Mohammad sadegh Larijani decorating the christmas tree says: If God willing , our kindness will include the christians....

Information are free and must remain free for all to see and read.This website releases partial news on violation of human rights in Iran!

In English:
http://en.rahana.org/

Stop Execution Order for the Kurdish Student !
Habibollah Latifi was supposed to be Hanged on December 26, but it was postponed for now.

Due to international pressure regime postponed the execution but instead have arrested Mr. Latifi's family members, there no news how many have been arrested in this new round of raid on Latifi's case.In the past regime has warrend family and friends of the political prisoners to be silence and not to speak to media and those who violate that would face arrest or even accidental death( there are many cases of example ).

Earlier the judiciary of the Islamic regime informed Mr. Latifi's lawyer that his client will be executed on December 26 in Sanandaj city prison .

Mr. latifi's was arrested by security forces on October 23,2010 on alleged charges of activities with counter-revolutionary group. Upon arrest Mr. latifi was put in solitary confinement and under intense mental and physical torture. This is the normal procedure in Iranian judicial system.they torture prisoners to a situation to confess for what they haven't done. In another word you are guilty unless proven not guilty.

At present there are 16 other Kurdish people facing same situation and the biased or politically motivated judiciary system ordered death sentence for these Kurdish individual.

Hadi Heidari the Iranian cartoonist have been arrested !

Iran Watch Canada can't and won't forget hundreds of political prisoners in Iran and demands for their immediate and unconditional release!

Torture for Jafar Panahi the Iranian film director and ....others by Mana Neyestani

www.sakhavarz.blogspot.com

www.afghancartoon.com

Mr. Fariborz Raisdana member of the board of directors of Iranian Writers Association is arrested and detained by Islamic regime in Iran!

We demand the immediate release of Dr. Fariborz Raisdana!

We have learned the astonishing news of “Dr. Raisdana’s arrest” by the security agents of the Islamic republic on the early morning of December 19th ,2010 at his home in Tehran. Dr. Fariborz Raisdana is a well known intellectual, economist, social activist, and ...the active member of the Iranian writers’ association. He published several books and articles on political economy and sociology. He has been known as a leftist socio-economic expert who always considers working class in his economic impairment analysis. So that he can be firmly called as “Iranian working class economist”. Dr. Raisdana’s field of expertise is econometrics. He has tried hard to disclose how workers and wage earners have been implicated by the relations of political economy in the turbulent Iranian society and how they have been increasingly suffering.Arrest of Dr. Raisdana , the member of the Iranian writers’ association which is a long-lasting core on the struggle against censorship in Iran , is a warning to the grass root movements who are seeking public justice and to the people whose main civil and democratic demand is focused on human rights and freedom of speech in spite of the extensive violation of civil rights in Iran. Moreover, his arrest, as a leftist economist who criticizes the Iranian government socio-economic platforms, points out the fact that social and political oppression apparatus in Iran is trying to implement its unfair plan to reduce the allocation of national subsidies. This is the unreasonable plan which has been evaluated by the majority of the experts as a plan to consolidate the military authority in the public sphere of Iran. It is out of question that the military economic plan results in reducing welfare and increasing pressure on the lower classes which Dr. Raisdana is their voice in the society to stand against the illegitimate resilient structure.We, undersigned, condemn Dr. Raisdana’s arrest and with pledge to civil rights and freedom of speech we demand his immediate and unconditional release.

Madame Shirin Ebadi and her colleagues in front of UN in Geneva in support of Nasrin sotoudeh the Iranian lawyer who is currently in prison!

Jafar Panahi the Iranian film director is sentenced to six years imprisonment and 20 years ban from making film plus ban from leaving Iran !

Islamic judiciary system continue the path of injustices.

In picture, Juliette Binoche French Actress crying for the fate of Jafar Panahi.

The above sentence was handed to Mr. Jafar Panahi (an Iranian film maker and a critic to the regime of Ahmadinejad) by an Islamic court in Iran. These courts are run by Ayatollah Mohammad Sadegh Larijani the head of judiciary power.

Ms. Farideh Gheirat lawyer for Mr. Panahi told to ISNA reporter that: "Unfortunately this is a heavy sentence and it was handed to me and to my client on December 18 by devision number 26 of the court of revolution, but i will appeal the sentence in the given time ."

Mr. Panahi is charged with " gathering ,conspiracy and propagation against the Islamic regime in Iran."

This judiciary power also sentenced Mr. Mohammad Rasoulof, another film director to six years imprisonment and his lawyer said ; he is going also to appeal.

