IRAN:Maryam Rajavi: No Real Choice In The Iran 'Elections'

Maryam-Rajavi

This week Iran will hold two concurrent “elections,” one for the Majlis (parliament) and the other for the Assembly of Experts, whose theoretical mandate is to select the supreme leader. To those who live and vote in democracies, the irony of these parallel acts is obvious: They take place in a theocratic system whose bedrock principle is absolute clerical rule (velayat-e faqih).

Democratic elections, where people are afforded a real choice to pick their leaders, are non-existent in today’s Iran; the genuine opposition has no  voice. What currently exists is a constricted power struggle through sham elections whose outcome is shaped not by popular vote but by the regime’s internal balance of power.

All candidates in the regime are required by law to exhibit “heart-felt and practical allegiance” to absolute clerical rule as a prerequisite for their candidacy. Even then, the faithful will have their qualification determined by the Guardian Council whose six clerics are installed by the supreme leader while the remaining six jurists are appointed by the head of the judiciary who himself is selected by the supreme leader.

The regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei has also formed a special committee consisting of his own chief of staff, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the IRGC commander of Tehran and the secretary of the Guardian Council. This committee’s supreme power trumps that of the Guardian Council. Its mission is to purge, or at least dramatically undermine the rival faction from the elections, thus safeguarding Khamenei’s power.

IRAN - Women’s rights activists in Iran increasingly face jail time amid cultural crackdown

Women’s rights activists in Iran increasingly face jail time amid cultural crackdown

“I don’t think it’s anticipated that drawing cartoons or writing poems would get you 15 to 20 years in prison”

Atena Farghadani told advocates she was beaten, held in solitary confinement, verbally abused and forced to strip naked by prison guards. (AtenaFarghadani/Facebook)

Twenty-eight year-old Atena Farghadani felt a sense of outrage when her government, the conservative legislators of Iran, tried to criminalize voluntary sterilization in 2014. It was the latest move to restrict women’s reproductive choices, and Farghadani, a talented painter and budding activist, decided to speak out.

Farghadani drew a cartoon depicting legislators who supported the bill as monkeys and cows and posted it to Facebook. Shortly after her post, the Revolutionary Guard showed up at Farghadani’s doorstep, searched her home, arrested her, and charged her with insulting the government, disseminating propaganda, and colluding against national security. They alleged that her meetings with the families of political prisoners constituted a crime in itself, and quickly made her a political prisoner, too.

Farghadani has told advocates that she has been beaten, held in solitary confinement, verbally abused, forced to strip naked, and forced to undergo virginity and pregnancy tests by the prison guards, according to advocates and experts with Movements.org, a human rights organization that helps digitally connect activists in closed societies and has been compiling stories of political prisoners like Farghadani.

Farghadani, who appeared in a YouTube video criticizing her arrest in 2014 and was subsequently re-arrested, for “illegitimate sexual relationship short of adultery” and indecency charges after shaking hands with her lawyer, also posted an open letter to Facebook addressed to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2015, criticizing the Revolutionary Guard for her maltreatment.

Iran a major prison for journalists - RSF

RSF-logo

Iran is the world's third biggest prison for journalists, the press freedoms group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a report published on Tuesday.

At least 18 journalists are confirmed to be in detention in Iran, RSF said in its annual "Round-up of journalists killed worldwide 2015."

Earlier this month RSF published a separate annual Round-up of journalists detained, held hostage or disappeared in 2015," in which it wrote: "Those held in Iran include several arrested in November, the latest of many journalists to be accused of membership of 'espionage networks.'”

That report added that in Iran under the mullahs' rule "the judicial system is controlled by the Supreme Leader and is manipulated by the Revolutionary Guards in order to gag reporting critical of the regime."

RSF's website lists the Iranian regime's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as a Predator of Freedom of Information.

IRAN: Regime fails to get Qassem Soleimani up to attend a Student Day event

Attempts by the antihuman Iranian regime to get Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the terrorist Quds Force, to symbolically participate in a ceremony at Iran National University [named Beheshti by the regime] to build up the morale of the revolutionary guards and the Basij forces proved in vain. Although he was injured 25 days, the extent of his wounds is such that he is still unable to even symbolically take part in any ceremony.

This is despite the fact that state news agencies such as Tasnim, Javan and IRNA were advertising that Soleimani will appear in the Student Day ceremonies in order to prove that this criminal henchman is healthy and active. To avert the disintegration of its forces in Syria, Ali Khamenei, the regime’s Supreme Leader has ordered all resources be used to improve the health condition of Soleimani, but these attempts have led nowhere.

The Security and Anti-terrorism Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran disclosed in a communiqué on November 28 that Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Qods Force, has been badly wounded in the southern front of Aleppo. He has undergone at least two surgeries since. Soleimani being injured, along with the high number of casualties among regime’s IRGC Brigadier Generals in Syria and the casualties suffered by Hezbollah commanders and regime’s other mercenaries, has made the clerical regime ruling Iran face escalating crises and has ruined the morale of its forces.

Iran: Cartoonist and her lawyer on trial for “indecency” for shaking hands

Atena Farghdani

Satirical cartoonist Atena Farghadani and her lawyer will be on trial on the charge of “illegitimate sexual relations falling short of adultery” after they shook hands in their meeting.  Atena Farghadani and her lawyer Mohammad Moghimi may face up to 99 lashes if found guilty! 

Amnesty International believes Farghdani has been detained solely for exercising her right to freedom of expression. “It is clearly both absurd and a violation of the right to privacy to consider a man and a woman shaking hands as a criminal offence,” said Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International’s researcher.

“These charges are politically motivated and they are a blatant attempt by the Iranian authorities to harass Atena and hinder her lawyer’s work representing her. Instead of subjecting this young prisoner of conscience to further harassment and intimidation, the Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally drop these charges and free her.”

 Amnesty International has learnt that Atena Farghadani is going to tomorrow’s hearing without having secured a lawyer of her own choice and fears that she won’t receive a fair trial.

Atena Farghadani and Mohammad Moghimi were charged with “illegitimate sexual relations short of adultery” after they shook hands in prison after her trial on 13 June. Mr. Moghimi was arrested, and released three days later after he had paid a bail amounting to around $60,000.

In June, Atena Farghdani was sentenced to 12 years and nine months in prison for multiple offences including insulting MPs and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after publishing a series of satirical cartoons depicting legislators as monkeys, cows and other animals.

Her conviction also stemmed from her speaking out publicly on the rights of the families of victims of the massive crackdown following 2009 presidential elections in Iran.

(Amnesty International- October 2, 2015)

Iran - 20% reduction in Iranians’ food basket

Poverty-children-Iran

Economic mismanagement by the mullahs' regime in Iran has led to Iranians being able to consume 20 percent less food and liquids, the Iranian regime's state media have acknowledged.

In 2010, each Iranian household on average consumed an annual amount of 2318 kilograms of food and liquids. In the current year, the average annual consumption stands at 1874 kg, a decrease of 19.15%, according to the state-run Etemad daily.

The difference in consumption rates in the two periods is considerably higher when considering only basic food and beverage.

Iran: Misogynous MP calls for control on all angles of Iranian life

Laleh Eftekhari

Themullahs' misogyny

"We need to have a law to expand our Islamic-Iranian culture such that it  (!) and all the affairs related to our lifestyle," said Laleh Eftekhari citing the regime's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.