Iranian Minister: Mahsooli,Former rapist of poltical prisoners during the 80s

This is a translation of a Note under the picture showing Ahmadi Nejad and the present State Interior Minister Mahsooli:

Photo showing Sadegh Mahsooli

and Ahmadi,

during the killings

of Political prisoners in Evin

(1980) as torturers and

interrogators where

they used to wed virgin

political prisoners before

death and rape them:

" so as to prevent their souls from going to heaven".

This is from testimony of witnesses , elderly mothers who have themselves identifies the two, as the same ones

"Coming at their doorsteps the

day after the execution of their

beloved ones,
telling them that they are their "Son in law"!"

, giving them a box of pastry to celebrate the betrothal.

Freedom prize for Iranian blogger

Guardian on line:

Jila Bani Yaghoob, an Iranian journalist-blogger and women's rights activist, has been awarded a freedom of expression award by the global press watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Her blog, We are journalists, which records news and social issues, particularly those affecting women, has placed her "in the forefront of the struggle for freedom of expression in her country," says RSF.
Bani Yaghoob and her husband, Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee, were arrested in June last year with other journalists during the demonstrations that followed the contested re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iranian president. She was freed in August but her husband was sentenced to five years in prison.
Bani Yaghoub's career has been marked by intimidation and abusive arrests intended to silence her. But she has never bowed to the pressure from the Iranian authorities. She has produced more than 4,000 reports on sensitive issues, such as schooling of women, prostitution, Aids-sufferers, suicide among young people, but also the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Extramarital sex leads to earthquakes: Iran cleric!!!

OneIndia News

Tehran, Apr 17: An Iranian cleric has proclaimed that inappropriately dress women leading to extramarital affairs are the resons behind the devastating earthquakes that frequently rattle the country

Speaking to worshipped at the Friday prayers here on Apr 16, senior cleric Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi said, "Many women who dress inappropriately ... cause youths to go astray, taint their chastity and incite extramarital sex in society, which increases earthquakes.""Calamities are the result of people's deeds...We have no way but conform to Islam to ward off dangers," the teligious leader is quoted as saying in newspaper reports.

The Islamic laws prescribe a strict dress code for women. Females are expected to cover hair and bodily contours in public or face punishment and fine.However, the cleric was probably referring to the women who appear on the streets with well-fitted clothes and layers of make-up as the evil forces behind the natural calamities.

etter urges UN Secretary General to take action to protect Ashra

NCRI

Following the assault on Camp Ashraf residents and its buildings on midnight Thursday, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi (Known Political opposition figure) wrote a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, urging immediate UN action to protect Ashraf residents.
Text of the letter follows.

Honorable Ban Ki-moonSecretary General of the United Nations

Dear Secretary General,

I am writing this letter to draw your esteemed attention to an urgent
threat to the lives and safety of the residents of Camp Ashraf, Iraq, who are
members of the Iranian opposition, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran
(PMOI), and to request your immediate intervention to ensure their protection.At
11:30 pm (local time), Thursday, April 15, Iraqi forces attacked the residents
and tried to occupy the buildings inside the Camp's main gate, in an attempt to
lend support to operatives dispatched to Camp Ashraf's main gate by the Iranian
Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps' terrorist Qods Force.For the past 70 days, these agents, enjoying
the full support of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Committee to Suppress
Ashraf in the Iraqi Prime Minister's office as well as the Iraqi forces, have
camped out at Ashraf's main gate, threatening the residents round-the-clock with
"setting the camp on fire," and "killing" the Mojahedin. Using powerful
loudspeakers and amplifiers, they have been disrupting the residents' sleep and
tranquility.

As the Iranian Resistance has declared repeatedly over the past few months,
these actions amount to psychological torture as well as provocation and
creating chaos in order to set the stage for an even bigger humanitarian
catastrophe than the one on July 28 and 29, 2009.

Around midnight Thursday, while the Iranian regime's agents were continuing
to shout profanities and threatening the residents of Ashraf through their
loudspeakers, an Iraqi Colonel and Captain, named Ali and Jawad, ordered the
residents of Ashraf that loudspeakers on PMOI buildings inside the Camp
broadcasting music, had been ordered turned off by the Iraqi government within
10 minutes, so that what the agents' chants could be heard all over the
camp.

They said that if the order was not complied with, they would use
force to occupy the buildings inside the main gate of Ashraf.The residents asked
that the loudspeakers for the Iranian regime's agents be turned off as
well.

Iraqi commanders told them that on orders of the government, the
agents were free to broadcast any program, but Ashraf residents were not allowed
to do so. At the same time, a large number of armed Iraqi forces, some equipped
with sticks, clubs daggers and batons, backed up by five armored Humvees entered
Ashraf and threatened to shoot and kill the residents.

These forces subsequently beat up the residents, using electric and shock
batons as well as iron bars. Five residents, Karim Gomasaee, Mehdi Abdol-Rahimi,
Azim Mishmast, Rahim Sohrabi and Khaled Shah Karami, were injured and taken to
hospital.

The assailants tired to take a number of the residents hostage as
they had done in July. They attempted to drag away one of the female residents,
but were unable to do so after she resisted and other residents protested.

Around 3:00 am, the Iraqi forces left Ashraf after protests and chants by
the residents.The incident last night serves as a new warning, demonstrating
that not only the Iraqi government is unqualified, unable and unwilling to
protect Ashraf, but, on the contrary, influenced by the Iranian regime and
acting on its behest, it continues to conspire against the residents and is
trying to suppress and eliminate them.

In view of the parliamentary elections and the uncertain political
situation in Iraq, the Iraqi government has stepped up its efforts in this
regard.The Committee formed in the Prime Minister's office last year, is acting
on the orders of the Iranian regime's embassy.

In a letter to the Iraqi Prime Minister on December 2, 2009, a copy of
which was provided to the residents of Ashraf, Vice President of the European
Parliament wrote "The committee formed at your office known as 'Committee to
Close Down Ashraf' is a suppressive apparatus pursuing the aims of the Iranian
regime."

In a statement yesterday, the Iranian Resistance revealed, "Reports sent by
the Iranian regime's embassy in Baghdad to the terrorist Qods Force and the
regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) reveal that Iraqi Prime
Minister’s office and the Iraqi Army battalion stationed at Ashraf are
cooperating fully with the MOIS agents camped out at Ashraf’s main gate ..

The Commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 37th Brigade of the 9th Division
of the Iraqi Army and the battalion's chain of command, supposedly responsible
for protection of Ashraf residents, are providing logistical support to the MOIS
agents posing as families of Ashraf residents…

In the past two months, the battalion commander, his deputy, two officers
of the Iraqi Army's intelligence branch and two other battalion officers are
also helping them."You no doubt confirm that these actions are a manifest case
of systematic psychological torture and the violation of many international laws
and conventions, including provisions of international humanitarian law and the
United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment.

Because the conduct of the Iraqi government and forces as well as the
stated goal of the Iranian regime to massacre the residents of Ashraf
undoubtedly constitute a case of crime against humanity, the time has come that
as a staunch advocate of the Responsibility to Protect and in order to defend
the basic rights of the residents of Ashraf which have been blatantly violated
in the past 15 months, you undertake the necessary measures to ensure the
protection of the defenseless residents of Ashraf.

I assure you, Mr. Secretary General, of the expression of my highest
regards

Maryam Rajavi

Prisoner Artin Ghazanfari Suffers from Lung Infection

The trial of Baha’i citizen Artin Ghazanfari was held without his presence on April 13, 2010. Ghazanfari was arrested on April 10th, 2010, one week after his release on bail.

