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Bahrain jails three for spying for Iran: report

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Bahrain jails three for spying for Iran: report

Bahrain has sentenced one of its citizens and two foreigners to 10 years in prison for spying for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Akhbar al-Khaleej newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Bahrain’s high criminal court sentenced “three defendants to 10 years in prison for spying for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, one of them a Bahraini and two others” who worked as diplomats in Iran’s embassy in Kuwait and were sentenced in absentia, the daily reported.

The prosecution said the three “spied from 2002 until April 2010 in the Kingdom of Bahrain and abroad,” and gave the Guards economic and military information, including the locations of military, industrial and economic installations, Akhbar al-Khaleej said.

The Bahraini was recruited while visiting relatives in Kuwait, it said, adding the Iranians had also spied on the Kuwaiti military, US forces in Kuwait, and oil installations in the emirate.

In Tehran, a foreign ministry official rejected the reports as “incorrect”.

“There is no information regarding arrest or sentencing of Iranian nationals in Bahrain,” a ministry official in charge of Middle East affairs, Hossein Amir Abodolahian, told Mehr news agency.

“There had been past reports that an Iranian national had been arrested and tried by a Bahraini court… Our consul then met with him and it turned out he did not have Iranian nationality,” he added.

In early April, Kuwait expelled three Iranian diplomats it accused of working for an Iranian spy ring, reportedly since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

Iran in response expelled “several” Kuwaiti diplomats. The row also prompted the Gulf state to recall its ambassador from Tehran.

Iran and Kuwait have, however, reportedly exchanged ambassadors again.

Manama has along with other Gulf states repeatedly accused Iran of interference in Bahrain in connection with Shiite-led pro-reform protests in the tiny Gulf kingdom that were crushed in a bloody March crackdown by security forces.

 

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UK Law Society urges UN special investigator to look ‘closely’ at rights violations

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UK Law Society urges UN special investigator to look ‘closely’ at rights violations

 

GVF — The Law Society of England & Wales has called upon Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the human rights violations in Iran, to look closely at the dire situation of human rights defenders and alleged “dissidents.”

A former foreign minister of the Maldives, Ahmed Shaheed, was recently named United Nations human rights investigator on Iran, the first in nearly a decade. The UN Human Rights Council established the independent post of special rapporteur on human rights in Iran on March 24.

The Law Society and Solicitors Human Rights Group have welcomed the move and called on Shaheed to tackle a number of specific issues, including how “dissidents,” who are deemed to have “threatened national security on the flimsiest of grounds, are treated in the republic.”

Society President Linda Lee says, “The appointment of the Special Rapporteur by the United Nations is a positive step. The Law Society and the Solicitors Human Rights Group have appealed to Iran several times in recent years about particular human rights cases, and we are familiar with many of the serious issues surrounding human rights in the country.”

“We therefore urge the Special Rapporteur to tackle the way human rights defenders and dissidents are treated in Iran. Such ‘dissidents’ include peaceful protesters who have called for the end of discrimination against women, and academics who have countered the cynical exclusion of their co-religionists from tertiary education by setting up a university to cater for excluded Baha’i youth.”

“As professional legal bodies representing thousands of lawyers in England & Wales, we are particularly concerned with the detention and debarring of lawyers who have fulfilled their professional calling by defending the rights of opposition activists, journalists, ethnic and religious minorities and juvenile offenders, as well as other victims of grave human rights violations,” she added.

“The lack of due process, independence of the judiciary and equality before the   law jeopardises the universal human rights of all Iranians.”

Mr Lionel Blackman, Chair of the Solicitors’ International Human Rights Group said: “The Rapporteur needs to boldly look beyond the explicit mistruths stated by the Iranian authorities – such as those by Mohammad-Javad Larijani, Secretary-General of the High Council for Human Rights last month, that Iran does not arrest any Baha’i in Iran just for being a Baha’i.

“A well documented record of over three decades by a range of credible sources   suggests the contrary. Indeed the very national representatives of this religious minority community have just entered the third year of imprisonment of a 20 year sentence which stemmed from a highly flawed legal process.”

 

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Fears grow for lawyer of woman in Iran stoning case

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Fears grow for lawyer of woman in Iran stoning case

The Guardian – Human rights activists have raised serious concerns about a lawyer who fell foul of Iran‘s Islamic regime for highlighting the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

On the first anniversary of the international uproar that forced Iran to temporarily halt the punishment of Mohammadi Ashtiani, campaigners said they had fears for her lawyer, Houtan Kian, who remains incommunicado in prison nine months after he was arrested and has been reportedly tortured.

