Iran - Le régime exécute 37 prisonniers, dont deux femmes, en neuf jours

CNRI – Le jeudi 30 juillet, le régime iranien a exécuté cinq prisonniers, dont une femme, dans la ville de Kerman (au sud-est de l’Iran) et a exécuté un autre prisonnier dans la ville d’Ardebil (au nord-ouest de l’Iran). Les noms de trois des personnes exécutées dans la prison de Chahab à Kerman sont les suivants : Ezzat Sabeki, Meysam Shahraki et Ali Zehi.

Un autre homme a été pendu jeudi matin dans la prison centrale d’Ardebil, a rapporté Tasnim (une agence de presse liée au régime).

Le même jour, dans la ville de Bandar-Abbas (au sud de l’Iran), trois condamnés à mort ont été placés en isolement avant leur exécution imminente. Leurs noms sont les suivants : Yousef Shahnavazi-Shahdadi (25 ans), Kamran Zaréï (47 ans) et Djamal Kassebkar-Darandeh (45 ans).

Le mercredi 29 juillet, le régime des mollahs a exécuté une mère de famille âgée de 43 ans dans une prison à Karadj (ville située à l’ouest de Téhéran).

Mme Pari-Dokht Molaï-Far a été pendue le mercredi 29 juillet dans la prison de Ghezel-Hessar. Durant les trois dernières années, elle était détenue à Ghartchak (une prison pour femmes située dans la ville de Varamin). Elle a été transférée à Ghezel-Hessar quelques jours avant son exécution.

La prison de Ghartchak, nommée également « camp de la mort de Ghartchak », a été utilisée par le régime iranien comme un lieu de torture et de viol contre des personnes arrêtées lors des manifestations populaires anti-régime en 2009. La mort d’au moins quatre jeunes manifestants sous la torture à Ghartchak est devenue un scandale pour le régime des mollahs.

Par ailleurs, dans la matinée du mercredi 29 juillet, le régime des mollahs a pendu trois hommes sur une place publique à Karadj. Les noms des personnes exécutées n’ont pas été annoncés.

Au moins 37 prisonniers ont été exécutés en Iran au cours des neuf derniers jours, soit une moyenne de plus de quatre exécutions par jour.

Confronté à une augmentation des mécontentements populaires et incapable de répondre aux demandes légitimes des Iraniens dont la majorité vit sous le seuil de pauvreté, le fascisme religieux au pouvoir en Iran – surnommé par les Iraniens le « parrain de Daech » – a intensifié la répression à l’intérieur de l’Iran.

3 women, chained to men and paraded in Iran capital

NCRI - Iran’s fundamentalist regime this week enchained and paraded three young women and two men in central Tehran, a derogatory act used to discourage social dissent by Iranian youths.

The degrading street-parade took place on Monday. All five victims were chained together and paraded on the back of a Toyota truck from the Lashgar Junction until Monirieh Square.

The suppressive security forces driving the truck repeated honked the horn to draw attention, but passers-by were visibly distraught and angered by this medieval and degrading act.

Authorities frequently parade young men, forced to sit backwards on donkeys, in their local neighborhood so as to embarrass and humiliate them. Previous such barbaric acts of parading youths targeted young men on charges of disregarding nightly curfews or showing disrespect towards security agents. This time women were also a major target.

Also this week two women were hanged in Iran.

In the first case, the mullahs' regime on Wednesday hanged a 43-year-old mother in a prison in the city of Karaj, in Alborz Province, north-west of Tehran.

The woman, identified as Ms. Pari-Dokht Molai-Far, was hanged in the notorious Qezelhesar Prison. The mother of one had been imprisoned in the notorious Qarchak Prison for Women in the city of Varamin for the past three years and was transferred to Qezelhesar to face execution.

Qarchak Prison, also referred to as ‘Qarchak Death Camp’, was used by the Iranian regime as a place to brutally torture and rape those arrested during the 2009 anti-regime popular protests. The death of at least four young protesters under torture in Qarchak turned into a scandal for the Iranian regime.

A second woman was hanged in Iran on Thursday. She was among five prisoners who were hanged in the Shahab Prison in the south-eastern city of Kerman.

The deputy chief of the regime’s Social Security Organization on Thursday acknowledged the mullahs’ misogynist policies in Hassan Rouhani’s government.

Some 50,000 female employees have been fired from work in the past 18 month alone, the state-run news agency ISNA quoted the official as saying, adding that the dismissals took place while the women were on pregnancy leave.

In recent days, women in Iran’s western Kurdistan region have once again come under acid attacks by organized misogynist gangs affiliated to the regime.

