Situation in Iran
European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2010 on Iran
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on Iran,
– having regard to the statement by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, of 5 February 2010 on the imminent executions in Iran,
U.S. and EU fear fresh government crackdown in Iran
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union said on Monday they feared the Iranian government may crack down on opponents during this week's anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Washington and the EU issued a rare joint statement on Iran, warning the country's leaders to live up to their international human rights obligations.
CNN REPORT FROM IRAN 11Feb Ravolotion day the Mohlas
U.S. Speeding Up Missile Defenses in Persian Gulf
nytimes
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is accelerating the deployment of new defenses against possible Iranian missile attacks in the Persian Gulf, placing special ships off the Iranian coast and antimissile systems in at least four Arab countries, according to administration and military officials.
Iran: Halt executions of Kurdish and other political prisoners
Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities not to execute at least 17 members of Iran’s Kurdish minority, including one woman – Zeynab Jalalian - who are on death row after their conviction of political offences. The organization fears that they could be executed at any time, particularly in light of the execution of two other Kurds in Iran in recent months, most recently Fasih Yasmini in Khoy on 6 January 2010.
TRAITORS and MULLAS of IRAN Bank Account Info in foreign countries
iReport —
A brief report on Bank accounts of the heads of the Islamic republic of Iran in foreign countries:
(With special thanks to one of the Green supporters who is working in on of Malaysia's Banks)
One Law for All Campaign was established a year ago on December 10, 2008 to mark International Human Rights Day.
A year on, it has mobilised considerable support in opposition to Sharia and religious laws and in defence of secularism and universal rights. With nearly 21,000 individuals and groups having signed up to our petition calling for a ban on religious councils and tribunals in Britain, the Campaign has given many the space to challenge religious law from a human rights perspectand to make links and show real solidarity with people living under Islamic rule everywhere.
UN human rights committee votes to censure Iran Play Video CBC.ca – UN human rights committee votes to censure Iran
FILE- In this Monday, June 15, 2009, file photo, students hold banners' at the AP – FILE- In this Monday, June 15, 2009, file photo, students hold banners' at the gate of Tehran University …
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press Writer – 26 mins ago
TEHRAN, Iran – Witnesses say security forces and pro-government militiamen with batons and tear gas are clashing with thousands of opposition protesters outside Tehran University on a day of planned student demonstrations.
The witnesses say Basiji militiamen waded into the crowds of protesters, beating men and women on the heads and shoulders with batons, while security forces fired tear gas.
Thousands of security forces surrounded universities ahead of protests that pro-reform students called for Monday. It is not immediately known if demonstrations broke out inside campuses because authorities have taken dramatic steps to seal them off, shutting down cell phones in the area and covering fences with banners and signs to hide anything going on inside.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Thousands of riot police and Revolutionary Guard members armed with tear gas, batons and firearms were deployed Monday outside Tehran University to prevent student demonstrations backed by the opposition.
The large security operation suggested that authorities planned to make good on their promise to deal harshly with protesters marking the day in 1953 when three students were killed in an anti-U.S. protest. The occasion has in recent years been used by students to stage pro-reform demonstrations.
There was no word immediately available on whether demonstrations have begun inside the campus, but the witnesses said police were conducting ID checks on anyone entering the campus to prevent opposition activists from joining the students.
Security forces also sought to conceal the campus from public view, covering the main gate and the fence with banners carrying quotations by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini and congratulatory messages marking an important Shiite occasion celebrated Sunday.
The deployment of security forces outside Tehran University led most stores and businesses in the area to shutter down. Life in the rest of the city, however, appeared to continue normally.
Journalists working for foreign media organizations are banned from covering Monday's planned protests. They were told late Saturday by the Culture Ministry that their press cards would be suspended for three days starting Monday.
On Sunday night, government opponents braved pouring rain to climb to Tehran rooftops and shout "Allahu Akbar" and "Death to the Dictator." Also Sunday, authorities choked off Internet access to deny the opposition a vital means of communication used in the past to mobilize supporters.
Government opponents were hoping for a large turnout for Monday's demonstrations to show their movement still has momentum despite a series of government crackdowns since the country's disputed presidential election in June.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi threw his support behind the planned student demonstrations and declared that his movement was is still alive. A statement posted on his Web site said the clerical establishment cannot silence students and was losing legitimacy in the Iranian people's minds.
"A great nation would not stay silent when some confiscate its vote," said Mousavi, who claims President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the June 12 election victory from him by fraud.
Khameini, the supreme leader who has final say on all state matters, accused the opposition Sunday of exposing divisions in the country and creating opportunities for Iran's enemies.
Iran's universities have been strongholds of the opposition movement that grew out of the disputed June election, and authorities have besieged campuses nationwide with a wave of arrests and student expulsions.
The pro-government Basij militia has also recruited informers on campuses to blow the whistle on any opposition troublemakers, according to students.
Despite heavy rain Sunday night, rooftop cries of "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great" and "Death to the Dictator" were heard from many parts of Tehran on Sunday night. The protest reprised one of the main tactics of the anti-shah movement in the 1979 Islamic Revolution and was revived in the days and weeks after the disputed elections.
