۱۳۹۷ تیر ۱, جمعه

Iran: Fate of Political prisoner Arzhang Davoudi in limbo

Political prisoner Arzhang Davoudi

Nearly three months after the last message from political prisoner Arzhang Davoudi there is no information about his current whereabouts.
The family of this political prisoner has been threatened and remains under pressure. It is only known that Davoudi is under pressure and torture, and currently held in the quarantined section of Zahedan Central Prison in southeast Iran.
Based on the latest reports published back in March, Davoudi was on hunger strike from March 3rd and said the following about his protest:
“My hunger strike aims to be provided fresh air time and some sunshine, which I have been inhumanely deprived of since July 26th in Zabol and Zahedan prisons.”
Davoudi is currently suffering from diabetes, high cholesterol and heart illness.
In his last message Davoudi explained how he is losing his vision and being deprived of even the most basic necessities.
“I am being held in a small dungeon supposedly known as cell number two in the prison quarantine section. I am deprived of any visits, telephone calls, connection with other prisoners, fresh air time, walks, reading books, watching TV, being able to purchase medicine, adequate food considering my illnesses and …”
No news from this political prisoner raises concerns about his health.
Last year, prior to the Iranian opposition’s annual convention in Paris, Davoudi sent a message in support saying:
“I wouldn’t be exaggerating to say currently the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) is the oldest and most organized entity of the imminent alternative directing the nationwide struggle aiming to establish freedom from the evil of a mafia established by [Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei and his partners. The PMOI/MEK’s presence has now become an undeniable necessity. The large participation of freedom loving people in such events continues to be heartwarming for resilient prisoners that continue to yearn their country’s freedom while inside the regime’s medieval dungeons, day and night…”
More voices from across the globe are expressing their support for the June 30th Iranian opposition convention in Paris.
Visit this website to read more about this very important event.

۱۳۹۷ خرداد ۳۱, پنجشنبه

Future looks bright for Iran

Former Algerian prime minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali

Despite four decades of domestic crackdown and fueling foreign wars, scenes viewed from inside Iran in the past six months prove this dissatisfied nation is rising against the mullahs’ actions in bold fashion and setting their fears aside.
The Iranian people are braving all odds, posing serious challenges for the ruling regime and taking to the streets to encounter the entire mullah apparatus, according to a recent Townhall piece written by former Algerian prime minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali.
This decades-long struggle has seen the Iranian people sacrifice over 120,000 members of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) members and supporters. This year also marks the 30thanniversary of the summer 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners, mostly linked to the PMOI/MEK. These innocent victims sacrificed their all for freedom and democracy, and their legacy is beginning to bear fruit as the Iranian people are rising ever more against the regime.
While claiming otherwise, the Iranian regime has failed in dozens of attempts to eliminate the PMOI/MEK and all other forms of dissent and opposition. This comes after years of “massacres, executions, psychological warfare, and disinformation campaigns against the organized opposition,” according to Ghozali.
The PMOI/MEK is proving to be active and influential as ever, working with its vast network inside the country and making the nationwide protests we have witnessed in the Dec/Jan uprising, Kazerun and truckers’ strike possible.
The PMOI/MEK’s activities are not limited to inside Iran. Various forums and sessions are held across the globe in numerous parliaments and other institutions, holding discussions with policymakers and other influential figures to shed light on the reality of Iran and the mullahs’ regime, and provide the solutions presented by their resistance movement.
At the helm of the Iranian opposition is Maryam Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a parliament-in-exile enjoying vast support on both side of the Atlantic, the Middle East and even North Africa.
The NCRI has roots inside Iran and the Iranian Diaspora, seen in the numerous rallies and the annual convention held each year in Paris and attended by more than 100,000 people.
Furthermore, hundreds of politicians from five continents come to this convention, voicing their support for a better future in Iran through regime change. This year’s event is scheduled for June 30th and considering the recent developments inside Iran and across the region, and with the United States setting aside its highly controversial and failed appeasement policy, this year’s convention is already of grave political importance.
True change is coming to Iran and the people are proving they will bring this transition by courageously taking it to the regime and its crackdown machine. With the mullahs set aside, Iran is bound to welcome democratic change through the efforts of its people and organized resistance movement.
Iran will become an “oasis of freedom and democracy, a center of security, and brotherhood, serving the Iranian people’s interests building a peaceful friendship with its neighbors and all countries of the world.”
Visit this website for more information about this year’s “Free Iran” convention.

