Iran Archives - IAC Virginia

RSF asks UN to investigate Iranian journalist Baktash Abtin’s death

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 20:23:54 +0000

Reporters Without Border | Jan. 15, 2022

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is asking the UN to set up an independent international commission of enquiry into the death of Baktash Abtin, an Iranian journalist and writer who died on 8 January as a result of not being treated when he caught Covid-19 in Tehran’s Evin prison.

A member of the Iranian Writers’ Association, Baktash Abtin was transferred too late to hospital by the Iranian authorities although prison officials had warned them that his condition was worsening dramatically, his lawyer told RSF.

“Deprivation of medical care is deliberately used by the Iranian authorities as a way to eliminate imprisoned dissidents,” said Reza Moini, the head of RSF’s Iran-Afghanistan desk. “We urge the UN rapporteurs on the human rights situation in Iran, on extrajudicial executions and on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to shed all possible light on Baktash Abtin’s death. It is time to put a stop to this kind of criminal behaviour, which amounts to state murder.”

Depriving detainees of medical attention violates the ban on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. It violates the laws that the Iranian authorities themselves have undertaken to respect, the rules that they have decreed, as well as international norms established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran signed.

Authorities ignored warnings

Abtin’s lawyer, Naser Zarafshan, who is also a member of the Iranian Writers’ Association, warned prison officials on 27 November that Abtin’s condition was worsening, that he had a fever and was coughing and that his entire body was aching. But it wasn’t until 5 December that he was transferred to Tehran’s Taleghani hospital and another three days went by before his family was informed.

“For six days, neither the family nor friends of this journalist, who was chained to his bed, knew what he really had,” Zarafshan told RSF. “The guards even refused to let his family bring him a fruit juice.” By the time of his transfer to Taleghani hospital he had developed a severe form of Covid-19 and more than 78% of his lungs were infected. “It was too late,” Zarafshan added.

Abtin’s state of health had long been a source of concern. He suffered a previous bout of Covid-19 in April 2021, when the authorities also delayed treatment. Several doctors called for his release at the time, saying his state of health was incompatible with continued detention, but their appeal went unanswered.

Concern about other imprisoned journalists

The fate of other ailing imprisoned journalists is a source of great concern. One of the world’s oldest imprisoned journalists, Kayvan Samimi Behbahani, the 73-year-old editor of the monthly Iran Farda, continues to be detained although doctors have certified that his condition is incompatible with imprisonment. And his situation could quickly worsen following the publication of a letter in which he blames the Iranian judicial authorities for Abtin’s death. He could be transferred to another prison, putting his life in danger.

Many other journalists who are members of the Iranian Writers’ Association are also in prison. They include Reza Khandan Mahabadi, Kayvan Bagen and Khosro Sadeghi Borjeni. Although it is Iran’s oldest civil society organisation, the association’s activities have been banned under both the Shah and the Islamic Revolution. Two of its representatives, the writers and journalists Mohamad Makhtari and Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh, were murdered in 1998.

Died in prison

Abtin is far from being the first Iranian journalist to die in detention. Zahra Kazemi, a 54-year-old photographer with Iranian and Canadian dual nationality, died on 10 July 2003 after being tortured while held. The blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi died in detention in unclear circumstances six weeks after his arrest in February 2009. Iran-e-Farda editor Hoda Saber, 52, died of a heart attack in June 2011 after being detained since the previous August. The blogger Sattar Beheshti died while being held by Iran’s cyber-police, the FTA, in November 2012. None of the perpetrators and instigators of these crimes has been brought to justice.

The Islamic Republic of Iran ranks 174th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

https://rsf.org/en/news/rsf-asks-un-investigate-iranian-journalist-baktash-abtins-death

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Iran-backed militia staged drone attack on Iraqi PM – officials

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 14:56:53 +0000

Iran-backed militia staged drone attack on Iraqi PM – officials

REUTERS | November 8, 2021

BAGHDAD, Nov 8 (Reuters) – A drone attack that targeted the Iraqi prime minister on Sunday was carried out by at least one Iran-backed militia, Iraqi security officials and militia sources said, weeks after pro-Iran groups were routed in elections they say were rigged.

But the neighbouring Islamic Republic is unlikely to have sanctioned the attack as Tehran is keen to avoid a spiral of violence on its western border, the sources and independent analysts said.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi escaped unhurt when three drones carrying explosives were launched at his residence in Baghdad. Several of his bodyguards were injured.

The incident whipped up tensions in Iraq, where powerful Iran-backed paramilitaries are disputing the result of a general election last month that dealt them a crushing defeat at the polls and greatly reduced their strength in parliament.

Many Iraqis fear that tension among the main Shi’ite Muslim groups that dominate government and most state institutions, and also boast paramilitary branches, could spiral into broad civil conflict if further such incidents occur.

Baghdad’s streets were emptier and quieter than usual on Monday, and additional military and police checkpoints in the capital appeared intent on keeping a lid on tensions.

Iraqi officials and analysts said the attack was meant as a message from militias that they are willing to resort to violence if excluded from the formation of a government, or if their grip on large areas of the state apparatus is challenged.

“It was a clear message of, ‘We can create chaos in Iraq – we have the guns, we have the means’,” said Hamdi Malik, a specialist on Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim militias at the Washington Institute.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Iran-backed militia groups did not immediately comment and the Iranian government did not respond to requests for comment.

Two regional officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Tehran had knowledge about the attack before it was carried out, but that Iranian authorities had not ordered it.

Militia sources said the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards overseas Quds Force travelled to Iraq on Sunday after the attack to meet paramilitary leaders and urge them to avoid any further escalation of violence.

Two Iraqi security officials, speaking to Reuters on Monday on condition of anonymity,said the Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq groups carried out the attack in tandem.

A militia source said that Kataib Hezbollah was involved and that he could not confirm the role of Asaib.

Neither group commented for the record.

INTRA-SHI’ITE TENSIONS

The main winner from the election, Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, is a rival of the Iran-backed groups who, unlike them, preaches Iraqi nationalism and opposes all foreign interference, including American and Iranian.

Malik said the drone strike indicated that the Iran-backed militias are positioning themselves in opposition to Sadr, who also boasts a militia – a scenario that would hurt Iran’s influence and therefore would likely be opposed by Tehran.

“I don’t think Iran wants a Shi’ite-Shi’ite civil war. It would weaken its position in Iraq and allow other groups to grow stronger,” he said.

Many Iran-aligned militias have watched Sadr’s political rise with concern, fearing he may strike a deal with Kadhimi and moderate Shi’ites allies, and even minority Sunni Muslims and Kurds, that would freeze them out of power.

The Iran-backed groups, which like patron Iran are Shi’ite, regard Kadhimi as both Sadr’s man and friendly towards Tehran’s arch-foe the United States.

Iran-backed militias have led cries of fraud in the Oct. 10 election but offered no evidence. Since then their supporters have staged weeks of protests near Iraqi government buildings.

MADE IN IRAN

One of the Iraqi security officials said the drones used were of the “quadcopter” type and that each was carrying one projectile containing high explosives capable of damaging buildings and armoured vehicles.

The official added that these were the same type of Iranian-made drones and explosives used in attacks this year on U.S. forces in Iraq, which Washington blames on Iran-aligned militias including Kataib Hezbollah.

