Watch this film - Taken after 1978-79 revolution in Iran - No comment.......

http://ubu.com/film/ayrari_tazeh.html

Execution threatens the life of Shirko Moarefi the Kurdish Iranian political prisoner !

khalil Bahramian the defence lawyer for Shirko Moarefi believes the execution of his client is imminent !
Mr. Bahramian said that; he did not receive any document on the date of execution of his client but told to "Kurdpa" news agency that; since his death sentence was approved ,that means any time the death sentence may be carried against his client .He said; usually judiciary /prison officials do notify the prisoners but not the lawyers and this is illegal.Shirko Moarefi is a 31 years old Kurdish-Iranian political prisoner from the city of Baneh of Kurdistan province. He was sentenced to death by the court of Revolution for allegedly his colaboration with a Kurdish political party. Shirko was arrested on November 1999 and since then he spends time in Saghez city prison.
Link to this news:
http://www.akhbar-rooz.com/article.jsp?essayId=44579

After 70 days of hunger strike Mehdi Khazali was released !

Doctor Mehdi Khazali was released on Monday March 19 after 70 days of hunger strike in ward number 350 and 209 in Evin prison.During the hunger strike He lost 30 kilos and was so weak that he couldn't walk without using cane. Mr. Khazali started the hunger strike from day one in protest to his arrest and misconduct and violent nature of security agents. Mr. Mehdi Khazali is the son of Ayatollah Khazali who supports Khamenei's policy in running the country.

Mr. Mehdi khazali spent 25 days (early days) in solitary confinement of the ward number 209 and then he was transfered to ward number 350 and in recent days he was again transfered to soliotary confinement of the ward 209 of the Ministry of Information.It was reported that his mother's letter and request and his fathers position may have had a positive effect on his release.

Other than that, Mr. Mehdi Khazali's stands on his position and his critical writings shows that regime released him to silence the noise created by his arrest.

Link to this news in Farsi:

http://www.rahesabz.net/story/50958/

IRAN WATCH CANADA: Conservatism & shadow of violence in Middle East & South Asia ...

IRAN WATCH CANADA: Special & sympathy ...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani acid attack victim Fakhra Younus had endured more than three dozen surgeries over more than a decade to repair her severely damaged face and body when she finally decided life was no longer worth living.
The 33-year-old former dancing girl — who was allegedly attacked by her then-husband, an ex-lawmaker and son of a political powerhouse — jumped from the sixth floor of a building in Rome, where she had been living and receiving treatment.
Her March 17 suicide and the return of her body to Pakistan on Sunday reignited furor over the case, which received significant international attention at the time of the attack. Her death came less than a month after a Pakistani filmmaker won the country's first Oscar for a documentary about acid attack victims.
Younus' story highlights the horrible mistreatment many women face in Pakistan's conservative, male-dominated culture and is a reminder that the country's rich and powerful often appear to operate with impunity. Younus' ex-husband, Bilal Khar, was eventually acquitted, but many believe he used his connections to escape the law's grip — a common occurrence in Pakistan.
More than 8,500 acid attacks, forced marriages and other forms of violence against women were reported in Pakistan in 2011, according to The Aurat Foundation, a women's rights organization. Because the group relied mostly on media reports, the figure is likely an undercount.
"The saddest part is that she realized that the system in Pakistan was never going to provide her with relief or remedy," Nayyar Shabana Kiyani, an activist at The Aurat Foundation, said of Younus. "She was totally disappointed that there was no justice available to her."
Younus was a teenage dancing girl working in the red light district of the southern city of Karachi when she met her future husband, the son of Ghulam Mustafa Khar, a former governor of Pakistan's largest province, Punjab. The unusual pairing was the younger Khar's third marriage. He was in his mid-30s at the time.
The couple was married for three years, but Younus eventually left him because he allegedly physically and verbally abused her. She claimed that he came to her mother's house while she was sleeping in May 2000 and poured acid all over her in the presence of her 5-year-old son from a different man.
Tehmina Durrani, Ghulam Mustafa Khar's ex-wife and his son's stepmother, became an advocate for Younus after the attack, drawing international attention to the case. She said that Younus' injuries were the worst she had ever seen on an acid attack victim.
"So many times we thought she would die in the night because her nose was melted and she couldn't breathe," said Durrani, who wrote a book about her own allegedly abusive relationship with the elder Khar. "We used to put a straw in the little bit of her mouth that was left because the rest was all melted together."
She said Younus, whose life had always been hard, became a liability to her family, for whom she was once a source of income.
"Her life was a parched stretch of hard rock on which nothing bloomed," Durrani wrote in a column in The News after Younus' suicide.
Younus' ex-husband grew up in starkly different circumstances, amid the wealth and power of the country's feudal elite, and counts Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar as a cousin.
Bilal Khar once again denied carrying out the acid attack in a TV interview following her suicide, suggesting a different man with the same name committed the crime. He claimed Younus killed herself because she didn't have enough money, not because of her horrific injuries, and criticized the media for hounding him about the issue.
"You people should be a little considerate," said Khar. "I have three daughters and when they go to school people tease them."
In February, Younus said in one of her last interviews that powerful Pakistanis brutally treat ordinary citizens and "don't know how painful they make others' lives."
"I want such people to be treated in the same way" as they treat people whose lives they ruin, she told Geo TV over the telephone from Rome.
Younus was energized when the Pakistani government enacted a new set of laws last year that explicitly criminalized acid attacks and mandated that convicted attackers would serve a minimum sentence of 14 years, said Durrani. She hoped to return someday to get justice once her health stabilized.
"She said, 'When I come back, I will reopen the case, and I'll fight myself,' and she was a fighter," Durrani said.
Durrani had to battle with both Younus' ex-husband and the government to send her to Italy, where the Italian government paid for her treatment and provided her money to live on and send her child to school. Pakistani officials argued that sending Younus to Italy would give the country a bad name, Durrani said.
Younus was happy when Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won an Oscar for her documentary about acid attack victims in February, but was worried about being forgotten since she wasn't profiled in the film, said Durrani.
Durrani said Younus' case should be a reminder that the Pakistani government needs to do much more to prevent acid attacks and other forms of violence against women, and also help the victims.
"I think this whole country should be extremely embarrassed that a foreign country took responsibility for a Pakistani citizen for 13 years because we could give her nothing, not justice, not security," said Durrani.
___
Associated Press writers Zarar Khan and Asif Shahzad contributed to this report.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/prominent-pakistani-acid-attack-victim-commits-suicide-enduring-063256491.html

