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Dissident sentenced to 14 years in jail

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Dissident sentenced to 14 years in jail

 

Iranian dissident Mehdi Khazali has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, 10 years in exile and 90 lashes.

The director of Hayan Publications as well as a dissident blogger, Khazali received this sentence after more than 27 days on a hunger strike and he is in critically poor health.

Two days ago he was reportedly taken to the prison infirmary due to hemorrhaging of his digestive tract.

Khazali has been arrested on several occasions since the controversial presidential elections of 2009, which revealed a deep rift in the Islamic Republic establishment between the conservatives and the reformist factions.

His previous arrest occurred last July, and he was released on bail after a month-long hunger strike.

Khazali has used his blogposts to criticize the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad administration and denounce government policies.

He has written open letters to the Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khamenei, warning him against the current mistreatment of the opposition and inadequacies of the system.

Khazali is the son of the conservative cleric and member of the Assembly of Experts, Abolghassem Khazali, who has disowned his son.

Mehdi Khazali, who is also a physician, was disqualified from running in the last parliamentary elections and was denied and appointment to the board of directors of Iran’s College of Physicians.

Source: Radiozamaneh

Widespread arrests in southwestern Iran

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Widespread arrests in southwestern Iran

 

Iranian security forces have arrested 50 people over the past two weeks in the Arab neighbourhoods of the southwestern province of Khuseztan.

Two of the detainees were killed while in custody, writer and human rights activist Yousef Azizi Banitaraf told Zamaneh.

“The security forces are telling elders of the tribes in the region to bring people to the voting booths,” Banitaraf reports; “and the young people are opposed to this.”

The arrests, which have taken place in Shoosh, Ahvaz and Hamidieh, were apparently triggered by a number of youth writing slogans on public walls calling for a boycott of the coming parliamentary elections. The reports indicate that Nasser Alboshokeh Derafshan and Mohammad Kaabi were killed while in custody.

Last March another detainee, Reza Moghamessi also reportedly died in Dezfool Prison under torture.

Yousef Azizi Banitaraf added that the families of the victims have been told to refrain from holding any commemoration services for their kin.

The people who have been detained in the past weeks have not been officially charged yet according to Banitaraf and their location has not been announced to their families.

Human rights groups report that following two weeks of unrest, some local authorities have called on people to avoid leaving the house in the evening.

Human rights groups are concerned that the arrests have not received much coverage because of the lack of independent media in these areas, and without public awareness of their situation, the detainees could be more vulnerable and easy targets for mistreatment.

Source: Radiozamaneh

Families of Bahai Leaders Speak Out

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Families of Bahai Leaders Speak Out

 

Fereshteh Ghazi

Speaking to Rooz, Hassan Fathy’s family revealed that a court had set bail for the journalist’s release, while the families of other Bahai leaders who have been behind bars for the past four years called for the observance of the political prisoners’ basic rights, including family visitation rights under Iranian law.

Meanwhile, people close to Marziyeh Rasouli, a journalist who was arrested at her home during a midnight raid nearly two weeks ago, told Rooz that they have no information about Marziyeh’s condition or whereabouts, despite their daily visits to the Evin Prison’s administrative offices. Ms. Rasouli made a short call to her family minutes after her arrest but her condition since is unknown.

Hassan Fathy was arrested on November 13 after speaking to the BBC Farsi television station about an explosion at a Revolutionary Guards facility. State-run media outlets have accused him of cooperation with the BBC Farsi television station, a claim that has been denied by both Fathy’s family and BBC.

Hassan Fathy’s wife, Fatemeh Hejrat, tells Rooz, “They arrested my innocent husband. He had only spoken [to BBC] as a journalist, but he was accused of disrupting public order and disseminating lies, which is unfair.”

In separate interviews with Rooz, the families of Fariba Kamalabadi and Jamaloddin Khanjani, who have been behind bars along with five other Bahai leaders for the past four years, called for the observance of their basic rights under Iranian law.

Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm are the seven Bahai leaders who ran a group known as the “Yaran” to lead Iran’s Bahai community.

Mahvash Sabet has been behind bars since March 5, 2008, and the other six since May 14, 2008. They have been charged with national security crimes, including espionage for Israel, disrupting public morality, and acting against the Islamic Republic.

The seven leaders were sentenced to 20 years behind bars by the trial court. The appellate court reduced the sentences to 10 years after throwing out charges such as espionage for Israel. The appellate court’s decision, however, was deemed to undermine the Sharia by Iran’s prosecutor general and was set aside to reinstate the trial court’s 20-year sentences.

Since their arrests, the seven leaders have not been allowed to visit their families outside prison, a right guaranteed to all political prisoners under Iranian law. Ms. Kamalabadi’s brother tells Rooz, “Fariba, along with Ms. Mahvash Sabet, are at the Evin Prison. They have weekly visitations with their families along with 30 other political prisoners. They had no access to telephones until two months ago. Since then, they are allowed one very short call per month.”

He adds, “We are still waiting for their release, and we hope that they are freed immediately and unconditionally. In the very least, we ask that their rights under the law, such as visitation rights, be respected until their release.”

Source: Roozonline

Increased pressure on Baha’is; Widespread and multiple arrests of Baha’is in Shiraz

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Increased pressure on Baha’is; Widespread and multiple arrests of Baha’is in Shiraz

 

This morning, February 4th, in widespread arrests, more than 30 house of Baha’is were searched and more than 11 of hosts were arrested in their homes, with the presence of security guards.

Payam Taslimi, Nima Dehghan, Mojdeh Fallah, Mojgan Emadi, Sam Jaberi, sina Sarikhani, Jinoos Fanayyan, Yekta Fahandej, Faezeh Tashakkor, Noora Fallah are the name of eleven cases of those detained, but according to received reports, the number of detainees are more than this number. These Baha’is were transferred to “ward 100” of Shiraz and four other Baha’is were summoned to this place.

Earlier in December this year, Afshin Ahsnyan, Frham Ma’soomi and Vahdat Dana were sent to prison for their sentenced time. And five other Baha’is were arrested in June, while there were pressures on the Baha’is Institute of High Education (BIHE).

Source: CHRR

Iran Vows Retaliation Against Countries Used As Base For Attack

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Iran Vows Retaliation Against Countries Used As Base For Attack

 

Iran has said it would retaliate against any country that is used to launch an attack on it.

The semi-official Fars news agency quotes a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, General Hossein Salami, as saying that “any place where enemy offensive operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran originate will be the target.”

He did not elaborate.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out a military strike against Iran if diplomacy fails to resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran says its program is purely peaceful, rather than aimed at developing weapons.

 

Source: rferl

German journalist says he was beaten during 5 months as a prisoner in Iran

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German journalist says he was beaten during 5 months as a prisoner in Iran

 

A German reporter says he was beaten by guards during his nearly five months of imprisonment in Iran and that he heard constant, “horrible cries” of other inmates being tortured.

In the first public comment since being freed a year ago, Marcus Hellwig told the Sunday mass-circulation tabloid Bild am Sonntag he was regularly beaten and constantly interrogated during the first 10 “brutal” days in captivity until a German diplomat intervened.

“Sometimes they claimed that I was a spy, then allegedly a terrorist,” he was quoted as saying. “They wanted to unsettle me with their never-ending questioning, wanted to put me under psychological pressure and create an ambiance of fear,” he said.

Hellwig and German photographer Jens Koch — both working for Bild am Sonntag — had entered Iran on tourist visas and were detained in October 2010 after interviewing the son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

Her case had generated widespread international outrage.

The two journalists were freed a year ago after German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle traveled to Tehran for a rare meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then brought the pair home on his government plane.

Iranian resistance groups later criticized Westerwelle’s Tehran visit as a propaganda victory for the Iranian regime.