Iran: women protest Rouhani visit

“We the women of Sanandaj do not welcome Rouhani.”
This was the main slogan heard from women on Sunday, July 26 in Sanandaj (western Iran), protesting a visit by Hassan Rouhani . They held placards reading, “Where is my home?” demanding the unresolved housing problem be finally attended to. ( NCRI Women’s Committee – July 27, 2015)

Iran: 2 political prisoners write letter to UN rapporteur

Shahrokh Zamani and Saeed Shirzad, two labor activists and political prisoners detained in Rajaie Shahr Prison of Karaj, wrote a letter to Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, asking for special attention to the rights of workers in this country. This letter reads:
Dear Mr. Ahmed Shaheed
Considering the fact that in the coming days you will be issuing your report to the UN Human Rights Council, we are asking you to evaluate in your report the status of workers in this country.
Currently Iran’s labor class, consisting of over 14 million people, is living in inhumane conditions: Receiving a salary that is 1/4th of the poverty line, not allowing any protest rallies, crackdown of the May 1 demonstrations and all other labor rallies, and the crackdown and detention of a large number of teachers in recent protests. 
We labor activists in prison are asking you to follow up on the demands of workers in Iran, and we also request that your mandate be extended by the UN Human Rights Council.
Shahrokh Zamani, Saeed Shirzad - Ghezel Hessar Prison

Iran: 20 provinces report young women unemployment soaring above 40%

The Iran Census Center published its statistics report covering March 20 14 to March 2015. These numbers show unemployment amongst young women reaching 40% in 20 provinces across the country. 9 provinces have unemployment soaring 40% while six others are above a shocking 50%, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. 3 other provinces have reported rates at above a whopping 60%, while 2 provinces have 70% of the women reported as unemployed.
The provinces of Kohgilaviye & Boyer Ahmad and Chahar Mahal & Bakhtiari have unemployment rates above 70% for young women. These numbers in Ilam, Fars and Mazandaran province are above 60%.
Urban areas report unemployment rates for young women at 54.5% and rural areas at 24.8%.
The three provinces of Chahar Mahal & Bakhtiari and also Lorestan have these rates skyrocketing at 80%, whereas 60% of all students entering the country’s universities and colleges are women.

(State-run IRNA news agency – July 28, 2015)

Iran: prisoner deprived of necessary medical treatment

Mohammad Sedigh Kabudvand, founder of the Kurdistan Organization in Defense of Human Rights, is currently in his 9th year behind bars in Evin Prison and remains deprived of medical leave or any such care. This human rights advocate has during his time behind bars received a leave from prison just once, after a hunger strike, to see his ill child for a short period.
Mohammad Sedigh Kabudvand has been detained and thrown behind bars since July 1, 2007. 
Having no sickness prior to his detention, he says he is now suffering from lung, kidney and skin illnesses after being placed in solitary confinement, and he has have even suffered an acute brain stroke.

Humiliation in Iran: agents parade arrested women

Security agents on Monday, July 27 carried out a humiliating measure that raised protests amongst the people. In the morning hours they paraded three arrested women and two men who were by boarding them on a Toyota pickup truck, chaining their arms and legs, and paraded them around in various streets of Tehran. The agents were seen honking the vehicle’s horn to gain more attention to this humiliating act. This repulsive measure raised protests by the people. 
( NCRI Women’s Committee – July 27, 2015)

Iran: Call for protest against death sentence for political prisoner Mohammad-Ali Taheri

NCRI - The Iranian Resistance calls on all human rights defenders and pertinent UN bodies to protest the retrial of political prisoner Mr. Mohammad-Ali Taheri and his subsequent condemnation to death.

The announcement of this criminal sentence on July 29 and the execution of 22 prisoners, including two women, and three public hangings, merely from July 27 till July 30 are happening concurrent with visits by senior European officials to Iran. These measures demonstrate that the criminal mullahs are unable to sustain their infamous rule for a single week or even a day without resorting to executions, torture and suppression and that their relations with the West encourages and emboldens them to continue to ramp up the suppression of Iranian people.

Political prisoner Mohammad-Ali Taheri who has been in prison for four years, has been condemned to death on the mullahs’ fabricated charge of “corruption on earth by misleading people” while he had been previously condemned to five years in prison and a fine of 9 billion Rials plus 74 lashes for ludicrous charges such as “insulting the sanctities; illicit usage of scientific titles (doctor and engineer); writing misleading books and articles” (Mizan News Agency, affiliated with regime’s judiciary - July 29).

And now, as Mr. Taheri’s prison term is coming to an end, the regime’s henchmen have retried and condemned him to death.

Iran hangs 6 more prisoners, including 2nd woman in 2 days

NCRI - Iran’s regime on Thursday hanged five prisoners, including a woman, in the south-eastern city of Kerman, and it executed another prisoner in the city of Ardebil, north-west Iran.

Three of the men executed in Kerman were identified as Ezzat Sabeki, Meysam Shahraki and Ali Zehi. The victims were executed in Kerman's Shahab Prison.

Another man was hanged Thursday morning in the central prison of Ardebil, according to the state-run Tasnim news agency.

3 men hanged in public in Iran (Karaj) on July 29, 2015

Three other death-row prisoners in the southern city of Bandar Abbas were on Thursday transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their imminent execution.

They were identified as Yousef Shahnavazi Shahdadi, 25; Kamran Zarei, 47; and Jamal Kasebkar Darandeh, 45.

The mullahs' regime on Wednesday hanged a 43-year-old mother in a prison in the city of Karaj, in Alborz Province, north-west of Tehran.

The woman, identified as Ms. Pari-Dokht Molai-Far, was hanged in the notorious Qezelhesar Prison. The mother of one had been imprisoned in the notorious Qarchak Prison for Women in the city of Varamin for the past three years and was transferred to Qezelhesar to face execution.