Amnesty International Reports on Execution (death row)

Countries that carried out executions in 2011 did so at an alarming rate but those employing capital punishment have decreased by more than a third compared to a decade ago, Amnesty International found in its annual review of death sentences and executions.

Only 10 percent of countries in the world, 20 out of 198, carried out executions last year.People were executed or sentenced to death for a range of offences including adultery and sodomy in Iran, blasphemy in Pakistan, sorcery in Saudi Arabia, the trafficking of human bones in the Republic of Congo, and drug offences in more than 10 countries. Methods of execution in 2011 included beheading, hanging, lethal injection and shooting. Some 18,750 people remained under sentence of death at the end of 2011 and at least 676 people were executed worldwide.But these figures do not include the thousands of executions that Amnesty International believes were carried out in China, where the numbers are suppressed.Nor do they account for the probable extent of Iran’s use of the death penalty – Amnesty International has had credible reports of substantial numbers of executions not officially acknowledged. "The vast majority of countries have moved away from using the death penalty," said Salil Shetty Secretary General of Amnesty International. "Our message to the leaders of the isolated minority of countries that continue to execute is clear: you are out of step with the rest of the world on this issue and it is time you took steps to end this most cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment."In the Middle East there has been a steep rise in recorded executions – up almost 50 per cent on the previous year. This was due to four countries – Iraq (at least 68 executions), Iran (at least 360), Saudi Arabia (at least 82) and Yemen (at least 41) – which accounted for 99 per cent of all recorded executions in the Middle East and North Africa. The rise in Iran and Saudi Arabia alone accounted for the net increase in recorded executions across the world of 149, compared to 2010.

Read more:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/death-penalty-2011-alarming-levels-executions-few-countries-kill-2012-03-27

http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty

It's once again our coming New Year , the Persian historic celeberation of Nowrouz, Wish everyone a Happy Nowrouz particularly to political prisoners

Link: http://www.7seen.com/

Alert...Alert....The lives of many Iranian political prisoners particularly the Kurdish and Bahai's are in great danger !

picture - shows an Islamic Republic agent is examining the public gallows !!!???

UN Human Rights Council : FIDH and LDDHI welcome the report presented by the Special Rapporteur on Iran

Following the conclusion of yesterday’s interactive dialogue on Iran at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, FIDH and its Iranian member organisation LDDHI welcome the report presented by the Special Rapporteur on Iran while expressing deep concern for the dire human rights situation within the country.

