An Honest Man Don't Need To Lie - Zarif The Foreign Minister of IR Like The Rest Of The Islamic Officials Live Every Day By Lying - There are More Than 30 Iranian Journalists and Blogger in Prison. There are Many Women's Rights , Workers Rights , Teachers Rights and Human Rights Advocate in Islamic Republic Prisons.....

For Immediate Release

Iran: Sweeping Arrests of Ahwazi Arab Activists
Whereabouts Unknown for More Than 75 Held After Protests

(New York, April 29, 2015) – Iran’s intelligence and security forces have rounded up and detained scores of Ahwazi Arabs, including several children, in what appears to be an escalating crackdown in Iran’s Khuzestan province, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today.

According to activists and family members, many arrests took place in the lead-up to the tenth anniversary of mass anti-government demonstrations that gripped the Arab-populated province in April 2005. Family members said the arrests have been carried out without warrants by groups of armed masked men affiliated with Iran’s security and intelligence services, usually following home raids of Ahwazi Arab activists during the late evening or early morning hours. The human rights organizations expressed concern that people may have been arrested merely in connection with their perceived political opinions, for peacefully expressing dissent or for openly exhibiting their Arab identity and culture.

“The reported scale of the arrests against Ahwazi Arab activists in recent weeks is deeply alarming,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Amnesty International. “Instead of relying on arbitrary arrests, Iranian authorities should release those detained for peacefully demonstrating or speaking out and promptly charge any others with a recognizably criminal offense and ensure they receive a fair trial or release them.”

Iranian authorities should provide the families of all detainees with information about their whereabouts and legal status, the organizations said.

Ahwazi Arab activists outside Iran told Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that security forces have arrested at least 78 people, and possibly more than 100, since mid-March 2015 in the city of Ahvaz, the Khuzestan provincial capital, and surrounding towns and villages following largely peaceful protests. They said those arrested include people suspected of playing leadership roles in mobilizing local protests. Iranian authorities have not given a reason for the arrests or revealed the status and whereabouts of the detainees, placing them at increased risk of torture and other ill-treatment, the human rights organizations said.

Security forces arrested Hatam Ebyat, a 35-year-old activist from the town of Hamidieh, on 6 April, after they raided his house at 2 a.m., according to Hossein Moayedi, a friend of Ebyat residing outside Iran. The authorities have not since given his family any information about his whereabouts and legal status. Moayedi said that since 2005, the authorities have arrested Ebyat every year before the April anniversary, holding him in solitary confinement in an Intelligence Ministry detention center in Ahvaz without access to his family or lawyer for several weeks. Moayedi said that during past arrests Ebyat was severely beaten and tortured to obtain “confessions” about “having relationships with foreign states” and “engaging in armed activities,” and then released on a hefty bail.

Moayedi said that Ebyat has always told his interrogators that he does not support armed activities and only seeks the rights guaranteed to minorities in Iran’s constitution. Ebyat, who has a meat shop in Hamidieh, is mainly active in organizing Eid and other religious and cultural festivities and encouraging youth to wear traditional Arab clothing and participate in peaceful anti-government protests.

Mustafa Haidari, a 17-year-old from the neighbourhood of Koi Alawi in the city of Ahvaz, was arrested on April 7, apparently for his role in planning a peaceful protest to mark the April 15 anniversary. His uncle, Abdulrahman Haidari, who is outside Iran, told Amnesty International that he is in touch with the family in Koi Alawi and who told him that dozens of armed riot police wearing masks and black uniforms burst into the family home at 2 a.m. on April 7 and arrested the teenager. The men refused to provide a warrant or provide a reason for his arrest, Abdulrahman Haidari said, adding that the authorities have not since provided any information about Mustafa Haidari’s condition and whereabouts despite the family’s repeated request from the Information Headquarter of the Ministry of Intelligence in Ahvaz.

Abdulrahman Haidari said his family told him that the same evening riot police also arrested several other men from the neighborhood, including Mustafa Haidari’s neighbors Basem Batrani and Mahmoud Sawari, who were also involved in planning an anniversary protest.

The latest round of arrests has taken place amid the anger that has swept the province following the death of Younes Asakereh, an Ahwazi Arab street vendor who set himself on fire on March 13, 2015, to protest municipal authorities’ removal and destruction of his fruit stand. He was denied adequate emergency treatment and transport to Tehran due to lack of funds and died of his injuries on March 22, a source familiar with the details of his case told Human Rights Watch. Ahwazi Arab demonstrators then took to the streets in large numbers in the provincial city of Khorramshahr. There are reports that authorities have repeatedly harassed Asakereh’s family, including delaying delivery of the body to the family and temporarily detaining his father and brother before his burial.