Qarchak Prison, also referred to as ‘Qarchak Death Camp’, was used by the Iranian regime as a place to brutally torture and rape those arrested during the 2009 anti-regime popular protests. The death of at least four young protesters under torture in Qarchak turned into a scandal for the Iranian regime.

Also on Wednesday, the mullahs’ regime hanged three men in a public square in Karaj. The three men, who were not named, were hanged at dawn.

At least 37 prisoners have been executed in Iran in the past nine days, the equivalent of more than four executions per day.

Faced with escalating popular discontent and unable to respond to the rightful demands of the majority of the Iranian people who are living under the poverty line, the religious fascism ruling Iran - dubbed the ‘godfather of ISIS’ by the Iranian people - is ramping up suppression.

Three men hanged in public in Iran

NCRI – The regime in Iran has hanged three men in public in the city of Karaj, in Alborz Province, north-west of Tehran.

The three men, who were not named, were hanged at dawn on Wednesday.

The regime’s state-media published photographs from the scene of the executions.

Five other death-row prisoners, including one woman, in the south-eastern city of Kerman were on Wednesday transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their imminent execution.

Three of the men have been identified as Ezzat Sabeki, Meysam Shahraki and Ali Zehi.

At least 30 prisoners have been executed in Iran in the past 9 days.

Faced with escalating popular discontent and unable to respond to the rightful demands of the majority of the Iranian people who are living under the poverty line, the religious fascism ruling Iran - dubbed the ‘godfather of ISIS’ by the Iranian people - is ramping up suppression.

Iran regime hangs 43-year-old mother

                                                            Archive Photo

NCRI - Iran’s regime has hanged a 43-year-old mother in a prison in the city of Karaj, in Alborz Province, north-west of Tehran.

The woman, identified as Ms. Pari-Dokht Molai-Far, was hanged on Wednesday in the notorious Qezelhesar Prison.

The mother of one had been imprisoned in the notorious Qarchak Prison for Women in the city of Varamin for the past three years and was transferred to Qezelhesar for the execution to take place.

Qarchak Prison, also referred to as ‘Qarchak Death Camp’, was used by the Iranian regime as a place to brutally torture and rape those arrested during the 2009 anti-regime popular protests. The death of at least four young protesters under torture in Qarchak turned into a scandal for the Iranian regime.

Also on Wednesday, the mullahs’ regime hanged three men in a public square in Karaj. The three men, who were not named, were hanged at dawn.

Five other death-row prisoners, including one woman, in the south-eastern city of Kerman were on Wednesday transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their imminent execution.

Three of the men have been identified as Ezzat Sabeki, Meysam Shahraki and Ali Zehi.

At least 31 prisoners have been executed in Iran in the past 9 days.

Faced with escalating popular discontent and unable to respond to the rightful demands of the majority of the Iranian people who are living under the poverty line, the religious fascism ruling Iran - dubbed the ‘godfather of ISIS’ by the Iranian people - is ramping up suppression.

27th anniversary of massacre of 30000 political prisoners in Iran

NCRI – Saturday marks the 27th anniversary of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. In the summer of 1988, one month after Ruhollah Khomeini was forced to accept a cease-fire in his eight-year war with Iraq, the fundamentalist ruler of the mullahs’ regime ordered a mass execution of all political prisoners affiliated with the main opposition groupPeople’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI (Mujahedin-e Khalq, MEK).

The brutal prison massacre, which has been described by some international human rights lawyers as the greatest crime against humanity that has gone unpunished since the Second World War, saw the execution of some 30,000 defenseless prisoners.

Near the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Khomeini who felt that defeat was imminent, decided to take his revenge on the political prisoners. He issued a fatwa (or religious decree) ordering the massacre of anyone who had not repented and was not willing to collaborate fully with the regime.

Khomeini decreed: "Whoever at any stage continues to belong to the Monafeqin (PMOI) must be executed. Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately." He added: "Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the PMOI are waging war on God and are condemned to execution...It is naive to show mercy to those who wage war on God."

The Iranian regime has never acknowledged these executions, or provided any information as to how many prisoners were summarily killed. Young girls, old parents, students, workers, and many of those who had already finished their sentences prior to 1988 were among those who vanished in the span of a few months. Their bodies were dumped into mass graves, including in Khavaran Cemetery near Tehran.

Khomeini had assigned an "Amnesty Commission" for prisoners. In reality it was a "Death Commission: comprised of the three individuals: A representative of the Ministry of Intelligence, a religious judge and a prosecutor. Most trials lasted for just a few minutes and resembled more of an interrogation session. The questions were focused on whether the prisoner still had any allegiances to the PMOI (MEK), whose supporters made up more than 90 percent of the prisoners. If the prisoners were not willing to collaborate fully with the regime against the PMOI (MEK), it was viewed as a sign of sympathy to the organization and the sentence was immediate execution. The task of the Death Commission was to determine whether a prisoner was an Enemy of God or not. In the case of Mojahedin prisoners, that determination was often made after only a single question about their party affiliation. Those who said "Mojahedin" rather than the derogatory term "Monafeqin" (meaning hypocrites) were sent to the gallows.

None of the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran and none of the regime's senior officials including the Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, have been brought to justice to date.

Click here to read a more comprehensive report about the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, including a copy of Khomeini’s hand-written fatwa.

