Court suspends rights lawyer Sotoudeh from practicing law

Court suspends rights lawyer Sotoudeh from practicing law

Sun, 10/19/2014 - 19:25

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Nasrin Sotoudeh

The Lawyer’s Disciplinary Court has suspended Nasrin Sotoudeh from practicing law for three years in an order issued on Saturday October 18.

Reza Khandan, Sotoudeh’s husband, has reported on his Facebook page that the head of the Disciplinary Court had urged Sotoudeh earlier to surrender her licence because the court was under pressure to issue a suspension order.

In August, the Disciplinary Court issued a verdict allowing Nasrin Sotoudeh to keep her licence and go on practicing law. That order reportedly drew criticism from the prosecutor’s office and Evin Court.

Nasrin Sotoudeh is a prominent human rights lawyer who was jailed on a charge of “propaganda against the regime” and went on a hunger strike on several occasions to protest the violation of her prisoner rights.

She was finally released last year along with a group of other political prisoners.

Tags: human rights, Nasrin Sotoudeh

Four arrested for acid attacks on women in Isfahan

Four arrested for acid attacks on women in Isfahan

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 17:55

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Four people suspected of throwing acid in Isfahan have been arrested, says a spokesman for Iran's Interior Ministry, and "all dimensions of the incidents" are being investigated.

IRNA reported on Monday October 20 that according to Morteza MirBagheri, there should no longer be "any concerns" regarding safety in Isfahan and the issue of acid throwing has been handled "in the best possible manner."

There has been widespread outrage in the city of Isfahan over incidents of women being attacked with acid in public spaces.

President Rohani's advisor on women's affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi has urged the Seucirty forces and the judicary to firmly pursue the issue of acid throwing. She has been quoted as saying that as these actions have no jstification under Sharia Laws, they should be met witht he swift and firm hand of the law.

Texas - Immigrant found inside washing machine

FALFURRIAS, TX - Officials say a man found hiding inside of a washing machine and four other people hiding inside of a cardboard box were undocumented immigrants trying to sneak into the U.S.

Agents along the Texas border checkpoint said a K-9 officer was alerted to a U-Haul truck last Friday night at the Falfurrias Border Patrol Station.

When border agents searched the U-Haul, they found the undocumented immigrants hiding in the washing machine and cardboard box.

The man driving the U-Haul and the woman riding with him are both U.S. citizens, ABC 22 reported .

The man and woman were arrested and the case was turned over to special agents from Homeland Security Investigations.

Falfurrias is located near Texas' southernmost point, about 90 miles south of Corpus Christi.

Palestinian girl hit by Israeli car driver dies

A Palestinian girl was killed on Sunday and her friend remained in a critical condition after an Israeli settler run them over in his car near a village near the city of Ramallah.

“The six-year-old Einas Dar Khalil was killed after she was struck by a settler vehicle while her friend Tolin Asfour was severely injured,” a medical Palestinian source told Al Arabiya News.

Khalil was hit near the West Bank town of Sinjil and was taken to Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah but she succumbed to her wounds hours later, the medics said.

Nilin Asfour, another girl who was walking with Khalil, was also hit by the Israeli car and was "seriously" injured, according to the medics.

Eyewitnesses from the village of Sinjil, which is surrounded by several Israeli settlements, said the Israeli driver run over the girls as they got off a school bus.

“My daughter and her mate got off the school bus, while the girl’s parent and I were waiting for them on the opposite side of the street,” Khalil’s mother said.

The grief-stricken mother said she saw her daughter’s body “roll several meters” on the ground.

Palestinian news Agency Ma’an said it was not immediately clear whether the incident was deliberate or an accident.

Last Update: Monday, 20 October 2014 KSA 18:03 - GMT 15:03

King Tutankhamun, an icon of Ancient Egypt (Real Picture )

King Tutankhamun, an icon of Ancient Egypt, reportedly had buck teeth, wide hips and a severe limp, digitally recreated images have shown.

In a BBC documentary which airs next Sunday, researchers found that the most famous Pharaoh may have not lived the life insinuated by his majestic golden burial mask and other historical records.

Famous for being a young king with a passion for chariot racing, researchers suggests that a club foot would have made it impossible for him to race.

A club foot

“The virtual autopsy shows the toes are divergent – in layman’s terms it’s club foot. He would have been heavily limping,” Egyptian radiologist Ashraf Selim said.

Additionally, 130 used walking canes found in his tomb support this claim, Britain's Daily Mail reported.

The revelations are the result of a “virtual autopsy,” based on more than 2,000 computer scans, along with a genetic analysis of the boy king’s family, which suggests that his parents were siblings.

China Accuses Hong Kong Protesters of Risking Social Order

BEIJING –The Chinese government on Monday accused the pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong of “putting social order at risk”, a day before the start of negotiations between the protesters and the authorities.

“There are people in Hong Kong who are illegally blocking the main roads, opposing the law and putting the social order at risk,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying following yet another weekend of clashes between the police and activists.

Hua insisted that the activities of the movement that rejects the electoral system established by Beijing for 2017 local elections in Hong Kong were “totally illegal” and that the Communist regime fully backs the government of that territory in its actions to maintain law and order.

The spokesperson also expressed support for statements made by Hong Kong Chief Executive Cy Leung on Sunday in which he accused “external forces” of fueling the pro-democratic movement.

Hua said that China “is completely opposed to any country trying to interfere in any way in Hong Kong’s matters” and accused external forces, without specifying any countries in particular, of “protecting and instigating illegal activities.”

The protests began in late September, a month after China announced that Hong Kong’s citizens would be able to vote directly for one of two or three vetted candidates previously selected by a special commission

Three Policemen in Mexico fired over death of students

MEXICO CITY – Police force members in three southern Mexican towns have been decommissioned because of links to the case of 43 students who went missing three weeks ago, according to local press reports.

The operation was carried out Sunday in the towns of Arcelia, Taxco and Buena Vista de Cuellar, all near the town of Iguala where the students disappeared.

In the move, the officers were relieved of their duties and their radio communications equipment was seized for analysis by the intelligence division of the Federal Police, the reports said Sunday.

The federal government is expected to take over the security duties is the three towns as it did in Cocula and Iguala to investigate if they are also under the control of the United Warriors crime cartel.

According to investigators, police in Iguala and Cocula may be primarily responsible for the disappearance of the 43 students on September 26, following an altercation in which six people were killed and 25 others wounded.

Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca also went missing after the incident