NEWS
FROM INSIDE IRAN
REPORT
6
PERIOD
16
NOVEMBER 2018 TO 18 NOVEMBER 2018
(PLEASE NOTE THAT
INFORMATION SOURCES ARE NOT PUBLISHED IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF OUR
INFORMANTS. UNDER SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES CERTAIN INFORMATION CAN BE MADE
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16 November
2018
UN Committee Criticizes
Iran for Human Rights Violations
A
U.N. committee on human rights has approved a resolution urging Iran to stop
its widespread use of arbitrary detention and expressing serious concern about
its “alarmingly high” use of the death penalty.
The
General Assembly’s Human Rights Committee adopted the resolution Thursday by a
vote of 85-30, with 68 abstentions. It is virtually certain to be approved by
the 193-member world body next month.
The
resolution “strongly urges” Iran to eliminate discrimination against women in
law and practice and expresses “serious concern about ongoing severe
limitations and restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, conscience,
religion or belief.”
It
singles out violations including harassment, intimidation and persecution
against religious minorities including Christians, Gonabadi Dervishes, Jews,
Sufi Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Yarsanis, Zoroastrians and members of the Baha’i
faith — and urges the release of religious practitioners including Baha’i
leaders.
While
the resolution welcomes the elimination of the death penalty for some
drug-related offenses, it expresses serious concern at the “alarmingly high
frequency” of Iran’s use of the death penalty, including against minors.
It
also said some juvenile executions were for offenses not considered “most
serious crimes.”
The
resolution, sponsored by Canada, also calls on Iran to end “widespread and
serious restrictions” including on freedom of assembly of political opponents,
human rights defenders, labour leaders, environmentalists, academics,
filmmakers, journalists, bloggers, social media users and others.
The
United States and European countries were among the resolution’s co-sponsors.
Among the countries that voted against it were Tehran’s allies Russia, China
and Syria.
The
resolution urged Tehran to improve conditions in Iranian prisons and ensure
there was no torture.
It
demanded that Iran end what it said were “widespread and serious restrictions,
in law and in practice, on the right to freedom of expression, opinion,
association and peaceful assembly” of dissidents and human rights defenders.
It
said they were subjected to “ongoing harassment, intimidation, arbitrary
detention and prosecution.”
The
victims of such treatment include political opponents, human rights defenders,
women’s and minority rights activists, labour leaders, students’ rights
activists and others, it said.
16 November
2018
UN ADOPTS 65TH RESOLUTION CENSURING RIGHTS ABUSES
IN IRAN
“Condemning
the systematic and gross violations of human rights by the theocratic regime
ruling Iran, the UN resolution once again confirmed that the regime blatantly
tramples upon the Iranian people’s most fundamental rights in all political,
social and economic spheres,” said Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of
the National Council of Resistance of Iran, in welcoming the 65thUN resolution
condemning human rights abuses in Iran.
“The
Iranian regime is in no way congruous with the 21st century and must be
isolated by the world community,” Mrs. Rajavi added.
The
UN resolution stresses the “alarmingly high frequency” of the use of the death
penalty including against minors, “the widespread and systematic use of
arbitrary detention,” poor prison conditions “deliberately denying prisoners
access to adequate medical treatment,” and “cases of suspicious deaths in
custody.”
Considering
the regime’s other crimes and repressive policies which the resolution fails to
enumerate, including systematically assassinating opponents abroad, and
depriving the people of Iran of their rights to decide their country’s fate, to
enjoy the rule of law, to have access to fair trials, to have free access to
information, and to form independent syndicates and unions for workers,
students and government employees, it is safe to say that the Iranian regime is
the most ruthless, aggressive violator of human rights in the world today.
The
world community must therefore refer the dossiers of the regime’s crimes to the
UN Security Council and recognize the right of the people of Iran to resist
against so inhuman a regime.
Mrs.
Rajavi reiterated, “The most vivid example of grave violations of human rights
in Iran is the 1988 massacre of political prisoners perpetrated by the regime’s
key institutions and leaders, who are still in power, still defend this crime,
and remain immune from punishment. The world community faces a monumental test
in investigating and prosecuting those responsible for this great crime against
humanity.
Iran’s ruling theocracy must be isolated by the world
community, its dossiers referred to the UN Security Council, and its leaders
face justice for crimes against humanity.”
16 November
2018
Baha’i Businesses Shuttered
In Ongoing Persecution Campaign
Six
businesses in Khorramshahr owned by members of the Baha’i faith have been
indefinitely shut down by the authorities after some owners closed their
establishments for their religious rituals.
The
action was in apparent reprisal for owners closing their businesses in
observance of the recent Baha’i holidays celebrating the 200th anniversary of
the birth of Baha’u’llah (the prophet of the Baha’i faith), which is of
particular importance to the worldwide Baha’i community.
The
six Baha’is, residents of Khorramshahr, some 650 kilometers from Tehran,
include Behrouz Habibi, Hossein Ali Habibi, Behnam Habibi, Bahador Ahmadi,
Kambiz Azadi and Kurosh Jaberi.
The
state security force on November 12, also closed down five Baha’i shops in in
the southwestern city of Ahwaz. The Baha’is are Vargha Derakhshan, Sohrab
Derakhshan, Behrouz Zohdi, Jahanbakhsh Afsharzadeh and Feizullah Ghanavatian.
Other
reports indicate that on November 5, the business of two other Baha’i citizens
in the southern town of Abadan was shut down on orders of judicial officials.
