Iran

Police in Iran have arrested internationally acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi and his family.

Plainclothes police broke into Mr Panahi's family home and arrested him, his wife and daughter and 15 other guests, his son Panah told reporters. The director, known for his social realism, has made several films critical of Iran's regime. The Tehran prosecutor's office has confirmed the arrest to reporters but denied it was connected to politics. "At about 10 on Monday evening several plainclothes agents broke into the house," Panah Panahi told an opposition website. They arrested everyone who was there and searched the house taking away computers and other personal belongings, he said.

Two Iranian convicts who escaped execution on Tuesday were hanged hours after being recaptured, Iranian media has reported.

The men and five relatives who aided their escape from the hangman's noose were caught on the way to the coastal town of Bandar Abbas, officials said.

TWO TOP REPUBLICAN SENATORS are not happy enough that the United States is waging two major wars and multiple small skirmishes along the east coast of Africa. They want the U.S. military to initiate a full-scale, genocidal war against Iran. Why? Because they don’t want to put “too much pressure on Israel.”

Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) went on national television on Sunday, Oct. 3, saying that the U.S. military should not only bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, but should launch an “all-or-nothing” war against the Persian country with the goal of obliterating it.

WLUML (http://www.wluml.org), and all other online sources (including Iran Emrooz, Twitter, Meydaan, etc.) have reported that around 11:30 A.M. on Friday 17 July 2009, a prominent women and human rights defender, Shadi Sadr, was abducted by a group of unknown men in civilian clothes (probably security forces) while she was walking to the Friday Prayer sermon. Her friends tried to pull her away from her abductors but they were unable to do so. She was forced into a car and taken away.

The wife of Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi says her 62-year-old brother was among those detained after last month's disputed election in what she called a futile attempt to pressure her husband and herself.

Zahra Rahnavard's comments, in an interview published by a pro-reform Iranian news agency Thursday, were the latest in a series of defiant statements by Mousavi and his allies, who insist the June 12 presidential poll was rigged.

The father of a young man shot dead in recent weeks of unrest in Iran has been arrested by security forces, reformist news media reported today.

On Thursday afternoon, a group of plainclothes young men believed to be members of the pro-government Basiji militia, accompanied by uniformed security forces, went to the home of Massoud Hashemzadeh (left), a 27-year-old man killed a bullet to the heart June 20 during a day of rioting in Tehran in which the famous Neda Agha-Soltan was also slain.

The man was buried in his birth village in the north of Iran, but the family was barred from holding any commemorative ceremonies. Still well-wishers insisted on going to the home of the bereaved family to offer their condolences.

Clashes in and around Tehran University erupted after Friday sermon where Hashemi Rafsanjani called for tolerance in dealing with protesters, freedom of prisoners, better behavior of police and security forces, and open dialog with opposition by ruling government officials.

Security forces fired tear gas and plainclothes militiamen armed with batons charged at crowds of protesters gathered near Tehran University after a Friday prayer sermon delivered by the cleric and opposition supporter Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, his first appearance at the nation's weekly keynote sermon since before the election.”

Online news wires and sources, including Iran Emrooz and Twitter, have reported that around 11:30 A.M. on Friday 17 July 2009, Shadi Sadr; Iranian Women Rights lawyer and activist, was abducted by a group of unknown men in civilian clothes (probably security forces) while she was walking to the Friday Prayer sermon. Apparently her friends tried to pull her away from her abductors but they were unable to do so. She was forced into a car and taken away.

Ms. Sadr is a human rights lawyer who especially defends the rights of women in Iran. She is also a Council member of WLUML, as well as part of the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign and Meydaan.

Iranian reformist leaders are urging authorities to release all those detained during the unrest that followed the country's disputed presidential election last month.

The call was issued by defeated presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi as well as former president Mohammad Khatami following a meeting late Monday. In a joint statement, posted to Mousavi's Web site Tuesday, the three leaders demanded an end to the harsh crackdown imposed by authorities.

The United States announced Saturday it will not attend a United Nations conference on racism set to start Monday in Geneva.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood says the U.S. will boycott the conference "with regret" because of objectionable language in the meeting's draft declaration.