The United States last month targeted Iran’s drone programme with new sanctions, saying Tehran’s elite Revolutionary Guards had deployed drones against U.S. forces, Washington’s regional allies and international shipping.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-backed-militia-behind-attack-iraqi-pm-sources-2021-11-08/

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Moderated Discussion with the Honorable Mike Pence, the 48th Vice President of the United States by Vice President’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Marc Short

Sun, 31 Oct 2021 15:21:31 +0000

Moderated Discussion with the Honorable Mike Pence, the 48th Vice President of the United States
by Vice President’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Marc Short

2021 Free Iran Summit

Washington, DC
October 28, 2021
Marc Short: Good afternoon and thank you for hosting us. It’s a great honor to be here with the Iranian American communities. We thank you for your resolve and for your resistance. And before we took the stage today, the vice President was remarking that hopefully one day we’ll be able to join you in the Free Iran summit in Iran in the very near future. Before jumping in with a few questions for the vice President, I think we certainly want to acknowledge a few people in the audience who have given so selflessly in their own public service to our country.

Senator Torricelli, former Attorney General and Judge Mukasey, the champion of your cause for many years, Senator Joe Lieberman and someone who served so selflessly in uniform as commander on the United States Marine Corps General Conway, Mr. Vice President, thank you for those remarks. I know the audience clearly enjoyed it, so let me try and keep it going at a fast pace. But clearly the Obama Biden administration and Trump Pence administration has very contrasting approaches to how we deal with Iran. I think there’s great concern that the Biden Harris administration, perhaps will be following more closely to the Obama Biden approach.

And as you mentioned remarks just this week, there are reports of an attempted drone attack on a United States base in Syria by Iranians. Can you address the different approaches and why we believe maximum pressure was more effective in isolating Iran?

Vice president Pence: Well, thank you, Marc. You could give Marc Short a round of applause. He was my chief of staff. It was a fundamentally different approach that President Trump and our administration took with regard to Iran. When we came in, Iran had benefited by the Biden Obama administration’s approach, the JCPOA delivering pallets literally pallets of cash for the Mullahs in Iran, sanctions relief. And yet the day we were inaugurated in 2017, Iran was sowing violence all across the region, it was almost difficult to count every country where Iran was supporting terrorist activity.

And the president’s first international trip was to travel to Saudi Arabia and to bring together Arab Nations against common cause, to confront radical Islamic terrorism in the region. But we all knew from early on that the chief state sponsor of terrorism in the world was Iran. And recognizing that by bringing nations together, committing to a common cause, we need to marry that to action. And so the President made the decision that we put into effect before the end of our first year in office to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal in its entirety and to issue a whole new range of sanctions, believing that peace follows strength.

And as we all witnessed, we were in the midst of a global pandemic. We were in the midst of a presidential campaign. We made history in the fall of 2020 when two Arab Nations came to the South Lawn of the White House and signed the Abraham Accords, recognizing Israel’s right to exist in normalizing relations. It was evidence of the fact that we had managed to isolate Iran diplomatically and economically as never before. And in so doing, we emboldened Arab Nations who were being victimized by the violence that Iran was supporting and sowing across the region to come together around us in common cause, not just with regard to our support for our cherished ally, Israel, but in a common purpose to confront terrorism in the region.

And I believe it confirmed President Trump’s approach that peace comes through strength, that weakness arouses evil. And I must say, as I said before, Marc, that I have great concern with this administration’s decision to reenter negotiations with the JCPOA, that the air strike that we saw in Syria attributed to Iran against the US outpost may just simply be the beginning of a return to what we saw before. And my hope is that this administration or future leaders will put us back on the path of strength because that was creating an environment that was isolating Iran and creating the conditions for peace in the region.

Marc Short: Let’s stay on the JCPOA for just a minute. As I recall, both you and the President received many calls from European leaders asking you to please stay in the JCPOA and candidly in a tense pressure campaign within their own State Department to say, please stay within. Can you give the audience a little bit more of your observations at that time what the pressure campaign was like, but also why your administration felt so strongly that this was the correct path to withdraw from JCPOA?

Vice President Pence: Well, to say that every leader in the world opposed us, withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal would be an understatement. The truth is, I was there for many of those phone calls in the Oval Office and one leader after another came attempting to persuade the President to change course to change path. If you’ll remember, in the early months of our administration, we created room to see if there would be any change in direction, if there would be a willingness to renegotiate the deal and when there wasn’t by October, we were out.

And I think that it is a real testament to President Trump’s determination to follow a posture of strength, to confront the malign activity of Iran in the region, to abandon the politics of appeasement toward the Ayatollahs and also ultimately to keep a promise that we made to the American people and to the world.

Marc Short: In remarks, you commented on a very important moment when the administration made the decision to militarily take out General Soleimani during the Obama years. The United States Department Defense estimated that General Qasem Soleimani is responsible for the death of more than 500 American servicemen and women. He was a known terrorist. He was traveling to Iraq to cement more unrest and planned more attack on innocent civilians. But when the Trump Pence administration acted to eliminate them, it did evoke some significant criticism from Capitol Hill, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez commented that the attack was, quote, an act of war.

Senator Murphy said the question is, did America just assassinate with any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person, Iran knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war? It did not set off a massive regional war. Can you share again with the audience a little bit more of the deliberations that occurred within the administration about that opportunity and why the administration felt it was merited to conduct that attack?

Vice President Pence: Well, Marc, as you know, when we came into office, we were determined to take the fight to terrorists on our terms, on their soil, to no longer yield to outside timetables. And that’s what we did. And from early on, we gave our military the ability. And I will tell you, I’m not a general. I’m the proud father of a United States Marine who is currently deployed in the service of the United States. And I’m a proud father-in-law of a Navy pilot. And I couldn’t be more proud of what our service men and women accomplished in the four years of our administration.

We took down the ISIS caliphate. We took down their leader. But to your point, Marc, from early on, President Trump also recognized the ongoing threat and the impact that Qasem Soleimani had had the loss of some 500 service members in Iraq directly tied to his efforts in the Quds Force, there was a prior Republican administration that had the opportunity to move against Qasem Soleimani. And I remember in the early days of our administration reading sincere regret and reflections about that because of the Americans that were lost because of this ruthless and brutal terrorist who was equipped and supported by Iran and his role.

His reach in the Quds Force was across the region, and it’s hard to describe not just what he did with American forces, but the thousands and thousands of innocent lives that were lost. What I can tell you all here and any looking on is from early on, bringing Qasem Soleimani to justice was a priority of the Trump Pence administration.

President, and I often took our security briefings together, and from early on, President Trump made it clear that we wanted to know when we would have an opportunity to bring Qasem Soleimani to justice.

And when the time came, as I told a smaller group gathered before here today, we received word Qasem Soleimani was moving across the region, that he was headed in the direction of Baghdad with intentions to organize more attacks on Americans. And I can tell you, I was there hour by hour, when that decision was made was implemented, our forces acted, and I couldn’t have been more proud to serve alongside a President who took down Qasem Soleimani without hesitation and brought him to justice.

Marc Short: Despite some of the perhaps political criticism from Capitol Hill, there were many Americans and particularly servicemen and women grateful for that action. I believe as well our hosts have a quick video that they wanted to show the reaction in Iran when General Soleimani was taken out. [short video clip of young Iranian women and men taking down Qasem Soleimani’s pictures is shown]. The world is a safer place because of your actions. So thank you, Mr. Vice President.