Yesterday’s report constitutes the Special Rapporteur’s first submission to the Human Rights Council since assuming his functions in August 2011 and catalogues violations in areas as diverse as women’s rights to the treatment of ethnic minorities. Noting that Iran had refused to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur’s mandate, FIDH vice-president and LDDHI director Karim Lahidji remarked that Iran had “wasted yet another opportunity to cooperate with United Nations human rights mechanisms, as well as to improve upon a human rights record that has only deteriorated since the rigged June 2009 elections.”Reacting to the Special Rapporteur’s findings, the international community was for the most part unforgiving in its criticisms of Iran. Mexico noticed the lack of progress on the ground, while Brazil invoked the "international community’s opinion" and shared its concerns regarding persecution suffered by religious minorities. The few dissenting voices, criticizing the very existence of the mandate, came from the representatives of Syria, Sri Lanka, Belarus, Cuba, Zimbabwe and a few other countries, infamous for their own human rights records and for some under the scrutiny of the Council. Following the criticisms aired by states towards Iran, FIDH vice-president Karim Lahidji remarked that “today’s interactive dialogue unequivocally painted a picture of an increasingly isolated Iranian regime, almost universally condemned”. At the end of his report, the Special Rapporteur made a number of recommendations and conclusions based on his findings. While restating his call for the Iranian government to allow him access to the country, the Rapporteur noted that the government’s refusal to do so “only encourages the international community to imagine the worst”. [1] The report also called on Iran “to immediately release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience”, “consider a moratorium on the death penalty for all crimes”, “prohibit the execution of juveniles” and repeal domestic legislation contravening “international human rights standards.” FIDH and LDDHI both welcome and fully support all the Rapporteur’s conclusions and hope that the next report to the Council will follow a country visit.

http://www.fidh.org

Ahmad Zeidabadi the Iranian journalist who worked for major reformists newspapers during Khatami's presidency is now on his 1000 days in prison.

Picture :Ahmad Zeidabadi with his son.

Justice and equality of women and men Islamic Republic style!???!!

Cartoon - Showing Mohammad Sadegh Larijani the head of the Islamic Republic judiciary power showing its version of the equality of women and men and asks : Now, any man dare to come forward!?

IWD 2012 - Best wishes and salute to the brave women of my country and around the world!

IRAN WATCH CANADA: Dedicated to all of you my dear brave Iranian women,salute to all of you .This is the least i can do ,after coming from work ,seat at home and do the translation.Hoping your painful stories can be heard around the world and raise the support.

Womens rights is human rights.
Women United ,Never defeated!
On International Women's Day March 8,2012 in Iran 47 women political prisoners are in jail because of their activities and beliefs.
Out of these 47 women 34 of them are heavily sentenced and 14 out of these 47 are awaiting for their sentences. The total of jail sentence for the 34 women is 208 years and 8 months and they have to stay in jail for two century.
The heaviest sentencing was given to Zeynab Jalalian the Iranian Kurdish activist and it is life imprisonment. Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi the two Iranian Bahai faith leaders with 20 years each and Farah Vazehan with 17 years imprisonment.

Zeynab Jalalian is a citizen of the Kurdistan of Iran and she is born on 1982 in the city of Maku.She has been in prison since she was 25 years old. Zenab was charged with "Maharebeh" ( War on God) ,and colaboration with Pejak Party ( A Kurdish Party )and was sentenced to death ,but later it was changed and lowered to life in prison and right now she spents her prison sentence in the Kermanshah city prison.

Fariba Kamal- Abadi is 48 years old and Mahvash Sabet is 57 years old . Both of them are the leaders of the Bahai faith in Iran ( 5 other Bahai leaders are also in prison ). Kamal Abadi was arrested on May 15,2008 and Sabet was arrested on March 6,2007 and since then they are in prison.Judge Moghiseh charged them with "conspiracy against national security" and "Maharebeh" (War on God) and sentenced them to 20 years imprisonment. They have spent time in Rejaei Shahr prison in the city of Karaj and later to "Gharechak' in Varamin and now they are in women public ward in Evin prison. Since their arrest, the prison officials didn't allow them to have leave of absence.

Farah Vazehan was arrested at her home two days after Ashura day of protest in Tehran in 2009 ( protest against the presidential election fraud),she was transfered to ward number 209 in Evin prison and to solitary confinements. At first she was charged with "Maharebeh" and was sentenced to death and later it was changed to 17 years imprisonment by judge Moghiseh . She was also sentenced to internal exile to Rejaei Shahr prison ,she is currently in Evin prison and suffers from illness,in the last few months she was transfered several time to hospital.

Maryam Akbari Monfared is one of protester against the election fraud in 2009. she is one of those imprison Iranian women who has heavy sentence.She is sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and currently is in Evin prison and is deprived of lawyer and was also deprived from leave of absence from prison.

Motahereh Bahrami is the oldest women prisoners of this list of 47 women together with Reyhaneh Haj-Ebrahim Dabagh both have no political belonging and are sentenced to 10 and 15 years imprisonment and currently are in Evin prison.Both of them were arrested in their house on Jan.27,2009 and upto now were deprived of leave of absence from prison( regime calls it vacation from prison but to return). The husband and son of Bahrami Haghighi are also currently in prison.

