IRAN DEFIES CONDEMNATION, EXPANDS OPPOSITION TRIAL

          
          Hun'mn Rights Voices - Ira; August 16, 2009 lttp://www.eyeoritheun.org /ptht/defaultasp?lttp://www.eyeontbeunorg/.. .
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          HUMAN RIGHTS VOICES
          IRAN, AUGUST 16, 2009 Q U.N. Inaction on Iran
          IRAN DEFIES CONDEMNATION, EXPANDS OPPOSITION TRIAL
          Original Source: The Associated Press
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          TEHRAN, Iran - Iran expanded a mass trial of opposition supporters on
          Sunday with the addition of 25 defendants - including a Jewish
          teenager - in defiance of international condemnation, as France said
          Iran agreed to release a French woman held on spying charges from
          prison.
          The defendants are among more than 100 people charged with plotting
          a “soft revolution” against the Islamic theocracy during the postelection
          protests. The mass trial is part of an attempt to put an end to the
          protests by those who say Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's June 12
          re-election was the result of fraud.
          In apparent attempt to fend off criticism and move ahead with his
          second term, Ahmadinejad named three women who, if confirmed,
          would be Iran's first female Cabinet ministers since the 1979 Islamic
          Revolution.
          The trial, now in its third session, has included a number of televised
          confessions and has drawn international condemnation from human
          rights groups that allege the confessions are coerced. The U.S. last
          week labeled the event a “show trial.” The trial and official
          acknowledgments that some detainees have been abused in prison
          have only added to anger among both opposition supporters and some
          protesters.
          The additional defendants brought the total number being tried to 135.
          The defendants include a number of high-ranking politicians linked to the country's pro-reform movement as well
          as employees from the British and French embassies and an Iranian-Canadian reporter for Newsweek magazine.
          A 24-year-old French academic, Clotilde Reiss, who had appeared during one of the previous court sessions, was
          freed Sunday from an Iranian prison, the French president's office said late Sunday.
          She was arrested July 1 for attending a postelection demonstration. During her court appearance, Reiss
          apologized for attending the demonstration but said she did so because she was curious. The French Foreign
          Minister has said the statement was “worked on,” suggesting it was coerced.
          The French president's office said it was asking for all charges to be dropped against Reiss and that she'll be
          residing at the French Embassy in Tehran until she can return home.
          France is also asking for all charges to be dropped against another of its citizens, Nazak Afshar, who has dual
          French-Iranian citizenship and worked at the French Embassy. She appeared during a previous court session
          before being released from prison. She's now residing at the French Embassy in Tehran. French Foreign Minister
          Bernard Kouchner later said on the iTele TV station that bail was paid for Reiss but that the sum was “not
          enormous.”
          While she stays at the embasssy, Reiss will prepare her defense “to make her innocence known,” Kouchner said
          Jl Actions of the UN Human Rights
          System Critical of Specific States, 2008
          C Non-U.N. View of Human Rights in Iran
          Iranian Fars News Agency, an unidentified
          defendant speaks at the court room, in
          Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009. Iran put
          on trial Sunday 25 more activists and
          opposition supporters, including a Jewish
          teenager, for their alleged involvement in the
          post-election turmoil. (AP Photo/Fars News
          Agency, Hasan Ghaedi)
          Source: The Associated Press
          conservatives upset with the treatment of
          In this photo released by the semi-official
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          Hunmn Rights Voices - Ira; August 16, 2009 lttp://www.eyeontheun .org /ptht/defau ltasp? lttp://www .eyeontheunorg/. . .
          in a statement. He also reiterated the charges against her and the French-Iranian embassy employee, Nazak
          Afshar, were “unfounded.” At Sunday's hearing, officials showed a film of attacks on public property, cars and a
          mosque by protesters, and the prosecutor accused the defendants of plotting the postelection turmoil years in
          advance.
          One of the new defendants was Yaghoghil Shaolian, 19, a member of Iran's Jewish community, which numbers
          about 25,000 people. He was quoted by the semiofficial Fars news agency as saying that he was not an activist
          but that he got caught up in the moment and threw stones at a Tehran bank during a protest. Iran's only Jewish
          parliamentarian, Siamak Mereh Sedq, confirmed the detention of Shaolian and his Jewish identity to The
          Associated Press. He said the detention was not connected to his religion and that Shaolian is innocent.
          Ahmadinejad's decision to appoint three women to his Cabinet appeared to be an attempt to mollify the opposition
          and some of his conservative supporters while currying favor with women. Marzieh Vahid Dastgerdi, a 50-year-old
          gynecologist, will become health minister and Fatemeh Ajorlu, a 43-year-old lawmaker, will be minister of welfare
          and social security, Ahmadinejad said. He said he'll nominate at least one more woman to the Cabinet, but did not
          give a name.
          Ahmadinejad's chances of using the nominations to win over the opposition seems slim as the two women he
          named are considered fellow hard-liners.
          Women took part in large numbers in the street protests that followed the disputed election. Ahmadinejad's
          attempts as president to enforce a strict dress code on women and the jailing of many female activists has won
          him few favors with women.
          Female politicians are not unheard of in Iran. Although they are barred from the presidency and religious posts,
          many Iranian women are in parliament and other political offices. Ahmadinejad currently has a female vice
          president.
          But Iran has not had a female Cabinet minister since the 1979 revolution that brought the cleric-led regime to
          power. The last female minister, Farrokhroo Parsay, was executed on charges of corruption after the revolution.
          Ahmadinejad is slated to present his new Cabinet to parliament on Wednesday. Every minister has to be
          approved by parliament - an uncertain prospect given that some lawmakers have criticized Ahmadinejad for not
          consulting with them prior to making his nominations.
          Ahmadinejad also named cleric Haidar Moslehi as the new intelligence minister to replace Gholam Hossein
          Mohseni Ejehi, who lost his job in July in an apparent dispute over the handling of the clampdown on the unrest.
          The Iranian president on Sunday also appeared to criticize President Barack Obama in a thinly veiled reference.
          “The excellency who talks about change made a big mistake when he openly interfered in Iran's domestic issues,”
          Ahmadinejad told a group of clerics Sunday, according to the semiofficial Mehr news agency.
          Iran has tried to taint the unrest by asserting that it is a product of international meddling rather than internal
          anger. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims he was the true election winner, is also consolidating
          his political forces. According to newspaper reports Sunday, he has announced he will form a new political
          organization aimed at regaining people's constitutional rights.
          Mousavi has not been arrested since the unrest began, although some hard-liners have called for him to be put on
          trial along with other opposition leaders.
          Posted: Monday, August 17, 2009
          Source: http://www.eyeo ntheun.o rg/voices.asp?p=963
          Date: 10/13/ 2009 4:48:09 PM
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