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Jailed Iranian Journalist Subjected To ‘Inhumane Treatment’

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Jailed Iranian Journalist Subjected To ‘Inhumane Treatment’

 

The family of jailed Iranian journalist Isa Saharkhiz has written to Iran’s judiciary chief to complain that he is being subjected to “inhumane treatment,” RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reports.

Saharkhiz is a member of the central council of the Association for the Defense of Press Freedom. He is serving a three-year sentence on charges of “insulting Iran’s supreme leader” and “spreading propaganda against the regime.”

Saharkhiz was arrested in July 2009 during the post-presidential-election crackdown. He has been deprived of phone calls and family visits for the past year and denied furlough for the past 27 months, according to his family.

In their letter to Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, Saharkhiz’s relatives say they are complaining not that he was handed an unjust sentence or that he was transferred to another prison without a judicial order, but because “the law is not being observed during the implementation of the sentence.”

Saharkhiz’s son Mehdi told RFE/RL that his father’s health was deteriorating. He said his father’s blood pressure had been fluctuating wildly and he had fainted several times as a result. Saharkhiz also suffers from a slipped disc and has developed a tumor that might be cancerous, Mehdi Saharkhiz said.

Mehdi Saharkhiz said that prison officials not only subjected his father to physical violence but also encouraged prisoners who are drug addicts to attack him by promising them drugs in return.

Mehdi Saharkhiz said the Iranian authorities “want to put my father’s life on the line” because of the grudge Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holds against him.

Isa Saharkhiz previously filed a complaint against Khamenei, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, and chief prosecutor Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei. He said the official results proclaiming Ahmadinejad the winner of the 2009 election were a “big lie” supported by Khamenei.

 

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Student activist Ali Akbar Mohammadzadeh sentenced to 6 years in prison

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Student activist Ali Akbar Mohammadzadeh sentenced to 6 years in prison

 

Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court issued its sentence for Ali Akbar Mohammadzadeh, student activist at Sharif University who has spent the last few months behind bars in Evin prison. In accordance to Penal Code 510 and 600, he was charged with “illegal assembly” and “propaganda against the regime.”

According to Human Rights House of Iran, 5 years were handed down for “illegal gathering and collusion” and another year for “’propaganda against the regime.”

Ali Akbar was in court without his original lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht who was not able to be present at the court due to the date of the trial being changed. Court officials had told Saleh Nikbakht to be present at court at the end of the week, but they postponed the court 48 hours followed by another 34 hours. During this time, he was not allowed to review the files of his client. Therefore Ali Akbar’s family had no alternative but to change lawyers and use a new lawyer at the court session.

Ali Akbar’s sentence was announced 50 days after his trial and it has been appealed by Mohammadzadeh and his lawyer. The date of the appellate court session is not known.

Even though Mohammadzadeh’s activities were in the university, Judge Salavati insisted that Ali Akbar confess to taking part in activities outside of his school and the judge attached additional charges during Ali Akbar’s trial. Among those allegations are that he participated in illegal off-campus gatherings.

Ali Akbar Mohammadzadeh, Secretary of the Students Islamic Association of Sharif University of Technology, was beaten up by security forces and violently detained across his university on February 15, 2011. During the past 2 years, this student activist had been summoned, threatened and interrogated several times by the Office of the Ministry of Information.

 

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Amnesty International condemns arrest of Iranian lawyer

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Amnesty International condemns arrest of Iranian lawyer

 

Amnesty International has lashed out against Iranian authorities for this weekend’s arrest of Abdolfattah Soltani, a prominent human rights lawyer, and is calling for his release.

In a statement, Amnesty International noted Soltani’s role in the establishment of the Human Rights Defenders Centre in Iran, along with Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi. The rights group reported: “Abdolfattah Soltani’s wife told the media that four security officers arrived at their home with her husband and, before taking him into custody, they confiscated a number of computers and documents.”

Malcolm Smart, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said: “Abdolfattah Soltani is one of the bravest human rights defenders in Iran. He has represented defendants in some of the most controversial human rights cases for more than a decade, refusing to bow to pressure from the Iranian authorities. Now he is again paying the price for that commitment;” .

Soltani was arrested on Saturday, and his family has not been informed of the charges against him or where he’s being held.

He was arrested previously in June of 2009 at his office and released after 70 days on bail of $100,000.