You mentioned as well in one of your answers, one of the enduring achievements of the Trump-Pence administration is the Abraham Accords. Can you share your viewpoint? Because I think some people have heralded this as a diplomatic success, but I think more broadly, others have observed that it was made possible because the maximum pressure campaign, the removal of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the removal of Iran’s top nuclear scientist as the removal of Qasem Soleimani that paved the way for these diplomatic achievements.

Can you give commentary about the element that this wasn’t just a diplomatic success, that it was made possible because of that more aggressive approach toward Iran?

Vice President Pence: Well, I truly believe that when our administration commenced with the maximum pressure campaign, when we took the fight to ISIS, when we took the action against Qassem Soleimani, when we took down Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi without one American casualty, when Syria crossed a red line and President Trump, unlike prior administration, sent 58 cruise missiles into Syria, said the American people would not tolerate these chemical weapons against innocent civilians. I think each of those steps sent an unambiguous message across the Arab world that the United States of America was prepared to confront the tyrants in Iran or in Syria and that we were a reliable partner for security and peace.

And I truly believe, Marc, that it created the conditions where our team was able to achieve the historic accomplishments of the Abraham Accords. And I’ve urged this administration in other international forums to continue to build on the Abraham Accords. We were able to add several other European countries who joined us in common cause. But we truly do believe that isolating Iran economically and diplomatically and combining that with continued outreach across the Arab world, transformed the region. And I believe with all of my heart, empower people that believe in freedom and democracy in Iran to reclaim their nation. I believe it.

I thought the brilliance of naming it the Abraham Accords is deeply inspiring. I’m a man of Christian faith, and my faith is deeply important to me as yours is to you. But I’ve been to the Chaldean where the Ziggurat stands in Southern Iraq, where a man named Abraham was called by God to leave his homeland and to travel north. And he was told by God that his descendants would be more numerous than the sand on the shore and the stars in the sky. And there was birth of three great religions of the world.

And I believe peace is possible for the region and the world on the foundation of that Abrahamic tradition, I believe it. I pray for it. And I work for it all the time.

Marc Short: Let’s stay on religious Liberty for just a minute. Some of the people I’m told in today’s audience and likely many of those who reviewing from afar, lost family members in the genocide of 1988 and the persecution and killing of religious prisoners. Support of religious Liberty across the globe was a priority of yours in the last administration. Can you share why that was personally important to you, but also in 2009, when there was a revolution or people protesting you and Congressman Berman stood up and defended those protesters. Can you talk about in the midst of our kind of polarized environment today, why it was important to work in a bipartisan manner in your relationship with Congressman Berman at the time?

Vice President Pence: Well, and as I mentioned in my remarks, we introduced a resolution in the House. And moments later, Senator Lieberman and the late Senator John McCain introduced and passed it in the Senate. And I think it’s because of commitment to freedom, especially the freedom of religion. It is a foundation for every American. Religious Liberty is our first freedom. The atrocity of 1988, the fatwa that was issued by the Ayatollah, resulting in the murder of 30,000 members of the MEK was ultimately about religion and a belief that people who believed in liberty and in freedom for Iran did not have the religion that was acceptable to the tyrants in Tehran.

And I want to say to anyone looking on, that you have our deepest sympathies for your loss in what was many years ago, but probably seems like it wasn’t. But it’s one of the reasons why this movement, the summit, this gathering is so important because ultimately, the key for the success of Iran and all that explains the unprecedented prosperity of our nation. Now for coming up on 250 years, it’s freedom. And I just encourage each and every one of you with the words that the American people, I believe, will continue to call on our leadership to stand firm against tyranny. But the people of Iran should know that the American people long for you to have the same freedoms, the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the freedom to choose those that will govern your nation as we have throughout these generations.

Marc Short: President Raisi is known for being directly involved in that massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. Now that he’s ascended to the presidency, how should that impact America’s policy toward Iran? And what advice would you have for this administration?

Vice President Pence: Well, my advice to this administration is to understand who they’re dealing with, but also to understand what the selection of Raisi as President says about the opportunity that everyone gathered for this summit recognizes. All the world, for me, feels like desperation, an attempt to install someone who has brutalized the people of Iran for decades in a position as President of the country. Clearly, simply, my Midwest common sense just tells me that it’s an effort to send a message to push back on a movement that they know is happening all across their country.

And it would come as no surprise. I’d like to see America stay right on the track that we were on in the Trump-Pence administration. Stay out of the Iran nuclear deal, continue to isolate Iran diplomatically and have no dealings with the Ayatollahs or with Raisi or any of those in the government that is terrorizing its people.

Marc Short: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We have time for just one more question. And it’s always been on our mind to have a chance to serve you because I think one of your greatest gifts is you’ve always been an optimist in advocating for freedom and liberty across the globe. And you’ve been a champion for that. Help our audience understand proud nation of Iran what its future can look like?

Vice President Pence: Well, thank you, Marc. And again, I want to say thank you to you. I want to say thank you to our hosts. It’s a great honor for us to be with you today and very humbling to be included among such a distinguished group of Americans. I was reading the Bible on the plane on the way from Indiana this morning, and there’s a great verse of long cherished. It says, Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty. And I would just say to each and every one of you, I believe with all of my heart that when we make liberty our cause, when you make freedom, our cause, when we’re defending the unalienable rights that come, as we Americans have said since our founding, not from government but from our Creator, that we make his work on this Earth our own.

I want to say to all of you, keep believing, keep working, keep standing for freedom and a boundless future of prosperity and security and peace for the people of Iran and know that the American people will be with you. And I believe God will be with you.

OIAC

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Tehran’s Spy Arrested in Sweden: A Grim Reminder of Rooted Terrorism in Europe

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 21:41:45 +0000

NCRI | Mahmoud Hakamian | Sept. 25, 2021

Swedish newspapers, including Aftonbladet and Expressen, reported that a former Swedish security police chief had been arrested for spying on behalf of the Iranian regime between 2011 and 2015. His arrest once again highlights the need for a joint-European action to address the Iranian regime’s terrorism. As identified by local and Persian language websites, the arrested spy is Peyman Kia, 40 years old. He had obtained Swedish citizenship and worked as a director in the Swedish Security Police (SPO) and an analyst in a Swedish military organization while he was spying for Tehran.
Kia was arrested on Monday. On Thursday, the court decided to order detention for this person on charges of grossly and unlawfully abusing his position as someone with access to classified information and violating national security to avoid him destroying documents or escaping. The arrested person is accused of espionage for reasonable reasons, the Swedish Security Service said in a statement.
His arrest comes a month after the arrest of an Iranian couple, who had obtained refugee status in Sweden by presenting a false Afghan identity. They were the agents of the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
In February 2021, a court in Antwerp, Belgium, condemned Assadollah Assadi and his three accomplices to nearly 70 years of prison for attempting to bomb the Iranian opposition’s rally in 2018 in France. Assadi was a Vienna-based diplomat-terrorist who had used his diplomatic privileges to smuggle 500 grams of the TATP explosives to Europe and handed over to his two operatives, Amir Sadouni and Nasimeh Na’ami. Sadoun and Na’ami, along with another operative, Mehrdad Arefani, had obtained Belgian citizenship and posed as supporters of the Iranian opposition movement.
Assadi’s trial and conviction once again highlighted what the Iranian Resistance had said for years: the regime’s embassies and diplomats are promoting terrorism and espionage. During Assadi’s trial, the authorities in Germany, where Assadi was arrested in 2018, opened another case about a network of terrorism and espionage he had managed across Europe. The German officials found a notebook in Assadi’s car with important information about the 2018 bomb plot, Assadi’s actions travel, and the amounts of money he had given to different operatives.