IRAN WATCH CANADA:

Where is the justice Mr. Sadegh Larijani ? You are the head of judiciary power aren't you? Because Mr. Panahi supported the green movement, your judiciary machine under your management must sentence a film diorector to six years imprisonment and 20 years ban of film making and above that ban from leaving the country?

Is your justice machinery a hostage taker?

And you Mr. Mohammad Javad Larijani the head of human rights commission in the Islamic Republic, what do you say now? Is this a clear violation of human rights or not?

You both brothers Mohammad sadegh and Mohammad Javad Larijani will be responsible for all these injustices on Iranian peoples and will answer to people when time comes and i have no doubt it will surely come.

The injustices are so many that no one can monitor all including Iran Watch Canada.But this Says it all about the Islamic Judiciary System.

Mr. Ali Motahari an MP in Iran parliament: Ahmadinejad's must have a good explanation about removing Mr. Motaki the Foreign Minister !

Motaki learnt from president of senegal that he was fired by Ahmadinejad ,while he was in Senegal !?

Mr. Motahari (an MP from Tehran to Iranian parliament) who was responding to a question of a reporter on the removal of Motaki ,said: "Mr. Motaki did not know that he was fired by Ahmadinejad until president of Senegal told him that, he is no longer the foreign minister and he was fired from the post by Ahmadinejad."

Mr. Motahari said:

"President did not have the right to do this, and i hope he has a good explanation about this."

Mr. Motahari said: "Parliament as members of the people will continue to follow this case."

The Government of "Imame zaman" ( the absent 12th imam) believe can run/manage the whole world but can't save the lives of its mine workers !

Four workers who were traped in a mine in Kerman province lost their lives , report said.


On noon Tuesday, the "Hejdak" coal mine in Kerman province collapsed and four mine workers who were working in a depth of about 600 meters were burried with debries and lost their lives. Their bodies are not yet removed from the depth.


Iran Watch Canada in the past reported about the harsh lives and working condition of these workers.

According to report, in the past since 2009 up to now more than 41 workers have lost their lives in mines around Kerman province ,because of lack of safty and deteriorating working condition.

This is happening while, Ahmadinejad believes his government of "Imam Zaman" together with his cabinet can manage the whole world.

On December 20 Ms. Shirin Ebadi and five other Iranian women rights advocates will stage protest against detention of Nasrin sotoudeh in front of UN

Don't let the hands of this regime will take a brave Iranian human rights advocate from Iranian people!

Madame Shirin Ebadi requested the women and human rights organization inside and outside Iran to join the protest against the Islamic Republic judiciary power and in support of Ms. Nasrin sotoudeh for her release from prison.

On Monday December 2o Madame shirin Ebadi the Iranian lawyer , president of the Association of Human Rights Defenders in Iran and Noble Peace Prize Winner plus Five others ( asieh Amini, Parvin Ardalan,Shadi Sadr, Khadijeh Moghadam and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh) will stage protest against the detention of Ms.Nasrin sotoudeh the Iranian human rights advocate in front of UN in Geneva. Nasrin is in solitary confinement in Evin prison and since December four went on dry hunger strike.Ms. sotoudeh has been in prison for more than 103 days.

the reason she went on hunger strike is because of the prison condition and the way the judiciary power handle's the cases of political prisoners.

Background:

Ms. sotoudeh is a graduate in International law from Shahid Beheshti University and she has started her work as a lawyer since 2003. She has received international award from International Human Rights Organization.

Minister of foreign affair was replaced . Continuation of dispute among "Islamic Republic" officials!

One more shame / discredit in international affairs for Ahmadinejad's Government.

Mr. Manouchehr Motaki the foreign affairs minister of the Islamic Republic was replaced by Ahmadinejad ,while he was on a mission in africa.

According to government newspaper (Fars newspaper) Mr.Motaki told to reporter that: "I was never informed that i will be replaced by someone just after 24 hours of my departure to a mission in Africa and the irony is that; i was not informed about the day the new minister will be introduced and take office. "

Mr. Motaki found this as a way of ( removing the foreign minister while he was in mission) as un-Islamic and an insult and out of political and diplomatic norm."

Ministry of foreign affairs vs Ahmadinejad, the tension and dispute continue.... .

Mr. Ali Larijani the house speaker criticized the way the situation was handled by Ahmadinejad.

he said: "It would have been better the minister was informed about the replacement and not while he was travelling abroad ."