According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), Ghazanfari suffers from a lung infection caused by medical neglect, and according to his doctor, the infection has now spilled into his blood stream. He became ill in Evin prison during Norooz and was not able to visit the prison doctor because the clinic remained closed for the holidays.
Ghazanfari was held in solitary confinement for two months and was subjected to harsh pressures by his interrogators.
Gazanfari was released on bail on April 2, 2010 and received medical treatment outside prison. On April 10, 2010, one week after his release, Ghazanfari was informed that his release was a mistake and his case needs to be further investigated. However, Ghazanfari was guaranteed that the process would be complete within 48 hours and then he may be released on bail.
Artin Ghazanfari was initially arrested on January 3, 2010, along with twelve other Baha’is. The interrogators have tried to prevent their release despite orders issued by the presiding jud

Shiva Nazar Ahari to Be Tried by Judge Pir-Abassi

RAHANA

The case of Shiva Nazar Ahari, a detained member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), has been assigned to branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court, with judge Pir-Abassi.
Shiva Nazar Ahari was initially arrested on June 14, 2009, shortly after the presidential election. She was released in September 2009 on $200,000 bail. She was arrested again on December 20, 2009.
Close to one year since her initial arrest, the legal proceedings have not yet been completed.
According to CHRR, as a result of Nazar Ahari’s family persistence, the Tehran prosecutor finally ordered to move forward with her case.
Since June 2009, Shiva Nazar Ahari has been detained for a total of 220 days, including 100 days in solitary confinement.

Iran: Workers protests in cities across Iran

NCRI

The Iranian regime's anti-labor policies and widespread expulsion of workers has prompted protests in cities across Iran.

In southern city of Kerman, workers at Nassaji Bafteha textile factory gathered outside the provincial governor's office on Wednesday as part of their protests last week. They have been protesting against their dismissal, the closure of the factory and non-payment of their wages and bonuses. Many of the protesters have been working in the factory for over ten years and the factory owes them thousands of dollars for the years they have provided their services.

In Shiraz, the provincial capital of Fars in southern Iran, about 100 workers at Fars Meat Factory Complex on April 11 staged a gathering outside the factory to protest against their dismissal and press for payment of their pension benefits. The complex had some 1,400 workers that is now shut down.

On the same day in Karaj, near Tehran, 140 workers of Sazmayeh Company who have been dismissed and their status remain uncertain held a gathering across from the company building to protest against its closure.

In Malard, near Karaj, the part-time workers of a pastry factory gathered across from its entrance to protest on Saturday.

Economic bankruptcy, destruction of industries and appalling state of labor force in Iran are among some of the consequences of plundering the wealth of the nation and policies of the Iranian regime. The country’s resources have been wasted on nuclear weapons programs and export of terrorism.

On the eve of International Workers Day, the Iranian Resistance calls on International Labor Organization, workers' unions and workers’ rights’ organizations to condemn the Iranian regime’s anti-labor policies and support the rights of Iranian workers.

Imminent University Professor Maleki: Green personalities ignore unknown student activists rotting in prisons

Professor Maleki , the first University Chair after the 1979 Uprising, former and present political prisoner, who has been spending the last few years in detention in Iranian prisons for not attaching to the present regime, has in an interview announced deep concern over exceptions made by Green Movement head figures in aiding , helping and even Human Right campaigns.

Excerpts of his interview have been translated into English:

"I feel concerned about our youth. Presently there are numerous youth and unknown Student Activists rotting away in prisons with no specific plan to protect them or defend their rights by anyone! No one is doing ANYTHING bout this. !
They are our children, youth of this homeland. What is their crime? The present government is not concerned for them. And I have rarely seen Green Movement activists and known figures defend their rights to the end!
What ARE they TO DO?
They too have studies and lives to attend to! Families are continuously lining outside Evin prison, seeking their beloved ones. THIS is more ailing than my illness!!

"After I came out of prison, I could see that the same things were happening again. There were distinctions:"ours" and those who are not "With us". And that they were merely concerned for those who "were close and with " them. They would only peruse those related to them to be able to come out of prison or get leave. Not the poor students who are not with them or are just activists. Or they would only ask about the famous people or those who have been mentioned in the press!

Interviewer: Mr. Maleki, you seem to be quite critical of Green Movement leaders?

Maleki : I am Very Critical. They are not dispensing the concern any leader would for the youth in prison, and there are a LOT. Especially un-famed student activists, most of them I know and have seen in Prison, who have been falsely charged for 2 to 5 years imprisonment!
They sometimes refer to them but DO NOT take firm steps…

We Are People Too: A Letter by Farzad Kamangar, Imprisoned Teacher Sentenced to Execution

HRANA

The purpose of this letter is not to pinpoint the problems of the Kurds and deny the inequalities that exist among the Baluchis, Turks, Persians, and Arabs. By adopting a sympathetic comradely toward others, one can regard themselves as a religious or ethnic minority, and thereby recognize the pains of others. We are people too.

The Kurdish story is the story of the woman who gets nothing from her matrimony but insults and beatings. When her husband was asked, “You don’t really pay for her expenses nor do you show any love to her, so why do you beat and belittle her every day?” He replied, “If I don’t do this, how will anyone know I’m her husband?”

Now for our story. In Iran’s mainstream political discourse, the words Kurds and Kurdistan unfortunately imply separatism and have anti-revolutionary and anti-security (regional) connotations. It is as though the words Kurds and Kurdistan are uninvited guests and have no affinity with Iran.

The province of Kurdistan has become a breeding ground for certain adversities. The Kurdish people are deprived of many basic economical, social, and cultural rights. Historical underdevelopment in the province has resulted in poverty, unemployment, and disillusionment of the Kurdish people.

Although patriotic and kind Kurds have persistently opted for a peaceful life in Iran and have not asked for anything but their basic rights, the response to their legal demands has been an increase in political and civil imprisonment, exile, and execution. This is a result of existing negative perceptions and common prejudices against the Kurdish people.

The presence of ethnic and racial minorities in Iran and the rest of the world is not a new phenomenon. Ethnic, racial, and cultural plurality in a society can act as a double-edged sword. Under the conditions where a [minority] region is developed and fair and equal social relationships exist, co-habitation of various ethnicities is not only problematic, but it is also culturally enriching for that society. It increases the society’s tolerance and reduces cultural dogmas and narrow-mindedness. Today in the era of globalization, where many societies feel threatened by the shadow of cultural monotony, multiculturalism is a gift that needs to be protected and cherished.

At the same time, under conditions where the leaders of a society do not pay attention to the needs and legitimate rights of minorities, extended [negative] consequences will be inevitable. Perhaps one of the basic rights every Iranian feels entitled to, whether Kurdish or not, is the right to citizenship. This is a right that stands against seclusion and exclusion; two sentiments formed from the influence of tangible realities in daily life: from poverty to the dimming light in a famished child’s eyes; from the embarrassed father with empty pockets to the empty family dinner table; to the pale cheeks and impoverished look of a mother.

Seclusion is formed from the centralist approach and segregates the problems and the needs of the Kurdish people (the marginal population) from those living in the central regions [of the country].

There is no doubt that sentiments of exclusion, seclusion, and self-alienation are not limited to ethnic minorities when issues of underdevelopment and mismanagement are prevalent in society [as a whole]. These feelings affect, more or less, all members of society. However, due to structural inequalities, they have much deeper implications for minorities.

The sentiment of seclusion for all groups results in tension and unrest; especially in the presence of cultural poverty which is a consequence of economic poverty. Why not, even for once, instead of a security approach, we approach the basic problems of the people? This way we can solve the problems once and for all. However, there are other issues.