Kian was arrested last October with Mohammadi Ashtiani’s son, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, and two German journalists who were interviewing them without the government’s permission in the western city of Tabriz. A few weeks before his arrest, Kian had complained that his house had been raided by security forces and his files confiscated.

The 37-year-old lawyer was appointed by the government to represent Ashtiani. Despite threats from the regime, he spoke to foreign media in support of his client, whose stoning case prompted international condemnation from human rights groups and celebrities.

Despite the outcry, Ashtiani’s fate remains unclear in the face of a series of ambiguous and often contradictory comments made by Iran’s judiciary and government. But, thanks to the media frenzy, her immediate sentence of death is on hold.

Shadi Sadr, a prominent Iranian lawyer who has represented many women facing stoning sentences, said: “I have received new information from a source in Tabriz that Kian had been severely mistreated and tortured while in jail.

“Kian and Mohammad Mostafaei [Ashtiani’s other lawyer], became victims themselves only for defending their client.”

Mostafaei also fell foul of the regime for speaking to media in support of Ashtiani, and was forced to flee Iran. He now lives in Norway.

Other Iranian lawyers have been targeted by the Iranian regime in recent months in what is seen as a new crackdown. Nasrin Sotoudeh was sentenced to 11 years in jail last year and Mohammad Ali Dadkhah received nine years two days ago.

In March, a letter that was apparently written by Kian and smuggled out of jail, circulated around Iranian websites but did not receive coverage in the west due to concerns over its authenticity. Sadr said on Wednesday she had received confirmation that it was in fact written by him.

In the letter, he wrote: “All the signs of torture remain on my body … I have been burned by approximately 60 cigarettes on my legs, testicles and feet (5 cigarettes there). I am only given one meal a day, in the morning; once it was a small piece of cheese, another time, three dates.

“My teeth have been almost completely broken by blows with boots, as has my nose, which bleeds permanently. At midnight, in cold weather, I was soaked with a fire hose and left, with hands and feet bound, in the courtyard until four in the morning, when I was taken to be interrogated.”

Some Iranian websites have reported that Kian was sentenced to 11 years in jail but this could not be independently confirmed. Sadr said the history of political activity in Kian’s family also contributed to his current situation. Kian’s father was executed after Iran’s revolution in 1979 for supporting an opposition group. “Mistreatment of Kian in jail is a clear message from Iran to human rights activists for continuing their work,” Sadr said.

The embarrassment caused by Ashtiani’s sentence becoming known forced Iran to react in various ways. The president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said in an interview last year in New York that a death sentence by stoning had never been handed down. Iran’s judiciary, on the other hand, confirmed her stoning sentence but attempted to alleviate the impact by portraying her as a murderer of her husband.

Last December, Iran’s state-run English-language television channel, Press TV, which has its main office in London, broadcast a programme that showed Ashtiani and her son participating in the reconstruction of her alleged part in the murder of her husband. The broadcast of the interview was described by human rights activists as “forced confessions” and “unethical” but in response to a complaint to the broadcast of the programme, the media regulator Ofcom ruled in March, to surprise of many, that the Iranian station did not breach UK’s broadcasting rules in transmitting the programme.

According to Amnesty International, Ashtiani was sentenced to death by stoning for “adultery while married” but was also given a 10-year prison term in 2006 for the murder of her husband, which her lawyer said was subsequently reduced to five years for “complicity” in the crime.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, an Iranian human rights activist based in Norway who is also a spokesman for the NGO Iran Human Rights which has monitored Iran’s history of stoning, said seven people have been stoned to death in the country since 2006 and at least 14 Iranians are facing death by stoning.

 

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Christian Citizens Vali Zahmatkesh and Mostafa Boushehri Arrested

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Christian Citizens Vali Zahmatkesh and Mostafa Boushehri Arrested

The two individuals were arrested at their residence in the city of Yazd.

According to the Human Rights House of Iran, Zahmatkesh has converted to Christianity in 2007 and has moved to Yazd because of his job at around the same time.

His family has disowned him after his conversion.

