Installing 400 security cameras in northern Iran province

Massoud Jafari Nassab, commander of the Mazandaran police reported 400 security cameras will be installed for police and security matters in this province.
“Intelligence and security presence in cities must be increased, and the physical presence of the police should be decreased,” he said.
The installation of security cameras comes under a decision made by a Mazandaran Province council, consisting of political security and police officials.

(State-run Fars news agency – June 28, 2015)

Iran: security forces open direct fire, kill young man

Another young man was killed by security forces opening fire following the string killings against Baluchis in Iran. His name was Seifollah Sultan-pour. It is said that he was hit with a bullet in his head and leg.

Appeasing the ayatollahs and suppressing democracy

Professor Raymond Tanter, cofounder of the Iran Policy Committee (IPC), wrote an article on Monday in The Hill about the misguided policy of successive US governments towards Iran’s main democratic opposition group. The following is the full text of Prof. Tanter’s article:

Source: The Hill, Congress Blog
Published date: June 29, 2015

Appeasing the ayatollahs and suppressing democracyBy Raymond Tanter

Concessions characterize Washington’s policy in nuclear talks with Tehran. Running out of ways to concede, there are rumors the ayatollahs may ask Washington to place the main opposition that rejects clerical rule — prodemocracy organizations — on the chopping block.

Will the U.S. administrations reach out to Tehran by sacrificing the main Iranian prodemocracy opposition, People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) / Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), or broader parliament in exile, of which it is a part — the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)? If the executive branch takes such action, many Washington pundits believe that Congress would see this as a shameful policy for our nation, and may wish to act.

London, Paris and Washington fall victim to the chess players from Tehran whose end game repeatedly trumps the major powers. But the prodemocracy opposition also plays chess. The NCRI just announced that it plans to hold another press conference about Iran’s negotiating tactics to extract concessions from the United States to maintain its nuclear infrastructure intact.

We are approaching the end game of the nuclear deadline, June 30. With too little progress, expect Tehran to demand concessions about PMOI members in Camp Liberty, Iraq, held in prison-like circumstances for the Iranian regime.

In 2002, during the invasion of Iraq, Tehran asked the Bush administration to bomb PMOI bases in Iraq, which the U.S. did despite the group’s nonbelligerent posture. Washington received Iran’s pledge not to interfere in Iraq’s internal affairs, which Tehran soon violated.

During the summer 2009 uprising in Iran, the PMOI was active in fomenting dissent; its main residence, Camp Ashraf, was attacked by pro-Tehran Iraqi forces. The State Department first blamed the PMOI.

In September 2013, Baghdad’s swat teams entered Camp Ashraf and executed 52 unarmed PMOI members by shooting at them at point blank range and tying their hands in the back before execution. The State Department claimed a close ally of Iran, Nouri al-Maliki, had nothing to do with the murder or with the seven people including six female hostages.

On Nov. 13, 2015, in a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Bret McGurk, deputy assistance secretary of State for Near East Affairs, said, “In that attack there was no foreknowledge from the highest levels of the Iraqi government.” Tehran “cheered” the murders, as the Obama administration secretly negotiated with Iran before the November 2013 Joint Plan of Action.

The PMOI has been the enemy of Tehran for decades. Tehran pays more attention and dislikes it more than all other opposition organizations combined, according to one quantitative study. Why? The PMOI has been responsible for much of what we know about the nuclear program of Iran, including the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz and heavy water facility in Arak.

A June 19 2003 report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirms the PMOI as first source:

"During the General Conference, the Director General met with the Vice President, and asked that Iran confirm whether it was building a large underground nuclear related facility at Natanz and a heavy water production plant at Arak, as reported in the media in August 2002 …

"During his visit [to Iran], the Director General was informed by Iran of its uranium enrichment programme, which was described as including two new facilities located at Natanz …. These two facilities were declared to the Agency for the first time during that visit … Iran also confirmed … the heavy water production plant [NCRI August 2002, Arak]."

Regarding a February 2015 PMOI revelation of a secret site, Lavizan-3, Iran is suspected of conducting tests and enrichment with advanced centrifuge machines. And Fordow underground enrichment facility near Qom is another NCRI revelation.

NCRI intelligence revealed, during September 2009, sites in and near Tehran, where Tehran may be working on detonators for nuclear warheads. Prompted by such publicity, it acknowledged in September existence of a uranium enrichment facility about 20 miles north of Qom. By January 2012, Iran admitted enrichment at the site: Fordow.

A day after the NCRI revelation of a covert site, Lavizan-3, Secretary John Kerry appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee; he said the powers hoped to close off a covert pathway to the bomb, but admitted, “Covert, of course, is the hardest.” “You need to have verification and intrusive inspection to be able to find covert facilities.” On February 25, Kerry had called for enhanced inspections to catch Iranian cheating, but on April 9, Tehran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said its “military sites cannot be inspected under the excuse of nuclear supervision.”

According to my research, it is time to have intrusive IAEA inspection, “anytime, anywhere,” of hidden sites; have inspectors take samples from the environment in secret facilities. Doing less, Washington may find itself at the end of the line of Churchill’s adage that an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat the appeaser last. For Washington to think that instead of pressuring Tehran to comply, it may have better success by demonizing the PMOI members in Camp Liberty, would be wishful thinking and a dangerous path to follow.

