facility last week. Earlier this
week, a picture of a prominent jailed human rights lawyer, Abdolfatah
Soltani, was posted online showing him with a shaved head. The photo,
which was shared widely on social media, appeared to have been taken
during an April 21 prison visit. Soltani is reported to have been among
the prisoners who were assaulted during the raid on Evin's section 350.
Activists both inside and outside the country are posting their photos on
a Facebook page titled 'With the Political Prisoners of Evin's Section
350.' They are using the Persian hashtag 'sarfaraz,' or 'proud,' to
promote their campaign." http://t.uani.com/1ihLuyY
EFF: "Narenji ('Orange') was Iran's top website for gadget news,
edited daily by a team of tech bloggers who worked from a cramped office
in the country's city of Kerman. The site was targeted at Iran's growing
audience of technology enthusiasts. Like Gizmodo or Engadget in the
United States, it had a simple but popular formula: mixed reviews of the
latest Android and iPhones, summaries of new Persian-language apps and
downloads, as well as the latest Internet memes (such as the ever-popular
'An Incredible Painted Portrait of Morgan Freeman Drawn with a Finger on
the iPad'). But now it's gone. Narenji's front page is stuck in time as
it was on December 3, when the entire Narenji team was rounded up by
Iran's Revolutionary Guard and thrown into jail. Frozen, too, are
Narenji's sister sites-Nardebaan and Negahbaan-that the start-up was
beginning to build from Narenji's earlier success.The Narenji team's
treatment is another example of how technologists are targeted by
governments worldwide as a result of their work. It doesn't matter if
you're writing a blog about Android development or distributing
anti-censorship proxies: to many governments, simply being well-known online
or having a latent power to influence or change society through your
technical knowledge can quickly turn you into an unacceptable threat to
the social order. Popular but apolitical bloggers like Narenji's also
risk being caught in internecine battles over which they have no control.
Iranian political experts we've spoken to consider that Narenji's arrest
by the local Kermani Revolutionary Guard may be a deliberate response by
local radicals against the Rouhani administration's encouragement of tech
entrepreneurs: a signal that makes clear that Tehran should not go too
far in its moderation. Narenji's high visibility may not have given them
protection against the Revolutionary Guard; rather, it may have made them
more of a target." http://t.uani.com/1iQAGGJ
Domestic
Politics
WashPost: "Gasoline prices in Iran have risen steadily and
dramatically in recent years, but at 22 cents per liter, they are still
some of the cheapest in the world. Although Iranians have traditionally
adjusted quickly to rate hikes without noticeably changing their
consumption habits, a new increase scheduled for this week will test the
patience of a public that has been waiting nearly a year for signs of an
economic recovery promised by President Hassan Rouhani when he was elected
last June. Prices will remain low by global standards, but for citizens
here, the skyrocketing price at the pump in relation to the value of
their national currency, the rial, is shocking. When Iranians paid 800
rials in 2005, five-digit gasoline prices seemed unfathomable, but the
new rate will almost certainly enter that unchartered territory. The head
of Iran's association of gas station operators, Bijan Hajjmohammadreza,
said Tuesday that digital readers at pumps throughout the country are not
equipped to display prices if they surpass 9,999 rials per liter. The
current price is 7,000 rials per liter... Tehran's currency market has
responded to the uncertainty with a decline of more than 5 percent in the
rial against the U.S. dollar this week in open rate trading. (The
official rate of exchange Wednesday was more than 25,540 rials to the
U.S. dollar, and the open rate, at which the vast majority of
transactions are conducted, was 33,000 rials to the dollar.) Just how
much prices will increase this week is unclear, but most expect it to be
upwards of 50 percent, although some officials insist that it will be
less. The new price could reach as much as 12,000 rials per liter.