Several days before Asakereh’s death, a protest erupted outside Ahvaz’s Ghadir Stadium after mostly young Ahwazi Arab men displayed a banner during a soccer match between Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal and the local team, Foolad, in Ahvaz’s Ghadir Stadium, that read “We are all Younes!” Police then arrested several dozen men, beating them on their backs and heads. The police seem to have particularly targeted men dressed in traditional Arab clothing.

As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has an obligation to respect the right to freedom of expression (Article 19) and peaceful assembly (Article 21). It also must ensure that ethnic and linguistic minorities are not denied “the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture…or to use their own language” (Article 27). Similar guarantees are provided under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including in Articles 2 and 15, which recognize the right to take part in cultural life without discrimination.

Khuzestan province, where much of Iran’s oil and gas reserves are located, has a large Arab population, estimated at between 2.5 and 5 million. Despite Khuzestan’s natural resource wealth, the province is plagued with severe socioeconomic deprivation and high levels of air and water pollution. Concentrated in poor urban outskirts lacking in basic facilities, many Iranian Arabs have alleged that the government systematically discriminates against them, particularly in employment, housing, access to political office, and the exercise of cultural, civil, and political rights. The inability to use their mother language as a medium of instruction for primary education is also a source of deep resentment and frustration.

“Instead of intensifying repression, the authorities should address long-standing Ahwazi Arab grievances over entrenched discrimination and denial of cultural rights,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Arbitrary arrests and imprisonment will not make Ahwazi Arab grievances disappear.”

For more details on the 2015 protests and arrests, a list of those arrested, and background on the 2005 protests, please see below.

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Iran, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/iran

For more Amnesty International reporting on Iran, please visit:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/iran/

For more information, please contact:
In London, for Amnesty International – International Secretariat, Sara Hashash (English, Arabic): +44-0-777-847-2126 (mobile); or + 44-0- 20-7413-5511; or press@amnesty.org. Twitter: @amnestypress
In New York, for Human Rights Watch, Faraz Sanei (English, Persian): +1-310-428-0153 (mobile); or +1-212-216-1290; or saneif@hrw.org. Twitter @farazsanei
In Erbil, for Human Rights Watch, Joe Stork (English): +964-7511-478-928 (mobile); or storkj@hrw.org

Protests and Arrests
On March 17, several days after Asakereh’s self-immolation, mostly young Ahwazi Arab men displayed a banner at a soccer match between Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal and the local team, Foolad, in Ahvaz’s Ghadir Stadium, that read “We are all Younes!” in Arabic, and chanted “We sacrifice our blood and soul for you Ahvaz!” (bi'r-ruh bi'd-dem nefdik ya Ahvaz). Pictures and video recordings reviewed by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch from that day appear to show a large numbers of riot police cars surrounding the stadium and blocking the exits at the end of the match. Police then arrested several dozen men, beating them on their backs and heads. The police seem to have particularly targeted men dressed in traditional Arab clothing. The rights organizations could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos and images.

The security response sparked disorder and clashes outside the Stadium on March 17 between police and protesters, some of whom threw stones and other objects at the police. The rights groups received information from activists outside Iran that authorities intend to prosecute 17-year-old Sajad Bouazar in Ahvaz Revolutionary Court for his alleged role in setting a police car on fire during the March 17 clashes, although it was not possible to independently confirm the information.

On March 18, the provincial deputy police chief, Col. Rahman Mousawi, denied that riot police targeted people with traditional Arabic clothing and announced that all those arrested have since been released. Ahwazi Arab rights groups outside the country said they were in touch with families in Ahvaz and that they believe many of those arrested on March 17 are still detained with their whereabouts remaining unknown. Those still detained include, according to Ahwazi Arab rights groups outside Iran, Reda Naqrawi, Ali Hanoun Sawari, Hassan Sawari, Mohammad Sawari, Hamid Sawari, Sayed Said Sawari, and Majed Sawari. The rights group said that fear of reprisal prevented the families from speaking directly with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to verify whether the men remain in detention.