Tanter cofounded the Iran Policy Committee (IPC) and serves as its president and of Iran Policy Committee Publishing. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Committee on the Present Danger, and was for about a decade an adjunct scholar at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Iran: Woman prisoner on hunger strike under pressure to repent

An Iraqi woman imprisoned in Iran who has been on hunger strike since April 8 protesting lack of medical care, has been placed under pressure by the regime’s judiciary and prison guards. Bisma al-Jabouri, has also been threatened to write a repent statement. This woman is in very critical physical conditions due to her long-running hunger strike, according to activists inside Iran. She has lost much of her weight, is suffering from severe drop in blood pressure, shakes, an increase in heart beat rate, decrease in eye sight and severe headaches. As a result, her life is in serious danger.
Al-Jabouri is placed in a warehouse along with 80 other imprisoned women and held in extremely hot conditions without any cooling devices. This in itself has placed her under extreme physical and psychological conditions.

Iran: 9 years jail time for insulting Khamenei

A political prisoner held in Gohardash Prison, Karaj (26 miles northwest of Tehran) accused of three accounts of insulting the supreme leader (Khamenei), was sentenced to a total of nine years behind bars. He must remain in jail until 2019. Two of the three sentences in this case were issued while the prisoner was already in prison.
This individual has been arrested many times. He was arrested once on May 1 at a Labor Day event in Tehran’s famous Laleh (tulip) Park. Following this arrest he was sentenced to 9 months behind bars, of which he spent most of this time in solitary confinement of Evin Prison ’s ward 209. 

Iran: over 23 years behind bars for protesters of Evin Prison raid

Six individuals who took part in rallies outside the president’s office back in late April 2014 protesting a vicious attack on prisoners of ward 350 in the notorious Evin Prison in the incident known as “Black Thursday”, have been sentenced to a total of 23 years and 9 months behind bars. This ruling was issued by Judge Salavati, head of the 15th branch of Tehran’s revolution court. Amongst these seven individuals Milad Pour-Issa has been sentenced to 6¼ years in jail, while all others were sentenced to 3½ years behind bars.

Iran: five family members in prison

Five members of the Abadian family are behind bars. Despite all the continuous promises, Zahedan court is refusing to release the members of this family on bail. Malak Mohammad, Javad, Hadi, Abdullah and Jaber Abadian, along with Gol Mohammad Balide’i, Nezamedin Mullazadeh, Molavi Abdullah Mullahzadeh (Sunni Friday prayer imam of the town of Paroud), Molavi Fat’hi Mohammad Naghshbandi (Sunni Friday prayer imam), Rasek Molavi and Molavi Abdul-ghafar Naghshbandi (deputy Friday prayer imam of the town of Rasek) were detained back in February 2012 for measures against national security. 
According to Ms. Nasrin Abadian, the daughter of this family, her father was first arrest, then three of her brothers, her husband, uncle and cousins, and they were all interrogated under horrendous pressures and torture to place pressure on her arrested father.

Revolutionary Guards target Internet activists

Reporters Without Borders reiterates its condemnation of the Iranian regime’s persecution of journalists and bloggers after a wave of arrests of Internet users in recent days as a result of Revolutionary Guard monitoring of online social networks.
On 8 June, judicial system spokesman Golamhossien Mohsseni Ejehi announced the arrests of “several individuals” for social network activity regarded as “actions against national security.”
Two years of President Hassan Rouhani 
In the two years since the moderate conservative Hassan Rouhani was installed as president in June 2013, around 100 Internet activists have been arrested and given long jail terms, in most cases on information provided by the Revolutionary Guards.
This persecution of news and information providers is just the continuation of the unprecedented crackdown that began immediately after PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad ’s disputed reelection in June 2009, when at least 300 journalists and Internet activists were arrested arbitrarily, tortured and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
But this persecution is also a weapon in the power struggle being waged among the various government factions, a weapon used to keep constant pressure on President Rouhani, who was elected thanks to the support of progressives and who, during his campaign, promised the “release of all political prisoners” and more “free speech and media freedom.”
Several journalists and Internet activists who were convicted in 2009 and 2010 by rigged revolutionary courts have since been released on completing their sentences but many others are still in prison, where they are often subjected to appalling conditions.
Furthermore, journalists are no longer able to work after completing their jail terms, regardless of whether their sentences included a post-release “ban on practicing the profession of journalist.”
Many newspaper executives and editors are given clear instructions not to hire them. One way or another, the regime prevents most independent journalists from working. Two journalists were recently fired from a media outlet by one of President Rouhani’s associates solely because they had been imprisoned.
Iran is ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Published on Monday 22 June 2015.