Iran: 2 women taken for execution during Mogherini’s visit

As EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was visiting Tehran on Tuesday, July 28th the regime transferred two women from Gharchak Prison in Varamin, southeast of the capital to solitary confinement in Ghezel Hessar Prison of Karaj (west of Tehran) in preparation for their execution. These two prisoners were held in Gharchak Prison for 3 to 4 years, lacking any basic daily facilities. The names of these two prisoners are: 
1. Paridokht Molaie-far, 43, mother of 1 child. She had been held in Gharchak for 3 years.
2. Rahime Rahimi, over 50 years of age, held in this prison for over 4 years.
Mrs. Mogherini has with her trip to Tehran and shaking hands with the criminals ruling Iran completely turned her back to the European people’s opposition to capital punishment.
Furthermore, the mullahs’ regime hanged three prisoners Wednesday morning in public in the city of Karaj. It is also worth noting that on Tuesday Khamenei’s henchmen sent 12 inmates to the gallows. These brutal executions were carried out during the European delegation’s visit to Tehran.

More than 9 million complete illiterates reported in Iran

The Iranian regime’s Central Bank issued a report on July 27th saying, “11.2% of people over the age of six are completely illiterate. 1.5% is able to read and write, and around 21% have elementary education and 43% have secondary school education.” According to this report 22.5% have university education.
In this regard a regime official said the number of complete illiterates in Iran are 9,456,000 people, adding labor children, disabled children, children with bad caretakers and orphans are usually deprived of education. 

Iran: medical school girls rally against “strange bill”

Around 150 medical school girls rallied and protested a bill passed by Hassan Rouhani ’s Healthy Ministry. This rally was held outside this ministry building on Monday, July 27th, and the protesters said women graduating from medical school are committed to 8 years of service while men are only committed to two years.
The state-run Tabnak website reported these college students have been protesting this issue for 2½ years and their voices have been silenced throughout Rouhani’s tenure.
Health Ministry security intervened and began confiscating their video cameras and placards, Tabnak added.

Editorial: Focus on human rights in Iran now

Following the July 14 Iran nuclear deal, a number of European officials have begun making the trek to Tehran in the hopes of reestablishing economic contracts with the mullahs' regime. But these officials are failing to pay attention to the dramatic deterioration in the human rights situation and the rapid rise in the rate of executions in Iran.

Immediately after the nuclear deal was clinched, the clerical regime embarked on a new wave of executions, including several cases of group hangings.

The Iranian authorities are believed to have executed an astonishing 694 people between 1 January and 15 July 2015, Amnesty International said last week, in an unprecedented spike in executions in the country.

"Executions in Iran did not even stop during the holy month of Ramadan. In a departure from established practice, at least four people were executed over the past month," the human rights group said. "Iran’s staggering execution toll for the first half of this year paints a sinister picture of the machinery of the state carrying out premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale."

At least 27 prisoners have been executed in Iran in the past week alone. That's close to four executions per day. Yet European officials have remained mum on the mullahs' appalling human rights record.

Ms. Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, who visited Tehran on July 28 to discuss "bilateral issues" and trade opportunities, was noticeably silent on the mullahs’ egregious human rights conduct.

In the nine months that Ms. Mogherini has taken office, some 1,000 prisoners have been executed in Iran, women have faced the most severe pressures, and religious and ethnic minorities have faced extensive repression and discrimination; however, Ms. Mogherini has refrained from uttering even a single verbal condemnation of these daily atrocities. This is disgraceful for the EU whose very foundation is based on countering fascism and supporting democracy and human rights.

Ms. Mogherini met with those responsible for 120,000 political executions, including the massacre of 30,000 Iranian political prisoners (members of the PMOI) in the summer of 1988, as well as those bearing chief responsibility for the export of terror and fundamentalism to the region.

To welcome her in Tehran, the regime hanged a group of 11 prisoners in Karaj on Monday. Yet in her op-ed on Tuesday in the Guardian's Comment is Free, Ms. Mogherini failed to even remotely refer to a need for Tehran to improve its human rights record.

Other senior European officials who have already gone or plan to go to Tehran following the nuclear accord have been equally silent on the human rights violations in Iran.

Let’s face it. Calling Hassan Rouhani a 'moderate', if not done for sinister political objectives, is delusional. In the less than two years that he has been in office as President, the regime has executed more than 1,800 prisoners, more than in any similar period in the past 25 years.

Last December, the United Nations General Assembly slammed the flagrant violations of human rights by the Iranian regime, and according to Mr. Ahmad Shaheed, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, under Rouhani “the overall situation has worsened.”

Dr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras, former Vice-President of the European Parliament, on Tuesday rightly said: "It is an illusion to imagine that the nuclear agreement will lead to an improvement in the human rights situation in Iran. All the signs indicate that the agreement will embolden the mullahs to further abuse their citizens and to prevent an opening of the political atmosphere which could lead to a repeat of the upsurge of anti-government sentiments that took place in the 2009 uprisings."

As such the trips by Ms. Mogherini and other EU officials to Iran under the mullahs’ rule run counter to the national interest of the Iranian people and their determination to overthrow this regime and establish democracy and popular rule in Iran.