Tehran's currency market has responded to the uncertainty with a decline
of more than 5 percent in the rial against the U.S. dollar this week in
open rate trading." http://t.uani.com/1f70T4R
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "A senior member of Saudi Arabia's royal family said on
Wednesday that Gulf states should work on acquiring nuclear know-how to
balance any threat from Iran. Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former
intelligence chief, also told a security conference in the Bahraini
capital Manama, that the Gulf states should be prepared for any possible
outcome from Iran's nuclear talks with world powers. 'We do not hold any
hostility to Iran and do not wish any harm to it or to its people, who
are Muslim neighbors,' he said in a speech. 'But preserving our regional
security requires that we, as a Gulf grouping, work to create a real
balance of forces with it, including in nuclear know-how, and to be ready
for any possibility in relation to the Iranian nuclear file. Any
violation of this balance will allow the Iranian leadership to exploit
all holes to do harm to us.' ... 'The lack of trust in the Iranian
leadership which arises from its double-talk and the duality of its
policies prevents us from believing what it says,' he told the Bahrain
conference. 'At the time when we hope that the ongoing nuclear talks
between (Iran) and world powers reach the desired aim by halting its
nuclear ambitions with definite guarantees, we have to be careful until
this is a firm reality,' he said." http://t.uani.com/ROj5pA
Press TV: "South Korea has said that it attaches great importance to
its relations with Iran, calling for stronger political, trade and
cultural ties between the two countries. In a meeting with visiting
Chairman of Iran's Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee
Alaeddin Boroujerdi in the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Wednesday, South
Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se pointed to the exchange of political
and parliamentary delegations, expressing hope that bilateral ties would
further enhance in all areas of politics, economy and culture... He said
South Korean firms are closely monitoring the negotiations and are keen
on further trade exchanges with the Islamic Republic." http://t.uani.com/1ictdCj
Opinion &
Analysis
WSJ Editorial: "Ward 350 of Tehran's Evin prison houses some of
Iran's most prominent dissidents, including human-rights lawyers, labor
leaders and opposition bloggers. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
and the intelligence ministry raided the ward last week and administered
a mass beating to its residents, landing dozens of prisoners in the
hospital. That's according to family members of the prisoners and news
accounts from Kalame, a website associated with opposition leader Mir
Hossein Mousavi. Kalame on Tuesday published what it claimed was a
firsthand account of the assault on Ward 350 written by Emad Bahavar, a
supporter of the opposition Green movement serving a 10-year sentence for
his activism. Mr. Bahavar's letter, sent from Evin, is worth quoting at
some length for the portrait it paints of Mr. Rouhani's Iran. 'It feels
as though pain has engulfed my entire body,' Mr. Bahavar writes. 'They
covered our eyes and cuffed our wrists. . . . They lined us up in the
Ward 350 corridor, our faces to the wall. I could hear some crying in
pain. . . . They started beating our backs very severely with batons. The
screaming and crying got louder.' The security forces next formed a
'tunnel' running from the ward's main entrance to a minibus outside,
according to Mr. Bahavar. The guards, some uniformed and some wearing
civilian clothes, beat the prisoners as they ran down this tunnel. 'The
whole route . . . was covered in blood,' Mr. Bahavar reports. The minibus
drove some of the prisoners away, while others like Mr. Bahavar were
returned to the ward and eventually allowed to see a prison medic. It's
notable that Mr. Bahavar, like many Green-movement supporters, initially
embraced Hasan Rouhani's candidacy for president: 'Rouhani came, and we
thought we'd forgive what had happened to us if he improves the people's
condition.' But the beating he and the other inmates received last week
convinced Mr. Bahavar that 'the hatred in their black hearts is much
greater than the Greens' kindness and forbearance.' Western governments
have treated Mr. Rouhani as the great moderate hope-an Iranian version of
China's Deng Xiaoping. They forget that Mr. Rouhani has been a lifelong
security apparatchik, having helped engineer the regime's bloody 1999
crackdown on Iran's student movement. His government also bans Twitter
(except for its public officials) and is setting modern records for the
number of public executions. And unlike Deng, whom Mao purged, Mr.
Rouhani has always been part of the regime's inner circle. Perhaps a
regime, and a president, that can brutalize political dissidents as a
matter of routine can prove reasonable at the nuclear negotiating table.
We wouldn't count on it, and neither should the West." http://t.uani.com/QHWcTm
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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