U.N. chief calls on Security Council to take action on Syria

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the U.N. Security Council to take “urgent action” on Syria amid daily atrocities and rights abuses, warning the war-torn country would otherwise slip deeper into chaos.
In his monthly report to the council on Syria aid access, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, Ban did not specify action, but his former aid chief Valerie Amos appealed in April for an arms embargo and sanctions for violations of humanitarian law.
“I also ask the council to take urgent action in the face of the continuing atrocities and human rights abuses taking place in Syria on a daily basis, “ Ban wrote in the June 23 report. “ Lack of action will throw Syria deeper into chaos and deprive the country of a peaceful and prosperous future.”
The council failed last year to refer the four-year war in Syria to the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Syrian ally Russia, backed by China, vetoed the move and three other resolutions threatening President Bashar al-Assad’s government with sanctions.
Ban said some 12.2 million people in Syria need help, including more than 5 million children. About 7.6 million are internally displaced and more than 4 million have fled to neighboring countries and North Africa.
U.N. Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura will continue consultations with parties to the conflict into July and Ban described the goal of finding a political solution to the conflict as “ambitious, but we must not lose sight of it.” A Syrian government crackdown on a pro-democracy movement in 2011 led to an armed uprising. Islamic State militants have taken advantage of the chaos to declare a caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
Ban said some 422,000 people in Syria remained besieged - 228,000 by Islamic State, 167,500 by government forces and 26,500 by armed groups.
“Islamic State continued to violate international humanitarian law and commit human rights abuses,” Ban said.
He said on May 5 the United Nations received reports that Islamic State crucified and killed a 15-year-old boy after accusing him of stealing money and weapons from a vehicle, while a man was reportedly beheaded for theft on May 14.
Ban said he was also concerned the Syrian government “continues to indiscriminately drop barrel bombs on defenseless civilians in populated neighborhoods”.

Reuters, 24 June 2015

Iran imprisonment marks grim milestone

American Pastor Saeed Abedini has now spent 1,000 days in captivity in Iran – nearly three years suffering in prison – separated from his wife, Naghmeh, and their two young children.
No one could have imagined that he would be imprisoned this long when he was taken into custody by Iranian regime in 2012 simply because of his Christian faith.  Pastor Saeed was in Iran working on an orphanage when he was unexpectedly taken into custody by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
In January 2013, Pastor Saeed was convicted of undermining the national security of Iran for gathering with Christians in private homes from 2000 to 2005.  He was sentenced to 8-years in prison.
Pastor Saeed has endured much in the past 1,000 days. He still suffers from physical injuries that require much-needed medical attention – injuries received from past beatings by prison guards. He also faces psychological torture and as recently as a couple of weeks ago – he received another round of beatings. 
What’s even more troubling, now that the U.S. is in the final stages of negotiating face-to-face with the Iranians to reach a nuclear deal by June 30th, there is growing concern that Pastor Saeed and three other Americans held hostage in Iran will be left behind bars if a deal is reached.
That concern is so real that members of Congress – who ultimately will approve or reject any deal with Iran – have passed resolutions in both the Senate and House – calling for the immediate release of Pastor Saeed Abedini. 
It is difficult to believe that the U.S. – which should be operating from a position of strength – has not secured the release of Pastor Saeed and the others.
Why won’t the U.S. demand that the captive Americans are freed and returned home before any nuclear deal with Iran is finalized?
It’s a question that puzzles Pastor Saeed’s family – a question that sadly remains unanswered.
The time to bring Pastor Saeed home is now.
Fox News, 23 June 2015

Iran regime amputates hands of two prisoners

File photo: Iranian regime unveils amputation machine in 2013

NCRI - The Iranian regime on Sunday amputated the hands of two prisoners in the central prison of Mashhad, northeast Iran.

One of the victims, identified only by the initials M. E., was a 26-year-old resident of Mashhad, the state-run daily Khorasan wrote on Monday. The second victim was not identified; the report simply stated that this young man was transferred from Khorasan Jonubi province to the same prison in Mashhad where the sentence was carried out.

State media claimed that the two men had been convicted of theft.

Last month, a high ranking Iranian cleric, who is the representative of the regime’s Supreme Leader in Hormozgan province (southern Iran), called for more inhumane punishments of hand amputations to be carried out.

While visiting Mashhad, Ghulam-Ali Naeem Abadi said: “If the hands of a few of those who commit theft in society are cut off, they would serve as examples for others and security will be restored.”

“Security would be restored in society by amputating a few fingers; why then are such punishments not being fully implemented?” he asked.

Last December, the United Nations General Assembly slammed the flagrant violations of human rights by the Iranian regime.

The resolution criticized the Iranian regime's use of inhuman punishments, including flogging and amputations.

The UN’s 61st resolution on human rights abuses in Iran also censured the mullahs’ dictatorship for the rise in executions, public hangings and the execution of juveniles.

The Iranian regime unveiled a terrifying device in 2013 which is uses to chop off fingers. The device that looks like something devised for a grisly horror movie operates as a circular saw that guillotines prisoners’ fingers.

Since Hassan Rouhani took office as president of the clerical regime, nearly 1,800 people have been executed and hundreds more have been subjected to degrading and inhumane punishments such as amputation, flogging in public and being paraded in streets.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has repeatedly condemned the medieval punishments carried out by the clerical regime in Iran and has called for the referral of the regime's appalling human rights record to the UN Security Council.

IRAN: 92 arrested in restaurant during Ramadan

NCRI - Iranian security forces have raided a hotel restaurant and arrested 92 young men and women for eating and drinking ‘in public’ in the month of Ramadan.

The hotel in the northwestern city of Tabriz was raided on Monday. The restaurant manager along with 41 girls and 51 boys were arrested.