Good political sense dictates that Ms. Mogherini and co. who visit Iran speak out against Tehran’s abhorrent human rights abuses and nefarious conduct in the region and defend the Iranian people’s basic rights. They should make it clear that any improvement of relations with Tehran would depend on an improvement of the human rights situation and an end to the killing spree and Tehran’s export of terror and fundamentalism. It must be made clear to the Iranian authorities that they would be held accountable for their crimes against humanity both inside Iran and abroad.

U.S.: Iran officials involved in the human trafficking of women

NCRI – Officials of the regime in Iran are involved in the “sex trafficking of women and girls”, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report on human trafficking released this week.

“Iran is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor,” the State Department said in its annual ‘Trafficking in Persons Report 2015.’

“Organized groups reportedly subject Iranian women, boys, and girls to sex trafficking in Iran, as well as in the United Arab Emirates and Europe,” the TIP report said.

“In 2013, traffickers forced Iranian women and girls into prostitution in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. From 2009-2015, there was a reported increase in the transport of girls from and through Iran en route to the Gulf where organized groups sexually exploited or forced them into marriages. In Tehran, Tabriz, and Astara, the number of teenage girls in prostitution continues to increase.”

“Organized criminal groups force Iranian and immigrant children to work as beggars and in street vendor rings in cities, including Tehran. Physical and sexual abuse and drug addiction are the primary means of coercion. Some children are also forced to work in domestic workshops. Traffickers subject Afghan migrants, including boys, to forced labor in construction and agricultural sectors in Iran. Afghan boys are at high risk of experiencing sexual abuse by their employers and harassment or blackmailing by the Iranian security service and other government officials.”

“In previous years, there were reports government officials were involved in the sex trafficking of women and girls. Reports also indicated some officials operating shelters for runaway girls forced them into prostitution rings.”

“The Government of Iran does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. As in previous reporting periods, the government did not share information on its anti-trafficking efforts. Publicly available information from NGOs, the media, international organizations, and other governments indicates the Iranian government is not taking sufficient steps to address its extensive trafficking challenges, particularly with regard to the protection of trafficking victims.”

“Moreover, female victims of sexual abuse, including sex trafficking victims, are liable to be prosecuted for adultery, which is defined as sexual relations outside of marriage and is punishable by death,” the report added.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, made a statement after the State Department released its 2015 TIP report which placed countries into one of four tiers to indicate “the extent of government action to combat trafficking.” Six countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Algeria, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, were placed on the Tier 3 List, the highest level of concern, while five additional countries in the region were placed on the Tier 2 Watch List.

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen said: “Iran’s inclusion again as a Tier 3 country in the TIP report is further evidence of the administration’s irresponsibility in pretending Iran’s nuclear program exists in a vacuum. The administration decided to negotiate with Iran exclusively on its nuclear program while ignoring Iran’s other illicit activity and human rights record and is incorrectly arguing that it is only lifting nuclear related sanctions. Despite the administration’s claims, the sanctions being lifted on Iran were never intended solely for its nuclear program but were also designed to address its human rights record, including human trafficking, among other issues. As Iran’s Tier 3 placement shows, human trafficking and human rights are not improving in Iran. We must not lift Iran’s human rights sanctions as part of this weak nuclear deal.”

Mogherini ne devrait pas délaisser les droits de l’homme lors de sa visite en Iran – Un député européen

 La Haute Représentante de l'Union pour les affaires étrangères et la politique de sécurité Mme Federica Mogherini se rend à Téhéran mardi pour ouvrir un nouveau dialogue sur des « questions bilatérales » entre l’Iran et les puissances mondiales deux semaines après l’accord nucléaire. Pourtant son voyage met en péril les valeurs démocratiques européennes, a écrit Alejo Vidal-Quadras, ancien vice-président du Parlement Européen, dans un éditorial pour United Press International :

 C’est une illusion d’imaginer que l’accord nucléaire conduira à une amélioration de la situation des droits de l’homme en Iran. Tous les signes indiquent que l’accord encouragera les mollahs à continuer de maltraiter ses citoyens et à empêcher le dégel de l’atmosphère politique, ce qui pourrait mener à une nouvelle montée en puissance des sentiments antigouvernementaux exprimés dans les soulèvements de 2009.

Quelques heures avant que Mme Mogherini annonce son projet de voyage, le régime exécutait 10 prisonniers par pendaison collective dans sa prison de Gohardasht. Le même jour,Amnesty International informait du nombre sidérant de 694 personnes exécutées par les autorités iraniennes entre le 1er janvier et le 15 juillet 2015, un pic d’exécutions sans précédent dans le pays.

 « Cela revient à exécuter plus de trois personnes par jour », a affirmé Amnesty International. « Le bilan sidérant des exécutions pour la première moitié de l’année brosse un sinistre tableau de la machinerie d’état qui perpétue des tueries illégales et préméditées à grande échelle. »

 En décembre dernier, l’Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies a vivement critiqué les violations éhontées des droits de l’homme par l’Iran, et son emploi de châtiments inhumains, dont les coups de fouet et les amputations.