 

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Increased executions, arrests, and inhumane treatments of the prisoners to prevent popular uprising

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Increased executions, arrests, and inhumane treatments of the prisoners to prevent popular uprising

Fearing social uprisings, the clerical dictatorship has intensified atrocious raids on neighborhoods and houses and has increased the arrests of the youth and women, and is terrorizing the society by sharply increasing the number of death sentences.

According to state-run Asre Iran, at about midnight last night, regime’s suppressive forces raided several neighborhoods of Tehran and arrested 102 people including 5 women. They treated the arrested individuals inhumanely and severely beat them.

Sajedinia, commander of the regime suppressive forces in Tehran described these raids as the second phase of the “neighborhood-centered security plan” and said: “The judiciary will deal with these people harshly,” government-run Fars News Agency reported on July 5.

Sajedinia threatened: “In upcoming nights, the thugs and hoodlums will be dealt with harshly.” Yesterday, Sajedinia had banned women’s entry into the teashops and coffeshops.

 

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards: How Iran Trains Foreign Terrorists

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards: How Iran Trains Foreign Terrorists

Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Others Trained by Iranian Revolutionary GuardsFrom Amy Zalman, Ph.D.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)was formed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following the 1979 revolution. It’s reason for being was to protect the revolution’s goals and execution, by acting as a police and internal security force separate from the regular armed forces. The IRGC’s domestic role includes enforcing morality dictates, such as making sure that women are dressed modestly in public places.

The IRGC also plays a foreign role, acting as a proxy for Iran or otherwise exporting and executing Iranian objectives abroad through their own actions, or providing training to paramilitary and terrorist organization. These are largely carried out through the actions of the Al Quds Force (Jerusalem Force). According to the Federation of American Scientists:

“The Qods (Jerusalem) Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is responsible for extraterritorial operations, including terrorist operations. A primary focus for the Qods Force is training Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups. Currently, the Qods Force conducts training activities in Iran and in Sudan. The Qods Force is also responsible for gathering information required for targeting and attack planning. The Pasdaran has contacts with underground movements in the Gulf region, and Pasdaran members are assigned to Iranian diplomatic missions, where, in the course of routine intelligence activities they monitor dissidents. Pasdaran influence has been particularly important in Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.

“The largest branch of Pasdaran foreign operations consists of approximately 12,000 Arabic speaking Iranians, Afghans, Iraqis, Lebanese shi’ites and North Africans who trained in Iran or received training in Afghanistan during the Afghan war years. Presently these foreign operatives receive training in Iran, Sudan and Lebanon, and include the Hizballah [“Party of Allah”] intelligence, logistics and operational units in Lebanon [Hizballah is primarily a social and political rather than military organization]. The second largest Pasdaran foreign operations relates to the Kurds (particularly Iraqi Kurds), while the third largest relates to the Kashmiri’s, the Balouchi’s and the Afghans. The Pasdaran has also supported the establishment of Hizballah branches in Lebanon, Iraqi Kurdistan, Jordan and Palestine, and the Islamic Jihad in many other Moslem countries including Egypt, Turkey, Chechnya and in Caucasia. Hizballah has been implicated in the counterfeiting of U.S. dollars and European currencies, both to finance its operations and to disrupt Western economies by impairing international trade and tourism.”

The IRGC has also been accused of activity in post-Hussein Iraq, from intelligence activities, to funneling arms through the south to Shiite insurgents, to supplying support to Iraq’s largest Shiite political parties/ militias, such as the Badr Corps.

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Masoumeh Dehghan Wife of Prominent Attorney Arrested

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Masoumeh Dehghan Wife of Prominent Attorney Arrested

Human Rights House of Iran – Masoumeh Dehghan, retired teacher and wife of prominent lawyer Abdolfatah Soltani, has been detained.

Masoumeh Dehghan, retired teacher and wife of prominent lawyer Abdolfatah Soltani, was arrested after appearing at the Prosecutor’s Office at Evin Prison following her summons order.

According to the Human Rights House of Iran, she appeared at the prosecutor’s office at Evin along with her husband who was also her lawyer but he was not allowed to accompany her.

There has been no report on the reason for the arrest.

 

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Revolutionary Guards commander sets conditions for return of reformists

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Revolutionary Guards commander sets conditions for return of reformists

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) discussed the potential role of reformists in the coming elections in an interview yesterday.

The daily newspaper Ebtekar quoted Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Jaffari, saying: “Those reformists who have not crossed red lines can obviously participate in political races. As for how successful [former Iranian president Mohammad] Khatami could be, that depends on his political stance.”