Ali Esmaeelpour, a senior state security forces official in the city, confirmed the arrests. Those detained were referred to the regime’s judiciary for sentencing.

Anyone in Iran caught eating or drinking in public during daytime in the month of Ramadan may receive 74 lashes in addition to a jail term of up to two months, judiciary officials of the regime have threatened.

Dadkhoda Salari, the prosecutor general in the city of Kerman, said last week: “Any individual who eats or drinks in public places could face a prison term of from 10 days to two months and 74 lashes,” the state-run Mehr news agency reported.

Another state-run news agency warned the public that special patrols have been stationed at streets and public parks in Tehran during the Ramadan to “deal with” those who drink, eat or smoke in public.

Last year hundreds of Iranians were lashed in public under the medieval laws of the religious dictatorship.

At least 200 people were flogged last year in the Iranian province of Qazvin for eating in public during Ramadan.

Last year Qazvin official Ismail Sadeghi-Niaraki acknowledged the scale of medieval punishments being carried out in the province by the regime under the rule of so-called 'moderate' president Hassan Rouhani.

He said: "[During Ramadan], 400 people were arrested and some were given warnings. Another 200 had their cases reviewed by the judiciary and the flogging sentence was carried out within 24 hours of their arrest."

Last year, a Christian man in Iran had his lips burnt with a cigarette for eating during the day in Ramadan. The savage punishment was carried out in public in the city of Kermanshah.

Amnesty International: Draconian amendment further erodes fair trial rights in Iran

Reyhaneh Jabbari in a court in Iran that sentenced her to death for acting in self-defense against aggression by an intelligence against

The Iranian authorities have put another nail in the coffin of justice by making a retrogressive amendment in Iran’s new Code of Criminal Procedures which limits the right to access an independent lawyer of one’s choice during primary investigations in certain criminal cases,Amnesty International has said.

“The draconian development came in the form of a last-minute amendment to a new Code of Criminal Procedures, which was passed in April 2014 and was entered into force on 22 June 2015.

“According to the amendment, approved by the Guardian Council on 17 June 20151 , individuals facing national security-related charges may only select their legal counsel for the investigation phase, which may last for months, from a roster of lawyers approved by the Head of the Judiciary.

“The same restriction is imposed on individuals accused of involvement in organized crimes which are subject to such punishments as the death penalty, life imprisonment, and amputation.

|This retrogressive move does away with basic due process guarantees and confirms yet again the authorities’ utter disregard for their international human rights obligations, including fair trial standards.

“Denial of the right to access a lawyer of own choice is particularly disturbing in cases where individuals risk facing the irreversible punishment of the death penalty. Under international law including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Iran is a party, proceedings in capital cases must scrupulously observe all relevant international standards protecting the right to a fair trial” Amnesty International said.

Rohani craint un nouveau soulèvement en Iran

Le président du régime iranien Hassan Rohani « semble craindre un nouveau soulèvement », similaire à celui de 2009 qui a failli mettre le régime « à genoux », selon un article d’Examiner.com publié jeudi. «Une manière simple d’apaiser le peuple est de lui donner l’espoir d’un accord nucléaire », écrit le quotidien américain.

 « Le CNRI a tenu une conférence de presse aujourd’hui au cours de laquelle son Sous-Directeur Alizera Jafarzadeh a exposé le solide argument qui suppose que la stratégie de l’Iran fait partie d’un plan général avec lequel le régime obtient des conditions favorables tout en cédant un minimum de terrain. Le CNRI a obtenu des informations de sources publiques, y compris des ouvrages de responsables du régime iranien, ainsi que de sources à l’intérieur du régime. »

« Alors qu’il n’est pas facile de déterminer la véracité de toutes les déclarations du CNRI, le groupe est largement crédité pour avoir révélé l’existence du programme nucléaire iranien. Entre autres personnalités, le Président George W. Bush a attribué au CNRI la révélation du programme nucléaire iranien en 2005. »

« Étant donné la crédibilité passée de leurs révélations, il est difficile de ne pas prendre leurs déclarations en considération, surtout que l’accord nucléaire paraît pour le moins élusif et que tout accord semble en passe d’être atténué. À plusieurs reprises le gouvernement iranien a laissé penser qu’il serait prêt à envoyer son uranium à des pays tiers, comme la Russie, pour l’y enrichir. En février dernier le gouvernement iranien a tourné pour de bon cette idée en ridicule. »

Ces dernières semaines, le Guide suprême Ali Khamenei, ainsi que son Ministre de la Défense Hossein Dehqan ont affirmé franchement que leurs bases militaires seraient interdites d’accès, et ne feraient l’objet d’aucun accord.

« Si cela s’avère être vrai, ça ne sera pas une surprise, selon le CNRI. Le CNRI soutient que les installations nucléaires non-militaires de l’Iran ne sont, en fait, qu’une petite partie du programme nucléaire du pays, et ne sont pas vitales à la poursuite des recherches et du développement d’une arme nucléaire », affirme l’article.