For Immediate ReleaseIran:Discrimination and Violence Against Sexual MinoritiesLaws, Policies Put Already Vulnerable People at Even Greater Risk(Amsterdam, December 15, 2010) –Discriminatory laws and policies against homosexuals and other sexual minorities in Iran put them at risk of harassment, violence, and even death, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Iran’s sexual minorities, especially those who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT), are victimized both by state and private actors in part because those actors know they can get away with it.The 102-page report, “We are a Buried Generation: Discrimination and Violence Against Sexual Minorities in Iran,” based on testimony from more than 100 Iranians, documents discrimination and violence against LGBT people and others whose sexual practices and gender expression do not conform to government-endorsed socio-religious norms. Human Rights Watch analyzed these abuses within the context of the government’s violations against its general population, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, invasions of privacy, mistreatment and torture of detainees, and the lack of due-process protections and fair-trial guarantees.“Members of sexual minorities in Iran are hounded on all sides,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The laws are stacked against them; the state openly discriminates against them; and they are vulnerable to harassment, abuse, and violence because their perpetrators feel they can target them with impunity.”Iran’s security forces, including police and forces of the hard-line paramilitary basij, rely upon discriminatory laws to harass, arrest, and detain individuals whom they suspect of being gay, Human Rights Watch found. The incidents often occur in parks and cafes, but Human Rights Watch also documented cases in which security forces raided homes and monitored internet sites for the purpose of detaining people they suspected of engaging in non-conforming sexual conduct or gender expression.The report also documents instances in which police and basij allegedly ill-treated and in some cases tortured real or suspected LGBT people, both in public spaces and detention facilities. Several individuals interviewed made allegations that members of the security forces had sexually assaulted or raped them.Navid, a 42-year-old gay man who owned a café outside Tehran, told Human Rights Watch about an attack he suffered in 2007 at the hands of two plainclothes agents whom he later discovered were members of the local basij. He said they picked him up as he was leaving work, handcuffed him, and drove him to his home. He said they pushed him out of the car, beat him, and forced him inside, where they sexually assaulted him."[One of them] forced his penis inside my mouth," he said. "I threw up and dirtied myself. They dragged me into the bathroom and washed me down with cold water. The whole time they continued to beat me all over."He described how the agents then took him to another residence, where they locked him in a foul-smelling and dirty kitchen full of cockroaches."[One of the agents] took my clothes off," he said. "He then raped me with a flashlight and a baton. He just pushed me down to the ground and raped me. The other two joined in."The report also documents serious abuses, including due-process violations that occurred during the prosecution of sexual minorities charged with crimes. Those charged with engaging in consensual same-sex offenses stand little chance of receiving a fair trial. Judges ignore penal code evidentiary guidelines in sodomy cases and often rely instead on confessions extracted through physical torture and extreme psychological pressure. Both Iranian and international law consider such evidence inadmissible.In other cases, courts have convicted defendants of sodomy charges solely on the basis of “the knowledge of the judge” as “derived through customary methods.” This evidentiary provision of Iran’s penal code enables judges to rely on tenuous circumstantial evidence to determine whether a crime has occurred even in the absence of other evidence or in the presence of exculpatory evidence.Iranian law reflects the state’s hostile attitude toward sexual minorities. The penal code criminalizes all sexual relations outside of traditional marriage. Same-sex “crimes” are subject to hudud, punishment fixed under Sharia or divine [Islamic] law, where the claimant is deemed to be God. Punishments are severe. Under the Penal Code, lavat (sodomy) is punishable by death where a judge determines that penetration was involved.Other forms of non-penetrative sex between men are punishable by 100 lashes for each partner and death on the fourth conviction. Same-sex relations between women, or mosaheqeh, bring similar punishments.Under the penal code, “lustful” kissing between two men or two women is punishable by up to 60 lashes, and two men “who are not related by blood … found naked under the same cover without any necessity,” is punishable by up to 99 lashes. A host of other morality laws enforce sexual and gender conformity, including those barring, organizing, or participating in an “immoral” or “corrupt” gathering, or encouraging others to engage in “corrupt” and “obscene” acts. The penal code also criminalizes the production, use, and dissemination of material considered immoral under Iranian law, including LGBT websites, literature, and other paraphernalia.Iran is one of only seven countries with laws allowing executions for consensual same-sex