The IRGC commander added: “In the course of sedition, Khatami did not pass the test with flying colours, as he was, after all, a collaborator with the leaders of the sedition. He supported them and so far he has not yet purged himself from that movement.”

 

The Islamic Republic establishment refers to protests that took shape in 2009 after the disputed reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as “sedition.” MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two Ahmadinejad opponents in the presidential race who are currently under house arrest, are referred to as “leaders of sedition.”

Former president Khatami has publicly commented on what it would take for reformists to participate in the elections set for next March: political prisoners must be released, political parties must be allowed to resume open activity, and officials must guarantee that the elections will be transparent.

The reformists allege that Ahmadinejad’s re-election was rigged. Numerous reformist political figures were arrested during the post-election protests, and the government dissolved two major reformist parties.

Brigadier General Jaffari said in yesterday’s interview that Khatami will not succeed if his political manoeuvering continues; those reformists who have not “crossed the red lines can actively participate in the elections.”

Khatami recently called for a national reconciliation, asking both the leadership and the people to end their disputes for the sake of the country’s future. Some have accused Khatami of being more concerned with the preservation of the system than recognizing the people’s legitimate demands.

The conservatives have been divided in their response to the reformists. While ultra conservatives such as Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, have called for reformists to be completely banished from elections, more moderate conservatives fall in line with Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani, who has said: “Denying the existence of the reformists is a denial of reality.”

 

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Political Prisoner of 80’s, Mehdi Abedi Bakhoda, Arrested

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Political Prisoner of 80’s, Mehdi Abedi Bakhoda, Arrested

HRANA News Agency – On Sunday, July 3, 2011, Iranian intelligence agents raided Mehdi Abedi Bakhoda’s house, took him out of his sickbed and placed him under arrest. The current whereabouts of this political prisoner from 80’s are unknown.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists for Democracy in Iran, on Sunday night, at about 11:00pm, Iranian intelligence agents climbed over the wall and entered Mehdi Abedi Bakhoda’s residence in the city of Rasht. At the time of the raid, he was ill with an IV attached to his arm. During the break-in, intelligence agents were violent and used force to make the arrest.

While Mehdi Abedi Bakhoda’s family members were objecting to the raid by chanting slogans, their neighbors joined the protest to prevent the arrest. However, fearing the growing number of protesters, the intelligence agents left the premises quickly.

During this raid, the intelligent agents confiscated a computer, a personal phone and address book, a mobile phone and a few other personal items.

Since the arrest, Mehdi Abedi Bakhoda’s family members visit Rasht’s court house and Revolutionary Court every day for information regarding his whereabouts and current condition. Thus far, the authorities have refused to give the family any answers.

 

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Father of political prisoner on hunger strike Kamal Sharifi: I am completely unaware of my son’s condition; the judge has told me to let him die

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Father of political prisoner on hunger strike Kamal Sharifi: I am completely unaware of my son’s condition; the judge has told me to let him die

Mojtaba Samienejad: Sharifi was arrested in 2007 for collaborating with the Kurdistan Democratic Party and was convicted of Moharebeh (waging war against God).  He was sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment in exile and a ban on prison visits during his incarceration.

He has been sent to exile in a Prison in Hormozgan located in Southern Iran. He has gone on hunger strike in order to request a meeting with the judge and to protest the inappropriate prison conditions and being held in the same cell as dangerous criminals.

His father Bayazid Sharifi told the Human Rights House of Iran that they have been denied prison visits for the past 4 years and the last time he contacted them was 45 days ago.

His father added that he does not have any information regarding his condition and one of Kamal’s friends has informed them about the hunger strike. In the recent days, the family has also been informed that he is in critical condition.

According to his father, they are currently awaiting the appeals court decision regarding the case.

Sharifi has referred to the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court recently and has met with the head of the Sanadaj Revolutionary Court Mr. Shayegh who had issued the sentence. He has requested a prison visit with his son in order to ask him to end his hunger strike but the judge had told him that “there is no need to see him; let him die.”

His father added that in his last telephone call, Kamal had told them that the prison conditions were poor. He wanted to be in a more appropriate place since he is currently being held in prison along with dangerous criminals. He had told them that he wants to be tried in a just court in order to ask the judge why he has to be imprisoned in such conditions.

 

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