Mick Hartley

Remember those bombs in Khuzestan, the oil-rich province in the west of Iran bordering Iraq? The Iranian authorities blamed the UK, despite the fact that an Arab separatist group claimed responsibilty. Well, two men have now been publicly hanged (warning: gruesome pictures) for their part in the explosions:

The two, Ali Afrawi and Mehdi Navasseri, appeared on state television the night before and “confessed” to having carried out the attack. Televised recanting by political dissidents is regularly aired on Iran’s state-run media and has drawn international condemnation in the past.

One of the two men said that he had been in contact with groups in Britain and Canada who were seeking to destabilise the oil-rich Khuzistan province. […]

A string of top Iranian officials, including hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have accused Britain of being behind the bombings.

London has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks. Dissidents believe the bombings are the work of Iranian intelligence in a bid to smear opposition groups. Iran’s intelligence services have in the past acknowledged that they have carried out bombings and assassinations to tarnish the image of their opponents and brand them as terrorists.

Elsewhere on Iran Focus:

Iran’s State Security Forces attacked female football fans in Tehran on Wednesday after they held a defiant protest against the government decision to ban women from football stadiums.

Dozens of young women, who had bought tickets and hoped to cheer on their national team, were all banned from entering Tehran’s Azadi Stadium. The ban has been in force for years, but a few dozen women have challenged it in recent months. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hard-line government recently decided to enforce the ban more strongly.

After being refused entry into the stands, the women organised a demonstration outside the stadium and quickly brought to the scene banners which read, “Azadi Stadium: 100,000 men-only arena” and “We also want to cheer on our national team”

They were immediately threatened with arrest by police who had been placed on standby.

Within minutes, the security forces started to attack the teenage girls and young women. They were all forced into a bus and driven away.