 Aucun signe ne montre une amélioration de la situation des droits de l’homme pendant la présidence d’Hassan Rohani. Au contraire, les faits pointent une triste réalité :

 Depuis que Rohani a pris le pouvoir il a presque deux ans, il y a eu plus de 1 800 exécutions en Iran, davantage que dans toute période similaire lors de ces 25 dernières années. L’Iran détient le record du plus grand nombre d’exécutions par habitant dans le monde et a exécuté le plus grand nombre de prisonniers mineurs. Les exécutions de citoyens issus deminorités ethniques et religieuses ont augmenté de façon spectaculaire. Plusieurs prêtres chrétiens sont incarcérés pour avoir défendu leurs croyances. L’Iran est la plus grande prison de journalistes dans le Moyen-Orient ; des dizaines de journalistes sont actuellement détenus. L’Iran est aussi le plus grand consommateur d’équipement de filtrage internet ; il bloque l’accès à environ cinq millions de sites web dédiés aux arts et aux enjeux sociaux, et filtre les contenus de blogs et de médias sociaux.

La misogynie est au cœur de la loi théocratique du régime. En octobre dernier, des groupes organisés affiliés au régime ont mené des attaques à l’acide contre des femmes iraniennes pour un port du voile prétendument inconvenant. Le même mois, en dépit des protestations internationales, l’Iran a exécuté Mme Rayhaneh Jabbari, 26 ans, dont le crime a été de se défendre contre un agent du renseignement qui avait tenté de la violer.

 Mme Atena Farghadani, une artiste de 28 ans, a été condamnée en mai à une peine de 12 ans pour avoir dessiné une caricature moquant les hauts fonctionnaires du régime. Il est difficile d’imaginer une jeune femme être emprisonnée pour une telle durée simplement pour un dessin humoristique, mais c’est la réalité de la théocracie qui règne en Iran.

 En tout, ce régime a exécuté plus de 120 000 prisonniers politiques, dont la grande majorité étaient des membres du principal groupe d’opposition iranien l’Organisation des Moudjahidine du Peuple d’Iran (OMPI).

 Samedi prochain marquera le 27ème anniversaire du massacre en 1988 de 30 000 prisonniers politiques, principalement des membres et activistes de l’OMPI. L’un des trois membres de la « commission de la mort » qui a envoyé les prisonniers politiques à la potence est l’actuel Ministre de la Justice de Rohani.

 La rencontre de Mme Mogherini avec les responsables du régime va les encourager à continuer d’exercer la torture et les exécutions, aussi bien qu’à exporter la terreur et le fondamentalisme dans la région, et cela sapera la détermination du peuple pour mettre en plae un changement démocratique.

 Bien qu’en 2012 l’Union Européenne ait adopté un ambitieux système stratégique pour placer les droits de l’homme et la démocratie au centre de sa politique, Mme Mogherini, pendant ses neuf mois au poste de chef de la diplomatie européenne, et malgré le millier d’exécutions en Iran, a refusé de prononcer la moindre condamnation envers ces atrocités quotidiennes.

 L’accord nucléaire ne devrait pas fournir à l’Union Européenne une excuse pour rester silencieuse face au comportement lamentable du régime vis-à-vis des droits de l’homme. Mme Mogherini devrait donner pour objet contral à sa visite une déclaration publique aux autorités iraniennes qui leur demande de stopper les exécutions et de libérer les prisonniers politiques. Autrement, le régime utilisera sa visite comme outil de propagande pour décourager les appels à la démocratie parmi le peuple iranien. Il est temps pour l’Europe de choisir son camp entre un régime théocratique et le peuple oppressé. L’Europe ne devrait pas hésiter à se tenir aux côtés du peuple iranien épris de liberté et à soutenir son appel pour la liberté, la démocratie et les droits de l’homme.

 Alejo Vidal-Quadras était vice-président du Parlement Européen de 1999 à 2014, et préside actuellement une ONG basée à Bruxelles, le Comité International pour la Recherche de la Justice (ISJ)

Iran regime to hang man for crime allegedly committed aged 15

NCRI - The regime in Iran plans to execute over the weekend an Iranian who was 15 years old when he was alleged to have committed a crime, Amnesty International has said.

"Juvenile offender Salar Shadizadi is at imminent risk of execution for a murder allegedly committed when he was 15 years old. He is scheduled to be executed on 1 August. Salar Shadizadi was arrested in February 2007 on a charge of murdering a friend. He was sentenced to death in December that year, under the Islamic principle of qesas (retribution-in-kind), by Branch 11 of the Criminal Court of Appeal in the northern province of Gilan. His sentence was upheld three months later, by Branch 37 of the Supreme Court," Amnesty International said in an Urgent Action appeal on Monday.

"Salar Shadizadi was arrested in February 2007 after his friend’s dead body was found in a garden belonging to Salar Shadizadi’s family. Salar Shadizadi was subsequently arrested and accused of fatally stabbing the deceased victim in the neck. The circumstances of the crime are not clear to Amnesty International," the international human rights group said.

"After several years on death row, Salar Shadizadi was transferred to solitary confinement on 7 July 2013 in preparation for execution. The authorities, however, halted the execution at the last minute and allowed Salar Shadizadi to submit a request for judicial review under Article 91 of Iran’s 2013 Penal Code, which gives judges the discretion not to impose the death penalty if they determine that a juvenile offender did not understand the nature of the crime or its consequences, or if there are doubts about the offender’s 'mental growth and maturity'."

