Court orders Bogota to end ban on bullfighting

Colombia’s constitutional court authorized the return of bullfighting toBogota, two years after Mayor Gustavo Petro banned the controversial activity.

Petro wouldn’t allow bullfighting in Colombia’s capital because “it would be against my principles.” Instead, his administration turned the Santa Maria bullring into an athletic and cultural space.

The anti-bullfighting policy of the leftist mayor provoked the hunger strike of eight bullfighters while local bullfighting associations put the case on trial.

After a close 5-4 vote, the Santa Marta bullfighting supporters won. The mayor declared on this twitter account “Because of one vote, cruelty will continue: having fun over animals’ death.”

Argentine investigators failed on Thursday to track down a former spymaster

Argentine investigators failed on Thursday to track down a former spymaster wanted for questioning over the death of a prosecutor who had accused President Cristina Fernandez of covering up Iran’s alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center.

Prosecutors were unable to locate ex-counterintelligence boss Antonio Stiusso at three different addresses held in his name. One top official acknowledged the government did not know if Stiusso, who had been regarded as one of the most powerful operatives in Argentina’s leading spy agency, was even in the country. Alberto Nisman was found dead in his apartment on Jan. 18, a day before he was due to testify about his claim that Fernandez sought to whitewash his findings that Iran was behind the attack on the Jewish center, run by the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires. “He was not at any of the properties registered as his own,” Oscar Parrilli, head of the Intelligence Secretariat (SI), told reporters.

Turkey - Factory fire kills 3 people injured 6

Three workers were killed and six more suffered from smoke exposure after a fire broke out at a factory dorm in Turkey's southern province of Mersin early on Thursday morning. 

According to the Cihan news agency, the fire started for an unknown reason at around 2 a.m. inside a dormitory belonging to a vegetable and fruit-packing factory in Mersin's Erdemli district. The fire grew and 25-year-old Murat Bulut, 27-year-old Mücahit Ünal and 18-year-old Umut Gönül lost their lives. Six other workers inhaled smoke and were taken to a nearby hospital by an ambulance. The six were later released after receiving treatment at the hospital.

Fire fighters who were dispatched to the scene by the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality experienced difficultly in extinguishing the fire. An investigation has been launched into the incident in order to identify the cause of the fire.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh Transferred to Solitary Confinement

 Posted on: 4th February, 2015

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HRANA News Agency – Behnam Ebrahimzadeh has been transferred to solitary confinement in ward 209 of Evin prison, from 14 days ago and has had no contact with his family.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on Thursday 22nd January, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh was transferred from ward 2 of Rajai Shahr prison, in Karaj, to solitary confinement in ward 209 of Evin Prison.

By the time of this report, he has not been able to call or visit his family and there is no precise information about the reason of this transfer.

One of his relatives told HRANA’s reporter, “Behnam’s child was admitted again in Mahak hospital because of blood cancer that he suffers from. His wife called Khodabakhshi (Tehran deputy prosecutor and prosecutor for political prisoners) regarding this transfer and he said that he has no idea.”

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, whose 5 years imprisonment sentence is near to finish, has been sentenced to more 9 years and 4 months imprisonment in relation to the events of  “Black Thursday” in ward 350 of Evin prison.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, Labor activist and Children’s rights activist, was arrested on 12th June 2010 by the security forces and by Revolutionary Court was sentenced first to 20 years imprisonment but his sentence was reduced to 5 years imprisonment by the appeal court. He is serving fourth year of his sentence.

Uruguay expels Iran diplomat over bomb scare

 

Belgium - AFP - 2/6/2015 - The European Union Uruguay has expelled a senior Iranian diplomat over last month’s planting of a dummy bomb near Israel’s embassy in Montevideo, AFP reported on Friday.
Citing an unidentified 'senior official', it said the diplomat was expelled two weeks ago and although Uruguayan officials briefed Israel on the move they made no public announcement.
'Investigations carried out by Uruguay’s intelligence services after the discovery of the device yielded information pointing to a possible involvement of someone at the Iranian embassy,' Haaretz’s diplomatic correspondent wrote.
On January 8, Montevideo bomb squad officers detonated what turned out to be a fake bomb near the Israeli embassy, located in the World Trade Centre office complex in the city.
The convincing-looking fake -- complete with fuse, detonator and other elements found in a real bomb -- was detected some 70 metres (230 feet) from the building by bomb-sniffing dogs.
After destroying the device, bomb brigade Lieutenant Colonel Alfredo Larramendi told reporters that it 'never posed any danger' but might have been part of a dress rehearsal for the real thing.
In 2013, Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman accused Iran of opening secret intelligence stations in several South American countries to plan and conduct terror attacks.
Nisman was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head last month on the eve of a congressional hearing at which he was expected to accuse President Cristina Kirchner of covering up Iranian involvement in a 1994 bombing at a Buenos Aires Jewish center.
The bombing killed 85 people and wounded 300, the deadliest such attack in Argentina’s history.has pledged one billion euros in funding for Syria and Iraq in the fight against the Islamic State militant group, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Friday.
'This package will strengthen our actions to help restore peace and security in a region that is so close to us and that has been devastated by terrorism and violence for too long,' Mogherini said in a statement.

Political Activist Beheaded in Central Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Police found the decapitated body of political activist Gustavo Salgado on a highway in the central Mexican state of Morelos, the People’s Revolutionary Front, or EPR, said Thursday.

The body of the 32-year-old EPR member was found on Wednesday afternoon, a day after he was reported missing, by police in Mototepec, a town outside the city of Ayala.

Salgado, who appeared to have been tortured, was identified by EPR members, who blamed the government for the murder.

“This crime is part of the policy of terror that the state has implemented to try to scare the popular movement in general and our organization in particular,” the EPR said.

The EPR released a statement on Tuesday reporting Salgado’s disappearance as he headed to Ayala after attending a meeting with peasants who are demanding housing in the town of Emiliano Zapata.

Local political bosses and officials had Salgado under “constant surveillance and harassment” because of his work on behalf of migrant workers from Guerrero and Oaxaca who want land and housing, the EPR said.

Salgado was the victim of an “illegal arrest on March 20, 2014, in Cuernavaca, Morelos, while participating in a march organized by the Citizens Front against the Income Tax Law,” the EPR said.

Iran News in Brief, 5 February 2015