Russia’s 6 months campaign in Syria was to test deadly weapons, boost sale

One economic outcome of the nearly 6-month military campaign in Syria for the Russian military was to market its deadly weapons on the account of Syrian people’s blood.
While Russia’s stated mission in Syria was to fight terrorism, in reality the twin goals appear to have been to prop up the regime of Bashar al-Assad by bombing the West supported opposition while testing new military technologies.
In a visit to a new state-owned arms manufacturing plant on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin boasted about the commercial fruits of the Syria involvement. He said that the export of Russian military products totaled a better-than-expected $14.5 billion in 2015, adding that the total portfolio of foreign orders looks set to top $56 billion, according to statements released by the Kremlin.
Russia entered the war in Syria on Sept. 30. Less than six months later, Putin ordered Russia’s main combat forces to withdraw on March 15, saying: 'I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished.'

Bogdan Wenta MEP: EU’s Iran policy must focus on human rights

NCRI - The Iranian people and their Resistance movement have received more support from the European Parliament. Bogdan Wenta, an MEP from Poland, wished Iranians a happy Persian New Year and welcomed Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi’s recent visit to the European Parliament.

Text of remarks by Mr. Wenta:

“My name is Bogdan Wenta, I’m a member of the European Parliament from Poland. Allow me first to wish a very happy new year to those who are fighting for freedom and democracy in Iran. I am glad we had the opportunity recently to have Mrs. Rajavi here in the European Parliament.”

“We need to put human rights as our guidelines for policy making with Iran and influence Iranian authorities to put a halt to executions and human rights violations. If President Rouhani claims to be moderate he should show it by improving the human rights situation.”

“We have to do our best in helping the Iranian people in achieving their goal of a democratic Iran. I wish that this New Year after the nuclear agreement was signed will be a beginning for change in this country.”

Iranian Kurd sentenced to imprisonment after writing to UN

Iranian Kurdish farmer Yousef Kakehmami, already serving nine years in an Iranian prison after two unfair trials, has been sentenced to a further five years in prison after writing a letter to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran.

Yousef Kakehmami, 38, is a farmer from Iran’s Kurdish minority serving a nine-year sentence in Oroumieh Central Prison, West Azerbaijan Province.

The prison’s branch of the Office for the Implementation of Sentences told him on January 18 that he had been sentenced to a further five years in prison for “acting against national security" through collaboration with a Kurdish opposition group.

"He had received an unfair trial on 12 January, where he had no legal representation and there was only one hearing, before Branch One of the Revolutionary Court of Mahabad. The court did not provide him with a state-appointed lawyer, though it had said it would do so before the trial began. He has not received the written verdict. Yousef Kakemami had been convicted of the same charge after two unfair trials in 2006 and 2008, in which he received three- and six-year sentences, respectively," Amnesty International said in anUrgent Action appeal on Tuesday.

NGO calls for urgent action to end callous food and medicine blockade of Fallujah

 The European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA) has strongly condemned the "cruel and criminal siege" of Fallujah, which, together with the denial of access to medicine, has led to the starvation and death of large numbers of innocent civilians.

The unfolding tragedy has included the horrific death of a young mother who attached rocks to herself and her children and jumped into the River Euphrates.

"The people of Fallujah are the victims of crimes committed by Daesh (ISIS) who control the city, on the one hand and the bombing of residential areas by the Iraqi army and the sectarian Shi’ia militias affiliated with the Iranian regime, on the other," EIFA president Struan Stevenson said in a statement on Friday.

"EIFA calls on the government of Dr. Haider al-Abadi, in line with his recent notable government reforms, to adopt immediate measures to bring food, medicine and basic necessities to the people of Fallujah and to resolve this humanitarian crisis. It also urges the Iraqi Prime Minister to prevent any meddling by the militias affiliated with the Iranian regime who have no objective but to slaughter Sunnis to further their scorched earth tactics. The Iraqi army should create safe corridors to enable people to escape from Fallujah."

