ELECTION AND REPRESSION IN IRAN
Iran opposition says 72 killed in vote protests
By: Iran Focus, September 3, 2009
An aide to Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said in a website report posted Thursday that 72 people died in post-election violence, upping an earlier toll of 69. He also suggested that the actual death toll could be higher as “several families who lost their loved ones have not revealed their deaths due to the current political situation in the country.” Iranian officials claim about 30 people were killed.
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Iran: Ahmadinejad gets cabinet boost
By: Al Jazeera, September 3, 2009
Iranian legislators have approved most of the cabinet nominees proposed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president, including Iran’s first female minister and a man linked to the bombing of a Jewish centre in Argentina. Parliament on Thursday rejected only three of Ahmadinejad’s proposed new 21-member cabinet, signaling only a limited setback for the president as he enters his second term.
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Iran: Ahmadinejad’s new-found independence
By: World Politics Review, September 3, 2009
The recent Iranian election fiasco has been a blessing in disguise for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His reelection was confirmed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the vote count was ratified by the Council of Guardians, and the presidential oath of office was taken in front of a majority of parliamentarians. Consequently, while those officials may object to his actions, their ability to counter them is limited. If Ahmadinejad fails, so, too, will they for having sanctioned his authority.
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Iran replacing envoys who backed “rioters”
By: Iran Focus, September 2, 2009
Iran is replacing 40 of its ambassadors, including some who voiced support for “rioters” during the unrest that erupted after June’s disputed presidential election, a semi-official news agency reported. Fars News Agency said late on Tuesday that the envoys were given notification that their diplomatic postings had been terminated.
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Iranian human rights defender Abdolfattah Soltani released!
By: Human Rights Now, September 2, 2009
Abdolfattah Soltani, an Iranian human rights defender, was one of hundreds of people who were rounded up and imprisoned in the crackdown that followed Iran’s presidential elections. Plain clothes Iranian security officials arrested the leading human rights activist in June along with countless others – students, opposition politicians, journalists and rights activists – and threw them in prison. While we continue to have a number of concerns about human rights in Iran, we have found Soltani’s release, along with last month’s release of human rights defender Shadi Sadr, profoundly encouraging.
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Purge of Iranian universities is feared
By: Michael Slackman, NY Times, Septemer 1, 2009
There is growing concern within the academic community that the government will purge political and social science departments of professors and curriculums deemed “un-Islamic,” according to academics and political analysts inside and outside Iran. The fears have been stoked by speeches by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as by confessions of political prisoners, that suggest that the study of secular topics and ideas has made universities incubators for the political unrest unleashed after the disputed presidential election in June.
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Montreal World Film Festival goes green
By: Fariborz Shamshiri, Totten God, August 30, 2009
Well-known Iranian director, Jafar Panahi is in charge of the international jury of the 33rd Montreal World Film Festival and he brought green moment from Iran to the gala.
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CRISIS IN HONDURAS U.S. terminates $22 million in aid to Honduras Ousted President organizing for his return to Honduras Zelaya – Honduras election ‘a fraud’ Salvadoran groups march to support Zelaya Honduras’ historic two months Masked men silence two Honduran media that support Zelaya |
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AFRICA
Zimbabwe: MDC activist murdered in fresh political violence
By: Z.W. News, September 3, 2009 An MDC activist, Edwin Chingami who had gone into exile in the run-up to last year’s June 27th run-off elections was murdered upon his return home this weekend. Chingami was an MDC supporter who was an election observer for the party in the March 2008 harmonized elections. Chingami had gone to the funeral wake of his niece when known Zanu PF youths accused him of being a sell out. They started beating him and a witness said he was hit by a stone on the head. Read full article… Zimbabwe: Rights group urges tougher line Nigeria: ‘No-music day’ on Nigeria radio Zimbabwean women fear more election violence |
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AMERICAS Bogota confirms ‘No more Chavez’ march not welcome on main square USA: Whole Foods boycott – the long view Venezuela: Over 2,000 people indicted for demonstrating Chile: 129 to be arrested on ‘dirty war’ charges USA: Go to Pittsburgh and defy your empire Cuba: Pastor threatened because of association with dissidents |
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ASIA/SOUTH ASIA
North Korea: Brutal crackdown on defectors
By: The Chosen Ilbo, September 4, 2009
Amid signs of mass defections as the international community began putting pressure on North Korea in the wake of its latest nuclear test, the regime in early May gave orders that no resident was to be allowed to flee the country, followed by a massive crackdown. The National Defense Commission gave village-to-village indoctrination lectures on a massive scale, apparently prompted by fears that the times when the order alone was enough were gone. Anybody who crossed the Apnok (Yalu) or the Duman (Tumen) River without permission would be considered a traitor, villagers were told.
