Daily News Channel
Legal action must be taken against Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karrubi for claiming post-election detainees were being raped behind bars, said the governor of Tehran province, as hard-line criticism grew against the reformist. “If such a person has made such accusations that have infuriated the people and it is shown that he cannot prove them, then legal steps must be taken with regards to this person,” said Gov. Morteza Tamaddon, according to the Iran Labor News Agency.
A newspaper aligned with Iranian reformist Mehdi Karrubi, who recently made headlines for claims that post-election detainees in Iran were raped behind bars, was shut down for running "unlawful" material, state-run media reported Monday. An investigating judge said the popular newspaper, Etemad-e Melli, was ordered closed for what has been described as “publishing unlawful and criminal material,” state-run Press TV reported.
Amid turmoil over the treatment of post-election detainees and controversy over the mass trials of political figures, Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday appointed a new judiciary chief, Iranian media reported.
Three independent United Nations human rights experts have accused Iran of torturing confessions from detainees charged with fomenting political unrest, the international organization said Thursday. “No judicial system can consider as valid a confession obtained as a result of harsh interrogations or under torture,” said Manfred Nowak, who is the U.N
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to believe that only desperate measures on the economy can save his presidency when Iranians go to the polls in June, but he suffered a shocking setback on Monday when the legislature dominated by like-minded conservatives blocked his key initiative. Ahmadinejad had proposed legislation in the Majlis, Iran’s parliament, that would have summarily withdrawn government subsidies on oil, gasoline and electricity, freeing up about $20 billion in government funds, of which he planned to transfer more than half in direct cash handouts to middle- and lower-income households