conduct. The others are Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.Iranian newspapers and media outlets have published many accounts since the Iranian revolution in 1979 of executions for same-sex conduct. The overwhelming majority of those executed or on death row are males charged with sodomy, including juvenile offenders who were under 18 when they allegedly committed the act. The Iranian government maintains that most of these individuals have been charged for forcible sodomy or rape.Because trials on moral charges in Iran are usually held in camera, it is difficult to determine what proportion of those charged and executed for same-sex conduct are LGBT and in what proportion the alleged offense was consensual. Because of the lack of transparency, Human Rights Watch said, it cannot be ruled out that Iran is sentencing sexual minorities who engage in consensual same-sex relations to death under the guise that they have committed forcible sodomy or rape.“Iran is not only one of the rare countries that imposes the death penalty for consensual same-sex relations, it also has people sitting on death row who allegedly committed sodomy as minors,” Whitson said. “Every time the Iranian judiciary issues a death sentence for consensual sex, or against a juvenile offender, it is violating its international legal obligations.”Both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights categorically prohibit capital punishment of people who were under 18 at the time of the offense. Iran ratified the ICCPR in 1975 and the CRC in 1994.Iran is not unique in the region in criminalizing same-sex conduct or in the seriousness of the abuses suffered by its sexual minorities. There is, however, a very noticeable disconnect between Iran’s official stance against sexual minorities and the realities on the ground, especially in Iran’s larger urban areas. Despite President Ahmadinejad’s 2007 declaration that Iran has no homosexuals, thousands of Iranians identify themselves as LGBT and socialize in public and private, and contribute to vibrant and defiant LGBT communities in the Persian-language blogosphere.Since 1979, the Iranian government has implemented several policies designed to deal with the complex realities of sexual orientation and gender identity in Iran today. On their face, some of these policies may appear accommodating. For example, the state legally recognizes transgender Iranians – as long as they agree to undergo sex reassignment surgery. It also allows gays, transgender males, or men who have sex with men to apply for a “behavioral disorder” exemption from military service if they can establish that they are gay or transgender.But while these policies may accommodate, or even benefit some, they aim ultimately to control and enforce conformity, Human Rights Watch said. At times they expose sexual minorities to further harassment, abuse, blackmail, extortion, and torture.“Abolishing Iran’s discriminatory laws and policies is critical to ensuring protection of its vulnerable sexual minorities,” said Whitson. “Those who perpetrate violence against Iran’s sexual minorities do so because they know that their victims have nowhere to turn for protection or justice.”Human Rights Watch calls on the Iranian government to:· Abolish all laws and other legislation under the Islamic Penal Code that criminalize consensual same-sex conduct;· Immediately rescind any and all convictions and sentences against individuals for consensual same-sex conduct or relations, and immediately release anyone serving sentences for such convictions;· Immediately rescind all death sentences imposed on individuals for the crime of lavat (sodomy) allegedly committed when they were under the age of 18, regardless of whether the act was consensual or forced;· Prohibit public harassment, abuse, and gender-based violence against sexual minorities by security forces, including the Iran’s basij units, and investigate and prosecute members of the security forces who engage in such actions;· Cease all targeting and entrapment, including internet entrapment campaigns and home raids, by security forces against sexual minorities or people with non-conforming sexual or gender identities;· Prohibit harassment, abuse, torture, and sexual assault of sexual minorities by security forces during detention, and investigate and prosecute members of the security forces who engage in such actions;· Prohibit the use of testimony or confessions that appear to have been secured under torture or threat of torture or other ill-treatment in all prosecutions, including those related to same-sex conduct;· Provide adequate access to physical and psychological services to transgender Iranians, including hormone therapy for individuals who have undergone sex reassignment surgery.Human Rights Watch also called on other states and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to implement policies and recommendations to safeguard the rights of Iran’s vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers.During the past several years, Human Rights Watch intervened on several occasions to ensure that countries, including the Netherlands and Sweden, put a stop to the deportation of Iranian LGBT people who legitimately feared persecution if returned to Iran.The Human Rights Watch report, “We are a Buried Generation: Discrimination and Violence Against Sexual Minorities in Iran,” is available at:http://www.hrw.org/node/94978For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Iran,please visit:http://www.hrw.org
Labels: HRW

