A big smile in my country Rides on the face of a mullah Cherished in the west But when you translate it into a portrait You see this photo You may not believe this, but be certain When this smile is translated in to a number You see 2300 It is the number of those hanged Since the presidency of that mullah
Iran is the world’s biggest prison for women journalists, the international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday.
"Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reiterates its concern about the conditions in which journalists are being detained in Iran, especially Afarine Chitsaz of the daily newspaper Iran, a young woman arrested at the same time as three other journalists on 2 November," the group said in a statement.
In addition to Chitsaz, four other women journalists – Rihaneh Tabatabai, Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht, Narges Mohammadi and Atena Ferghdani – are serving jail terms ranging from one to twelve years and some are in poor health, RSF said.
With a total of 36 journalists and citizen-journalists currently detained, Iran is still one of the world’s five biggest prisons for media personnel and is ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
NCRI - A high-ranking mullah in Iran's regime has called for stronger measures to further restrict women in Iran in choosing their type of clothing, the Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has reported on its website.
Mullah Naser Makarem Shirazi blamed the government for failing to implement the mandatory dress code and called for formation of a ministry in this regard.
He said: “Patrols promoting virtue and prohibiting vice must be established in society. There should be no surprise if we establish a ministry for this purpose.” (State-run Howza news website, March 13, 2016)
He is the second so-called religious authority within the regime who has called for the formation of such a ministry. The 89-year-old Makarem Shirazi had previously opposed women’s presence in stadiums and the lifting of gender segregation in universities.
A law entitled “Supporting those promoting virtue and prohibiting vice” was adopted in October 2013 and led to a wave of acid attacks against women under the pretext of mal veiling.
Mullah Naser Makarem Shirazi
In September 2010 Makarem Shirazi was quoted by the Iranian regime’s state news agency IRNA as saying, "The Holocaust is nothing but superstition, but Zionists say that people of the world should be forced to accept this."
"Americans and Westerners are affected by newly appeared superstitions such as the Holocaust," he said on September 4, 2010, according to the state-run ISNA news agency.
"The truth about the Holocaust is not clear, and when the researchers want to examine whether it is true or the Jews have created it to pose as victims, they jail the researchers," he added.
MOSCOW – A second batch of Russian fighter jets departed on Wednesday from Syria’s Hmeimim airbase to permanent deployment bases in Russia, as part of the withdrawal from the Arabic country ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
“Another group of Russian aircraft took off from the airbase in Hmeimim heading to places of permanent deployment on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the military said in a statement, according to local media outlets.
The withdrawal of Russian military personnel, which began on Monday, is being completed in batches, with the warplanes returning separately to their home bases.
“I think that the tasks of Defense Ministry have been fulfilled. That is why I ordered our military group to begin withdrawing from Syria starting tomorrow,” Putin said on Monday during a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as quoted by state-run news agency TASS.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin has discussed and coordinated the decision to withdraw Russian forces with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.
BEIJING – China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang said on Wednesday “no matter who comes into the White House, the underlying trend (of relations with the U.S.) will not change. China-U.S. relations have always been moving forward.”
Despite ongoing disputes, some quite acute, between the two countries, common interests between China and the U.S. were expanding, Li stressed at a press conference at the end of the annual session of the Chinese parliament, adding that China had become the U.S.’s largest trading partner in 2015.
Primaries and caucuses, part of the nominating process of the U.S. presidential elections, are currently being held in several U.S. states.
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump won the Republican primary in Florida, forcing rival Marco Rubio to quit the presidential race, while presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, from the Democrat Party, beat out her closest rival Bernie Sanders.
WASHINGTON – The Democratic candidate to the White House, Hillary Clinton, has said that foreign leaders have offered her their support to stop business tycoon and presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“I’m having foreign leaders ask if they can endorse me to stop Donald Trump,” said Clinton at a forum in Ohio organized by CNN.
“I am receiving messages from leaders,” confirmed the former Secretary of State and favored Democratic Party candidate for President of the United States.
When asked the names of the leaders, Clinton mentioned the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, who has expressed his opinion publicly, but she declined to give more names citing that they were private communications.
The former first lady warned of “how dangerous a Donald Trump presidency would be, for our standing, for our safety, for the peace of the world.”
The controversial businessman has dominated the Republican campaign with populist, xenophobic, nationalistic and bellicose speeches in international politics, yet is likely to achieve the Republican nomination for the White House.
“I think whoever goes up against Donald Trump better be ready, and I feel I am the best prepared and ready Democratic candidate,” Clinton said, in front of her rival in the race for the nomination of her party, Senator Bernie Sanders.
Republicans and Democrats will held next primary election on March 15 in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.
BEIJING – In a strongly worded editorial on Monday, China’s official media criticized the rise of Trump in the race to the White House, relying on “abusively racist and extremist” rants, and warned of severe consequences if he is elected the next U.S. president.
“The rise of Trump has opened a Pandora’s box in U.S. society,” says the editorial published by the People’s Daily and the Global Times newspapers, two mouthpieces of the Communist Party of China.
“Instead of pointing fingers at other countries for their so-called nationalism and tyranny, the U.S. had better watch itself from becoming a source of destructive forces against world peace,” it says while underlining Trump’s “narcissist and inflammatory” character.
“His job was basically to act as a clown to attract more voters’ attention to the GOP. However, knocking down most other promising candidates, the clown is now the biggest dark horse,” it added.
It also says the Republican Party is caught between selecting a populist and politically incorrect Trump as its candidate, which would compromise the values of the party, or select someone else, which could lead Trump to run as an independent and split the conservative vote.
“Fist fights among voters who have different political orientations is quite common in developing countries during election seasons. Now, a similar show is shockingly staged in the U.S., which boasts of one of the most developed and mature democratic election systems,” the editorial said referring to violent incidents from last Friday, when Trump’s supporters and rival groups had clashed in Chicago.
“The rise of a racist in the U.S. political arena worries the whole world,” the editorial said, adding that the Western press has already compared Trump to dictators like Mussolini and Hitler, who also came to power after winning elections.
“Most analysts believe the U.S. election system will stop Trump from being president eventually. The process will be scary but not dangerous,” it concludes.