“The Iranian Resistance has specific information of the Iranian regime’s sleeper cells across Europe, which Assadi commanded. The Iranian regime’s MOIS has a network of agents in Europe supported by the regime’s embassies that misuse their diplomatic facilities. Assadollah Assadi was at the head of the Iranian regime’s intelligence network in Europe,” Mr. Javad Dabiran, the deputy director of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) representative office in Germany, told Al-Arabiya on January 22. “40% and specifically 144 out of 289 meetings of Assadi with his agents were held in Germany. This implies two things. First, a large part of [the regime’s] network is located in Germany, and Germany is the scene of the Iranian regime’s terrorist activities,” Mr. Dabiran added.
On the eve of Assadi’s conviction, another plot of the MOIS against the Iranian Resistance in Germany was revealed. The regime had tried to persuade Iranians residing in Germany to spy on the NCRI’s office in Germany and Javad Dabiran, then receive “good money.”
The recent arrest of another spy in Sweden, holding a top security position, is the most recent in chains to arresting the regime’s spies in Europe. It also implies how rooted the regime’s espionage network is in Europe, overshadowed by the European leader’s persistence on the failed appeasement policy toward Tehran.
In July 2017, Ali Fallahian, the former head of the MOIS, acknowledged in an interview how the regime’s agents work under many covers in Europe. “The ministry needs cover for its works to collect information both inside the country and outside. Obviously, we don’t send an agent to Germany or America and, for example, say, ok, I am an agent of the information ministry, and I am here to collect information, please give that to me. He would work under cover of business or other jobs, including reporters. You know many of our reporters are the MOIS agents,” Falahian said.

Arrested Iranian agent Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi in U.S. is the tip of the iceberg
As revealed during Assadi’s trial, the Iranian regime is involved in terrorism at top levels. On April 28, 2021, the regime’s then-president Hassan Rouhani confirmed the regime’s Supreme National Security Council takes all decisions regarding Tehran’s malign activities.
“All the complex issues of foreign policy and the field of defense are discussed in the Supreme National Security Council, whether when we want to [carry out] a defensive operation and whether when we have to carry out an offensive operation somewhere or whether when we want to undertake an important political task,” Rouhani acknowledged.
Before Rouhani, his Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who oversaw the 2018 bombing plot led by Assadi in Europe, acknowledged how his Ministry is entirely involved in terrorism and espionage in a leaked audiotape.
What you should know about Iran’s network of terrorists and spies in EU

“Most of our Foreign Ministry ambassadors have a security structure. Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been facing security issues since it began operating. The Foreign Ministry’s agenda has been a political-security agenda since the beginning of the revolution. In the 1990s, they closed down the Ministry’s economic directorate and instead created regional directors whose tendencies were more political and security-related,” Zarif said. The European officials should take the recent arrest of another spy in Sweden seriously and consider it a mounting threat of terrorism from the regime.
Unfortunately, the European leaders are more concerned about keeping the dialogue with the Terrorist regime in Tehran. This comes when the regime’s new government does not have the “moderate” façade anymore. The new Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has been considered a “field agent” and is a known member of the terrorist “Quds Force.” Yet, the EU leaders, particularly Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, did not lose the chance of meeting and praising Amir-Abdollahian and the terrorist regime he represents during the recent United Nations General Assembly.

The EU leaders should adopt a firm policy toward the regime. Appeasing this regime would only embolden it to continue its terrorist activities. As the Iranian Resistance has reiterated, the EU should close down the regime’s embassies and expel its agents operating in the European Union under various pretexts. This would certainly increase the security of the EU’s citizens.

https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/tehrans-spy-arrested-in-sweden-a-grim-reminder-of-rooted-terrorism-in-europe/

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High number of Iran executions in 2021 signals worsening rights condition

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 14:09:06 +0000

IRAN HRM | October 7, 2021

October 10 is World Day Against the Death Penalty. More than 140 countries have agreed to abolish the death penalty, according to Amnesty International. The Iranian regime, however, holds the world record for both executions of women and the highest per capita execution rate.

The death penalty is a violation of Articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which emphasize the right to life of every human being.It is also contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.The Iranian regime continues to use the death penalty as a tool to intimidate and repress dissidents; And many regime officials also defend it.

In his first news conference after the June 2021 election, the regime’s president Ebrahim Raisi, who is responsible for the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 and other crimes against humanity, defends himself over the executions and said that he should be rewarded for defending people’s rights and security.

Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, the current head of the regime’s judiciary, who was appointed to the post by Khamenei on July 1, has also a dark record regarding the execution of dissidents in Iran.

According to statistics compiled by Iran Human Rights Monitor, at least 267 people were executed in Iran since the beginning of 2021.

This shows an increase over the last year, when 255 people were executed throughout 2020.

The actual number of executions is much higher. The clerical regime carries out most executions in secret and out of the public eye. No witnesses are present at the time of execution but those who carry them out.

At least 92 executions were carried out for drug-related offenses in 2021 and 130 were carried out for murder. Nine women, eight political prisoners and two child offenders are among those executed.

The high number of Iran executions in 2021 once again proved that the clerical regime uses the executions as a mean to its survival.

There is irrefutable evidence that torturing defendants for making false confessions against themselves is a common practice in Iran’s prisons.

On the World Day against the Death Penalty, Iran Human Rights Monitor once again calls on the UN Secretary-General, the Human Rights Council and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as European countries, to take immediate action to save the lives of prisoners on death row in Iran. It is time for Iran’s human rights record to be referred to the UN Security Council.

Execution of juvenile offenders in 2021

Iranian authorities have continued to execute child offenders in violation of their international obligations. Since January, at least two child offenders were executed in Iran. Dozens of juvenile offenders in prisons are also currently at risk of execution.

UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet in June pointed to Iran’s “widespread use of the death penalty” and said that “over 80 child offenders are on death row, with at least four at risk of imminent execution”.

Responding to the criticism Majid Tafreshi a senior Iranian official said that the death penalty for crimes committed as minors does not mean it violates human rights. Tafreshi, the council’s deputy head of international affairs argued that executes convicts for crimes they committed while under-age “three to four times” a year.

Execution of women

At least nine women were executed in Iran since January 2021. The clerical regime in Iran is the world’s chief executioner of women. The regime frequently hands down the death penalty for women.

The international law recommends alternative punishments for the imprisonment of mothers who must take care of their children. In Iran, however, the regime imprisons mothers and hands down death sentences for them.

In an infamous example of the death penalty for women Zahra Esmaili, 42, who died of a heart attack while waiting to be executed was still hanged on February 17, 2021. She was sentenced to death for having claiming responsibility for the murder of her husband who was a senior official in the Ministry of Intelligence. She did so to save her teenage daughter, who had shot her father in the head. According to her lawyer, she was made to watch as 16 men were hanged in front of her while waiting her turn at Rajai Shahr Prison, west of the capital Tehran.

Execution of political prisoners

Since January 2021, at least nine political prisoners were executed in Iran.

Hassan Dehwari and Elias Ghalandarzehi, two Sunni Muslim Baluch political prisoners were executed in Sistan and Baluchistan Province on January 3, 2021, for the charge of armed attacks on police and collaborating with opposition groups. They were tortured to make confessions.