Bahareh Hedayat is born on 1981 is a student activist and member of central council of "Daftare Tahkim Vahdat" ( a national islamic student organization). She is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and currently is in Evin prison.She was arrested on Jan.31,2009 and was sentenced to 9 and a half years imprisonment by judge Mohammad Moghiseh. She has been charged " intervie with foreign media, insulting the leader ,insulting the president participation in illegal gathering and.....recently she was sentenced to another six month imprisonment for writing letter on students day.

Fatemeh Rahnama is a 52 years old citizen who was given heavy sentencing and is spenting the sentence in one of the prison internal exile.Fatemeh was arrested after the presidential election fraud on 29 August 2009. She was arrested in relation to the case file of shahpour Kazemi ,brother of Zahra Rahnavard the wife of Mirhossein Musavi oner of green movement leader and the presidential candidate.She was sentenced by judge Pirabbasi ,in relation to Mojahedin organization. She was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and internal exile ,she suffers from cancer.she is deprived of leave of absence from prison ,even when her mom passed away.She is currently in "Sepidar" prison in the city of Ahvaz in the south of Iran.

Ronak Safarzadeh Is a Kurdish activist and a women human rights advocate and also member of "Campaign for One Million Signature".She is in prison Since Oct.8, 2007. She was sentenced by Islamic court of revolution in Sanadaj city ( A Kurdish city in Iran) and given six and a half years imprisonment. She is charged with "Maharebeh" war on God " and right now she is in a prison in the cvity of Zanjan.

Hanieh Farshi Shotorban and Ladan Mostoufi ,were arrested for their activities in an internet discussion group on review and reason on critical religious logic. They were arrested on July 2010 .They were sentenced to seven and two and a half years imprisonment.These two bloggers were charged with insulting to leader and sacred beleifs.

Nasrin Sotoudeh is the prominent Iranian lawyer and a human rights defender who spends her prison sentence together with her former clients. Nasrin was arrested on September 4,2010 after attending to prosecutors office in Evin prisonand was transfered to Evin solitary confinement.Her sentence was issued by Judge Pir abbasi and was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment ,20 years ban from leaving the country and 20 years ban from practicing her law profession.She is charged with " propagating against the Islamic Republic and conspiracy against national security". This sentence later was lowered by appeal court to six years imprisonment.Repeatedly her weekly visitation rights was banned and her childeren and husband are unable to visit her.

Nazanin Khosrovani is born on 1976 and she just joined the women political prisoners to serve her six years prison sentence ordered by judge Pirabbasi. She was arrested on November 3,2010 at her parents home. Read more about her in previous IRAN WATCH CANADA post.

Nasrin Ghadiri,Nahid Ghadiri,Rozita Vaseghi and Sima Eshraghi are four other Iranian Bahai citizens that have received 5 years imprisonment eachand are currently in prison. Nasrin Ghadiri was arrested on July 15,2010 and is now in Vakilabad prison in the city of Mashhad and Nahid Ghadiri was arrested on March 15,2009and is currently in the same prison.

Rozita Vaseghi was also arrested on March 15,2009 together with Nahid Ghadiri and their charges are the same: propagating the Bahai faith and insulting the sacred belief and is in the same prison.

Sima Eshraghi is another Bahai faith citizen who was arrested on Jan.27,2009 is currently in vakilabad prison in Mashhad.She also received 5 years imprisonment for the following charges: "propagating Bahai faith and insulting the sacred belief ,propagating against the system (state) and acting against national security".She received 5 years imprisonment for these charges.

Manijeh Monzavian is also an Iranian Bahai citizen who recieved 3 years imprisonment and is currently in Evin prison.She was arrested first on June15when the security agents arrived at her home and after interrogation ,she was transfered to Semnan city prison.13 days later she was released on bail but was rearrested again on March 27,2009 and currently is in prison.

Tahereh taghizadeh is also a Bahai citizen and currently is in Shahid Kachouei prison in the city of Sari in Mazanderan province. This Bahai faith citizen was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment and since Jan.8,2009 is in prison.

Kobra Bannazadeh Amiri is a 56 years old citizen who was arrested on Jan.17 ,2008 when she was leaving the Imam Khomeini Airport for Iraq .She was arrested together with 18 others and was transfered to ward number 209 in Evin prison.Their reason to go to Iraq was to go to camp Ashraf and visit their childeren.Since then she is in prison.Bannazadeh Amiri was sentenced to 5 years and internal exile to Rejaei Shahr prison by judge Mogheiseh.

to be continued....