The two men were identified as Aram Azadi and Arman Azadi. They had owned the
store for around 38 years.
Agents
shut down the store and confiscated the two men’s business permits.
Based
on social media reports two music institutions in Shiraz that employed two
Baha’i women were shut down recently on orders of the Judiciary because they
had hired the two women.
The
institutions teach music to children. The two Baha’i women, identified as Nora
Pourmoradian and Elaheh Samizadeh were detained on September 16 and were
released on bail on October 10.
In
Iran, Baha’is has long been victim to systematic discrimination and persecution
for their faith.
The
Baha’i community is one of the most severely persecuted religious minorities.
The
faith is not recognized in the Iranian regime’s Constitution and its members
face harsh discrimination in all walks of life as well as prosecution for the
public display of their faith.
16 November
2018
Protest and strikes across Iran
Many
cities across Iran are now scenes of ongoing protests and
strikes, as
Iranians from all walks of life are protesting poor living conditions and the
regime’s repressive policies.
In
Kerman, central Iran, clients of the Caspian credit firm, linked to the
notorious Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), rallied
outside a branch office demanding their stolen savings returned. Many cities
throughout Iran are witnessing other clients of this firm holding such protests
against this company.
In
Urmia (Orumiyeh), northwest Iran, storeowners throughout the city went on
strike and held a rally outside their stores on Thursday afternoon, protesting
skyrocketing prices and market recession. The storeowners are also protesting
high taxes and escalating prices on goods across the board.
In Darab,
south-central Iran, a number of employees fired from the city’s Water/Sewage
Department rallied on Thursday, protesting the officials’ policy of not hiring
local workers.
Bazaar
storeowners in Tabriz, northwest Iran, went on strike on Wednesday (Nov 14),
protesting skyrocketing prices, lack of goods and a decreasing number of
customers. Images from this major Iranian city indicate shops closed near
“Sa’at Square” and Taleghani Avenue. Reports from other cities also showed
shop-owners closing down and joining this nationwide strike movement, parallel
to strikes and
protests in
other cities across the country.
In
other reports, employees of the Haft Tappeh Sugar Mill Company in Shush,
southwest Iran, continued their rallies on Wednesday, marking this the tenth of
their ongoing strike.
These
workers were also chanting slogans calling on protesting employees of the Ahvaz
Industrial Steel Group – also on strike – to join their ranks in these ongoing
protests.
“Death
to oppressors, hail to workers”
“Shush
locals, support us”
Employees
of the Ahvaz Steel Company continued their strike on Wednesday, holding a
protest rally outside the Khuzestan Province governor’s office, demanding their
delayed pay checks and protesting poor working conditions at their worksite.
The
workers were chanting:
“Workers
of Khuzestan, unite, unite”
On
Tuesday, a group of these workers held a gathering outside the governor’s
office and the entrance of the Ahvaz Sports Complex. They were blocking the
path for the convoy of Iranian regime vice president Eshagh Jahangiri and
voicing their protests.
Iranian
opposition President Maryam Rajavi tweeted her message of
support for the various protests and
strikes by
people from all walks of life across Iran:
“Hail
to the deprived workers of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Factory and Steel Factory of Ahvaz who have risen up to demand their rights,
calling for expansion of the protests by the slogan of “Workers of Khuzestan,
unite, unite.”
Teachers’
sit-ins, strikes of truckers, and demonstration by defrauded protesters are
taking place across the country. Workers vent their anger by marching in the
streets.
In
other reports also from Ahvaz, workers of the Haft Tappeh sugar mill continued
their strike for the tenth consecutive day on Wednesday, rallying outside the
Shush governor’s office and chanting: “Death to oppressors, hail to workers,”
and “Shush locals, support us.”
These
workers expressed their solidarity with the Ahvaz steel employees by chanting,
“Proud steel workers, thank you, thank you.”
Reports
of a variety of protests are coming from cities and towns across Iran.
Truck
drivers across Iran are continuing their nationwide strike for the
12th consecutive day on Monday. This movement has now expanded to 75
cities in 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces.
In
Saravan, southeast Iran, drivers were rallying near a gas station, protesting
the authorities’ refusal to provide diesel fuel for their trucks.
In
Ahvaz, southeast Iran, employees of the National Steel Group continued their
strike for the third consecutive day.
Holding their rally outside the provincial
governor’s office in this city, the protesting workers were chanting slogans to
have authorities respond to their demands, protesting their current working
conditions and not receiving their pay checks for the past several
months.
The
Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) issued a statement saying:
“Workers
of the Ahvaz National Steel Group also protested on Saturday, gathering in
front of the governor's office in the city. They chanted: No nation has seen
this much injustice; Hossein Hossein, is their slogan, theft is their pride; what
did behind the scene hands have done with the factory?”
“Mrs.
Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, hailed the
determination of the truck drivers, the deprived farmers of Isfahan, the
oppressed hard-working workers of Haft Tapeh sugarcane factory and Ahvaz steel,
and other strikers across the country, and called on fellow citizens,
especially the youth, to support them and said: ‘Poverty, inflation,
unemployment and corruption were brought to our country by the religious
fascism, and will continue as long as this medieval regime is in power.’”
Also
in Ahvaz, the hard working employees of the Haft Tappeh sugar mill continued
their strike for the eighth consecutive day on Monday, demanding an end to
privatization policies that are ruining their jobs and lives; their delayed pay
checks to be provided and officials to promise to never delay their pay checks
again.