"Later that year, Branch 13 of Iran’s Supreme Court accepted the request for judicial review and sent the case back to the court of first instance to examine the issue of Salar Shadizadi’s maturity at the time of the crime. The court of first instance referred Salar Shadizadi to Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization (LMO) for psychological examination. The LMO found that ‘there is no evidence to conclude that Salar Shadizadi was insane at the time of the crime but examining his mental growth seven years after the event is impossible.’ Based on this finding, Branch 13 of the Supreme Court upheld the original death sentence. In its reasoning, the Supreme Court stated: 'presumptively, mental maturity is present after children reach the age of maturity [which is 15 for boys and nine for girls] and the rebuttal of this presumption requires proof which has not been established in this case.'"

"At least 72 juvenile offenders are believed to have been executed in Iran between 2005 and 2014 and at least 160 juvenile offenders are believed to be on death row," Amnesty International added.

European Union foreign policy chief Ms. Federica Mogherini is on her first official visit to Iran on Tuesday. Since taking office she has not condemned the flagrant human rights abuses that are rampant in Iran.

Nine prisoners were on Monday hanged collectively in a detention center in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran.

Also on Monday two other prisoners, identified as Saeid Ganji and Firouz Nouri-Majd, were hanged in Iran’s notorious Qezelhesar Prison in Karaj.

The hangings bring to at least 27 the number of prisoners that have been executed in Iran in the past week.

11 prisoners hanged in Iran - 27 executions in past week

NCRI – Nine prisoners were on Monday hanged collectively in a detention center in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran.

Also on Monday two other prisoners, identified as Saeid Ganji and Firouz Nouri-Majd, were hanged in Iran’s notorious Qezelhesar Prison in Karaj.

The hangings bring to at least 27 the number of prisoners that have been executed in Iran in the past week.

The nine prisoners executed at dawn on Monday in the Karaj detention center were identified as Omid Mohammadi-Dara, Mostafa Ghafarzadeh, Omidreza Karampour, Shahriar Hassan-Zadeh, Hossein Afghan, Yareh Hassan-Zadeh, Sasan Salari, Meysam Hosseini-Nejad, and Amanollah Baluch-Zehi.

Faced with escalating popular discontent and unable to respond to the rightful demands of the majority of the Iranian people who are living under the poverty line, the religious fascism ruling Iran - dubbed the ‘godfather of ISIS’ by the Iranian people - is ramping up suppression.

On Thursday, Amnesty International said that the Iranian regime has executed an astonishing 694 people between January 1 and July 15, 2015.

“Iran’s staggering execution toll for the first half of this year paints a sinister picture of the machinery of state carrying out premeditated judicially-sanctioned killing on a mass scale,” it said.

Since mullah Hasssan Rouhani took office as President, more than 1,800 prisoners have been executed in Iran.

Iran: 12 prisoners executed in 2 prison west of Tehran

10 death row prisoners were executed in the early hours of Monday, July 27 in Karaj Central Prison, west of Tehran.
Omid Mohamaddi Dara, Mostafa Ghafarzadeh, Omidreza Karampour, Shahriar Hassanzadeh, Hossein Afghan, Yare Hassanzadeh, Sassan Salari, Meitham Hassani-Nezhad and Amanollah Baluch-zehi are the names of nine of these inmates sent to the gallows. One of these victims was a Baluch minority and another was an Afghan national. The ages of individuals were ranged between 25 and 35, and all were from halls 1 to 5 of this prison and they were transferred to solitary confinement on Saturday, July 25th.

Karaj Central Prison

Two prisoners were also executed in Ghezel Hessar Prison of Karaj.
No Iranian regime official or authorities from the judiciary have reported anything about the arrest, court rulings and executions of these prisoners.
After giving into the nuclear deal and the month of Ramadan coming to an end, executions are now increasing once again in Iran while a bill proposing to ban executions for drug charges has remained unattended to in the regime’s so-called parliament.

6th anniversary of Camp Ashraf massacre in Iraq

NCRI - Tuesday marks the 6th anniversary of the Nuri Maliki-led Iraqi government's massacre at Camp Ashraf which left 11 members of the main Iranian opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI (Mujahedin-e Khalq, MEK), killed and nearly 500 wounded, and a further 36 camp residents taken hostage.

On July 28-29, 2009, the Iraqi Army under the direct order of Iraqi dictator Nuri al-Maliki attacked the unarmed and defenseless Camp Ashraf residents.

The unprovoked attack on the group of refugees drew widespread condemnation from international lawmakers, human rights organizations and religious personalities.

Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights, the World Organization Against Torture, Human Rights Watch, and the Archbishop of Canterbury were among those who condemned the attack and expressed concern about the situation of Camp Ashraf residents in numerous statements.

Other Camp Ashraf residents and their families and supporters around the world launched a 72-day hunger strike that eventually forced the Iraqi government to release on October 7 the 36 Camp Ashraf hostages that had been arrested and tortured. The Iraqi courts had issued three verdicts by this time ordering the Iraqi government to release the detained residents.

There was also a major international campaign to compel the U.S. government and the United Nations to live up to their legal and moral responsibility to protect the Camp Ashraf residents.

A resolution adopted by the European Parliament on April 24, 2009, had reiterated that the PMOI (MEK) members in Camp Ashraf were 'Protected Persons' under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Parliament called on the Iraqi Government to respect the rights of Camp Ashraf residents and to refrain from their expulsion or forcible displacement within Iraq and to put an end to the siege imposed on them.