Javid Dehghan, 31, a member of Iran’s Baluchi ethnic minority, was hanged on January 30, 2021. He was sentenced to death for “enmity against God” (moharebeh) in May 2017 in connection with his alleged membership in an armed group. In convicting and sentencing him to death, the court relied on torture-tainted “confessions” and ignored the serious due process abuses committed by Revolutionary Guards agents and prosecution authorities during the investigation process.

Ahwazi Arab prisoner Ali Motairi was on hunger strike when he was executed on 28 January 2021. He was also sentenced to death despite serious due process violations, including allegations of torture and forced “confessions”.

Hossein Silawi, Ali Khasraji, Naser Khafajian and Jassem Heidari were executed in secret in Sepidar prison on 28 February 2021.

At the time they had sewn their lips together and been on hunger strike since January 23, 2021, in Sheiban prison in Ahvaz, “in protest at their prison conditions, denial of family visits, and the ongoing threat of execution.”

Their relatives who saw their bodies after execution said that bruising was visible on all four men, raising concerns that they had been tortured or otherwise ill-treated, and their lips had not healed from when they sowed them shut on hunger strike.

Iran executed another Arab political activist, Ali Motiri on January 28, 2021 who had been accused of killing two members of the IRGC’s Basij militia in 2018.

Executions on rape charges

At least nine prisoners were executed on rape charges since the beginning of 2021. Under international law, countries that still use the death penalty must limit its use to the most serious crimes, namely premeditated murder. With the execution of those accused of rape, the Iranian regime continues to brutally violate the right to life in violation of its international obligations.

On 29 September, despite domestic and international interventions, Iranian officials executed Farhad Salehi Jabehdar, a 30-year-old man sentenced to death for the rape of a child. He was sentenced to death by Criminal Court One of Alborz Province on 12 March 2019. The conviction and sentence were upheld by the Supreme Court.

The father of the child formally requested that the authorities not impose the death penalty on Farhad Salehi Jabehdar in November 2019. His lawyer appealed to President Ebrahim Raisi in his former capacity as head of the judiciary to stop the execution, and order a review of the case, but Ebrahim Raisi did not accept the request.

Executions on drug charges

The use of the death penalty for drug charges is prohibited under international law. However, the Iranian regime continues to execute drug offenders.

In 2021, the number of executions was much higher than the previous year.

In 2020, at least 26 people were executed in various Iranian prisons for drug offenses. This is while the figure reached 91 in the first 9 months of this year.

Executions for murder

At least 130 prisoners were executed on murder since January 2021 in Iran. Many of them were executed in an unfair trial in Iran on murder charges. On several occasions, these detainees have been reportedly denied the right to a lawyer during the trial or have been tortured for forced confessions.

Two prisoners were executed in September based on Qassameh. Qassameh, which means “sworn oath”, is described as a certain number of people swearing an oath on the Quran. It is used when the judge decides that there is not enough evidence of guilt to prove the crime but still thinks it is likely that the defender is guilty. The people who swear in Qassameh are not usually direct witnesses to the crime.

https://iran-hrm.com/2021/10/07/high-number-of-iran-executions-in-2021/

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The ‘Butcher of Tehran’ is Terrified of Stepping Foot in the West

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 20:19:44 +0000

Newsweek | Struan Stevenson | 10/1/21

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, dubbed the “butcher of Tehran” due to his involvement in murder, genocide and human rights violations, ducked out of attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York and instead sent a pre-recorded message. Raisi is on the U.S. sanctions list because of his leading role in the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. It seems likely he chose to stay in Tehran rather than risk causing outrage to tens of thousands of ex-pat Iranians, had he come in person to New York. His predecessors as presidents of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani, both attended the New York U.N. General Assembly meetings in person, but Raisi is clearly afraid of his murderous past catching up with him if he dares to set foot in the West.

Raisi has publicly admitted and even boasted about his involvement in the 1988 massacre, involving mostly members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin of Iran / Mojahedin e-Khalq (PMOI/MEK), the main democratic opposition to the despotic mullahs. In fact, in 2009, following a nationwide uprising in protest at the rigged election of Ahmadinejad as president, Raisi said: “As long as the MEK leadership is alive, anyone who supports the group in any way deserves to be executed.” By this, he meant that extermination of the MEK members and supporters is a must without any legal basis, simply because they think differently from the mullahs and because their different approach is more appealing to ordinary Iranians, particularly young people, women and intellectuals. There can be no clearer indication of his involvement in the international crime of genocide.

Now, Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International, has called for Raisi to be investigated for crimes against humanity and for his involvement in murder, enforced disappearance and torture. The U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has also issued a damning report on the grave human rights violations that have occurred in Iran. His report expressed concern at the inhumane treatment and torture of supporters of opposition groups and their arbitrary conviction by revolutionary courts for the alleged crime of moharebeh or waging war against God, which carries the automatic death penalty. The opposition groups referred to by Guterres are mainly the PMOI/MEK, again showing that the U.N. has recognized the crime of genocide. In his report, António Guterres also expresses his concern over impunity from past violations such as the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, accusing the Iranian regime of “destroying evidence of the execution of political dissidents and harassment and criminal prosecution of families of victims calling for truth and accountability.”

In his pre-recorded video speech, filled with lies, cynical abuse, insults, praise of terrorism and threats to global peace and security, Raisi accused the U.S. of using sanctions as an act of war against Iran. He falsely claimed that U.S. sanctions had prevented medicines and COVID-19 vaccines from reaching the Iranian people, despite the fact that sanctions have never affected food, medicines, agricultural items and humanitarian products. It is only the criminal incompetence of the mullahs who ruled against utilizing any COVID-19 vaccines from the West and then defaulted on payments for Sinopharm and Sputnik vaccines from China and Russia, that has led to the appalling tragedy of over 440,000 deaths from the virus in Iran.

Claiming to be keen to send a message of “rationality, justice and freedom” to the world, Raisi, the hanging prosecutor, whose hands are dripping with the blood of his murdered victims, carefully avoided any mention of the mullahs’ massive financial and military support for proxy wars across the Middle East. As the key sponsors of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the brutal Shiite militias in Iraq, the terrorist Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, the mullahs do nothing for rationality, justice and freedom. Raisi even heaped praise on the terrorist godfather Qasem Soleimani, killed by a U.S. drone strike.

Raisi predictably also called for all the signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement, to uphold their obligations under the terms of the deal. He omitted to remind the U.N. how his regime has repeatedly boasted of their serial breach of the agreement as they accelerate their enrichment of uranium to weapons-grade status. Raisi demanded the lifting of U.S. sanctions as the only way of ensuring the Iranian regime’s return to the terms of the JCPOA, despite widespread intelligence that the mullahs’ adherence to the nuclear agreement was always a fraud and their race to develop a nuclear bomb never faltered.