« Khamenei a établi trois « lignes rouges » de conduite pour les négociations, et en tant que Guide suprême, ces lignes ne peuvent être ignorées à aucun prétexte, à moins que Khamenei ne donne son feu vert. Aucune promesse des négociateurs ou du Président Rohani ne pourra le contredire. »

« Le Guide suprême a stipulé que l’accès aux sites militaires serait interdit aux inspecteurs, ainsi que la possibilité d’interroger les scientifiques nucléaires, et que se poursuivrait le programme de Recherche et Développement dans le domaine nucléaire. »

« Aussi longtemps que ces trois lignes sont maintenues, l’Iran pourrait théoriquement continuer ses efforts dans l’obtention d’une arme nucléaire. En outre, seuls les sites nucléaires déjà découverts sont sur la table des négociations, tandis que tous ceux qui sont encore cachés resteraient dissimulés », est-il précisé dans l’article.

74 coups de fouet et prison pour celui qui mangera en Iran pendant le Ramadan

CNRI – En Iran, toute personne prise en train de manger ou de boire en public pendant le mois de Ramadan recevra 74 coups de fouet en plus d'une peine d'emprisonnement de deux mois, a menacé un haut responsable du système judiciaire iranien.

Dadkhoda Salari, le procureur général de la ville de Kerman, a déclaré vendredi: « tout individu qui mangera ou boira dans les lieux publics sera passible d’une peine d'emprisonnement allant de 10 jours à deux mois et 74 coups de fouet », a rapporté l'agence de presse Mehr.

Une autre agence a averti le public que des patrouilles spéciales ont été stationnées dans les rues et les parcs publics à Téhéran durant le mois du Ramadan. « La police fera face aux personnes qui fument, boivent de l'eau et autres liquides, mangent une collation ou un aliment en public, » a rapporté l'agence de presse ISNA.

L'an dernier, des centaines d'Iraniens ont été fouettés en public en vertu des lois médiévales de la dictature religieuse qui peut condamner les contrevenants à 74 coups de fouet et deux mois de prison ferme pour avoir mangé pendant le Ramadan.

Au moins 200 personnes ont été flagellées au cours de l'année dernière dans la province iranienne de Qazvin, pour avoir mangé en public pendant le Ramadan.

En 2014, un officiel de la province de Qazvin, Ismail Sadeghi-Niaraki, a reconnu l'ampleur des punitions médiévales appliquées par le régime sous le mandat du soi-disant président " modéré " Hassan Rohani.

Il a déclaré : "Des mesures exceptionnelles ont été prises par le pouvoir judiciaire dans la province de Qazvin, au cours du mois du Ramadan afin de traiter avec ceux qui mangent en public. Au cours de cette période, 400 personnes ont été arrêtées et certaines ont fait l'objet d'avertissements. Quelques 200 autres ont vu leur cas examiné par le pouvoir judiciaire et la peine de flagellation a été infligée dans les 24 heures suivants leur arrestation."

L'année dernière, un chrétien en Iran a été condamné à avoir ses lèvres brûlées avec une cigarette pour avoir mangé durant pendant le Ramadan. La punition bestiale a été exécutée en public dans la ville de Kermanchah.

Iran : le régime intensifie la pression sur les prisonniers politiques durant le mois de Ramadan

Pour faire monter la pression sur les détenus politiques et multiplier les intimidations à leur encontre à la prison de Gohardacht, en banlieue de Téhéran, le régime iranien a augmenté les émissions de parasites dans la section 4 de cette prison. Des équipements de brouillage des communications ont été installés dans la cour des prisonniers.

Fortement cancérigènes, ces ondes nuisent gravement à la santé des prisonniers qui souffrent pour la plupart de déshydratation des muqueuses, de douleurs musculaires, de migraines, de diminution de la vue, de nausées et d’atonie.

Cette mesure répressive a un effet particulièrement néfaste sur les détenus qui jeûnent durant le Ramadan.

Abed Fatahi, un membre de la Commission de la santé du Parlement des mollahs, a reconnu les effets cancérigènes du brouillage dans une déclaration datée du 24 décembre 2014 : « Je ne crois pas qu'il y ait un endroit au monde où on utilise aussi intensément le brouillage qu’en Iran ».

Saïd Motassadi, sous-directeur de l'Organisation de la protection de l'environnement, avait également confirmé, dans une dépêche de l'agence Irna le 2 octobre 2014, les effets cancérigènes des ondes parasites.

La Résistance iranienne appelle les organisations internationales de défense des droits humains, à condamner vigoureusement ces mesures criminelles contre les courageux prisonniers politiques iraniens.

Waves of protests against Iran regime crackdown during Ramadan [including photos]

Popular protests, especially by the youth and workers against crackdown measures by Iranian regime agents under the bogus pretext of eating during the fasting hours of Ramadan have increased in Tehran and other cities.
Various Tehran neighborhoods have witnessed people clashing with repressive agents.
On Tuesday, June 23rd at around 12 noon a number of State Security Forces entered various stores during lunch hours, harassing a number of the storeowners. The storeowners all protested and forced the repressive agents to leave the area.
On Monday, June 22nd, at around 11:30 am regime agents fined a bakery for being open during fasting hours. This raised protests by various people, the owner and workers of the bakery, leading to clashes and the bakery restarting its work after the agents left. 

On Monday, June 22 Tehran’s Zartosht Avenue was the scene of two youths clashing with three State Security Force agents that were harassing them.
 