On April 8, security forces arrested Ahmad Hazbawi after a video, the authenticity of which Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch could not independently verify, went viral on the internet. It appears to show him singing a song in Arabic praising Saudi Arabia’s military action in Yemen, to a jubilant audience at a wedding ceremony in the village of Qalaat Chanan near Ahvaz. A relative outside Iran told Amnesty International that several plain-clothes intelligence officials, accompanied by armed men in black uniforms and masks, went to Hazbawi’s small shop around 6 p.m. and beat and dragged him to their car, then abducted him. He added that officials also detained Hazbawi’s wife at an Intelligence Ministry detention facility for several hours the next day when she went to seek information about his whereabouts, but later freed her. There is no information currently available about him.

On April 14, security forces arrested Mehdi Cheldawi, a 23-year-old Ahwazi Arab activist from the neighbourhood of Koi Alawi. His brother, Ali Cheldawi, who is outside Iran, told Amnesty International that plain-clothes intelligence officers raided the family house without a warrant at 4 a.m. and arrested Mehdi Cheldawi. The officers refused to answer his father’s questions about the reasons for the arrest and where his son was being taken, according to Ali Cheldawi.

Ali Cheldawi said that Mehdi Cheldawi suffered from internal bleeding and a ruptured eardrum resulting from torture and other ill-treatment at the hands of Ahvaz intelligence officials during a previous eight-month long detention in 2014.

The Legacy of the 2005 Protests
In the wake of the unrest that coincided with the 10th anniversary of the 2005 mass demonstrations, scattered groups of young men in impoverished Arab-populated neighbourhoods in Ahvaz such as Malashiya and Koi Alawi have gathered in the streets chanting as night falls. This area has been referred to since 2005 as the district of “Revolution” (Al-Thoura) by its Arab residents. Ahwazi Arab sources report that men from nearby towns or villages such as Kot Abdollah, Hamidieh, Sosangerd (also known as Khafajieh), Qala’at Chan’an, Shush and Dar Khewain sometimes join these gatherings or organize similar ones in their own areas.

The 2005 protests erupted following the publication of a letter allegedly written by then Vice-President Mohammad Ali Abtahi. The letter referred to government plans to implement policies that would reduce the proportion of Arabs in Khuzestan’s population. After security forces tried to disperse the demonstrators and opened fire on them, clashes between protesters and security forces turned violent. The next day, Abtahi and other government officials denied the authenticity of the letter, calling it fake. Security forces reportedly killed at least 50 protesters and detained hundreds more during the 2005 protests.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented arbitrary arrests, detentions, and torture against of Ahwazi Arab protesters and activists in recent years. Since 2005, authorities have executed at least 37 Ahwazi Arabs following unfair trials, including at least two designated by Amnesty as prisoners of conscience, Hadi Rashedi and Hashem Shabani from Al-Hiwar Cultural Institute. Based on the circumstances and treatment of previous Ahwazi Arab detainees linked to protests, those recently arrested in March and April 2015 could be held incommunicado and in solitary confinement in one of the Intelligence Ministry’s undisclosed detention centres in Ahvaz placing them at increased risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

The 2005 crackdown led to a cycle of violence throughout Khuzestan province, including several fatal bomb attacks in June and October 2005 and in January 2006 that killed 12 people. In response, the Iranian government imprisoned large numbers of activists it claimed were Arab separatists responsible for terrorist attacks against civilians, and sentenced more than a dozen people to death on terrorism-related charges after unfair trials relying on evidence obtained through torture and other ill-treatment.

On April 2, 2015, Iranian media reported that unknown assailants had attacked and killed three police officers, two of whom were themselves Arab, in Hamidieh, injuring two others. Several days later, on April 21, Iranian officials announced they had captured the suspects. It is not clear if the attack was politically motivated or had other reasons behind it.

Names of people reported arrested (with their age, when available) in Khuzestan Province since March 17 provided by Ahwazi activists outside Iran. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch could not independently verify whether the individuals listed were arrested or remain in detention.

