As a result of thousands of protesters taking to the streets in Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced today that he plans to step down when his term is up. However, his term expires in 2013. President Saleh has been president for more than 30 years. The president also announced that he will not turn the power over to his son once he steps down. Saleh made this announcement the day before a planned rally ("a day of rage") in the capital. He announced this as a concession and called on the opposition to stop all planned demonstrations. President Saleh has already made earlier concessions to the protesters, including halving the income tax, ordering his government to control prices, and he pledged to raise the salaries of civil servants and military personnel. The largest opposition party in Yemen welcomed his announcement, but said the planned rally would not be called off. It should be noted that President Saleh made a similar announcement to step down before the 2006 presidential election, but then he reversed his decision. (Full Story)
An opposition website in Iran is reporting that a prominent Iranian lawyer that has defended opposition activists has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was convicted of spreading propaganda against the ruling government and insulting the head of the country's judiciary. This is another example of Iran's crackdown on dissidents after the contested June 2009 presidential election. More than 100 people -- including activists, political figures, and journalists -- have been tried since the election. Last month, a human rights lawyer was sentenced to 11 years in prison on security charges. (Full Story)
In addition, the UN's high commissioner for human rights has reported that executions in Iran have surged this year. The commissioner, Navi Pillay, said that Iran has executed at least 66 people this year. Her tally is based on Iranian press reports, as Iran does not officially report execution numbers. Most executions were for drug offenses, but at least three were for political activism. Two executions were held in public. Pillay said she is worried about the large number of political prisoners, drug offenders, and juvenile offenders who remain on death row.
This week the Dutch government froze all official contact with Iran as a form of protest after a Dutch-Iranian woman was hung in Terhan this past Saturday. Iranian state television reported that she was hung for possessing and selling drugs. However, she was arrested in December 2009 after protesting President Ahmadinejad's re-election...(Full Story)
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