Security forces in Iran closed down an Iranian church in the “Jannat-Abad” region in Tehran, Tuesday, reports HRA News website. The measure is in line with rising pressures by the Iranian regime on the Iranian-Christian minority throughout the country.
Iranian Christian sources say that the Jannat-Abad church was closed down following orders from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Intelligence. The agency operates independently of and according to informed sources its agents act considerably more brutal than the Iranian Information Ministry agents.
Iranian clerical rulers are facing growing number of young Iranians who convert to Christianity. This is despite the theocratic government’s spending of substantial amount of money on yearly basis to expand its version of Islamic rule throughout the Middle East region.
Iranian Christian sources say the closing of the church may be a start for closing other churches in Iran.
The church was operating under official license when the Pastor, Robert Gag-Tappe was ordered to stop operation. The church served the Iranian-Assyrian community in Tehran who are mostly Catholic.
The Iranian theocratic rulers are exerting more pressures on the Iranian Christians and specially those who have converted to Christianity from Islam considering the act to be an act of apostasy qualifying such a person to receive the death sentence.
There are reports that people carrying bibles in Iran are harassed and arrested by authorities in Iran and their bibles are confiscated. Some reports indicated the bibles are burned after they are confiscated.
Many church goers in Iran are expressing concern about being watched by undercover agents during pray ceremonies in their churches. Church officials are under constant pressure by the authorities to prevent any Farsi speaking people from attending ceremonies.
This is the second time the Jannat-abad church is being closed by the Iranian authorities.
The Iranian judiciary confiscated Abdolreza Tajik’s bail money of 500,000 toumans after the persecuted journalist left the country.
Tajik had been arrested on the charge of membership in illegal groups and propaganda against the regime.
His sister, who faced similar charges, was sentenced to one and a half years in prison because of her efforts to release her brother by talking with foreign media. She was charged with propaganda activities against the regime and disturbing public minds.
Abdolreza Tajik was arrested in December of 2009 and released on bail in June of 2010. He left the country following his release.
Tajik was sentenced to six years in jail in the preliminary court but he claims that the verdict of the appeals court has not been officially communicated to him. He adds that he actually heard through the media that the appeals court had confirmed his sentence.
Abdolreza Tajik, who has collaborated with several reformist newspapers in Iran, is currently residing in France.
In 2010, Reporters Without Borders named Abdolreza Tajik the best journalist of the year.
Although military people make up the powerful ruling class and control the pillars of power in dictatorial regimes—from the top down to the average administrators such as in Pakistan, post-Pinochet Chile, post-Ataturk Turkey, Egypt after the officers’ revolt—in the Islamic Republic the Ayatollahs have formed the ruling class and monopolized power. Today hundreds of posts are held by unqualified believers holding little or no education in their job field.
The involvement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the fonts of power
Hossein Alizadeh
is not invisible to anyone. With the IRGC’s formation, the military fell into absolute decline. The Quds Force, the IRGC’s overseas operations wing, was formed. The IRGC’s presence in big petroleum, natural gas, telecommunications, and sports projects is not invisible to anyone either. During the Ahmadinejad administration, many ministries’ [powers] were relinquished to the IRGC. Confrontations with political enemies sometimes went beyond the [realm of] Ministry of Intelligence, and according to documentary evidence the IRGC itself played a role. Despite all these involvements, apparently the IRGC is now in the process of educating Ayatollahs. This is a phenomenon indicating the IRGC’s heavy influence in the deep reaches of government. The IRGC is not just a military organization defending the Islamic Revolution, but also a financial-monetary-military-security cartel that even brings up leaders with the aim of controlling Shiite clergies.[1] If, until now, Shiite clerics created the IRGC for it to support their power, the IRGC is now in the process of raising a new generation of Ayatollahs who can justify its power. The explanation is as follows:
Discerning Ambassadors
Three decades after the Islamic Revolution, every IRGC general has a grown child who essentially doesn’t see the world through his father’s eyes. Sometimes one hears about the child of a commander turning from a mere objector to one of many protestors, or suffering from “moral corruption.” The most evident example is Ahmad Rezaei, the son of former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei. When Ahmad travelled to the USA and disclosed information, he soon died of mysterious causes. Another example is Mohsen Ruhalamini, the son of General Abdolhossein Ruhalamini, who was brutally murdered at the Kahrizak detention center during the 2009 protests.