Ahvaz, Koi Alawi Neighbourhood

1. Basem Batrani
2. Mehdi Cheldawi (23)
3. Hakim Doraqi
4. Raed Fares
5. A. Hashem
6. Ahmad Haidari (31)
7. Ali Haidari (37)
8. Mustafa Haidari (17)
9. Ali Mousawi
10. Reda Naqrawi
11. Ali Sawari
12. Basem Sawari
13. Hamid Sawari
14. Hassan Sawari
15. Majed Sawari
16. Mahmoud Sawari
17. Mohammad Sawari
18. Sayed Said Sawari
19. Reza Sayahi (23)

Ahvaz, Malashiya Neighbourhood

20. Mohammad Afrawi (24)
21. Mohammad Bawi (27)
22. Sadeq Haidari (25)
23. Khaled Sharifi (23)
24. Hasaan Sawari
25. Majed Sudani (24)

Ahvaz, Darvishieh Neighbourhood

26. Maki Doraqi (28)

Ahvaz, Qalat Chanan Village

27. Ahmad Hazbawi

Ahvaz, Arab Rashid Village 

28. Shiekh Qasam Bawi (50)

Hamidieh

29. Abed Ebyat
30. Hatam Ebyat (35)
31. Abbas Aninpour (34)
32. Salem Atshani (37)
33. Mohammad Halafi (24)
34. Ali Hardani (32)
35. Moslem Khasraji
36. Hadi Marmazi (23)
37. Ahmad Marmazi
38. Hadi Marwani (23)
39. Ahamd Mohamadi
40. Adel Neisi (30)
41. Mohammad Neisi (25)
42. Saeed Neisi (28)
43. Malek Shakhi (25)
44. Mehdi Sayahi (23)
45. Yousef Sayahi (34)
46. Hadi Obaidawi (31)
47. Mahmoud Obaidawi (20)
48. Qais Obaidawi (25)
49. Mohammad Sayyahi
50. Hakim Zabi (25)

Shush, Hamidabad Village

51. Sayed Alawi
52. Mohammad Chenani (21)
53. Sheikh Farhan Qasem Mohammed Chenani
54. Sheikh Khaled Shoja Ali Zamel Chenani
55. Sheikh Anat Mohammad Chenani
56. Mohammad Dabbat
57. Hassan Dabbat
58. Hamed Hussein (15)
59. Mustafa Kaabi (23)
60. Mohammad Motar (19)

Khoramshahr, Dor Khewain Village

61. Adnan Zewidat (26)
62. Adel Zewaidat (25)
63. Emad Zewaidat (19)
64. Milad Zewaidat (19)
65. Nabil Zewaidat (19)
66. Saad Zewaidat (30)

Susangerd

67. Mustafa Haidari (25)
68. Reza Haidari (32)
69. Hassoun Jallali
70. Rasoul Naderi
71. Mohamad Jawad Sabhani(18)
72. Ali Saeedi (23)
73. Mahdi Saidi
74. Sadeq Sawari (24)
75. Aliraza Obidawi (18)

Khoramshahr

76. Javad Matouri (30)

Abadan

77. Mohammad Nesari

Howiza City

78. Sajjad Bou’zar (17)

" Zanan Emrooz " Monthly Women Magazine is Banned From Publication !

On Monday the " Zanan Emrooz " Monthly Magazine is banned by Media Watch Dogs from publication because of a published article known as " White Wedding" or Ezdewaje Sefid" .

Zanan Emrooz is managed by Ms. Shahla Sherkat and is focuses on women issues and does not have any affiliation with any political group or party's. In the past this magazine was banned from publication for seven years and recently resumed its publication.

Link:
http://www.nazarnews.com/23034
 

On Tuesday Iranian Workers Staged Protest in Front of Parliament ......

Ali Moezi an imprisoned worker in Karaj Central 

prison - sent a message on Labor Day

 More than 100 workers from Iran Free Workers Union staged a protest on labor day in front of Parliament on Tuesday . While sent greeting for labor day ,the workers demanded for the following:
- We can't tolerate the 712,000 Tuman monthly wages , because the apartment rent is 3,500,000 Tuman.
- Remove the prison sentencing of Jamil Mohammadi and Jafar Azimzadeh both coordinator of 40,000 petition for wage increase .
-  1% secured and 99% are hungry
In the protest retired teachers also joined workers and chanted for a better living condition .

Link:
http://www.akhbar-rooz.com/article.jsp?essayId=66680

Gunmen kill activist in Pakistan after Baluchistan event

In this picture taken Friday, April 24, 2015, Pakistani police officers examine the damaged car of a prominent women's rights activist Sabeen Mehmud following an attack on Mehmud in Karachi, Pakistan Friday, April 24, 2015. Police in Pakistan say gunmen have killed the prominent women's rights activist in the hours after she held a forum about the country's restive Baluchistan region. Senior police officer Zafar Iqbal says gunmen attacked Sabeen Mehmud on Friday night as she returned to her Karachi home with her mother, who was wounded in the assault. Photo: Shakil Adil, APBy ADIL JAWAD, Associated Press

Updated 4:27 am, Saturday, April 25, 2015             

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen on a motorcycle killed a prominent women's rights activist in Pakistan just hours after she held a forum on the country's restive Baluchistan region, home to a long-running insurgency, police said Saturday.

