Reza Abbasi was arrested on 27 June 2006, after he failed to comply with a telephoned order to attend an Intelligence Ministry facility for interrogation. On 12 May the state-owned daily newspaper Iran had published a cartoon which many in the Iranian Azerbaijani community found offensive, and this had led to widespread demonstrations, and Reza Abbasi’s arrest may have been linked to these. It may also have been connected with the annual Babek Castle gathering

Keisha Castle-Hughes, the young actress of Maori descent who two years ago received a best-actress Oscar nomination for her role in the New Zealand-based film “Whale Rider,” stars as Mary in “The Nativity Story.” After the movie was completed, rumors about a possible pregnancy led Castle-Hughes to confirm in early October that she is, as biblical accounts would put it, “with child.”

She has been dubbed Iran’s Paris Hilton after appearing in a sex video on the internet.

But while Paris’s exploits propelled her to worldwide stardom, Zahra Amir Ebrahimi faces ruin, a public lashing and even a jail term.

Ebrahimi is one of the best-known actresses in the strict Islamic country and made the 20-minute sex tape privately with her boyfriend on a camcorder at the flat they shared two years ago.

Unbeknown to her, it was posted on the internet and widely released as a DVD – angering millions in Iran.

Polling conducted to coincide with the launch shows that 75% of Londoners support “the right of all persons to dress in accordance with their religious beliefs”, with 18% against.

Plus, 82% said “everybody in London should be free to live their lives how they like as long as they don’t stop other people doing the same

Invisible international human right defender, such the UN OHCHR, and outspoken organisations, such as Amnesty International.

We pay our tribute to all campaigners and in particular to any invisible ones. Yet the struggle of the nation of Southern Azerbaijan continues with many activists persecuted, such as Mr. Leysanli, Mr. Azad or Mr. Abbasi.

Samir Sadagatoglu, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Senet, and reporter Rafiq Tagi, were detained after publishing an article on November 1 titled “Europe and Us.” Tagi, the author, suggested that unspecified Islamic values

Reply by Aydin Tabrizi:
Dear Sir,

Thanks for your reply. There is no complaint for covering the events but the complaint is for how to report an event. It was clear that the demonstration was a regime governed demonstration to make pressure on Azerbaijan’s government and also independent Azeri journalists because they covered the latest Azeri protests in the northwest of Iran in may 2006. In the similar events, BBC service mentions that the demonstration is a regime governed one but in this case, it was pretended that the demonstration constructed by Azeri students! But it is not true at all. Because the

“In the past six months, Israel and the United States have also been working together in support of a Kurdish resistance group known as the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan. The group has been conducting clandestine cross-border forays into Iran, I was told by a government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon civilian leadership, as “part of an effort to explore alternative means of applying pressure on Iran.” (The Pentagon has established covert relationships with Kurdish, Azeri, and Baluchi tribesmen, and has encouraged their efforts to undermine the regime’s authority in northern and southeastern Iran.) The government consultant said that Israel is giving the Kurdish group “equipment and training.” The group has also been given “a list of targets inside Iran of interest to the U.S.” (An Israeli government spokesman denied that Israel was involved.)”

“Half of Iranians do not speak Persian, and half of those speak Azeri. Azerbaijan’s oil wealth is a giant magnet; it must attract either the largest national minority in Iran, or the military attentions of Iran itself. If a Kurdish state asserts itself out of the ruins of Iraq – a long-delayed justice for that ancient and resilient people – Iran’s Kurds will be tempted to throw off the Persian yoke.”

Recently some human right activists of Arab origin were brutally killed. Seeing world’s silence, Iranian terrorist and racist regime has intensified it’s barbarism, arresting ten more Arab activists and convicting them to death in covert and illegal so called Islamic courts.

We, South Azerbaijani Independence Party, are condemning Iranian terrorist and racist regime’s barbaric oppression

Asghar Akbarzadeh is a chemistry student at the Paymane Noor University of Ardebil. He was reportedly detained on 31 October, while outside the University premises, by plain clothes individuals believed to be officials from the Ministry of Intelligence (Etela’at). Since this time, his family have received no news about him. His mother has

A US Army soldier has pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and helping murder her and her family.
James Barker agreed to the plea deal at the start of his court-martial in the US to avoid the death penalty, his civilian lawyer said.