Fostering the IRGC’s new generation who lived during the good and bad times of the Islamic Revolution is the IRGC’s preoccupation today. Every day similar cases of [rebellious children] arise, trampling upon their fathers’ background and reputation.
After successfully setting up and running the Imam Hossein University, the IRGC is now thinking about establishing a seminary which would raise its future cadres, and the best name for them would be “guard-clerics”. This plan, called the “Discerning Ambassadors,” produces a new wing of IRGC. Some children admiring the IRGC enter the seminary so that in the future they will play an influential role in the IRGC. In other words, this idea is grounded upon the belief that by raising and teaching new IRGC cadres from reliable IRGC families within their own ideological system, these trained children can occupy key posts after their fathers retire.
Previously, this plan was executed in the core technology, engineering, and social science majors at the Imam Hossein University as well as in the Baghitallah School of Medicine. Alongside the Imam Hossein Military Academy, a variety of cadres are trained according to the IRGC’s needs.
Given the above explanation, the idea of raising “guard-clerics” is the IRGC’s supplementary form of educating new IRGC members, but they receive little or superficial training from the religious education (according to the prevailing taste of Islamic Republic). At the same time, this system raises clerics who don’t benefit from the military war-planning and technology. These guard-clerics in the future will become “Ayatollahs” who will not only work in the IRGC but also with each governmental body and the highest echelons of power.
The Necessity of Creating Cadres
The Islamic Revolution was an earthquake for the all administrative, military, law-enforcement, and security bodies. The SAVAK was replaced by the IRGC Intelligence Bureau. Even though the military didn’t disappear, it submitted to the IRGC. All of the country’s gendarmes have relinquished their role to the police force. From the beginning of the Islamic Revolution, creating cadres was categorically a pressing necessity for the regime. A new group was needed to fill the country’s administrative vacuums after Pahlavi-era cadres were dissolved. One of the first moves in battling these vacuums was the foundation of the Imam Sadegh University in 1982. With the integration of seminary and university sciences (especially in the social sciences), they educated revolution-era students and injected them into the country’s administrative bodies. Today Imam Sadegh University graduates make up the new generation of administrators and top officials that are present in the country’s government. However, despite this effort to train “guards acting as the Ayatollahs and Ayatollahs acting as the guards,” it’s a new idea, which is not as competent as any national education institution like a university or seminary.
Although the many Ayatollahs who fought during the eight year Iran-Iraq war have preserved their presence in the pillars of government, they have gradually retired and distanced themselves. Hence, creating cadres is necessary but not guaranteed by the seminary or the university.
It is in these circumstances the IRGC has put itself to work on a plan called “The Establishment of an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Seminary.”
To be continued
[1]Rahbar is also another name for the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.
More than 350 Iranian political, social and media activists have called on Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, to help Iranian political prisoner Mohammad Seddigh Kaboodvand, who is currently on a hunger strike.
The signatories announced their concern regarding Kaboodvand’s reportedly critical condition in Evin Prison.
Kaboodvand, a journalist and human rights activist, began a hunger strike on May 16 to protest the authorities’ refusal to allow him visit his sick son. At first the authorities asked him to end his strike in order to be granted the furlough, but when he complied, some days later he was informed that his request had been turned down.
Kaboodvand, who is already suffering from ill health, began his hunger strike once again to demand the right to visit his son. The signatories of the letter to Pillay report that Kaboodvand’s son has been hospitalized with a serious blood disease, and the family has requested the father’s leave so he can support the son in this difficult time of treatment.
The signatories urge Pillay to make every effort to assist Kaboodvand in getting the necessary medical care for himself and the opportunity to be with his son in his time of need.
Kaboodvand was arrested in 2007 on the charge of “acting against national security” by establishing the Kurdistan Defence of Human Rights Organization. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail on top of which he was given another year for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
The interrogator of jailed blogger Hossein Ronaghi Maleki has reportedly threatened the prisoner’s father with death.
The jailed blogger has been refusing food to protest the judiciary’s refusal to release him to receive critical medical care, Ahmad Ronaghi Maleki told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran yesterday: “On June 5, my son’s interrogator entered the hospital and began interrogating my son for a long period and told him if he accepts the charges against him, they will grant him sick leave.”