Hellwig said that prison guards, in an apparent move to frighten him, took him “to a torture cell to show me what they were using there to torture people.”

“I was beaten. And there were some other things, but I do not want to talk about them,” he said.

Hellwig told the newspaper another torture cell was located near where he and Koch were being held and that they heard its victims throughout the day. “The cries were horrible,” the reporter said.

In Tehran, Iranian judiciary officials were not immediately available on Sunday to comment on Hellwig’s account of his captivity.

Hellwig said he and the photographer knew that reporting from Iran with tourist visas “would not be without danger, but I had hoped to minimize the risk with good preparation.”

Last year, the Iranian judiciary found the pair guilty of committing unspecified acts against Iran’s national security. But a court then threw out the journalists’ 20-month prison sentence, commuting it to a $50,000 fine.

Hellwig said he and Koch were shocked when prison guards suddenly told the two journalists they were free to go and gave them back their personal belongings. “I only felt free when the government plane left the Iranian airspace heading to Turkey,” Hellwig was quoted as saying.

He has written a book about his ordeal entitled “Inshallah. Captive in Iran,” which will be published in German later this month. Inshallah is Arabic for “God willing.”

Meanwhile, Ashtiani — who was convicted of adultery in 2006 following the murder of her husband — remains behind bars in Iran and authorities said in December she may be hanged. In July 2010, Iran suspended plans to carry out her death sentence by stoning following an international outcry about the case.

 

Source: Insideofiran

Senate begins another Iran sanctions push, targets Ahmadinejad and Khamenei

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Senate begins another Iran sanctions push, targets Ahmadinejad and Khamenei

 

Foreign Policy – On Thursday, the Senate Banking Committee will officially start work on a new sanctions bill against Iran, and senators are set to add even more sanctions to the bill as it goes through the legislative process — including measures that directly target President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Banking Committee will mark up the Johnson-Shelby Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Human Rights Act of 2012, named after committee heads Sens. Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Richard Shelby (R-AL), who will lead Thursday’s proceedings. The bill will pile on more punitive measures against Iran’s energy, shipping, and mining sectors, while punishing a broader range of Iranian government officials for their involvement in human rights violations.

President Barack Obama’s administration is still working to implement the last round of Iran sanctions that was signed into law, which included the Menendez-Kirk sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran that were added to the defense authorization bill in December by a 100-0 vote. But the Senate has no intention of giving the administration a breather, and Thursday’s mark-up is the beginning of a new and aggressive push to tighten the noose on Tehran and further damage the Iranian economy.

“Iran’s continuing defiance of its international legal obligations and refusal to come clean on its nuclear program underscore the need to further isolate Iran and its leaders,” Johnson said in statement about the bill.

The bill would sanction anyone who provides Iran with equipment or technology that facilitates censorship or the suppression of human rights, including weapons, rubber bullets, tear gas, and other riot control equipment — as well as jamming, monitoring, and surveillance equipment. It also calls on the administration to develop a more robust Internet freedom strategy for Iran and speed related assistance to pro-democracy activists in the country.

The legislation would also formally establish that U.S. policy is intended to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and would require the administration to report extensively and repeatedly on its efforts to increase diplomatic and financial pressure on the Iranian regime.

Johnson and Shelby’s bill expands sanctions to cover companies involved in joint ventures with Iran that aid the country’s energy sector, targets any Iranian joint ventures involving uranium mining, authorizes the administration to target corporate executives of sanctioned firms, and requires U.S. companies to report to the SEC business they have with any Iranian firms that could fall under sanctions.

The Banking Committee bill is a scaled-down version of the Iran, Syria, North Korea Sanctions Consolidation Act, sponsored by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Scott Brown (R-MA). The Syria and North Korea provisions in that bill were left out of the Banking Committee’s version so there wouldn’t be any jurisdictional confusion between the Banking Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee.

Several senators are set to offer amendments on Thursday to strengthen the Johnson-Shelby bill even further. Although negotiations are still ongoing, a list of the amendments in the queue as of Wednesday afternoon was obtained by The Cable.

