Selected Headlines

25 Nov 2009 04:08No Comments

Atrianfar released on bail

Bultan News │Nov. 24, 2009

The Tehran Prosecutor's office announced that Reformist politician Mohammad Atrianfar has been released on a $500,000 bail.

Bashiri told ISNA that Atrianfar's temporary detention order was switched to release on bail and that he was released from Evin Prison after his bail was posted on Monday morning.

"Atrianfar has been sentenced by Judge Salavti of the Revolutionary Court to six years in prison but the verdict is subject to appeal," Bashiri said.

Ban on popular Hamshahri daily lifted

Press TV │ Nov. 24, 2009

A day after Iran banned its best-selling newspaper for publishing a picture of a temple belonging to the outlawed Baha'i sect, the country's Judiciary lifted the ban.

An informed source told Mehr News Agency on Tuesday that the Judiciary lifted a temporary ban slapped on the popular daily Hamshahri (Citizen), by the Press Supervisory Board on Monday.

Hamshahri was shut down on Monday afternoon for publishing a picture of the Baha'i lotus temple in India and encouraging tourists to visit the place on its front page, Iran's Labor News Agency (ILNA) reported on Monday.

The daily had received a formal letter of complaint by the Iranian government's press watchdog and therefore offered apologies on its Monday issue, according to Mehr News Agency.

Third Sanandaj prison inmate transferred to hospital

Harana │ Nov. 24, 2009

Loqman Rahmani is the third inmate at Sanandaj penitentiary in the province of Kurdistan to be hospitalized because of declining health.

Earlier reports indicated that two other prisoners at this prison, Kamal Ahmadi and Khosro Izadi, died in prison under suspicious circumstances.

No reasons have been given about the death of the two inmates so far.

Former ministers appointed ambassadors

Tabnak │ Nov. 22, 2009

Two former Ahmadinejad ministers have been appointed as the new Iranian ambassadors to Malaysia and Venezuela.

According to IRNA, former minister of science Mohammad-Mehdi Zahedi has been tapped as Tehran's new envoy to Kuala Lumpur. Former welfare minister Abdolreza Mesri has been appointed as the new ambassador to Caracas.

Meanwhile, former foreign ministry director Seyyed Javad Rasouli-Mahalati has been designated as Iran's top diplomat in Saudi Arabia.

Tajernia sentenced for insulting Ahmadinejad

Khabar Online │Nov. 24, 2009

The Revolutionary Court sentenced Ali Tajernia, a member of the Participation Front, to six years in prison and 74 whip lashes for insulting Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Tajernia's lawyer Hamid Fatehnia told ILNA that the verdict was announced on Monday.

"My client was found guilty of conspiring to disrupt public order, for propagating lies against the establishment, and for insulting the president and his cabinet," Fatehnia said.

Tajernia was arrested on June 19 and released on November 7 after posting a $100,000 bail.

Ahmadinejad entourage too big for Mehr reporters

Tabnak │Nov. 22, 2009

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's tour of three Latin American and two African countries with a 300-member entourage drew the ire of reporters who were left behind.

Despite an invitation extended by the presidential office to Mehr news agency reporters and photographers to accompany Ahmadinejad on his tour, the four designated journalists were informed at the last minute that the Iranian delegation would leave without them.

The public relations liaison of the presidential office announced a day ahead of the trip that due to the large number of officials accompanying the Iranian president, the four journalists could not be accommodated.

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