"EIFA also calls on the UN, the US, the EU and its Member States, especially members of the international coalition, to take urgent steps to bring food and medicine to the people of Fallujah, including through air-drops. EIFA similarly calls on Iraq’s religious leaders, particularly the Shi’ite leaders, not to keep silent in face of this criminal siege and to employ their extensive resources to save the people of Fallujah."

"Imposing a siege on the people of this city not only fails to help in the fight against Daesh, but by escalating the criminal acts by the militias affiliated with the Iranian Qods Force, politically and socially pours fuel on the flames of conflict and prolongs the existence of Daesh," the statement added.

Mr. Stevenson was a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014 and was President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq from 2009 to 2014.

Iran: Baha’is are suffering inhumane torture in the mullahs’ jails

24 Iranian Baha’is who were arrested in Iran’s Golestan Province during the period of March 20 12 to March 2013 suffered inhumane torture and beaten during their time in jail. These individuals are “accused of illegitimate relations” and “tortured” through different methods.
Reports show an interrogator wrapped a very tight rope to the wrist of one of the Baha’is by the name of Behnam Hosseini and “linked the other ring to a metal rod above his head”, placing him on a “sloped bed allowing only his toes” touch the ground. They then began beating the prisoner’s legs.
The interrogators also arrested Hana Aghighiyan, a woman Baha’i, forcing her to “go under a table” and “kicking her in the sides and other parts of her body”, in an attempt to force her to answer their questions.
According to other reports the interrogators kept the solitary confinement where these prisoners “very cold, to a point that all their bodies were aching because of the cold. When they protested they were told you must bear the cold for not cooperating.”
“An interrogator would force a woman prisoner to a corner, then would threaten her,” said an informed source in this regard.
These Baha’is were sentenced to a total of 193 years behind bars.
Shahnam Jazzabi and Sheida Ghodusi were each sentenced to 11 years, and Behnam Hassani, Parisa Shaheedi, Pariush Shojaie, Mojhde Zohuri, Bita Mohebati, Bita Hedayati, Vathagh Sanaie, Hana Aghighiyan, Shohre Samimi, Hana Kushak Baghi, Farahnaz Tabianian, Pune Thanaie and Mona Amri Hesari have each been condemned to 9 years behind bars.
Furthermore Naveed Moalemi, Nazi Haghighi Hesari, Karmelia Bidelian, Mitra Nouri, Rofia Pakzadan, Shiva Rouhani, Sudabe Mehdi-nezhad, Maryam Dehghan and Houshmand Dehghan were each sentenced to six years in jail.

 (March 24, 2016)

Iran: political prisoner on hunger strike

Hossein Ronaghi Malaki has been on a hunger strike since Saturday, March 26. This political prisoner is protesting prison authorities preventing him from receiving medical care outside the prison.
The father of this political prisoner, Ahmad Ronaghi Malaki, has declared he, too, will launch a hunger strike if his son’s requests are not addressed.
Heart angina, kidney problems, face bloating, internal abdominal bleeding, high blood density, eye infection, lung and breathing problems are just some of the problems this political prisoner is facing.
This blogger was arrested on December 13, 2009 by the Revolutionary Guards intelligence and placed under interrogation and torture for ten months in ward 2A of Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison . On October 5, 2010 he was sentenced to 15 years behind bars on charges including insulting Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

  ( NCRI – March 28, 2016)

Women’s employment in the clerical ruled Iran

According to a report posted on the state-run iranestekhdam.ir website women’s employment in Iran is considered as nearly non-existence.
“From the beginning of this century we have been faced with a social-economic phenomenon of women’s economic participation in occupations outside of the house. Women’s employment in Iran, in comparison to developing countries, is rated as poor. Women always lack adequate occupation opportunities and are mostly occupied in unofficial branches and earning very low wages.
Iran’s 1996 statistics only 12% of women aged 10 and above are considered economically active.
The rate of Iran’s economic activities is very low in comparison to other countries.
The unemployment ration is increasing in Iran, and around 26% of women in urban areas are unemployed. The rate of unemployed educated women, especially in recent years, is increasingly on the rise.”

 ( March 24, 2016)