Nasrin Sotoudeh the brave Iranian lawyer, a civil rights and women rights advocate has gone to hunger strike again!

Nasrin Sotoudeh has gone on hunger strike for all these unjustices from the Judiciary power !

Nasrin sotoudeh the Iranian lawyer , a civil rights and women rights advocate has again gon on hunger strike in Evin prison. She spends time in a solitary confinement in Evin prison. Her husband Mr. Reza Khandan who have visited her said: She has no personal request but cancellation of all unjust senteces given to political prisoners after the election coup one and a half year ago.She has been kept in solitary confinement since Setember 4 of this year and during the last three months in detention , she had two other hunger strike.

Link in Farsi:

www.roozonline.com

The anti-Iranian and anti-Iran internal secret circle inside the Islamic regime,once again has started major attack on Iranian journalists and .....

The anti-Iranian and Anti -Iran "internal secret circle" inside the Islamic regime particularly in "Sepah" and Ministry of information" in Iran has once again started their attack on Iranian journalists and independent newspapers.

It seems these "secret circle" has internal and external body. The external body are almost known to most of the Iranian and they are:

Hossein Shariatmadari the head of Keihan Newspaper, Rohulah Hoseinian an MP from Tehran, ahmadinejad, Janati the head of Guardian Council , Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi the member of Assembly of Experts, Taeb once the head of the Basij melitia, Jafari -Dolatabadi the current prosecutor and the list goes.

Here is one of the report:

File picture dated November 27, 1999 shows prominent Iranian reformist journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin talking to reporters outside Tehran's press court. Shamsolvaezin, who heads the Journalists' Association of Iran and was the editor of several reformist dailies closed in a crackdown on the press between 1998 and 2000, was sentenced to 16 months in jail on charges of insulting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and undermining the Islamic regime, he told."

In another report:

Mr. Mehran Faraji is a journalists who writes on social issues> He was arrested on Saturday by security agents of the secret circles. In the past he has worked for Hamshahri ,Etemade Melli and Kargozaran newspapers.

During last week , Reihaneh Tabatabaei journalist from Sharq newspaper, Keivan Mehregan , Ahmad Gholami, Ms. Farzane Roustaei and Mr. Ali khodabakhsh the chief editor of the political and international section of the newspaper were arrested, including Mr. Hadi Anvari who was writing on economic section of the newspaper.

2010 Reporters Without Borders - Fnac Prize

Press Freedom Prize goes to Iranian journalist and Somali radio station
In partnership with the French retail chain Fnac, Reporters Without Borders has awarded its 2010 Press Freedom Prize to two symbols of courage, the jailed Iranian journalist Abdolreza Tajik and the embattled Somali news radio station Radio Shabelle.
The awards were presented at ceremony hosted by journalist Elizabeth Tchoungui at the Foreign Press Reception Centre (CAPE) in Paris last night.
“This prize comes at time when the press is experiencing difficulties,” Reporters Without Borders president Dominique Gerbaud said, opening the ceremony. “This is the case in France. It is also the case in Côte d’Ivoire, where the population is currently being denied access to foreign TV news stations. Describing Reporters Without Borders’ regular activities, he cited its responses to recent incidents in Greece, Tunisia, Afghanistan and Venezuela.
“The freedom to report the news and the public’s right to receive it are under greater threat than ever,” said lawyer Gisèle Halimi, France’s former ambassador to UNESCO and a former member of the National Assembly, presenting the 2010 Journalist of the Year award. “Protecting and promoting media freedom, like the defence of women’s rights, helps to advance the freedoms of an entire society.”
“This year we are honouring a courageous journalist, Abdolreza Tajik, and a beleaguered radio station, Radio Shabelle,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said. “These laureates work into two countries, Iran and Somalia, where reporting the news is a constant battle.”
Jailed for the third time on 12 June of this year, Tajik is still detained. Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, the head of the Tehran-based Human Rights Defenders Centre, received the 2010 Journalist of the Year award on his behalf.
Thanking all those who defend free speech in Iran, Ebadi said: “I regret that Abdolreza is not here to receive this award in person. His only crime has been to write, to write the truth. For doing that, he is being held in solitary confinement in Evin prison, without his lawyer being able to see him or have access to his case file. Abdolreza is a symbol of resistance in Iran, and he is not the only one. I hope he will be here next year to meet you.”
Tajik was chosen for his reporting and his commitment to the defence of press freedom in Iran. A member of the Human Rights Defenders Centre and a determined free speech activist, he worked as political editor on many of the newspapers that have been closed by the authorities, such as Fateh (closed by the authorities in 2000), Bahar (closed in 2001), Bonyan (closed in 2002), Hambastegi (closed in 2003) and Shargh (closed in 2008). He often writes about free speech violations and arbitrary arrests of journalists.
Presenting the 2010 Media of the Year prize to Mogadishu-based Radio Shabelle, writer Jean-Christophe Rufin, France’s former ambassador to Senegal and Gambia, praised the work of Reporters Without Borders’ local correspondents and all journalists working on the ground in difficult regions.
Somalia’s most respected privately-owned radio station, Radio Shabelle is also the most exposed to violence. Constantly harassed by the radical Islamist militias that are fighting the transitional government, it struggles to survive amid the chaos.
“It is an immense honour to receive this prize,” said Ali Abdi, Shabelle Media Network’s head of international relations, who accepted the prize with emotion on behalf of his colleagues at Radio Shabelle. “It recognizes not just our own work but also the courage of all Somali journalists and Somali civil society.
“In our country, where chaos reigns and the armed Islamist militias want to silence us, we take great risks to report the news. Five of our journalists have been killed in the past three years, including two station managers, and around 100 have fled the country for safety reasons. But we will not be intimidated. We are determined to continue our struggle for independent journalists and respect for human rights.”
The Reporters Without Borders Prize has been awarded every since 1992 to a journalist and a news media in different parts of the world that have made a significant contribution to the defence and promotion of press freedom. The prize winners are selected by an international jury of journalists and human rights activists.
Speaking on behalf of Reporters Without Borders’ partner in the Press Freedom Prize, Fnac executive committee member Isabelle Saviane said: “Fnac regards itself as an actor in society and as a media in its own right, and intends to play a role alongside NGOs such as Reporters Without Borders. Social involvement is an integral part of Fnac’s DNA and therefore its economic model. And we are going to propose new joint actions with Reporters Without Borders in 2011.”