While investigators declined to speculate on a motive for the killing of Sabeen Mehmud, friends and colleagues immediately described her death as a targeted assassination in Pakistan, a country with a nascent democracy where the military and intelligence services still hold tremendous sway.

The gunmen shot both Mehmud and her mother, Mehnaz Mehmud, as they stopped at a traffic light Friday night in an upscale Karachi neighborhood, senior police officer Zafar Iqbal said. Later, journalists saw their car at a nearby police station, the front driver's side window smashed out and a pair of sandals on the floorboard, broken glass all around them. Blood stained the car's white body.

"Two men riding a motorcycle opened fire on the car," Iqbal said. Mehmud "died on her way to the hospital. Her mother was also wounded."

Alia Chughtai, a close friend of Mehmud, told The Associated Press that Mehmud was driving at the time of attack and her mother was sitting next to her. Chughtai said Mehmud's driver, who escaped unharmed, was sitting in the back seat at the time of the attack. She said she did not know why the driver wasn't driving the car.

Iqbal and other police officials declined to offer a motive for the slaying. However, earlier that night, Mahmud hosted an event at her organization called The Second Floor to discuss human rights in Baluchistan, an impoverished but resource-rich southwestern province bordering Iran.

Thousands of people have disappeared from the province in recent years amid a government crackdown on nationalists and insurgent groups there. Activists blame the government for the disappearances, something authorities deny.

Qadeer Baluch, an activist who last year led a nearly 3,000-kilometer (1,900-mile) protest march across Pakistan to demand justice for the missing in Baluchistan, attended Mehmud's event Friday night. Baluch, known widely as Mama or "Uncle" in Urdu, hinted that the government could be involved in Mehmud's slaying.

"Everybody knows who killed her and why," Baluch told Pakistan's The Nation newspaper, without elaborating.

In a statement Saturday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned Mehmud's killing and ordered an investigation into the attack. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad also condemned Mehmud's slaying and offered condolences to her loved ones.

Mehmud was "a courageous voice of the Pakistani people and her death represents a great loss," it said.

Mahmud, a well-known activist who also ran a small tech company, hosted poetry readings, computer workshops and other events at The Second Floor. She continued to live in Karachi, Pakistan's southern port city, even while acknowledging the danger from insurgent groups and criminals operating there.

"Fear is just a line in your head," Mahmud told Wired magazine in 2013. "You can choose what side of that line you want to be on."

___

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Link:

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/world/

article/Pakistani-human-rights-activist-fatally-shot-in-6223268.php

Mohammad Reza Alipayam the Iranian Satirical poet and critic was summoned to Evin prison on Wednesday at 2:00pm to spend a One year and Three Months Sentencing which was ordered against him by Judge Pirabbasi at Branch # 26 of the court of revolution. Here Mr.Alipayam is letting us know that he is going to Evin prison for One year and three months just because of his one poem . He is sentenced two times for one poem , he says: for one poem, how many times i should be sentenced?

The Cenral Council of the Teachers Organization in Iran is Calling All Teachers for Yet Another Day of Action on Teachers Week ( May 7 ) !

According to news coming from Iran ,The central council of Iran teachers organization is calling yet for another day of action on Thursday May 7 ( the national day of teacher) .
20 months has passed since the Government of president Rohani took office but nothing has changed for teachers deteriorating living condition.
The central council of teachers organization in a letter to president Rohani reminded him about his election promises.
Their demands:
1- Increase in their salaries
2- Insurance
3- Release their colleagues from prison.
4- The presence of two representative from teachers council among president representative for looking into the teachers demands.
5- Execution of article 30 of the constitution.

Link:
http://www.akhbar-rooz.com/article.jsp?essayId=66555

 

The General Secretary of The Iranian Teachers Organization is Arrested !

According to news from ILNA , on Sunday morning Mr. Alireza Hashemi the general secretary of  Iran's Teachers Organization is arrested .
His arrest is based on a sentence against him from 2009 which was suspended or delayed .
He is charged is based on his advocacy on teachers rights and his meeting with the family's of those imprisoned teachers . He was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Link:
http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2015/04/195969.php

Wave of Workers Protest continues Almost Daily.......And The Reason, The Worsening Living Condition !