Ahmad Ronaghi Maleki reported that his son has not accepted any of the charges. He added that his son still refuses food but is being given some nutrition through an IV.
The father adds that he told the interrogator that his son had no medical problems prior to being jailed, and reportedly the interrogator rejected the father’s statements, accusing Hossein Ronaghi Maleki of receiving funds from foreign sources and then assaulting the prisoner’s father. After removing him from the room, the interrogator reportedly warned Ahmad Ronaghi Maleki that he can be made to disappear at night in a way that he would never be found again.
Ahmad Ronaghi Maleki reported that he has already written to the prosecutor demanding protection for his son, his family and himself.
Hossein Ronaghi Maleki has undergone surgery four times in the past three years in jail, and one of his kidneys has reportedly lost all function. He has begun a hunger strike to bolster his demand to be released in order to get further treatment.
Ronaghi Maleki was arrested in 2009 for his anti-government blogs and was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
The high-ranking members of the European Parliament have written to the Islamic Republic ambassador in Brussels to express concern regarding Nargess Mohammadi and 30 student activists jailed in Iranian prisons.
Barbara Lochbihler, the head of Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, and Tarja Cronberg, the chair of Parliament’s delegation for Iranian affairs, write that Mohammadi and the student activists have been arrested for exercising their civil rights and for defending free speech, all of which is protected under the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory.
The letter notes that reliable news reports from Iran show that Nargess Mohammadi, a respected journalist and human rights defender, has been jailed despite her critical health condition. The letter emphasizes that, according to international law, the Islamic Republic is responsible for the health and safety of prisoners.
The two European Parliament officials say they expect to be informed about the situation of these individuals and they want assurances from Islamic Republic authorities that they are being treated humanely and in accordance with international agreements.
In April, Iran’s largest student organization released the names of 30 student activists currently serving time in Islamic Republic prisons, kicking off a campaign called “Be the Voice of Jailed Students.”
The campaign has gained the support of Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and many international human rights and student groups.
Mohammadi’s imprisonment has also been condemned by more than 400 Iranian social and women’s rights activists, who have urged the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights to make every effort to secure her release.
Mohammadi, who is serving a six-year sentence for her human rights activities, is reportedly suffering from muscle seizures and periodic paralysis while in jail.
Justice for Iran has sent a comprehensive report on the violation of the rights of Afghans residing in Iran to Ahmad Shaheed, the UN rapporteur on human rights in Iran.
In the report entitled “Iran: An Afghan Free Zone”, Shaheed is called upon to force the Islamic Republic government to end its campaign of discrimination against Afghani refugees in Iran.
The report adds that the Iranian government’s campaign against Afghans residing in Iran is being fomented with the cooperation of the United Nations Human Rights Commission for refugee affairs and in many case with the approval or silence of the Afghani government.
While the political and security situation in Afghanistan remains unfavourable, the Iranian government has announced that single Afghani men residing in Tehran, Khorasan Razavi and Esfahan must leave the country by the end of the month, the report writes.
The report also cites the various reports of discrimination against Afghans in Iran that have been circulating in the media in recent months, including the banning of Afghans from entering public parks and from living in most Iranian provinces.
Justice for Iran adds that Afghans residing in Iran are already excluded from many basic rights to health, employment and education and, since 2004, there have been many restrictions on their right to travel within Iran. Currently, 16 Iranian provinces are completely off limits to Afghans, according to a recent directive by the government.
The rights groups goes on to add that more than 5,000 Afghani residents of Khuzestan Province have been moved from their place of residence to a camp, which was used as a POW camp for 1,500 prisoners during the Iran-Iraq War.
The report adds that mixed marriages between Iranian women and Afghani men have not been exempted from these measures. The Iranian government does not recognize marriages between Iranian women and Afghani men, and their children do not automatically receive Iranian citizenship and citizen rights.
Marriages between Iranian men and foreign nationals are recognized by the Islamic Republic, and their children are automatically regarded as Iranian citizens.
Justice for Iran also points out that the Human Rights Commission is failing in its mission in Iran because, while it does not recognize Afghans who seek asylum in Iran for economic reasons and refuses to lend them any support, the commission actually assists the Islamic Republic government by handing refugees over to the Iranian government, even as it receives funds for a million registered Afghani nationals living in Iran.