Link to this report in Farsi:
http://www.rahesabz.net/story/50339/

Human Rights Watch:

For Immediate Release
Iran: Quash Convictions and Free Rights AdvocatesLong Sentences in Newest Convictions of Human Rights Activists(New York, March 8, 2012) –
Iran’s judiciary should immediately overturn a lower court ruling against a lawyer sentenced to 18 years in prison for his human rights activities and set him free, Human Rights Watch said today. Abdolfattah Soltani, a colleague of Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and cofounder of a banned rights group, was convicted on charges that violate his rights to freedom of expression and association protected under international law. On the same day another colleague of Soltani’s, Narges Mohammadi, learned that an appeals court had sentenced her to six years in prison on similar charges.On March 4, 2012, Soltani was convicted and sentenced to prison on national security charges after two court sessions. According to the court’s judgment, Soltani will be barred from practicing law for 20 years after his release because “the accused has used the law as a tool and cover to commit … crimes.” The sentence also requires Soltani, a Tehran resident, to serve his term “in exile” in a prison in the town of Borazjan, more than 600 kilometers south of the capital in Bushehr province because, according to the judgment, “his presence inside a Tehran prison will cause corruption.” Authorities had previously alleged that Soltani, who had previously spent time in Evin prison, improperly provided legal advice to other prisoners.“Soltani should not spend a minute, let alone 18 years, in a prison hundreds of kilometers away, for acts directly related to his exercise of basic human rights,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The appeals court should quash this unfair sentence and free him.”Security forces arrested Soltani on September 10 at Tehran’s revolutionary court, where he had apparently gone to review a client’s case files. He has been held since then in Evin prison’s Ward 209, which is controlled by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. His defense team has 20 days from the date of conviction to appeal the lower court ruling to the appellate court.Branch 26 of Tehran’s revolutionary court convicted Soltani of several national security charges, including “propaganda against the state,” assembly and collusion against the state, and establishing the Center for Human Rights Defenders, the nongovernmental organization that Soltani cofounded with Ebadi in 2003. The court also convicted Soltani of “receiving funds through illegitimate means” in relation to the human rights prize from the German city of Nuremberg, which he received in 2009.Mohammadi, a former spokesperson and member of the Center for Human Rights defenders, was sentenced in an appellate court. Branch 26 of Tehran’s revolutionary court had previously issued an 11-year sentence for Mohammadi on charges related to “propaganda against the state,” assembly and collusion against the state, and membership in the Center for Human Rights Defenders, but an appeals court reduced to sentence to six years. Security forces arrested Mohammadi in June 2010, but released her on July 1 on bail. She is currently out of prison but expects to be summoned shortly to serve her sentence.Iran’s revolutionary courts handle special cases, including those purporting to be about national security.Maedeh Soltani, Soltani’s daughter, told Human Rights Watch that authorities showed Soltani a copy of the court’s judgment after it had been issued but refused to provide him with a copy. “They asked my father to sign the judgment and acknowledge receipt but he refused and demanded they give him a copy so he could review it,” Maedeh Soltani said. She said her father had refused to provide a defense at his trial because he considered the charges politically motivated and demanded the presence of a jury in accordance with Iranian law.Under article 168 of Iran’s Constitution, “political and press offenses [should] be tried openly and in the presence of a jury.” The constitution requires that a definition of political offenses “be determined by law and in accordance with Islamic criteria,” but authorities have failed to include such a definition in the Islamic Penal Code or other applicable legislation.Authorities had previously arrested and detained Soltani in 2005 and 2009. On July 30, 2005, agents of the judiciary operating under the authority of then-Tehran chief prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, arrested Soltani inside the offices of the Lawyers’ Association in Tehran. The next day, a judiciary spokesman announced that authorities had arrested Soltain for “revealing secrets relating to the case of nuclear spies.”Officials held Soltani in Ward 209 of Evin prison for 219 days, largely in solitary confinement. On July 16, 2006, a revolutionary court convicted Soltani on espionage charges and sentenced him to five years in prison and barred him from practicing law for five years, but an appellate court acquitted him on all charges.Security forces arrested Soltani again on June 16, 2009, four days after officials announced that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won the disputed June 2009 presidential election. They released him on bail after two months in detention.The government has increased pressure against lawyers defending rights activists since 2005, and especially after the 2009 election protests. In August 2011, Ebadi said that at least 42 lawyers had faced government persecution since June 2009. In addition to Soltani, the judiciary has sentenced Nasrin Sotoudeh, Mohammad Seifzadeh, and Javid Houtan Kian to prison and lengthy bans on practicing law on similar national security-related charges. The judiciary has allowed several other convicted high-profile lawyers, like Mohammad Ali Dadkhah and Khalil Bahramian, to be released from detention on submitting money for bail and await the results of their appeals outside of prison.In 2010, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the Human Rights Council of the Judiciary, Iran’s state-controlled human rights body, said in relation to Sotoudeh’s case that she had been engaged “in a very nasty campaign” against the government, referring to several interviews with her by foreign Persian-language media outlets in which she defended her clients. On January 20, 2011, Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, repeated the government’s warning that lawyers should refrain from giving interviews that damage the government’s reputation.At least eight other lawyers, including Ebadi, Mohammad Mostafaei, and Shadi Sadr, have been forced to leave the country as a result of repeated arrests, detention, and harassment. Authorities banned and then shut down Ebadi’s Center for Human Rights Defenders in 2008. In March 2010, Tehran’s Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office accused the Center and two other local rights organizations of engaging in “cyber warfare” against the state. The groups denied the charges, and the Center for Human Rights Defenders called the attacks nothing more than a “frame job against human rights activists and civil society.”Authorities have also limited the independence of the Iranian Bar Association by barring lawyers from running for high-level offices in the association on discriminatory grounds, including their imputed political opinions and their peaceful human rights activities. For example, in 2008, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, Hadi Esmailzadeh, Farideh Gheyrat, and Soltani – all members of the Center for Human Rights Defenders – were disqualified by the judiciary from running in the election for the association’s Central Board because of their activities as human rights defenders.The UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers provide that lawyers must be allowed to carry out their work “without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.” In addition, it affirms the right of lawyers to freedom of expression, also provided for in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which includes “the right to take part in public discussion of matters concerning the law, the administration of justice and the promotion and protection of human rights.”“Soltani’ and Mohammadi’s convictions are the latest in a series of arrests, detentions and convictions of rights advocates who are being targeted simply because they are doing their job,” Stork said. “The judiciary should immediately quash all convictions that relate to the defenders’ free exercise of their basic rights, and allow them to return to work without harassment and interference.”
www.hrw.org

