Iranian Baha’i women receive harsh prison terms

Two-Dozen Baha’i citizens in Iran were sentenced to a total of 193 years behind bars. They were from Gorgan, Minudasht and Gonbad Kavoos.
Two people, Shahnam and Sheida from Gorgan were each sentenced to 11 years behind bars.
The spouses of a number of these Baha’i citizens had been sentenced to jail terms prior to this, and they are currently serving their time behind bars without ever enjoying a single day of leave. 

Iran’s prominant political prisoner Ayatollah Kazemeini Borujerdi in critical condition

Political prisoner, Aya Seyed Hossein Kazemeini Borujerdi was transferred toEvin Prison ’s clinic on Tuesday, January 19th while suffering from serious intestinal illnesses resulting from a probable virus or infection. However, prison authorities had him returned to his cell without prescribing any medication or adequate medical care due to the fact that this prisoner is banned from any such services. Borujerdi’s condition had deteriorated to a point where the next day, Wednesday, January 20th he became dizzy near the stairs and collapsed, leaving his back and leg seriously injured.
Despite his ordeal the regime’s judiciary and intelligence apparatus are refusing to provide any care or allow him to be hospitalized in a decent facility outside of prison

Iran: Ceremony held to honor the martyrdom of Neda Agha Sultan in Tehran

Marking the birthday of Neda Agha Sultan, the symbol of Iran’s 2009 uprising whose heartbreaking clips of passing away after being shot at her heart in cold blood by the government backed militias shocked the world, was held during a ceremony on Saturday, January 23rd. Her family, friends and a group of Iranians had gathered for this ceremony in section 257 of Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery.
Neda was gunned down and killed by Iranian regime state agents, becoming a symbol of the Iranian people’s innocence in the face of the regime’s cruelty and crackdown.
Neda’s family and friends commemorated her memory and placed flowers on her grave.

Iran Still Executes Kids

Girls as young as 9 are sentenced to death: Amnesty International report 

 Newser, Jan 26, 2016  – More than 20 years ago, Iran promised it would stop executing convicts under the age of 18. But a new report by Amnesty International shows that not only has the practice continued into the present day—it's given Iran the dubious distinction of being 'one of the leading executioners of juvenile offenders,' the New York Timesreports.
At least 73 youngsters have been executed in Iran between 2005 and 2015, per the report, and at least 160 juveniles are now on the country's death row, and those are probably conservative numbers , the report notes actual figures are probably higher but unknown because info about the death penalty is 'shrouded in secrecy'. And it's apparently much worse for girls than for boys, a deputy director for the group says. 'Iran continues to lag behind the rest of the world, maintaining laws that permit girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 15 to be sentenced to death,' says Said Boumedouha.
'The report debunks recent attempts by Iran's authorities to whitewash their continuing violations of children's rights and deflect criticism of their appalling record as one of the world's last executioners of juvenile offenders,' the Amnesty report reads. 

Rouhani’s entourage in his trip to Italy and France are terrorists, torturers and revolutionary guards

Terrorists, torturers and Revolutionary Guards are accompanying the Iranian regime’s President Hassan Rouhani in his trips to Italy and France.

Much like Rouhani and his cabinet, his entourage has been involved in suppression, torture and execution of the Iranian people, hostage-taking, and export of terrorism in the past decades. The record of some of his entourage is as follows:

1. Hamid Aboutalebi, Rouhani’s Office political deputy: He was actively involved in the occupation of U.S. Embassy in 1979. He played a key role in the assassination of the representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Italy Mohammad Hossein Naqdi on March 16, 1993. Aboutalebi was appointed regime’s ambassador to the United Nations in 2014, but the U.S. refused him visa on account of his terrorist background and the Iranian regime was compelled to replace him. He has acknowledged that he was an interpreter in the occupation of the embassy (Khabar Online – March 9, 2014).