On
Saturday, these protesting workers had expanded their movement into the city
and locals were hearing their protests and demands. Another group of these
workers were continuing their strike at the sugar mill site.
16 November
2018
Who will give permission for regime change
in Iran
In
one of his usual Friday prayer rants, Ahmad Khatami, a senior cleric in the
power hierarchy of the Iranian regime warned, “The enemies are poised to
overthrow the Islamic system.” Khatami, who did not dare mention who the
“enemies” are, added, “Our knowledgeable people won’t permit the enemies to
overthrow the system.”
A
quick glance at fearful statements made by the Iranian regime’s authorities
reveals where the permission for regime change is coming from.
In
comments that betrayed the true fear of his agents from the bleak future of the
regime, Mahmood Alavi, the head of the Ministry of Intelligence & Security
(MOIS), said, “The best passive defence against the enemy is to insist on our
beliefs.”
Alavi,
who was trying to give a morale boost to his troops, added, “Don’t be afraid of
the power of enemy! We must stand against our enemy by relying on our national
potentials.”
Mohammad
Reza Khatami, a regime authority with close ties to Hassan Rouhani, admitted
“Due to the social situation, the views of the people, international economic
situation, we believe that the country is going to collapse like car that is
falling down a ledge.”
Khatami
also added, “Maybe most the people are protesting and have grievances. It might
also include ordinary people. They say that we’re fed up with this regime, and
we want another ruling regime. But how? With whom?”
Pointing
out to main enemy, Khatami said, “Why am I against regime change? With whom we
want to change the regime? Revolution with PMOI/MEK? I see a darkness on the
horizon in this situation.”
“There’s
no need to be worried about the overthrowing by a foreign force. It doesn’t
work at all. The real threat is from inside the country,” Khatami added.
Hassan
Abbasi, a strategist in Ali Khamenei the supreme leader faction shed light on
the name of the force that has the “permission for the regime change.” Abbasi
stressed, “PMOI/MEK holds gatherings in Paris. You’ve certainly seen it. U.S.
officials take part in the gathering. They gather their forces from all of
Europe. They don’t tell jokes there. They say they are going to change the
regime in Iran.”
Abbasi
discussed the timing of regime change and the force that can topple the regime
saying, “The time of regime change is when our currency crashes and drives
people in the streets for another uprising. People will stand in face of the
government, and who is behind all of this? PMOI/MEK.”
The
fact is that words of fear stated by the regime elements depict the fact that
the Iranian people and their legitimate resistance PMOI/MEK have brought the
regime to the severe crisis of toppling and left no escape for the regime.
The
crisis has brought the regime daily nightmares, and the regime elements
describe it as “darkness on the horizon”, “regime change” etc.
In
this situation, the regime is facing continuous protests and strikes. Day after
day, more strata of the society raise their voice against the regime.
Moreover,
resistance units inside Iran have increased their activities against the
regime, steering the protests and strikes in the correct direction ‘to meet the final success.’
16 November
2018
Denmark: Iranian nuclear expert arrested in
Copenhagen airport
Danish security forces recently arrested an Iranian
regime nuclear expert who was previously sanctioned by the European Union and
the United States, according to the regime’s former Atomic Energy Organization chief.
This individual was arrested at the Copenhagen
International Airport and transferred to directly prison.
“Javad Rahighi is the name of the
arrested individual.
Following his delisting, he had
travelled to the United States and Europe many times.
Security units at Copenhagen
International Airport in Denmark stopped him as he was passing through the
gates. He was insulted and held in the airport basement,” Fereidoon Abbasi said
in recent remarks.
Airport security are accusing
this Iranian regime nuclear expert of illegally entering Denmark.
“A court session will be held for
Rahighi and his lawyer will provide the necessary explanations. However, he
will be returning to prison,” Abbasi added.
It is worth noting that the names
of 40 companies and one individual were blacklisted according to a 2010 United
Nations resolution.
A portion of this resolution
specially says this individual is Javad Rahighi, head of an important Iranian
regime nuclear technology center. His assets outside of Iran were frozen and he
was banned from travelling abroad.
The Danish government has
discovered a booklet in the Iranian regime’s Copenhagen embassy containing
names of numerous Iranian regime dissidents in exile. The Iranian regime has
classified these individuals as “terrorists,” reports indicate.
The Jyllands-Posten daily in
Denmark is citing two former Danish intelligence agency chiefs considering the
booklet a terror hit list for the Iranian regime.
Denmark has recalled its
ambassador from Tehran following these developments and summoned the Iranian
regime’s ambassador in Copenhagen to provide explanations in this regard.
Danish officials are asking for
an investigation on the Iranian regime’s terror hit list.
Danish political parties are
calling for a probe into this issue to determine if the Iranian regime’s
embassy in Copenhagen had any links to the possible assassination plots.
“I believe there are obvious
reasons in this regard,” said Michael Aastrup Jensen, spokesperson of Denmark’s
Liberal Party. “The only response now is that we must throw them out of our
country because this is completely unacceptable.”
An individual assassinated in the
Netherlands is seen in this list. Three other names on this list are exiled
Iranians living in Denmark.
Denmark said recently that it
suspected an Iranian regime intelligence agency had tried to carry out a plot
aiming to assassinate an Iranian Arab dissident on its soil.
The plot, which Denmark’s foreign
minister said he believed the Iranian regime was behind, prompted the Nordic country to call for a new round of
European Union-wide sanctions against the Iranian regime.
