[Thanks to Ali Alfoneh for his compilation. (E) signifies English-language link]
Economy
- Labor and Social Affairs Ministry claims unemployment has been reduced to 9.6 percent.
Human Rights and Labor
- On the anniversary of the 1999 student riots, Iranian authorities arrest a number of student activists in Tehran and Mashhad:
- Ali Gholizadeh, secretary of the Islamic Student Association of Shahroud University
- Background information on Gholizadeh.
- Ali Saberi, former secretary of Islamic Student Association of Polytechnical University
- Salman Sima, Azad University student activist,
- Mehdi Khodayee, Azad University student activist
- Reza Arab, Mehdi Qodsi, Amir Sarabi, Majid Asadi, Mojtaba Emadpour, Bayat, Towhid Dowlatshenas, Mohammad Zera’ati, Farzad Hassanzadeh, Sajjad Rajabi, Mohammad Mizban, Ashkan Arshian, student activists
- Mohammad Ehsani, both Sistan va Balouchestan University student activist and also the former secretary of the Islamic Student Association.
- Student spokesman Abdollah Moe’meni condemns arrest of student activists on anniversary of 1999 student uprisings.
- Advar News says the imprisoned student activists are being held at section 209 of Evin prison.
- Deutsche Welle confirms reports on widespread arrest of student activists.
- Judiciary absolves Hamadan prison authorities of responsibility for death in custody of young doctor Zahra Bani-Yaghoub.
- Alireza Zakani, former head of Student Basij and Mostafa Tajzadeh, reformist politician recall the student uprisings of 1999.
- (E) Labor Union leader Osanloo, head of Islamic Republic’s first independent trade union, marks end of 1st year in prison.
Military and Security
- Tabnak News Agency publishes video of the Revolutionary Guards Navy’s latest war games in the Persian Gulf.
- Asr-e Iran reports the Revolutionary Guards launched another missile launch.
- (E) More.
- According to Aftab the case of former Greater Tehran chief of Law Enforcement Forces Zare’i (caught in a house of ill-repute with naked women whom he said he was praying with) has not been sent to the Armed Forces Court.
- Chief of the Revolutionary Guards says the latest war games of the IRGC should be a lesson to the enemy.
- Tabnak News Agency claims the Revolutionary Guards Navy has tested the fastest “submarine missile,” which “not even the Americans have managed to produce.”
- (E) Test-fires surface to sea missiles.
- Law Enforcement Forces call for applicants for Police Academy.
Diplomacy
- Egypt’s Foreign Ministry says there is official Iranian involvement in a film depicting assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat as a “traitor.”
- Ahmadinejad ridicules Bush, and says even if president Bush orders an attack against Iran, the U.S. armed forces will ignore his orders.
Trade
- Total says it will not participate in Iran’s natural gas development.
- NASR Consortium begins building of an oil refinery as the 12th Phase of South Pars Gas Field.
- Syria and Iran establish a joint bank.
Economy
- The Iranian government orders establishment of an economic development zone in Shahr-e Kord.
- Health Ministry official claims 96 percent of the medication needed in Iran is produced in Iran.
Politics
- Tabnak News Agency warns of a “tumultuous political atmosphere in Iran” and urges the political players to demonstrate calm.
- The National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament will be divided into two committees.
- Hojjat al-Eslam Do’a-Gou’s analysis of the Palizdar affair as a ”plot to marginalize the clergy” also gets coverage in Tabnak.
Media
- Commenting the Persian home page of Al Arabiya television, Tabnak News warns against the “Saudi cultural onslaught” against Iran.
- According to Tabnak, Al Arabiya Persian broadcasts Hollywood movies with Persian subtitles, and Egypt is also contemplating a Persian broadcast service.
- The news agency asks what Iranian authorities will do to counter such “cultural invasion.”
Photo of the Day
- Funeral of Ayatollah Eshtehardi in Qom.