State-run daily ‘Iran’ wrote on November 18, 2013: “In 1979, with the occupation of the U.S. Embassy… Mr. Abdi and Mr. Hamid Aboutalebi went to Algeria representing the Students Followers of the Imam Line and there they invited 17 world liberation movements to Tehran… We had the banner of ‘unity among the world’s oppressed’ in one hand [of the Students Followers of the Imam Line] and 52 U.S. hostages in the other hand.”

According to investigations conducted by Italian Judiciary Police, at the time of Mr. Naqdi’s assassination, Aboutalebi (regime’s ambassador to Rome 1988-1992) came to Italy to perpetrate this crime with a pseudonym and forged documents. The police probe declared: This assassination has been decided by high-ranking political-religious figures in Tehran and during its perpetration… there was direct link with the diplomatic representation in Italy, especially with ambassador Aboutalebi. According to the report by Italian Judiciary Police, in 2003, Aboutalebi was prohibited from entering the Schengen region since he was suspect in the perpetration of the crime.

2. Mullah Hesam-ad-Din Ashena: He is Rouhani’s cultural advisor and in charge of Iranian President’s Center for Strategic Studies. In 1992 he became Director General of Qom Province’s Intelligence Department and played an active role in the suppression of the people and dissident clerics, as well as the house arrest of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, former designated successor to Khomeini who lost his position for protesting the massacre of People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) members. In 1997, he became Deputy Intelligence Minister and head of the special department dealing with clerics with the mandate to identify and repress dissident clerics. During the rule of this regime, thousands of clerics have been arrested and tortured and dozens have been executed.

3. Mohammad Saeidi: Director General of regime’s maritime line that is accompanying Rouhani as a member of the economic delegation. He is a torturer of the Intelligence Ministry and an element of the 1998 serial killings.

4. Abbas Akhoundi: He is a member of the Revolutionary Guards and played an active role in the 1980s as a member of the special security council in western Iran, which cracked down on the people living in western Iran. He was also Secretary of country’s Security Council for a period of time.

Rouhani’s Minister of Intelligence Mahmoud Alawi noted a few months ago: Rouhani’s ministers are “typically either from the Revolutionary Guards or members of the central committee of Jahad Sazandegi (a suppressive organ affiliated with IRGC) or from other revolutionary institutions; from the judiciary system, agents of the intelligence ministry…”

No respite in suppression of Christians and other religious minorities in Iran under Rouhani

By Donya Jam

Source: Le Plus de l'Obs

There has been plenty of talk about the Iranian nuclear deal and its nefarious regional conduct, but it is time to pause and really think about how Tehran deals with its Christian minority.

As a Christian with Iranian ancestors, I take special interest in the plight and suffering of the Christian minority in Iran. The existence of the Christian community in Iran dates back centuries and is a major part of the history of the country. For centuries, Muslims, Christian, Jews, and Zoroastrians got along fine in Iran. We were all Iranians and our religion was not an issue at all.

After the ayatollahs took over in 1979 things changed for worse. The religious persecutions began and the restrictions became more and more institutionalized. Many Christians and Jews fled. But some stayed in their native country.

In the 1990s several Iranian bishops and pastors were killed mysteriously by the Iranian regime’s security apparatus. One of them was Pastor Haik Hovsepian-Mehr who disappeared from the streets of Tehran on January 19, 1994. The authorities reported his death to his family on January 30. He believed in the God-given right of a person to believe according to his conscience. He loved the people of Iran whether Christian or Muslim. For their religious freedom, he gave his life.

When in 2013 (not 2003) Rouhani was chosen as the regime’s president, some in the West touted that change and reform is on its way. Rouhani was dubbed as a moderate. He declared that year that, “All ethnicities, all religions, even religious minorities, must feel justice”.

This electioneering promise and show for the west could not be farther from the reality on the ground. In fact, despite the fact that his predecessor was deemed the extremist, conditions for believers in Iran have actually deteriorated since Rouhani’s election.

