AMNESTY DEMANDS URGENT ACTION FOR TWO FACING DEATH IN IRAN

human rights group Amnesty International called for the death sentences against two Kurdish cousins in Iran to be commuted as it issued an "urgent action" appeal on their behalf. The men, journalist Adnan Hassanpour and Kurdish rights activist and environmentalist Hiwa Butimar, who are both from Iran's Kurdistan province, were sentenced to death on charges of espionage and for being "at enmity with God." The men were told on July 17, 2007, that they had been sentenced to death and, on July 31, Iran's judicial authorities confirmed for the first time that death sentences had been imposed. The sentences are subject to an appeal and must then be confirmed by Iran's supreme court.