A Norwegian citizen of Iranian background was arrested in Sweden on October 21 in
connection with the plot. He was extradited to neighbouring Denmark, according
to Swedish security police.
“We are dealing with an Iranian
intelligence agency planning an attack on Danish soil. Obviously, we can’t and
won’t accept that,” Andersen told a news conference.
Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi sent a message
expressing her gratitude of the Danish government for standing firm in the face
of the Iranian regime’s unbridled terrorism.
“European Union must immediately
place the mullahs’ Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) on its terror
list,” she tweeted.
7 November
2018
Regime’s forces failed in preventing
Saturday’s sugar mill rally
Employees
of the Haft Tappeh sugar mill in Shush, southwest Iran, continued their strike
by holding a gathering in early morning hours of Saturday. More than 1,000
employees rallied in the city’s main square, joined by their families and
children.
Sources
and reports indicate more people are joining the crowd and various storeowners
in Shush are also joining the Haft Tappeh employees’ ranks. The protesting
employees and their family members are chanting:
“We
don’t want incompetent officials”
Fearing
these protests spreading and turning into even larger rallies, Iranian regime
officials are dispatching oppressive forces and anti-riot units from Ahvaz,
capital of Khuzestan Province, to the city of Shush.
Following Friday’s
protests,
Authorities were attempting to prevent Saturday’s rally yet the brave
protesters in Shush proved their efforts futile. The large crowd of Haft Tappeh
employees, along with their families, are courageously continuing their
protests and steadfast in opposing privatization plans and demanding their
delayed pay checks.
Jafar
Azimzadeh, Director of the Free Workers Union called on all locals in Shush,
domestic and international labor unions and organizations, and employees of the
Oil Company in Khuzestan to rise in support of the protesting Haft Tappeh
workers.
A
child of a Haft Tappeh employee holds a sign reading: “A hungry child could
care less about a promise”
Employees
of the Haft Tappeh sugar mill in Shush, southwest Iran, continued their strike
on Friday for the 12th consecutive day. They resorted to a new and bold
measure by disrupting the regime’s Friday prayer farce.
The
workers were seen chanting:
“We
have all come in support of the workers.”
These
protesting workers continued their rally inside the city of Shush and many of
the locals were witness to the large gathering as many protesting workers were
expressing their anger at regime officials. The protesters also raised a
symbolic casket, portraying the Haft Tappeh sugar mill company being nothing
but a dead corpse.
The
workers then entered a mosque where the local mullah - representing Iranian
regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei - was delivering his weekly remarks during
the Friday prayer farce held in each city, town, and village.
The
workers then rallied in the city and their representative said the workers
would be rallying again on Saturday along with their family members.
“Tomorrow
all schools will be closed and we, with our wives and children, along with
their backpacks and books, we will all be gathering right here,” he said as the
crowd responded with applauds and appreciation.
“Hail
to the workers of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Factory who have risen against
oppression with chants of, “Threats, jail, are no longer effective.” Crying
out, “We are hungry,” they call on every free human being to rise up against
the mullahs’ corrupt regime”
—
Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) November 15,
2018
Iranian
opposition President Maryam Rajavi sent a message showing her support for the
Haft Tappeh sugar mail employees.
On
Saturday, November 10, heavy truck drivers and truckers continued their strike
in different cities throughout the country for the tenth day of the new round.
Earlier in the months of June, August and September, they were striking because
of the severe living conditions, low freight rates, the high cost of spare
parts, severe insurance conditions, and so on. October strike lasted 21 days.
In
the fourth round of their strike, in addition to their previous demands,
drivers called for the release of their colleagues who were arrested during the
third round of strikes. The regime was struggling to prevent the strikethrough
all kinds of pressures and threats.
Haft
Tapeh sugar cane workers continued their strike for the sixth day in a row in
protest of non-payment of their claims inside the company. Some of them took
their protest into the city to make the voices of their innocence and their
desires heard.
Workers
of the Ahvaz National Steel Group also protested on Saturday, gathering in
front of the governor's office in the city. They chanted: No nation has seen this
much injustice; Hossein Hossein, is their slogan, theft is their pride; what
did behind the scene hands have done with the factory?
Workers
of Line 6 project of Tehran urban trains also protested against the non-payment
of their salaries in front of the headquarters of the company.
Parts
of the bazaar and shopkeepers in Tehran's 15 Khordad street protested against
the high cost and lack of goods and customers and refused to open their shops.
Deprived
farmers of cities and villages around Isfahan such as Ghahderijan. Varzaneh,
Najaf Abad, Khorasgan, and others continued their demonstrations and sit-ins in
protest of the deprivation of their right to water and their difficult living
conditions. They were chanting: "Lest we are humiliated!"; "The
Zayandeh Roud water is our inalienable right."
Mullah
Alam-ul-Hoda, a member of the Assembly of Experts of the regime and
representative of Khamenei in Mashhad on Friday, November 9, confessed:
"Over 40% inflation caused by the recession brought the economy into a ruin.
... This is the situation of our workers who have become unemployed, with
families they are left without food, and the miners who work in the worst case
situation, they work in the mine, underground and they do not pay their daily
wages."
Mrs.
Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, hailed the
determination of the truck drivers, the deprived farmers of Isfahan, the
oppressed hard-working workers of Haft Tapeh sugarcane factory and Ahvaz steel,
and other strikers across the country, and called on fellow citizens,
especially the youth, to support them and said: “Poverty, inflation,
unemployment, and corruption were brought to our country by the religious
fascism, and will continue as long as this medieval regime is in power.”