Labor Rights 
Every day there are tens of strike or protest by Iranian workers and that is because of the worsening living condition , Delay in monthly salaries , factory closures , imprisonment of labor leaders and many other issues.
Here is the workers protest in the last two days:
1- Workers at " Navard Louleh Safa " has gone into the strike since last Sunday .
2- 600 workers of Energy Power Plant from all over the country gathered in front of the President office . The reason for this protest is because the working situation of 5000 workers isn't fixed .
3- Close to 300 Workers from power plant in the city of Tabriz gathered in front of the regional power plant building on Sunday and protested against the privatization .
4- 270 workers from " Machin Alat Sanati " For tractors making gathered on Sunday in front of the governors office and demanded their delayed salaries be paid . The workers sat on the asphalt of the street and prevented the traffic from flowing .
5- Workers from Isfahan Petro -Chemical gathered on Sunday in front of the Parliament  in protest against the privatization and their contract situation .

IRAN WATCH CANADA: The list goes on and on ..........
Is Iranian working class going to be the major force behind the future protest ?

Link:
http://www.akhbar-rooz.com/article.jsp?essayId=66526

Five More Prisoners Are Hanged Inside Islamic Regime's Prison !

The Killing Machines of the Islamic Regime Continues .... 
According to the International Committee against execution , early this morning five more prisoners are hanged inside Karaj Central Prison. These prisoners were charged with drug trafficking and sexual assault .
In recent weeks fifty prisoners were hanged in three different prisons : Ghazal Hesar, Karaj Central prison and Rejaei Shahr prison.

Link:
http://www.akhbar-rooz.com/news.jsp?essayId=66505

For Immediate Release

Australia: Bishop Should Press Iran on Rights During Visit
Abuses, Persecution Cause Many to Flee Abroad

(Sydney, April 16, 2015) – Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop should raise human rights concerns with senior Iranian officials during her visit to Tehran on April 18, 2015, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the foreign minister released today. Bishop is the first senior figure in the Australian government to visit Iran in more than a decade.

Bishop should press the government of President Hassan Rouhani to end widespread restrictions on freedom of expression and association, persecution of ethnic and religious minorities, discrimination against women, and the alarming rate of executions, including of child offenders.

“This rare visit is a golden opportunity for Australia to demonstrate its concerns for Iranians’ human rights,” said Elaine Pearson, Australia director at Human Rights Watch. “Despite hopes for improvements under President Rouhani, repression continues unabated in Iran, leading people to flee to seek asylum elsewhere, including in Australia.”

Bishop is likely to ask Iran to take back failed asylum seekers, following an April 11 statement by the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott who told reporters “we’ll be talking to the Iranian government about taking back people who are Iranian citizens, because they deserve to be in Iran.” In 2012-2013, at least 70 percent of Iranians claiming asylum in Australia were determined to be legitimate refugees. Bishop should press Iranian officials to address the violations that compel people to flee Iran and to seek protection elsewhere, Human Rights Watch said.

Iranian security forces arrested several thousand protesters, political opposition members, and activists following the disputed 2009 presidential election. Rouhani won the presidency in the subsequent presidential election, in 2013. But scores of those detained in 2009 remain locked up or under house arrest, including the former opposition figures and presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Iran has also has among the world’s highest numbers of journalists and social media activists in prison.

Bishop should also raise the issue of the death penalty with Iranian officials, Human Rights Watch said. In 2014, Iran carried out the second-highest number of executions of any country in the world, exceeded only by China. Nearly half were on drug-related charges. At least 14 were child offenders, according to Amnesty International, making Iran the country with the world’s highest number of executions of people who committed crimes when they were children.

“After her strong statements against the death penalty in Indonesia, Bishop should use her Tehran visit to show that the government has a consistent, principled position by calling for a halt to Iran’s seemingly insatiable appetite for executions,” Pearson said.

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Iran, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/iran

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Australia, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/asia/australia

Thousands of Iranian Teachers from All Over Iran Protest in a Silent Gathering .............They Have Demanded for the release of their Imprisoned Colleagues , An End to Discrimination and For A better Living Condition !

