Leyla Tavasoli, daughter of engineer Mohammad Tavasoli (Chairman of the Iranian Freedom Movement) and niece of Dr. Ebrahim Yazdi, reported to Evin Prison to begin serving the two-year sentence she received on charges of participating in the protests following the 2009 elections and an interview with Radio Farda and the BBC.
Source: Iran Daily Brief
Iran says it may stop exporting oil if international sanctions against it are intensified, adding that it has a contingency plan for running the country without oil revenues.
According to Reuters, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Ghassemi told reporters in Dubai on Tuesday October 23: “If sanctions intensify, we will stop exporting oil.”
“We have prepared a plan to run the country without any oil revenues,” he added. “So far to date, we haven’t had any serious problems, but if the sanctions were to be renewed we would go for ‘Plan B’.”
The U.S. and the EU have imposed widespread sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the aim of resolving their nuclear disputes with Iran. Reports indicate that the sanctions have more than halved Iran’s oil revenues.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful but has also shown willingness to negotiate with the world powers.
Ghassemi told reporters: “If you continue to add to the sanctions we (will) cut our oil exports to the world… We are hopeful that this doesn’t happen, because citizens will suffer. We don’t want to see European and U.S. citizens suffer.” He intimated that a complete halt to Iranian oil exports would drive up the price of oil.
The Oil Minister did not give any details on how the country would operate with oil revenues. Reuters report indicates that oil exports constitute half of Iranian government revenues and 80 percent of Iran’s exports.
Ghassemi stressed: “Iran has been facing U.S. sanctions for 30 years while successfully managing its oil sector.”
Despite the minister’s statements, the Iranian economy appears to be facing grave problems with a plummeting national currency and continued inflation.
Source: Radiozamaneh
By Nima Farahabadi
No Possibility of War With Iran
The top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) retreated from his earlier remarks that war between Iran and other countries was certain. General Mohammad Ali Jaafari who had earlier said war between Iran and its enemies was “inevitable” changed his prediction and yesterday said, “In view of the condition of the enemies, there will be no war against Iran.
” As reported by domestic news agencies, the commander also said the country was currently “In an economic war with its enemies.” He also prescribed that “The secret to success and victory against an enemy which is using all its power against Islamic Iran in the economic war and which has doubled its pressure, is to “stand firm, resist and be steadfast.”
These remarks come after Jaafari had announced that war was definitely going to take place with Iran, which not only had wide international repercussions but also brought forth a strong reaction from other military officials of the Islamic republic itself. He had specifically said that “Israel’s threats and animosity with Iran would eventually result in a physical confrontation.”He had also cautioned, “We have to prepare for a war whose nature is completely different from the eight year war and the trick is to adjust ourselves for the war that lies ahead of us.” The only issue that was unclear, according to the commander was the date of the confrontation.
Warning About the Third World War
After these remarks, the commander of the IRGC’s aerospace force told Al-Alam news network, “We see the US and the Zionist regime (a term Iranian officials use for Israel) completely side by side with each other and cannot imagine that the Zionist regime would start such a war without US support. Because of this if war breaks out, we will enter into a war against both of them and will most certainly get engaged with American bases.”
General Amir Ali Hajizadeh called this possible conflict the Third World War and added, “Should such conditions come about uncontrollable events will take place which will be beyond control and management and could possibly turn into the Third World War. In other words it is possible that some countries will enter the war in support of Iran while others will enter it against Iran.”
Iran’s defense minister who is also a member of the Revolutionary Guards had on also said on 25 September that “we have prepared ourselves for a big battle,” and added, “We have the capital of the holly defense (a term officials use for the 8-year war with Iraq), velayate (the supreme religious leader) and martyrdom and are ready for the big battle. Of course this battle has always existed and since we are now in the era of the reappearance (of Prophet Mohammad) this war is among important wars.”
