حزب مردم بلوچستان Balochistan People’s Party بلوچستانءِ اُستمانءِ گــَل
Iran struggles to meet gas demand
JANUARY 01, 2008
Iran has cut gas exports
to Turkey after high domestic consumption and a halt in supplies from
Turkmenistan.
About a dozen Iranian towns and cities have been left without gas in
freezing weather, an Iranian news agency reports on Tuesday.
Heavy snowfalls and temperatures in Iran's north plummeting to -10C have
increased demand.
"After the sharp falls in temperature over the last days and the halt in
deliveries by Turkmenistan, exports of gas to Turkey have been cut to a
minimum," an Iranian source told the Fars news agency.
The source said the volume of gas exports to Turkey had been cut from 20
million cubic meters to five million cubic meters.
Iran was previously forced to completely halt its gas exports to Turkey for
five days in January 2007 in order to compensate for a domestic consumption
crunch.
"The cold and the drop in gas pressure have created problems throughout the
country," Manouchehr Mottaki, the foreign minister told state television.
Officials cite technical problems for the complete halt in gas supplies from
Turkmenistan which normally provides five per cent of Iran's consumption
needs.
Turkmenistan’s promise
Rashid Meredov, Turkmenistan’s foreign minister promised Iran that supplies
would be rapidly restored but did not specify when.
Iran, which is keen to supply gas to India and Pakistan as well as Europe,
has struggled to meet its own demand despite having the second largest gas
reserves in the world after Russia.
Iran says it needs its nuclear programme solely to provide additional energy
for its population of 70 million and strongly rejects accusations that it is
seeking an atomic weapons capability.
In August, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, sacked Kazem Vaziri
Hamaneh, the former oil minister who warned Iran faces a "catastrophe" in
its energy sector if a solution is not found for high consumption in the
next 15 years.
Development of Iranian gas fields is held up by a lack of foreign investment,
although Tehran last week signed a $6 billion development deal with Malaysia.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
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Two men hanged in south-east Iran
Tue. 01 Jan 2008
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 01 – Iranian authorities hanged two men Monday morning in
the volatile south-eastern province of Sistan-va-Baluchistan, state media
reported.
Both men were executed in a prison in the provincial capital Zahedan, the
official news agency IRNA said.
They were accused of drug trafficking.
Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges such as
armed robbery and drug smuggling.
Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province is home to Baluchis, a predominantly Sunni
Muslim ethnic minority.
Iran has witnessed escalating unrest since 2006 in areas populated by
Baluchis, who complain of discriminatory and repressive policies by the
theocratic regime.
Since 2006, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive
province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of attacks
by dissidents on government and security officials.
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Iran expels German diplomat
Iran has expelled a German diplomat for what it called "non-diplomatic
activities".
Mohammad Ali Hosseini, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, on Sunday
confirmed a news agency report that a German diplomat had been ordered to
leave Iran.
The DPA report on Saturday also said that it could be seen as retaliation
for the expulsion of an Iranian diplomat from Germany in July.
Without elaborating on the circumstances, Berlin only said a diplomat had
left Tehran.
"Those in charge recognised that non-diplomatic activities are being
undertaken and announced that this diplomat should leave the soil of the
Islamic Republic of Iran," Hosseini told a news conference.
Hosseini gave no further details and did not make clear if it was the
diplomat who was responsible for the "non-diplomatic activities".
The German embassy in Tehran referred all queries to the foreign ministry in
Berlin.
The Hamburg-based weekly Der Spiegel had reported in December that an
Iranian official was forced to leave Germany last summer after he tried to
acquire components for Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
Der Spiegel said the Iranian diplomat was expelled after contacting a firm
in Bavaria to buy a systems control component which would be essential in
the enrichment of uranium.
Iran denies it wants a nuclear bomb and says its atomic work is aimed at
boosting civilian power generation.
Associated Press meanwhile quoted Hosseini as saying that Iran has no
immediate plans to normalise relations with the United States.
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Fighting between Revolutionary Guards and a Baloch group in Jeroft
Translated by Balochistan News ; 06-01-2008
On Saturday morning (05-01-2008) there has been fighting between Pasdaraan (revolutionary guards) and a Baloch group in Jeroft in south of Kerman province.
According to Taftaan news 13 revolutionary guards and 3 armed Balochs have been killed. While Iranian news agency Irna said 5 armed Balochs have been killed and did not mention anything about revolutionary guards.
http://www.taftaan.blogfa.com/
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Five
criminals in Iran have a hand and foot amputated: report
06-01-2008
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran amputated the right hand and left foot of five criminals
convicted of armed robbery and hostage-taking, the student ISNA news agency
reported on Sunday.
