Tehran, Jan 28(ANI): Two Iranian bloggers will be executed for ‘spreading corruption’ – in the crackdown on the freedom of expression ahead of the parliamentary elections.Iran has also arrested four journalists on the same charges, prompting the U.S. to urge Tehran to ‘protect the rights of all its citizens and uphold the rule of law’“We are deeply concerned by the alarming increase in the Iranian regime’s efforts to extinguish all forms of free expression and limit its citizens’ access to information,” the Daily Mail quoted a US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland, as saying.She added that Iranian security forces had reportedly arrested journalists Shahram Manouchehri, Sahamedin Bourghani, Parastoo Dokouhaki and Marzieh Rasouli.

(StopTheHype) According to The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), sources inside Iran have reported that the Chief Justice of the Gilan Provincial Court in Iran is once again pressuring Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani to recant his devout faith in Christ or suffer possible execution for not converting to Islam.The Chief Justice, in a private meeting held last week, ordered that additional pressure be put on Pastor Youcef to recant his Christian faith. however, Pastor Youcef once again bravely responded by refusing to deny his faith in Christ. Thus, reiterating to the Iranian authorities that he could not return to Islam because he was never a Muslim.As ACLJ reportedearlier this month, Iran has aggressively renewed its attempts to increase pressure and foreully coerce Pastor Youcef to renounce his faith in Christ under threat of death from the state.

(AFP) ISTANBUL — The opposition Syrian National Council on Saturday accused Iran of “participation” in the bloody crackdown on protests in Syria and called on Tehran to stop supporting the Damascus regime.“The Council condemns the participation of the Iranian regime in killing Syrians who are demanding freedom and urges it to stop taking part in quelling the Syrian revolution, in order to protect the relations between the two people,” Samir Neshar, a member of the SNC’s executive committee, said at a news conference in Istanbul.The rebel Free Syrian Army claimed Friday to have captured five Iranian military officers in the restive city of Homs and urged Tehran to “immediately” withdraw any additional troops it may have in Syria.In a statement, the FSA said the Iranians captured “were working under the orders of the intelligence services of the Syrian air force” and had no valid papers to reside or work in Syria.

RAHANA-Advar News website reported that on January 22, when Abdollah Momeni was taken to Evin prison’s infirmary, he refused to stay because he was assaulted and abused by the staff.Other political prisoners shared with their visiting families that several hours later, Momeni was transferred back to the infirmary due to severe stomach pains. No one has seen or heard from him since then, suggesting that he might have been transferred to a different location.Earlier on Monday, in a brief telephone conversation with his family, Momeni shared that Evin prison officials had only given him one injection as a treatment for his ailments.The family of Abdollah Momeni has expressed great concern for his health and whereabouts. The family members explained that political prisoners in Evin prison are given short restricted access to telephones, resulting in the families staying uninformed about the health and circumstances of their loved ones.Fatemeh Adinehvnad, the wife of this member of the student alumni organization (Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vejdat) told Advar News that on Monday, when Abdollah Momeni did not show up at the weekly family visitation in prison, nobody would give them an explanation regarding his whereabouts or health.

According to reports, inhumane pressures have increased against political prisoners in the Gohardasht Prison in Karaj. An example of these pressures is the reduction of the quality and quantity of the prisoners’ food. The dinner given to political prisoners which was one egg, one potatoes and one piece of bread has been replaced with 15 grams of halva and a small, thin piece of factory bread and the quantity of all other meals given to prisoners has been lowered as well.On the other hand, in a coordinated measure, simultaneously with the reduction of the quantity and quality of food, the prison shops that usually sold expired canned foods have largely stopped selling canned foods and other goods.The head of Gohardasht Prison, Mohammad Mardani, had threatened political prisoners before this that if sanctions were increased, the first people that would have to pay were political prisoners.In other reports, ailing political prisoners who are taken to the infirmary in critical condition are also pressured. For example, an ailing political prisoner who is prescribed 30 pills for his ailment only receives 10 of the pills.Notably, telephones used by political prisoners have been cut off since January 2011. A number of political prisoners such as Arjang Davoudi and Loqman and Zaniar Moradi have been banned from family visits with their families. (Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran

According to human rights sources, two Kurd prisoners identified as Loqman and Zaniar Moradi were previously sentenced to public hanging on charges of enmity with God and killing the son of the head of the Marivan Friday Prayers by the 15^th branch of the Revolutionary Court headed by Judge Salavati. Rajayi Prison officials verbally announced to them in the past few days that their sentence had been upheld by the Supreme Court.“Last week, officials of the Rajayi Shahr Prison told these two Kurd prisoners that their sentences were upheld in the Supreme Court”, this source said.“Loqman Moradi confirmed this report in a short phone call to his family and said that he was shocked from the news and in light of the fact that he had not received a written confirmation, hoped that [this was only a measure] to intimidate him”, the source added.This source said that the lawyer of these two political prisoners had expressed surprise over the news and had told their families that the sentence had not been officially announced to him and that he would go to Tehran to pursue the case next week. (Student Committee in Defense of Political Prisoners, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran