The Latest from Iran (24 December): An Execution and a Hero
Friday, December 24, 2010 at 7:50
2110 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The Reserve Bank of India will no longer arrange payments for Iranian crude imports.
India's central bank said future payments will have to be settled outside the existing Asian Clearing Union mechanism, which includes central banks of India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Iran, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
1730 GMT: Execution Watch. Rawa News has published an interview with the sister of Habibollah Latifi, the Kurdish prisoner scheduled for execution on Sunday (now see the English text in a separate entry).
She says, "[The authorities] acted very cleverly. They delivered the sentence 1 1/2 hours before the close of office hours on Thursday. So we could not do anything. Today was a Friday [weekend in Iran]. Tomorrow is the last day [before the execution], unless a miracle appears. They have planned so that we can not actually do anything."