Among the amendments that could be considered in committee on Thursday is an amendment by Menendez, offered on behalf of himself and Kirk (who is in Chicago recovering from a stroke) that would impose immigration restrictions on Ahmadinejad, Khamenei, and a host of other senior Iranian government officials. The amendment would also trigger visa restrictions on Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, although those restrictions could be waived for U.N. meetings in New York.

A separate amendment by Menendez and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), also offered on behalf of Kirk, would sanction banks with officers on the board of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), the organization that handles the bulk of international electronic bank transfers, if SWIFT doesn’t stop processing transactions for Iranian banks.

Another Menendez amendment would require the Treasury Department to determine whether the Iranian National Oil Company and the Iranian National Tanker Company are tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. If they are, those two companies would then be sanctioned as well, which could wreak further havoc on Iran’s economy.

“This is a reminder that there are still more stones left unturned and there are still more ways to increase the pressure on an already extraordinarily pressured Iranian economy,” a senior Senate aide told The Cable. “In bipartisan fashion, the Senate is moving to do just that.”

 

Source: Insideofiran

More Arrests Ahead of Elections

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More Arrests Ahead of Elections

 

Fereshteh Ghazi

While the condition of recently detained journalists remains unknown, more journalists are arrested ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections. In the latest instance, Reza Jelodarzadeh, editor-in-chief of the recently banned “Sobh-e Azadi” magazine was arrested.

It is not evident which organ has arrested Mr. Jelodarzadeh, who is a wounded veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. Speaking to Rooz, the relatives of this detained journalists said they know nothing about his physical condition or whereabouts.

Three other journalists were arrested immediately before Mr. Jelodarzadeh: Saham Bourghani, Marzieh Rasouli, and Parastou Dokouhaki. Nothing is known about the condition of the former two journalists, but Parastou Dokouhaki told her family members in a short telephone call that she was being held in solitary confinement.

Parastou Dokouhaki is a journalist, blogger, and social activists who was arrested on January 16 at her house and has been in solitary confinement at the Evin Prison since.

Saham Bourghani is also a journalist and the son of former government official Ahmad Bourghani. His condition is unknown, although some sources noted that he is being held at the Revolutionary Guards’ detention unit inside the Evin Prison. Marzieh Rasouli is also a journalist covering social issues.

Amnesty International condemned the arrests in its latest statement, noting that an ongoing wave of arrests of journalists, bloggers and activists in recent days is intended to limit freedom of expression in the run up to the parliamentary elections.

Amnesty International specifically condemned the arrests of labor activist and blogger Esmail Jafari in Bushehr, social activist Ehsan Houshmand (Houshmandzadeh), sociologist and political activist Saeed Madani, blogger Mehdi Khazali, journalists Parastou Dokouhaki, Saham Bourghani, and Marzieh Rasouli, political activist and former student leader Saeed Razavi-Faghih, as well as Shahram Manouchehri and Mohammad Soleimaninia, and demanded their immediate and unconditional release.

According to a report, yesterday morning dozens of security forces rushed into ward 350 in the Evin Prison, attacking prisoners and searching their belongings, forcing all prisoners, including those suffering from medical conditions, to spend hours outside in sub-freezing temperature and under snow.

One prisoner, Mehdi Khazali, withstood the harsh treatment with his arm in a cast and more than two weeks into his hunger strike.

People close to Mr. Khazali say that he has been in hunger strike for the past 24 days. He has been beaten and torture in prison and sustained damages to his neck and arm.

Source: Roozonline

Iran begins war games in Strait of Hormuz

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Iran begins war games in Strait of Hormuz

 

Iran has begun military exercises, planned weeks in advance, in the narrow Strait of Hormuz. The exercises come after the West sent more warships to the region amid on-going tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.

The hard-line Iranian Revolutionary Guards began naval maneuvers in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, more than a week after the western Allies dispatched more warships to the strategically critical choke point in the Persian Gulf.