Is there no civil solution to fight the phenomenon of smuggling goods than to shoot or kill? If a person’s basic financial needs are met, would a young person risk his or her life to smuggle a box of tea or a few rolls of fabric across the border? Along the same double-standard policy, the security-centred approach implemented against Kurdish political and civil prisoners is severe.

[Translator's note: One of the only sources of income for the Kurdish population living near the Iraqi border is smuggling goods into Iran and selling them. The security and military forces shoot, injure and kill many of these impoverished individuals every year].

Even inside prisons, and in regards to punishment, do the Kurds have to still bear the label of ethnic minority and experience dark sentiments of seclusion and exclusion? Is there really a difference between a Kurdish and non-Kurdish prisoner that the former should be deprived of many legal rights such as access to a lawyer, temporary release, reduction in sentence, pardon, or freedom? Why despite recent leniency toward political prisoners of Tehran and some other major cities (I.e. their release, which is a source of great joy and I wish it continues), harsh and strict treatment of Kurdish prisoners persist. Instead of attempts to solve the issues, general policies continue to revolve around suppression and execution.

Unfortunately, some use the geographical location of the province of Kurdistan as a pretext to justify the security-oriented approach. The regime continues with pressures and crackdowns on political and civil prisoners. They also proceed with the occasional execution of prisoners who are essentially hostages or scapegoats rather than prisoners serving a sentence for a crime.

How long will this security-oriented view which has caused adversity and divergence amongst the Kurdish youth continue?

The victimized Kurdish population has chosen the most reasonable method to solve their problems: a non-violent life. Doesn’t the security-oriented approach toward the Kurds and Kurdistan imply that the Kurdish people are separated from Iran and Iranians, and thus have to be treated as non-Iranian citizens? I really wish this does not remain the case, or it can result in violence; a consequence that no sane mind wants to accept.

I hope the [discriminatory] treatment of Kurdish prisoners will end. By extending the same treatment to all prisoners, a necessary step (even if the step is small) will be taken to reduce the problems in this region. I wish the story of the Kurds will not be similar to the story of the woman whose only share of matrimony is the daily abuse she receives from her husband…

Farzad Kamangar

Evin Prison, April 10, 2010

Translation by: Siavosh J. | Persian2English.com

Details on Recent Family Visit with Majid Tavakoli

RAHANA

After a lengthy process by the judiciary, Majid Tavajoli’s family was finally able to visit him in prison.

During the visit, Majid Tavakoli told his family that, despite having made repeated requests in writing to the prison and judicial authorities, he is still being denied his rights, including the right to make phone calls. The student activist also voiced a strong objection to his unlawful and ongoing confinement in solitary confinement.

According to a RAHANA reporter, prison officials refused to accept clothing and other personal items brought by Tavakoli’s family.

Majid Tavakoli was arrested on December 7, 2009 (Student Day) after giving a speech at Amir Kabir University. Of the 130 days of detention leading up to his trial, the student activist was held in solitary confinement for 120 days. Now, three months after his trial, and despite having been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, Tavakoli is still being illegally held in solitary confinement in ward 240 of Evin prison. He is not allowed to make phone calls and is denied access to newspapers, books, and papers and pens.

According to Majid Tavakoli’s lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, he and his client have prepared the appeal arguments they plan to present to court.

According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, given that Tavakoli was not represented by a lawyer during his first trial, his lawyer hopes the Supreme Administrative Court will order a new trial.

The lawyer also objected to the disregard by judicial authorities of the Constitution – Article 35 in particular – which sets the presence of a lawyer as a precondition for all court hearings.

At the end of Tavakoli’s first trial that took place at branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, he was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, a five-year ban from political activities, and a five-year ban from traveling abroad.

Translation by: RAHANA | Persian2English.com

Iraqi forces attack Ashraf residents in support of Iranian regime’s agents

Freedom Messenger



Resistance warns against mullahs’ plots and demands protection of Ashraf residents by the United Nations and guarantees of the United States

On Thursday evening, at about 23:30 local time, in a failed attempt, Iraqi forces attacked Ashraf residents and tried to overtake some of installations inside the camp. The assault took place in support of the agents of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the terrorist Quds Force stationed at the entrance of Ashraf for the past 66 days.

The agents, with full support of the Iraqi army battalion and the clerical regime’s embassy in Baghdad, have been psychologically torturing the residents of Ashraf. Using high powered amplifiers and loudspeakers they have been threatening to “set fire” and “close down” Ashraf and “kill” PMOI members residing in the camp and to “pull their tongues out of their throats.” The agents have been disrupting peace for the camp residents. Video clips and pictures of these agents have been regularly provided to the international bodies as well as the American forces and relevant US authorities.

At about mid-night Thursday evening, while agents were screaming abusive rhetoric in their loudspeakers as did previous nights, an Iraqi colonel and a captain by the names of Ali and Jawad entered the camp and said that the loudspeakers by the Ashraf residents should be turned off under the orders of the Iraqi government to allow the voice of the loudspeakers of the regime agents be heard. In an attempt to neutralize the disturbing screaming of agents, Ashraf residents were playing music at some of the their buildings.

The Iraqi colonel threatened that if the residents’ loudspeakers were not turned off in 10 minutes, the Iraqi forces, under the orders of the government, would enter the camp and take over the buildings at the entrance of the camp by force. But the residents said that their music would be turned off provided that the agents turned off their loudspeakers that had been disturbing and depriving them from getting rest and sleep. The loudspeakers have been provided by the Iraqi forces to the agents. The Iraqi forces brazenly said that the government had ordered that the agents are free to say anything they want on their loudspeakers but the residents of Ashraf are not allowed to do the same… In the meantime a large number of Iraqi forces and at least five Humvee military vehicles were deployed at the entrance of the camp.

When the Iraqi forces faced with Ashraf residents’ defiance who refused to give in to their intimidation and unlawful behavior and threats to shoot and kill, they started attacking the residents with electric batons and iron bars. Five Ashraf residents were wounded in the attack. Their names are: Karim Gomasai, Mehdi Abdulrahimi, Azim Mish Mast, Rahim Sohrabi and Khaled Shah Karami. They were taken to hospital for treatment.

The Iraqi suppressive forces also attacked a woman resident of Ashraf in a bid to take her hostage, but failed when faced with her resistance and protests by other residents. The assailant forces were trying to take some residents hostage as they did in their attacks last July but they failed. At around 3:00 a.m. this morning, the suppressive forces who had entered the camp with their truncheons and batons were forced out as a result of protests by the residents.

The Iranian Resistance reiterates that the events of last night showed once again that the Iranian regime and the Iraqi government are determined to suppress and destroy Ashraf and draws the attention of the United Nations Secretary General, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Iraq and the US officials and military commanders to the ongoing tragedy in Ashraf. It also strongly demands the United Nations to assume protection of Ashraf residents and calls on the US forces to guarantee the protection as it had committed itself to at the time when it disarmed the residents.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 16, 2010

Kurd political activist sentenced to 2 years and 4 months of prison

Kurdistan Human Rights Watch News Agency

The prison sentence for Mohammad Qavami, a political activist who was sentenced to two years and four months of prison by the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj was finalized. He was charged with having links to a Kurd Party and damaging the territorial integrity of (the country).

This sentence was upheld by the fourth branch of the Kurdistan Court of Review.

Border security forces shoot and kill young Kurd man

Iran Press News Website

A young man identified as Khebat Ahmadi was shot and killed today by security forces in the Marivan border region.