He was charged with “doubting the elections, propaganda against the regime and creating a group against national security.”

Soltani has been active as a defender of political prisoners since before the 1979 Revolution in Iran, and he has been detained on several occasions by the Islamic Republic for his defence of Nationalist-Religious and other political activists.

In 2008, the German city of Nuremberg recognized Soltani’s efforts by awarding him its human rights prize, which he was not allowed to receive in person because Iranian authorities banned him from traveling.

Amnesty International also noted the cases of Nasrin Sotoudeh and other Iranian lawyers. It condemned “the continuing harassment and arrest of Iranian defence lawyers” adding that they “not only directly violate their rights, but those of their clients, who are finding it increasingly difficult to find legal representation because of the deterrent effect of such arrests.”

 

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Iranian President Ahmadinejad says U.S. hikers to be freed within days

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Iranian President Ahmadinejad says U.S. hikers to be freed within days

 

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said two U.S. hikers held on espionage charges since 2009 would be released within days, U.S. media reported on Tuesday.

Ahmadinejad told the Washington Post that he would grant a “unilateral pardon” to hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, and made a similar statement to NBC television’s “Today Show” program.

“I think these two persons will be freed in a couple of days. Yes, in a couple of days. Inshallah (God willing), they will be freed,” he told NBC.

“These two persons will be released. It’s going to be over. We do it, for example, in a humanitarian gesture,” he added.

The two U.S. citizens, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, were arrested near the mountainous Iraq-Iran border in July 31, 2009, along with a third hiker, Sarah Shourd, who was later released on humanitarian and medical grounds.

Bauer, 28, and Fattal, 29, now share a cell in Tehran’s Evin prison. They had pleaded not guilty to the charges at their closed-door trial, which ended on July 31.

Lawyer Masoud Shafii said bail for the two hikers has been set at $500,000 each. “The Americans will be freed when the bail is paid,” Shafii told AFP.

Washington is seeking details about Iran’s promised release of two jailed US hikers, the State Department said Tuesday.

“We are aware of these reports, and we are working through the Swiss protecting power to get more details from the Iranian authorities,” the State Department said in its statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama has denied that the Americans, who were working in the Middle East when they decided to hike in the scenic mountains of Iraq, had any link to U.S. intelligence.

Bauer, Fattal and Shourd say they were hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq and, if they crossed the unmarked border into Iran, it was by mistake.

Their supporters say evidence against them has never been made public, and that the sentence came as a shock after hopes for their release had been boosted by positive comments from Iran’s foreign minister.

 

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Iran Snapshot: Revolutionary Guards v. Press TV (Azarmehr)

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Iran Snapshot: Revolutionary Guards v. Press TV (Azarmehr)

 

EA Worldview – Potkin Azarmehr writes on his blog of an argument between the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Iran’s State outlet for international news, Press TV:

Press TV was the target of some harsh criticism last week, but this time surprisingly, the criticism was by a website in Iran affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards. Nedaye Enghelab (Message of the Revolution), a news website which reflects the views of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, published an article…with the headline, “$25 Million News Network with No News”.

The article’s main criticism was Press TV’s “weak” coverage of the UK riots or the “uprising of the UK’s dispossessed”, as [Nedaye Enghelab] calls it. While Press TV’s coverage of the student protests in UK was applauded, the article harshly criticised this $25 Million outfit for not taking more of a lead role in covering UK’s “Justice Seeking Protests”.

The criticism was directly pointed at the professionalism of the staff at Press TV. ‘There can be no excuse of a budget shortage, the problem is purely lack of professionalism’, the article categorically stated.

“War Against War”, is the subheading of this article, which explains why there has been so much investment by the Iranian government in this news network and what is expected from it in return.

[Text of the article:]

[Press TV should] match the BBC Persian’s ‘provocations’ during the post-election protests in Iran.

BBC Persian made 31 reports fabricating election fraud in Iran. These reports helped to make many people in Iran disillusioned with the accuracy of the election results. Hence Press TV which has a well equipped office in London, with several English reporters and analysts in its employment, including the former UK MP, George Galloway, who is receiving a huge salary, should have counter acted similarly and covered the UK protests more extensively as well as provided ideological leadership to the protesters.  Had Press TV done this,  not only it would have avenged the British government’s role during the 2009 seditions but it would have also provided a pro-active offensive attack in the Soft War against Britain.