17 November
2018
The UNGA condemns the Iranian regime’s human
rights violations for the 65th time. What makes it significant
On Thursday, the UN General Assembly’s 3rd committee
adopted a draft resolution that condemns the Iranian regime for its blatant
human rights violations. This is the 65th time that the Iranian
regime is being called off for its abysmal human rights record at the
international level.
The resolution, which was
introduced by Canada, was adopted by the committee with 85 positive votes
against 30 negative votes. 68 countries abstained from voting on the
resolution. The draft will be put to the general vote in the UNGA in December.
The UN resolution raises alarm
about the “alarmingly high frequency” of the use of the death penalty including
against minors, “the widespread and systematic use of arbitrary detention,”
poor prison conditions “deliberately denying prisoners access to adequate
medical treatment,” and “cases of suspicious deaths in custody.”
The UNGA resolution also stresses
that the Iranian regime does not adhere to international judiciary and human
rights norms.
A similar resolution put to vote
last year brought in 81 positive votes against 30 negative votes. Therefore,
this year, four more states joined the ranks of countries that are explicit
about their discontent about the human rights situation in Iran.
Another significant change in
this year’s line-up was that the Iranian regime lost some of its traditional
allies in the United Nations. Brazil and Mexico, states that usually voted negative
on UN resolutions against Iran’s human rights violations, abstained in their
vote year, distancing themselves from the increasingly isolated regime of
Tehran.
In September, Javaid Rahman, the
UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights situation in Iran, presented his
report on Iran’s human rights situation to the UN, in which he expressed
concern about continued abuses by the Iranian regime. The draft resolution
adopted on Thursday is mostly in reference to Rahman’s report, a fact that has
caused worries for the mullahs ruling Iran.
Earlier, in his yearly report, UN
Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez expressed concern over the deteriorating
human rights situation in Iran. The mullahs were deeply irked by Guttierrez’s
remarks and engaged in a series of propaganda against the UN authority.
In reaction to Thursday’s
resolution, Bahram Ghassemi, the spokesperson for the Iranian regime’s foreign
ministry, called it unacceptable and stressed that the Islamic Republic is
based on “republicanism” and is against “any kind of discrimination or
politicization of human rights.” He categorically refrained from addressing any
of the issues raised in the resolution.
NCRI president Mrs. Maryam Rajavi
welcomed the UNGA’s draft resolution in condemnation of the Iranian regime’s
human rights violations and said, “Condemning the systematic and gross
violations of human rights by the theocratic regime ruling Iran, the UN
resolution once again confirmed that the regime blatantly tramples upon the
Iranian people’s most fundamental rights in all political, social and economic
spheres.”
In a statement, the NCRI pointed
out some of the areas that also need to be addressed, including “systematically
assassinating opponents abroad, and depriving the people of Iran of their
rights to decide their country’s fate, to enjoy the rule of law, to have access
to fair trials, to have free access to information, and to form independent
syndicates and unions for workers, students and government employees.”
17 November 2018
Further to our earlier report:
Iranian Children Denied
Education Because They Can’t Afford Shoes
Roughly 12,000 children in
Khuzestan province, southwest Iran, are being deprived of their education and,
according to Zeinab Fathali Poor, an expert in Khuzestan’s Social Welfare
Bureau, many of them are prevented from attending school just because they
don’t have shoes.
Quoted by the state-run Asr Iran
news agency, Zeinab Fathali Poor said, “over 12,000 children in Khuzestan are
deprived of education, many of whom just have no shoes to go to school.”
“Many of children in the province
are stopped by very basic necessities as many of them just do not have a pair
of shoes to go to school,” she added.
Poverty
and school dropouts in Iran
The regime’s corrupt policies and rising prices are
forcing students to drop out or school at an accelerating pace.
Jahan-e San’at state-run newspaper issued shocking
figures on September 23, 2018: “The number of children deprived of education is
approximately 7 million in Iran.” The report added, “Out of every 3 Iranian
youth aged 6-18, one has either quit education or has not enrolled at all.”
This is while many children in far-off regions have no access to any schools, in addition to abovementioned problems.
This is how the poor Iranian children who are deprived of their right to education, end up into street peddling, child labor or become street children with no right to livelihoods and dignity, and drowned in social crisis.
The Iranian regime’s treacherous policies towards the education system has created a real national crisis.
State-run news agency ILNA published a report on September 21 titled “Many students will drop out soon!” and drew a grave perspective for Iranian students saying: “It appears that if things stay as they are, drop-out numbers, especially for girls, will rise.
As things are, low-income families, especially in
deprived regions, prefer to just ‘survive’. So they must choose between eating
enough and continuing their children’s education, and naturally, they will
choose survival.
On the one hand, living costs and education costs have
multiplied, and on the other hand, free education plans have become a thing of
the past. In such conditions, there are few low-income families who can pay the
cost of their children’s education, especially girls.
The red alarm is already shining for a few months.
While salaries are still 70 percent behind the increase
of life costs, education should be free for everyone and students from low-income
families should receive subsidies for stationery and other educational
assistance tools.
Otherwise, soon we will face a high rate of illiterates
and half illiterates.”
17 November 2018
Jailed Dervishes Start Dry
Hunger Strike To Protest Unknown Conditions Of Eight Sufis
An Iranian news outlet focusing
on Iran’s Gonabadi Dervish minority says two detained Sufi Dervishes have gone
on dry hunger strike since Friday, protesting the unknown conditions of eight
Sufis held in Iran’s Great Tehran Penitentiary (GTP).