Thousands of Iranian Teachers from all over Iran today Thursday protested in a Silent Gathering and demanded for the release of their imprisoned colleagues , an end to discrimination and for a better living condition.
Teachers from almost every city's in Iran joined the protest today.
A look at this protest by pictures:

Teachers From All Over Iran Protested ..........Will Iran Face Major Protest in The Coming Years ?

Teachers from all over Iran protested in front of the ministry of education in their city's over what they call discrimination, low living condition and for the freedom of their Teachers Union leaders from prisons cells.

The city's that have joined the protest are as follows :
Kermanshah, Karaj, Saveh, Isfahan, Hamadan, Sanandaj, Shiraz, Marivan , Khoramabad, Zanjan, Yazd, Aligodarz, Khodabandeh, Bojnourd, Ghazvin, Zahedan, Oroumieh, Darab, Ghom, Abhar, Kerman, Arak, Paveh, Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Kamiyaran, Tehran, Ilam and many more city's around the country .

Link:
http://www.akhbar-rooz.com/article.jsp?essayId=66457

Islamic Regime in Iran Hanged 34 Prisoners in Just 3 Days !

According to International Committee Against execution just in three days from Last Sunday to Tuesday 34 prisoners were hanged by Islamic regime in Iran prisons.
These executions happened in three prison : Ghazalhesar prison , Rejaei Shahr Prison and Karaj Central Prison.

On Tuesday In Ghazalhesar prison 15 prisoners were hanged
On Sunday in Rejaeishahr prison 11 prisoners were executed
The names of eight prisoners were not released but the rest are available and all these prisoners were drug dealers .

Link:
http://www.akhbar-rooz.com/article.jsp?essayId=66432

Iranian Teachers Protest For Living Condition - According to Pictures...........

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani : The Presence Of Cruelty and Violent behavior Against Prisoners Inside Prisons !

That is what Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani the right hand man of the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini said recently which brought anger among the ISIS and Taleban Style Iranian fundamentalists Islamists circle and even caused the commander of Sepah,  Mr. Jafari to react on that.

Mr. Ejeie the spokesperson for the judiciary power also in his 77th press conference session commented on what Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani said about prison situation in Iran , Mr. Ejei said: "If what has said , not proven , it can be categorized as accusation and creation of public disturbance ."
http://www.rajanews.com/news/207929

What Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani said about prison and prisoners situation in Iran , have been said for years under this Islamic Regime by political prisoners and human rights organization in and around the world .

European parliament angers Iran with human rights resolution

Islamic republic dismisses MEP accusations of freedom of speech restrictions and call for executions moratorium

Iran has reacted angrily to a European parliament resolution calling on diplomats to shine a spotlight on human rights in their negotiations with Tehran as part of a new strategy towards the country.
Iran's foreign ministry summoned the Greek ambassador on Sunday in protest at the resolution, passed by MEPs in a plenary session last week, which condemned the Islamic republic's record for "continued, systematic violation of fundamental rights". Greece currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who spoke to members of the Iranian parliament Majlis at the weekend, dismissed it and said the EU parliament was "not in a position, nor has the moral authority" to take such measures against his country.
The new resolution called for the EU "to mainstream human rights in all aspects of its relations with Iran" and asked European diplomats to make sure that "a high-level and inclusive human rights dialogue with Iran should be part of the future policy framework for bilateral EU–Iran" ties. It condemned the restrictions on freedom of speech and urged Tehran,
which along with Iraq accounted for more than two-thirds of the world's executions last year,
to declare a moratorium on the death penalty. The resolution reflects the parliament's view but does not have legislative force.
EU parliamentary delegations planning to visit Iran are also asked to hold meetings with members of the Iranian opposition including political prisoners and civil society activists. Last month, Catherine Ashton particularly infuriated Iranians when she met six women's rights activists in Tehran
during her first visit to Iran as the EU foreign policy chief.
The new resolution has come ahead of a new round of talks between Iran and six world powers on a comprehensive agreement that could potentially settle a decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme. Negotiations are due to kick off in Vienna on Tuesday.