The second reason why it was necessary for Press TV to have gained the ideological leadership for the protesters, is Iran’s extensive interests in Britain. Currently much of Iran’s assets have been frozen in UK banks and the British government has carried out many sanctions against Iran, hence Press TV as the overseas arm of the Iranian government in its Soft War with the enemy had the means to take over the leadership of the protesters in UK to create a background for the Iranian regime to resurrect its interests in UK and be able to barter with the British government.

The most important reason for Press TV to have been more active during the protests however, is the need to support the protests movements across the world that seek justice. Islamic Republic is the flag bearer of the awakening movements in the world and the export of its revolution to the rest of the world. Had Press TV provided more of a leadership during the UK protests, it would have compensated for the weaknesses shown by our diplomatic services during the recent justice seeking movements in the region and beyond the region.

Although undoubtedly, if Press TV was unable to be useful during the recent events in England, this is just the beginning of the road for the English and in a not so distant future, we will witness the English masses raise the flames of their wrath from under the ashes once again. Hence our officials must appoint more committed and competent staff in this network to provide an appropriate reaction in the future events which will unfold on that island’

So there you go, from the horse’s mouth itself and despite claims by the likes of Lauren Booth [reporter for Press TV and half-sister of the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair] that Press TV is a “UK registered company” and not led by the Iranian government, it is clear what is expected from this “News Network”.

 

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IRGC Invites Kurds to Take up Arms Against PJAK

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IRGC Invites Kurds to Take up Arms Against PJAK

 

HRANA News Agency – The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (IRGC) in Salmas County has published and distributed a pamphlet asking tribal forces and those living in border regions to fight against Kurdish Workers’ Party (PJAK).

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), IRGC has asked Kurdish citizens to begin an armed conflict against Kurdish Workers’ Party. IRGC agents have begun an orchestrated propaganda against PJAK by pressuring and threatened underprivileged citizens in the border regions to join the Basiji Milita in order to help the Islamic government to defeat PJAK.

In the pamphlet released by the Revolutionary Guard, IRGC warns the members and supporters of PJAK in Iran and says, “We ask courageous Kurds and honorable tribes in Salmas County not to tolerate injustice and oppression perpetrated by PJAK and to defend your honor, lives, properties, families and country by waging war against this group. Don’t remain silent until the last of these mercenaries are wiped off the face of this earth.”

According to the international rules of war and military engagement, civilians and their safety and security must not be endangered or threatened deliberately by the armed conflict between two adversaries. IRGC’s statement calling for armed confrontation between civilians and PJAK has militarized the region and has intentionally carried the current conflict into civilians’ lives.

 

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We condemn cyber spying; catastrophe of the Islamic Regime

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We condemn cyber spying; catastrophe of the Islamic Regime

 

Rahana – Human Rights House of Iran declares the recent acts of spying on the Iranian citizens on the Internet as being vicious and barbaric. This is another step on the part of this regime to create an unsafe atmosphere and impede on the freedom of its citizens, now while they use the Internet 
Creating an unsafe public atmosphere and even worse, obstructing the basic right of all human beings, which is to at the very least be able to safely communicate in their private lives, is one of the ugliest actions of the Islamic regime of Iran, and this will be forever registered in it’s human rights report card. The arrests, tortures, and executions of people with opposing views are happening on one hand, while on another hand an unsafe atmosphere of fear has been created where government agents illegally enter citizens’ homes and private residences without warrants. Citizens are bullied, harassed, and arrested in public using the excuse of disapproval for what they are wearing, their make-up, hairstyle etc. These are all acts of gross disregard for human rights that the Islamic Republic has committed itself to, yet ignores. Now with the recent revelations about spying on the Internet, it is clear that this regime has no respect or boundaries when it comes to obstructing the basic human rights of it’s citizens. Human Rights House of Iran regards this news, officially published by the government of Holland regarding Iran’s cyber spying, to be a serious and dangerous offense. Human Rights House of Iran declares that this regime’s recent stunt of invasion of privacy in order to identify citizens and monitor their activities on the Internet is grossly barbaric, and therefore condemns this regime for it’s new tactic of derailing its citizens’ hopes of existing in a safe atmosphere and a free society. Human Rights House of Iran condemns the regime of Iran and declares it responsible for the complete deprivation of privacy for of all websites in Iran, along with stealing the passwords of all of its citizens. This cyber warfare is considered a direct attack and a war against freedom. All countries that have agreed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Iran is a signatory, have pledged that they will “not engage in invading the privacy of their citizens” and all citizens will have “the right to seek, receive and disseminate information and ideas without frontiers.” Human Rights House of Iran is asking the government of Iran to accept it’s responsibilities and stop this attack on cyber security. Furthermore Human Rights House of Iran is asking that all human rights agencies implicate Iran for it’s gross violations of basic human rights in this unprecedented attack on hundreds of thousands of internet sights in the country and to make an inquiry about the regime’s actions. All the individuals who took part in generating and executing this scheme are attackers of human rights therefore their actions must be investigated by human rights agencies. Furthermore Human Rights House of Iran declares this invasion to not only be against the citizens of Iran, but also a direct threat to the security of websites all over the world. Therefore it is imperative that international organizations investigate this cyber warfare and present their findings to international judicial authorities.