Iran plans to conduct war games in the strait for the next month, coming at a time of already heightened tension with the US and its European allies over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. At the end of January, Washington deployed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the region, which was accompanied by two British and French warships.

Tehranhas threatened to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, the route for one-fifth of the world’s crude oil, in response to EU and US sanctions against its oil exports. Washington has vowed to keep the Persian Gulf open to international trade.

Oil sanctions

Iran’s oil minister said on Saturday that his country would retaliate against “some” European countries for the EU oil embargo. The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011.

“Our oil exports will certainly be cut to some European countries,” said Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi, according to the Fars news agency.  “We will decide about other European countries later.”

Italy, Greece and Spain – currently at the center of the eurozone’s economic crisis – are major European importers of Iranian oil. They have until July to find alternative oil sources.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Saturday that the EU’s decision to expand its sanctions against Tehran makes “very clear that Europe is not willing to allow for a nuclear armed Iran.”

Westerwelle, sitting on a panel with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Munich Security Conference, said that Europe “is convinced a nuclear-armed Iran is not only a danger to the security of that region, but is a danger to the whole world.”

Israeli pressure

On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Reuters news agency that Western sanctions had to be imposed quickly and decisively, warning that “weeks and months can make a difference.”

Ayalon also expressed concern that Iran may be beefing up its facilities to protect its nuclear program.

“We see them (Iran) also trying to expedite hardening their installations so they will reach an immunity zone, where some action may not be as effective, and this is why the time is so much of the essence,” he said.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is concerned that Israel could launch a military strike on Iran in the next few months.

Amid the speculation that Israel may be preparing for such a strike, German Foreign Minister Westerwelle said that Europe’s goal is to avoid a military conflict and is “warning against escalation.”

EU planning sanctions against Iran telecoms sector

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EU planning sanctions against Iran telecoms sector

 

European Union governments could ban the sales of some telecommunications equipment to Iran in the coming months under plans for new sanctions discussed by EU experts in Brussels.

EU diplomats said on Friday the bloc’s 27 governments have reached an agreement in principle to target equipment that could be used by the Iranian authorities for monitoring of anti-government dissent.

The new round of sanctions could also raise the number of officials affected by asset freezes and visa bans under the EU’s program to target human rights abuses in the country.

Diplomats stressed that the measures were separate from EU efforts to ratchet up pressure against Tehran over its disputed nuclear program with sanctions against its oil industry and financial sector.

“There is a political deal to include in the next round of sanctions a mechanism to ban the purchase and sale of telecommunications equipments which could be used to carry out interceptions or to spy,” one EU diplomat said.

Discussions on the measures at an expert level will continue in the coming weeks, diplomats said, and there was no target date yet for reaching a final agreement or for implementation.

One diplomat said the EU could try to introduce the new package in April, when an initial round of sanctions related to human rights abuses comes up for renewal.

But others said there were still disagreements among some EU members states over which officials could be included.

The EU already has imposed sanctions against 61 Iranian officials under its human rights sanctions program. Some capitals are cautious about extending the list given concerns as to whether there is sufficient evidence to name individuals.

Iran has come under increased criticism from the United Nations in recent months over human rights violations.

The U.N. General Assembly’s rights committee passed a resolution in November expressing concerns about incidents of torture, excessive use of the death penalty, discrimination against women, and persecution of journalists and religious minorities.

U.S. lawmakers also are considering a bid to force President Barack Obama’s administration to blacklist Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as human rights abusers and ban companies from supplying Iran with equipment – including telecommunications equipment – used to commit human rights abuses. Neither man is targeted by the EU.

The EU imposed a gradual embargo on imports of Iranian oil in January and sanctioned the country’s central bank as part of western efforts to force Tehran to hold back its nuclear work.

Western powers fear Iran is working to produce an atom bomb but Tehran says it aims to increase electricity output to meet rising demand.

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