http://en.rsf.org/2010-reporters-without-borders-10-12-2010,39004.html

Shopkeepers shut their store on the anniversary death of Ayatollah Montazeri as a support for Montazeri and protest to the regime and Khamenei !

Student movement Iranian people's hope for change

Amirkabir University students continue their protest..Qazvin U students continue their protest..Clashes between polytechnic students and Basij forces

Tehran Polytechnic University student protest against Ahmadinejad's regime.For freedom,human rights and the release of detained students !

All eyes are on Iranian students who can make big change in Iran and save the Iranian people from this regime..This is students from Gilan University

Student of "Bo Ali Sina"University in the city of Hamadan play video about the struggle of students for freedom and the release of detained students..

what a brave young men and women ....hear it......how long more this regime can stay in power.....?

Iranian in Japan in solidarity with Students in Iran......

students started their major protest.......Death to dictator.....Death to this Government which deceivs people.....

For Immediate ReleaseIran:
Escalating Repression of University StudentsDozens Imprisoned, Others Barred as Classmates Mark National Student Day(New York, December 7, 2010) –

Dozens of university students are behind bars and several hundred others have been expelled from campus because of their political activism or religious affiliation, Human Rights Watch said today as Iran marked National Student Day. Many of those in prison hold leadership positions in well known student organizations critical of the government.Iran’s universities have increasingly become targets of government efforts to consolidate power and stifle dissent. Since 2005, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration has pursued a multi-phased campaign to neutralize dissent at universities and “Islamicize” higher education. This campaign, spearheaded by the Ministries of Education, Science and Technology, and Intelligence, includes imprisoning student activists; barring other politically active students and members of Iran’s Baha’i community from higher education; using university disciplinary committees to monitor, suspend, or expel students; increasing the presence of pro-government student groups affiliated with the basij (a hard-line Islamist paramilitary group); and restricting the activities of student groups.“The government accuses student activists of endangering national security and being manipulated by ‘foreign elements’ as cover for its campaign to eliminate the student movement and stifle academic freedom,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Despite these pressures, students are at the front line of the struggle for greater freedoms at universities and throughout society.”The latest spate of arrests of student leaders was in November 2010, when security and intelligence forces arrested four members of Tahkim-e Vahdat (Office to Foster Unity), one of Iran’s largest student organizations, which the government considers illegal.National Student Day, marked on the 16th of Azar on the Iranian calendar, commemorates three students killed at Tehran University on December 7, 1953, by the Shah’s security forces. On Student Day 2009, demonstrations erupted on university campuses throughout Iran as many students expressed outrage over the disputed June 2009 presidential election.
Authorities arrested dozens of protesters, including Majid Tavakoli, an Amir Kabir University student and member of the school’s Islamic Student Association, who gave a speech criticizing the government. A revolutionary court sentenced Tavakoli to eight-and-a-half years in prison on various national security charges including “conspiring against the national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” and “insulting the Supreme Leader” and president. He is in Tehran’s Evin prison.As of November 2010‎ more than 70 students were in prison throughout the country as a result of their political activities or affiliation with banned student groups, according to sources close to Tahkim-e Vahdat.In the latest arrests, security agents arrested Ali Qolizadeh on November 5 at his father’s home in the northeastern city of Mashhad without producing a warrant, as required by law. Two days later, plainclothes Intelligence Ministry agents arrested Ali-Reza Kiani outside Mazandaran University. On the same day, authorities arrested Mohsen Barzegar in the town of Babol, and Mohammad Heidarzadeh in Shahrekord, in western Iran. Authorities transferred all four to Evin prison in Tehran, but released Qolizadeh, Kiani, and Heidarzadeh in late November and early December. They are still holding Barzegar in section 240 of Evin prison and denying him access to his lawyer and family members.In a statement issued on November 8, Tahkim-e Vahdat accused the authorities of targeting these four members because they had just been elected to the organization’s central committee. Several sources close to Tahkim-e Vahdat told Human Rights Watch that authorities arrested the students just before the group was to announce the official results of its annual elections, which took place over the internet this year due to security concerns.On October 31, Raja News, a Persian-language website thought to be close to the Intelligence Ministry, reiterated