Justice for Iran asks Ahmad Shaheed to “urge both the Iranian government and the UNHCR to make their entire plans clear and abandon their inhumane policy towards Afghans.”
The ailing grandfather of imprisoned student activist Arash Sadeghi has been detained.
According to opposition website Kaleme, Shirollah Dargahi, the 80-year-old grandfather of jailed student leader Arash Sadeghi, was arrested on Wednesday night and taken to an unknown location for “questioning.”
In early May, media outlets affiliated with the opposition Green Movement published a letter written by Dargahi to his grandson’s interrogators in which he accused them of lacking any conscience.
A graduate student of Philosophy at Allameh Tabatabaee University, Arash Sadeghi was barred from education in 2009. During the widely contested presidential elections that year, he was a member of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi’s campaign team. Following the elections, he was arrested a number of times, and was finally sentenced by the Revolutionary Courts to 74 lashes, a one-year prison sentence plus a four-year suspended term.
While Sadeghi was on prison leave in November 2010, his mother suffered a heart attack after intelligence agents stormed into her home in search of the young activist. She later died in hospital.
Sadeghi is currently being held at Evin Prison’s ward 350. He recently began a hunger strike in solidarity with jailed blogger and human rights activist Hossein Ronaghi Maleki.
Two weeks ago, Ronaghi Maleki announced that he was going on hunger strike to protest the authorities’ repeated denial of medical furlough. He has also reportedly called on Arash Sadeghi to end his strike.
An Iranian-Kurdish political prisoner died last night in Rejai Shahr Prison in Karaj, human rights groups report.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Mohammad Mehdi Zalieh Naghshbandian had been transferred to hospital earlier this month for serious health complications.
The prisoner, who was reportedly a victim of chemical warfare during the Iran-Iraq War, was transferred to Rejai Shahr Prison after 18 years in Oroumiyeh Prison.
He had been charged with cooperation with a Kurdish political group and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Zalieh Naghshbandian had contracted lung disease as a result of his previous exposure to chemical gases and the lack of treatment in prison. He was held without any regard for his condition in Rejai Shahr Prison until two weeks ago, when his critical health problems forced the authorities to hospitalize him.
On May 21, Mansour Radpour, another political prisoner in Rejai Shahr Prison, died following a stroke. He was also suffering from several ailments before the onset of the stroke, and his medical needs had been ignored by the prison authorities.
Currently, several political prisoners, including human rights activists Nargess Mohammadi and Mohammad Seddigh Kaboodvand and blogger Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, are in immediate need of medical attention, and several human rights groups, including Iran’s Nobel Peace laureate, have spoken out about their critical situations, urging the government to release the ailing prisoners without delay.
Iran admits the Iranian Revolutionary Guard-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) presence in Syria. IRGC-QF has been conducting covert operations in Syria months before the Mideast revolutions began. According to International Business Times, the only surprising thing about IRGC-QF backing of the Assad regime in Syria is that Revolutionary Guard General Ismail Qa’ani has admitted publicly about IRGC-QF operations in the Mideast. IRGC-QF has been training Syrian soldiers for months before the uprising began because of Teheran’s interest in the Assad government. This means their relationship could only be made stronger by the long rebellion.
Qa’ani has revealed what the IRGC-QF is doing in Syria. According to some accounts, the Quds have been in Syria since January 2011, when Assad’s forces clashed with rebels in the battle of Zabadani. During that time, the rebel army, the primary armed resistance against the Assad regime, was in control of the city and equipped to defend it from Assad’s army forces. Since Zabadani is strategically significant for both Syria and Iran due to its proximity to Lebanon, less than 10 miles from the border, Assad’s generals called in the IRGC-QF along with the Lebanon-based Shiite movement Hezbollah, for assistance, according to International Business Times.
Analysis
The degree of Iran’s engagement in Syria is hazy. Thus far, Qa’ani’s public statements are the closest thing to any official validation of the IRGC-QF’s presence in the region. The coalition between Syria and Iran is only convenient; Iran will stand by Syria to keep Assad in power, while Syria will provide a regional counterbalance to Israel and America, which are Iran’s great adversaries.
Iranian Christian sources say that the Jannat-Abad church was closed down following orders from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Intelligence. The agency operates independently of and according to informed sources its agents act considerably more brutal than the Iranian Information Ministry agents.
