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.