On Monday, June 22 at 1 pm Tehran’s Shahr-e Park regime agents began harassing an old man in one scene and a 25-30 year old man in another under the pretext of eating during fasting hours. The agents intended to arrest these two individuals but youths in the area protested and forced them to flee despite the fact that a number of other agents had rushed to their support.
 

On Sunday, June 21, in Tehran’s Abureyhan Avenue two Bassij agents began harassing a store owner and intended to force a sandwich store to close down. However, the store owner and his friends delivered a severe beating to the Bassij agents.
 

In Aslaviye on Monday, June 22 workers of the Jam Petrochemical Plan protested being forced to fast during the month of Ramadan. They staged a rally outside the director’s office of this petrochemical complex and demanded the regime’s supervisors expelled for forcing them to fast.
In Aslaviye various restaurant owners and workers of the South Pars area protested the fact that their restaurants were closed down under the pretext of Ramadan.
Bushehr Province also witnessed protests by the Bidkhun power plant workers demanding to not be forced to fast during the hot summer conditions and continue their work at the same time.

Iran: protests staged by Urumieh college students

A group of students in Urumieh Tech University (northwest Iran) protested dormitory service being denied to some students in the upcoming terms. These students, rallying on Tuesday, June 23 outside the Urumieh Tech University central building, also protested severe restrictions imposed on the students in the campus.

Relentless persecution, Revolutionary Guards target Internet activists

Reporters Without Borders reiterates its condemnation of the Iranian regime’s persecution of journalists and bloggers after a wave of arrests of Internet users in recent days as a result of Revolutionary Guard monitoring of online social networks.
On 8 June, judicial system spokesman Golamhossien Mohsseni Ejehi announced the arrests of “several individuals” for social network activity regarded as “actions against national security.”
The victims of the latest Revolutionary Guard-orchestrated round-up include two Internet activists who ran a Facebook page and a blog, which cannot currently be accessed
After plainclothes men arrested them at their Tehran home on 31 May, their families reported them missing because they still do not know why they were arrested or where they were taken.
Two years of President Hassan Rouhani 
In the two years since Rouhani was installed as president in June 2013, around 100 Internet activists have been arrested and given long jail terms, in most cases on information provided by the Revolutionary Guards.
This persecution of news and information providers is just the continuation of the unprecedented crackdown that began immediately after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ’s disputed reelection in June 2009, when at least 300 journalists and Internet activists were arrested arbitrarily, tortured and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
But this persecution is also a weapon in the power struggle being waged among the various government factions.
Several journalists and Internet activists who were convicted in 2009 and 2010 by rigged revolutionary courts are still in prison, where they are often subjected to appalling conditions.
Unfortunately there has been no improvement in the inhuman treatment reserved for prisoners of conscience in Iran, especially in the notorious Tehran’s Evin prison and in Gohardasht prison.
Furthermore, journalists are no longer able to work after completing their jail terms, regardless of whether their sentences included a post-release “ban on practicing the profession of journalist.”
Many newspaper executives and editors are given clear instructions not to hire them. One way or another, the regime prevents most independent journalists from working. Two journalists were recently fired from a media outlet by one of President Rouhani’s associates solely because they had been imprisoned.
Internet activists – easy targets
With more than 40 million Internet users, according to official figures, Iran is one of the region’s most connected countries. The level of government control of the Internet has been the subject of intense debate at the highest levels since Rouhani took over as president.
One of them, a 31-year-old female prisoner who managed to flee the country after being released provisionally, has described the terrifying experience of being held in Section 2A and pressured by interrogators. Her account constitutes yet further hard evidence of the systematic mistreatment of detainees in Iran by security and judicial officials.
“The nightmare began as soon as I arrived,” she told Reporters Without Borders. “Locked up in a very small cell, I could hear the cries of a prisoner being interrogated. I trembled all the time during the first few weeks and couldn’t even hold a pen in my hand …
“They knew everything about my online chats and my emails. All my online correspondence had been intercepted. Several of my friends had been arrested a few months before me and I now realized I’d been under close surveillance since then. The interrogators asked us to write about each other. They didn’t just want us to confess to the crimes of which were accused. They also wanted to know all about our personal relations and whether we’d had immoral relations. During interrogation, they made sexist jokes to intimidate us. Once they even threatened me with rape and simulated doing it …
“All these confessions were used to incriminate us when our trial finally got under way before Mohammad Moghiseh, the president of the 28th chamber of the Tehran revolutionary court (...) After my provisional release pending the appeal court’s ruling, my husband, with whom relations were not simple, questioned what had happened in prison and didn’t want us to continue living together.
“So I returned to my family’s home in Kerman. But the insulting and contemptuous phone calls continued. The interrogators kept calling me in order to threaten me or to summon me to Tehran for further interrogation (...) Under pressure, I finally decided to leave my country.”
Iran is ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

EU: No progress made on human rights in Iran in 2014

NCRI - The European Union has criticized the state of human rights in Iran under Hassan Rouhani, in its annual report published this week.

The EU Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World in 2014, released on Monday, said that in Iran “no progress on human rights was made in 2014.”

“A lack of fundamental freedoms and violations of basic human rights including women's rights, in contravention of Iran’s international obligations, continued to be observed,”the report said.

“There is no political or human rights dialogue with Iran at the moment, which makes EU objectives on human rights and democracy particularly difficult to achieve.”