The highest military officials who criticized these words – without naming the IRGC commander, was general Hassan Firuzabadi, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
“Such remarks are wrong,” Firuzabadi said referring to the imminence of war remarks. “Some individuals say things that create the impression among the public that war is going to take place,” he elaborated in his criticism. He continued, “When a military commander makes remarks, he must understand that there will be political and security interpretations over such remarks and these issues must be considered in their remarks.”
He then rejected the imminence of war and said, “In US and Israel’s calculations, there is no opportunity or benefit for war with Iran. We have identified the vulnerabilities of the US, Israel and our enemies and have developed weapons appropriate to these vulnerabilities and have identified the sphere of our targets and launches. Using such planning depends on the political will of the country, and the military and political conditions. These measures may or may not be implemented: Just as we have not taken any action in the 20 years.”
Prior to Firuzabadi, his deputy in the supreme command of the armed forces had also criticized the remarks of the IRGC commanders and said, “It would be best if these officials left responses to military threats to others.”
General Masoud Jazaeri called Israel’s threats “Psychological war of the enemy,” and had said, “Some remarks are such that they help the rumors of war against our country. It is better that responses to media threats by Israel are left to others.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also objected to remarks about the imminence of war and told reporters, “More than having the intention of an attack in mind, the enemy’s threats are aimed at psychological war and some inside the country are relaying the psychological war of the enemy through their ignorance of this.”
Over the past few months, Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities while the country is under intense international pressure over its nuclear program.These threats have brought about harsh responses from officials of the Islamic republic and its military commanders. Tehran has threatened to give “an unexpected” response to such an attack.
Source: Inside Of Iran
It is impossible to strike on Iran, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari said.
According to ISNA report, Jafari said on Sunday that regarding enemies’ situations, the possibility of a military operation against Iran is zero, that’s why the enemies started economic war against Tehran.
He said that IRGC is completely ready for defending the country against any invasion.
Talking about Syria’s crisis, Jafari said that enemies’ attempt to destroy Bashar al-Assad’s regime has failed.
IRGC chief’s statement about impossibility of a strike on Iran appeared, when he said on Sep.22 that Israel will eventually go beyond threats and will attack Iran.
The statement was criticized by some Iranian authorities.
Iran is the major ally for the Syrian government which reportedly committed violence against opposition and people, which has left 30, 000 dead.
Earlier, Jafari said that some Iranian Quds forces, an elite branch of IRGC, are in Syria to help Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
During a press conference in Tehran Jafari said on Sep.16 that “everybody knows that IRGC has a special force, namely Quds, to export Islamic revolution and help Muslim communities in the world.
He said that some Quds members are in Syria, but it does not mean that we have military presence there.
Quds elite force is a branch of IRGC, tasked with exporting Iran’s Islamic revolution occurred in 1979 and responsible for IRGC extraterritorial operations.
Jafari said that Iran renders financial, counseling and mental health assistance to Syria, rather than military.
In response to a question whether Iran will react to foreign military strike on Syira regarding a security agreement between Tehran and Damascus, Jafari said that this depends on conditions and circumstances.
IRGC chief commander called Syria as frontier of resistance against “Zionist regime”, Iran’s major fatal enemy, saying Israel has reached to deadlock.
Source: Trend news agency
Iran’s secret cyber war-room is located at Hizballah’s secret internal security apparatus headquarters in the Shiite Dahya district of South Beirut,DEBKAfile’s exclusive intelligence and counterterrorism sources reveal. The hackers and cyber experts who recently attacked American banks and Saudi oil sites and which guided an Iranian stealth drone into Israeli airspace on Oct. 6, operate from Hizballah’s premises in Beirut and its secret bunkers.
Wafiq Safa is head of the security apparatus and also deputy of the Iranian general, Hossein Mahadavi, who serves as the liaison and coordination officer with Hizballah in Lebanon.Safa’s son is married to the Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s sister.