 

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Britain to accuse Iranian Regime of Hypocrisy over Arab Spring

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Britain to accuse Iranian Regime of Hypocrisy over Arab Spring

 

AFP-

LONDON — British Foreign Secretary William Hague will accuse Iran of “breathtaking hypocrisy” for supporting revolutions in the Arab world while crushing domestic dissent in a speech Tuesday, The Times said.

Hague would condemn Tehran for “suppressing protest at home while claiming to support revolutions elsewhere in the region — except Syria” in a speech to a seminar organised by the newspaper.

Hague’s speech would turn the focus on Iran, which has been overshadowed in news coverage by the uprisings in Arab states, the paper reported.

“The lessons of the Arab revolutions hold true for Iran just as they apply to repressive governments across the world,” he will say, the paper reported.

“Demands for respect for rights, open government, action against corruption and genuine political participation have and will spread by themselves over time… because they are the natural aspirations of all people everywhere.

“Simply refusing to address legitimate grievances about human rights or attempting to stamp them out will fail.”

In 2009, Britain and other Western countries condemned Tehran for violently crushing protests that followed the controversial re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran denounced the Western condemnations as meddling in its internal affairs.

Dozens of people were killed in the opposition demonstrations protesting what they said was massive election fraud. Thousands more were arrested, several hundred of whom were handed long prison terms.

Hague will argue, that the protests were a “precursor” of the Arab revolutions, the newspaper said.

 

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Javid Fakhrian Sentenced to One Year in Prison

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Javid Fakhrian Sentenced to One Year in Prison

 

Student activist Javid Fakhrian has been sentenced to one year in prison for anti-regime propaganda by membership in a group.

He is an active member of the Islamic Student Association at Shahreh Kurd Azad University. Following the February 14th events, he was suumoned to the Intelligence Ministry several times. He was eventually arrested and released after 33 days.

He was also detained following the 2009 post-election protests.

 

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Iranian human rights lawyer arrested: reports

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Iranian human rights lawyer arrested: reports

 

Iranian authorities have arrested the prominent human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani in Tehran, according to reports out of Iran.

Security officials reportedly searched his home for hours today, Saturday, and later produced an arrest warrant for Soltani, who is also a member of Iran’s Human Rights Defenders Centre.

The charges have not been verified.

Soltani was previously arrested in June 2009 during the mass protests that broke out after the presidential election, over allegations of vote fraud in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory. The lawyer was held for 70 days and released on $100,000 bail.

The Iranian judiciary accused him of “challenging the elections, propaganda against the regime and establishing a group to act against national security.”

Germany’s Human Rights Office in Nuremberg gave Soltani a human rights award in December 2008, which he was unable to receive due to travel restrictions imposed on him by the Islamic Republic. His wife, Masoomeh Dehghani, accepted it on his behalf.

This past June, Dehghani was arrested and released on bail after five days. Soltani, who acted as his wife’s attorney, told ISNA that she was accused of distributing a 15,000-euro prize that came with the award among the families of political prisoners. Soltani added that he had not yet received any such prize.

Dehghani’s file remains open, and no sentence has been issued so far.

Soltani has represented numerous human rights cases, including those of Ali Afshari, Akbar Gangi, Haleh Esfandiari, the family of Zahra Kazemi, the family of Zahra Bani-Yaghoub and several Nationalist-Religious figures. He has also acted for numerous closed-down publications and student activists.

 

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