With more than 460 executions reported to have taken place in 2014, the application of the death penalty was a “major human rights” issue raised by the EU, the report said. “The EU issued statements and a declaration with the EU Member States on some individual cases and called upon the Iranian government to refrain from using the death penalty.”

“The European Parliament continued to take a keen interest in the human rights situation in Iran. In April 2014, the Parliament adopted a resolution on Iran in which it expressed its serious concern over the state of play of human rights in the country.”

“Iran underwent its Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The EU participated in the preparations and while Iran stated that it respects the UPR mechanism, it did not immediately accept any of the 291 recommendations, stating instead that it would respond to them in due course,” the report added.

In 2014, the EU also supported the UN General Assembly resolution tabled by Canada on human rights in Iran.

L'Irak empêche la connexion du camp Liberty au réseau électrique de la ville

CNRI - Le 23 juin, Sadegh Mohammed Kazem, représentant du comité de répression du camp Liberty au sein du gouvernement irakien, a empêché l'entrée des représentants d'une société venue à Liberty signer un contrat pour le raccordement de l'électricité du camp au réseau de la ville. Ceci est intervenu alors que les noms des membres de cette équipe technique avaient été transmis la veille aux représentants de la MANUI et au centre de police de Liberty et que leur arrivée avait été programmée. 

Les efforts des habitants du camp Liberty et leurs communications avec la MANUI et le HCR pour empêcher cette mesure illégale sont restés sans suite. Sadegh Mohammed Kazem a menti à l'équipe en leur disant avoir contacté la MANUI et que les représentants onusiens lui auraient affirmé ne pas être au courant de cette démarche. Cet officier criminel des services irakiens leur a également affirmé que les habitants du camp Liberty sont membres d’une or

ganisation illégale et quiconque communique avec eux sera poursuivi en vertu de la loi antiterroriste.

Ce n'est pas la première fois que cet agent inféodé du régime iranien empêche l'entrée des sociétés électriques venant raccorder Liberty au réseau de la ville.

Cette mesure viole le protocole d'entente signée entre le gouvernement irakien et les Nations-Unies le 25 décembre 2011, soulignant : « Le gouvernement irakien facilitera et autorisera les habitants, à leurs propres frais, de signer des contrats bilatérales avec des entrepreneurs pour des services courantes ».

Le 21 avril 2012, alors que la moitié des habitants n'avait pas encore été transférée au camp Liberty, le Représentant spécial des Nations unies a écrit au représentant des habitants : « Pour un règlement définitif du problème de l'électricité, le gouvernement irakien a accepté la responsabilité des dépenses visant à connecter par câbles le camp Liberty au réseau de la ville ». Trois jours plus tard, le 24 avril, il a écrit dans une 

autre lettre : « Le gouvernement irakien est soucieux d’établir le plus tôt possible la connexion du camp aux réseaux électrique et hydraulique. Des premiers pas ont même été effectués dans ce sens ».

La Mission d'Assistance des Nations unies en Irak a écrit le 28 mai 2012 au représentant des habitants : « Concernant la connexion du camp Liberty au réseau électrique de la ville, des contacts ont été établis avec le ministère de l'électricité pour que le camp Liberty soit raccordé au réseau de la ville. Les lieux ont été examinés à cette fin ».

Or, durant les trois années écoulées, nous avons été témoin de la violation flagrante et constante de ces engagements. Dans les circonstances actuelles, vu l'usure des générateurs et leur très grande consommation de carburant, il y a une urgence redoublée pour connecter Liberty au réseau de la ville.

La Résistance iranienne appelle le gouvernement américain et les Nations unies à intervenir d’urgence pour écarter cet obstacle. Tant que des individus tels que
Sadegh Mohammed Kazem sont à la tête du camp Liberty, les mêmes criminels qui ont participé aux massacres, aux intimidations et au blocus contre les habitants, il ne faut pas s'attendre à aucun changement dans l'attitude et les mesures criminelles de la direction du camp contre les habitants.

Obstacles à l'entrée des besoins de base, du ravitaillement et d’articles d'entretien au camp Liberty au mois sacré de Ramadan

Le mardi 23 juin, les forces irakiennes ont de nouveau refusé la livraison de produits de première nécessité aux habitants du camp Liberty, produits bloqués à l'entrée du camp depuis la semaine dernière. Avec l’été brûlant irakien, cela créé de nombreux problèmes aux habitants.

Certains des articles bloqués à l’entrée sont nécessaires à la vie quotidienne comme des insecticides, des crèmes anti-moustiques, des câbles électriques, des connexions de canalisation d'eau pour réparer les infrastructures du camp, des prises et des fiches électriques, des ampoules, des adaptateurs électriques, des ventilateurs, des ampoules de véhicule, des embrayages de véhicule, des pièces de rechange de vélo, des arroseurs, de la colle de silicium, des tuyaux d'eau, des batteries, un compresseur pour climatiseur de minibus, des filtres de groupe électrogène, des piles de montres-bracelets, etc.

Il convient de noter que les habitants ne cessent de demander aux officiers irakiens de laisser passer ces produits, mais comme l'a ordonné le Comité gouvernemental chargé de la répression des Achrafiens, qui fonctionne sous la supervision du conseiller à la sécurité nationale du pays, les Irakiens refusent l’entrée de ces produits.