۱۳۹۷ خرداد ۳۰, چهارشنبه

Over 40 women, girls mass raped in southeast Iran

Locals in Iranshahr protesting the heinous crime of mass raping dozens of women & girls

 Atmosphere in the city of Iranshahr, southeast Iran, has been very tense in the past few days as reports of a mass rape case involving 41 women and girls by a gang enjoying support from Iranian regime authorities are spreading fast, resulting in growing anger.
The victims are unveiling new details of the regime’s military and security forces’ involvement in this crime. A number of these women and girls are saying they were abducted by “armed individuals wearing police and military uniforms.”
Tayebe Siavosh, a member of Iran’s so-called parliament, confirmed the mass rape case on Monday, adding her follow-ups with “unofficial sources” show the individual arrested in this case “enjoys support from powerful and rich circles,” according to the Iranian regime’s official news agency.
One local physician highlights the fact that the society in this area of Iran is very traditional in nature.
“Most of the individuals who are raped never seek any medical care considering family and social reservations. The rape victims may even be in danger from their own families,” the physician added.
An informed source in the local forensics office said from Monday morning to Tuesday afternoon (local time) only three individuals came in for tests and registering. Based on their information, one woman, 24 or 25 years of age, came to the facility three or four days after the incident seeking initial testing and confirmation. Bruises on her body and tests indicated she had been “raped.” This victim said she was abducted while returning home from work.

Official threats

On Monday, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Iranian regime’s so-called attorney general, said those individuals publishing news of a number of women and girls being raped in Iranshahr will be prosecuted.
“The individual who has forged and published these reports must be able to prove this claim. Based on announcements made by local judiciary officials and the evaluations that I have personally carried out, the subject, as raised, is denied,” he said according to the state-run Tasnim news agency.

Physical elimination

The consequences of this crime are unspeakable and shocking.
“Most of rape victim families consider their daughters as a disgrace for their reputation. In similar cases, some families had physically eliminated the victims to bring an end to this subject,” according to Mohammad Baluch-Zehi, a local official in Sistan & Baluchistan Province.

Public anger

A number of people in Iranshahr are protesting this case of mass rape of local women. A protest rally was reported outside the local governor’s office. Of course, instead of providing answers in this regard, Iranian regime officials dispatched security forces to attack and arrest a number of the protesters.
Iranian internet users were using the Farsi hashtag #دختران_ايرانشهر (Iranshahr girls) seeking support for the victims.

MEPs voicing solidarity with the Iranian opposition convention

MEP President Beatriz Becerra Basterra & MEP Emma McClarkin

A growing number of European Parliament Members are expressing their solidarity and support for the Iranian opposition’s upcoming convention in Paris scheduled for June 30th.

Emma McClarkin first elected as one of the UK representative to EP back in 2009
Emma McClarkin first elected as one of the UK representative to EP back in 2009

MEP Emma McClarkin was first elected as one of the United Kingdom’s representatives back in 2009. She was re-elected in 2014 as one of two Conservative MEPs for the East Midlands.
“The people of Iran want real change from the protests in January. We have seen that you want an end to oppression that you want freedom and democracy to come to Iran and an end of the oppression by the regime and their security forces,” she said.

Emma McClarkin – Member of the European Parliament
Emma McClarkin – Member of the European Parliamen

“On the 30th of June I’m delighted that the Iranian community will be meeting in Paris. The freedom of expression that you experienced there hopefully will inspire you to express those very real wishes that you have for real change in Iran. We in the European Parliament will be participating. We’ll be watching. We will be listening and we will always be supporting a free Iran.”

MEP President Beatriz Becerra Basterra announced her support for the Iranian opposition conference
MEP President Beatriz Becerra Basterra announced her support for the Iranian opposition conference
MEP President Beatriz Becerra Basterra announced her support for the Iranian opposition conference.
Madrid-born is a Spanish liberal-democratic writer and politician. She is currently the Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and is a member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

MEP President Beatriz Becerra Basterra
MEP President Beatriz Becerra Basterra
“I am particularly encouraged by the role women play in leading many of these protests. I think Maryam_Rajavi President-elect of NCRI, whom I have met several times, is a role model for many women who want to stand up for their rights in Iran,” she said.
“From all indications, we can see that after four decades of brutal &anti-women rule of the mullahs, change is about to come to Iran. Ppl of Iran have said it clearly: We don’t want to be ruled by these fanatics who have ruined the country in all these years!
“I therefore believe that the Grand Gathering of the Iranian opposition that will be held in Paris on 30 June, can be a turning point towards democratic change in Iran. So, I urge everyone to come to the rally to join voices in support of a free Iran.”
Visit this website for more information on the Iranian opposition convention.

۱۳۹۷ خرداد ۲۹, سه‌شنبه

NO TO DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN

Why does the world remain silent when Iranian political prisoners are tormented to death or hanged?