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Burma: Suu Kyi launches detention appeal
By: BBC, September 3, 2009
Lawyers for Burma’s pro-democracy opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, have launched an appeal against the extension of her house arrest. Last month a court sentenced Ms Suu Kyi to a further 18 months for violating the terms of her detention by allowing an uninvited US man into her home. Ms Suu Kyi’s detention means she cannot take part in elections next year. Nyan Win, one of her lawyers, said the divisional court in Rangoon would decide on Friday whether to hear the appeal.
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Burma: Monks intimidated close to 2007 anniversary
By: Democratic Voice of Burma, September 3, 2009
Several Burmese monks have been arrested and others intimidated by authorities as the two-year anniversary of the September 2007 uprising approaches, according to sources inside Burma. A monk in central Burma’s Mandalay division said recently that a local government-led Monk Administration committee had warned monks in the area to avoid political activities. This follows the arrest last week of several monks in various parts of Burma in what appears to be a campaign by the government to intimidate the normally apolitical community in the run-up to the anniversary of the monk-led uprising.
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China lead-poison protest arrests linked to Falun Gong
By: Joost Akkermans, Bloomberg Radio, September 2, 2009
Police in China’s Hunan province detained at least 15 parents for protesting against industrial pollution that left children with lead poisoning. Officials have accused parents involved in the protests of having links to the Falun Gong spiritual organization, which is banned in China, according to the AP report from late yesterday evening. As many as 1,354 children living near the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping were found with lead that exceeded the acceptable level of 100 micrograms per liter of blood, the official Xinhua News Agency has said. The factory has been shut.
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Tibetan exiles arrested
By: Nepal News, September 2, 2009
Police arrested seven Tibetan exiles from Bouddha area of Kathmandu for protesting in front of the visiting high-level Chinese delegation on Wednesday. The Tibetan exiles staged demonstration in front of Hyatt Regency Hotel where the Chinese delegation is staying. Chanting ‘free Tibet’ slogans, the Tibetan exiles also tried to block the motorcade which was escorting senior Chinese officials of Communist Party of China (CPC) including Zhang Gaoli, a member of Central Committee Political Bureau of Communist Party of China (CPC).
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Burma: Media watchdogs slam journal ban
By: Democratic Voice of Burma, September 1, 2009
Two media watchdogs have said the recent closure of a Burmese weekly journal by the government may stem from “a desire to settle old scores” between the junta and editor. Last month the Burmese government’s Censorship Board closed the Rangoon journal, Phoenix, citing breaches of censorship regulations. Today a statement issued by Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) condemned the action.
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China jails democracy activist for 13 years
By: Uzbekistan News.Net, September 1, 2009
A court in southern China has sentenced a democracy activist to 13 years in prison after convicting him of subversion through organising a political party, US-based Human Rights in China said Wednesday. The court in the Hunan provincial capital, Changsha, convicted Xie Changfa of ‘subversion of state power’ Tuesday after he helped to organise the Hunan Democracy Party as a local branch of the banned China Democracy Party, the rights group said.
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China: Filmmakers barred from festival
By: Edward Wong, NY Times, September 1, 2009
Artists trying to raise consciousness over the collapsed schools and, according to an official count, the 5,335 children who died from an earth quake in May are being harassed by the Chinese government. Filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill, creators of “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province,” were denied visas to show their documentary at the Beijing Independent Film Festival.
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North Korea’s kidnapping units working actively in Chinese border areas
By: Lee Sang Yong, Daily UK, August 31, 2009
A Korean-Chinese, Mr. Choi has been arrested and imprisoned in South Korea on suspicion of kidnapping South Koreans who assisted North Korean defectors into China, by subsequently sending them to North Korea. It is suspected that Mr. Choi belongs to a kidnapping unit under the direction of the head of the Conspiracy Research Office of the North Korean National Security Agency. Additionally, the kidnapping unit is said to still be active in several Chinese cities near the North Korea-China border.
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Vietnam: Dissidents ‘patriots,’ lawyer says
By: RFA, August 31, 2009
Five democracy activists facing trial in Vietnam in an ongoing crackdown on dissent are unlikely to face a “severe” outcome, the former People’s Supreme Court judge asked by the men’s families to defend them said, insisting they are patriotic citizens. “They have different ideas of ideology and consciousness, but they have no malicious motives,” Tran Lam said in an interview. “They are against the government but they are patriots,” he added.
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