Family of slain protester harassed and threatened by Iran officials

Rooz Online Website
Pictures from Archive

Nima Namdari, nephew of slain protester Behzad Mohajer who was shot on June 15, 2009 in post election protests said, "The interrogator (on his) case has advised us not to continue (to pursue) his case saying that the main reason is because many officials believe that (the slain protesters) are mahdorodam (religious decree meaning that it is acceptable to kill that person or even necessary to kill that person) and that they are being too kind already in paying a blood money for them".

Behzad Mohajer disappeared after making a short phone call with his family during the June 15 protests and his body was returned to his family 40 days later with a bullet in his left chest.

"It seems that they have threatened Mr. Mohajer's family. As far as I know, Mr. Mohajer's sister was summoned to the intelligence agency. My mother was also summoned to the Hamedan Intelligence Agency several times and she was also threatened over the phone", he added.

Dozens of prisoners taken to infirmary after consuming polluted prison water

Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran

According to reports, in the course of yesterday and today, dozens of political and ordinary prisoners who were in critical condition after consuming polluted water were taken to the infirmary in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj.

On Wednesday April 14 about 15 prisoners were taken to the infirmary. They include political prisoner Afshin Baimani and prisoner Reza Pourhassan. Until Thursday afternoon, more than 20 prisoners from cellblock 1 in this prison were taken to the infirmary including prisoner Akbar Shahbazi. According to reports, the same conditions exist in cellblocks 2, 5, 6 and the women's section.

Prisoners suffer from side effects such as diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, fatigue and weakness and subsequently lose their ability to move shortly after drinking the polluted prison water.

Women's rights activist, Mahboubeh Karami, in poor physical health in prison

Human Rights Activists in Iran
Mahboubeh Karami, a human rights and women's rights activist and a former colleague of the Human Rights Activists in Iran is in poor mental and physical health in cellblock 2A in Evin prison.

Karami who was arrested on March 2, 2010 by the Revolutionary Guards Forces Intelligence Department is suffering from influenza and has not received proper treatment.

She is also under mental pressure because she recently lost her mother and her father is in very critical condition. Interrogators have threatened that they will extend her detention order to put her under pressure and force her to give televised confessions.

This is while her detention order will expire on May 1, 2010 and her case has to be referred to the Revolutionary Court for a bail order because her interrogations have ended.

Iranian regime expels 14-year-old daughter of jailed human rights activist from school

Human Rights Activists in Iran

On Saturday, April 10, 2010, the principal of the Norolhoda School for Gifted Students in Bandar Abas gathered the students and asked them to cut off their relations with Athena Bahmani, the 14 year-old daughter of jailed human rights activist Sama Bahmani.

The principal of the school made accusations against the Bahmani family and Sama Bahmani.

In a phone call by the Bahmani family to the school principal to object this issue, the head of the school said that this was done on the request of higher officials and said that because she interfered in this issue, Athena has been permitted to take her finals exams without participating in any classes and after that, despite the fact that she has excelled in this school in the past three years, she will be expelled

Eftekhar Barzegarian,student activist's health deteriorates in prison; denied treatment

Human Rights Activists in Iran

Eftekhar Barzegarian, a jailed student activist from the Firdosi University in Mashhad who has been detained since September 2009 is suffering from serious illnesses and constantly vomits blood on a daily basis.

Refusing the medical advise of the prison infirmary to put more pressure on this student activist, the Protection Department of the Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad has barred him from receiving medicine in the past few days and has prevented him from sleeping on a bed.

Despite the fact that his interrogations ended last October and a bail for his release was provided by his friends, this student activist is still illegally detained in this prison

Iraqi forces attack Ashraf residents in support of Iranian regime's agents

Source : NCRI

Weeks prior to 1 May protests in Iran, once again the Regime tries its outburst of propagated attack to curb protests in Iran by trying to attack an opposition Camp in Iraq.

From a statement issued by NCRI to explain the issue in detail:

Iranian Resistance warns against mullahs’ plots and demands protection of Ashraf residents by the United Nations and guarantees of the United States

NCRI - On Thursday evening, at about 23:30 local time, in a failed attempt, Iraqi forces attacked Ashraf residents and tried to overtake some of installations inside the camp. The assault took place in support of the agents of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the terrorist Quds Force stationed at the entrance of Ashraf for the past 66 days.

The agents, with full support of the Iraqi army battalion and the clerical regime’s embassy in Baghdad, have been psychologically torturing the residents of Ashraf. Using high powered amplifiers and loudspeakers they have been threatening to “set fire” and “close down” Ashraf and “kill” PMOI members residing in the camp and to “pull their tongues out of their throats.” The agents have been disrupting peace for the camp residents. Video clips and pictures of these agents have been regularly provided to the international bodies as well as the American forces and relevant US authorities.

At about mid-night Thursday evening, while agents were screaming abusive rhetoric in their loudspeakers as did previous nights, an Iraqi colonel and a captain by the names of Ali and Jawad entered the camp and said that the loudspeakers by the Ashraf residents should be turned off under the orders of the Iraqi government to allow the voice of the loudspeakers of the regime agents be heard. In an attempt to neutralize the disturbing screaming of agents, Ashraf residents were playing music at some of the their buildings.

The Iraqi colonel threatened that if the residents’ loudspeakers were not turned off in 10 minutes, the Iraqi forces, under the orders of the government, would enter the camp and take over the buildings at the entrance of the camp by force. But the residents said that their music would be turned off provided that the agents turned off their loudspeakers that had been disturbing and depriving them from getting rest and sleep. The loudspeakers have been provided by the Iraqi forces to the agents. The Iraqi forces brazenly said that the government had ordered that the agents are free to say anything they want on their loudspeakers but the residents of Ashraf are not allowed to do the same… In the meantime a large number of Iraqi forces and at least five Humvee military vehicles were deployed at the entrance of the camp.

When the Iraqi forces faced with Ashraf residents’ defiance who refused to give in to their intimidation and unlawful behavior and threats to shoot and kill, they started attacking the residents with electric batons and iron bars. Five Ashraf residents were wounded in the attack. Their names are: Karim Gomasai, Mehdi Abdulrahimi, Azim Mish Mast, Rahim Sohrabi and Khaled Shah Karami. They were taken to hospital for treatment.

The Iraqi suppressive forces also attacked a woman resident of Ashraf in a bid to take her hostage, but failed when faced with her resistance and protests by other residents. The assailant forces were trying to take some residents hostage as they did in their attacks last July but they failed. At around 3:00 a.m. this morning, the suppressive forces who had entered the camp with their truncheons and batons were forced out as a result of protests by the residents.

The Iranian Resistance reiterates that the events of last night showed once again that the Iranian regime and the Iraqi government are determined to suppress and destroy Ashraf and draws the attention of the United Nations Secretary General, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Iraq and the US officials and military commanders to the ongoing tragedy in Ashraf. It also strongly demands the United Nations to assume protection of Ashraf residents and calls on the US forces to guarantee the protection as it had committed itself to at the time when it disarmed the residents.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 16, 2010

Man sentenced to two years of prison for going to park

Human Rights Activists in Iran
Hashem Khastar, a retired teacher from Mashhad who was sentenced to six years of prison by a court of first instance was sentenced to two years of prison by a court of review.
Sediqeh Maleki Far, his wife said, "On June 15, 2009 he was walking in the park when a Bassij came and told my husband to come with him and they arrested him in this way".
"His only crime was being in the park. Later, when they saw that they could not pin any charges on him, they said he was in Mir Hossein Moussavi's election staff", she added.
Prison officials did not give Khastar a new year leave despite his unsuitable health in prison.