The rooftop chants had not been heard since the opposition's last attempt to mobilize, a Nov. 4 rally coinciding with state-sanctioned events to mark the anniversary of the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover. That demonstration drew far fewer protesters than at the height of the summer's unrest. But it still provoked a violent response from security forces.
For weeks after the disputed June presidential election, demonstrations triggered by claims of massive fraud in the vote brought hundreds of thousands to the streets, but the relentless crackdown that followed has taken a heavy toll.
Seeking to deny the protesters a chance to reassert their voice, authorities slowed Internet connections to a crawl in the capital. For some periods on Sunday, Web access was completely shut down — a tactic that was also used before last month's demonstration.
The government has not publicly acknowledged it is behind the outages, but Iran's Internet service providers say the problem is not on their end and is not a technical glitch.
Seeking to confine journalists working for international media to their offices during the protests, Iran's Culture Ministry suspended accreditation allowing them to report from the streets from Monday to Wednesday.
The ministry also warned the few remaining pro-reform newspapers not to publish "divisive" material, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Largely swept off the streets, the opposition relies on the Web and cell phone service to organize rallies and get its message out.
The call for Monday's demonstrations was put out on dozens of Web sites run by supporters of opposition leaders Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, who both ran against Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election. Most of those sites have been repeatedly blocked by the government, forcing activists to set up new ones.
UN condemns killer regime of Teheran
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 20 - The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee condemned Iran on Friday for a violent crackdown on protesters after presidential elections this year that the Iranian opposition says were rigged.
* Canadian-drafted resolution adopted by 74-48 vote
* Saudi Arabia breaks ranks with Muslim states, votes yes
* U.S., Britain, Canada welcome the censure of Iran (Adds U.S., British and Canadian reactions)
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee condemned Iran on Friday for a violent crackdown on protesters after presidential elections this year that the Iranian opposition says were rigged.
Tehran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee sharply criticized the Canadian-drafted resolution, saying assembly decisions of this kind have "created an atmosphere of confrontation and polarization."
The 192-nation assembly's Third Committee, which focuses on human rights, approved the nonbinding resolution 74-48, with 59 abstentions. The committee adopted similar resolutions condemning North Korea and Myanmar by much wider margins on Thursday.
The Iran resolution "expresses its deep concern at serious ongoing and recurring human rights violations."
It voiced "particular concern at the response of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran following the Presidential election of 12 June 2009 and the concurrent rise in human rights violations."
Among those violations were "harassment, intimidation and persecution, including by arbitrary arrest, detention or disappearance, of opposition members, journalists and other media representatives, bloggers, lawyers, clerics, human rights defenders, academics, (and) students."
The result, it said, has been "numerous deaths and injuries." It also condemned reports of "forced confessions and abuse of prisoners including ... rape and torture."
Iran has begun executing people in connection with the unrest that broke out after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election. Opposition leaders say the vote was rigged to ensure Ahmadinejad won.
Saudi Arabia, which has accused Iran of supporting Shi'ite rebels in neighboring Yemen, broke ranks with the vast majority of Muslim nations and voted in favor of the resolution.
Riyadh, the world's top oil producer and a U.S. ally that sees itself as the guardian of Sunni Islam, has often been at odds with Shi'ite Iran.
U.S., BRITAIN, CANADA WELCOME RESOLUTION
U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood welcomed the censure, saying it "demonstrates that the international community is deeply concerned over the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran and the government's failure to uphold its obligations under its own constitution and international human rights law."
U.N. resolutions condemning Iran, North Korea and Myanmar have become an annual ritual in recent years. Friday's vote showed that the ranks of Iran's critics increased by four over last year when a similar resolution was adopted 70-51.
Both of Tehran's veto-wielding defenders on the U.N. Security Council, Russia and China, voted against the measure. There is no veto in the General Assembly.
A special assembly session next month is expected to formally adopt all recently approved committee resolutions.
Khazaee sharply criticized Canada for "systematic violations of human rights including discriminatory policies ... against Aborigines, migrants and minorities."
Khazaee also had harsh words for Israel, one of the resolution's co-sponsors, accusing it of "the worst forms of human rights violations, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, crimes against humanity and terrorism."
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon did not respond directly to Iran's accusations but joined Washington and his British counterpart David Miliband in welcoming the resolution. Cannon said it is "another clear signal of the international community's concern for the human rights of people in Iran."
Miliband said it will encourage "all those campaigning for an improvement in Iran's dismal human rights record." (Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Mohammad Zargham) REUTERS
202027 Nov 09
(Reuters)
Berlin/Brussels (dpa) - Top diplomats from the so-called "5+1" group of world powers expressed disappointment Friday at Iran's rejection of a compromise deal on the country's controversial nuclear programme and urged its leaders to reconsider.
"We urge Iran to reconsider the opportunity offered by this agreement to meet the humanitarian needs of its people and to engage seriously with us in dialogue and negotiations," said the officials from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany after talks in Brussels.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna has proposed a deal whereby Iran would ship its low-grade enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel for Tehran's medical research reactor. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has already brushed off threats of international sanctions after apparently rejecting the compromise.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Friday in Berlin he believed Iran had not totally turned down his agency's offer. "The ball is now in Iran's court. I hope they will not miss this fleeting chance," he told reporters in Berlin.