The amputation, a legally permissible but rarely used punishment in Iran,
was carried out in the presence of doctors in the southeastern city of
Zahedan, capital of the restive Sistan-Baluchestan province.
The men, identified as M.A. Jalali, A.B. Rigi, A. Rigi, A.R. Roudini and D.
Pahlevan, were found guilty of "acting against God" and "corruption upon
this Earth" for taking part in the robberies and taking hostages.
The report did not say whether the punishment was carried out in prison or
in public.
Amputations, which are allowed under Iran's Islamic sharia law, are only
occasionally reported in Iran. The punishment being meted out to a group of
criminals at a single time appears unprecedented in recent years.
The amputations come amid a campaign the authorities say is aimed at
improving security in society which has led to an increasing number of
executions in the Islamic republic, many of them in public.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVAkNr6HeZW1g09Yjsl0j9doNy8Q
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Iranian
Security Forces shooting at furious Baloch demonstration
Translated by Balochistan News ; 05-01-2008 ;
On
Thursday 03 January 2008 a Mobile Security Forces of Iranian regime opened
fire at a vehicle (Toyota) which delivering drinking water to a married ceremony.
This is happened in a busy
Koussar street in Balochistan provincial capital Dozaap (Zahedan). In the
shooting two occupants of the car wer severely injured, people around rushed
to help the injured and attacked the security forces with stones to show
their anger on regime’s oppressive forces.
The security forces and police begun to fire and used tear gas consequently
unknown number were injured.
Source: http://www.taftaan.blogfa.com/ http://www.sunnionline.net
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Iran amputates hands, legs of 5 men as punishment
Mon. 07 Jan 2008
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 07 – Authorities amputated the hands and legs of five
individuals as punishment for alleged crimes in the volatile province of
Sistan-va-Baluchistan, state media reported.
All five men had their right hand and left foot severed, the state-owned
news agency ISNA said on Sunday.
The amputations were carried out in the provincial capital Zahedan,
south-east Iran, the report said.
The five men were identified as A. Rigi, A.B. Rigi, A.R. Roudini, D.
Pahlevan, and M.A. Jalali.
They had been charged with being “mohareb” (or “waging war on God”) and
“corruption on earth” for allegedly robbing people and taking hostages.
Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges such as
armed robbery and drug smuggling.
In the past, Iran’s judiciary has executed political opponents of the
Islamic Republic on the charge of being a mohareb.
Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province is home to Baluchis, a predominantly Sunni
Muslim ethnic minority.
Iran has witnessed escalating unrest since 2006 in areas populated by
Baluchis, who complain of discriminatory and repressive policies by the
theocratic regime.
Since 2006, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive
province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of attacks
by dissidents on government and security officials.
Iran’s Islamic penal system regularly practices centuries-old sentences for
petty crimes, such as amputation of limbs, eye gouging, stoning to death,
and throwing prisoners off a cliff in a sac.
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A letter
from Radio Balochi FM to Amnesty International regarding amputation of 5
Balochs
To,
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
United Kingdom, London
09.01.2008
Subject: Amputation of hands and legs of 5 men in Zahedan ? Balochistan
Take the necessary action on condemning the barbaric act committed by
Iranian Islamic regime.
The Islamic regime in Iran amputed recently the hands and legs of five
Balochis. The amputations were carried out in Zahedan ? Balochistan. The
barbaric regime justified this inhuman act by categorizing the five
individuals, A. Rigi, A.B. Rigi, A.R. Roudini, D. Pahlavan and M.A. Jalali,
as being persons in ??waging war on God?? and with ??corruption on earth??.
The current trick is not a new trend as it is already well-known that
Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents from Balochistan on bogus
charges such as armed robbery and drug smuggling. I the past, Iran's
judiciary has executed political opponents of the Islamic Republic on the
charge of being ??waging war on God??.
Iran has witnessed escalating unrest the recent years in Balochistan, where
the discriminatory and repressive policies by the theocratic regime are
imposed.
We would like to express our very strong concern for the current barbaric
crime committed by Islamic regime of Iran. Therefore we would like to call
international attention, particularly the Amnesty International, to our
concern.
Thanking you in advance
Yours sincerely
Managing board in Radio Balochi FM - Sweden
www.radiobalochi.org
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Spate of Executions and Amputations in Iran
By NAZILA
FATHI
January 11, 2008 ; http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/world/middleeast/11iran.html
TEHRAN — Using strict enforcement of Islamic law, the judicial authorities in a restive region of southern Iran amputated the right hands and left feet of five convicted robbers this week, part of what the government said was an effort to deter other troublemakers.