Iranian regime to Islamize uniforms of female university student

Shahrzad News state-run website

After announcements on designing uniforms for students, especially for female students, and the issuing of regulations in this regard for the near future, the Cultural Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education stressed on the execution of this plan.
"Universities have to move in the direction of the Iranian Islamic culture", he said.
"We will carry out plans on the issues of the Islamic covering, chastity and the appearance of (university) students", he stressed.

Young couple kept in solitary confinement for more than 40 days

Human Rights Activists in Iran

Morad Hassan Lu and Nafiseh Mojtahedi, two human rights activists are still kept in solitary confinement more than 40 days after their arrest.
This couple who used to work with the Human Rights Activists in Iran were arrested on March 6, 2010 and taken to solitary cells in cellblock 2A in Evin Prison. They are still kept in these solitary cells. They have a small child.

Protester sentenced to two years of prison

Committee of Human Rights Reporters

Hossein Vahed charged with participating in the events of Ashura (December 27, 2009) was sentenced to two years of prison.
This prisoner, who is a master's degree student of management at Kashan University is in Evin Prison's cellblock 350 and has not been able to obtain a furlough from prison. His two year prison sentence was recently issued because he participated in the 'Ashura seditions'.
On Ashura and the days after that, a large number of citizens were arrested on bogus charges such as participating in the seditions and jailed and have received prison terms. Many of these people are in cellblock 350 in Evin Prison.

Anonymous Prisoners and the Charge of Relations with PMOI

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

During the post-elections arrests of 2009, tens of those arrested were citizens who did not belong to any groups or political parties, or whose names were never mentioned in a social and political context.
These prisoners remain in detention anonymously and their families’ efforts to learn about their circumstances have rendered fruitless. One of these individuals is a man by the name of Parviz Varmarzyari who was arrested during the Ashura Day Protests (December 27, 2009).
Though he was arrested more than three months ago, he has not been informed of his charges, nor have there been any courts convened for his trial. He is one of the prisoners spending time in Ministry of Intelligence’s Ward 209 at Evin Prison.
A human rights source told International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the 55-year-old man had not had any political activities in the past, but that the Ministry of Intelligence agents have been trying to charge him with “relations with Mojahedeen Khalgh Organization (PMOI).
Apparently his son is at Camp Ashraf in Iraq and Varmarzyari’s continued detention in prison is related to this.
The mentioned source said that Varmazyari’s family and lawyer’s visits to security and judicial organizations to find out the reason for his arrest have been fruitless so far.
Over the past few months, some of the detainees have faced the charge of relations with Mojahedeen Khalgh Organization, even though in most cases they have denied such relations.
Even though those in charge of the cases do not have any evidence to support these charges, their efforts to find the detainees guilty for these relations continue.

Intelligence officials prevent young political prisoner from receiving much needed medical treatment

Human Rights Activists in Iran

Agents of the Babol Intelligence Agency have prevented the transfer of Iman Sediqi, jailed student of Noushirvani University in Babol, to the hospital. He is in critical condition.
After initial checks by medics in the Mati Kalay Prison in Babol, he was to be transferred to hospital because of the deterioration of his condition, but this decision was met with opposition from the Intelligence Agency.
According to this report, he is in critical condition because of pressures by his interrogators and the intelligence agency has prevented prison officials from transferring him to hospital.
Sediqi also suffers from allergies.

Prisoner held in horridly inhumane condition in solitary for 25 months

Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran

According to reports, Daryoush Arjmand, has been kept in a solitary cell in cellblock 1 in Gohardasht Prison known as the 'Doghouse' for months.
Daryoush Arjmand, 40, who has been sentenced to 19 years of prison, has been kept in this cell for close to 25 months. He was taken to solitary for clashing with the prison deputy officer, Mansouri, who died a few months ago outside of prison over a financial issue, and is kept in medieval conditions in this cell.
He is deprived of a natural source of light and even a lamp in his cell. He is forced to go to the bathroom and bathe in his cell even while his cell is very small and does not have a toilet or showering facilities. Mr. Arjmand also has many cuts and bruises on his body but is not taken to the infirmary for treatment and is not even given the necessary items to bandage his wounds. He is also deprived of proper clothing and his current clothes are ripped and worn out. The foul odor that comes from his cell bothers other prisoners detained in solitary cells in this block. He is also only given enough food to live on.
Mr. Arjmand has attempted suicide several times and in the last instance, was left in that state for a few hours before other prisoners protested which saved his life.
A political prisoner informed a person who visited the prison as an inspector about the condition of this prisoner and asked him to go see this prisoner to witness his horrid and unimaginable condition for himself but the inspector argued that this prisoner had aids and was dangerous and did not visit his cell.

Iranian regime hangs three men Babolsar

Human Rights Activists in Iran

Three people were hanged in the morning in the province of Mazandaran.
According to this report, they were A.A, 24 years old from Babolsar, M.V, 25 from Qaemshahr and 30 year old A.T from Fereidoun Kenar.
According to the state-run Fars Daily, they were charged with rape and immoral conduct.
They were hanged in public in the Imam Ali Square in Babolsar.

Iranian regime hangs one man, amputates limbs of another

AFP
Iran has publicly hanged a man and amputated the limbs of another for armed robbery in the southern town of Mahshahr, the government newspaper Iran reported on Wednesday.
The two along with a third man had resorted to hijacking trucks and stealing their shipments, the report said.
The man executed on Tuesday in a public square in Mahshahr was identified only by his first name, Adnan.
'The amputation of a hand and leg of the other member of the group was carried out in prison,' Mahshahr prosecutor Reza Abolhasani told the paper without giving further details.

FIfa disagreed with Women's soccer team with imposed hijab

Mehr news

For the second time, Fofi , responsible for the youth soccer to be held in Singapour , dismissed presence of Iranian women team who have enforced Hijab.
In a meeting with its Iranian counter parts, FIFA representatives rejected Iranian allegations that they are being co-sponsored by anti-Iranian States, reiterated that decisions taken by this Federation is completely independent of Political tendencies.

Ghader Rahimi, protester sentenced to prison

HERANA

Ghader Rahimi participated in the after election protests and for this he was charged guilty and sentenced to One year imprisonment!

According to news, Ghader Rahaimi and Morteza Layeghi, 2 protesters of the post election campaigns were taken to court after several months of uncertainty in Evin Prison.

They were taken part in a staged Court, monitored by Judge Salavati (himself responsible for hundreds of deaths during the massacre of the political prisoners in 1987)

Ghader Rahimi was sentenced to imprisonment in absence.

How the Iraq elections affect Iran's plans for dominating the region

By: Shahriar Kia

Source: Familysecuritymatters.org

The recent Iraqi parliamentary elections were of tremendous importance. However, the main outcome should be sought through the development of the Iraqi political society and the shift in the balance of power in Iran and in Iraq.

The recent polls and the democratic-nationalist forces triumph delivered a severe setback to the Iranian regime’s political ambitions in Iraq.On April 11, 2010, David Ignatius, writing for the Washington Post quoted Vice President Biden and wrote that: "Iran's covert bid for influence there had been 'clobbered' and that Baghdad appears headed toward an "inclusive" coalition government.

As for Iran's bid for influence, Biden was emphatic in arguing that it had failed. He disclosed that Tehran had spent up to $100 million to back the Shiite religious parties and subvert the Iraqiya bloc, a secular Sunni-Shiite alliance headed by Ayad Allawi. "

The mullahs’ rule in Iran, under the velayat-faqih, has guaranteed its survival in the past three decades through severe suppression of the Iranian people, the export of terrorism and fundamentalism to Iraq and other Islamic countries of the region. Due to the cultural and Shiite religious characteristics of Iraq’s society, and the presence of numerous Shiite holy shrines in this country, political developments and the recent election results, meaning which coalition will form the future government in Iraq, has strategic values for the Iranian regime The defeat of the Iranian-backed parties in Iraq’s elections literally poses grave threat to the very existence of the Iranian regime. The Iranian regime, using its past experience, initiated wide range tactics to change the Iraqi parliamentary results in favor of parties bowing to its policies. Part of this plan started with eliminating and assassinating nationalist figures and movements that stood against the Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq. In this trend, the Iranian regime continued its malevolent campaign by successively graduating fraud, coming from three decades of experience in Iran.

