Mother of Two Faces Stoning for Alleged Adultery

ICHR | July 3, 2010

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran appealed to the Iranian Judiciary to halt the execution of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year old mother of two who faces death by stoning for an adultery conviction.

The Campaign also called on the Iranian parliament to immediately abolish the punishment of death by stoning.

The terms of the sentence under Iranian law call for Ashtiani to be killed with medium-sized stones, so she will die slowly, in great pain. She has already been punished with 99 lashes for having an "illicit relationship," and later again charged, for the same crime, with adultery, which carries the death penalty in Iran. According to her lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaie, no evidence exists in her file to justify an adultery conviction, and as a member of the Azerbaijani minority, her inability to understand the language of the court prevented a fair trial.

Iran remembers victims of airliner shot down by US

AP | July 3, 2010

Iranian helicopters scattered flowers into the Persian Gulf waters on Saturday as family members and relatives remembered the 290 passengers killed when a U.S. warship shot down an Iranian airliner 22 years ago.

About 250 relatives of victims and officials sailed from the southern port city of Bandar Abbas to the spot where the Iran Air A300 Airbus was downed on July 3, 1988 -- just a month before the end of the Iraq-Iran war.

The USS Vincennes shot down the airliner shortly after it took off from Bandar Abbas for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Washington said the Vincennes mistook the airliner for a hostile Iranian fighter jet. Iran maintains it was a deliberate attack.

"No one buys the faulty claim that a sophisticated warship ... mistook a passenger plane for a fighter jet, two-thirds smaller," said Hesam Ansari, who lost his father in the crash.

Rafsanjani: US will fail in 'bullying' Iran

AFP | July 3, 2010

Iranian ex-president turned opposition backer Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Saturday the United States will fail with its policy of "bullying" the Islamic republic with sanctions.

"The world arrogance (US) is trying to intimidate countries of the region, so they go along with bullying policies against Iran, but will not succeed in this act," Rafsanjani said at a session of the Expediency Council, Iran's top political arbitration body which he heads.

Rafsanjani criticised US President Barack Obama's decision to impose new US sanctions against Iran.

"It is an overt, bullying action against Iran when the US president officially announces that they are targeting the heart of Iran's nuclear programme," the powerful cleric said, citing Obama.

Iran unveils human-shaped robot

AP | July 3, 2010

Iranian officials have unveiled a human-shaped robot that can walk like a person, although at a slower pace.

Iranian state television says the Surena 2 robot weighs 99 pounds and is 4.76 feet tall. It was developed by more than 20 robotics experts at Tehran University.

State TV said engineers were still developing vision and sound capabilities for the robot, but did not elaborate. It also did not say what tasks the Surena 2 can perform or what it was developed for.