Cyber intelligence experts explain Tehran uses its Lebanese surrogate to host its global digital war-room – firstly, to disguise the source of its cyber offensives and keep Iran clear of blame; secondly, because the Hizballah facility is protected from electronic penetration by exceptionally efficient firewalls.
They were strong enough to keep Israeli cyber experts from discovering the electronic center which dispatched the UAV over their country and reaching its controllers. Whenever Israel experts tried manipulating the drone’s movements, they found an external force overrode them and recovered control. Eventually, the Israeli commanders gave up and ordered the drone brought down with as little damage as possible.
The drone’s components have given up to its captors many secrets about Iran’s stealth UAV technology and capabilities, but very little about the Iranian cyber team operating out of the Hizballah facility in Beirut and their equipment.
By cutting away from the captured UAV, the Iranian controllers also locked their operation away from outside access and any possible evaluation of their capabilities.
The Americans encountered the same difficulty in early October when they tried to locate and identify the hackers who disabled 10 major US bank websites, attacked Saudi Arabia’s Aramco’s websites with a virus called Shamoon that replaced data with burning American flags, and invaded the computers of Qatar’s gas industry.
Six days after the drone’s penetration of Israel, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta talked to reporters in New York about “a pre-9/11 moment” for the United States. He did not come right out and name Iran or mention its cyber war headquarters in Beirut. He did, however, warn “the attackers are plotting,” and that recent electronic attacks in US and abroad demonstrate the need for “a more aggressive military role in defense and to retaliate against organized groups or hostile governments.”
Source: Debka
Officials in the prosecutors office oppose medical leave for human rights and women’s activist, Mahboubeh Karami, who is imprisoned in Evin Prison. Karami went on two brief leaves for medical treatment that was cut off and was not able to complete the medical and psychological therapy she needs. In addition, during her imprisonment, Mahboubhe’s parents died and she was not allowed to attend the memorial service. Karami suffers from severe anemia and depression. Karami was sentenced to three years in prison for her human rights activities in Iran.
Source: Iran Daily Brief
At 33 detainees, the women’s ward at Evin prison has reached the largest number of prisoners in the past 3 years. Some of the prisoners are suffering with psychological and physical maladies while many have been deprived of their right to furlough.
The new round of summons and arrests of political and civil female activists continues. In the past 2 months the number of female political prisoners has reached 33 as activists who had been detained during the events that took place after the contested presidential elections, have been summoned to serve their prison sentences. According to the detainees in the past years, the average number of prisoners in the women’s ward has been 28 and has never increased until now. In addition there is news that at least 10 more women will be transferred to this ward in the near future.
Below is a list of the 33 female detainees who are being held in the women’s ward at Evin prison.
1) Basma Al Jabouri – Iraqi citizen accused of spying, 5-year prison sentence, has served one year.
2) Bahareh Hedyayat – Student and women’s rights activist, member of the student organization Advar-e TahkimeVehdat, 10-year prison sentence, has served about 3 years.
3) Behnaz Zaker – Arrested at airport about 4 months ago before a scheduled flight to Sweden and kept in prison in undetermined circumstance.
4) Rahele Zokayi – Among the lesser-known prisoners, one-year prison sentence for “propaganda against the regime.”
5) Reyhaneh Haj EbrahimDagagh – Among the detainees of the Ashura mass protests in 2009, 15-year prison sentence on charges of affiliation with MKO, has served 3 years with no furlough.
6) Jila Baniyaghoub–Journalist and women’s rights activist, who has been behind bars for over a month. She was sentenced to one year in prison on the charges of “propaganda against the regime” and “insulting the leadership.” Her husband BahmanAhmadiAmoui is also a journalist who is behind bars in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj. He received a 5-year prison sentence of which he has endured 3.5 years.
7) Jila KaramzadehMakundi – Political prisoner, poet and member of the Mourning Mothers of Laleh Park, 2-year prison sentence, has served about 11 months.