Iraq is the Mullahs’ Springboard to Dominate the Region

During the days when Khomeini assumed power in Iran in 1979, ascendency over Iraq has been one of Khomeini and his followers' main tasks of order. “Quds (Jerusalem) through Karbala,” announced by Khomeini during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s clearly outlined the mullahs’ strategy. Senior Iranian regime officials have reiterated time and time again that the Iranian regime has set up its frontline in Iraq, and Lebanon and Palestine constitute the “strategic depth” of their rule. For this reason, Iraq is the scene of a strategic confrontation between Tehran and the international community. The Iranian regime's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in August 28 of last year that U.S. power in Iraq is rapidly diminishing. He went on to say that Iran, with the help of regional friends and the Iraqi nation, is ready to fill the vacuum.

The U.S. led occupation of Iraq in 2003 procured a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the mullahs’ hidden occupation of Iraq. Following the fall of the previous Iraqi government, all security, intelligence, military and political institutions were dismantled and the grounds for the Iranian regime’s infiltration of Iraq were set. The Iranian regime played a major role in directing the annihilation of these governmental bodies. Parties affiliated to the Iranian regime, trained and nurtured alongside the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Iran, were instead infiltrated to newly-formed institutes in Iraq as political opposition forces.

Taking advantage of the U.S. led forces’ inexperience and lack of knowledge regarding Iraqi history and culture, they took control of the political power in this country. In 2005, the Iranian Resistance revealed a list of 32,000 terrorist Quds Force agents of the Iranian regime, holding high posts in government and non-government organizations of Iraq, even in the Prime Minister’s Office. This confidential list included monthly salaries of agents in Iraq received directly from the IRGC and even their bank account numbers. Also, hundreds of front organizations and front foundations, under the guise of religious and cultural tasks for reconstruction of Iraq, were established in Iraq by the Quds Froce and the IRGC. Millions of dollars were invested in these plans, all with the aim of providing weapons and logistic support for terrorist groups, inflaming sectarian violence, assassinating Iranian regime opponents in Iraq and exporting weapons and explosives to this country.

With the passage of time Iraq's geopolitical status in the overall political spectrum was felt more than ever for all bodies involved in the war against terrorism. Although, with a deadline for the U.S. forces’ complete pull out from Iraq on the horizon, the future of Iraq has become an issue of utmost geopolitical importance for the Iranian regime as well.

Suppression of Mojahedin of Camp Ashraf – Sole Condition for Supporting Political Parties in Iraq

The main demand by Iranian regime in any negotiations with Iraqi political parties was and is the suppression, expulsion and or deportation of Mojahedin members from Camp Ashraf in return to be supported for their elections. This was demand by all senior Iranian officials with Iraqi counterparts during numerous visits in the past year.

On February 28, 2009, Khamenei, the mullahs’ highest ranking official, openly mentioned a mutual agreement in his meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talebani in Tehran, intending to mainly remind Maleki, and demanded the suppression of Ashraf residents.

Therefore, a committee under the direct eye of Maleki was established to fulfill this demand. This committee, working in complete cooperation with the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, placed Muwaffaq al- Rubaiee in charge of fulfilling the mutual agreement in order to “make life intolerable for the residents of Ashraf.” A full siege, denying fuel, medicine, and food rations to Ashraf began, leading to the vicious attacks and killings of defenseless Ashraf residents on July 28th and 29th under direct orders of Maleki.

These heinous crimes, which left 11 dead, over 1,000 beaten and injured, and 36 Ashraf residents kidnapped, were part of the Khamenei-Maleki mutual agreement for a second firm in office as Iraqi Prime Minister.

However, even with all these efforts, due to widespread international campaigning and endless efforts against the mutual anti-humane acts of the Iranian regime and Maleki, against Ashraf on one hand, and the perseverance of the residents of Ashraf on the other, these conspiracies have been futile so far and the chances of fulfilling Khamenei-Maleki’s mutual scheme is incomplete.

Iraqi Alternative the Prevailing Iranian Alternative Today in Iraq, two alternatives are facing off: the Iraqi nationalist alternative vis-à-vis the Iranian alternative aiming to engulf Iraq. The major problem facing the Iraqi society is the undeniable hidden occupation of this country by the Iranian regime, and the Iraqi people and its nationalist forces first priority is to form an Iraqi alternative to stand against the dominance of the mullahs’ regime in their country.

The main priority in Iraq’s society becoming clear will bolster the establishment of an alternative uniting Iraqi democratic and nationalist forces. The Iranian regime’s severe setback in Iraq’s elections delivered a strong message to the entire Middle East region.

The victory of the Iraqi nationalist forces, under the umbrella of opposing the Iranian regime and its meddling in their country will shift the political balance power not only in Iraq, but the region as a whole and the future political spectrum will lead to peace and stability.

Therefore, the Iranian regime, with a new wave of deadly explosions in Iraq, is attempting to prevent the formation of a democratic-nationalist alliance in this country. Solution Political awareness taken up by the West and especially Arab countries regarding the current faltering status of the Iranian regime due to defeat in the Iraqi elections, national uprising inside the country and international sanctions, will secure the needed grounds to adopt a firm decision to enforce harsh international sanctions invigorate the Iraqi nationalist alliance and support the Iranian people’s uprising and their resistance against the mullahs’ regime, in the path of democratic change in Iran.

For the past seven years, all Iraqi patriots and anyone who is striving for security and stability in Iraq have recognized the importance of PMOI/MEK’s presence in Iraq as the antithesis of the Iranian mullahs. Ayad Jamaluddin, Iraqi MP and prominent Shiite cleric said: “If Iran doesn’t end its interference in our affairs, we shall activate the PMOI, yet refraining them from military operation.

However, we shall provide grounds for their political and media freedoms, and this is not against Iraq’s constitution.” He went on to insist, “Any force that pushes to expel the PMOI from Iraq, signals the indication that it is organically tied to Iran. (Al-Baghdadia TV, March 8, 2009) Of the barriers confronting change in Iran and the end of the mullahs’ “Islamic Empire” ambitions in the region are the West’s appeasement policy on this regime and restrictions enforced on Ashraf, under the unjustified pretext of the terrorist labeling of the PMOI. The grounds for legitimizing the Iranian regime and not adopting a firm policy against it will have irrecoverable consequences for world peace. FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Shahriar Kia is a member of the PMOI in Ashraf.

Iran's brutality: Women and children first

by James Zumwalt

Source: Human Events

Following World War II, much was written about Western democracies ignoring the aggression of rogue states Germany and Japan—opting for appeasement—until such aggression could no longer be tolerated. The question repeatedly asked is why warning signs went unheeded. At some future time, historians of another generation will ask the same question in the aftermath of a nuclear attack by a 21st Century rogue state.

While timing is in question, it is clear Iran eventually will possess a nuclear weapon. If allowed to do so, there is no doubt in this historian’s mind that Iran’s president and resident madman, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will use it.
There are warning signs we have received and, like our pre-World War II leaders, have ignored. But even more telling is evidence of violence perpetrated upon two groups of his own people—groups Western culture has long regarded as deserving special protection: women and children.