Fitting this pattern, the suppression of Christians has continued unabated and has worsened in some cases. Several pastors including Saeed Abedini, an Iranian-American, are incarcerated and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment simply for practicing and advocating their belief.

According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Iranian authorities have escalated their persecution of religious minorities since the election of President Hassan Rouhani despite his promises to grant them more rights. The commission’s annual report for 2015 found that an increased number of religious minorities have been jailed under Rouhani.

“The government of Iran continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, torture, and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused,” the commission said in the report’s section on Iran.

According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the Iranian regime arrested a group of practicing Iranian Christians on Christmas Day at an in-house church in the city of Shiraz, southern Iran. The group of Iranian Christians had gathered together on December 25, to celebrate Christmas when plain-clothes agents of the regime's notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security raided the in-house church.

On December 30, it was revealed that authorities in Tehran are planning to transform illegally-confiscated church grounds into an ‘Islamic prayer center.’ The land belonging to the Iranian Assyrian community’s Chaldean Catholic Church in Tehran’s Patrice Lumumba Street (in Western Tehran) was illegally confiscated two years ago under the pretext of constructing an Islamic prayer hall and the authorities have refused to hand it back.

And these are just two recent examples.

When faced with threat and intimidation prior to his disappearance, Pastor Hovespain Mehr said: "If we go to jail or die for our faith, we want the whole Christian world to know what is happening to their brothers and sisters."
Do not give Rouhani a free pass when he comes to Europe. Let’s remember the victims of this tyrannical regime are Muslims, Christians and Jews alike and also let’s keep in mind that Rouhani represents this regime in its entirety and he cannot dodge the responsibility for the regime’s conduct. To stay silent during such blatant persecution and denial of religious freedom is to be an accessory to the crime and a betrayer of, the very values we hold dear as citizens of a democracy and as people of faith.

Let us not welcome this tyrant, Hassan Rouhani, with open arms, but instead stand up for our values and for those in Iran, especially religious minorities, who are denied their voice and freedoms.

Iraq: pro-Iran militias should be placed on international terrorist lists

The dreadful atrocities of the Shi’ite militias affiliated with the Iranian regime in various regions of Iraq, including Meqhdadiya, and the abductions perpetrated by them, including the three Americans in Baghdad and formerly a group of Qatari citizens in the south, have exacerbated the crises engulfing Iraq.

The most murderous militia organisations affiliated with Iran are the Badr Corps, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) and the Iraqi Hezbollah. These militias use state resources to suppress and massacre Sunnis and the Shiites who oppose the Iranian regime’s interference in Iraq. During Nuri al-Maliki’s 8-year tenure as prime minister, these militias enjoyed the complete support of the government. According to documented reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN Human Rights Council, these militias carried out their crimes using state resources. They had assassination teams that murdered Iraqi political figures, former officers, physicians and experts.

After the removal of Maliki from power and the establishment of the Popular Mobilisation Force or Hashd al-Shaabi that is bankrolled by the government and is officially under the Prime Minister’s control to combat Daesh, these militias grasped the opportunity and practically took over control of Hashd al-Shaabi to advance the objectives of the Iranian regime.

Currently, the commander of the Badr militias is Hadi Ameri, the commander of Kata’ib Hezbollah is Abu Mehdi Muhandis, and the commander of AAH is Qais Khazali. All three militias are under the command of the terrorist Iranian Qods Force.

In view of the fact that in recent days the most prominent religious leaders and Shi’ia and Sunni political figures have called for the disarming of the militias affiliated with the Iranian regime, it is imperative to show firmness vis-à-vis these terrorists and save Iraq from plunging in a dilemma that promises its demise.
The European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA) calls on the European Union, the United States, the United Nations and the countries in the region, to designate the militias affiliated with Iran, especially the Badr, AAH and Kata’ib Hezbollah along with their commanders, on their terrorist lists and it further urges the Government of Iraq to disarm them and bring their commanders to face justice.

Struan Stevenson

Struan Stevenson is President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA) He was a UK Conservative Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014 and was President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq from 2009-2014.