Mojgan Modares olum- Jaras

Excerpt from interview-

Narges Mohammad is the vice president of the Association for Human Rights Defenders in Iran,she is sentenced to six years imprisonment by appeal court. In the past she was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment by lower courts.Most of these courts have political agenda and are presided by judges who are either interrogator,investigator and executioners ( like Judge Mortazavi, Judge Salavati, Judge Moghiseh and...). They operate under either security agents of "sepah pasdaran" or ministery of information.

Narges Mohammadi in an interview with "Jaras"website said :"On March 4 through my lawyer unfortunately i heard that, the appeal court had issued six years imprisonment for me. I did not expect this because, all our activities are open and based on a civil rights organizations and Islamic Republic laws. This is because the Islamic Republic is a signatories to International Human Rights charters and attends in its assemblys.So, this is showing the system has two conducts towards the issue and i didn't expect these kinds of sentencings."

She added:

" In my opinion the elements of resistance and the womenly particulars both had caused that we will have "positive" future in democratic movement in Iran.Part of this movement and activities belong to women who particpate and act in it and in this path endure difficulties and pay the prices .The Iranian women stands on their peaceful demandes and wont regret but resist for reaching to their goals .The reality is that women because of their particularities has this capacity to lead peaceful and non violence movement in achieving their goals. Despite of paying the prices for our activities , we have a bright future ."

http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2012/03/137108.php

Read more about Narges Mohammadi in IRAN WATCH CANADA in the past.

UN Report Documents “Striking Pattern of Violations”

Picture: 1- Ahmad Shaheed UN reperteure on Iran, 2-Abdolkarim Lahiji prominent Iranian lawyer and human rights defender in Iran (living in Paris), 3- Shirin Ebadi prominent lawyer and human rights defender and Noble Peace Priz winner 4- Javad Larijani human rights commissioner in Iran ,Mohammad Sadegh Larijani the head of judiciary power and Ejeii spokesperson for judiciary.