Raisi, as a genocidal murderer, presides over a government of assassins, terrorists and thieves. He must never be allowed to set foot in the West and he should be prevented from addressing international conferences, even remotely. The U.N. Security Council must now facilitate the prosecution of Ebrahim Raisi and other officials responsible for decades of atrocities and human rights violations, particularly the genocidal massacre of political prisoners in 1988. There must be no impunity for mass murderers like Raisi. The recent news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has launched a full probe into Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, for his involvement in crimes against humanity and murder will send shockwaves to Tehran. Duterte’s extra-judicial killings in his so-called war on drugs may now lead to his indictment, arrest and appearance in the ICC. Surely this must pave the way for a similar indictment against Raisi.
Today, we should send the clearest possible message to Ebrahim Raisi. His crimes will not be forgotten or forgiven. His victims and their families demand justice. He will be held to account for crimes against humanity, murder, human rights violation and genocide. There is a prison cell in The Hague waiting for him.

https://www.newsweek.com/butcher-tehran-terrified-stepping-foot-west-opinion-1633978

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Sweden: Iran War Crimes Trial Opens

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 04:17:06 +0000

Universal Jurisdiction Provides Opening for Justice for Long-Ignored Crimes

Human Rights Watch | Aug 9, 2021

(Stockholm) – The opening of a landmark trial in Sweden on August 10, 2021 of an Iranian citizen accused of participating in the mass execution of political prisoners is an important moment for victims long denied recognition and justice.

On July 27, Swedish prosecutors announced their decision to prosecute an Iranian citizen for “committing grave war crimes and murder in Iran during 1988.” Prosecutors did not reveal the identity of the suspect, who has been detained in Sweden since November 2019.

“This milestone trial in Sweden comes after decades of persistence by Iranian families and victims of the 1988 mass executions,” said Balkees Jarrah, associate International Justice director at Human Rights Watch. “This case moves victims closer to justice for the crimes committed more than 30 years ago.”

The trial in Sweden is possible because the country’s laws recognize universal jurisdiction over certain serious crimes under international law. This allows for the investigation and prosecution of these crimes no matter where they were committed and regardless of the nationality of the suspects or victims. Sweden has elements in place to allow for the successful prosecution of serious crimes, including comprehensive laws, well-functioning specialized war crimes units, and previous experience with such cases.

Swedish prosecutors clarified that “Swedish domestic legislation does not include crimes against humanity committed before 1 July 2014 and could not be relied on in this indictment as the alleged criminal acts took place before that date. Therefore, the indictment involves crimes against the international law i.e. war crimes as well as murder.”

On July 18, 1988, Iran accepted United Nations Security Council Resolution 598, calling for a ceasefire in the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq. On July 24, 1988 the largest armed Iranian opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO or MEK), which had been based in Iraq since 1986, opened an incursion into Iran.

The group’s armed force in Iraq, which was called the National Liberation Army, attempted to topple Iran’s government. Iranian forces repelled the offensive, and Iranian authorities subsequently executed many political opponents then in prison, including many MKO members who had been arrested and sentenced years earlier.

Following a religious edict by Ayatollah Khomeini establishing a committee to review the cases of thousands of political prisoners, the Iranian authorities in 1988 executed thousands of political prisoners held in Iranian jails. Iranian authorities have never officially provided any information about the number of prisoners executed. However, the late Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, the former deputy supreme leader, estimated the number of victims to be between 2,800 and 3,800. Amnesty International has reported that the “Iranian Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran, a human rights group outside Iran … has recorded the names of 4,672 individuals killed during the mass prisoner killings in 1988 who were affiliated with the… [MKO] or leftist or other political opposition groups.”

In August 2016, Montazeri’s family published an audio file, originally recorded in August 1988, in which he harshly criticized the executions in a conversation with the committee, calling it “the biggest crime in the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn us.”

Iranian authorities have long sought to silence and prosecute those seeking justice for crimes committed in 1988. Following the release of the audio file, Iran’s Special Court of the Clergy sentenced Ahmad Montazeri, Ayatollah Montazeri’s son, to 21 years in prison in November 2016 on charges including “spreading propaganda against the system” and “revealing plans, secrets or decisions regarding the state’s domestic or foreign policies … in a manner amounting to espionage.” The sentence was later suspended.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and a group of UN human rights experts have all previously described the 1988 mass executions as a crime that constitutes or “may amount to” crimes against humanity, which are among the most odious crimes in international law. Those credibly implicated should be investigated and prosecuted for these crimes, Human Rights Watch said.

Iranian officials Morteza Eshraghi, Hossein Ali Nayeri, and Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi served as the members of the committee that decided the fate of the detainees in Iran. According to survivors, President Ibrahim Raeesi, then Tehran deputy prosecutor, also participated in the meetings. All four were sent letters from Ayatollah Montazeri discussing the mass executions, as well as a released audio file with their voices discussing the issue. Allegations of President Raeesi’s involvement in the 1988 mass executions do not appear to be part of this Swedish trial.

Universal jurisdiction cases are an increasingly important part of international efforts to hold those responsible for atrocities accountable, provide justice to victims who have nowhere else to turn, deter future crimes, and help ensure that countries do not become safe havens for human rights abusers, Human Rights Watch said.

“Universal jurisdiction laws are a key tool against impunity for heinous crimes, especially when no other viable justice option exists,” Jarrah said.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/08/09/sweden-iran-war-crimes-trial-opens#

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Iran: Security forces use live ammunition and birdshot to crush Khuzestan protests

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 18:53:07 +0000

Amnesty International | July 23, 2021

Iran’s security forces have deployed unlawful force, including by firing live ammunition and birdshot, to crush mostly peaceful protests taking place across the southern province of Khuzestan, Amnesty International said today. Video footage from the past week, coupled with consistent accounts from the ground, indicate security forces used deadly automatic weapons, shotguns with inherently indiscriminate ammunition, and tear gas to disperse protesters.

Since protests over severe water shortages erupted in Khuzestan on 15 July, security forces have killed at least eight protesters and bystanders, including a teenage boy, in seven different cities. According to official statements, one police official was also shot dead in Mahshahr. Scores of people, including children, have been injured, including by birdshot, and several are hospitalized in critical condition due to gunshot wounds. Security and intelligence forces have swept up dozens of protesters and activists, including many from the Ahwazi Arab minority, in mass arrests.

“Using live ammunition against unarmed protesters posing no imminent threat to life is a horrifying violation of the authorities’ obligation to protect human life. Protesters in Iran who take to the streets to voice legitimate economic and political grievances face a barrage of gunfire, tear gas, and arrests,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Iran’s authorities have a harrowing track record of using unlawful lethal force. The events unfolding in Khuzestan have chilling echoes of November 2019, when security forces unlawfully killed hundreds of protesters and bystanders but were never held to account. Ending impunity is vital for preventing further bloodshed.”

Using live ammunition against unarmed protesters posing no imminent threat to life is a horrifying violation of the authorities’ obligation to protect human life

Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International

Amnesty International calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately cease the use of automatic weapons and shotguns firing birdshot, which are indiscriminate, cause grievous and painful injuries and are completely inappropriate for use in all policing situations. They must also release all those detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly and protect all detainees from torture and other ill-treatment. The authorities must also ensure the injured can safely access medical care in hospital without facing arbitrary arrest. Iran’s authorities must also end deliberate ongoing internet disruptions and shutdowns across the province to clamp down on human rights.

Iran has experienced a worsening water crisis in recent years depriving people of their right to clean and safe water and leading to several protests including in Khuzestan. Environmental researchers say the authorities have failed to take adequate action to address the crisis.

Evidence of unlawful use of force

According to analysis by Amnesty International’s weapons expert, the sound of automatic weapons fire can be heard in multiple videos relating to protests in Khuzestan province that have circulated on social media since 15 July, including from the cities of Izeh, Ahvaz, Kut-e Abdollah, Susangerd and Shoushtar.