Political
prisoner Soheil Arabi is also on hunger in support of Mohammad Reza Darvishi
and Salahedin Moradi.
The
two activists have reportedly told the prison warden that as long as they do
not meet with the eight Dervishes, they will continue their strike.
Security
forces on August 29 attacked
dervish inmates in notorious penitentiary center, Fashafouyeh, when
they held a sit-in to protest “inhumane” conditions in the prison and to demand
the release of female Sufi inmates held at Gharchak Prison.
These
dervishes were taken to solitary confinement, while the whereabouts of eight of
them, Reza and Sina Entessari, Mehdi Eskandari, Morteza Kangarloo, Amir and
Kassra Nouri, Hossam Moeini and Mohammad Sharifi Moqaddam, is still not known.
17 November
2018
Mass Executions of Ahwazi Prisoners an outrage
Iran
has once again used mass execution as retaliation against innocent Ahwazi Arabs
who have refused to give in to the chauvinist state's relentless oppression.
Iran has continually engaged in brutal tactics in their dealings with Ahwazis
so as to remind all dissenters that the price of resistance is death. The
Islamic Republic is not solely responsible for this violent policy; the entire
Iranian state – from Shah Reza Pahlavi to the Iranian opposition – is
complicit, if not openly supportive, of these types of heinous crimes against
Ahwazis.
Today
Iran executed 22 Ahwazi activists, including the founder of the Shams al-Janoub
Cultural Foundation, to continue waging its state-wide war against all symbols
of Ahwazi Arab culture. Muhammad Moemeni Timas Silawi, a prominent Ahwazi Arab
and founder of the cultural foundation, was executed, along with his son Nasar,
in retaliation for his persistent activism.
Iran
had closed the Shams al-Janoub Cultural Foundation in 2005 after arresting its
members, including Silawi, and keeping them all in solitary confinement for
nine months.
Silawi
and his son were released at the time, but both continued to be arrested
several times throughout the years. On September 28, 2018, Silawi went to
inquire about the fate of his son Nasar, who had been detained in retaliatory
arrests following the podium attack in Ahwaz. Silawi was subsequently arrested
for the final time on this date.
Many
detained activists were hung as a brutal act of retaliation by the Iranian
State to show their zero-tolerance policy for any dissent or Arab cultural
pride.
Since
2005, when a popular uprising broke out in Ahwaz following the leaking of a
regime document revealing details of another regime plan for massive
demographic change in the region, the Iranian regime has intensified its
already brutal campaign of oppression against Ahwazi dissidents, arresting,
torturing and routinely executing human rights campaigners and activists on the
flimsiest of pretexts and savagely repressing public protests.
As in
the 1980s, forced confessions extracted using torture are the norm, being
presented as ‘evidence’ at kangaroo trials in the regime’s ‘revolutionary
courts’ with these farcical legal proceedings often taking no more than a few
minutes; the accused have no access to defense lawyers or any chance to
challenge the invariably fabricated charges, which include such specious
accusations as “enmity to God.”
Although
these ludicrous Kafkaesque trials have been repeatedly condemned by human
rights organizations worldwide, the regime continues to claim that they
represent legitimate legal proceedings. The lack of any evidence against
the accused is viewed as a minor triviality by the regime, for which forced
confessions extracted under torture are adequate justification for draconian
punishments including decades-long prison sentences or execution.
There
is ample evidence that the trials of those Ahwazi activists sentenced to
decades in prison or to death on false charges fail to meet even the minimum
international standards for fair trials, including the use of such
“confessions” obtained under torture or other ill-treatment.
Some
regime-run television stations like Press TV broadcast the grotesque
‘confessions’ of Ahwazi detainees obviously obtained under duress even before
the beginning of their trials, with the prisoners often seen with heavy
bruising from beatings and clearly reciting their ‘confessions’ by rote with
regime personnel standing over them or just off-camera.
Even
though this flagrantly disregards the basic right of all defendants to be
considered innocent until proven guilty, such forced confessions are viewed as
a useful tool by the regime to help influence public opinion, promoting the
favourite regime narrative in which the state is valiantly protecting the
Iranian populace from the supposed threat of “Arab criminality."
For
one example of the relentless brutal persecution of Ahwazis, since 2016
the regime in Tehran has sentenced dozens of Ahwazi dissidents,
political activists and human rights campaigners from the regional city of
Hamidiyeh to death, often accusing them of involvement in extremist or militant
activities, secessionism, ‘enmity to God’ or being a threat to national
security; all these are favorite charges for the regime requiring no evidence
but a ‘confession’ from the accused, which is generally easily obtained via
torture.
17 November
2018
The Iranian Regime is Exercising Arbitrary Arrests
against Ahwazi Activists
Human
rights sources in Ahwaz revealed that the Iranian regime is still carrying out
arbitrary arrests against Ahwazi activists, including five women.
The
sources added that the Iranian regime recently detained Amna Hattab al-Sari, 24
years-of-age, after her house was attacked by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards
on November 7, 2018.
The
father of Miss. Amna, Mr. Hattab Shanan al-Sari, 57 years old, with his son
Amin al-Sari, 22 years-of-age, were also arrested by the Iranian authorities
after being summoned to the Revolutionary Guard headquarters in the city of
Ahwaz on November 6th, 2018.
According
to Ahwazi reliable sources, the campaign of arbitrary arrests in Ahwaz included
more than 800 activists, including the elderly people and women.