Calls for Immediate Release of All Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Conscience
Presents Allegations of Fraud in 2008 and 2009 Elections
Calls for an Immediate Moratorium on Death Penalty
Prominent Human Rights Defenders Sentenced to Draconian Prison Terms Just Before Release of UN Report
(7 March 2012) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran today welcomed the comprehensive report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, as a significant document that gives voice to the victims of widespread violations. The Campaign called on the Iranian government to end its absolute lack of cooperation with UN mechanisms and its systematic violations of its international obligations and to work with the Special Rapporteur to address the human rights crisis in that country.
Shaheed’s 36-page report concludes that it has “catalogued allegations that produce a striking pattern of violations of fundamental human rights.” It includes several recommendations to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It specifically calls “for the immediate release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience and calls upon the government to protect the space for public criticism or advocacy.”
“Iranian authorities not only barred Shaheed from visiting the country but also publicly insulted him and called him a liar,” said the Campaign’s spokesperson, Hadi Ghaemi. “Despite these obstacles and intimidations, his insistence on carrying out an independent investigation has resulted in a comprehensive documentation of many aspects of the ongoing human rights crisis.”
“This is just the beginning of a process at the UN level to reveal and address the many aspects of gross and systematic human rights violations in Iran,” he added.
The Special Rapporteur called for “a moratorium on the death penalty for all crimes until such time as effective enforcement of due process rights may be meaningfully demonstrated.” His report notes the skyrocketing rise in the number of executions, from less than 100 cases in 2003 to at least 670 cases in 2011.
The report includes testimony from a former member of the Iranian parliament who details allegations of fraud in the 2009 presidential election, as well as the 2008 parliamentary election.
The UN report also calls for independent and impartial investigations into post-election violence, particularly allegations of violations of due process and torture and deaths in detention centers. Instances of allegations of torture in the report include “excessive solitary confinement, electric shock, severe beatings, threats of rape, and threats to detain and/or harm friends, associates, and family members.”
Since Shaheed’s appointment in August 2011, the Iranian government has avoided any substantive discussions with him or any response to allegations he produced in his interim October 2011 report. The government has also intensified its attack on human rights defenders. Just days before the release of Shaheed’s recent report, the Judiciary issued draconian prison sentences against prominent human rights defenders Abdolfattah Soltani and Narges Mohammadi, sentencing them to 18 years and 6 years in prison, respectively.
“Targeting the human rights community in such a brazen and unjustified way, just before the release of this UN report, together with the government’s persistence in not cooperating with UN mechanisms, demonstrates that the Iranian Judiciary has no respect for international norms and standards of justice,” Ghaemi said.
Shaheed’s report was submitted for review and comments to the Iranian government well before its publication, in accordance with standard UN protocol. However, as the report makes clear, Iranian authorities failed to make any substantial response to allegations of widespread violations documented in the report.
Instead, in their reply to the UN, Iranian authorities questioned the legitimacy of UN mechanisms, saying, “The Special Rapporteur was engaged in propaganda by participating in forums and gatherings that were contaminated by Western espionage agencies, Zionist elements, and terrorist groups.” They also claimed “reports or complaints” contained in the report “lacked credibility.”
In response, Shaheed made clear the only public gatherings he participated in were press conferences at the UN and other media interviews. He also noted that his report is based on dozens of interviews with victims and witnesses whose credibility has been established by a number of independent sources.
The UN report focuses mostly on the events following the disputed 2009 election to portray an accurate picture of the current situation in the country. It notes a communication from the “Mothers of Laleh Park” requesting that he investigate “the deaths of their children—Neda Agha Soltan, Sohrab Arabi, Ashkan Sohrabi, Masoud Hashem Zadeh, Mostafa Karim Beigi, Kianoush Asa, and Ali Hasan Pour—during the 2009 elections.”
The Campaign called on the members of the Human Rights Council to vote for a resolution renewing the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and to urge the Iranian government to cooperate with his mandate as well as all other UN human rights mechanisms during its current session. The 19th session of the Human Rights Council is currently underway in Geneva until 23 March 2012.
Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed will make a presentation regarding his findings to the Council on 12 March 2012.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

http://www.iranhumanrights.org/

Abdolfatah Soltani Iranian lawyer and human rights defender is sentenced to 18 years imprisonment and internal exile to the city of Borazjan !

Mr. Abdolfatah Soltani is a well known Iranian lawyer and a human rights defender ,he is sentenced by the Islamic judiciary system to 18 years imprisonment and 20 years ban from practicing his law profession and an internal exile to the city of Borazjan ( a place known for its bad weather).

One of Mr. Soltani's charges is that of " earning religiousely unlawful property by receiving Nuremberg human rights award" on 2008.

His other charges are : " Propagating against the system, organizing the human rights association and conspiracy and gathering against the system".Mr. Soltani was sentenced by Judge "Pirabasi ". In the past Mr. Soltani was arrested four other times ,allegedly defending Zahra Kazemi ( the Iranian -Canadian photojournalist case ) ,Akbar Ganji ( Journalist) , Zahra Baniyaghoub( the Iranian medical student who was murdered while in prison ) ,Haleh Esfandiary (who was also murdered during her fathers funeral procession) and so many others.

Link:

http://www.khodnevis.org/

Eisa Saharkheiz the imprisoned journalist was attacked by basijis while in the hospital in an intensive care!

Eisa Saharkheiz is a well known Iranian journalist who worked for several reformist newspapers and supported the reformists in Iran. On Monday afternoon while in Tehran Shariati Hospital in an intensive care due to high blood pressure and heart problem, he was attacked by several plain cloths individuals.In that attacked the assailant beat him up and insulted him in front of his wife and family members. Mehdi Saharkheiz Eisa Saharkheiz son in his blog wrote the following: "After argument with one of the prison guard ,asking him to turn the TV off , he became stressed out in a way that his blood pressure went up and his face turned red and swolen and he was caughing continousely,the doctors tried to treat him with oxygen and medication but it didn't work ,so they transfered him from prison clinic to the hospital where he went under intensive care . Doctors told that; Mr. Saharkheiz need to rest and stay out of stress condition, because any stress will lead to his death .