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Ashton, who acts as a convenor for the six world powers in the nuclear talks, came under attack for raising human rights concerns in Tehran but enjoys relative leeway among Iranians in comparison to other western politicians after she brokered the interim nuclear deal with Iran last year.
In his comments to Iranian MPs, Zarif said Tehran could not accept EU's "conditions" and will block any visit to Iran meant to happen under the resolution's criteria. The foreign minister also said the human rights accusations were fabricated by groups close to "Zionists".
Last week's resolution commended President Hassan Rouhani's administration for a series of improvements on human rights, including the release of prominent lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, but called on the Iranian authorities to release all remaining prisoners of conscience including trade unionists, labour activists and those jailed after the disputed presidential election in 2009. The EU also urged Tehran to allow the UN special rapporteur for the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, to visit the country.
On the nuclear issue, the European parliament welcomed the interim agreement, sealed last year in Geneva, and called on all parties "to engage constructively in the negotiating process so that the final comprehensive agreement can be concluded within the agreed time frame".
A number of senior Iranian officials echoed Zarif in dismissing the EU's decision, interpreting it as meddling in Iranian internal affairs.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said it was a "pressure tool" and accusations were groundless, according to the state-run Press TV. "These kinds of unjust and groundless judgments are of no value to the Iranian nation," he said.
Ali Larijani, the speaker of Majlis, said the EU resolution was politically motivated.
"As a matter of fact, this resolution is nothing more than a political statement in terms of the method used for compiling the contents to show the European parliament's symbolic position, which has no executive power," he said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. The foreign ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, also called it "unfounded and unacceptable", Fars said.
A group of Iranian MPs said they would retaliate by passing a bill requiring the government to take fingerprints of any EU delegation visiting Tehran. Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani, the Friday's prayer imam, accused the EU of spreading "homosexuality" after the resolution slammed Iran for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

 Link:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/07/eu-
parliament-angers-iran-human-rights-resolution

Teachers From Khouzestan Province Protest !

According to news , on Sunday 12 April Teachers from the city of Ahwaz in Khouzestan province gathered in front of the Ministry of Education office and called for increase in their salary and better living condition.
Other area in Khouzestan including Andimeshk and Alwar also rallied in front of the ministry of education for a better living condition.

These protests are the continuation of series of protest by teachers from last winter .

Also, a group of teachers in a statement called all teachers in Iran for a day of action on Thursday April 16.

Link:

http://www.akhbar-rooz.com/article.jsp?essayId=66381

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been falling in the index since 2003 and moderate conservative Hassan Rouhani’s installation as president in June 2013 has not had a positive impact on freedom of information. The authorities have closed newly-created news outlets and, with the active cooperation of a judicial system controlled by the Supreme Leader, the Revolutionary Guards have orchestrated a wave of arrests resembling the one unleashed five years earlier after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed reelection. The Rouhani administration has played a role in the arrests as a silent accomplice. Iran continues to be one of the world’s five biggest prisons for news and information providers, with 50 journalists and netizens currently detained.

Position since 2002

Year	Position
2014	#173 /  180
2013	#174 /  178
2012	#174 /  178
2011	-
2010	#175 /  173
2009	#172 /  170
2008	#166 /  168
2007	#166 /  164
2006	#162 /  161
2005	#164 /  161
2004	#158 /  158
2003	#160 /  158
2002	#122 /  134

2015 World Press Freedom Index

In 2014, no journalists and no net-citizens were killed.

 See the full 2015 Press freedom barometer

Note: “Journalists killed” in the table includes only cases in which Reporters Without Borders has clearly established that the victim was killed because of his/her activities as a journalist. It does not include cases in which the motives were not related to the victim’s work or in which a link has not yet been confirmed.

Link:
http://index.rsf.org/#!/index-details/IRN

ON the Burial Procession of President Khatami's Mom , People Chanted : "Our Message is Clear , The House Arrest Must Come To An End " and " Ya Hossein Mir Hossein " - ...

MP Motahari : It Is Clear From Where Those Attackers Were Organized !

Recently Ali Motahari a moderate MP was attacked by a group of fundamentalist Islamists in the city of Shiraz . Mr. Motahari was there for an invitation by University of Shiraz to deliver a speech but were attacked and the Taxi which was carrying him was smashed and the angry attackers were armed with clubs, sticks and tomato charged at him and did not allow him to reach to the university .
On that issue, Mr. Motahari said , it is clear from where those attackers were organized. Therefore , the explanation of some of the security council is confusing , they say, there is no security , but people who are working under their supervision  are the one violating the security .  Mr. Motahari says : Well, come and manage it and don't let it happen . The duties of security council is to bring safety / security not to violate the security  and to cancel my program in university.
Although some of the attackers were arrested but released later on bail , Mr. Motahari says, some of the executive officials of the province are also in the list of accused .
It is believed that ,the report of this incident is going to be send to president for his recommendations.

Link:
http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2015/04/195498.php