An Iranian rights group led by Shirin Ebadi, the lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner, protested the double amputations, which it called an expansion of cruel punishments in Iran. The group also protested a spate of public executions reported over the past two weeks.
“Unfortunately, the violation of human rights in Iran has not only been expanded in some fields, it has also found new dimensions,” Ms. Ebadi’s group, which calls itself Defenders of Human Rights, said in a statement.
Iranian newspapers on Thursday reported the hanging of seven men convicted of murder and drug smuggling in different cities this week. In the first 10 days of January there have been 23 publicly disclosed executions.
“Figures confirm that executions have increased in Iran,” Ms. Ebadi said in an interview. “We have issued statements several times and have said that we are against punishment by death.”
Iran has been an active user of the death penalty, usually hanging, and is one of several countries that opposed its abolition last month during a vote on the United Nations General Assembly resolution, joining in an unusual alliance with the United States. Officials argued that the abolition of the death penalty would be an infringement on Iran’s sovereignty.
Amputation has been a punishment in Iran since the Islamic revolution of 1979 installed Islamic law, but Iran’s judicial authorities have rarely publicized examples of its use and have rarely ordered double amputations. In the newly publicized instances, the courts ordered the right hand and left foot cut off, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the condemned to walk, even with a cane or crutches.
A statement by the Judicial Branch in Sistan-Baluchistan Province, where the convicted robbers were punished, said it hoped the double amputations would “teach a lesson to other criminals,” the news agency ISNA reported.
It was not clear when this week the amputations were carried out. Reports said doctors watched to limit bleeding and infection during the procedure.
“It doesn’t matter how often these sentences are issued; even once is not acceptable, and our laws should change,” Ms. Ebadi said. “We have constantly protested the existence of such punishments in our penal code. But the government ignores our protest.”
The amputations were done in Zahedan, the provincial capital near the Pakistan border, where the authorities have faced increasing insecurity because of the Sunni minority in the region. Iran’s population is overwhelming Shiite.
Iran has waged a large-scale campaign this year aimed at improving security in Sistan-Baluchistan. At least some of those reported executed so far this year had been arrested during the campaign.
Iran Daily reported Thursday that two men, identified only by their first names, Mojtaba and Mohammad-Hossein, were hanged for murder Wednesday in the southern city of Jahorm. Three others, according to the daily Jomhouri Eslami, were hanged in the eastern city of Birjand on Wednesday after being convicted of drug trafficking. The daily added that two others convicted of murder were hanged in the northern city of Tonekabon but did not specify when.
The authorities hanged 13 people on Jan. 1 and three others after that.
According to a count by Agence France-Presse, based on reports in local newspapers, Iran hanged 298 people in 2007, compared with 177 hangings in 2006.
The executions this year were carried out ahead of the mourning month of Muharram that began Thursday under the lunar calendar. Under Islamic law, executions are forbidden for the month.
Among those reported executed on Jan. 1 was a 27-year-old woman and mother of two who killed her husband when she was 23. The woman, Raheleh Zamani, was hanged at Tehran’s Evin prison despite a promise by the authorities to postpone her execution by a month. A group of feminists were trying to get the consent of the victim’s family to save her life. She had married at the age of 15 and had been abused by her husband, Ms. Ebadi said.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Video: atrocities of Iranian regime towards Baloch
By Balochistan News ; 13-01-2008;
Watch
Video ;
Source Radio Balochi FM
Translated
version from Persian to English
Below is an example of many crimes from Iranian security forces, Intelligence
services, revolutionary guards and the Beseej (Paramilitary force) towards Baloch in Balochistan.
This video was secretly recorded when two Balochs passenger traveling were
pulled over by revolutionary guards in Balochistan. The two are dressed for
business but they became victim of Iranian revolutionary guards check point.
The two ethnic Balochs are shot and torturing to extract confession for
guns, the men scream that they don’t have guns but guards pressure them to
produce guns. Some guard repeatedly shouting ‘kill them’ ‘kill them’, the
leader says no, the guards repeatedly insult and cuss and curse them. The
two Balochs resist and do not accept the guards suggestion of owning guns,
the two brave Balochs stood their ground and did not accept the lies that
revolutionary guards were trying to establish against them.
Since Iranian authorities routinely execute and kill Baloch on the bogus charge of drug smuggling and labeling them as anti state element no one knows if these two men are killed or alive.
Note:
The security forces including Intelligence
officers, members of revolutionary guards and the Beseej (Paramilitary
forces) are Shiite brought from outside to predominantly Sunni Balochistan.