The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Foreign Secretary said Sunday that European nations will intensify pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, but insisted the West wasn’t pressing for military action.

William Hague told Sky News television that he believed the European Union would agree tough new sanctions against Tehran’s oil sector later this month, and would continue to look for peaceful methods of persuading Iran to ditch its pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

Iran insists its nuclear program is intended solely for peaceful purposes, but the West and others accuse it of attempting to build a bomb. Britain’s defense secretary Philip Hammond said earlier this month that Tehran was working “flat out” on its weapons program.

“We have never ruled anything out. We have not ruled out any option, or supporting any option. We believe all options should be on the table, that is part of the pressure on Iran, but we are clearly not calling for or advocating military action,” Hague said.“We are advocating meaningful negotiations, if Iran will enter into them, and the increasing pressure of sanctions to try to get some flexibility from Iran,” he said.European officials have worked for several months on banning the purchase of Iranian oil — hoping to choke off funding for the nuclear program.French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said new European sanctions could also target its Central Bank.

TEHRAN, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Iran on Sunday executed 12
people convicted of drug trafficking and other charges, the
semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Seven people had been charged with drug smuggling and the
other five with kidnapping, rape, murder and armed robbery.

The convicted drug traffickers were executed early on Sunday
in the central province of Fars inside a prison compound, while
the other five were publicly hanged to serve “as a deterrent for
would-be felons”, Mehr said.

The report gave only the initials of some defendants.

Persian2English –Below is an English translation of a written note by Navid Khanjani, a member of two Iranian human rights organizations. He was arrested at his home in Isfahan on March 2, 2010 and transferred to Evin prison. Navid was imprisoned until May 3, 2010 and was issued a 12-year prison sentence on January 31, 2011. According to Amnesty International, Navid has appealed the ruling, “but an appeal hearing date has not yet been set. If imprisoned, he would be a prisoner of conscience, held solely in connection with his peaceful human rights activities.”From being ‘impure’ as a child to becoming a prisoner of the IRGC as a youth
 remember my childhood, when my family was constantly in fear of our Muslim neighbours. I remember the adults would say that, in the peak of the [1979] Revolution, the extremist Muslim neighbours would go on their rooftops, stick their mouth to the ventilator canal and scream: “God is Great “ (Allah-o-Akbar).

Persian2English – Peyman Aref, a student activist and member of the Iran National Front, has been once again summoned to branch 2 of the Shahid Moghaddas Prosecutor’s office in Evin prison. Peyman Aref had been released from prison in December 2011.According to a written court summons that Peyman Aref received on Thursday, he must report to the Prosecutor’s office within the next three days. If the newest court summons leads to Peyman Aref’s arrest, this would be the fourth imprisonment for the student activist since the 2009 Iranian Presidential election. Peyman Aref is a distinguished University of Tehran student who was banned from his studies (he is a “starred” student). He was first arrested on June 17, 2009. He was arrested for the second time on February 10, 2010. His third arrest occurred on October 30, 2011.According to a source close to Peyman Aref, the student activist had recently filed a formal complaint against two state-run media publications, Raja News and Bulletin News, which had written fabricated reports on Peyman Aref’s lashing sentence that was carried out  prior to his release from prison on October 2011. Iranian authorities threatened Peyman Aref to not follow up on his complaints or he would have to face serious consequences.

Student activist Mahdieh Golroo recently wrote a heart-warming letter from Evin prison to her husband Vahid Lalipour. They are both imprisoned. Editor’s note: Vahid Lalipour was arrested by Iranian authorities and taken to prison to serve his sentence on August 23, 2011, the day of his wedding anniversary with his wife. Mahdieh Golroo has been imprisoned since December 2, 2009. Visit the Mahdieh Golroo Facebook support page and the Vahid Lalipour Facebook support page. 

Mahdieh Golroo: Our best days are yet to come

My heart has been exposed…

I want to write of [a great and strange experience] that is perhaps the only reason I am compelled to write nowadays- [the experience of]: [hearing] silence in cries, [seeing] a flicker of light in the heart of darkness, [feeling] the warmth of July in the cold of January, sensing [you are] close while away, burning but not dying, a miracle [occurring] in the heart of passivity, wakefulness while asleep, dreaming while having a nightmare, [being] a canary among the crows.

click on the picture to get directed to the Free Saeed Malekpour Facebook Page

Canadian resident is once again in danger of execution

“International community, react now. Saeed must receive a fair trial!”
________________________________________________________________

Toronto, Canada – January 10, 2012 – Sadly, as part of a political ploy initiated by the IRGC “Cyber Counterattack” team, Saeed Malekpour, a 36-year-old Canadian resident and freelance computer programmer, who has been illegally imprisoned in Iran for the past three years, is once again faced with the danger of execution. Last year, Judge Moghiseh in branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Saeed to die based on lengthy and unfounded charges including “Insulting and desecrating the principles of Islam…”.

With great relief, one of Saeed’s lawyers officially announced in summer 2011 that the Supreme Court had “quashed” the death sentence. However, in a turn of events, the Supreme Court declared months later it was unable to reach a voting decision on Saeed’s case due to existing discrepancies in the file that required resolving. The problem for the Supreme Court judges was that they were unable to state affirmatively if Saeed’s trial was fair and legal. Additionally, Saeed’s lawyer had stated in his report to the Supreme Court that his client’s hours of self-incriminating confessions were false and extracted under torture. In order for the discrepancies to be resolved, the Supreme Court returned Saeed’s case file to the same branch and judge in the Revolutionary Court.

Judge Moghiseh, ignoring the need to fix the discrepancies, re-issued the death sentence to Saeed in a brief and illegal court hearing. Saeed’s case file was then returned to the Supreme Court for a new decision to be made.

Now, Saeed and his family and friends wait apprehensively. They are hoping that the Supreme Court will act in the legal manner of addressing the unresolved discrepancies. The Supreme Court’s decision can arrive as early as this week.