TEHRAN: Seven reformists in Iran including a brother of ex-president Mohammad Khatami have been given one-year jail terms and banned from all political and media activity for two years.

“I can confirm this report but we will have to appeal,” university academic Mohammad Reza Jalaipour told AFP in a text message.

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Lawyer Hojat Kermani, quoted by ILNA news agency, named four of the other reformists convicted as ex-deputy parliament speaker Mohammad Reza Khatami, former legislator Mohsen Safaie Farahani,

Azar Mansouri, a member of an advisory panel for president Khatami during his 1997-2005 term, and Hossein Kashefi.

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The lawyer said all five had been found guilty of “anti-regime propaganda”, but he could not specify the charges against two other convicted reformists, ex-MPs Ali Shakouri Rad and Mohammad Naimipour, because he had not represented them.

In apparent reference to the seven, Tehran prosecutor general Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said last week they had been sentenced to jail “and other terms”, but without providing details.

The seven were leaders of the Islamic Iran Participation Front which authorities dissolved in 2010 following a wave of unprecedented protests against the re-election the previous year of hard line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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Source: Tribune News
Original Post: Iran ‘sentences 7 reformists to jail terms, media ban’

Indian actor and model Arshi Khan, who had hit the headlines in 2015 when she had claimed that she had sex with Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi, is appearing as one of the contestants on Salman Khan’s Bigg Boss 11.

Other contestants include celebrities Hina Khan, Shilpa Shinde, Hiten Tejwani and Priyank Sharma.

Two years ago, Arshi had claimed that she was in love with Afridi.

After rumours surfaced that she was seen with Afridi in Dubai, the model had first refuted them on Twitter saying, “I have lots of friends and relatives in Dubai and travel to Dubai very often. A lot of Pakistani cricketers are seen visiting, shopping and partying in Dubai and regular visitors to Dubai meet them often. This does not mean I am dating Afridi.”

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However, she later made a controversial claim:

In 2016, the model claimed in an interview that she was three months pregnant and her mother would be very happy if she was pregnant with Afridi’s baby. She also went on to say that the famous Pakistani cricketer had accepted her. But she later described her pregnancy as a “false alarm”.

“Did I ever say I was pregnant with Afridi’s baby? Actually to set matters straight, it was a false alarm. A proper test has confirmed now, that I am not pregnant,” she said in an interview. “Even I was shocked and surprised, because I had not made out for a long time, yet I skipped my periods for two months in a row and when I just ran an OTC (over the counter) test, it came out positive. So, I was scared like hell. But a detailed test showed that I just had some hormonal issues.”

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Afridi had refuted her claims saying that he neither preferred to speak on such trivial matters, nor did he have time for such “stupidities”.

Arshi’s family hails from Afghanistan but they migrated to Bhopal when she was four, according to Bollywood Life.

She was spotted by a theatre director Janab Ehsaan Chishti who is also from Bhopal. She impressed him and he suggested that she take up acting as a profession. Arshi also slapped a small-time Bhojpuri film director once for touching her inappropriately.

As soon as she entered the Big Boss show, Colors TV in a tweet confirmed that she had already had an argument with co-contestant Puneesh Sharma, a businessman from Delhi. Arshi called him “Ayyash” and told him that he did not understand Urdu.

Now that she is on the show, Arshi has reached out to her “friends in Pakistan”:

And of course, there is a tweet for Afridi too:

The post Arshi Khan who claimed she had sex with Shahid Afridi to appear on Bigg Boss 11 appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News
Original Post: Arshi Khan who claimed she had sex with Shahid Afridi to appear on Bigg Boss 11

BEIRUT: Two suicide bombers attacked a police station in Damascus on Monday, killing a number of civilians and policemen, the interior minister said, in the first such attack in the Syrian capital since July.

Four militants carried out the attack, killing more than 10 people, the pro-Damascus TV channel al-Mayadeen said. Russia’s RIA news agency reported that 15 people were killed.

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Militants targeted the station in the al-Midan neighbourhood and clashed with police officers there, Interior Minister Mohammad al Shaar said in comments broadcast by state television from the police station.

One attacker blew himself up at the main entrance and another detonated his explosive device on the first floor, he said.

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There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Footage broadcast by state TV showed bodies wrapped in shrouds at the scene and fire fighters putting out flames.

Previous suicide attacks in Damascus have been claimed by both Islamic State and the Tahrir al-Sham militant alliance, which is led by the group formerly known as the Nusra Front.

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Source: Tribune News
Original Post: Deadly twin suicide attack hits Damascus police station