Following the brutal attack on Camp Ashraf in 2009, under Maliki's watch, the Iraqi army and Shiite militia groups backed by the Iranian regime have carried out five other deadly massacres and rocket attacks on Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, where the PMOI (MEK) members were later relocated at the request of the United Nations.

The April 2011 attack on Camp Ashraf - described by then U.S. Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as a "massacre" - left 36 residents dead and hundreds wounded. That attack also drew widespread condemnation from the international community.

Since 2009, both Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty have been under a barbaric siege where delivery of food, fuel and medicine has been constantly hampered and visits by family members, human rights organizations, residents' lawyers, international lawmakers and independent journalists have been disallowed.

The several thousand PMOI (MEK) members now at Camp Liberty continue to face an inhumane siege by the Iraqi government.

Second stage of ‘smart filtering’ begins in Iran

Mahmoud Vaezi, Minister of Communications and Technology in Iran said the first stage of ‘smart filtering’ has been carried out ‘successfully’ in Iran and authorities are currently launching the second stage. This minister described smart filtering as having a “very complex design” and covering three phases. The Ministry of Communication has signed contracts with a number of “private companies, universities and research centers”.

Seeing this photo burns me down to my bones; Reyhaneh Jabbari’s mother

In a letter posted on her facebook page, Mrs. Sholeh Pakravan, Reyhaneh Jabbari’s mother writes: 'It burns me deep down just seeing the pictures of the so called P5+1 sitting with the Iranian murderers of our loved ones. I don’t want to believe that they are just after those dirty oil dollars. I don’t want to think that it is my Reyhaneh who dances at the end of the rope while hanging from the noose, but those greedy eyes can only see the number on the dollars.'
Reyhaneh Jabbari, a 26-year old university student and decorator was hanged on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 in Gohardasht prison by the inhumane regime of mullahs in Iran. She was accused of defending her honor stabbing a man who had attacked her during a sexual abuse when she was only 19 years old. She spent 7 years behind bars being harassed and tortured and beaten during this time and when she didn’t submit to her prison guards, met the ultimate punishment.  
Amnesty International called it 'another bloody stain on the mullshs’ human rights record.' 
Responding to the West’s attempts to open business with the dictators in Iran, Ms. Sholeh writes: 'Who could they close their eyes to so many being hanged in Iran. How can they know the number of executions, but turn their heads the other way?'
According to Amnesty’s records, 3 people are executed (hanged) every single day in Iran. 'How can they ignore their conscious, when they see the tears of Sattar’s mother, or Saied’s mother who has been looking for her loved one in dozens of prisons for months and months hopping to find her son? Or the tearful eyes of Neda’s mother whose daughter was shot by a government paramilitary force whose identity was later revealed by the people, but never was caught? And how can they ignore seeing the faces of dozens of young women splashed with acid by the government backed militants while not even one single suspect has been apprehended?'
She concludes her open letter to the world by saying that she is waiting for the day that world come to its senses and value the life of the people more than the value of dollar bill, the day that the most precious thing on earth would be human life and human dignity and not money… 

Iran: coed music group not permitted to perform concert

Jamejamonline, a state-run website reported the coed ‘Kamkar’ music group did not receive a permit to perform a concert in Iran. This report reads in part:
“During the past few days Reza Yazdani was scheduled to perform a concert in Abadan (southwest Iran). However, this program was cancelled for reasons unknown. Now, the authorities have not issued a permit for the ‘Kamkar’ music group in Isfahan to stage a concert.
“This group, consisting of male and female artists and performing coed songs, was to perform a concert on July 31 in Isfahan.”

 (Jamejamonline website – July 22, 2015)

Wife of ‘Hoda Saber’: I will not let the blood of my husband go in vein

Mr. Hoda Saber, an Iranian writer, analyst and an intellectual was arrested and killed under torture in prison in Iran for criticizing the government of Khamenei. His wife Ms. Faride Jamshidi has said in an interview that she will never let his blood to go in vein
She described, in this interview, the innocence of her husband and the cruelty imposed on him and his family by the Iranian regime. She said in this interview: 
“In Iran’s history there has never been another case where 64 people testify that a genius in this country was beaten to death inside prison. My child and I cannot for even a second forget him, his innocence and the cruelty imposed on our family. Four years has passed and the country’s judiciary system continues to depict the whole case as an ordinary murder case and attempts finalize it, and they have never brought the perpetrators of this crime before justice. We expected his quick release, but Saber’s body was given to me in a very atrocious manner! He had done nothing wrong and was only concerned about the people of his country! This is truly very painful and ungenerous.” ( NCRI Women’s Committee – July 25, 2015)

US State Dept.: Iran on human trafficking blacklist

The US State Department issued its annual report on human trafficking on Monday, July 26, once again blacklisting the Iranian regime for its notorious activities in this regard.
The regimes of Syria, North Korea and Russia are seen alongside the Iranian regime in this human trafficking blacklist.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the objective of this report is to have global coordination on how to fight against human trafficking.
The United Nations estimates an annual $150bn in human trafficking taking place across the globe each year.
The US State Department issues a number of important annual reports on terrorism, human rights, the status of religious minorities and human trafficking. Iran is on all these blacklists.