The
sources added that “one of the detainees, Mrs. Sahba al-Hammadi was pregnant in
the seventh month and suffering from health problems.”
Ahwazi journalist
Nahal Mohammad has sent the details of more than 100 Ahwazi detainees to the
Gulf European Centre for Human Rights.
The Iranian authorities arrested about 28 people,
including a woman and a man with over 70 years of age, on Friday (October
19th), Ahwazi journalist Nahal Mohammad informed to the Gulf European Centre
for Human Rights.
The
increasing number of detainees in Ahwaz has led to the condemnation of the
Iranian regime for its arbitrary detention of activists in Ahwaz. Amnesty
International said in its latest report (2nd November 2018) that the Iranian
authorities launched a campaign of total repression against Ahwazi Arab people,
where hundreds of people have been arrested in recent weeks.
“The Iranian regime has arrested a large
number of Ahwazi activists without any clear charge,” said Kamil Alboshoka, an
expert on international law and Iranian affairs. The main reason for the
regime’s arrest of Ahwazi citizens is a threatening message to the Arab people
of Ahwaz after the operation that targeted the Revolutionary Guards in
September 2018″.
Nahal
Mohammad added that the Iranian authorities have arrested about 1,000 Ahwaz
activists since September 22 and that about 300 people were still detained in
the secret cells of the Iranian security services.
Kamil
Alboshoka continued to add that the vast majority of the detainees are civil
activists, including women, so they were arrested by the regime because of
their peaceful call to exercise their rights for freedom of expression,
association or peaceful assembly, or solely because of their Arab identity.
Hence, the international community must intervene to end the disastrous crisis
in Ahwaz.
The
human rights activist said that among the hundreds of detainees, there are a
number of Ahwazi women, including civil society activist Sahba (Lima) al-
Hammadi, 21 years-of-age, who was pregnant when she was detained by Iranian
intelligence services for her social and cultural activities. “Many Ahwazi
Arabs, including women, have been arbitrary detained and therefore subjected to
enforced disappearance in accordance with international law”.
Earlier,
Amnesty International accused the Iranian authorities of carrying out a
campaign of total repression against Arab citizens in Ahwaz and called on the
Iranian authorities to release immediately and unconditionally 600 Arab
citizens and activists in Ahwaz, southwest Iran.
“The
scale of arrests in recent weeks is worrying,” said Philippe Luther, director
of international research and advocacy for the Middle East and North Africa at
Amnesty International. He also added that “the timing indicates that the
Iranian authorities are arresting a large number of Ahwazi under the pretext of
the recent attack against Iranian forces in Ahwaz”. Luther said the Iranian
authorities have arrested a large number of civilian and political activists in
Ahwaz, in order to intimidate and crush dissent in Ahwaz.
The
Ahwazi human rights organizations said in a statement: The campaign of
unprecedented raids resulted in the arrest of 800 people, including female and
men and elderly people, as well as young people and civil society activists.
Ahwazi organizations said they have obtained the name of more than 194
detainees in Ahwaz. It also pointed out that the campaign of arbitrary arrests
in Ahwaz threatens Ahwazi civil society activists and international human
rights organizations.
Human
rights activist and director of Ahwaz Monitor, Rahim Hamid, said that the
Iranian regime has a horrific record in the persecution and discrimination of
Ahwazi Arab people. Therefore, the recent arrests raise doubts that these
arrests are arbitrary and politically motivated to suppress the movement of
Ahwazi activists”.
Rahim
Hamid said the arbitrary arrests in Ahwaz since September 2018 violated
international law and human rights. The Iranian authorities have arrested about
1,000 people since the Ahwazi incident on 22ndSeptember 2018, which has been
released 200 people, but 800 people are still in detention, and there is no
contact between the detainees and their families, including the five women who
have been arrested recently.
According
to Al-Arabiya, the health condition of the female detainees are poorly
recorded, including Sabha (Lamia) al-Hammadi, 21 years of age, a civil society
activist who was arrested on 6 October at her home in Al-Khafajiyah, and Zudea
Afrawi, 55 years of age, and Qaisiya Afrawi, 60 years of age, both from
Al-Khafajiyah and were arrested on 22nd October 2018. Al-Arabiya reported
that Miss Amna al-Sari is also arrested on 7thNovember 2018 along with her
father and younger brother in Ahwaz capital city.
Ahwazi
Arabs in Iran face discrimination and arbitrary restrictions on their access to
education, employment, adequate housing, and enjoyment of their cultural and
linguistic rights. They have repeatedly expressed concerns about their
inability to learn, promote and use their own language, in private and in
public, freely and without interference or discrimination.
Earlier
in the meeting of human rights in Geneva, the Secretary-General of the Arab
Organisation for Human Rights Alaa Shalabi drew attention to the levels of
repression practiced by the Iranian regime against peaceful protesters in Iran
in general and in Ahwaz in particular, stressing the need to move and activate
ways to document violations of this system in the field of human rights, and to
communicate the voice of those affected by these violations to the relevant
international institutions and forums.
