Iran mullahs threaten striking truck drivers with execution, arresting dozens of drivers

The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

The nationwide strike of the truckers, which has entered its second week, has intensified the crisis inside the clerical regime whose leaders have been horrified from its continuation and spread. In this regard, Khamenei sent Chief Prosecutor General Montazeri to the scene to threaten the strikers to execution. Montazeri said: "According to the information we have, in some routes, some of the cities, there are elements who are provoking some of the truckers, or possibly blocking them and creating  problems for them. They are subject to the rules and regulations of banditry and the punishment of the bandits according to the law is very severe, sometimes resulting in the death penalty. "(News Network TV News – September 29).

At the same time, Ali al-Qasimehr, the chief justice of the Fars province, accused the strikers of "corruption on earth," and IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Sharafi, one of the commanders of State Security Forces, threatens the protesters with harsh action. (State TV - September 29).

However, two days earlier, the Fars Province Transportation Director General had called the strike of truck drivers as rumors and said: "It's been a few days that rumors about truck drivers’ strike have been circulating in the media and cyberspace. This misuse of the opponents from the needs of the truck drivers to create crisis in the country is clear for every Iranian (FARS, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps news agency, September 27).

IRGC Colonel Kavos Mohammadi, a deputy of the Fars provincial police force, described the strikers as "disrupters of the order," and said: "Following the disrupting acts of some of these people on the roads of Fars ... After the visible and invisible patrol of officers, 22 thugs and disrupters of public order on the roads were arrested and, after filing a case, they were sent to the judiciary authorities and through them to the prisons. Police will deal with sensitivity and vigilance with the smallest insecurity factors in coordination with the judiciary, and the process of confronting with the disrupters of order and security of the roads and axes of Fars province will continue on a daily basis. The police monitor and control all the roads in this province, visibly and invisibly, and resolutely deal with all elements of disrupters of order and security in these areas "(IRNA news agency - September 26).

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, saluted the strikers throughout Iran, describing the vindictive threats of the clerics against the dignified and hardworking drivers as a reflection of the growing crisis of the clerical regime, and said that the ruling mullahs were the biggest bandits in the history of Iran, and that they neither want nor can respond to legitimate demands of striking drivers. She called on all human rights organizations to take action to release the arrested and urged the general public, especially the youth, to support the strikers. She added that realization of these demands is only possible with the establishment of democracy and people's sovereignty. A regime that threatens to execute its working people due to a strike must be rejected by the international community.

IRAN: Save Lives of Hunger Striking Political Prisoners in Iran

Concerns rising over the lives of hunger striking political prisoners

IRAN:  The Italian Parliamentary and Citizens' Committee for a Free Iran expresses its deep concern at the serious conditions of 21 Iranian prisoners on hunger strike - many for about a month - in the Raja'i-shahr (Gohardasht) prison in the city of Karaj, west of the capital of Tehran, according to a 17 August press release by the group.

“Their protest denounces the inhuman conditions in which they are detained and how they are treated repressively by the prison authorities. On July 30, these authorities deprived them of their personal belongings (including essential medicines) and violently transferred them to another section of the prison with more worse conditions.”

“They are now subjected to constant monitoring with closed-circuit cameras and eavesdropping devices everywhere, without any privacy. Their cells have windows covered with metal plates and very little ventilation. The detainees do not have access to drinking water. They are forbidden to visit family members or have phone contact with them. A number of the prisoners have been kept in isolation for up to 12 days.”

“Among them are human rights activists, students, journalists, trade unionists, and followers of the Baha'i community - all condemned by political processes and not by the commission of common crimes.”

“The Italian Committee of Parliamentarians and Citizens for a Free Iran therefore calls on the Italian Government and the institutions of the European Union to ask the Iranian authorities to respect the lives and fundamental rights of the political prisoners, and to allow independent and effective international monitoring of their condition by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other relevant international institutions.”

Meanwhile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ) reported the health of these political prisoners, who are in Hall 10 of Section 4 of Gohardasht prison, has worsened. They have become very weak and are suffering from hypertension, as well as severe headaches due to lack proper air circulation in the isolated cells and the hall.

The authorities in the prison intensified the pressure on striking political prisoners after Tehran prosecutor’s shameless reaction to the extensive expression of solidarity with striking political prisoners inside and outside of the country.

“The judiciary would not succumb to the hunger strike of prisoners,” said Tehran’s general prosecutor, Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, who is subject to sanctions by the European Union for serious human rights violations.

In many Western cities, Iranians have held rallies, as well as protest and hunger strikes, demanding international support for the demands of striking political prisoners.

Inside Iran, many political activists, political prisoners in various prisons, workers, and teachers have expressed support for political prisoners who are on hunger strike in Gohardasht prison.

International human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and Hands Off Cain, have called for the rights of prisoners to be respected.

The Italian Parliamentary and Citizens' Committee for a Free Iran enjoys the support of many Italian politicians, members of the parliament and senate, as well as human rights activists.

Iranian Resistance Calls for Urgent Action to Save Lives of Hunger Striking Political Prisoners

Many of the prisoners on hunger strike do not have the strength to stand on their feet and have fainted repeatedly.

The health of many of political prisoners who are on their 24th day of hunger strike in Gohardasht prison to protest their inhumane conditions has deteriorated.

On Monday, August 21, Mr. Hassan Sadeghi, who is suffering from glaucoma due to the severe blows he received from prison authorities, was transferred to Farabi Hospital in southern Tehran.

Mr. Sadeghi’s eyesight has diminished severely. Physicians believe he is facing the danger of losing his eyesight due to pressure build up.

Mr. Hassan Sadeghi was last arrested for the third time in 2015 for supporting the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and sentenced to 15 years behind bars.

Many of the prisoners on hunger strike do not have the strength to stand on their feet and have fainted repeatedly.

 

    A number of political prisoners have been arrested in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj

In the meantime, prison authorities once again transferred another hunger striking political prisoner Amir Qaziani to solitary confinement.

The authorities refrain from providing any information to the families of the hunger striking political prisoners, who seek information about their loved ones. A known official of the Iranian regime in the Gohardasht Prison, Haj Moradi, referred the families to the Prisons Organization in Tehran, but once they arrived at the location, another official named Mohebi ordered them out of the facility and refused to provide them any information.

The Iranians Resistance warns about the dangers to the health and safety of the striking prisoners, who are suffering from various illnesses after spending many years behind bars under excruciating conditions in the regime’s prisons.

The Iranian Resistance calls for urgent action by international human rights organizations, particularly the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Human Rights Council to take action to save the lives of these political prisoners.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran