Heard In Iran: World Economic Crisis Battering Iran

January 24 -- A Beirut-based economist tells Radio Farda that Iran's oil revenues have plunged to about one-fourth of what they were last summer. He says this will have "grave consequences for the nation's economy" [read in Persian].

January 26 -- What are the latest moves in Tehran and Washington toward closer ties? Is Iran's nuclear program the sole point of contention between the two countries? A group of American and Iranian academics examine these questions and more on Radio Farda's weekly roundtable, "Viewpoints" [read in Persian].

January 23 -- An imprisoned Iranian rights activist and journalist, Mohammad Sadigh Kabudvand, is the latest recipient of a Human Rights Watch award given to persecuted writers. His lawyer tells Radio Farda that Kabudvand has suffered two heart attacks in the past 18 months, yet "neither prison authorities nor judicial officials have so far paid any attention to his plight" [read more in English or listen in Persian]. Also, prominent Iranian poet and women's rights defender Simin Behbahani received the Simone De Beauvoir Prize for Women's Freedom in Paris on January 21. Behbahani told Radio Farda that the prize will support and encourage the feminist movements in Iran. She represents Iran's One Million Signatures Campaign that aims at gathering public support against discriminatory laws [read in English or Persian].

January 25 -- In Radio Farda's weekly women's magazine, "The Other Voice," former Member of Parliament Fatemeh Haghighatjoo says the upcoming presidential election is a good opportunity for women to launch a campaign against the law preventing women from running for president [listen in Persian].