Heard In Iran: Bulldozer Destroys Graves of Political Prisoners

January 19 -- Noted Iran expert Abbas Milani of Stanford University tells Radio Farda that it would be a huge mistake for Iran's rulers to use Obama's call for engagement as an excuse to buy time for its nuclear program. He also says Tehran should not interpret Obama's willingness for dialogue as a sign of U.S. weakness [listen in Persian]. Tehran-based Professor Hermidas Bavand says he believes President Obama will pay closer attention to human rights in Iran [listen in Persian].

 

January 20 -- Iranian authorities have destroyed parts of Tehran's Khavaran cemetery which contain mass unmarked graves of political prisoners executed in 1988. The son of one of the victims tells Radio Farda: "They cannot annihilate all proof of a political massacre. We - the families of the victims - are its living proof [read in Persian]."

 

January 20 -- The arrest of brothers Arash and Kamiar Alaei and their prison sentences for allegedly plotting a U.S.-backed soft revolution in Iran are generating concern among rights activists and the country's scientific community [read more in Persian or English].

 

January 20 -- Iran's largest pro-reform student group is protesting reports that members of the Basij militia could be given a quota for coveted university spots [listen in Persian or read in English].

 

January 20 -- Will the reformists reach an agreement on a single candidate before Iran's upcoming presidential election? Analysts in Tehran tackle that question in Radio Farda's weekly roundtable, "Viewpoints" [read in Persian].

 

January 20 -- As a ceasefire takes hold in Gaza, Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi in Tehran, Boston-based legal scholar Mehrangiz Kar and a resident of Beirut debate the role of women during times of war and peace on Radio Farda's weekly program about women's issues, "The Other Voice" [read in Persian].