Link:

http://balatarin.com/topic/2012/3/5/1010233

Mehdi Khazali on his 57th day of hunger strike !

Mehdi Khazali a writer and critic of the Islamic regime of coup d' eta ( Khamenei-Ahmadinejad) , the son of Ayatollah Khazali and an Islamic scholar in protest to his arrest and detention 57 days ago went on hunger strike (w/ just drinking water) , but its been two days that ,he started dry stike ( No water - No food) in protest to the treatment he received by prison guards of the ministry of information and keeping him in solitary confinement. Report coming indicate that he was transfered to ward number 209 in evin prison ( run by ministry of information) and was kept in solitary confinement.

Link:

http://doostaranedrkhazali.blogspot.com/2012/03/blog-post.html

Unrealistic statistics by regime of coup d'eta about parliamentary election!

While eighth high ranking Islamic clerics (Ayatollahs ),Mosharekat party and Mojahedin Enghelab Islami organization ( two reformists party and organization ) and many reformists personalities including Mir Hossein Musavi and Mehdi Karoubi and many opposition group and parties unanimousely boycotted the March 2nd parliamentary election due to engineered election by regime, Seyed Mohammad Khatami the past reformist president attended in one of the Voting Center and gave his vote.

Other than that , according to report coming from Iran by eye witnesses, this election show was another victory for the Iranian people who chose to stay home and not to participate in the election circus engineered by the regime of coup d'eta and another shame for the regime.

Concerned citizens of Iran watched with shock and laugh and made joke as the election officials on live tv channel contradict themselves when spoke about statistics on people's participation. The head of ninth parliamentary election ( Mr. Solat Mortazavi)on live TV accidentally announced people's participation as 34.+ percent and then he changed his words and said 64.4 percent. He changed because earlier the interior minister called it 64.4 % .

Watch this Video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0wTaZI4weg&feature=youtu.be

According to one report ,the election officials announced that; there are 6,345,000 million eligible voter in Tehran and Alborz province ,while two years ago Tehran and the same province had 8,796,466 Million eligible voter!? So ,people ask what happened to the two plus million voters ? Did they die?!!!

http://www.kaleme.com/1390/12/13/klm-93275/

In one other report Mehr news agency ( a government news agency) announced earlier that the eligible voters in the city of "Ilam" were 373000 , but the same news agency later reported that; vote droped by people in the ballot box were counted by the election officials and it was 380,000 !!??!!!! How did it happen? Did the deads in the city also voted???!!!!!

These are just a few examples . As all conscious people around the world know and saw two years ago the people of Iran poured into the streets in protest because of presidential election rigging ,this time can also make sense what is happening in Iran.

http://balatarin.com/permlink/2012/3/3/2950059

Iran Tehran 02.03.2012 Empty election locals- People's lack of participation in parliamentary election show, a blow on regime of coup d'eta !!!

Iran Karaj 02.03.2012 Empty election locals part 2- Local voting centers One by one show the lack of people's participation in regime election show

Iran Tehran 02.03.2012 Empty election locals part 4- as you can see this is one of Tehran voting center -No people going in or out - A sham election

Iran Ghazvin 02.03.2012 Empty election locals part 4- Voting center in the city of Ghazvin

Iran- Isfehan 02.03.2012 Empty election locals part2- INA (Iran Khabar Agency)- Empty voting centers in the city of Isfahan

Iran Tehran 02.03.2012 Hejab School Empty election locals part 7- See how Iranian people responded by staying home and not participating in election

Iran Isfehan 02.03.2012 Low election participation at election locals- One of Isfahan city voting center - By :Iran Khabar (news) Agency

Iran city of Shiraz 02.03.2012 Empty election locals- voting centers as you see no one go's in and no one comes out - by :Iran "Khabar " Agency -

Iran Bojnord 02.03.2012 Empty election locals part 2- Voting centers are empty ! Regime may call it 60-70% participation !!!!

Few picture from voting center taken by brave Iranians despite of danger . As you can see people are not present in the streets and voting centers!

Because of call from all political opposition groups,parties and personalities including Mirhosein Musavi and Karoubi asking people to stay home on parliamentary election day on March 2nd ,Streets and voting center were empty from people.
Link:
http://yaredabestanieto1988.blogspot.com/2012/03/6.html

Critical cartoon on parliamentary election in Iran by different Iranian cartoonists !