|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
22nd January, 97
Shortage of Water Supply in Tehran - Tehran's Water Company today warned the citizens of Tehran that if the water consumption continues at this rate, the capital's water supplies will only last for another four months. Mild weather and lack of rain has caused the reserves to be 12% less than this time last year.
Foreign Currency Earnings for Carpet Exporters- The Iranian Majlis approved a bill on Tuesday that would allow carpet exporters to spend their foreign currency earnings for importation of raw materials and other government approved goods.
This is yet another U-turn in government policies which is making any long term business planning impossible in Iran. Previous legislations for returning the foreign exchange to the country had caused the stagnation of the carpet industry and exporters were complaining that they have no incentive to stay in business.
06th January, 97
Amnesty International Condemns Upsurge in Executions - AI today condemned the rising number of executions in Iran and called on the Iranian authorities take immediate steps to prevent further executions. The call followed the news that two Iranians who were detained for seven years before being tried had been executed mainly on political charges after what appeared to have been an unfair trial, despite repeated appeals by the organisation for clemency.
Hedayatollah Zendehdel and Abolghasem Majd-Abkahi were reportedly hanged in Qasr Prison in Tehran on either 29th December, 1996 or 1 January 1997. They had been sentenced to death in July 1996 after conviction of being "Corrupt on Earth", a charge which usually carries the death penalty.
Four others were tried in the same case; Alireza Yazdanshenas, a former air force officer, was also sentenced to death, and is believed to have been executed previously; and the other three defendants received prison terms of between 7 to 23 years and between 110 and 200 lashes. Sheyda Khorramzadeh Esfahani, the wife of Abolghasem Majd-Abkahi, was also sentenced to death in a seperate trial apparently in connection with the same case. She is believed to be at imminent risk of execution following the confirmation of her sentence by the Supreme Court.
The UN Special Representative on Iran who attended part of a session of the trial of the six men stated in a subsequent report that : "The judge played a much more active role and the lawyers a more passive role than in any trial [he had] attended elsewhere. Indeed [he] was left with the impression that the judge was clearly not a neutral party between the prosecution and the defence."
There were also concerns that the defndants may not have been allowed to choose their own lawyers.
The special representative had sought to visit Hedayatollah Zendehdel, but was denied access to him. He was also told by the President of the Independent Bar Association that seven year pre-trial detention "should not happen, that it would also be a violation of normal judicial process [and] would also be a violation of both legal and religous decrees and that the 'system cannot detain a person for a long time on the basis of suspicion alone'".