Les représentants des habitants ont exposé aux observateurs de la MANUI les problèmes que cela pose au quotidien et protesté contre la mesure illégale des officiers irakiens, mais la MANUI n'a pas pris de mesures efficaces.

Priver les habitants de leurs besoins de première nécessité pendant le mois de jeûne et dans une chaleur de 40° est un acte inhumain et une violation claire du protocole d'accord signé entre l'ONU et de gouvernement irakien le 25 décembre 2011, ainsi qu'une violation de nombreuses conventions internationales et c’est passible de poursuites judiciaires.

La Résistance iranienne appelle les Nations Unies et le gouvernement des États-Unis qui à plusieurs reprises et par écrit se sont engagés à assurer le bien-être et la sécurité des habitants de camp Liberty, à prendre des mesures immédiates et mettre fin à ce blocus inhumain.

Iran: “Single’s Homes” to be identified, put under surveillance

Surveillance and crackdown of the most private aspects of people’s lives is on the rise by Iran state agents. In one of the latest such attempts, Mohammad Reza Mir Heydari, commander of the Ghazvin State Security Force said, “Bachelor homes will be identified and controlled across the province.”
“The Hijab & Dignity Promotion Plan, the Plan to Confront Illegal Immigrants, Plan to Confront Eating During Ramadan are amongst other issues on the agenda for Ghazvin State Security Force during the summer season,” he added. 

Iran: 10 Baluchi minorities sentence to death in Ramadan

In the holy Islamic month of Ramadan Khamenei’s henchmen have issued death sentences for 10 Baluchi minorities detained in Zahedan Central Prison, southeastern Iran.
According to reports these prisoners have been held in jail for three years and some of them are renowned bazaar merchants of this area.

Over 1 million people call for no fly zone in Syria

According to the Syrian National Coalition’s official website, various organizations have called on US President Barack Obama to establish a no fly zone for Syrian civilians that have been murdered and killed by Assad’s daily bombings for the past four and a half years.
These organizations issued a statement published in the New York Times asking Mr. Obama, what are you waiting for? They published the image of a small child managing to survive after a chemical attack by the Assad regime. This statement refers to the fact that 1,093,775 people have signed this letter calling on the US to protect Syrian civilians through true measures against the Assad regime’s killings and terrorism.

“Human rights abuses in Iran under Rouhani have reached a climax”

NCRI - The human rights situation in Iran under Hassan Rouhani has deteriorated, while the number of executions has sharply increased, an official of the Iranian Resistance who deals with international NGOs has said.

Elaheh Azimfar, a representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) for international organizations made the remarks on Tuesday in an online Q&A session about the state of human rights in Iran.

“The crimes committed by the Iranian regime over the past two years under Rouhani's tenure have reached a climax,” Ms. Azimfar said.

“Iran is the world's number one executioner per capita. Under Rouhani more than 1,800 executions have occurred in a matter of less than two years, and this is the President of the regime who was supposed to be a moderate. Some 600 of these executions have been carried out since the beginning of the current year,” she said.

“Just a week ago last Tuesday there were a group of 22 prisoners who were killed in a mass execution in Gohardasht prison in Karaj. A day before that, four other prisoners were executed in another prison in Karaj.”

Ms. Azimfar pointed out that while a delegation from the European Parliament was visiting Tehran on June 8, the regime hanged a group of 35 prisoners. “This trend goes on and on, and it does not end anywhere. This goes on in all the prisons of Iran; in the capital Tehran, in Karaj, in Tabriz, in Orumieh, in Mahabad, in Shiraz, and it doesn't stop.”

Ms. Azimfar added that there are large numbers of “arbitrary arrests” and “prisoners of conscience” in Iran, adding that the situation in Iran, in particular for young people, is unbearable.

"Young men and women are dragged out of their homes and sent to prison with sentences of 10-14 years" for writing articles, drawing cartoons, and other activities expressing their opinions about the regime. “The regime throws people in prison for basic peaceful activities.”

Iranian society is in an explosive state, she said. The people are starving, they are demanding a decent job and standard of living, and, for this reason, Hassan Rouhani has intensified the crackdown because he is fearful of an uprising.

Speaking about the plight of women, Ms. Azimfar said women were the first victims of the Iranian regime. Women are attacked with acid in the streets. This, she said, is because the regime recognizes women as a significant part of the population who want change. Just as the regime is afraid of women, it also fears the members of the main opposition group People’s Mojahedin (PMOI/MEK) in Camp Liberty, Iraq, who are living witnesses to the regime’s crimes. These two groups invoke fear within the regime and are thus forced further into repression, she said.

Asked about the current nuclear talks between the world powers and the Iranian regime, she said that the regime faces an “impasse”.

“These mullahs are masters of deception.” Ms. Azimfar said. The mullahs are hiding behind the nuclear deal and using it as an opportunity to mask the human rights violations that are ongoing in Iran. They are trying to keep the people from gathering together in an open atmosphere, in order to limit the opportunity for protests, and this is manifested in ways such as the recent case where they prevented women from attending a volleyball match, she said.

Saluting the political prisoners in Iran for their courage and perseverance, Ms. Azimfar urged international human rights activists to spread the message about the atrocities in Iran and to be the voice of the suffering population.