 Why does the world remain silent when Iranian political prisoners are tormented to death or hanged?
Why is the world silent when juveniles are executed in Iran?
Why is this barbaric tyranny not pressured to publish at least a complete list of names of those it executes?
Today, a large number of our defenseless countrymen are secretly executed in prisons across the country. Several thousands more are on the death row.
We think of their parents, and of their wives and children who spend nights and days under stress.
We think of the women who sell their kidneys to pay for their husbands’ blood money and save them from being executed.
Rouhani has clearly pronounced that these executions “are either based on Divine Law or on some legislation adopted by the parliament… and we only carry them out.”
Despite their differences, the ruling mullahs have a common viewpoint on executions and repression. They benefit from executions to preserve their regime.
Since three decades ago, tens of thousands of people have been executed only because of their opposition to the regime. They were accused of various unjustifiable and invalid charges without any due process of the law.
Based on the clerical regime’s penal code, anyone who is a member or supporter of the PMOI or in any way affiliated to it is considered a mohareb (someone who has waged war on God) and the punishment for a mohareb is death. The number of those who have been executed for their dissent is by no means small, and countless young people have been executed for protesting the nationwide oppression.
Islam or in the international law do not consider fighting for regime change to be a crime; it is the fundamental and inalienable right of any nation to overturn oppression and injustice.
Others are executed on drug charges. The mullahs hang a considerable number of Iran’s youths on this charge. But those executions violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Just
The mullahs’ sole objective is to terrorize the society and stifle social protests.
They have turned homicide into a common, daily routine.
The public hanging of convicts in front of their families, and even their children, crushes their hearts, minds and conscience.
Executions, torture, stoning, amputations of limbs, and eye gouging have been institutionalized and turned into law in this regime.
Yes, the existence and rule of this regime depend on executions because if there are no more executions, there would be nothing to prevent the eruption of public fury and seething social uprisings by the people.
Without executions, how and by what means could the mullahs deny people their freedoms and instead step up suppression, intimidation and all sorts of restrictions into the most private angles of people’s lives?
Without executions, how else could the mullahs increase the prices several folds every day, squander the public’s wealth and revenues in regional wars and plunder them in a life of luxury?
Our plan is an Iran without the death penalty
Our plan for future is an Iran without the death penalty and devoid of torture. Our plan is putting an end to torture and all forms of human rights abuse in Iran.
The Iranian Resistance declared years ago that it calls for abolition of death penalty and an end to torture and all forms of rights abuses in Iran.
Our plan is to revive friendship, conciliation and tolerance.
Our plan for future is to put an end to the mullahs’ religious decrees. We reject the inhuman penal code and other abusive laws of this regime. We believe Retribution is an inhuman law.
We advocate laws that are based on forgiveness, compassion and humanity.
The Iranian Resistance Leader Massoud Rajavi ordered the release of thousands of Khomeini’s agents arrested in the battles of the National Liberation Army of Iran --many of whom had committed murder against the PMOI-- without the slightest violation of their human rights.
Yes, this is an enduring tradition of the Iranian people’s resistance.
Our plan is to institute an independent, dynamic and free judiciary.
Our plan is to defend democratic values, freedom, equality and sanctity of every citizen’s private life.
No one will be arrested arbitrarily; torture is banned; no defendant is deprived of the right to defense and having a defense attorney; the principle of presumption of innocence is respected and no one, especially no woman, will be deprived of having access to justice when subjected to violence, aggression and abuse of her freedoms.
Our plan for Iran’s future is that no one should be denied his/her freedoms, rights or life because of having or not having faith in a particular religion or for abandoning it.
Our plan is for all citizens to enjoy genuine security and equal rights before the law.
Yes, we are seeking a new order based on freedom, democracy and equality.
We have chosen to persevere and fight on to let our people enjoy a life in freedom and prosperity, so that no youngster under 18 years of age would have to wait in the corridors of death in prison to reach legal age for execution; so that no mother would ever shed tears of grief for her executed child.
Our motivation for resistance till victory is not spite and revenge but our love for freedom and human rights. This is fuel sour steadfastness. And the secret to this endurance is nothing but being prepared to sacrifice and pay the price.

۱۳۹۷ خرداد ۲۸, دوشنبه

Iranian Opposition Convention For Free Iran

Free Iran Gathering, A window into the future of Iran

ranian opposition gathering in Paris, June 30, 2018

Every year, the Iranian opposition holds a massive rally in Paris to discuss the most important topics and events occurring in Iran. This year, the focus will be on the nationwide protests in Iran and support for the Iranian people’s desire for regime change and the establishment of a democratic state.

Iran: Condemning the arrest of Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, lawyer and human rights activist

Woman's Committee of the National Council of the Resistance of Iran

On Wednesday, June 14, intelligence agents of the clerical regime arrested lawyer and human rights activist, Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, at her house in Tehran and transferred her to Evin Prison.
She was previously arrested for taking over the cases of political prisoners and spent three years in captivity at Evin prison from 2010 to 2013 on charges of "acting against national security." She was denied the right to practice law for three years. She was later arrested again for protesting acid attacks on young women.
The Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, while expressing its disgust at this repressive action of the clerical regime, calls on the international human rights organizations to condemn the arbitrary arrests by the clerical regime and calls for urgent action for unconditional release of Ms. Sotoudeh.