Press Roundup provides a selected summary of news from the Iranian press, and excerpts where the source is in English. The link to the news organization or blog is provided at the top of each item. Tehran Bureau has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. Please refer to the Media Guide to help put the story in perspective. You can follow other news stories through our Twitter feed.

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Faezeh Rafsanjani's Office Attacked

Jaras | BBC Persian | May 29, 2010

Opposition website Jaras reported that the office of Faezaeh Rafsanjani at the Islamic Sports Federation was broken into and vandalized on late Friday evening or early Saturday morning.

Few things were stolen, but tissues were stuffed into the toilet, the fan and samovar were broken, papers were strewn everywhere and furniture was overturned. Rafsanjani's public relations office issued a statement saying that the perpetrators seemed to have had plenty of time and all the right equipment to break the lock and enter.

The attack seems to be part of a pattern of intimidation against the family of former president Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, as last month Iran's intelligence minister issued an arrest warrant for Rafsanjani's son, Mehdi Hashemi.

Transvestites arrested in Tehran

Tabnak | May 25, 2010

A group of twelve transvestites was arrested in Tehran last Tuesday for "indecent behavior" in public following the launch of moral security initiative.

"Yesterday, in line with the moral security initiative in the capital, police officers in Resalat district encountered an individual who behaved improperly, and hurt public chastity while wearing women's clothing," Major Qasemloui told ISNA.

He added that the suspect was taken to "moral police headquarters" where "further investigation revealed that the individual in question was a man using women's clothing to behave indecently and his case was referred to judicial authorities."

Eleven more people were later detained in connection with the first individual, some of whom were also transsexuals.

More men's street fashion, courtesy of the semi-official Mehr News Agency and Tabnak.

Education Ministry says Rahimi's PhD authentic

Tabnak | May 25, 2010

The ministry of education confirmed the authenticity of first Vice-president Mohammad-Reza Rahimi's Ph.D. in international relations.

The ministry confirmed that Rahimi earned a masters degree and later passed the doctorate exams in international relations.

Rahimi, who heads the anti-corruption taskforce, is currently under investigation for financial corruption. A number of Principlist lawmakers including Principlist Ahamd Tavakoli and Elias Naderan had earlier accused Rahimi of holding a fake degree and abusing his position.

Last year lawmakers had correctly accused Education Minister Kamran Daneshjou of
having a fake degree from a British university.

Seismologist says detecting quakes impossible

Khabar Online

An official with the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology said science has not reached a point where quakes can be predicted beforehand.

The impact of improper hejab and unchasteness on the occurrence of earthquakes is a religious issue and it is different from what science tells us. As a scientist I can neither deny nor affirm this correspondence," said Mohammad Reza Mahdavifar.

"From a scientific point of view we cannot say that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow there will be an earthquake. We can only make assumptions based on previous earthquakes [that happened in a place before] and that [an assumption] has no solid foundation," ILNA quoted him as saying.

"However, the clergy sometimes make predictions, or for instance have a dream that comes true which has no scientific explanation but it happens."

This is while on May 25, Fars News Agency quoted the head of the Building and Home Research Center Fatemi Oqadayi as saying that an earthquake detector had been developed in the country.

"With the completion of the quake detector system, on which research began a few years ago, the prediction of quakes are possible at least 24 hours before they hit."

"I hereby declare that quakes are lawful phenomena. Once you discover its law it becomes easily predictable."

Actress Leila Hatami to sue newspapers for libel

Tabnak | May 25, 2010

Actress Leila Hatami and her husband Ali Mosafa, both vocal members of the Green Movement, told ILNA news agency that they will go to court against the news websites and dailies that falsely reported that the couple was being prosecuted for swindling.

Mosafa said that he and Hatami were victims of false reporting and character assassination, a tactic often used by the government to slander members of the opposition. "This statement has been made public with the knowledge of the court and prosecutor," Mosafa was quoted by ILNA.

On May 22, the IRGC connected Fars news falsely reported that Mosafa, Hatami, and her mother Zahra Khoshkam, were in court for swindling 5,000 hectares of land in Karaj.