During the eight year Iran-Iraq war, Tehran very quickly learned its army was no match for Iraq’s. When Iraqi minefields began claiming Iranian soldiers, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini concocted a scheme to reduce these losses. He encouraged Iranian children to volunteer for a special force known as the Basiji. Lightly armed but more often unarmed to avoid the loss of weapons, the Basiji were trained to form human waves to march through Iraqi minefields towards the enemy. This process—through the sheer loss of numbers of children—eventually cleared a minefield, providing Iran’s professional soldiers an unencumbered approach route to Iraqi defenses.

Most of these children were illiterate and from poor families in the countryside. Often, their only asset prior to enthusiastically sacrificing their lives was a plastic key given to each young martyr—told by his Basiji trainer, it was to open the gates of paradise in the afterlife.

Khomeini ordered 500,000 plastic keys from Taiwan for this purpose. During the war, he sent 450,000 children to the front. This “man of the cloth” undoubtedly found it more wasteful to have ordered 50,000 extra keys than to have ordered tens of thousands of innocent children to their deaths.

Islamic extremist logic came into play during the war when some believers became concerned the childrens’ bodies were either being vaporized by the mines or body parts were being strewn about the battlefield. Not to be deterred by these concerns, the logic applied was the children were instructed to wrap themselves in blankets beforehand so their bodies would remain intact!
One of the Basiji trainers was a young Islamic extremist now serving as Iran’s president.

Because of this special relationship between the Basiji and Ahmadinejad, the former was brought in by the latter to take an aggressive role in suppressing protests in Iran following Ahmadinejad’s theft of office in the rigged 2009 election.

It is Ahmadinejad who now oversees another egregious policy—this one aimed at unmarried women he seeks to execute. Under Islam, it is forbidden to execute female virgins. The arrests, trials and ordered executions of female reform activists has created a problem. Due to Islam’s prohibition against executing virgins, if a woman is unmarried, steps have to be taken to cure this—but without violating Islam’s prohibition against unmarried sex. To circumvent both prohibitions, the female convict is drugged and a sham marriage performed with a prison guard who then brutally rapes her. A witness to this brutal act sneared, “I could tell that the girls were more afraid of their ‘wedding’ night than of the execution that awaited them in the morning.” Video evidence of this atrocity has recently been smuggled out of Iran.

President Obama expressed confidence he would succeed in enticing Iran’s leadership away from their nuclear arms ambitions by extending an olive branch. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN—for this regime is incapable of reason! An unabated Iran will only result in a future generation of historians one day asking how Obama could have been so naïve about Ahmadinejad’s intentions. They will wonder, aware of Ahmadinejad’s brutality towards Iranian women and children, how Americans could have failed to have foreseen the fate awaiting them once he acquired nuclear weapons.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------James Zumwalt, a Marine veteran of the Vietnam and Gulf wars who writes often on national security and defense issues, is the author of "Bare Feet, Iron Will: Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam's Battlefields" (found at: http://www.jgzumwalt.com/).

POLL: Iranian regime is the biggest threat to global security

STEWART and PARTNERS today released the latest edition of its America's Point of View (APOV) Survey which reports 40% of Americans identifying Iran under the mullahs rule as the country that poses the greatest threat to global security.
"This marks a significant shift in U.S. public opinion over the last nine months, when the June 2009 APOV Survey found Americans most likely to point to North Korea (44%) as the country posing the greatest threat to global security, doubling those who cited Iran (22%) at that time," the statement by STEWART and PARTNERS said.
"June 2009 marked the height of North Korea's long-range missile tests, and things seemed to have quieted down after the two American journalists were released from that country in August," said William Stewart, President, STEWART and PARTNERS.
"Since his questionable re-election around the same time period, Ahmadinejad's words and actions have earned Iran the distinction of being public enemy number one in the eyes of the American people," he added.
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Women Campaign Activists Visit Family of Mahboubeh Karami

Source : Change for Equality:

Some of the activists in the One Million Signatures Campaign paid the family of Mahboubeh Karami a visit on Friday April 9, 2010. Mahboubeh was arrested on March 2. Since her arrest she has only been allowed a visit with her family. She has been in solitary confinement the entire time of her detention.

Last year, on her way to visit the family of the late Dr. Zahra Baniyaghoub, along with several other women’s rights activists on the occasion of the New Year, Mahboubeh was arrested. She was only released a few hours prior to her mother’s passing. The 9th of April marks the one year anniversary of her mother’s passing. Mahboubeh was able to contact her family for the second time since her detention in March 2010. She expressed regret about not being able to be with her family for the one year anniversary of her mother’s passing and was upset that she was not able to participate in the customary mourning ceremonies. She also informed her family that she was facing charges of “participating in illegal protests and membership in the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.” Still, according to Mahboubeh, her interrogations are ongoing.

Approach of 1 May brings unprecedented scale of expulsion of workers across Iran

While the Iranian opposition has called for presence of workers and students on the 1 May march, expulsion of workers from factories and state and private companies has been escalating in the past month

Source : NCRI

In Tehran, some 400 workers were expelled from Sasan Soft Drink Company without giving any reasons and bonus. Tehran’s Metro Company expelled 50 workers with at least five years of experience. Iran Khodro Car Company expelled 40 of its cooks with two years experience and Titan Company, producer of monitors, expelled 30 workers with five years experience. Pardisan Housing Complex affiliated to Larijani (Speaker of mullahs’ parliament) family expelled 20 and Sang Karan Company expelled 40 with 10 years experience.
In Khoramshahr, Khoram-Noush Soft Drink Company, one of the major soft drink companies in Iran, closed down and laid off all its workers. This factory belongs to Qom Islamic Propaganda Bureau, one of the bodies responsible for export of terrorism.
In Ahwaz, about 150 workers at Ahwaz Pipe Mills were dismissed after their return from New Year’s holidays without getting their end of the year bonuses. They have not been paid their salaries in the past 15 months. They have staged protests in front of the governors office on a number of occasions in recent weeks but the regime’s authorities refuse to respond to their enquiries.
In Tabriz, 49 workers in Tavakoli Match Company have been dismissed. Out of 400 workers in this company only 130 are working.
In Qazvin, most of factories in the industrial township are closed. Workers in Alborz China factory have not been paid in the past seven months and the authorities refuse to respond to their enquiries.
In Rasht, some 100 workers have been laid off in Iran Barak Company. Parnian Morgh Company has sacked 15 workers following their complaints against work-place conditions and non-payment of their salaries and bonuses. The workers are forced to work 14 hours a day without receiving any overtime payment. The management of the company refuses to insure the workers after a year of employment in the factory.
In Kerman, 100 workers in the city’s Bafteh-ha Textile Company have lost their jobs in recent days.
On the brink of the International Workers' Day, the Iranian Resistance calls on the International Labor Organization (ILO) and all trade unions and organizations defending the rights of workers across the world to defend the rights of the Iranian workers and condemn the clerical regime’s anti-labor and suppressive policies.
The regime has turned the life impossible for workers by plundering the nation’s wealth and wasting them on nuclear weapons program and export of terrorism and filling bank accounts of the ruling clerics as well as the members of the Revolutionary Guards. The only way out for the oppressed Iranian workers and toilers from the current miserable situation and extreme poverty is to overthrow the inhumane and anti-Iranian regime and establish a democratic and popular rule in Iran.

Barbaric punishment of limb amputation continue

NCRI

Arm and leg of a prisoner amputated in the southern city of Mahshahr accused of rubbery, Fars state-run news agency reported on April 12.
The General and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Mahshahr was quoted by the news agency saying that the man was arrested, tried, sentenced to amputation of his arm and leg and the sentence was carried out in prison. The report does not give the name of the prisoner and only refers to him as an accomplice to another prisoner who had been sentenced to death in the same prison.

