By Ben Turner
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
TEHRAN, Iran – A young activist and lawyer in Iran became the first man sentenced for participating in a campaign to change laws that discriminate against women. Amir Yaghoub Ali, 21, was convicted of acting against national security and sentenced to a year in prison for his role in the “Change for Equality” campaign, launched by Iranian women activists in September 2006.
Ali was detained last July while collecting signatures for the campaign in a park in northern Tehran and spent 29 days in Evin prison before being freed on $20,000 bail.
“Changing discriminatory laws will benefit Iranians and will create a fairer social environment,” Ali said. “Our call for change is considered by the ruling Islamic establishment as crossing the red lines. Authorities don’t want to allow any changes in laws in support of women rights. That’s why they seek to suppress such demands.”
Iran has refused to ratify the UN convention on women’s rights and the country’s senior clerics in Qom, Iran’s main center of Islamic learning, have rejected the convention, calling it un-Islamic.
For more information, please see:
Associated Press – Iranian Women’s Rights Activists Sentenced – 2 June 2008
Reuters – Iran Jails Man Campaigning for Women’s Rights-Lawyer – 2 June 2008
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BAGHDAD, Iraq – US military deaths in Iraq have fallen to the lowest monthly total since the invasion five years ago. 19 American service members died in Iraq in May, compared to 52 from April. 14 were killed in action and one solider died of wounds inflicted in combat. Four of the deaths were non-combat related, the US military said.
Accounts for how many Iraqi civilians were killed in May vary, but most estimates put the number at approximately 530, about half of the number as were killed in March and April.
The US military claims that the troop surge was a key factor in limiting the amount of casualties in May. The ceasefire in early May that stopped the fighting in Sadr City also explains the death reduction.
For more information, please see:
Bloomberg News – U.S. Deaths in Iraq in May Were Lowest Since 2003 – 2 June 2008
San Jose Mercury News – U.S. Deaths Hit 5-Year Low in Iraq – 2 June 2008
BBC – US Iraq Deaths ‘At Four Year Low’ – 1 June 2008
L.A. Times – In Iraq, Month Ends With Lowest U.S. Death Toll Yet – 1 June 2008
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ANBAR, Iraq – A suicide bomber killed 10 people at a police checkpoint in western Iraq on May 28 including Iraqi police Lieutenant Colonel Khaleel Abarhim. The attacker approached the checkpoint in the town of Hit in the Anbar province and detonated an explosives belt he was wearing. Hit’s administrator, Hikmat Jubeir, said that twelve other people were also wounded.
Iraqi security forces arrested 49 suspects in a sweep following the attacks and detained them on suspicions of links to the bombing.
The suicide bombing came as the Iraqi authorities reported a near 50 percent drop in violence across the embattled nation last month. The US military too said it recorded the lowest monthly toll in May with 19 soldiers killed.
For more information, please see:
AFP – Iraqi Troops Arrest 49 After Deadly Bombing – 2 June 2008
Associated Press – Suicide Bomber Kills 10 In Iraq – 31 May 2008
BBC – Iraqi Checkpoint ‘Hit By Bomber’ – 31 May 2008
