Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been elected head of the Assembly of Experts, the only authority in Iranian political and religious circles with the power to decide the fate of the Supreme Guide. Rafsanjani, the former moderate conservative president, defeated the candidates close to the current president, Ahmadinejad. A big blow for Ahmadinejad. continue...
On June 18th Iran’s parliament approved a new law (148 votes in favour and 5 against), that sentences to death anyone who is involved in any way in the production of pornography. A Draconian law. In order to become law, the bill must now be approved by the Guardian Council, which is the principal Iranian political and religious authority. There are few chances that the bill will be rejected, continue...
Written for us by Attilio de Castris In the heated parliamentary debate over the events that took place behind the scenes of the Mastrogiacomo kidnapping of 12th April last, the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs Massimo D’Alema mentioned the silence that in other countries shrouds any negotiations over hostages abroad. Though implicit, continue...
The March 8 holiday has always divided public opinion between those opposed to singling out one day only to acknowledge women, and those for whom it is crucial to honor “the other half of the sky” with its own holiday. Hunger Strike. Whatever side you stand on, you cannot pass the day without devoting some thought to Iran, continue...
The US Treasury Department is investigating some twenty American basketball players who have been playing in Iran over the past several years. The athletes may be guilty of having violated the sanctions that Washington has imposed for years on Teheran. The US cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1979. Each player faces a fine of 50,000 dollars for having ignored the embargo. Details of the investigation. continue...
Ramin Jahanbegloo, a dissident Iranian intellectual, is supposed to have confessed in front of a television camera to being a spy of the United States government. As in the time of Galileo Galilei, Jahanbegloo, a Harvard graduate with a doctorate from the Sorbonne, was arrested last May 3 for “relations with foreign countries designed to undermine the security of the state” and, like the great scientist on June 22, 1633, continue...
It’s been called “the NATO of the East,” “the new Warsaw Pact,” and “the dictator’s club.” The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan —held its fifth annual summit last week in the Chinese metropolis for heads of state from member countries. The choice of Shanghai, where the SCO Secretariat is located, continue...