EP Vice president writes :"Iran's ticking bomb"

Solana, Straw, Fischer, and de Villepin have a lot to answer for since their policy bought Tehran crucial time

By ALEJO VIDAL-QUADRAS

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted last week that the regime would install 60,000 new, "third-generation" centrifuges to enrich uranium. As world leaders met in Washington this week to discuss how to prevent nuclear terrorism, there was little doubt that time is running out to deal with Iran's nuclear weapons threat.

It is now eight years since the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran blew the lid on the mullahs' secret atom program and disclosed the existence of a uranium enrichment plant in Natanz and a heavy water plant for the production of plutonium in Arak. The NCRI also blew the whistle on the secret enrichment site in Qom back in 2005, a fact that was confirmed by world powers only last September. And yet, during all that time, Tehran has been allowed to make steady progress toward developing nuclear weapons.

Iran has had a lot of help along the way from what can only be described as appeasing policymakers who offered concessions and incentives, while telling the world that they could get the regime to change its behavior. And the regime did change its behavior: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei replaced the supposedly moderate President Mohammad Khatami with the fanatical Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while Iranian officials continuously vowed not to back down one "iota" from their nuclear projects.

Regrettably, the European Union was one of the main culprits in facilitating Iran's nuclear progress. Particularly the EU's former high representative for foreign policy, Javier Solana, as well as the former British, French and German foreign ministers—Jack Straw, Dominique de Villepin and Joschka Fischer—have a lot to answer for. It was they who devised this policy of "constructive engagement" and thus bought the regime many of the eight years they have had to advance their nuclear program.

The most popular excuse for the failure of their Iran policy was that U.S. reluctance to negotiate directly with Iran supposedly prevented a breakthrough with the mullahs. When President Obama took office, there was much hope in Europe. Last year, he extended his hand to the Iranian leadership and set a number of deadlines for a negotiated settlement of the dispute.

Iran, though, quickly repelled Mr. Obama's hand. The President's deadlines came and went without any Iranian "engagement." Now it was Washington that bought the regime additional time. The White House failed to quickly gather a coalition of the willing to implement the "biting" sanctions it had threatened. Instead, more than three months after the end of the last deadline the U.S. administration had set, "biting" sanctions are not even on the horizon. At best we can expect that after weeks of haggling in the United Nations Security Council, there will eventually be much watered-down sanctions that won't be able to stop Tehran.

Engagement with Iran has been based on the false premise that the mullahs would respond to carrots and somehow act in Iran's national interest. In diplomacy, there is only one thing more dangerous than failing to respond firmly to threats to international security, and that is threatening to respond firmly, but failing to follow through. The Iranian regime knows now, if it had any doubts before, that the international community lacks the courage or conviction to confront its nuclear program. One reason why our leaders pursued a policy of appeasement toward Iran over the past decade was that they argued, falsely, that the only alternative was a military attack on Iran. Biting sanctions, though, could have and still could work. Of course, a military confrontation with Iran would be devastating for its 70 million people. But allowing the regime to gain weapons of mass destruction could in the end be even more devastating for Iran and the entire region if it triggered a wider war. Engaging the mullahs only had the effect of legitimizing them and extending their brutal reign.

It is time for Europe and the United States to redouble their efforts for winning as broad a coalition as possible for biting sanctions that stand a chance of changing the regime's behavior. Equally important will be to politically support the opposition and the millions of brave Iranians marching on the streets and demanding change and democracy. Summits in Washington are fine, but Iran is moving much faster than that. So we'd better catch up.

Mr. Vidal-Quadras, a professor of nuclear physics, is vice president of the European Parliament.

Kouhyar Goodarzi: “I Won’t Be Released Anytime Soon.”

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Quoting the General and Revolutionary Courts of Tehran, IRNA News Agency reported on Sunday that the case file of Kouhyar Goodarzi, member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters has been submitted to the courts along with his indictment. Mina Jafari, Goodarzi’s lawyer told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that she has not been able to have access to her client’s case information. She said that Goodarzi’s file was initially at the Evin prison court branch and she was not able to review it. In her later followups, however, it turned out that his case file had been sent to Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, presided by Judge Salavati, for trial scheduling.
Mina Jafari told the Campaign: “In my follow-ups so far, I went to the Computer Unit of the Revolutionary Courts where I was told to go to Branch 7 of Investigations. But Branch 7 of Investigations disavowed any knowledge of the case. In the end, I realized that my client’s case has been taken to Evin prison’s court branch. Considering the current circumstances, my client and I have been deprived of access to the file and the ability to review its contents. Such treatment highlights the denial of even the most fundamental elements of justice and the possibility of a fair trial.”
Kouhyar Goodarzi, a human rights activist, was transferred to ward 350 of Evin prison. Prison authorities did not allow him to visit with his mother on Thursday, 8 April 2010. His mother, Parvin Mokhtare, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that she went to Evin prison last Thursday to visit her son, but she was not permitted to see Goodarzi. Earlier, there were reports about the poor conditions of ward 350 due to congestion and lack of medical and hygienic care.
In his last telephone contact, Goodarzi said that he is being allowed to make more telephone calls. Previously, and during his more than 100 days’ detention, he was only allowed three telephone calls to his mother, one of which she was not home to receive.
Goodarzi’s transfer to ward 350 took place after being moved to six different cells in recent weeks. Parvin Mokhtare told the Campaign: “As soon as my son gets used to a new environment, they switch his cell. This treatment is a form of ‘torture.’” Also, according to Mokhtare, it is not clear where Goodarzi’s cellmate, Jafar Panahi, has been moved.
Despite the release of several political prisoners in the days leading up to Iranian New Year (21 March 2010), not only was Goodarzi not released, pressure on him seems to have increased. Goodarzi’s mother said that prison authorities refused to accept clothes and books for him even though most other prisoners are allowed to have these items.
Answering the question of whether Goodarzi might be released on bail soon, Parvin Mokhtare replied: “During his telephone call, Kouhyar said that even after his trial session he will not be released and that the probability of his release is very low.”In recent months and after the arrests of several Committee of Human Rights Reporters members, heavy charges such as moharebeh and relations with foreign organizations have been raised by case interrogators against prisoners. Mokhtare called these charges baseless and unfounded.
The human rights activist’s mother commented on her last visit with her son and how she was treated by Evin prison officers. “I asked the officer to return the visitation request form to me. I told him I collected them. He said that bad memories do not warrant a collection. I said but we collect bad memories, too. He replied by asking me whether I thought my son was a source of national pride for being in prison, making the forms worthy of a collection. I said yes, I think my son is a source of national pride.”
Kouhyar Goodarzi’s mother expressed concern about her son’s indeterminate state and said that he has not been interrogated in the past month and remains in detention without a trial date.
Background:
On Sunday, 20 December 2010, a bus with several social activists and families of political prisoners on board, heading for Ayatollah Montazeri’s funeral in Qom, was stopped at Enghelab Square by security forces. After 45 minutes of searching and confiscating identification cards and cellular phones of the passengers, Kouhyar Goodarzi, Shiva Nazar Ahari, Saeed Haeri, and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh were arrested.
Last October, through pressure by security forces, Goodarzi, an aerospace student at Sharif Industrial University, was expelled. The journalist and human rights activist was formerly a member of the Sharif University Islamic Students Association, an editor for the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, a producer for Radio Zamaneh, a member of The Human Rights Committee of Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat Alumni Association (Office to Foster Unity), and a member of the Allameh Faction of the Association.