8) Shabnam Madadzadeh – Political prisoner charged with affiliation with MKO and handed 5-year prison sentence. Arrested in February 2009 and has spent 3.5 years behind bars without the right to furlough.
9) Shiva NazarAhari – Human rights activist who was handed a 4-year prison sentence by the court. She was transferred to prison about a month ago. Previously, she spent over 100 days in solitary confinement and 9 months in women’s Ward 209 (Intelligence Ministry’s Ward), and 3 months in the women’s general ward of Evin prison.
10) Sedigheh Moradi – Political prisoner charged with affiliation with MKO, handed 10-year prison sentence of which she has served one year.
11) Soghra Gholamnezad – Political prisoner who was transferred to the women’s ward at Evin about 3 months ago. She is serving a 2-year prison sentence handed by the Revolutionary Court on charges of affiliation with MKO.
12) Faezeh Hashemi – Political prisoner who was transferred to Evin 2 weeks ago to serve 6-month prison sentence.
13) Faribah Kamalabadi – Baha’i prisoner who was an administrator at “Yaran-e Iran”, a Baha’i organization. She has been kept behind bars since her arrest in 2006. She was handed a 20-year prison sentence of which she has served 5 years without her right to furlough.
14) Faran Hesami – Baha’i citizen with 5-year prison sentence. This mother of a 3-year old toddler was transferred behind bars about 3 months ago. Hesami was arrested when she went to Evin Prison’s Sentence Enforcement Unit to obtain a power of attorney for her incarcerated husband. Her husband Kamran Rahimian is an educator at the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (Baha’i Online University), serving a 4-year prison sentence at Rajai Shahr prison, on charges of “membership in the Baha’i community,” and “assembly and collusion with the intent to disrupt national security.”
15) Kobra BanazadehAmirkhizi – political prisoner handed 5-year prison sentence on charges of affiliation with MKO. She has served 4 years behind bars without her right to furlough.
16) Kefayat MalekMohammadi – 60-year-old citizen arrested in 2009 during Ashura mass protests, charged with MKO affiliation, 15-year prison sentence of which she has served 3 years behind bars.
17) Ladan MostofiMaab – Political prisoner with 2.5-year prison sentence, has served 2 years and 3 months without any furlough.
18) Leva Khanjani – Baha’i citizen banned from continuing her education, appeared at Tehran’s Evin Prison on Saturday, August 25, 2012 to begin serving her 2-year prison term.
19) Mahboubeh Karami – Political, women and human rights activist sentenced to 3 years in prison by branch 54 of the Revolutionary Appellate Court on February 2, 2011. She was charged with membership in a human rights organization, “propaganda against the regime,” and “gathering and collusion with intent to harm national security.” She has spent one and a half years in prison.
20) Maryam AkbariMonfared – Political prisoner with 15-year sentence on charges of affiliation with MKO. She has been in prison since her arrest 3 years ago without her right to furlough.
21) Maryam Jalili – Christian convert with 2.5-year prison sentence on the charge of changing her religion. She has spent about a year in prison without her right to furlough.
22) Motahareh Bahrami – Detained in 2009 during Ashura protests. She was handed a 10-year prison sentence on charges of affiliation with MKO. She has spent about a year behind bars with no furlough.
23) Mitra Zahmati – Christian convert with 2.5-year prison sentence on the charge of changing her religion. She has spent about a year in prison without her right to furlough.
24) Manijeh Najm Iraqi – Women’s rights activist, member of Iranian Author’s Club, worked as interpreter and author. Revolutionary Court handed a one-year prison sentence of which she has spent 5 months behind bars. She was charged with membership in Iranian Author’s Club and publishing their work. The allegations made against her were based on taking part in events for Mohammad Mokhtari, Mohammad Ja’farPouvandeh, AhmadShamlou.
25) Manijeh NaserAllahi – Handed 3.5-year prison sentence on charges of following the Baha”i faith. She has spent 2.5 years behind bars with only 3 days on furlough.