Tahkim-e Vahdat’s illegal status and ran an article accusing several of its members of having ties with the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) and the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), both of which the Iranian government considers terrorist organizations. Tahkim-e Vahdat and several Persian-language websites affiliated with other student groups have rejected these allegations and said the arrests were part of the government’s latest campaign to discredit the student movement and stifle dissent.The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Research declared Tahkim-e Vahdat illegal in 2009. During the wide-ranging crackdown that followed the disputed June 2009 presidential election, security forces arrested more than 200 students, including several high-ranking members of Tahkim-e Vahdat. Many of these arrests took place in November and early December 2009, months after security forces attacked Tehran University and killed several students, and weeks before National Student Day events were to take place.Authorities held scores of students incommunicado for weeks before prosecutors filed charges against them and lawyers gained access to their clients. Many alleged that security and intelligence agents had tortured and forced them to confess to crimes they had not committed. The judiciary prosecuted the students in closed trials in Iran’s revolutionary courts.Bahareh Hedayat and Milad Asadi are two other central Tahkim-e Vahdat committee members that were arrested in 2009. They are currently serving time in Evin prison. Hedayat is the first secretary of the Women’s Commission of Tahkim, and the first – and so far only – woman elected to the national student organization’s central committee. Authorities arrested her on December 30, 2009, and charged her with various national security crimes, including “propaganda against the system,” “participating in illegal gatherings,” and “insulting the president.” In May, a revolutionary court sentenced her to nine-and-a-half years in prison. Security forces arrested Asadi on November 30, 2009. Judge Moghiseh from Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced him to seven years in prison for similar national security-related “crimes.”The administration has also targeted several other student organizations and their members, including Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat (Tahkim-e Vahdat's alumni group) and the Committee to Defend the Right to Education (CDRE). Several central committee members of Advar are in Evin prison, including Ahmad Zeidabadi, Abdollah Momeni, Ali Malihi, Ali Jamali, and Hasan Asadi Zeidabadi. Security forces arrested Zeidabadi and Momeni, the group’s secretary-general and spokesperson respectively, during the aftermath of the election protests last year. Zeidabadi, Momeni, and Malihi are each currently serving sentences of 14 years and 11 months on various national security charges such as “participation in illegal gatherings,” “propaganda against the regime,” and “insulting the president.”In September 2009 Momeni sent an open letter to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, detailing abuse and torture he said he suffered in Evin prison. Momeni was one of the student leaders of the July 1999 student protests.Zia Nabavi, a co-founder of CDRE, is serving a 10-year sentence in Ahvaz’s Karun prison. Intelligence Ministry agents arrested Nabavi on June 15, 2009, and prosecutors charged him with various national security-related crimes, including “links to and cooperation with the MEK.” Mahdieh Golroo, a student activist and another member of CDRE, has been in prison since November 3, 2009. In April, a revolutionary court convicted her of national security crimes and sentenced her to 28 months in prison. Another co-founder of CDRE, Majid Dorri, is serving a six-year prison sentence for his student activities.Since 2005 the Ahmadinejad government has barred more than 200 students from university education on political and religious grounds, according to a recent report 01released by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.Nabavi, Golroo, and Dorri formed CDRE in 2008 after authorities barred them from continuing their university studies. It is one of several student groups that publicized and resisted the government’s policy of preventing students from continuing their higher education on political or religious grounds. Another such group is the Population to Combat Educational Discrimination, which largely addressed the government’s official policy of preventing Bahais admission to or expelling them from universities “once it becomes known that they are Bahais.” In 2009 authorities also prevented Qolizadeh and Barzegar, two of the members of Tahkim-e Vahdat who were recently arrested, from continuing their studies.“Rather than honoring and celebrating its students, the Iranian government routinely marks 16 Azar by tightening the screws on academic freedom,” Stork said. “Instead, the authorities should use this occasion to release the dozens of students who remain in prison on baseless charges, and allow back into the classroom the hundreds of others who are being deprived of their education for political and religious reasons.
”For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Iran,
please visit:http://www.hrw.org/en/middle-eastn-africa/iran