But 5+1 officials appeared less hopeful.
"Iran has not responded positively to the IAEA proposed agreement for the provision of nuclear fuel for its Tehran Research Reactor," the statement in Brussels said.
Iran has yet to make a formal written response to the IAEA's proposal, with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki saying Wednesday that Iran would only accept the fuel deal if the swap of low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel were to be effected simultaneously. ElBaradei has accordingly proposed Turkey as a trusted intermediary, whereby Iran would ship the nuclear fuel to Turkey, which would hold on to it while Russia enriches a separate batch of nuclear fuel. Russia would only receive the original Iranian fuel once it had delivered the enriched fuel to Iran.
EU diplomats said it was difficult to understand why Iran would not accept such a compromise and complained about "too many conflicting statements" coming out of Tehran.
Speaking in Seoul on Thursday, US President Barack Obama said the US and its international allies would discuss "consequences," most likely in the form of tougher sanctions against Iran.
But the 5+1 diplomats only discussed the possibility of sanctions "in general terms" while in Brussels and agreed to continue with their "dual track" approach of offering negotiations while threatening possible measures against Tehran, officials said.
US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said "the international community's patience is limited" and suggested the 5+1 could discuss more concrete steps at their next meeting, likely within weeks, if there was no more movement from Iran.
Speaking in Berlin, ElBaradei said Iran "needed to rise above their domestic conflicts" on the nuclear issue and take a "minimum risk" in the interests of peace. "I hope to get an answer soon, within the next week or so," ElBaradei said. "That would open a space for Iran and the US to engage in broad negotiations."
The meeting in Brussels was attended by political directors, among them US Undersecretary of State William Burns and Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, as well as senior advisors to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. dpa nr jbl cc ds mga 201928 GMT Nov 09
Save Ehsan Fattahian from execution
Published by Reza Hiwa on Nov 08, 2009
Category: Human Rights
Region: Iran
Target: UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-Moon
Web site: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=201235431220...
Background (Preamble):
Excellency Ben Ki-Moon,
The government of Iranian regime is ready to commit one more crime in its desperate behaviour to survive the peaceful freedom movement in the country.
Ehsan Fattahian, the Kurdish political prisoner who went on hunger strike is set to be executed on Wednesday. He is jailed in the Central Prison in Sanadaj.
He was arrested in summer and initially wad condemned to 10 years in prison and exile to a remote prison in the Ramhormoz in Khouzestan, Southern Iran. After the objection the dossier was sent to the Revolutionary Court of Sanadaj, where the sentence was revised and changed to execution! He was accused to be a member of a banned Kurdish political party.
He is set to be executed to set an example of those prisoners who go on strike and don’t stop fighting even within the prisons.
He is set to be executed because the isolated and regime is in panic and kills as many opponents as they can before their end day.
Excellency,
TIME IS RUNNING OUT and every second matters!
Petition:
We ask you to use your authority and do whatever you can to stop this execution. The Iranian regime is behaving as if it were an occupation force.
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT – It has been reliably reported that Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani, a 37-year-old Iranian, was sentenced to death on Monday
Ali-Zamani was indicted and tried during a mass trial on August 8 of 100 suspected opposition supporters arrested after the June 12 presidential elections. The indictment, signed by then-prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, charged Ali-Zamani with Muharibih (waging war against God) through membership in the Royalist Society, insulting what is holy, propaganda activity against the Islamic regime, actions against national security and illegally exiting Iran
Deal buys Iran time to obscure activities at nuclear plant, officials say
After acknowledging the plant's existence, Iran has nearly a month to admit inspectors. Swifter access would have provided an advantage in information gathering, some officials sayReporting from Geneva - Iran's promise to admit inspectors to a secret nuclear plant, though hailed as a major step this week by U.S. officials and their allies, may come too late to glean key information about the facility's design and history, experts and foreign government officials said Friday.
Allowing access within two weeks of the announcement would in effect give Tehran almost a month after its Sept. 21 acknowledgment of the plant's existence to obscure evidence, they said.
The complete text of Karoubi’s letter to Rafsanjani
KHORDAD 88
Category: Editors' Picks, Green, Leadership Split, US Policy
Tags:Political Prisoners
Mehdi Karoubi has asked Hashemi Rafsanjani to form a committee to investigate rumors and allegations regarding serious mistreatment of detainees. Hossein Karoubi, his son, said : “My father wrote this letter to Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani and sent it to him privately. He insisted that Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani reply to the letter and take appropriate action. Unfortunately Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani did not reply to the letter. My father stressed that if he does not receive a response or see appropriate measures taken within ten days, he will make the letter public.”
Your Daughter is not Fit to be a Doctor in this Country
Dr. Zahra Bani-Yaghoub was a graduate of school for gifted children. She had obtained the impressive 23rd position in the overall national exam entrance into the Iranian universities. She was also a graduate of Tehran Medical university.