Video – automatic weapon fire

In other videos, including from Ahvaz, Khorramshahr, Mahshahr, Shavur, Shoush and Susangerd, the sounds of individual shots can be heard, which could be from discharging live ammunition, birdshot, or less-lethal munitions such as kinetic impact projectiles.

Video – single shots fired

In one video, where single shots are audible, security forces wearing anti-riot gear are seen advancing, some of them on motorcycles, towards a gathering of unarmed protesters. As shots are heard, protesters are seen fleeing in the opposite direction. In another video, a member of the security forces is seen firing a shotgun at a target off camera. In one other video, a police official is seen running towards a crowd firing a shotgun as armed members of the security forces nearby shoot grenade launchers.

In at least one video, several armed men are seen chasing a fleeing protester into a quiet side street while a mixture of automatic gunfire and single shots can be heard in the background. The fleeing protester is seen slumping to the ground. According to information received by Amnesty International from an Ahwazi Arab human rights defender, the armed men were members of the security forces who then arrested the protester.

Although Amnesty International was not able to confirm the identities of the shooters in all videos, in some of the footage, protesters at the scene or those filming can be heard saying that security forces are firing toward protesters or into the air.

In all but two video clips reviewed by Amnesty International, protesters are unarmed and clearly pose no threat to life that would meet the threshold for the use of lethal force under international law. Extensive video evidence indicates the demonstrations were mostly peaceful though in some places, as the crackdown by security forces escalated, some protesters put up roadblocks with burning tyres, engaged in stone-throwing and arson and damaged state vehicles. In some videos, gunfire is heard while protesters are escaping and could not, therefore, represent any danger to the security forces.

The above-mentioned two video clips were published by Iran’s state-affiliated Fars News Agency, said to be from Ahvaz on 20 July. The first shows a single armed man shooting off camera standing beside a group of unarmed men; the other shows a man on the rear seat of a moving motorcycle shooting into air.

While the circumstances surrounding the incidents shown in these clips remain unclear to Amnesty International, in the course of extensive documentation of the crackdowns on nationwide protests in November 2019 and other protests in recent years, the organization has received numerous eyewitness accounts indicating the authorities’ use of plainclothes agents to pose as armed or violent protesters.

Identified victims

According to information obtained from informed sources, security forces have killed at least eight protesters and bystanders, including a teenage boy, since protests began.

They include Mostafa Asakereh (Naimavi) in Shadegan, Ghassem Naseri (Khozeiri) in Kut-e Abdollah, Isa Baledi and Meysam Achrash in Taleghani, Hamzeh (Farzad) Fereisat in Ahvaz, Mehdi Chanani in Shoush, Hamid Mojadam (Jokari) in Chamran, and a teenage boy, Hadi Bahmani, in Izeh. The deaths resulted from incidents on 16, 19, 20 and 21 July.

Human rights defenders on the ground have reported that in various cities across the province, many injured protesters are not seeking hospital treatment due to fear of arrests. A human rights defender told Amnesty International that on 21 July, security and intelligence agents arrested several injured protesters from a hospital in Susangerd.

State denial and cover-up

Iranian government officials or state-affiliated media outlets have only recognized the death of four “members of the public” so far. They have blamed the deaths on unidentified armed “rioters” without presenting evidence, as they did in the aftermath of nation-wide protests in November 2019.

On 17 and 18 July, Fars News Agency published two video interviews with relatives of Mostafa Asakereh )Naimavi) and Ghassem Naseri (Khozeiri) who were killed in the protests. In the videos they describe their deceased loved ones as “not the type to get involved in riots” and deflect blame from the government.

A source with direct knowledge in Iran told Amnesty International that plain-clothes intelligence agents visited Ghassem Naseri (Khozeiri)’s family shortly after he died and coerced them into reciting a pre-prepared script on camera.

State media outlets in Iran, in co-operation with Iran’s intelligence and security bodies, have a longstanding record of producing and broadcasting propaganda videos featuring coerced statements from victims of human rights violations and their families.

“We have called time and time again for an end to the systematic impunity that continues to perpetuate cycles of bloodshed, as seen in the brutal crackdown on protests in Khuzestan. The UN Human Rights Council must urgently establish a mechanism to collect and analyse evidence of the most serious crimes under international law to facilitate fair and independent criminal proceedings,” said Diana Eltahawy.

Methodology

Amnesty International researchers and the organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab analysed dozens of videos relating to protest sites across Khuzestan province that have circulated on social media since 15 July.

The organization also examined several photographs and two videos showing classic spray patterns of birdshot wounds on the bodies of several protesters.

In addition, Amnesty International spoke to two primary sources on the ground with direct information about two of those killed as well as four human rights defenders and two journalists based outside Iran who had communicated with eyewitnesses, local activists and journalists, and victims’ relatives, neighbours and friends. The disruption of internet services in the province since the protests began has impeded Amnesty International’s ability to conduct more in-depth interviews with sources on the ground.

Amnesty International also monitored state-affiliated media outlets in Iran and independent media outlets based outside Iran.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/07/iran-security-forces-use-live-ammunition-and-birdshot-to-crush-khuzestan-protests/

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Former Iranian refugee represents US as karate world champion

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 17:34:21 +0000

UNHCR | By Andrea Mucino-Sanchez | 20 June 2021

Soolmaz fled Iran as a child with her family and embarked on a harrowing journey to safety. She is now a 14-time U.S. Champion and World Champion in traditional karate.

Dr. Soolmaz Abooali, a 14-time U.S. Champion and World Champion in traditional karate, hopes that her story will inspire others to play a role in helping refugees around the world.

In the 1980’s, Soolmaz Abooali’s parents found themselves in a precarious situation. Both were activists and making a future for their family in Iran was becoming increasingly difficult. When she was four, Soolmaz and her mother made the dangerous journey to Pakistan and eventually to Bangladesh in search of safety.

With the help of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Soolmaz and her family received funding and assistance. While the modest support offered was of use, her family had to find scrappy ways to not only survive but attempt to thrive.

“My parents made it doable for me.” She said. “Fruits were expensive and hard to come by in Bangladesh, but with whatever money they had they’d buy an apple and slice it into seven pieces, so I’d have a piece of fruit every day of the week.”

It was simple experiences like this that made Soolmaz realize what conflict felt like. “I really had this mind, body, and spirit awareness. I knew that something was not right. Something was not safe or accessible. We were always having to fight for something.”

The awareness of conflict manifested itself in various ways. She remembers the weariness in which they approached people, questioning their motives and where they could be from. Yet it was this very feeling that allowed a sincere enchantment with martial art movies. How the heroes of the story would find themselves in an ominous situation and battle their way to victory – a concept Soolmaz could relate to at such a young age.

“For me, in my child imagination, karate came to represent a way out of conflict.”

Soolmaz’s introduction to karate came initially from her father who had practiced martial arts. As a young child, he had promised Soolmaz that when they were in a safe place where they could start rebuilding their lives, he would put her in a karate class. Years later when they were resettled in Canada, Soolmaz’s father kept his word. At first it was her parents who kept her motivated to continue training, then slowly karate started to mean so much more to her personally.

“It represented a way for me to use my own sense of power with what I had to resolve conflict. It kind of took off from there.”

A straightforward list of Soolmaz’s karate accolades and accomplishments hardly do them justice. Through unimaginable odds as a refugee in Bangladesh dreaming of taking a karate class, to now a 14-time US Champion, one-time World Champion, gold medalist across all categories in form (Kata) and fighting (Kumite) events, and a member of Team USA at a national and global level for the last 14 years, her journey is one of perseverance and grit.