26) MahsaAmirabadi – Handed a 2-year prison sentence of which she has spent 5 months behind bars. Her husband MasoudBastani is a journalist also behind bars serving a 6-year prison sentence in Rajai Shahr prison. He was charged with “propaganda against the regime” and “collusion to disrupt national security.”
27) Mahvash Shariyati – Behind bars since 2008, serving 20-year prison term on charges of following the Baha’i faith and membership on board of Yarane Iran, which is a Baha’i organization.
28) Nazanin Deyhimi – Transferred to prison about 2 weeks ago to serve 4-month sentence stemming from charge of taking part in post-election protests.
29) Negar Haeri – Political prisoner who was detained about 3 months ago and has been held without being charged. Her father MashaalaHaeri is serving a 15-year prison sentence behind bars in Raja’i Shahr prison on charges of affiliation with MKO.
30) Nasrin Sotoudeh – Lawyer and human rights activist serving 6-year prison sentence. She is also barred from practicing law for 10 years. She was charged with “acting against national security”, “propaganda against the regime,” and “membership in a human rights organization.” She has spent 2 years behind bars without her right to furlough.
31) Nasim SoltanBaygi – Journalist and student activist handed 3-year prison sentence on charges of following the Baha’i faith. She has spent 1.5 years of her sentence behind bars.
32) Noushin Khadem – A lecturer at the Baha’i Science Institution, handed a 4-year prison sentence for being a follower of the Baha’i faith. She began serving her sentence on September 16, 2012.
33) Haniyeh SanehFarshi – Political prisoner and blogger, 7-year prison sentence on charges of blasphemy, propaganda against the regime, acting against national security and insulting Islamic sanctities. She has served 2.5 years behind bars without her right to furlough.
According to information obtained by Committee of Human Rights Reporters, in the next few days another 10 women will be transferred to Evin prison. With the new wave of prisoners about to enter the facility and the many unknown prisoners who have not been listed in the news, it is predicted that the women’s ward in Evin prison will be over capacity. With the arrival of cold winter months and the lack of adequate medical care for political prisoners there is serious concern about the deficient conditions that the prisoners will have to end.
Source: Nedaye Azadi
Continuing the pressure and preemptive actions against the Sunni minority in Iran, four additional Kurdish-Sunni teachers were suspended and banned from the teaching profession. The four are Zaber Haldian, a religion and Arabic teacher, who holds a bachelors degree and has 23 years experience in teaching; Rauf Hosseini, a religion and Arabic teacher with a bachelors degree and 18 years experience in teaching; Adris Ranjabar, an elementary school consultant with 12 years experience, and Atallah Salimi, a science teacher with a bachelors degree and 23 years experience.
Source: Iran Daily Brief
The Appellate Court sentenced worker rights activist, Fahdram Nazrallahi, to 19 months in prison on charges of membership in the committee to set up a workers union and collaboration with the Kurdish Kumala party.
Source: Iran Daily Brief
Nasrin Sotoudeh, the jailed Iranian human rights lawyer, has been on a hunger strike since last week, her husband informed the Kaleme opposition website.
Reza Khandan, Sotoudeh’s husband, reported: “We have had ongoing problems in terms of visits, summonses, threats, especially against the family, to which my wife is very sensitive; they pick on my daughter, bar her from travelling abroad.”
Nasrin Sotoudeh has been detained since September 2010, and her continual application for a furlough has been rejected by the authorities. She has refused food on two other occasions during her incarceration in protest against the handling of her case and her treatment in jail.
Her husband reports that the authorities have restricted their visits and, for more than 18 months, all political prisoners have been denied phone calls.
Sotoudeh is charged with “acting against national security, propaganda against the regime” for her links to the Defenders of Human Rights Centre. She is serving a six-year sentenced and is barred from practicing law and traveling abroad for 10 years.
Source: Radiozamaneh