17 November
2018
GECHR welcomes the decision of the Saudi and
Bahrain to put Qassem Soleimani and Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the International
Terrorism list
GECHR (Gulf European Centre for Human Rights) welcomed
the decision of the Saudi and Bahrain to put Qassem Soleimani and Iranian
Revolutionary Guard on the international terrorism list
On Tuesday, October 23, 2018, Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Corps and General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the
Revolutionary Guards, were listed on the international terrorism list by Saudi
Arabia and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
In the framework of joint coordination, Saudi Arabia and
Bahrain have listed four names previously classified by the US Treasury
Department as providing financial and material support for Iran's alleged
sabotage activities: 1) Qassem Soleimani 2)Hamed Abdul Lahi 3)Abdul Rida
Shahlai 4)Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
These Iranian figures, particularly the Guards
Revolutionary in general through supporting terrorism threatens the stability
of the Gulf countries, in particular, and the countries in the Middle East in
general.
In fact, Iranian threats against the Gulf States are not
recent. They began in wake of the revolution in Iran in 1979.
Presently, the Iranian authorities pose a threat to
international peace in the Gulf region through militia groups in Iraq, Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon.
The IRGC carried out acts of sabotage, terrorism and
interference to threaten regional security in the Gulf Arab states and other
countries region, including worldwide, causing many innocent people to lose
their lives due to Iranian interference.
For
example:
Ø Iran's
Revolutionary Guards have responsibility for a number of bombings against
various targets around the world such as the United States, the French Embassy,
and Kuwait Airport, as well as the terrorist attack on the late Emir Sheikh
Jabber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in the 1980s in cooperation with the Iraqi Dawa Party
and the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Ø Riots
instigated by Iranian pilgrims during the pilgrimage season in 1986, which
resulted in the death of more than 300 people. In which the IRGC was planned to
detonate multiple areas in Saudi Arabia.
Ø The
IRGC attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and the consulate in Mashhad.
Ø Terrorist
acts that targeted Saudi and American citizens in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
in 1991.
Ø The
explosion in the city of Khobar in 1996 that killed 19 Americans and wounded
386 people of different nationalities in Saudi territory.
Ø The
discovery of the Kuwaiti «Hezbollah» by the Kuwaiti security authorities’ in
2015. The Kuwaiti group has a link with the Lebanese «Hezbollah».
Ø Encouraging
and supporting terrorist groups in Bahrain since 2011 openly and continuously,
this has caused the death of a number of civilian and military Bahrainis.
Ø Attempting
to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington in 2011.
Ø Establishing
and supporting more than 120 Militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and
Bahrain, which caused the death of more than half a million civilians.
Ø Running
the war against the legitimate state in Yemen, which caused the death of more
than 20 thousands civilians.
Ø Involvement
of assassination former Prime Minister of Lebanon, Rafig Hariri.
Ø Involvement
of the assassination of Ahmad Molla in the Netherlands in November 2017.
Ø Involvement
of assassination against 265 Iranian political and cultural activists in
Turkey, Europe and the USA.
Therefore, International Security Law according to
Article 2 (4) of the Charter of the United Nations and the institutions of the
Security Council of the United Nations is meant to support international peace
and security in the world under Article 24 of the Charter (The Collective
Security Council).
Thus, collective security is a product of law, which mainly
focuses on the behaviour of sovereign states and the conflict they engage in
among themselves, aimed at reducing conflicts in order to prevent a threat to
international peace caused by threats to regional security. Hence, this
law gives Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Bahrain full right to punish Iranian
figures by adding them to the international terrorism list.
In addition, GECHR has announced its support for the
announcement issued by Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Bahrain on the
"classification of three Iranian figures, including the commander of the
Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, General Qassem Soleimani and
the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the international terrorism list".
GECHR also called upon on international community to confront
Iranian authorities and add the vast majority of the regime figures on the international
terrorism list. This act can weaken the regime activity in the region and
worldwide, as well as weakening the regime to target political and other
Iranian activists who live inside and outside the country.
18
November 2018
Iran Haft Tappeh Sugar Mill workers continue
strike for the 12th consecutive day
Frustrated workers of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Industrial
Complex continued their strike for the twelfth day on Friday, November 16, with
a rally in front of the governorate of Shush and demonstrations in the streets
of the city. They chanted: "Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, we are all
together", "Lest we accept humiliation".
In protesting against the destruction of this economic
magnet of the country by the clerical regime, in a symbolic action, workers
carried the coffin of the Haft Tappeh sugar cane and chanted: "Today is a
day of mourning".
The workers who are from different parts of the mill then
gathered at the venue of the Friday prayers show of the regime, and by turning
their back to the speaker of the ceremony, and by chanting "Facing the
homeland, back to the enemy", "the worker dies, he does not accept
humiliation", "Death to the oppressor; Peace be upon the Worker"
interrupted these hypocritical and deceptive ceremonies.
The Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Industrial Complex has about
4,000 official permanent and on contract workers. The new round of workers
strike is taking place in protest against the non-payment of months of salary,
insurance claims and other arrears, and the livelihood conditions of all the
workers.
Workers call for the establishment of independent labour
councils and the determination of the status of this large economic complex of
the country. The regime's authorities and plundering employer refuse to deal
with the legitimate demands of workers by giving hollow promises.
Saluting the strikers, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the
President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, said:
"The workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Mill,
with the slogan ‘Neither threats, nor imprisonment, has no longer any effect’,
have risen up against the oppression on the workers, and with the slogan ‘We
are hungry’, call on every noble human being for the uprising against the
clerical plunderer regime."
She urged the international human rights organizations
and trade and labour unions around the world to support the striking workers in
Iran.
شركة مكافحة حشرات بخميس مشيط
ReplyDeleteشركة مكافحة حشرات بابها
شركة مكافحة حشرات بنجران
شركة نقل اثاث بجدة