July 9 -- During her visit to RFE/RL's Prague headquarters, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke directly to the Iranian people on Radio Farda: "We believe very strongly and President Bush has made very clear that the problem with Iran about its nuclear technology can be resolved diplomatically," she said. "The United States has made very clear that we are prepared to deal with the Iranian regime if it is prepared to change its policies." [text in Persian]
July 8 -- Student activist Ahmad Batebi, whose picture with a bloodied shirt appeared on the cover of "The Economist" magazine during the 1999 student protests, escaped his Iranian captors and fled, ultimately, to the U.S. after serving nine years of a 15 year prison sentence. Batebi told Radio Farda this week: "I cannot easily forget what happened to me; it haunts my dreams. I have a nightmare in which I see myself returning to jail, then I look around to see if it is real...This will never be obliterated from my mind." [text in Persian]
July 9 -- Usually around July 8 every year, security forces arrest students planning to commemorate the anniversary of the 1999 unrest. This year, 16 students were arrested, including activists not involved in organizing the anniversary. They say it is an effort to control the atmosphere around universities [text in Persian].
July 5 -- Iranian journalists and analysts in Tehran, Paris and Washington discuss the state of Iran's nuclear program, the likelihood of an attack and Iran's "chaotic power structure" on the weekly roundtable "Viewpoints" [text in Persian].
July 7 -- The mother of jailed women's rights activist Mahboubeh Karami quoted her daughter as saying, "They're killing us. We're ten people in one cell. They don't even give us a piece of paper to write a complaint. We are not allowed to go out for fresh air. We will all start a hunger strike today." [text in Persian]
For more on these and other stories about Iran, please visit:
http://www.radiofarda.com -- Radio Farda's Persian-language website
http://www.rferl.org/section/Iran/156.html -- RFE/RL English-language coverage of Iran
Radio Farda is the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week Persian language news service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)