Students distributed posters for protest.Students from all over Iran going to protest on December 1.Will other sectors join the students for protest ?

Shahla was hanged after spending 8 years in prison!

Iran newspaper reported:

Tens of reporter together with cinema and television artists were gathered in front of Evin prison from early dawn to find out what would be the destiny of Shahla Jahed.

Shahla was hanged after spending 8 years in prison.
After spending 3063 days in prison ,yesterday at dawn Shahla (Khadijeh ) Jahed was hanged in Evin prison.
According to reporter,at 3:00am yesterday and in the cold weather of the last days of Autumn on Northern Tehran's mountain, two prison guards transfered Shahla from her prison cell to a room. It was as if Shahla knew, the moment has arrived to say goodbye to her life,after entering in the room, she met the sentencing executioner judege, a representative of judiciary power, prison officials , coroner and few prison guards.while worried, she stood infront of them and quietely said hello. The sentencing executioner judge told her about her situation and judiciary representative asked her; if for the last time she wants to say something , then she cried and prayed and at this time the victims family together with Naser Mohammad -Khani [ IWC:
the famous Iranian soccer player who had temporarily married or made " Siqeh" ( An Islamic way of entering into a temporary marriage) with Shahla Jahed while married with the victim ]entered into the room.........
Then Shahla asked for paper and pen to write her testament, She wrote around three pages , mostly she spoke with her mom and in the letter she said: her part of the will, which is a land be given to her nephew and the rest of the belonging to be given to her mom and she handed her testament to Mr. Pour-Mokri the sentencing executioner judge. then she was guided out of the room and brought to the prison yard and one of the prison guard brought her to the gallows and the guard tried to put handcuff on her hands but Shahla refused and she said it is okay, the guard then put the rope in her neck and one of the victim's brother [IWC:removed what is called the chair under her feet.] During this time Naser's head was down.

In front of Evin prison and around Shahla's mom and family were tens of reporters, photojournalists and actor and actreses including Mahnaz Afzali,merila Zarei and Fereshteh Sadre-erfaei, they were also crying. They have come there to ask the victims family to forgive her but......
Then they saw Ambulance entering the Evin prison and laer the reporters announced she had been hanged ,it was 5:52 am.
the people present at Evin were calling another person as the real perpetrator /culprit on this matter.
Link to this news:
http://www.iran-newspaper.com/
IRAN WATCH CANADA calls:

For the eradication of barbaric Islamic laws !
To end violation against women !
To end the death sentence !

Iranian students are preparing themselves for a major national day of student protest in Iran on December 7 and regime is scared to death !

Students have already started writing slogans on the walls !

Students of Qazvin International University have distributed thousands of leaflets and student publication on commemorating the coming of 7th of December the Student Day in Iran!
This is happening under intense security watchdogs. At present 15 students of Qazvin International University are deprived from school and education.
Adding to these are the Bahai students and God knows how many students of other universities all over Iran.

Why these students have no rights to enter into the universities or continure their education? Under what / which allegations the presidents of the universities deprived these students from entering into universities?
Where is Mr. Mohammad Javad Larijani's human rights?
Where is Mr. Mohammad Sadegh Larijani's judiciary power and justice for these students?

In the leaflets ,the students said; they will announce their programs for December 7 protest.

in another news students of
Elmo Sanat
polytechnic
Ferdousi-Mashhad
Azad
Science and research
Tehran University
amir Kabir University
khajeh Nasirodin tousi university
Alameh University
Shahre Kord
also distributed leaflets and announced for protest on December 7.

Regime knows that; students can generate a strong current which will burn all regime fuses!