In a gathering to mark the International Women’s Day, Iranian women’s rights activists called for the “eradication of discrimination against women in all laws, the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination, equal opportunities in politics and management, release of political and ideological prisoners and freedom of peaceful action for women.”

Yahya Rahim-Safavi, the former commander of the Islamic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and current advisor to ayatollah Khamenei said in remarks published yesterday that he is worried about the lack of enough forces beholden to the supreme leader in universities, adding, “The universities aren’t in good shape today, missing from them are revolutionary forces and experts who are beholden to the Imam, the supreme leader and the Constitution.”

The head of the Majlis Research Center announced the passage of a bill to limit available funds from cutting subsidies, according to which Ahmadinejad’s administration will be given the power to set prices for gasoline and related energy products next year.

Rooz has discussed the green movement’s situation since the February 11 rallies (the anniversary of the Islamic revolution in 1979) with Dr. Habibollah Peyman, leader of the Jonbesh Mosalmanan Mobarez [“Movement of Combatant Muslims”].

Joe Stork is deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division. Before joining Human Rights Watch in 1996, Mr. Stork co-founded the Middle East Research & Information Project (MERIP) and served as chief editor of Middle East Report. Rooz had talked with Joe Stork about the current situation of human rights in Iran.

One day after the widespread media coverage of student Mohammad Amin Valian’s death sentence, which was said to have been issued on the basis of a fatwa (religious decree) issued by grand ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi, and which led several other grand ayatollahs, including Makarem-Shirazi himself, to oppose the death sentence, judiciary officials contacted Valian’s family members and denied the sentence stressing that such a sentence had never been issued.

Azerbaijani journalist Abdollah Sadoughi was transferred to the Tabriz Prison’s medical clinic on Wednesday nineteen days into his hunger strike. According to Sadoughi’s family, Abdollah, who is suffering from stomach ulcer, has lost more than 20 kilograms since the beginning of his hunger strike.

In a letter to Western media, the editors of six Iranian websites belonging to Principalist idealogues have complained about how post presidential election events have been reported in Western media outlets and while raising the same accusations that Iranian officials regularly do, accuse these outlets of distorting events in Iran and acting “unprofessionally.”

More than 72 individuals lost their lives in post-election protests in Iran but, nine months after the electoral coup, none of the murderers have been identified and the Islamic Republic officials do not regard themselves to be accountable for the deaths.

Morteza Kazemian, Mohammad Reza Moghiseh, Foad Sadeghi, Mahsa Jazini, Mehdi Motamedipour, Ali Reza Abufazeli and Dr. Mohammad Maleki were released on bail from the Evin Prison yesterday.