Soolmaz Abooali (right) represented the United States at the 2016 World Traditional Karate-Do Championships in Kraków, Poland. © Latos Adam

“The more I practiced, the more I realized it was making me feel really strong. I sacrificed more, I put more time and focus into it,” she said, “and the more I achieved the more I felt a deeper sense of confidence.”

While karate gave Soolmaz an outlet to test herself in conflict simulated scenarios, it also provided a sense of community, one that as a refugee had immeasurable value.

“Because we have to leave everything behind and we come with almost nothing but ourselves, our skills and our passions to a new place, feeling a sense of belonging is huge for refugees. And I think that’s what karate has given me. It’s given me this space where I can belong,” she said. “The relationships I’ve built have been fundamental and I wouldn’t be where I am without my coach or my teammates.”

Among the impressive accomplishments Soolmaz has under her karate belt, one has evaded her reach out of pure omission of the art in one of the most internationally well-known sporting competitions in the world: the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee selects twenty-five core sports that are mandatory events in Olympic competitions. However, the host organizing committee has the ability to add sports they believe represent the values of the games.

For the first time, karate will make its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. For the second time, a team of refugee athletes will compete at the summer games as part of the IOC’s Refugee Olympic Team. Two of those refugee athletes will compete for one of the 8 medals in karate. Wael Shueb from Sryia in the Kata category, and Hamoon Derafshipour from Iran in Kumite.

“Everyone needs inspiration, especially refugees,”

“Everyone needs inspiration, especially refugees,” Soolmaz said. “I think the Olympic refugee team is one way of how that’s done for refugees.”

Soolmaz’s story, from refugee to world champion, instilled a passion for further understanding the intersection of sport, conflict, and diplomacy. In 2019, Soolmaz obtained her PhD in conflict resolution from the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, another testament to the possibility to succeed against all odds, to find a sense of belonging, and find a sense of community.

“This is home. I’ve been able to not only take but to give back. And that’s what makes this country beautiful and valuable for everyone of any background,” she said. “I hope some part of my story will resonate with others and especially those who are looking in from the outside to see how they can play a role to help refugees. At the end of the day we are all in this together.”

https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/stories/2021/6/60cde22b4/former-iranian-refugee-represents-the-united-states-as-karate-world-champion.html

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In Remembrance of 120,000 Fallen for Freedom, Iranian People Rising

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 06:31:18 +0000

Iranian Americans Hold Photo Exhibition and Rally Outside State Department, Call for Accountability

WASHINGTON, DC, October 21, 2020 – In an elaborate photo exhibition held by the Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) outside the U.S. Department of State building in Washington, DC, prominent speakers and supporters of democratic opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), highlighted four decades of systemic arrests, torture and executions in Iran and called on the international community to hold perpetrators of these crimes accountable.

Prominent political personalities and former political prisoners spoke about the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, majority of whom were members of Mujahedin-e-Khalgh (MEK), the November 2019 murder of 1,500 protesters, and the assassination of dozens of political dissidents abroad. Speakers included former U.S. Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, former Senator Robert Torricelli, as well as former State Department officials Ambassadors Mitchell Reiss and Marc Ginsberg. Former Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) and former White House official Linda Chavez also addressed the rally.

Judge Mukasey reminded global leaders that, “this regime is not going to change. Rather, it has to be changed. The people who must do that are the Iranian people and it is our job to support them in any way that we can in this struggle.” Former Senator Robert Torricelli noted that, “the tactics of America of how to help the Iranian people to get to this in the future may or may not change, but the goal does not. The mullahs must fall, and freedom must return to the Iranian people in any form of government that they choose that defends basic liberties.” “As we look today at the faces of the martyrs,” Mr. Torricelli said, we are “remembering those who lost their lives either in the slaughter of 1988 or on the streets of Tehran and other cities around Iran.”

Ambassador Mitchell Reiss referenced the qualifications of the NCRI leadership and said, “Under the leadership of Madam Rajavi, the MEK offers the Iranian people and the world a different future. She offers a democratic alternative based on individual freedom and human dignity, a vision that could not be more different from the dictatorship that now controls Iran.”

Highlighting the necessity to hold Iranian regime officials accountable, Mrs. Linda Chavez said, “it’s important that the State Department focus on what is happening in Iran because this is something that needs to be brought to the international community’s attention. And the United States has the opportunity to go to the United Nations Security Council and to demand that

justice be brought in these horrendous killings.”

Former Congressman and Judge Ted Poe (R-TX) also lamented the notion that Iranian leaders are yet to face accountability for their crimes and added, “no one has been held accountable, not even the attacks and the plots, the plots of assassination in Albania, Paris and other places. Not even the assassination of Kazem Rajavi in Switzerland.”

Three former political prisoners, Mrs. Roya Johnson, Mrs. Shirin Nariman and renowned surgeon, Dr. Firouz Daneshgari, addressed the event and provided firsthand accounts of the human rights violations they were subjected to, and witnessed. In her remarks, Hannaneh Amanpour said, “I was only five years old when my father was killed by the Khomeini regime in 1988.” Roya Johnson, spoke about Navid Afkari, a wrestling champion who was executed in Iran on September 12, 2020 and added, “Navid is from the same city that I am from. Shiraz. He was held in the same prison where I was held for 2 years, the notorious prison of Adel Abad. He was probably tortured in the same torture chambers where I was tortured too.”

Event participants and speakers called for:

Urgent attention to the rising gross violations of human rights in Iran and ongoing crimes against the political prisoners and protesters.
Urgent call to implement further sanctions against the officials responsible for human rights violations in Iran.
Call for accountability for those involved in the torture and executions in Iran and terrorism abroad.

The exhibit displayed thousands of pictures killed in Iran since 1979, and called on the United Nations to move beyond the dozens of resolutions deploring the state of human rights, but to appoint a body to investigate its crimes, including the “ongoing crimes against humanity in Iran.”

By1988, Iran’s prisons were packed with thousands of political prisoners, mainly belonging to the main opposition, the MEK.

The UN peace accord, and the reluctancy of the masses to go to the Iran-Iraq war front line cornered Khomeini, the Supreme Leader at the time, forcing him to drink the “poison chalice” as he called it, and accept his inevitable warmongering defeat.

In order to prevent post war unrest and take revenge on the opposition, Khomeini issued a religious decree ordering the execution of any political prisoners who had not “repented” and who was not willing to collaborate utterly with the regime.

Suddenly, all family visitation to prisons were banned; kangaroo courts were held, and summary execution sentences were issued. Over 30,000 political prisoners who were serving their sentences, or even finished theirs, were executed in the summer of 1988. To this date, the Iranian regime has never officially admitted this massacre, and many victims’ family members who have questioned the massacre are sitting in prisons. Many previous or current senior officials from both sides of the regime, the so-called hardliners, and reformers, were directly involved in this massacre.

The most recent bloody uprising occurred in November 2019 when people poured to the streets to protest the multifold fuel price hike. Quickly, this unrest turned into an anti-government uprising and spread to more than 200 cities, and every single province in the country. The Iranian regime, in fear of being toppled by the people, shut down the internet for weeks and started a killing spree. Snipers were placed at roof tops and government security forces were shooting protesters from close range on the streets. In the matter of few days, the regime killed more than 1,500 protesters and arrested more than ten thousand.

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